A sartorial friend confessed to stealing one of my favorite Shia LaB pictures for his look book, which entertained me quite a bit, and got me perusing my own photo archives. For anybody with other things to worry about, a look book (or lookbook) can refer to a few different things but in my case is just a collection of influential fashion images. Now, when it comes to looking stylin' I can't claim much success, but I know what I like. I also recently discovered fatshionista, which has been at turns edifying and encouraging. Anyway, what I'm getting at here, is PICSPAMTIME!!!!1one

First though, it would feel weird going on with remarking on the death of MJ, but funnily enough I just happened across the a great retrospective of all of his styles over the years, so go check that out if you're so inclined. RIP, Michael. Shamon.

Now, on to the pretty pictures! ( audrey to zooey )

Moving to more recent projects, I got a little crazy with the Modge Podge...After knocking over a stack of empty shoeboxes I've been stepping around, I went off with an Exacto knife and a handful of old Vogue magazines. Now I have a bunch of fancy boxes that I'm stepping around!

#1: Fairies!!!


I think this is my least favorite one. It's okay, I guess. I wanted to use the Prada fairies ads I like so much, and I had a bunch of these little fairie wall decals...I put Helena Bonham Carter on the bottom because she's always seemed so ethereal and fits in with the gloomy aesthetic of the Prada ad. Eh. Moving on.

#2: The colors, Duke! The colors!


This one I like, it's cheery! And those bubblegum pink heels...to die for.

#3: In Bloom


My initial inspiration was Penelope Cruz, then Balenciaga, and that finally led to flowers. Whatever, it's magazines stuck to a box.

#4: The Gloved One



On this one I tried using stuff with interesting patterns and colors for a first layer, before adding more stuff on top. Came out okay.

#5: Drew!


I'm a little sappy about this one. Obviously, I'm a packrat of epic proportions, being that I hang onto magazines and shoeboxes and assorted ephemera. One such category is a file full of old pictures of Drew Barrymore, that were collected and/or used for a collage that occupied a couple of my walls way back in high school. After picking out the ones I wanted to use here, I was able to justify getting rid of the rest of it once and for all, along with a bunch of other junk, but I also get to repurpose all these pictures that I've had since way back in the day. I mean, look at those GUESS ads! Remember what I said about the matte lipstick? <3

#6: I can never think "Kate" without adding "We have to go baaaaaaaaaaaack" which has nothing to do with this:




This is from a stash of pics that I pulled from magazines right at the height of the whole Cocaine Kate thing. I don't know if she's still in as many ads lately, but she sure wasn't having trouble booking gigs then. Here I've got ads from Chloe, Versace, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Stella...and I can think of three other campaigns off the top of my head.

So! The next task is to organize crap INTO the boxes. It's either that or run the risk of being found trapped under a collapsed pile of magazines and knicknacks in a puddle of Modge Podge. Odds are probably about 50/50.

Thanks to another sinus infection I got some magical elixir from the doctor, plus cold meds loop me anyway, so I've spent some time today feeling about as psychedelic as the new Weird Al video.



It's kind of a bummer that the only reason I've finally managed to catch up on posting Lunchbox pictures is that I'm not packing lunches as often as I'd like. I'm still eating at home, but there's eating at home and there's having the energy to make it cute.


These are Argentinean sandwiches de miga and a beef empanada. The cafe I get them from refers to the egg-filled versions as "mixtos", which otherwise seems to refer most often to a completely different type of Cuban sandwich. There's also a ham and cheese one.


You can see just a bit of the red pepper in the mixtos sandwiches here. I hate mayonnaise with a fierceness, but it works for me in these sandwiches since they use just the slightest hint rather than globs of gelatinous slime. I know the paprika makes the eggs look kinda freaky, but they need a little something to punch up the taste.


I actually took this salad out into the world! I didn't end up opening the can of tuna, but the veg held up well and was right delicious hours later. I'm experimenting with working out my own dressing mixes. It's a process.

*******************************************************************************

Trying to mix it up a bit here, rather than taking a bunch of pictures and typing up a bunch of blah blah about it I made a couple of videos. You might remember my ultimate guide to green bean casserole...I haven't read it in awhile and I was interested to see how I make it differently now. I was just starting to use canned mushroom back then; now I'd rather probably rather use fresh ones or none at all over the canned ones, and I prefer to use fresh beans too.



Another thing I was interested to find? Is that I apparently make everything sound like a question? Which I didn't realize I was quite so guilty of?


Oh, I just remembered, I found this great old Hallmark recipe file book that includes a couple of vintage recipes of it's own. No publishing date though...it's got a "green beans and mushrooms" recipe: Green beans, canned mushrooms and water chestnuts, flour, chopped onions, sour cream, Swiss cheese and crushed cornflakes. Honestly not too horrible, except for the use of Swiss cheese, which has such a strong flavor I can't imagine it meshing well with the other ingredients.


