Hidden Treasure

Is what you'll find like this very special apple....

When you have a Jack....

And Sophie monster....

Oh and a linocut work in progress....You see sometimes I need to cut things.....

Shoot Out!

Last night my husband and i watched 3:10 to Yuma. I am not really into westerns although i guess i should be as i love samurai movies. Anyway if you have seen it, there is a scene at the end that just blew my away with the gladiator and his top man. I always call him the gladiator because that's how Russell Crowe will be forever burned in my brain. Well I don't know about you but so much was said on their faces. It was amazing. So my husbands tells me that wow that was a lot of shooting" F@$k! " AAAANNND then I remembered. We have witnessed an actual shoot out on the street with cops and bad guys eight years ago. How crazy is that? It wasn't a movie but it was some guys running up Rosemead Blvd just north of the 10 freeway turning around quite often and firing handguns. I was like "holy crap i hope these guys don't cross the street in front of my car!" and then a gang of police and squad cars followed. Traffic started going again and i didn't hesitate to get the hell out of there. So that's my exciting story of the day . I cant believe i forgot about that?

Nina Simone/ Feeling Good

This is definitely how i feel especially when the time changes....a great song for the morning to get yourself up!

Kung Fu Hustle

Netflix is starting to get on my nerves. You see last night we watched one of my all time favorite movies thus far Kung Fu Hustle. It was the second damaged disk I have received which is very frustrating. I guess I should break down and just buy a copy of it. Have you seen it? Oh you should. I love the warning of "stylized" violence on it too. So you already know I love the animes but I also love the kung fu movies too. I grew up watching Kung Fu Theatre on kcal channel 9 as a kid and often with my dad while eating vegetable flavored top ramen because the color of the package was a turquoise color. One of my other favorite movies...its an old one called Master of the Flying Guillotine. So I found this illustration of the fat lady from Kung Fu Hustle this morning....isnt it so cool? But, then the fat lady is way super cool. The illustration is courtesy of Michael Henderson....thanks man! You can visit his blog too. He has lots of really great comic book style illustrations. The Art of Mike Henderson

Nina Simone - Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter

its monday morning boys and girls.....so lets get the party started....if you didnt love nina already maybe you will now.....

Sunday Lunch

well today i made flat bread pizzas....

barbecue chicken pizzas to be exact....

i have to say they turned out very well....

here is the before shot as they were going into the oven....

no this is not a fresh and easy ad...but its how i made my base pizza sauce....one 8oz can tomato sauce in a bowl....add a generous helping of dried italian herbs....garlic salt....you could also use onion powder i didnt though....pour in a little olive oil and pepper....stir and taste to see if its to your liking and then adjust....

here i put on my base sauce and then spread barbecue sauce.....you could make your own but i was kinda lazy today....i thought making my dough was good enough....

here is half of the dough partially cooked at 500f for about four to five minutes....i actually divided the dough into four pieces.....then i poured olive oil on them and made them into oval circle square things and pricked them all over and added a little salt also there is olive oil all over the cookie sheet....put two of them on a cookie sheet on the lowest level rack in my oven....i precooked them a little bit because i dont like it when it super doughy in the middle....then i added more sauces and a sauteed chicken breast that was chopped up with fresh garlic, salt, and olive oil(they were cooked all together in the pan)....then fresh chopped pineapple and thinly sliced red onion and shredded mozzerella cheese....when it was all done i added some fresh coriander for garnish and taste as i had some left over from friday....the flat bread recipe i used came from a martha stewart link but i didnt cook it the way the recipe suggested because i dont have a pizza stone....i put the completed pizzas back in the oven at 450f for about 8 minutes on the second lowest level in my oven....i also used whole wheat bread flour because thats what i had....its a little heavy on the texture but if you like that go for it or use regular unbleached bread flour....anyway they turned out yummalicious if i dont mind saying so myself! OH and before i forget the recipe says to refrigerate for at least four hours....well i used fast rising yeast and let it rise for an hour....then i punched it down and made flatbread pizza....no refrigeration.

"Now or never" BILLIE HOLIDAY

i have been on a lady day kick lately....this one makes me want to dance!!!

Suggestion from the Desert

so theres this woman and she lives in the desert....

and well she made this and well as you know.....

i had to make it too.....recipe here!

