Elderflower risotto

I have been diving deep into nature lately,

as in Britain we are having a wonderful weather..

Thanks to a course on natural ink making with Flora Arbuthnott

I have been inspired to start wild foraging, 

and to discover even more the magic of plants!

In this post I want to share with you a recipe that

I literally invented out of inspiration..

yes, because cooking is an art,

and it lives on inspiration too!

ELDELFLOWER RISOTTO

Ingredients for 2 serves:
4/7 elder flower heads, picked in a dry day
1 leek
200 gr risotto rice (Arborio, Carnaroli, or similar)
500 ml Veg stock
half cup of cream
A pinch of grated Parmesan cheese to finish
Organic lemon zest (just a bit)

First, wash the elder flower, cut away the thicker stalks,

and dry it on a natural fabric cloth.
Wash and slice the leek, cook it gently until soft,
add the rice and toast it a bit,
then start adding the veg stock ( not all at once).
While stirring, check that the rice doesn't stick to the pan.
Add a bit of cream (I use soya cream)
At about 10 minutes in,
add the elder flower,
continue adding the stock every now and then.
Taste the rice and when is nearly "al dente",
add the lemon zest (less than half a lemon is enough for
this quantity of rice, as it is very strong flavour ).
When ready, if you wish,
sprinkle the cheese on top
and decorate with one fresh elderflower head and few lemon zest swirls.

ENJOY!

Lucy's Magical Woodland

Lucy's Magical Woodland
is my new project
where I  share with children and young at heart,
my love for cookery, art and storytelling!

This is my woodland chefs crew,
they are experts in natural and tasty food!

The videos are free , published on
a dedicated Youtube channel
(here)
and all updates are also posted in the Facebook Page 

In the first episode we made a nettle risotto , and
homemade hedgehogs.
It makes me so happy to teach kids what I know
about food and its beauty, qualities and arty uses !

I hope you will enjoy,
 and experiment along with me!

Stay at home ...cake!

At the time of writing this post,

all the world is stuck at home.

Plenty of positive sides of this, 

including more time for creativity!

I have been experimenting with more food illustration, and new recipes, 

in particular I fell in love with this vegan cake

that can be made not vegan too

( just swap agave for sugar, coconut oil for butter, et voila' !)
You can find the all recipe here

Also, I have been creating pencil cases, 

with hand painted illustrations,

and they are very popular on my Etsy shop

Last news, but the biggest probably!

I am creating some free video tutorial for kids,

about food, stories and art,

soon I will share the details, but for now

I leave you with the introduction of these series, which will happen...

in Lucy's magical woodland!

Seasonal picking

Hey!

While the world is upside down,

the only way to calm my mind is stay in nature,

and at this time of the year,

I wanted to share my best findings with you...

With the corona virus pandemic, people are invited to self isolate

and animals really seem to like it!

We could lay down 4 metres from this sleeping fox!

I saw owls, and other woodland creatures around more than ever.

I imagined that the world could have been just like this

hundred years ago, and people knew animals, and

animals knew humains, much better!

That's how all our fairytales come about...we knew

the personality of our woodland friends, because we lived close

together, without a sea of noise..

One of the things I always liked, from

when I was small,

is to find little trails in the woods, and follow them, 

imagining to be that animal.. and finding myself in the most 

peaceful places, away from humains.

I often sit there, still, and feel at home.

In one of these ramblings, I saw new nettle was coming out.

Did you know that nettle is a forgotten treasure?

It is good for our mood, our sleep, blood iron level and the stinging hairs

contain serotonin!

I picked the new leaves tips, and cooked them,

you can use them just like spinach, and together with them

in soup, risotto, and as a filling of pies and tortelli.

Nature is a Mum, no doubt,

she gives us all we need to be healthy and happy!

Why do I draw food?

Food illustration is a "thing" I came to love just recently.

But there is a longer story.

As a young adult, I spent nearly 10 years battling with food disorders and, why not, depression. 

At 15 I was in my town hospital, 32 kg and a iron will to not to let me talk out of my decisions.

Well, one simple decision:

 food is bad and I am not dealing with it. It makes me feel heavy, 

look fat and not be wanted.

A long way I have come from that, and thanks God I am totally recovered.

Yet, a few years ago, while deep into my art practice, I noticed some curious

  traits of my personality: if I was deep into my work, and I felt thirsty or hangry,

 I wouldn't let me follow this needs, and carried on in my job. 

Eventually, I realized that this was another sign of lack of care, 

and I began a long journey of self love.

And here, food played again a big role:

 Cooking for myself even the simplest meal had the impact of a big act of care.

Plus, if I felt some how uninspired that day,

 cooking was a real creative 

(and almost always rewarding ) go-to activity.

You see, I am Italian of origin, and food culture runs in our veins... 

Our parents (and specially older generations) are people who think of a meal 

not as a pre-prepared food, but as a time spent in a place ( usually the kitchen) 

with a certain atmosphere and certain people around, 

taking raw ingredients and let them mix and emanates the most delicious flavours, 

which memory will never forget.

I always thought this was normal, but living abroad,

 and considering the lack of time that many of us increasingly experience, 

I came to treasure this aspect : more than a mere need, food is an experience.

Now, as I am interested in illustration related to kids, and I started asking myself :

how is the food experience for them?

Soon I came to the conclusion that too often it wasn't the best, 

not even healthy, and that most of the kids I could approach, 

hadn't been even enough lucky to see an adult properly creating a meal.