For my birthday, mom and I took a French Baking class at Sur La Table. Super fun. The tart made in class in on the left. One of the things I did in class was make the pasty cream you use as a base for the tart...I made it again at home for my own two, with the addition of a little bit of cajeta I had left in a tub. Oooh, you know what else would be good in there, is nutella! I copped out and didn't actually make a fancy pasty crust for mine, just a regular old graham cracker crust. I also used blackberry preserves rather than raspberry for the glaze, so that's why it looks...inky?

More birthday stuff, here are a few pictures from Disneyland:



One of my very best besties and I went down to Anaheim the night before so that we could get an early start on the parks the next day. We were able to get in early enough that we managed to ride Space Mountain without too much of a wait. Oh, speaking of not waiting in line, I was familiar with the wonderful secret known as "Indy Single Rider", but I never took better advantage of it that on this particular day. Seriously, waiting in the regular line for that ride is a total sucker's bet. We got on it twice in row inside of half an hour. Did you hear Shia was talking about Indy 5 this week??? Totally FTW. I can't wait for them to add a Mutt motorcycle sequence to the ride <3



You have to look pretty closely to see them, but over in California Adventure the roller coaster broke down ON TOP OF A HILL and the people had to walk down. They probably had the best view of the park anybody could imagine but it gave me the heebie jeebies just looking at it.



On the tram ride back to the car, there was a small child having a meltdown because quote I want that Mickey I wanted it I want that Mickey want Mickey I wanted it unquote. Later I decided that he was referring to one of the Mickey variations of these candy apples, and I was more sympathetic to his anguish. Granny smith dipped in caramel dipped in chocolate dipped in marshmallow rolled in sugar with marshmallow ears. On a stick. Epic.

Some of you might know that it was my birthday this Wednesday. Less likely would be you knowing that it was also someone else's birthday this past week, but if you've spent any extended amount of time talking to me, have read my angstier entries or have noticed the giant Kingdom of the Crystal Skull piñata dominating my livingroom, you would not be surprised to hear that I made note of it.

Of course, I'm talking about Shia LaBeouf, polarizing motherfucker that he is. I have my theories as to why so many people are haters (present company excluded, of course, surely you have irrefutable reasons). This is a kid that waltzed through adolescence in a way most of us can only dream, and on the end of it he's been seemingly anointed as The Next Big Thing without anybody having had any say in it. And besides, just look at the kid...

Listen, I can't fault anybody whose douchebag alarms start pinging when they see something like that. I get it.

Very easy to dismiss as nothing more than a pretty face...and great hair...And yet, I have a fascination with the lad that goes above and beyond the ability to rock the fuck out of business formal.

Apologia, or just an excuse to post more pictures? Is there a difference?

Easiest to explicate is the common trait of multiethnicity, which, for better or worse, I have always found to be a dominant factor in my worldview. Just like the Prez and our future Supreme Court Justice, I'm all about the identity politics. How could I ignore the kid with the funny French name that turned out looking like a nice Jewish boy?


And another SoCal native to boot And he even roots for the right team! (2009 NBA CHAMPIONS WHAT WHAT!)


And of course I can't discount the fact that despite having just turned at least a year past old enough to know better, I can't resist my fascination with people with bad habits and the sense to avoid them, but not the ability.


Call it the high-functioning dysfunctionals? The kind of people that can't keep from screwing themselves out of their license, but manage to get around on their Chevrolegs when that's what they've gotta do. I'm being metaphorical, here. I don't think it's working.


What it all comes down to, obviously, like with any celebrity obsession, is the empathy factor (LOL Supreme Court again). Imagining that sharing the circumstances of absentee dads that are addicts but generally okay dudes means some kind of ethereal connection. Reading quotes like "I have no idea where this insecurity comes from, but it's a God-sized hole. If I knew, I'd fill it, and I'd be on my way" and thinking about how you could have said it, or “I grew up with a bunch of hippies, and marijuana was always around” and thinking "gee, I wonder if he's got baby pictures like this?":



I hate to get all Electra complex, but looking at the pictures now, perhaps I need to reexamine whether I don't just have a weakness for dudes with the ability to sport a goofy mustache...

:{1

Can't believe another season is nearly over. Soon we return to that pallid time known as the world without new LOST.



Remember the blast doors? Once upon the time they got all blowed up, now they're just being built and eventually someone will paint a big question mark on them so they can get blown up again. Unless they get blown up first. God, I love LOST.

( Little did I know that I would find more than a sandwich when I decided to eat lunch! )

It's time for me to bring sexyback. I feel ready to be ready to be ready to maybe be ready to kick ass or fall on my face.

( meme )

Everybody uses the Cooliris Firefox plugin, right? Because that thing is awesome. Nothing is better for exploring Flickr, and I can't even stand to look through GIS results without using it. The iPhone app's decent, too. (edit: Right after I posted this, I downloaded an update to Cooliris, so far it seems even better then ever!)

