SGF #157 Small but Big and Tall

SHOES: What’s a better way to kick start the new year than buying a great pair of shoes? Buying two great pairs of shoes!  First, check out these Alexander McQueen bow heel wedges from their winter 2011/2012 collection. They are an amazing combination of frills, height architecture; not too big and not to small but the overall effect is wild and rock star chic. Perfect for New Years Eve 2011.   And speaking of big style, the Christian Louboutin Lady Daf is the big and tall heeled Mary Jane in snakeskin with a closed toe and 6.3 inch heel.  (Now that’s my kind of platform.) The Lady Daf’s mark is the skyscraper heel and the Mary Jane style for 2012!

GUYS: Patrick Skoff is a self-described “eclectic painter” and isn’t your typical artist. At the age of 30, Skoff realized that his landscaping company just wasn’t going to cut it. So he left his company to pursue his dreams of being a big time artist. Over the last four years Skoff has been painting full-time and giving his art away. Yes, that’s right, GIVING IT AWAY. He said he had a bunch of art sitting around and started giving clues on Facebook where to find the paintings. He posts the intersection and a photo of his artwork in the various locations for the clues. Seems easy, huh? Try beating the 3,000 followers who wait anxiously for clues to snap up the artwork. He has decided to take his art hunt nationally and bought a tour bus to hit the road in 2012.  Skoff plans to keep giving art away, until he can’t anymore. If you’re interested in his artwork his small clues are posted on Twitter @freearthunt and his facebook pages Patrick Skoff and ART HUNT.  Keep checking out his pages because you never know, he may be stopping by a city near you.

FOOD: She might be small in stature but she’s big and tall in flavor, Chef Jackie Shen from Chicago Cut Steak House not only had a BIG smile but she showed me how to make an amazing pork chop with butternut squash that is BIG on taste and tiny on your waist! Great for a quick healthy dinner any time.  Thanks Chef Jackie!

Butternut Squash and Pork Chops:

Butternut Squash

-1 1-1.5 pound squash

-2oz unsalted butter

-1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

Cut squash in halves.  Remove seeds

Lightly warm butter with brown sugar in a pan and rub the butter and sugar on the squash.  You will have extra left you can refrigerate for next time.

Baked in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour 15 minutes to check if it is soft it is ready or else cook till tender.  Cut squash lengthwise to 4 pieces

Berkshire Pork Chop with Portobello mushroom sauce

-4 oz portabello or shitake mushroom julienned

-2 6 oz pork chop

-2 tbsp olive oil

-Salt, pepper ground

-2 cloves  mined garlic

-2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a 9″ skillet, heat olive oil, salt and pepper on both sides of pork chop, when browned on both sides put skillet in oven for 5 minutes.

Special thanks to Natasha Hemley and David Flom.