two things of note: 1) seattle tourists are fun! a family that i will assume was from iowa made their daughter try to catch seattle rain in her hands while they took a photo. after she had accomplished this feat of bravery, her mother made her wash her hands with antibacterial lotion.
no, i'm not kidding.
2) imax movies are more fun when they contain writing like this-- "it took away the birds, the deer...the color green." HAHA!
and that's all i've really got. no, wait, i lied. here's a st. gene sticker.
i'm not going to say it. nope, i won't say "i love a parade". i will say that i enjoy going behind the scenes at parades, however, because that's the truth. it probably comes from all the times that i was in my grandfather's shriner parades in small town east tn. he always drove his vw beetle with shoes tied onto the front and back of the car and i waved and waved and handed out balloons and candy.
yeah, i don't quite understand that either but it happened.
anyway, the seafair parade was tonight. leff and i hoofed it to the center so we could get some photos and video before the whole thing went marching down 4th ave. here we are almost there.
the first band that we saw had snazzy red outfits. (apologies in advance for not knowing the names of bands, troupes, etc. i didn't take my notebook with me. sorry.)
the media was filming them too.
i can never pass up a chance to take photos of cameramen.
here are some more various groups that were waiting for the parade to start. these guys are vaguely piratey with their hats! (such cute outfits!)
and here is military presence behind a giant inflatable red shoe.
avast! it's a blurry shot of the "moby duck"! (normally, i hate the ducks but this did make me laugh. a little.)
beautiful palominos.
followed by the inflatable area. i heart the inflatable area. esp this pirate.
here he is in action.
there was an orca too in front of the needle.
again, action time!
the jolly roger flag. ooooh! scary!
i told you there was a pirate theme, right? i didn't? oh, uh, there was a pirate theme.
here's my only vid of the actual parade.
that's a group marching in front of a data center. i don't really know why that's relevant, but there we are.
on the way home i got a picture of one of the creepiest ducks in the world.
*shiver* those eyes! the disney knockoffedness! *shiver*
also, we saw this cute puppy waiting outside one of the resturants on queen anne ave.
i think he's sad 'cause he didn't get to see the inflatable pirate.
and that, sweets, is my behind the scenes adventure at the seafair parade. i can't believe that i've done two festival type things in one day. (earlier, i had to wade my way through the crowd at ballard's seafood festival.
that's before the people got there. later on in the afternoon was when i waded through the people.)
now i'm off to finish the dairy queen. yeah, mock me all you want but it's the perfect fluffy read for this week. and, according to that link, jaclyn moriarity "...absolutely loved it!". for what it's worth.
i've mentioned being able to tour the top of the ballard library's roof before. well, today i did it! here's a picture from the observation deck.
it's a neat idea using a green roof on a civic building. tours are at 10:30 on saturday mornings if you'd like to see if for yourself. they start from the front information desk.
and now a video of my druken neighbor singing a pearl jam song. well, ok, it's more of a sidewalk video with my neighbor caterwauling in the background but you get what i mean.
leff and i might or might not be taking photos of the seafair parade tonight. the only draw is pirates. lots and lots of pirates. if the possibility of these photos excites you, please check back later on tonight or tomorrow. i may have something for you.
today i'm pricing hotels in seattle. we're expecting a lot of visitors in the upcoming months and, while i'm more than happy to whip out the extra bedding, some friends are allergic to cats and some people are family members. (those last two words should explain everything.)
i was looking at the inn at queen anne and while i'm sure it's servicable and it gets points from me for being in a 1930's building, this picture
does nothing for me. all i can think about is 1) what's up with that guy's teeth? 2)what exactly is IN that magazine that's making those people react that way?
that being said, i wish that someone would stay at the max just because i want to visit them there.
i started a new embroidery project last night. i'll have to restart it this morning because, well, to be frank, one should never attempt to embroider after downing a few vodka infused cherry lemonades from mcmenamins. one just shouldn't. (heh heh)
anyway, here's the progress from last night
and now i have a question. has anyone used spud before? it's an all organic online grocery store. (i read about it on seattlest the other day.)
we already get an organic produce shipment from tiny's and that's worked out *really* well. i'm hoping that spud will fill in the gaps for us (i mean, they have bread and cheese!) so that leff and i aren't always at freakin' safeway.
have i mentioned that i really like the "spend over $35 and get free shipping" part of spud? because, well, that's reasonable. i also like that they ship on tuesdays to my neck of the woods since that's the same day that tiny's delivers.