It's funny, pandemic is actually one of my biggest paranoid fears but I have enough to stress about atm, I guess. I found some fascinating pictures from Mexico on Flickr that I had to share, though. I didn't want to hotlink so I uploaded them elsewhere, but you can find the original sources/photographers and a few other good ones under my Flickr favorites:


( más )

Before I can go any further, I have to note how sad I am to hear that Bea Arthur has passed away. One of the true greats, she had an amazing and long career but she'll still be missed. Eff off, cancer.

Moving on, what's say we check out the pics from San Francisco last weekend? As always, click the pictures for more detail.



After wiki'ing "fear of flying" the morning of the trip, I determined that at least as much of my avoidance of planes is plain old agoraphobia, as opposed to the outright fear of dying a claustrophobic death. This actually edifies things, since I'm perfectly aware of the fact that my willingness to drive on LA-area freeways is technically a riskier behavior than flying on a plane but that doesn't change the fact I haven't flown in at least a decade. Anyway, thanks to my mom picking a fight with the TSA agent over not being able to keep my 99¢ bottle of mousse, by the time we boarded the plane my adrenaline had basically peaked so I was pretty much able to deal. We had some turbulence, which was slightly horrifying, but it's literally only a 45 minute flight so I managed.

It suddenly occurs to me, perhaps that one time my mom called a flight attendant a bitch and got us stranded in Phoenix in the middle of summer might actually have more to do with all of this than I've realized. Hmmm. Moving on!



So the airport is in South San Francisco, which this elucidating hillside explains is "The Industrial City". If you got north along the coast of the bay, you'll end up in the Fisherman's Wharf area. You'll also see some nifty stuff along the way, like a giant sextant and bow and arrow.



We were staying near Pier 39, which is the epicenter of FW. We were pretty worn out by the time we made our room, but wasn't enough to prevent me from flipping out when I opened the curtains to check out the view. Alcatraz was RIGHT there!



After unwinding a little bit, we set out to explore and find some food. Thank the sweet baby Jesus for the iPhone Google Maps application, that lovely piece of software got us just about everywhere we needed to be. It was that and dumb luck that got us to Unicorn, where we finally had an amazing dinner. Speaking of the baby Jesus, since Lent's over and I hadn't really eaten all day out of nerves and was on vacation anyway, even though Unicorn had a great vegetarian menu I went ahead and cheated on my "no meat on Fridays" rule.

I have fond memories of roasted and noodled ducks from many wonderful places. Crispy honey duck from Toi in Hollywood, so savory it makes your eyes water. Duck noodle soup from Rich and Richer that makes your tummy feel like it's wearing a Christmas sweater. I swear, this was the best duck I've ever had in my life. Here's the menu description:
Five Spice Duck Mosaic
with Shang Hai Bok Choy and Orsis Mushroom
(Chao Zhou-style duck confit and duck prepared two ways in five spices with baby bok choy)
I know the picture's horrible but you'll just have to indulge me. On the left was sliced duck breast, layered between matching slices of mushrooms. On the right was a duck thigh, which was surrounded by the pieces of bok choy, and topped with what I think were strips of beets. It was either that or some kind of crispy noodle made with beets...this was the best dish in a weekend of good food, hands down.



We had a nice slow start on Saturday. I could start every morning with a sleep number bed and Spongebob episodes. I caught just a little bit of the new "Spongebob versus the Big One" special with Johnny Depp, good stuff.



Fisherman's Wharf's a bit of a tourist trap, at least as much as I was able to to see of it. Lots of tacky little theme shops (which I'm not saying is a bad thing) including a pirate one:



Do you see what the bootleggers have done to poor Captain Jack? Cut his face, knocked out one of his eyes, and most importantly given him an extra chin or three. Unforgivable.

At this point we headed out to what I expected to be the highlight of the trip, our visit to Japantown:



We checked out one of several farmer's market's we saw around the city, and then we crossed a big pedestrian bridge that leads to the Japantown mall. There was some cool Kim Jong Il street art stenciled on it:




It wasn't until we got over the bridge that we were really able to see just how much was going on...I had known that the Cherry Blossom Festival had been going on the week before, but it turned out to be a two week deal. Huge street festival! Check the crowds:



They had a whole row of stands where people could play games of chance, and get samples of various brands of snacks and drinks. I was most interested in these new Nestle treats in Mexi-fantastic flavors:



Fresas con crema, vainilla, coco, mango, arroz con leche, tres leches!!! Plus paletas! I only got to try to coco (aka coconut), but I will be looking for these flavors fo' sho. I love feeling like a catered-to demographic.



First thing I noticed was the bicycle, but as I got closer I realized I was looking at the coolest car ever, i.e. the Hello Kitty mobile. Definitely check the details on these. That matte black paint job! Be still my heart.



