Friday, May 30, 2008

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Ballad of a Comeback Kid

Super-garlicky Fettucini alfredo! it has lots of garlic and tofu and soy milk and some flour and some more garlic in it.
I eyed the rhubarb at the farmer's market this past saturday and couldn't resist getting some to make a pie with. This has strawberry, mango, and rhubarb in the filling. I used the recipe from VWAV (with mango instead of peach). I think that I might be weird in that I like my pie super-cold better than warmed up. Or maybe it's just the awesomeness of chilly strawberries that does me in.


Dinner tonight involved using up leftover food that needed to be used. Sauteed leeks and spring garlic with chickpeas in balsamic and fresh thyme (with a sprinkle of sugar). Served over mixed greens and raw apples and carrots. Much yummier than I expected! I think it was the apple/balsamic combo.


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I have a new planter to add to the family. It's a secret for now!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Sisters



I miss my sisters. I'm going to go home next month to see them and it will be sisterific!

Oh, they don't look that sketch at all. That was just random.

I'm eating a pretty awesome salad right now. Everything is better with avocados.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day weekend

So I had today off of work, but I used it as a personal work day to catch up on stuff for an upcoming craft fair. I compromised a bit though, and took my paintings to the park near my apartment to enjoy the sunshine. It was just way too depressing to be sitting inside on a day like today (and my workspace gets NO sunshine). I think I even got a mini-burn on my arms from the hour or so that I was outside.

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to pretty paper. Some girls spend all their money on shoes or clothes, but no, not me. I spend mine on PAPER. I only intended to buy a few sheets at the paper store yesterday, for some new recipe boxes, but I couldn't resist all the new spring/summer ones they stocked. PLUS, there were new BOOKS full of pretty paper and I had to get one of those. Ah well, I just have to make sure I put them to good use. I have a whole bunch of fun new recipe boxes that I made in the past few days and I have an assembly line of a bunch more prepped. i think I'm going to put a few up in my shop in the next couple days and then the rest go towards the craft fair.


Dinner tonight was leftover Mac Daddy (from Veganomicon) and a kick-ass salad.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Doodles

Dr. Sketchy was yesterday and there were two fabulous models, Lukki and Melody Sweets, in a tribute to Backstage. Click image for larger view.

20 minute pose (painted when i got home):

2 five minute poses:

five minute pose:

10-minute contest (include a word bubble). Melody Sweets had some super-fun hair to draw:

20-minute pose.

Detail:



Back to recipe box making now!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Beware of the Copper Penny Moon

Beware of the copper penny moon...down by the pond, as the cattails sway, there is a shift in the air.

New painting! Watercolor on gessoed pine board, 11"x14". Prints are available here in my Shop.







I know I said I had 6 mini paintings, and I do, but I have 4 more to add to that group and want to put them all up at the same time. And this is a holiday weekend, so lots of time!

And can I give a huge hooray for some sunshine finally?!?

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Rock out

I doodled in the darkness last night, while waiting for the band to come on. Extra Life blew me away, and I attempted to buy a cd from them, but they never came back to man their booth. Oh well, guess I'll have to go see them again! It's okay, I only had $8 on me anyways. Their keyboardist was sick and stayed home, so I'm interested to see how he figures into the loop also. They were so intense! And the vocalist's voice was just mesmerizing, especially paired with the violin.

I left before Kyp Malone came on, but stayed long enough to notice that he shaved his 'fro off! whoa!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Two totally different sketches.

Some recent doodles:

Throw them out.


Chicken Pox Mountain. Who gave who what?!



And rest assured, I got my Liz Phair ticket today, after much fretting. It sold out in like, 30 seconds!!! I was so so distraught and upset after not getting them, but I was relentless and kept checking and refreshing. Sure enough, they added a second date about an hour after it had originally gone on sale and I was able to score one. Hoorah!! Tonight I'm going to see Extra Life at The Knitting Factory. Kyp Malone will also be there doing a solo thing. Hoorah again!

Monday, May 19, 2008

HELL YES!


Brooklynvegan says:

In celebration of the 15th year anniversary of the groundbreaking album, Exile in Guyville and its long awaited reissue a day earlier, Liz Phair will acoustically perform the entire album on June 25th at the Hiro Ballroom in New York.



YES! So excited!! Too bad it's a wednesday though, or I'd attempt to make Nate come visit for it.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

weekend baking

I've been listening to The Cure now for three days straight and it's not getting old. Ahhh Mint Car. Soo Good! These are chocolate-chip cure cookies, because I says so. (okay, they're really Garrick's thin bakery style cookies, from Don't Eat off the Sidewalk, YUM!)They were perfect. It was raining out and I was all emo from endless Cure songs. Sigh.




and then I made some berry-almond-quinoa muffins today. I bastardized the Ginger-raisin bran muffins from VWAV and just used a trail mix I had that had a ton o way too sugary on their own dried berries and almonds. I replaced the bran with quinoa flakes. perfect!





Dinner tonight was Black-eyed pea and Quinoa croquettes with Mushroom sauce. Also from VWAV.



I have six mini-paintings drying right now and waiting for me to put the finishing gouache touches on them. They will be scanned and printed this week! I'm getting a new scanner at work on wednesday and I'm pretty excited about that. Woo!

