28 November 2009

fall in love

Happy belated Thanksgiving!  In honor of this festive autumn holiday, I have finally finished my Fall in Love mixtape.  According to Shannon, my haircutter, this fall has apparently been for many people the Fall to Fall in Love.  This is also known as the Fall of Love which is not to be confused with the downfall of love which hasn't happened just yet.  Anyway, judging by recent circumstance, I can only accept Shannon's theory as true.

I will happily snail mail out copies of my mixtape to any readers who want one: just ask!

Fall in Love tracklist:
01. Rodriguez - I Wonder
02. Belle & Sebastian - I'm Waking Up to Us
03. Harry Nilsson - Me and My Arrow
04. Serge Gainsbourg - Comic Strip
05. Little Joy - The Next Time Around
06. The White Stripes - We Are Going to Be Friends
07. The Kinks - Starstruck
08. New Order - Temptation
09. Yacht - I Believe in You
10. Flight of the Conchords - Carol Brown
11. Noah and the Whale - 5 Years Time
12. Kevin McGuinnes - Rain Song
13. Yo La Tengo - More Stars Than There Are in Heaven

Finishing a mixtape is one of the best feelings there is.  It's like those puzzle games they have in doctor's office waiting rooms, those 9-square-tile images with one of the tiles missing so that you can move all the others around, until the image is right.  They have one of those in the Student Health Center at my school.  It's a spider.

23 November 2009

mass production

The midnight oil burns bright here at girlandtypewriter studios (aka the righthand side of my bedroom.  Righthand side = right brain activity?  An interesting coincidence I had not yet thought of).

Here is a picture of me working:

Crafting is going well and I have been having lots of new design ideas lately thanks to friends, lovers and television shows.  Market dropoff is today, although I will continue to produce new designs as well as old favorites throughout December!

Bizarre Market Holiday info once again for you forgetful types:
Location: Chop Suey Tuey bookstore in Carytown
Begins: Friday, November 27 (Black Friday!)
Ends: Thursday, December 24 (Christmas Eve!)
Hours: Mondays through Thursdays, 10am - 6pm
               Fridays and Saturdays, 10am - 8pm
               Sundays, 12pm - 6pm

14 November 2009

lentil burgers

Katy and I made lentil burgers for dinner last night!
Here is the recipe:

1 16-ounce bag of lentils
1 big onion
1 tomato
3 eggs
bread crumbs
spices
olive oil
wine (to drink while you are cooking)

Follow the directions on the bag to cook the lentils (ours said to "simmer" until they were ready.  They rattled around in the bubbling water for a while, it was nice).  Meanwhile, in a large bowl start mixing up a small mountain of bread crumbs (maybe a cup, but you'll add more later) with any spices you like... we put salt, pepper, garlic powder, "Turkish seasoning", chili powder, coriander...  Dice up the onion and tomato and add them to the bowl, too.  Beat up the eggs in a small bowl and keep those to one side for now.

When the lentils are soft enough, drain the water from them and add them to the bowl of bread crumbs, spices, onion and tomato.  Start mashing it all around with two wooden spoons (helps if you have a friend).  You need to let it cool down a bit before adding the eggs, otherwise the steaming hot lentils will cook them immediately.  If the lentil mixture is cool enough that you can poke your finger into it and hold it in there for at least 5 seconds, then it's okay to add the eggs.  Add a little bit of olive oil too.  Mash everything together (still with the spoons or with your hands if you're in the mood for getting messy).  If the mixture seems too soft, add some more bread crumbs.  If you're not a weenie about eating raw eggs, taste it to see if it needs any more salt/spices.

When you've got a good lentil mush, form patties and fry them in a pan of olive oil!  We got about 12 burgers out of this recipe.  Try them on whole wheat English muffins with cheddar or swiss, spinach leaves, and vidalia onion dressing... Enjoy!

10 November 2009

bizarre market holiday!

I've just found out my work will be sold in this year's Bizarre Market Holiday, a craft show in the upstairs of Chop Suey Tuey bookstore in Carytown.  The market will be open from black Friday on November 27 until Christmas Eve on Thursday, December 24.
Here are the hours:
Mondays through Thursdays, 10am - 6pm
Fridays and Saturdays, 10am - 8pm
Sundays, 12pm - 6pm

And here is a little teaser to get you all excited for the show!

I'll post more progress as I organize myself - it's going to be a very busy and craft-ful next few weeks!  Stay tuned for updates! xoxo.

lefthand window, leftmost stall

In the Office of International Education which is where I work at school there is a bathroom and it has four stalls. The stall all the way on the lefthand side sits just inside the outer wall of the building itself meaning that if there were a window inside of the stall on the lefthand side then that window would look outside. There is a window inside of the stall on the lefthand side and it looks outside onto the street below. The window has a curtain made of some magical black meshed material. I think it means you can see outside from inside but you can’t see inside from outside. I know the first part is true for sure but the only problem is that the window is two stories high and I can’t get that high on the outside to look inside and see if the second part is true. There is a plant on the windowsill on the lefthand side of the leftmost bathroom stall. Sometimes when I am at work I go into the bathroom and into the leftmost stall and sit on the windowsill next to the plant just for a minute and look outside onto the world below.