The Diva Met Bijou! and I Find Zen Everywhere

One of the underlying concepts of Zentangle is - well - Zen!  I am convinced that if we take the time to notice, we can find that state in many situations.  In my last post, I shared a link with a sound energy experiment that produced images very like Zentangle on a black tile.  Beautiful, and what a concept!

A few days ago, I was planning dinner with some lovely red cabbage, braised à la Alice Waters.  I looked in the pantry for noodles to accompany the dish, but no luck.  Having an abundance of eggs to use up before the expiration (hubby gets nervous about these little things), and all the rest of what was needed, I decided to make noodles the old fashioned way - by hand. 

I put flour and salt in a big bowl, hollowed out the center, dropped in a few eggs with some milk and a knob of soft butter. I mixed away, ending up with a rather sticky dough.  As I transferred it to the counter top and began to knead the dough, I thought in dismay that the texture was not unlike the dreaded thunder thighs known only too well to middle aged women around the world.  Uh-oh!  Did I do this wrong?  But, I kept at it, kneading, chatting with my husband, who thoughtfully poured me a glass of wine, and before long I was "in the zone" with the dough.  At some unknown point in the process, the dough transformed from lumpy to that silky, smooth perfect dough of a baker's dreams.

While the dough rested, I wiped my sticky hands and gratefully accepted the glass of wine.  When the dough's little nap was over, I floured the counter again and smoothed that beautiful dough out into paper-thin sheets and set them out to dry for a while.  Once they were sort of crisp at the very edge, and surface dry, I rolled them up to get ready for cutting.  You start with a fold-over so what you get is not a cylinder, but a rolled up rectangle.  When you slice, you end up with something like this.  I call them Z'Nudles. (By the way, the noodles were delicious!)

White Z'Nudles

Saucy Z'Nudles

I am really excited about these Bijou tiles.  Just when I had been silently berating myself for not expanding into some larger-format ZIA works, along comes something right up my alley! These were my first attempt at Bijou-sized tiles.  I am waiting for my "official" tins of Bijou, so I just cut some out of cardstock to get started.

 Well!  Once I got started, of course, I couldn't really stop.  Here are some more I did - fast and easy - how fun!

Bijou Gardening

Three of Everything

Long Climb for Little Bijou

When you let Bijou draw the string, what can you expect?

Bijou Meets Calder