I also have a mini mushroom and cupcake planter army started. I'll be selling my stuff at Artist's and Fleas in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on June 14th and 15th. come by if you are on your way to Renegade (also the same weekend at the nearby McCarren Pool!!)!

Friday, May 16, 2008

lovesong

I've been listening to The Cure all day long. Best pop/love songs ever...

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Dooooooodles

Click to view at a bigger size.

I kept seeing those intricately sculpted chinese dogs in all the antique stores we browsed in, and I was quite taken with this pattern that I kept seeing being repeated on them. I think I'll make a proper print out of it soon.
From a scenic overlook, on our way to Multnomah Falls. There was a tiny boat speeding along the river into the mountains.

Pretty leaves seen while taking a break on the trails of Multnomah Falls.

Mount Hood, standing halfway up it.

Mountains across from Mount Hood. It went on forever and the light was changing rapidly as the sun set.

Sitting at a picnic table in the backyard of the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub. There were a bunch of dudes at the next table playing cards.

Art Museum of Portland's Native American section. One of my favorite sections of museums! The masks alway crack me up for some reason. So cool!

Little dolls in the same section! Nowadays, they would grace the shelves at Kid Robot (and be made of vinyl)!



I promise I'll stop talking about Portland now. I had a lot to get out of my head and into pixel form!

Right now, I'm gearing up for a craft show that is happening in early June and working on some new things for my shop. I've had a habit of collecting fun things to paint on from the side of the road lately. I have a little stash and can't wait to start painting them.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Portland, OR photos

Finally went through all my photos and put them online! I already posted all my food porn photos the other day, so these are all the rest of the 5 days that Kristin and I spent there. Lots of hiking and pretty sites and WALKING. Such a fun city, and I hope to go back. I won't clog up the page with a bajillion-photos, so here are a few sneak-peeks and then links to view all the images:

Portland photos, part 1
Portland photos, part 2

sorry if they take forever to load! Feel lucky I didn't include all my uber-nerdy plant photos! :)





Sunday, May 11, 2008

What else can I put Teese on?!?!

I bought some Teese at Food Fight Grocery Store while I was in Portland, OR, and I have been DYING to use it. So basically, it's all I've eaten in the last few day (save for a lovely dinner out last night at Lodge in Brooklyn). Verdict: Teese rocks! I made pizza the other night and little pizza purses tonight and both were mighty fine. The melting part was pretty exciting, since it's pretty hard to get a melty vegan cheese. And it tasted good too! Even Nik liked it! I have a little bit leftover and I'm trying to decide what to do with it. People have been making cheese sticks with them and I think that might be a good idea...

Pizza with ramps, fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce, Teese. Before and after oven shots.


Flaky Pizza Purses, from Vegan Yum Yum. She used Sheese though (which I also want to try!). These were soo tasty. And despite them being kinda fancy looking, they were super-easy to make and I devoured them. Mmmm to steamed asparagus also. I love Asparagus season!





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Dr. Sketchy's was yesterday and Amber Ray and MuffinHead were the models, in a Harem theme. I thought I was drawing more of Muffinhead, but in the end I somehow had more drawings of Amber Ray. Both of their costumes were absolutely amazing. And I was pretty much obsessed with both of their eye makeup and spent all of the 1-minute and 2-minute poses focusing on it. Here is a 5-minute sketch and a 20 minute sketch (color added later). Her breasts look a little high in the second one, but I remember thinking the corset was doing a lot of work while I was drawing her, so maybe they aren't. I love Dr. Sketchy.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Vegan Vacation Porn

You knew I'd start with the food porn pictures right?

Blossoming Lotus was, by far, my favorite restaurant we visited on our trip. We went there twice!

Live Wrap (cilantro lime pate, tomatoes, cucumber, sprouts, and avocado in collard greens, with cashew sour creme):

Live Pizza (buckwheat crust with cashew cheese, basil pesto and veggies):

Tempeh Fajita (with onions, peppers, and lettuce, served with wheat tortillas, cashew sour cream and live green HOT sauce):

Chai Hemp soft serve. mmmmm. my favorite. I also tried the Almond Mint another day and that was pretty tasty also.


Sweetpea Bakery:

Cinnabun!

Snickerdoodle! So yum. Just like my mom's! chewy in the middle and crispier on the outside.


Vegan nachos with homemade cheeze sauce at Hungry Tiger, Too. Very mild cheeze sauce, but tasty. I give kudos to places that make their own sauce. It was very white beany and noochy.


Voodoo Doughnuts. Chocolate Coconut.


Late night pizza at Bella Faccia Pizzeria in the NE! We trekked up there specifically for this pizza and it was totally worth it.

Paradox Cafe. I had the tempeh gyro. The highlight of my meal was the soup of the day though, which was Kale, veggie sausage, and another important ingredient that I'm forgetting right now. The picture I took of it was a blurry mess. It was a rainy day (the only we had! yay sun!), so it was perfect.



Last meal in PDX was at the Vegetarian House in Chinatown. We had just missed the lunch buffet, but our meals were still most excellent.

Bean Curd pockets with Napa Cabbage:

Bird's Nest. This was crazy! I was expecting a cool-looking dish, but this exceeded my expectations! Crispy Potato bowl with Veggie Chicken, snow peas, and carrots with sauce. I wanna make a potato bowl!