Obamas Beets

“One thing the president and I, we don’t really like, are beets,” the first lady said in an interview Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We don’t have beets. We’re a no-beet garden. We believe there’s a beet gene. You either love beets or you hate ‘em, and neither of us have the beet gene.”

Beets Me by Beth Surdut

As part of my  Art From the Kitchen~ Painted and Served, I have a beet recipe that  makes grown  men  lick their plates, so perhaps the presidential  family--famous for their open-mindedness-- will give it a try. 

Beets Me, the recipe ~ painted and served by Beth Surdut

Golden beets (oh my!) or red beets (oh yes!!) or a mixture of both

Maché or baby arugula—just a few leaves per serving

Crème fraîche or Greek-style yogurt

Honey to drizzle

Lemon—a few drops into the honey

Separate plates

Remove greens, clean and cut beets into quarters.

Steam till easily pierced about 8 minutes

Cut into bite size pieces

Prepare a welcoming bed of yogurt or crème fraîche

Sprinkle a light design of greenery

Arrange beets on top

Mix honey and fresh lemon juice to taste and drizzle delicately over  beets and yogurt

Serve beets warm or at room temperature

Watch diners surreptitiously lick their plates.

Drawing Raven

from the series Listening to Raven

Raven comes here to find me in the cool desert morning, announcing his presence in an apricot sky. I see myself reflected in his blue-black eyes and feathers.

According to Native American lore, Raven is the bringer of magic. He is my birth month totem and  for  three years we've engaged in an ongoing dialogue of  art and  story.
I saw no ravens in my three years of river paddling with   alligators and birds in Florida, but once I made the decision to move to New  Mexico, Raven came to see me in my  tropical  garden. Always chased by a noisy escort of mockingbirds and blue jays, Raven would perch on the turquoise-colored wood railing of my front porch to watch me draw. If he couldn’t find me, he would caw and dance on the little tin roof covering back stairs. I'd come out and he’d cock his head to get a good look. That bird never missed a day for weeks.
A friend of mine who is a lay minister tells me that somewhere in the bible a visit from a raven can mean prosperity and the Medicine Wheel offers the same possibility. Here is a place for people to unbind themselves, to expand their hearing and seeing, both inward and outward, in the vast beauty of a limitless sky.
For another glimpse of Raven, look at Listening To Raven- Drawings,Myths & Realities
This drawing is on 10" x 14" paper using pen, pencil, heart and mind.