Sunday

Saturday I scored some butterfly garlands to hang up over the table for my mother's birthday.

Daniel taped them up with duct tape thinking it would be strong enough. The tape looked kind cool cause he cut in small strips. So I thought that maybe some paper flower poms would look even better over the duct tape. So Sunday I started my paper pom project.

I cut the paper with scalloped scissors.

I tied them with string instead of wire.

Here they are all pulled apart. They are super easy to make. I am always amazed when I see people paying top dollar to purchase them.Here is a link to a tutorial at Martha Stewart. I used four sheets of paper cut in quarters for mine and different colors for each flower.

I think they turned out nicely.

But I need more for the whole ceiling.

My mom totally dug them. I also need to buy some pretty hooks as they fell down this morning. The tape only lasted so long.

Our yummy lunch which was a potato,bean, and vegetable salad.

The top of my shelf.

Here is my crazy little boy.

Of course sophie is blurry.

Random Stuff

Flowering stalks from the aeonium haworthii plant

Here they are up close. I was having a hard time trying to capture their yellowish green color. They kept turning white in a lot of the photos.

Pine cones from our pine trees. We have a huge cutting bed underneath them.

Cuttings to make some new plants. These plants are fuzzy. The red ones are echeveria puloliver and the white one is some sort of senecio. I cant remember the name right now.

Are you tired of seeing aeonium arboreum yet?

Here are two of my favorite so called natural products. Mrs. Meyers counter top spray( I also use the powdered cleaner too) from The Caldrea Company and Dr. Bronners. I have been using these products for years. I love them. They have very herbal medicinal smells. I think that's why I love Aveda products as well. Did you see the movie about Dr. Bronners magic soap? It was really interesting. I don't go for the religious aspects of Dr.Bronner but I do agree that people must be all one or none. It makes great bathroom reading though if you happen to been in there for awhile. Oh yeah and I use lots of other things like comet, bleach wipes,windex, and regular dish washing soap.

Woo hoo! I got more carving done too. It may not look like I have done much but what I have carved represents hours of work,a tricep workout, and blood.One might ask why don't you carve at night when the kids go to bed. Well because I'm too tired to use very sharp instruments that can give you VERY nasty cuts. That's why I doodle and draw and watch animes at that time. Oh yeah and this guy he has a partner too. She is the next one to cut out and hopefully that will start next week. I am so far behind. So there is my random stuff although it wasn't quite as exciting as luuworld's recent random post!!!

And lastly Blogger please hurry up and fix this posting and logging in mess. I am officially pissed off :)

Oh Hey! If anyone is having problems leaving comments I tried something that worked for me.

When I went to leave my comment I had to sign in again but this time I unchecked the little keep me signed in box and I was able to leave a comment under my blog name. What a pain in the ass!

Last of the Pate Brisee

So I had left over dough from Saturday.

So I made sugar tarts with chocolate dots.

Here they are fresh out of the oven.

Cooling off so I could add the chocolate dots.

They look like little snail shells.

But they tasted so much better. However I wouldn't really know as I have never eaten snail.

Fried

Did I mention that last Saturday was a total splurge day? Yeah well its been all veggies and egg whites this week except for yesterday. More on that later though. Yes that is bacon delicious bacon for a recipe I picked up at Not Without Salt. The recipe was for zucchini fritters.

Deep fried golden deliciousness. They swung swang swinged(sorry i was feeling silly) a little in the southwest flavor department. Next time I am going to add more bacon and fresh corn bits. Oh yeah I ran out of flour(how did that happen?) so I used rice flour instead.

You eat them with a tarragon garlic mayo sauce. Its funny I couldn't stomach mayonnaise for years and years since I was a kid. Then I popped Sophie out 37 years later and I frigging love the stuff now. I think that's kind of strange.

For our main course we had pan fried rib eye steaks. We actually split one. Then I made a sauce with butter, shallots, Worcestershire, dijon, and capers. Oh GOODNESS it was wonderful and we washed it down with some french red wine. I don't remember which but the whole thing was quite lovely!