Japantown's a cool little place. The mall is three big buildings, and all around it are more shops. One of them is Nijiya Market, which had all kinds of funky stuff. It was overwhelming in it's awesomeness.



This is the plaza in between two of the mall buildings. The cherry trees were gorgeous! There was an equally amazing bonsai exhibit going on:



Some of the trees had cards that identified them as 100 years old or more. They were so cool!



One last little thing from Japantown...we were looking for snacks from the food vendors (ended up getting some grilled meat on a stick and green tea ice cream <3333) and these folks were drumming up some business for their booth:


I read on twitter that Mos Def was walking around the festival the next day. I think running into the Mighty Mos would have been the only thing that could have made this whole weekend cooler. BTW anybody else just start seeing trailers for the R-rated action comedy he's doing with Mike Epps and Donald Faison? Looks to have potential.

On to Haight Ashbury! All around there are beautiful Victorian houses with great details.





This one was my favorite:



Lots of funky, overpriced shops along Haight. I was intrigued by this bus illustrating how to comply with the cooking oil recycling program. Fun fact, I was throwing garbage into recyclables cans for like a day because the colors are different down here.



Kidrobot store, which made me think of Comic-Con...not sure how that's going to end up going down this year, we'll see!



We ended up at Mel's Diner for dinner. I've been past the one in Hollywood a million times but I've never actually eaten there. Had a great french dip sandwich, which my mom had to copy. I didn't mind, since I got to eat the leftover half cold for breakfast the next morning :9



Lord, the things I bought. This doesn't even include the parasol I bought despite smudging a different one in the rack with my ice cream cone (sorry parasol vendor!).





Top row: Hello Kitty Fisherman's Wharf gear and Pikachu spoon from overpriced magnet store, manga from Kinokuniya Bookstore, including Doraemon, Bleach and the first huge volume in an epic series about Buddha by the artist who created Astro Boy. A bento box and pencil bag from the Sanrio store.
Second row: Battle Royale Director's Cut DVD and Domokun bottle opener. Blind box toys from Kidrobot for my dogsitting buddy who's quitting smoking (and who also got the Bleach manga). Some cool finds from the Haight Ashbury Goodwill store, which we found after being disappointed by the insanely overpriced deals at the hipster consignment shops. Yeah, that was a great Steve Miller Band shirt, but $48?
Third row: Epic pillaging of Ichiban Kan. All the bento gear I could ever need. Plus those little doohickies that make it easier to use chopsticks, and a squeeze bottle to replace the big jar of simple syrup sitting in the fridge, and sweet potato chips...



Random observation: There are a lot of funky little bars/restaurants in San Francisco:



Sunday morning I had to get up be somewhere, which turned out to be right on the water. At one point I had a break and I went down to watch the boats and snack on some banana bread from the farmer's market. Afterwards we went back to Haight Ashbury because I really wanted to go to the Aardvark's thrift store, which had been closed the night before.



We found a couple of neat shops off the main drag, one called the Pink Lotus with lots of imported Buddhist/Hindu trinkets, and the Comix Experience, which had this cool if badly photographed Watchmen display in the window:



After that we had to get back to the Wharf for a restaurant we had a certificate for in time for our flight. Just outside the restaurant (Castagnola's) I saw a jelly fish! At dinner, like a dork, I ordered something called a Smirnoff Ice Pomegranate Fusion and actually expected some kind of mixed drink with Smirnoff Ice XD I admit that's dumb, but way to fail with your branding there, Smirnoff.



I had salmon with lobster brandy sauce, and it came with a lemon slice in a convenient and adorable little hairnet to keep seeds from slipping into your food. Usually I like to pretty well drench my fish in lemon but it made the great sauce start to break up so I had to limit it to the veggies and pilaf, which suffered from the blandness that you sometimes find in touristy places. Didn't find anything at Aardvark's that I loved, besides a great paisley silk scarf.



The spoils from Comix Experience. I'd heard about Cromartie High School but I was underprepared for it's hilarity. I picked up a Red Sonja one-shot, but later when I was reading the newsletter talking about upcoming runs, I found out there's apparently a Barack the Barbarian comic coming out where he battles a Red Sonja-esque Palin. That should be interesting.



This is a selection of the goodies from Nijiya. Unfortunately I think most of the stuff that could melt did so in transit, but it's all been decent so far. I inhaled that entire box of green tea sandwich cookies to my head yesterday, it was awesome.



Not pictured among the trinkets from the Pink Lotus is the little stone elephant I painstakingly picked out, because until I found him this morning I thought he'd disappeared. The other stuff is some incense I bought for my buddy, a necklace I suggested my mom get for someone, and a skirt, pashmina type shawl and a little purse for me. Initially I thought the image on the bag was related to the Dharma wheel but it seems to actually be a Ba Gua, which is a sort of feng shui map. I also got some beads, which I'm going to combine with some Tibetan skull beads I picked up at Wat Thai Temple a couple of years ago to make a kickass bracelet.