anyway, does anyone have an opinion to share about spud? many thanks in advance!
a quick hello to you kind popgadget and game girl advance readers that are visiting the site and a big thanks to bothsites for the mentions! (thanks, shed!)
i had leftover strawberry and chocolate cake batter and vanilla frosting, so i decided to make neopolitan cupcakes.
i spooned in one tablespoon of the strawberry and then one of the chocolate. you can see how they turned out by looking at the split cupcake. pretty cool!
i got the idea for the decoration from these cupcakes on the cupcakes take the cake blog. i used m&ms on mine since i don't have smarties at hand. (although i could make the trek to vancouver....hmmm...)
now that the heatwave is over in seattle and my will to live has been restored (i heart you cloud cover! you're the best!), i've remembered that k loaned me her copy of ouendan! how the hell could i forget that?! (maybe because i was half drunk when she handed it to me?)
also on tap for today now that it's not eight billion degrees outside? laundry. and dishes. and general house cleaning. OH! and potato salad! mmmmm, potato salad!
have you ever been behind someone at the post office that is shipping six very large boxes and doesn't know whether or not they want to insure said boxes? or even where their wallet is located? or how to tell their ass from a hole in the ground? if you haven't, i wouldn't recommend trying it. trust me on this one.
i cashed in my literary latte card today. (latte. i'm sure that's making some of my german readers giggle! heh heh!) here is my coffee hanging out with me while i'm talking to leff and watching the retired people dance at center house.
vid of the retirees cutting a rug:
(i actually enjoy watching these people dance, i'm weird that way. if you'd like to see them in action (and it's totally worth it. sometimes they break out old skool moves that are totally swank!) head to the center house on monday at 1:00 p.m.)
in a further attempt to keep cool, my coffee and i went to pacsci to look at the animatronic dinos. coffee really liked the brontosaurus/apatosaur.
i prefer carnivorous beasties.
on the way home i made a sparkly movie
and saw the goofiest "yo mamma" joke.
i guess that "yo mamma" translates into "your mommy" in seattle speak. the west coast is craaazy! (snickering)
have i mentioned how hot it is? and that seattle is a non ac city for the most part? and how everyone that i've passed on the sidewalk has been just this side of scary crazy from the heat and often mumbling to themselves?
i haven't? now i have and we can move on.
i'm procrastinating, can you tell? i have to go to the post office and google maps doesn't have a "show me the shadiest route" option yet.
someone in town loves brunch though.
yeah, i've got nothing. i guess i should stop being lethargic and run some errands.
to answer a question posed earlier, the cord on the nes cake is made from licorce. also, i don't use fondant since a lot of people that i make cakes for are vegetarian and i haven't found a good veggie fondant recipe yet. anyone know of one?
x, k, leff and i hit pacsci for the "game on" exhibit. (yes, leff and i are now members of pacsci. yes, i'm going back again.) here are some blurry photos from today's excursion.
x got some nintendo gummies at the pacsci gift shop. here they are at emp where we waited in vain for drinks at happy hour. (seriously. what's the deal with that? although i'm glad that we left because the booze is much nicer at mcmenamin's.)
today was waaaay busy! thankfully, leff and i were able to bump our hair appointment up to an earlier time so we were able to cram more into sat.
our plans changed pretty drastically. we weren't able to make the bus that would've gotten us to the ballard branch library on time so we headed to capitol hill for a yard sale that was benefitting a group going to burning man.
that's actually not their sign but i liked the balloons so i snapped a photo. i got a namco's greatest hits game for ps2 but it's bluebacked which means that i can't play it. le sigh. sometimes i hate my ps2.
after the sale (where joe mixed pbr and black cherry soda. dangerously close to skittlebrau, that.) we dropped by the phinney ridge comm center for the 826 benefit. here are the cakes melting:
we didn't stay very long because it was *really* hot. and in a parking lot. with no shade. still, it looked like it would've been a lot of fun. i hope that they had a great turnout!
after phinney, we drove around trying to find carkeek park for about an hour. we somehow kept just missing it.
once we got there, leff went wading and joe stacked rocks.
truthfully, we all went wading. it was a scorcher of a day and MAN was it nice in the sound!
late lunch was at gordito's which was followed by slurpees which we only got so we could put vodka in them just like in high school. and college. and, uh, last week... (i'm kidding about last week. well, not really but let's just keep that between us, ok?)
