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Capitol Hill Block Party: Day 2

Day 2 was shopping day. There wasn't much in the way of music we wanted to see, so we went downtown, to Pike Place market. It always seems like a better idea than it actually is to go to the market. It was alright though... we all found a bunch of things. I can't go to the market and not go to Sur la Table, so I got a couple of things there. Nothing too exciting.

Cheryl bought that thing. I think. 

I managed to find some taxidermy. 

And some Pokemon. 

So that was that... due to a wave of overwhelming exhaustion, I slept through the only band I really wanted to see on Saturday, !!!. We ended up seeing the last mainstage band of the night... ummmmmmmmmmm.... Atmosphere? Yeah.

Capitol Hill Block Party: Day 1

       

   

Yesterday, Cheryl, Shawn and I hauled our asses across the border and into Seattle for the Capitol Hill Block party music festival

Trader Joe's is the best!

  

In Line up, looking PIIIIISSED. 

. After what turned into a 4 hour trip into the city, we made it to the festival to be greeted with what appeared to be an hour-long line-up for will call tickets.    

                                                                                   

                             

 Okay, it wasn't... and we did make it in to catch the last half of Bear in Heaven's set, which was pretty fantastic. They sound like an eerie version of Grizzly Bear, and their album Beast Rest Forth Mouth is worth a listen for sure. 

Bear in Heaven, yo. 

OHMYGOD, YEASAYER WAS SO GOOD!

LOOK THEM UP: YEASAYER!

They are all fantastic musicians, with a 

fantastic live perfomance...

and they are all really fucking hot. 

That didn't hurt. 

This is what I have been working on

More to follow.

Later.

Fun with Rodents: My first experience with Taxidermy

Sabrina is my best friend. One of the reasons this is so is because we have similar interests. Our mutual interests include fashion design, eating (like there is no tomorrow), The Libertines, yesyesno, art faggotry, and most recently, taxidermy. 

just for the record..

We're not sick;

We are artists (lol).  

But really, the reason we finally decided to sit down and cut up dead animals was because of a fashion school project I had. The assignment was to expand our creative horizons. We were encouraged to experiment with new ways of being creative. Lots of people tried land art, embroidery, figure drawing, painting, sculpting, singing, you name it. So I'm a bit eccentric... and I wanted to do something nobody had done before for this project, hence the taxidermy. Word got out that I was planning on stuffing dead animals, and whaddayaknow... another fashion student jumps on board. So Serena, Sabrina and I got together on a quiet day in April and stuffed us some rodents. 

If you don't wanna see pictures of dead animals being cut open, you better stop here. 

COMMENCE DEAD ANIMAL PHOTO MONTAGE:

Supplies: Borax (to dry out the pelts), dollar store scalpels,

 latex gloves, bulletain board, push pins, thread, cotton batting,

garden wire, sequins, false wings, embroidery thread, 

2 jumbo rats, pack of 3 mice (dead as doornails, would have been pet food)

Saby found a mouse!

First incision: we sliced down the back, and peeled the skin 

off, scraping the fat away as we peeled. 

"Don't you just love it when you get a good peel?"

Serena holds up her work. 

Mouse = skinned. 

Rat time!!!

So this is the skin of the rat being pulled off of the flesh.

I love how you can see the eyeballs in the body mirrored with the

eye sockets in the hyde. It's eerie. 

To dry the rats off quickly, we blow dried their skin until it was

slightly stiff. Not too stiff thought... you still need to be able

to sew it up. 

I started sewing up the pelt before I put anything into it.

Then I stuffed with with a wire shape, wrapped in cotton batting. 

I also sewed butterfly wings onto it. Isn't she pretty?

Rats are done.

From left: Serena's Rat, My rat (Esme), and Sabrina's 2 headed monstrosity of a mouse. 

Let's fall in love

<3

Making it look good

Lately, I've been paying more attention to food photography, especially in blogs and Foodie mags. One of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, has fantastic food photography, so do my favorite magazines: Food and Wine and Bon Appetit. This is a great guide for anyone who is interested in documenting their culinary adventure. Now I just need to master my camera, ~sigh~.

 One of the keys to good food photography is setting. This, of course, includes the background and the lighting, but another important part of setting is the setting. Table setting, that is. As a poor starving student/cook/designer, I didn't have much in the way of nice dishes. Since dish sets are 'effing expensive, I went to Home Sense and bought one of a bunch of things. It was just over $30 for all of these. 