No memories of how an onion becomes a delicious flavour, 

or how is better to prepare the filling of tortelli the day before, so the dish will have a greater flavour.

All this said, it has been very clear to me that I had all the elements

of setting off for the journey

to make food become again the great adventure it really is.

I try to draw stories, and the fun, quirky combinations that I love

  around food, and I think this theme

can lead to so many different connections...

to self care, tradition, innovation and mostly, 

appreciation for what the Mother Earth gives us:

life together with the chance to be creative in a healthy and respectful way!

NOTES:

Interesting books about food: 

Foraging and Feasting, an inspiring book about how to find and use wildfood
Baking day at Granma's, a lovely picture book

Blogs ( I am sorry , but I love Italian ones !):
Giallo zafferano, the best of Italian cooking
Mi piace mi fa bene, healthy and tasty food
L'Araba felice in cucina, recipes and funny stories

Instagram accounts:
They draw and cook, the best collection of food illustration
Thabhita Hawkins, an Instagram account of a food stylist photographer

Creative approach :
Erica Liverani, italian chef that often cooks with her little daughter
Andrea Animates, amazing felt art

Well, by now you must be feeling a bit hungry!

New beginnings

Happy New year my lovely folks!

It 's impossible to not have notice on which

sad note 2020 started, between fires and threatening wars

but in my little corner of my tiny world..

all is fine!

In the South of UK we have experienced a lot of rain

(if we could just catch it and bring it where is more needed!)

and the number of days in a greyscale is so big

that I felt more and more depressed.

Oh dear sunshine, you make the plants grow..

I want to grow too! come to visit more often!

I started my year busy with commissions

and for the first time ever, I was asked to recreate exactly one of my images..

and so I did, and it was really interesting,

relaxing, and I could put more contrast in colours than in the previous version..

You know, it is funny to say

but I feel I am less afraid of using dark colours than I was in the past.

Oh yes, this is the truth, as funny as it sounds!

It was because every time I used a dark colour, I would sort of

feel its darkness taking over...my mood..
Plus, they were hard to control..

It sounds very silly, but with a bit of practice I feel I am more comfortable  now!

STILL, I do not have a single black paint in my tool box!

I normally use sepia together with blue, I rekon they will be enough of a strech for this life..

I also did a day of clay

playing with characters

Now I am working on new ideas for the coming seasons, 

and of course I am experimenting, learning, and dreaming of sunny days

and future travels!

Anyone coming to the Bologna Children Book fair this year? 

I can't wait, it is a safe bet for inspiration!

This is a little sketch I have been working on, and with this 

I wish you good ideas!

Notes and discoveries:

- running is my go to treatment for depression ( with the right shoes and not on tarmac! )

- Stephanie Graegin characters are my favorite these days

- favourite food : cooked apples and pears, with few pine nuts and cinnamon on top, mixed with fresh Ricotta cheese ....yummy!

- Art tip: did you know that on the Holbein Acryla Guache tubes you can find value and saturation levels ( Munsell scale) of each color? This helps me to choose which color to go for, in order to follow better my value sketch! And also to control saturation in an image and consciously put it where it needs to be ! 

All the best of this year

Here we are

to another season of gathering thoughts and gratefulness

for all the wonderful experience Life has gifted us this year!

I will share with you my best ones here in this post,

starting from:

BEST BOOKS!

You can heal your life , by Louise Hay, 

a wonderful and practical self help book about self love and its miracles

Big Magic, a must read about creativity, I talk about it here.

BEST VISITED PLACE:

Cornwall! If you can, stay there for a week or so, the energy of this place 

is a real healing powerful gift from Mother Nature! IT is full of nature, history, beauty,

art and magical hidden villages!

BEST ADVENTURE!

Kayaking on Fowey river~ I don't have pictures of this, 

but it' s a series of creeks near St Austell,

and the river it is surrounded by oak woods and footpaths, we ended up in a tiny village called Lerryn, where you feel like in a different time zone.

It was magical to observe the life from a different perspective, from a different pace, surrounded by emerald water reflections and golden sun light,

andwatch the fish playing jumping out from the water, as greeting us .

I had never kayaked before, thumbs up for trying new things!

BEST ART SUPPLY DISCOVERY

Extra Matte Gel, Liquitex

transparent gel to apply over dry paint, that allows other layers to be put on top, 

as it renders the surface really matt and capable to absorb more paint .

I found it best to use over dried acrylic gouache and after that, I can use easily coloured pencils!

Fantastic!

BEST FOOD DISCOVERY

Roasted swede and... jalapeno peppers!

BEST MOVIE

Won't you be my neighbour

American documentary about the life and innovative work

of Fred Rogers, who invented a kids TV show and shared with children

 all of the humans experience and feelings. Eye opening!

BEST INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

Can't get enough of Rebecca Green

a colour master!

BEST QUOTE

Happiness is foremost a state of consciousness that 

depends on our good understanding of things 

(Omraam Michael Aivanoov)

Here some of my BEST , hope you also have a long list of yours!

This year has been really intense and full of discoveries and personal growth.

I learnt deeply to care about myself and to not fight fear,

but taking it along and do things anyway.

More wonderful things will come in the New Year, I am sure!

AND to finish off, a nice collage of MY BEST 9 images of this Year!

All the best of everything for the New Year!