PlushBot 1138-17

Available in my Etsy shop.

Sausage and Barley Soup with Swiss Chard

Ingredients

Olive Oil
2 Carrots - Chopped
2 Ribs of Celery - Chopped
1 Onion - Chopped
2 TBS Minced Garlic
2 Italian Sausage Links - Cut Into Small Pieces
1/2 Pound Mushrooms - Quartered
1 Can of Diced Tomatoes
1 Cup Dry Red Wine
5 Cups Beef Broth
1 Cup Pearl Barley
1/2 Pound Swiss Chard - Chopped
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Dried Thyme

In a large pot heat olive oil (2 or 3 tablespoons) over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent.

Add sausage and mushrooms, cook until sausage begins to brown and the mushrooms release their liquid. Add all of the other ingredients except for the chard. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

Add the chard, it looks like a lot but don't be scared - it cooks down! Give everything a stir and continue cooking for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy your hearty, scrumptious soup!

Dulcimer - All together but not quite there.

Everything is put together and looks pretty good, but the nut and bridge are in need of work. I'm getting lots of buzz down by the bridge, it sounds almost like a sitar. (there's another project!) My fret placement is correct so that's at least good. Even with the problems I'm still happy, and it's nothing I can't fix! I'm thinking some string trees and a new bridge are in order.

Cigar Box Dulcimer Ready to Finish

I added a 6 1/2 fret today after doing some more research on dulcimers. I also added some t-nuts to hold the strings, they seemed to work pretty good for my last build. So it's all glued together and ready for a tung oil finish!

Cigar Box Dulcimer Frets and Body

I cut the notches out of the body today and stained it. I also drilled a few sound holes. For the frets I used matchsticks! I don't know if it will work, but they seem pretty sturdy. As a long time guitarist I have to say that the fret spacing for a dulcimer looks pretty strange.

Cigar Box Dulcimer Neck

I carved the headstock, drilled holes for the machine heads, and rounded the back of the neck today. It's looking good so far. Now I need to clean up the mess I made since I work at the kitchen table and it's dinner time!

Illustration Friday - Shaky

Too much coffee!
Ink and watercolor on cold press watercolor paper.

Cigar Box Guitar T-Shirt

Cigar box guitar t-shirts, mugs, stickers and other goodies now available. They can all be found here.