What a great weekend. It was definitely worthwhile, except maybe if you ask my bank account, but you only live once, right?

Two theme bentos in one week? Obviously I'm putting off studying for something.

So for LOST day, I decided to make the Lamp Post. I feel like this is just a retread of stuff I've done before, but as it was amazingly delicious I should just deal:




Figured that would be it for the week, but since I've been eating honeydew and strawberries for breakfast for days I wanted to punch things up a little bit for tomorrow. I thought about doing something Jesus-y but considering these are the downer days and I had Peanuts on the TV I took a slightly different approach:



It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!

Please don't make fun of the fact that my Snoopy has no arms, because I am very happy with him and am looking forward to eating his adorable nose. Thanks.

My dearest momma nearly lost the dogs today! I would have been gutted, I tell you what. Fortunately they were both recovered, but not before I had a nice jumpstart on a panic attack in the middle of work.

All is well, though! It was Bean's birthday last Wednesday, by the way:


Aged four, a pup named Bean, frequently known as Beaner, Beanie, The Bean and Beanerton J. Dog, additional aliases Bear, Butters, Bubbles, Noodles, Boots, Bingo, Monkey Face, Batman, Buddy Boy, and Beanie Weenie :B

That's my dog right there! Don't get it twisted.

Went to Disneyland Saturday, spent absolutely way too much money upgrading my annual pass so that I could go any day I wanted for the rest of the year. So, uh, if anybody ever wants to go, hit me up.

I managed to remember extra batteries but not my camera, so I had to rely on the iPhone. Turns out the pictures actually come out half decent.

<- Of course, I still got completely lost on the way back to my car.


The "celebration" stuff is the big thing they're pushing this year. There's a tie-in parade; nothing special but it has some cute floats.

Oh, speaking of cute! I saw the sweetest thing: as I was walking down Main Street I noticed a barbershop quartet singing in a storefront. I have a love of barbershop music that goes beyond just my desire to give Seth MacFarlane the old screen door treatment, so I went for a closer look. I was jostled out of the way by an enthusiastic videographer but it turned out to be because a young guy was proposing to his gal to the strains of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". Totally adorable.

Seriously though. Do you think he does the voices?


Ridiculously expensive pass aside, I was trying not to have too spendy of a day, so I brought some snacks. I refilled that water bottle all day, until I lost track of it somewhere in Tomorrowland.


There had been a meetup; I managed to find some kids that were with a youth group and we kicked it for the rest of the day. We went on Splash Mountain, which I would normally have never ridden alone. I tried to get a picture to represent how soaked I got...you can't really see that but it came out all MySpacey and emo so I liked it anyway.


I am a notoriously slow ice cream eater. I would have gone for the sorbet, being contained in a wrapper that would allow it to melt at will, but they were out. Mickey was, however, delicious.


We were heading out of Tomorrowland at this point when I noticed these guys getting set up. I was all, "Wait, they're gonna do some Stomp stuff!". And they did.


Found these amazing wonderments at World of Disney. Want want want want want want want.


First items I ever actually collected were bells. They should still be around somewhere, but I know a lot of them went down in the '94 earthquake. Anyway, the only reason I didn't buy the actually fairly reasonably priced Tink bell is because they don't seem to be in very short supply, and so it seemed a bit early for Christmas decorations. It will be mine, though.



Stopped at the Hearthstone Lounge in the Grand Californian for a chance to get some free D23 stuff and a $10 rum and coke. I ended up getting a Baloo pin and hitting the SNT, which is just about the coolest thing ever.

I do and don't feel like blogging. Hmm, despite feeling like I barely even bento lately I've still got a buttload of lunches to catch up on! What do you know!

Wow, some of these go back the entire year. I forgot I've only been posting the good ones. Let's see if we can spot when I start having to figure out the new camera.





I could have this for breakfast every day.







Sometimes I pack way too much food. I usually nosh on it later, or in the case of school nights I actually pack a whole extra snack:



Another weird thing I do that you may notice is chop food into small pieces. This is both because I find it convenient for microwaving, and because I'm crazy and just like eating things in segments.



Oh, and speaking of being crazy...this might be my favorite theme bento ever, just because of how it came about. As opposed to some belabored effort where I go out and buy some special ingredient and the whole thing comes out looking mediocre anyway, in this case I just so happened to observe that the salmon I was packing happened to look like a particular landmark from a particular movie from the formative years of a particular blogger. Next thing I know, I'm cutting a baboon butt out of fruit roll.



Awesome, right? C'mon! Here, let me log your memory. Nants ingonyama bagithi baba...


LOL. I'm sorry, you can't stand in the way of the muses, however silly they are.




