Thursday, July 26, 2012

Mythology is weird!

The Mythical Unicorn

New stuff! OMG! I've been working on this series for a few months now, and I have finally gotten around to photographing them and getting them listed in the shop. Woo! Mythology is weird and super-fun and have I mentioned it is weird? Seriously, you can get lost down the interweb-hole reading different myths. I decided to start a continuous series on this theme, and started out with some of the more well-known ones. I hope to do many more (of the lesser-known, insanely weird ones too!) 

King Cyclops

Teumessian fox



Nessie

Phoenix Fire Bird

The Siren

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Kitty Diabetes



So back at the beginning of the year, my little dude was diagnosed with Kitty Diabetes. It was scary at the time, as he's my baby and has been with me for ten years (4th of July baby!) Over the last few months I have made some pretty drastic changes to his diet and started giving him shots of insulin 2x a day. I am VERY happy to report that he has been in the "normal" blood sugar range for the last few weeks and hopefully I can help put him into remission soon and wean him off the insulin completely. To give you a sense of how high his blood glucose levels were when this all started, they were in the 500-600 range, which is INSANELY high. Now we are in the 70-100 range, which is drastically better. I switched him to a grain-free wet food (Wellness Core, if you were curious), and I think that has really helped him a lot. Hopefully, in the future, his diabetes can be managed by diet alone, rather than insulin shots. Unlike humans or dogs, cats can actually go into remission with diabetes sometimes (but not all the time), so I'm realllly hoping that will be our situation. He loves the wet food, has lost some weight, and doesn't really mind the shots (or notice them really.) It's amazing how much his coat has improved over the last month or two, shinier and less dandruff and so soft. Happy kitties make me happy! 


Look, he even started doing yoga:






Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Lazy Summer



I can't stop eating blueberries and cherries! Summer fruits are the best. And I basically just want to curl up with my kitty and a good book for the rest of the summer...
xoxo,
Michelle


Thursday, July 12, 2012

Fava Beans


Last Saturday, in my CSA, I received some Fava Beans. I don't recall ever having them before, much less making anything with them, so I had to do a little research into how to prepare them. They're so weird! They're kinda lumpy pods with black blemishes all over them and quite large. You have to snap off one tip, and it becomes a string that you can pull to split in half. When you open it, there is a white, spongey interior, with 3-4 (sometimes just one, which seemed like a rip-off.) little smooth beans attached. 


 I thought I had a lot of beans, but once I opened them all up, there weren't that many ACTUAL beans. They're still not ready for consumption though, once you pluck them out of their pods. You have to steam them to remove them from ANOTHER shell. Yep, these are kinda time-consuming.


So I steamed them for 10 minutes, and they pop right out of their plastic-y shell. The actual bean is kinda mushy, so be careful smooshing them out of their shell. 


They basically taste like peas, not beans, but I did a little research and they are actually part of the pea family. They're pretty good for you, nutritionally-speaking, too.  Also, tasty! I threw them into a stir-fry I made, at the end since they were already steamed. I don't know if I would go out of my way to buy them, since they take a bit of prep for such a small amount, but it's fun to try new things!




Wednesday, July 11, 2012

My Lately


Cold brew coffee

Starting to work on my 2013 calendar...

Loungin'

Right-side up Pineapple Cupcakes, from Vegan Cupcakes take over the World. (I used spelt flour and added some blueberries too.)

Teacup Succulents

Custom Save-the-Date postcards for a customer's wedding. I love custom orders, hit me up if you need something!

Another custom order; Watercolor painting of a cat in a suit of armor, riding a flying Spaghetti Monster, with his sword to the sky! Yes! 


Monday, July 9, 2012

Storm King Art Center


Last Thursday, Nik and I rented a car and drove up to the Storm King Art Center in the lower Hudson Valley, NY.  It's about an hour and a half drive north of NYC (but we were caught in traffic, of course, so it took about two hours...) We also picked a day where it was 95°F out and SUPER-humid. Ugh! It was worth all the heat and sweat though, because this place is beautiful! It's set on 500 acres of gorgeous landscape, surrounded by mountains, with amazing sculptures dotting the land. Some were surprising in their placement and it was fun to come over each oncoming hill to see what was next. Also, because it was so freaking hot out, I think we were pretty much the only people there. We rarely saw other visitors, which made the experience pretty fun. Yay no tourists! I took a billion photos, but I narrowed it down to some of my favorites. I bet that this place is absolutely gorgeous in Autumn...

We also stopped by Beacon, NY (which is about 20 minutes away from Storm King), to check out some shops. Such a cute little town! I'll definitely go back there, probably by train, and explore further (when it's not so hot, ugh!) 


This reminded me of a Praying Mantis

Lost head


He's so strong!

I got this.

Thumbs up dude.




Hey man.

Little cutie.

Mermaid boat, by Roy Lichtenstein. I was so excited to come across this!

Love, love, love! "Five Men, Seventeen Days, Fifteen Boulders, One Wall" by Andy Goldsworthy. It wound through the trees in the forest, and then diminished into the pond...

...and came out the other side of the pond...

...and continued up the hill.

Peace 


Friday, July 6, 2012

Happy Weekend!

A rooftop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, before the fireworks on the 4th of July

This has been such a fun week! Nik and I hung with some friends on a rooftop on the 4th of July, and then we went on a little adventure outside the city yesterday. I am feeling refreshed today and ready to work and get stuff done (which is rare on a friday!) I'm gonna run with it. Will share more about our little adventure on Monday!

Happy Weekend!
xo,
Michelle

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Vegan cooking



Not a tester! Just my breakfast this morning. It has some noochy tofu, red onion, jalapeƱo, radish, yellow zucchini, and swiss chard. Totally delicious. Seasoned only with a bit of salt/pepper/olive oil. 


I'm still recipe testing! Currently for Isa for her upcoming cookbook, Isa Does It, which is going to be super-amazing. Seriously. I thought I would show you a peek at a few things that I have made from it recently:

Chicky Tuna Salad Sammich

Island Black Bean Burgers

Beefy Asparagus Stirfry 

Monday, July 2, 2012

Summer Days


So Summer is officially here and with it brings the unbearable hot days and high humidity in this concrete jungle I live in. We've been having crazy thunderstorms lately, usually early morning or late at night. The kind of thunderstorms where you suddenly have a lake in your backyard in ten minutes flat. Crazy! But then the sun comes back out and dries it right up and melts anyone that dares step outside. 


But still, I'm trying not to let the sun make me lazy. I went and did some work at Champs on Friday, treating myself to a giant iced coffee w/ soy milk and a cookie. Yum! Nik and I took the ipad and went to a few different coffee shops (for some more icy beverages!) on Saturday, and just played many games of chess, checkers, and othello, basking in the AC of the cafes. Super-fun (and I won them allll!)  We shall defeat you Summer!


The season of pickle-making begins! We got a bunch of pickling cucumbers in our CSA on Saturday, so I promptly turned them into some dill pickles on Sunday. I also roasted some beets and threw some jalapeƱos and onions in a jar to make some spicy pickled beets. I just use a simple refrigerator pickle recipe, so I can eat them in a week or so (and they don't usually last long around this apartment!) I love the way newly pickled things in jars look; so pretty!