I got 4 different shaped bowls and 2 different plates, so I can mix and match with different fabrics and create some great table settings. There's usually just one or two of us eating, so having one of everything isn't an issue. 

After I got my beautiful new dishes home, I didn't waste any time before putting them to good use. For lunch, I made a delicious variation on Penne Alfredo. The alfredo recipe is a modified version of Kraft's "Smarter Alfredo", which uses chicken broth as a base (instead of butter). But don't worry, I fattened it back up with lots of cheese. Recipe is here...

Penne Alfredo with Sauteed Spinach and Mushrooms with a Roasted Paprika Chicken Breast

Alfredo Sauce

3/4 Cup Chicken Broth

1/4 Cup Cream Cheese

1 Tbsp. Flour

1 Clove Garlic, Crushed

1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan (Fresh!)

1/3 Cup Grated Mozzarella

1 Cup Spinach, packed

2 Large White Mushrooms

2 tsp Olive Oil

Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast, seasoned with paprika and pepper

2 Person portion of Cooked Penne (about 3 cups cooked)

Chives, for garnish

Directions:

To make the sauce, bring the chicken broth to a low boil, and whisk in the cream cheese, flour and garlic. Once it's thickened a little, stir in the cheeses, and keep warm until the Pasta and Chicken breast are ready.

Sautee the spinach and mushrooms in the olive oil, and set aside. Mix the Penne with the alfredo sauce, and divide between 2 bowls, and top with the spinach and mushrooms. Slice the chicken breast, and lay attractively across the spinach and mushrooms. Top with chives, freshly grated parmesan and cracked black pepper. 

I need a hobby, or something.

Watermelon Sangria

This is what I did today, in order of execution:

- Watched Sex and the City
- Thought about steak, a lot
- Went to go buy steak
- Ate steak
- Watched more Sex and the City

I haven't been motivated to cook anything recently (except Steak), but do have some pictures to share of things I've made over the past few weeks (but no recipes).

For the boyfriend's birthday last month, I made a picnic to have at English Bay. Here's the Spinach Salad with Shrimp and Scallops. 

Fig and Kalamata Tapenade. 

Tapenade on canapes with goat's cheese and walnuts. 

A couple weeks ago, I visited my mom in  Kelowna. 

I cooked up a storm. 

BBQed shrimp skewers

Herbed Mushrooms

Eggs baked in Tomatoes with Emmenthal and Dill

Country Apple Sausage

Ebelskivers with Apple Sauce, Tomatoes and Sausage

This is how I made the eggs for the bennys... they got put in plastic bags with grated cheese and green onions, then boiled til softish. 

Chive and Emmenthal Eggs Benedict on Croissants with Roasted Garlic 

and Goat's Cheese with Sauteed Spinach, Roasted Red Pepper Hollandaise 

and Smoked Oysters (Original Creation)

Illustrating...

It's been a long time since I've attempted a fashion illustration... months even. I used to feel like I was quite good at illustrating, but my skills have gotten a little rusty. That's just one more thing to work on this summer. I got an e-mail about submitting an illustration for Vancouver Fashion E-zine, so I decided now was a good of a time as any to brush up those illustration skills. I'm pleased with the result, although with more effort, it could have been better. It's not on-par with some of the stuff I've seen on there before, but for me it's alright!

Subtraction Cutting

Julian Roberts (this guy is such a badass, his website is only open on wednesdays, and if you want to own one of his garments, you have to first learn how it was made), the brilliant man who came up with this method, is visitng my school in June, so I went into school (on summer vacation, I should add) to draft/sew with my friend and teacher.

We are the ultimate keeners.

Subtraction cutting is a method of garment construction that involves techniques such as tunneling and plugging... I don't fully understand it. I have yet to read the book... Sabrina can explain it much better than I can. Maybe I'll give it a shot in a week or so.

This something I made with the tunneling method... um, it was supposed to be a skirt. It ended up being waay too long, but I think with a couple more tries, this technique could be mastered.

This skirt kind of turned into a tube dress.

From the Left: Lesley's tunnel dress, Sabrina's tunnel dress, Lesley's Coil dress, Sabrina's blobby tunnel dress, and my plug skirt. The skirt is made by cutting out a blobby shape, starting and ending at the hem, and sewing a circle larger than the shape into it, creating protrusions, and a wider hem.

If you're interested in creative methods of garment construction, I strongly recommend checking out Julian Robert's book: School of Subtraction Cutting.