Almost Indonesian Spicy Omelet

well there is a new yummy blog i enjoy looking at.....its called mochachocolataRita.....

she made this omelet last friday i believe and i knew this was definitely something i would be making.....

what i liked about her post is she wrote about indonesian pancakes called telur dadar and how she basically spiced them up....

i didnt have all the ingredients....i forgot to buy a shallot....so i used half a small red onion very thinly sliced....

and there were only serranos ( i only used one that was chopped and deseeded mostly) at the store and then i threw in some mini sweet peppers orange and red like about four....

there is also cornstarch, salt, pepper, coriander and a little bit of sugar....i also made some basmati rice with butter and i might say that i wish i had more now as i start to think about dinner....by the way i doubled her recipe which made about three to four portions and i wont lie my husband and i ate it all up....yup thats right we did and we have no regrets....by the way i loved her explanation as to why its indonesian and then you will understand why mine is an "almost" really just go there already....the link goes directly to her recipe....thanks rita!

Succulents Again

hooray its spring....well for a couple of days at least and the the husband is weeding, whacking,rearranging succulents, and basically getting the yard into shape for the coming months.....what i love about his succulents is when you think a plant ate it in the cold( its sad when plants rot and big giant heads of things drop off) it didnt....
LOOK at all those little itty bitty aeonium heads growing along the stems....pretty cool stuff!

underneath the aeonium stems in the pot are a whole bunch echeverias just reproducing like crazy.....im looking forward and not looking forward to are making lots of new little plants....i just love spring....here is a link to my husband's shop if you are interested....thesucculentgarden.

Big Bang

sorry its a recycled picture from last year....but i havent been photographing.....i have been laying in bed until at least 9am.....the husband is on vacation.....now for the real topic....i have been visiting the big bang studio blog for a year now.....its one of my favs....and well i loved her recent post about japan and india and well i thought you might enjoy it too.....lily is very cool and funny....and fortunately for me i was able to meet her briefly last year....oh and she is an amazing painter.....so go there now and experience the love!

Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter Version)

as we were cleaning out our stuff earlier in the month i found my old pavement cd....only the cd was not in the case....bummer days....anyways this was one of my favorites from the 1990s....the whole thing was so cool and i think i must have listened to this whole cd like ten million times.....so i thought i would share....enjoy!

Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy me

well every morning when i read about japan i seem to feel even more sick than before....if you havent donated yet please do if you can.....i did here at global giving ....also as americans i think we need to reconsider expanding nuclear energy( especially getting rid of it) because it is not essential to our survival and there are other ways to create energy to use such a potentially dangerous one....

Lemons and Locust

last night i made meyer lemon creams from one of my favorite blogs tartelette.....

this morning i got the ladder out to cut flowers from my favorite tree the locust.....

then i photographed my little lemon puddings if you will because thats kinda what they are and i also made some fresh whipping cream and toasted pinenuts....

the crazy thing about cutting these flowers are the big fat black bumble bees that swarm around these blossoms but they didnt get me as i was fast and i am sure im not as exciting as the flowers....so they left me alone....

but what i did get was this for my breakfast.... oh yeah they were pretty good.....a little less tart than lemon curd but thats the flavor.....

these trees grow like weeds sending suckers off them everywhere.....someday i hope to have way too many of them because how gorgeous would that march be? they also have a delicate sweet scent....i really do fantasize about strange things.....there are also no bees in my fantasies either....bees are wonderful though sometimes when i pass our citrus trees they actually sound alive with all that humming.....

here is what the puddings looked like last night.....the thing i liked about this recipe is it was all done in one pot which makes it very convenient and easy to clean up....click on the link under the first picture for the post and recipe....her food styling is amazing....someday mine will be too!

Dinner

last saturday christina was in town....so she came by for dinner....

this baking dish was a gift i had never used before....i put white wine in the tube and the chicken sat on it....you know like beer can chicken....so i put chopped up fresh rosemary, lemon zest, minced garlic, salt, and pepper with butter cold butter and then made a paste if you will....then i put under the chicken skin.....in the bottom of the dish i added sliced meyer lemons rosemary stem and red onion....the flavor is bitter not overly but a good bitter if you like that kind of taste which i totally do i love lemons with chicken and with parmesan on pizza....

oh and my husband drank too much wine....he is so cute....but he turned the timer off on my chocolate souffles....so they overcooked....rats....there were also red rose smashed potatoes with lots of butter, some whole milk, and generous amounts of salt and pepper and a green salad with corn, avocado, red onion, and cucumber....i think?...and of course dijon and lemon vinaigrette

and yesterday morning i ate an enormous strawberry....YUMMY!