I have got to learn how to make rice pudding as well as Reynaldo. BTW I mentioned I was going to try to do a meatless day, well since Lent has started I've done every Friday. I think that amazing potato garlic cheddar quesadilla was from Ash Wednesday (eta: I remembered, the Ajira Airways LOST/vegetarian bento was actually for Ash Wednesday LOST Day)...anyway I've still been eating a lot of fish on these days but if there has anything this entire project has taught me, is that it's all about baby steps. Tonight I went out and had the most epic tuna Niçoise salad...yum. Totally going to be trying that one at home.



I've tried a few cheeses now with that lovely French onion soup recipe, and I have to say the mozzarella has got to be my favorite single cheese for it. Mmm, now I'm craving it again.



Grilled cheese with avo = another tasty meatless wonder. Also, I effing love my whipped cream charger.



A perfect place to end, since this is the last picture I've downloaded from the camera. I forgot to take a picture of this admittedly uninteresting lunch the night before as I usually do, so I decided to haul it outside and represent it in it's natural environment, i.e. me trying to get the dogs to come in from wildin' out in the backyard. Look at Pixie, she's totally eyeballing my mac and chee!

Me and my infected sinuses are not completely loving life right now, but in honestly I'm somewhat relieved to find out that there's a possibility that something as simple as the magic of Amoxicillin might do something to improve my general outlook on the world. Did that make sense? Long story short, don't smoke, kids.

Don't get addicted to heroin and crash land on craphole islands, either.

I'm going to warn you right now, if you're hungry you might want to stop right now and grab a snack before you look at this, because I have to admit I went a little over the top here.


We're talking prep work, and foresight! Of course, all the dishes are still sitting in the sink :P

First we must start with the night before, or really a few weeks before but we can get back around to that bit later. I took my inspiration for this trifle from a magical dish know as "fresas con crema", or less lyrically, "strawberries with crema". One of the Mexican markets sells a magical confection of the stuff, just strawberries, crema, and a little whipped cream. They also do a pineapple/pecan one, which is great, but, you know, just not as. If you're not familiar with crema, it's something like crème fraîche, which is something like sour cream except for it's not gross.

There are all kinds of different brand varieties (my market has a couple behind the deli counter too) but I know I can always count on this one so I picked it up along with some ladyfingers and what is rapidly becoming a staple around here, heavy whipping cream. The only thing not pictured here is the Frangelico I decided to toss the ladyfingers in, otherwise I basically just threw everything together...



...at which point I insisted that it not be disturbed until the next day. Heartless, but I had my motivation too. I had a concern that the alcohol taste of the Frangelico would be too strong if it didn't sit overnight, and it's probably good that I did because there were a few complaints that it was even still too powerful. I thought it was just perfect, though, so different strokes. Next time I won't be too lazy to brew a pot of coffee and I'll use that instead, but you could just go without too.

So fast forward to the next day, I had a pile of onions just waiting for me to have a whole night to devote to dealing with them. I had noticed a lot of onions over the last few weeks at the farmer's market, so I went looking for a good recipe and I found this one for French Onion Soup on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. It is one of my absolute favorite dishes, and making it was half the reason I bought my awesome candy heart ramekins, so the matter was settled. I didn't find Gruyere cheese anywhere that I looked so I had to settle for mozzarella, but it was a happy compromise. This is seriously probably the best dish I have ever made from scratch. Don't tell me boxed stock doesn't count as from scratch, either.


The only problem was this all took way too long for a hungry weekday night, so I won't do that again. The reason I liked the Pioneer Woman recipe was this cool technique for caramelizing the onions. Rather than having to babysit them on the stove for ages, I only had to do that for a little while before throwing them into the oven to slow cook for an hour. I forgot to take a picture of how many onions I started with, but if you can see the scorch marks on the pot you can see how full it was.



So once the onions were finally ready, they went back on the stove with a cup of white wine. It smelled so good while it was reducing that I made it a very generous cup. I was generous with the garlic as well, of course.



While four cups each of beef and chicken stock and a few dashes of Lea & Perrins simmered, I made up the croutons and got someone to grate the cheese. Hell, I chopped all those onions myself, ain't no shame in my game. Finally finally finally the whole kit went under the broiler to get crispilicous.



Oh my heck, was it amazing. Using mozz made it taste almost like a pizza soup, and it was epic, epic win. Honestly, it was as good as any restaurant's version I've ever had. I can't wait to get some real Gruyere, and I am also betting that some Pecorino would be absolutely out of this world. This is most definitely getting made again some chilly weekend afternoon.

The trifle was lovely too:



Again, not everyone was crazy about the alcoholic taste of the ladyfingers, but I'm old and grizzled like Lou Grant so I was down with it. By the time I had the leftovers in the Watchmen bento I couldn't even taste it anymore.



It's like a ghetto tres leches! Hey, that gets me thinking, there's some condensed milk in the pantry, and I just got another beautiful batch of berries at the new farmer's market...