it's still really hot. leff has been sitting in a tub full of cold water while wearing his swim trunks. i've just been drinking. and watching movies with snow in them. i haven't gotten around to freezing my underwear, but i think that's next...
tomorrow promises to be almost as busy as today. hopefully, it will only be half as hot.
i finished them! HOORAY!! so, here they all are. once again, the nes cake with controller:
the ms pacman cake and the centipede cake, side view:
the front view:
i'm not too happy with either of those. oh, well. too late to do anything about it now.
and a better pic of the gameboy cake:
there's tetris on the screen. i made tetris cookies to go with it because it's a small cake and it needed something.
now i've got to dash. i need to get a shower in before the wonderful volunteer arrives to pick up my cakes. then it's off to ballard to, hopefully, tour the top of the library. this will be followed by breakfast and a quick hop to the phinney ridge comm center for the 826 variety show and cakewalk. after that, it's haircuts. and then, if we still have energy (which i'm doubting) it's off to the center for bite of seattle.
i've got, like, five minutes since leff has gone to get some soda, so here are the three cakes in progress.
the chocolate cake that fell apart has been salvaged. it's now a gameboy cake.
i still need to paint tetris on the screen and i think i might make some tetris cookies to go with it. if it ever cools down. right now it's too hot to bake.
here's the ms. pac man cabinet coming along nicely.
and the centipede cabinet is not so bad!
it's been kind of difficult to work today since the icing keeps melting. (it's very hot, i think i've mentioned that.) i keep having to put cakes in the freezer/fridge. oh well. they'll be finished soon.
oh! time's up! cakes posted again when they're finished!
...cake updates and entries on all blogs will have to happen later on today, maybe even tonight. leff is telecommuting today and he needs the computer.
sorry, but them's the brakes until we get the laptop. (which may happen next month. *fingers crossed*)
yeah, crumb coats. how sad. (the chocolate one was finished earlier and has been in the freezer. which is why the icing looks so different on that one.)
i took what i assumed would be a short break earlier. this accidentally turned into a very long nap. (how old am i? i can't even read a paragraph these days without falling asleep!) so, yeah, i'm behind schedule. hopefully, i'll have one of the cakes finished by tomorrow morning.
if you happen to look at the side of a box of wax paper, it will say "use for lining when baking cakes!". if you don't trust this and decide to investigate further online, don't trust the site that claims you can use wax paper as a substitute for parchment. just...don't.
it now smells like a sculpture studio in the kitchen. and by that i mean, it smells like i was preparing to make a lost wax casting.
sooo, i've got these three cakes to make. and all i want to do right now is drink soda and watch reruns of "foster's". and maybe call someone and bitch about how angela will make it all the way to the finals on runway because everyone hates her, not because she's the most talented.
it's too early to call her this season's wendy pepper/santino, but i'm tempted to. esp since smarmy malan got booted off last night. ah well.
leff's been working too hard lately. see, his head asplode!!
poor guy. i knew he was under a lot of pressure but i didn't think it was of krakatoa-like proportions until i took this photo. har har.
the nes cake is vanilla with vanilla icing. the controller cord is licorice. it's still a bit messy in this photo. i'll be cleaning it up a bit before i donate it.
here's the crumb coat of one of the cakes. whoooo!
and here it is in action, if you like that sort of thing.
i'm waiting on the icing to cool on this puppy before i start decorating. i should be finished...ooooooh, in about three hours max? so that'll be around 3 p.m. pst. (6 p.m. new york time, around midnight greenwich mean time.) right, back to work.
i thought that today would be a decorating day for the trio of tiny cakes. not so. want to know why? i conked my head pretty damn hard on the bathroom sink, that's why (more details here.)and i've been 1) super angry 2) confused since. (head trauma of any sort causes me to be *supremely* pissy.) no need to worry though, my pupils are both the same size and are dilating properly.
anyway, since decorating requires me to be a little spontaneous (and that wasn't happening today, toots) i decided to just go ahead and bake the other cakes. (following directions, apparently, isn't a problem.) and here they are!
they're yellow cakes. maybe i'll look up the recipe for you later.
and now to counteract all of this ooey-gooey sweetness, some fruit!
mmmmmmm! the cherry on the left is a summit cherry. it's supposedly the largest variety of cherry in the world. the other one is a lapins. they're both awesomely delicious! (so are the blueberries.)
