Never Gonna Give You Up...

Created on: 4/25, 2010 at 06:03 pm

Husband, who is awesome, joined the Internet Meme ATC swap I hosted on Swapbot. This is such a cool swap, I couldn't wait to see what he would make. We all have our favorite meme.

This is what he came up with. Rickrolling. So well done! I'm jealous that I didn't think of it first!

And here ya go- Rick Astley doing his thing!

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Ransom Notes

Created on: 4/19, 2010 at 03:27 pm

This is for the Funny Ransom Note swap hosted by Kimbeewa. The point was to read your partner's profile and choose something to ransom. My parner, wolfeagle, had many references to ocean related things- mermaids, sea turtles, driftwood, etc., that I had to kidnap something from the ocean. Then, I thought, why not kidnap the entire ocean, oceans, all of them.

My alternative sounded something like this- I've got a dolphin and I'm hungry for sushi. I can't tell you how many of my own lines that crosses, say nothing of how offended my receiving partner would be.

So I created an imaginary basement, filled it with all the world's oceans, and Wolfeagle can have 'em back when she sends me a goddamned cupcake. A pretty one. Pink.

Hurry, Wolfeagle. I'm running out of fish food!

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Pickles Deli

Created on: 4/12, 2010 at 01:46 pm

Listen up, y'all. If you want to eat a sandwich with enough life and flavor to make your proverbial head spin 'round on your shoulders, pay attention! Let me introduce you to Kim, owner and head chef at Pickles located in South Whidbey.

In case there was any mistaken identity- I'm a foodie. When you grow up eating like I did, where all the cooking came out of a box, seasoned with something out of a can, once you leave home and find out food can be amazing, you want to revel in the good stuff.

That doesn't mean I don't occasionally cook one-pot tuna casserole (ingredients: egg noodles, a can of tuna, a can of mushroom soup and half a bag of frozen peas) when I need childhood comfort food... Shudder. But I do know good food when I taste it. It's been a long and happy journey finding out how good food can be.

That said, these days I'm pretty spoiled. Typical fare, even good typical fare, leaves me happy to be fed and not much more.

Every once in a rare while, I will be expecting nothing more than a good solid meal and end up in foodie heaven, which is what happened to me this week.

Says Ginny Lee, "Let's go grab a sandwich."

"Yeah, why not? Sandwich sounds good." And off we go.

She pulls up to Pickles Deli, in Ken's Corner, which is on the far north end of Clinton. I've been by this place a million times, but never when I'm looking for something to fill my growling stomach. From the outside, it looks like a typical mom & pop joint. Nothing wrong with that, but the cheap Scottish bastard in me says "If you're just going to have a sandwich, go home and make it yourself. Spend that extra four bucks out of seven on beads!"

I didn't yet know it was my lucky day.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, the aroma of amazing food let me know I wasn't in Kansas anymore. The counter guy was astonishingly cheerful, and not in that way that lets you know he'd rather be anywhere else. You know that grin that drags the lips back to show a hollow-eyed grimace? Yeah. He didn't have it. I watched him work, efficiently maneuvering behind the counter and around the tables. Both enthusiastic and mellow, he's the kind of guy who's truly a pleasure to be around.

I recently read an article about people who take pictures of every meal they eat. I briefly toyed with the idea, but I know it wouldn't work for me. I'm at the computer enough as it is without dealing with another thing to upload. Looking at the Twisted Reuben sandwich Kim placed before me, my fingers itched to take a picture of it. It was beautiful; perfectly toasted with colorful coleslaw and beautiful coldcuts peeking out of the diagonal cut. Smoked Gruyere cuddled around the filling like a cozy blanket, oozing slightly as the weight of all that goodness lay heavy upon it.

I was torn with not wanting to eat it and yet wanting to savor such a work of art. I hadn't even tasted it yet and I was in love.

Crunching into it was as close to Nirvana as I have been in... oh, a year. Really. A year. The best sandwich. I have eaten. In a year. Why? Well, first it might have something to do with Kim's ingredients. Through the sound of angels singing in my mouth, I heard Ginny Lee tell me something about how fresh everything is. GL has worked in the restaurant industry.She's seen the best and the worst. For her, kitchen cleanliness is next to, well, you know, and she pointed out that the kitchen, right there in the front of the store, was spotless. Not only that, but Kim buys only the freshest stuff. That's a phrase which has been used to cliche death, but I wouldn't have been surprised if the veg in that sandwich had been in the ground the day before. Kim buys local whenever she can, which means the food was grown on small farms by people who are intimate with their fields. (Quit snickering. We're not THAT rural.) The meat is Boar's Head brand, which means lips and assholes aren't a part of the equation. (Yeah, I know. I just grossed you out. Sorry.)