No new LOST this week, so I figured I'd do something different for a theme bento. I am still dying to see Watchmen, and I've gone from wishing gleefully for it to suck to starting to actually get my hopes up that it will be decent. Anyway, I had been kicking around ideas for a Watchmen bento for a couple of weeks, and I needed a vegetarian lunch for tomorrow, so therefore: I present the Watchmen Squid Bento!

Spoiler alert? I'll put the rest behind a cut, just because I'm nice like that.
( Who watches the Lunchmen? )

Brilliant LOST tonight. Just amazing. My inspiration to do a Skatey bento turned out to be appropriate.



Catfish was on special so I took it from there. See, because Sawyer's Southern, and then the strawberries and fish biscuits...it's cheesy, but in my own defense I will say I've made a whole bunch of these so far and it's not easy to keep coming up with brilliant ideas every week.

For me, anyway. This lovely lady's not having any problems so far. Look at that thing! I literally shook my fist at the skies when I saw it, because there's no way I could pull that shit off. I feel like the guy that grew up living next door to Caravaggio. Or maybe the son of a renowned surgeon, who could never quite live up.



So while I'm on the subject, someone on The Rachel Maddow Show is obviously a Lostie, check out this graphic of the GOP leadership:



Eric Cantor as Sayid??? Comedy platinum.

Anybody in a colder climate has my sincerest sympathies. I was not made for such things, so I don't take my luck for granted. I got these gorgeous goodies at the farmers' market on Friday. The strawberries are long gone, along with half of the avos. Brussels sprouts tomorrow, maybe. I picked up just one basket last time because I could see they were in seasons since they were at every stand. I made them with some techniques from my new best friend, How to Cook Everything. They were amazing, even without using the bacon the recipe called for, so I'm making them bitches again. I am loving that book so far.


I've been noticing the the garden is showing some signs of life lately, so I grabbed the camera when I let the dogs out to play this morning. Fun fact, the pool restoration project was originally planned to be completed in time for my birthday. Last June.


The grape vines are looking pretty deado but if you look closely there are actually some little shoots of new leaves. As far as the main garden itself, we really haven't been keeping up with it since the summer so it's been taken over by weeds.


The only part not taken over too badly are the strawberry plants, thanks to whatever this stuff is covering the ground. There are even a few berries coming in!


I originally had my No on Prop. 8 sign hanging here too, but I had to take it down on 11/05 in a pique. On the plus side, I know which neighbors to passive-aggressively invite if I ever get gay married.


It's pretty rough, but as far as I could tell most of the plants are looking like they're holding it down.


Leaving the garden proper for the part of the yard I like to call The Jungle.


Lemon tree outside my window. Those bare looking branches are actually more grape vines creeping over the fence.


The fruit trees are pretty overtaken by weeds too, but they're fine. The birdbath was way cuter before we actually had some raccoons stop by the neighborhood for awhile.


Oh, speaking of fruit trees, I put in a request for a Meyer lemon tree. They're really starting to come in now. I can't wait to try them, I don't think I've ever even had one.


The Eiffel Tower and cute little puppy coming up later came from my grandparents. I like to think of the second picture as a representation of global climate change hitting Lantern Waste. Notice they're trying to fight it with high efficiency light bulbs.


It was at this point that Bean tried to make a break for it. Cheeky, cheeky.


Hells yeah we have cheesy garden decorations. Personally I don't think we have enough.


Welcome!

Previously on LOST (or this blog, whatever): 1, 2, 3



BEN: Heeeey there pal. Whatcha doing?

JACK: Not thinking about Oxycodone! I can tell you that much!

BEN: I see.



BEN: Well, I notice that you found the new lunchbox.

JACK: Yeah, it's neat. I like how the elephant kinda waves at you and it changes from night to day. Cute.



BEN: It is. But you know, the story of the Ark is really about faith...and vengeance...God was so angry with the world, he was ready to destroy everything on it. Until he found just one righteous man.



JACK: ...

BEN: Even though he knew without question what needed to be done, Noah still had to keep his faith in the face of the insurmountable.

JACK: So did he?



BEN: Seriously? You don't know how this story goes? It's like, one of the most basic parables of Christianity. I was raised by a bunch of commie Buddhist wannabes and I learned it when I was like six.



JACK: Of course I know what happens! I thought you were going to make some kind of metaphor! Besides, I'm into asking questions lately, it's the new thing! So what's in the box, anyway?

BEN: Eh, some vegetarian crap.



BEN: It's actually not bad compared to some of the other stuff I've seen around here.

JACK: Is that cheese? Why is it green?



BEN: Yeah, I think it's time to dial back on the questions now, David Frost.

I got tagged!