Billie Holiday - Tenderly

OOOps i did post that other one before so i thought i share my second favorite song she did....tenderly....my favorite line is....the shore was kissed by sea and mist tenderly....oh goodness what a line....the album i had was scratchy and i was in love with someone that didnt love me....it was a pretty angsty time but still a good memory!

Billie Holiday - they can't take that away from

yes more music....but now im feeling or was feeling dreamy until my husband came home....oh he is not the problem its my son when daniel comes home from work the boy acts like crimes of humanity have been committed against him and there is no soothing for like forty five minutes....breathe in and out breathe....breeeaathhhe.....nightie night time will be here soon....i am not sure if i posted this song before oh well if i have....its my favorite billie holiday song and i needed to hear it...enjoy!

Elizabeth & the Catapult "Everybody Knows" live at Paste

yet again here is some music albeit a different song from knowthyself....thanks james....anyway its a remake from leonard cohen i believe he was a canadian singer songwriter....i kinda felt like i was in a dark mood today reading about nuclear concerns in japan and well is it really worth it and how can you really be prepared?....i mean about nuclear energy..... also thinking about what went down in the gulf last year....is it really worth it in the long run to use such dangerous methods?.....obviously mother nature can f@#& up your shit no matter how prepared you are or how safe something is deemed(makes me also think of the unsinkable titanic as well)....im thinking NO its not worth it when the ecology of the planet can get totally screwed up and can also affect us humans(and radiation surely does) and well other beings too and the situation in japan is currently like a crazy plot from some anime....i can only hope that those reactors dont melt....hope it feels so useless when it comes to something so scary because not even money can fix hot ass reactors.....but then i have always been a no nukes kinda gal....

Caution Profanity....Really!

yesterday i came across a blog called thechirpybird.....

she made this and when i saw this i HAD to make it....i mean i really had to....

she got the recipe from joythebaker.....click on the link if you want it....you know you want it.....you do!

can you believe i had never been there?

well i couldnt....

so i know this is floating around on the internets right now....

sorry if you have seen it....

i know im redundant....

but there is a reason and i think the above picture says it all....what can i say....im vulgar....but honest....i told you there was profanity....and yes i like writing words in left over cinnamon sugar.....by the way i used rapid rise yeast so it didnt need a second rising....also i cut my strips fatter so there wasnt as many layers but it still pulled apart quite well....the idea for berries....i used blackberries and blueberries....came from thechirpybird....really you need to make this.....really!

Big In Japan - Alphaville Official Video

im sure its not so easy to be big in japan right now....its been on my mind all day as im sure its been on yours too....if you can....be sure to donate because it really will help....i did here at global giving....there is also a link to it from one of my favorite blogs pinecone camp.

Thanks!

yesterday while on another blog called concerning pancakes i was inspired by the corn and black bean salad with couscous....so i asked what was put in it because as i had all those ingredients on hand and she emailed me back....so this is what i came up with....i sauteed a can of drained black beans, half of a chopped red onion, corn, along with cumin seeds and coriander in olive oil(cumin and coriander were her suggestions)...I tossed it with a lemon, dijon, and olive oil dressing with seasoned vinegar....then i added raw chopped red onion (the other half of the onion) with some supremed oranges....this was tossed with couscous....and it was delicious....i wanted to thank stephanie for the inspiration and i wish i had some left now....

When I Disappeared For Twenty Days

i was playing with succulents and this frog....

admiring my yard that needs to be weed whacked but you really cant tell here....

finally hanging my framed art pieces....

watching my husband make a succulent bouquet.....

photographing my succulent arrangement.....

arent these orange succulent flowers gorgeous....they are from the kalanchoe plant known as lavender scallops....

a big ass head of aeonium haworthii....we have also redone our closets....put up shelves....organised the children's closet as well....reduced the amount of their toys and clothes too....dusted walls....reorganised my martha stewart magazines as they are no longer on the kitchen counter....vacuumed the closets....drawn and still in the process of carving some more linoleum blocks....bought new computers and burners which had many technical difficulties with return trip to frys and have been donating to the goodwill like crazy....all of this led to some almost serious asthma at the beginning of this week as well as dust tends to do that to me....oh and i have been watching TOTORO ( you can watch here for free but i actually have the movie) like its been going out of style....yeah you know i have got to get the animes in....i just gotta!

***UPDATE***

i cant do math apparently....it was only eighteen days.....i know i know im special and not in a good way....