Onigiri

These delicious violet treats are filled with pickled eggplant. So pretty YOU can eat them!

Here are the traditional triangular ones filled with a sweet garlic and the others filled with umeboshi which happens to be a pickled japanese plum. YUMMMY!

Here I am with rice all over me and it was all over my face too. These were my belated food birthday gift from little Harumi. That is her middle name but its so cute I call her that all the time. They were all gone by Sunday afternoon. Also just so everyone knows I cant even leave comments on my own blog. Whats up with that?

My Friend Valerie

1st draw, a photo by Carny Val on Flickr.

Valerie is my oh so cool friend. She is a jack of all art trades and my lino cutting partner. Isnt her lucha libre mask so fantastic!

Lets Start with Dessert

So Saturday after the kids left I had to get ready for my best friend little Ms. Harumi. She came over to hang out. So I decided to make chocolate pudding pies. I seriously should know how to make pate brisee without a recipe but I always have to double check. When I was busy wasting time at ikea last Monday I found individual ceramic pie pans. That is why I decided to make little pies.

Here is the the dark chocolate for the pudding. I got the recipe here at the smitten kitchen.

BUTTER....everything is better with it, right?

I swear I could eat the pate brisee just like this!

Rolling it out....

Arent they cute and yummy looking all at the same time?

Here they are cooked up. The recipe says that if the dough is worked right they shouldnt puff up but mine always do. They still taste great though!

Yes....everyone got mad at me for taking too many pictures because they wanted to eat. Also you have to have fresh whipping cream too.

I wish I had some right now. I did have left over dough and I show you what I did with that later on. It was nice hanging out and eating. There are a lot more food posts about last saturday. I hadnt really cooked lately so I needed too get that out of my system. She also brought rice balls. Thats the next post. Oh god I love rice balls so much you dont even know. Oh I hope blogger fixes the posting problem. I love commenting as you probably noticed.

This is a test

It better work

I uploaded internet explorer 9 and couldnt post posts and my husband had to post them at work for me and I could only leave comments on some blogs. Well its since be uninstalled but now I can only leave comments on some blogs still. Are any of you having this problem? I must do research now. I dont know why but I feel a string of profanities started to form on my tongue....hmmmm I wonder.

*****UPDATE*****

that was quick huh?

apparently blogger is already working on trying to resolve this

Painting and Drawing

My nephew Marcel drew and watercolored this snowy tree. He was hilarious because he tells me,"I love to paint but I have only painted once in kindergarten!" He was very emphatic about the love part.His eyes were literally sparkling when he said it. He is only in the second grade by the way. Then he tells me that he loves to paint trees but he has never drawn a tree before. I swear kids crack me up. I think it turned out well.

On another note. I hung out with a bunch of school teachers in the beginning of April. Basically the arts are not really available in elementary schools unless you have a teacher that finds a way to make it happen in their class. I know this isnt surprising information but it still hurts to hear it. Also I was horrified about the state of school libraries as well. They were telling me that in very low income areas the school library is no larger than a janitorial closet. WTF was all I could think.

Friday Just Before the Madness of the Weekend

Here is my constant view because I am constantly washing dishes....view from kitchen sink.Sophie doing a little drawing and coloring before the cousins come over to spend the night. It was so nice because jack was asleep and the house was quiet.The shadowy floor in the living room.Its Chan Chan the Monkey Man he will bite your hand as fast as he can. There is a whole naughty song I sing about him swear words and all. I think this is the first time I have posted about him.Sneak peek at the current lino I am carving. This actually made my triceps hurts.The madness of children. They are here with the succulent pots they made with daniel. They look crazy and they are! Sophie and Marcel have insane eyes in this photo. Maya looks so sweet too, but they are all evil I tell you!Look its Jack finally awake and ready to make lots of noise. Oh and my toes made it in this shot too. There is more so much more to post about the weekend. It was a foodapalooza.