And the bread wasn't just some slab of rye. In fact, I don't know what kind of bread it was. I've tried all the artisan brands available on the south end and I didn't recognize it. I'm a bread snob, a really picky one. This bread was delish.

The sauce tied it all together. It was a little sweet, the tiniest bit salty and had some serious depth; nice clear high notes to pair off with the smokey cheese.

Perfect. Really, really- perfect.

I have to admit, I might not even have been tempted to write this entry if I hadn't seen this:

Kim's apron says How To Keep Your Husband. I love it! She was concerned that it was dirty. Ginny Lee and I rolled our eyes. Well, yeah! You're kinda at work! If you're apron's not dirty, you ain't doing it right!

We got to talking about her restaurant, a conversation wherein I completely failed to convey how good the food was, but I think it might have put her off if I'd been kissing her feet. Me: Plus 10 to creep out Merchant. I'm not sure how the connection goes, my bad, I was entering food coma, but check out her tattoo! Sah-WHEET! The girl, you will see, is riding a, wait for it... pickle. One of these days I need to go back and listen to the story BEFORE I eat.

Here's Kim, manning the counter. The guy behind her, yeah, that's him, they guy I want to wring out his shirt and bottle for joie de vivre spray. (Am I being creepy again?) Yeah, probably. Ah, well. Don't worry, cool counter guy. I'm too lazy to stalk you.

So, recap- good food, great chi, marvelous energy...Pickles. Go see 'em. You're gonna be glad you did!

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MA's Challenge Doll Finished

Created on: 4/9, 2010 at 11:39 pm

For a long time, I held a belief that I couldn't draw. That's why these little successes, a hand drawn giraffe, make me so pleased. This was the practice one that went in my journal.

I didn't get a picture of the second one that went on the ATC, which is a bummer. They were made for Artist Trading Cards for Beginners hosted by TristaLou and was sent to Vreyainlove.

She's finished! Any suggestions for names?

I wanted to go with Felicity to play on the word 'feline' but this girl looks like she's got a whole lot more attitude than a Felicity might have. Look at those claws!

I'm still geeking out about the face. I love how it came out.

Halfway through the shoot, I found the red accent threads I wanted to put in her braids. I'd put them away weeks ago and then couldn't find them. Halfway through the (outside!) shoot, I looked down and they were right next to my elbow, laying on the gravel. Okay, then.

Her arms are out of proportion, but not bad for a first go. I'm especially pleased with her feet. I think the cat foot shape came out really well.

Here is one of the prime reasons why I love living on South Whidbey. I found this fish painted on a rock in the middle of a muddy field. You can see it's been stepped on once or twice. Now, why would someone take the time to paint a fish and then leave it out in the middle of nowhere to surprise and delight passers by except for the love of simply doing the art? I'm glad I got the picture when I did. The next day it had been adopted and added to someone's private cache of treasures. I did something similar two years ago with driftwood statues. I was thrilled when someone took them home. Seeing this puts me in the mood to do another "Easter egg" project, this time something to do with stones.

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ATC Frenzy

Created on: 4/7, 2010 at 05:22 pm

This set was made for the Naked Lady ATC swap hosted by Candycore. I snatched (no pun intended) the image of the lady from a French website that catered to vintage erotica. Um. Wow. The rest of the scene was obviously supposed to be a party. Lots of mostly-naked musicians and such getting their freak on. When my religious grandma (in that super-religious town I grew up in) would hear about wild parties, she'd shake her head and say "People just get wickeder and wickeder". I suppose images like what I found prove that in every age people liked to boogie down. I liked the image and the colors so much that I made one for my swap partner and one for me.

Here's where I'm a little bit of a cheater. I thought I signed up for a cat themed ATC swap. I made this card and then went in to see who I needed to send it to. Apparently I forgot to sign up for the swap. So, what to do with this card? ATCs are meant to be swapped. Since this is the cat from Kitty Cat Dance, I started my own swap of internet memes. So far there's 11 players, so I can't wait to see what everyone does. I did the kitty in pencil and added a black over-layer so it seems like he's recessed a bit. Gold pen and some gold paper doilies added the glitz.

This is for the When I Grow Up swap also hosted by Candycore. Here's the front of the card.

It opens to show what I wanted to be- an archaeologist! I wish I would have known about anthropology. Both seem like fascinating jobs. This ATC was done entirely in watercolor. I drew a shovel, a brush and a sifter and glued them on to give the card some depth.

This is my fist go at zentangles. I'm going to hold onto this one until I see a swap for it.

I love that swap-bot has kid's stuff. We joined the Your Favorite Pet swap hosted by Charon. DD1 did this. It's of our two cats, Alice and Molly.

This is my second Teeny Tiny Stuffie for swap #16 hosted by Carotte. It's going to paillettes in Chicago.

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