( 19 Questions )


Let's talk Oscar outfits! First, let's get the bad out of the way:


Now, the dress is beautiful, and she's got the figure for it. But someone needs to tell this girl she's not nominated for an award so maybe she shouldn't be dressed as the ultimate sparkle princess. I know she's just a kid, but it's embarrassing.

Now for some of the good. It's hard to find any pictures yet, so forgive the so-so quality:


I love Tilda Swinton's style. You never know what she's going to wear but it's always going to be interesting.


Just wanted to point out that Mickey Rourke wore a necklace dedicated to his recently departed chihuahua, Loki <3333 I actually like the look Mickey's been rocking lately, but the hair's gotta go.


(Sorry if this is coming out huge, I don't know why!) Had trouble finding any good pictures of Angelina's dress, but it was up to her typical standard. There's always a picture of her and Brad all snugglekins like that from every red carpet, which amuses me.


Natalie Portman in yet another drapey Grecian number. Lovely, but let's mix it up once in awhile, Nat!



My favorite of the night, Penelope Cruz's dress. As for the other Best Actress winner, Kate Winslet's dress was...interesting. I haven't decided quite how I feel about it yet. Penelope's dress, though, which was a 60 year old vintage piece, had me at hello (Oscar winner reference!). Tasteful jewelry, perfect makeup, and the detailing on that bodice! Everything was perfect. Somebody had a good feeling about winning 8D

Right now, at this moment, I've got about $35 worth of kitchen gear from Sur La Table and Ichiban Kan that I totally don't need, but nonetheless completely want, sitting in shopping carts ready to order. What I should be doing (right now, at this moment) is catching up on algebra homework, not online shopping and posting entries to try to discourage myself from said online shopping.

So, yeah, I've got a bunch of bento crap already. Back in early summer I got my first order of junk from http://www.ichibankanusa.com/. What surprised me what how tiny, and flimsy the stuff was. Of course at a buck fifty a pop, I can't really complain. But it's something to keep in mind if you're ever buying any bento gear.



See, pretty small, huh? Eventually after using these few boxes for awhile, I gave in and ordered a bunch more gear. Through experience, I learned that it's perfectly fine to top-rack dishwasher the boxes themselves, but the flimsier lids don't fare so well in the dishwasher or microwave, so it's better to wash them by hand. The picks are fine in the silverware basket.





That little triangular one is the only one of these boxes that I don't totally love and use all the time. It's meant to hold large rice balls, but it doesn't stay closed well. Speaking of which, probably the most interesting thing about genuine bento gear from Japan is how it doesn't snap together like Western style containers do. You close a container of Gladware, it stays closed, but the tiered bento boxes need a belt to keep them together. On the other hand, the bento boxes with snap-top lids close so tight they're near impossible to open sometimes without prying that sucker open with a butter knife. I wonder if it's because I keep mine in the fridge and generally Japanese bentos are eaten at room temp? I don't know, I'm not Michael Faraday.

Speaking of Western style stuff, I found this neat Aladdin Lunch & Go Mini box fairly cheap at Ross, after promising not to buy anything new unless there was something particularly neat about it. In this case, it's that divider, which is movable. I found the bigger white carrier on their website, and have no need for it, but still, how cool is it?



If I only had one container, it would definitely be the Mini. It's a good size, it's sturdy, totally washable, and the only one I would trust to throw into my purse without worrying about it. Plus it's BPA free, and god only knows what's leeching out of those cheapo containers. Of course, you don't need any of this junk. At all. But, you know, it makes it fun.

And even after all this, I still really want to buy more junk, right now. Resistance is futile!

Oh, a meme that lets me use my beloved icons?!?

( ILU, mystery meme crafter )

Off to decorate some cupcakes!

2 am edit: See, told you!







In the spirit of the Jason cake, I bring you the Jason cupcakes! BTW if you think the explanation for this project is the fact that I was slowly polishing off that bottle of Paul Newman Cab, then you would be right.

I had it because last night I made a batch of compote, where I simmered strawberries and blueberries in a bit of the wine. We ate all of the fruit easily (because it was amazingly delicious), but there was a fair bit of the fruit juice/wine left, so I saved it. I used it instead of the water in a strawberry cake mix recipe, hence the purpleness and stray blueberries in the cupcakes. At first when I mixed the stuff together and even when they first came out of the oven, I was afraid my little experiment might have ruined them. It seemed from the smell that they might come out bitter, but after they cooled I tried them and they're awesome. More depth of flavor than you ever get from a box mix, normally.

My other motivation besides old Cool Hand Luke was wanting to try out this frosting technique someone told me about, which is simply melting store-bought frosting. It totally works! I dipped 'em all once and chilled them in the fridge before I gave them a second coat and they came out great. In the meantime I also had some honest to goodness dip for fruit so I went to town there too:



I only did the orange slices and grapes on a bit of a whim, but they turned out to rival the strawberries in their deliciousness. The little tuxes are pretty cute though, huh?



God, I fucking hate Valentine's Day.