happy your holidays to you

let's just jump into things. the library sketchbook is finished and in california. i'll post the press release when it becomes available. in the mean time, here's a sid and nancy drawing.



did you know that it had been super cold here in pnwland? it certainly was. so cold, in fact, that we had sea smoke for a few days.



that's best viewed large if you're into that sort of thing.

so, yeah. holidays. you know i don't give a fuck about them. i do, however, enjoy the baked goods that accompany the bullshit "war" that happens ever year. war provisions like this delicious festivus brownie from samudra



and these adorable cookies (also from samudra).





but the closest i get to celebrating anything is by doing a bit of santa stalking.



no, i don't understand that elf's hat any more than you do.

nonholiday wise, the phone that i won arrived.



it's ok. the camera is pretty good. soon i'll have a data plan and it will be even better. look, i can live with it because it was free.

and that's it for 2009. i don't feel like recapping the year. it was a beast in many ways but was also quite fantastic for me career wise. that's really all you need to know.

anyway, happy the holidays to you if you celebrate one of them. if you need me, i'll be sitting on this corner of the couch



reading nemesis, tinkers, drood and the equally huge jonathan strange and mr. norell. text me if you need me. i might get back to you if i haven't turned my phone off.

library continues

the library sketchbook is almost finished! 8 more drawings and it's off to cali!

my favorite image so far today:



i might post a few more images later this week if i'm happy with them.

more from the library!

uh huh. burt and ernie. please don't ask.

if you'd like to see more from the ongoing library! sketchbook, click the link. i've been cranking out sketches like i'm a robot/factory/something mechanized.

10 more to go and then it's mailed off to cali!

proving that i'm not afraid to work blue

why, yes. that is a blue ball drawing. ha to the ha ha. (part of the library! sketchbook that i'm *so* going to finish by the end of the month.)

another catch up post

i'm fighting another cold (like you're surprised) so, once again, this is gonna' be the highlights (minus goofus and gallant) from the past couple of months.

so, halloween. it was actually quite enjoyable staying at home with our large bowl of candy.



we had about 20 trick or treaters. here are three.



leff and i dressed as the lamest hemmingway duo ever for about 15 minutes.



the old man and the c? geddit? oh, never mind. it's time to skip ahead about a month.

since this was our first nonvegetarian thanksgiving in 13 years, leff and i went berserker with the cooking. we made our first turkey and enough sides to last us for four and a half days.



i also made three versions of tiny pies. pumpkin,



pecan



and key lime.



there were also the traditional nachos. do i need to make the annual maize joke? you can do that yourself by now, right? right?!



moving on ('cause i'm starting to slip into a food coma just *looking* at that stuff.), we *were* going to have a mixmas party but we had to cancel. here's one of the decorations that i made before "dashing everyone's hopes".



(in reference to. although how are you a reader of this blog and "spinal tap" illiterate?)

what else? oh yes! we finally had some fucking coffee in the goddamned domo cups.



i mean, it took long enough for them to be back in stock...

but onward (and upward?) to december and the 5th anniversary ucu. i attended with a gaggle of bremeresidents this year instead of being sidelined by doctor's orders. have some atmosphere, why don't you?



here're danny and jessie (who's holding some of winter's delicious cupcakes!).



and jamie of mid air designs. (he's in b&w by request.)



i cannot *tell* you how nice it is to meet someone else from the east coast. sometimes i go through right coast withdrawal symptoms esp after years of dealing with pnw passive aggressive default syndrome. (yeah, i said it. you know it's true.)





was it crowded at this year's ucu? what do you fucking think? of *course* it was!



(sorry that i missed you, megan and glews. maybe i'll see you in the spring!)

what else? ah, yes! i'm still working on the library! sketchbook. here're two more drawings for your perusal.





i'm hoping to have this finished before the ridiculousness of the holiday apex.

also, i got a peek at kristen rask's new book that i'm included in! the whole thing looks great! (i can't wait to get my copy from the publisher!)

k, time to end this thing with the standard cat pictures/video.

a fugitive on the new yorker blog!!

hi again, readers! i have some exciting news this morning! (well, ok, to me it's *very* exciting! to you it may be "meh".) "tide of frankenstein" was used in macy halford's transhumanist embodiment critique "your brain must remain in your body" on the new yorker's "book bench" page!



i'm totally dying over here!

we made mcdonald's at home!

what do you get when you combine all of these items (plus a pound of ground turkey and a packet of sesame seed buns)?



freakin' homemade big macs, sucka!



leff has been having a mcdonald's craving something fierce for a while now. since neither of us eats beef, this presented somewhat of a problem. after a bit of googling, i came across this site which, i'll be damned, has recipes for a ton of items on mcdonald's menu that actually produce incredible results!

the big mac pictured above tasted like a freakin' big mac! (a short note: even though we replaced the ground beef with ground turkey, we couldn't tell a difference. must've been all the msg. heh.)

these four items?



they made chocolate milkshakes that tasted just like they came from mickey d's!



leff didn't think they were thick enough but, you know, whatever. like i've got guar gum just sitting on the shelf.

the most interesting part of the whole experiment, to me at least, is that the coma that accompanies the ingestion of mcdonald's burgers has descended upon both leff and me. it's just like college! and, just as i did in the early '90s, i'm gonna' go sleep this off.

another drawing 'cause it's friday

reminder: the set is here. four down, approx 36 to go!

rainy, rainy days are good for making things

they're also good for watching creepy movies like "les yeux sans visage", "watcher in the woods" and "something wicked this way comes".

but back to the title. in addition to making a lemon poppyseed dressing and three phone calls, i also knocked out some drawings for the reading in public library! rack.







i'll have approx 40 quick sketches and what have you before it's all over. watch the set evolve in real time here.

now, however, it's time for me to batten down the frickin' hatches. there's a mighty big storm a'brewin', martha, ayeah.

more about kitsap: samdura video!

kath and winter from samudra were recently interviewed by nu americas!

Samudra Yoga featured on Nü Americas from kitsap life on Vimeo.

way to go, ladies! you did a *fantastic* job!

in case you didn't catch the interview that i did with them for cakespy, please click here!

craft show at seaside on fri

hey, bremeresidents and seattleites looking for a reason to get out of town, (which, come on, you live in seattle. of COURSE you're looking for a reason to leave. heh.) this weekend at seaside there's a craft show!



i don't know which crafters will be there (sorry) and, yes, i know, it's being held in a church (but they don't do the hard sell and i haven't burst into flames at any of the community events there yet. so, yeah, it's safe.) but it could be cool! ifin' you wanna' go, shoot me an email and we'll meet up.

the great drop candy taste test!

when i opened my mailbox yesterday, there was a box from japan! (if you read this blog, you know how excited i get when boxes from japan arrive in my mail.)

what was inside? well, thanks to chotda, (thanks, chotda!!) my halloween was extra full of treats. specifically, drop candies!!

"what're drop candies?" i imagine you asking just to be polite. ('cause you're nice that way.) i'll quote jlist on this:

Sakuma Drops are the famous classic candy enjoyed since before World War II, which were made famous in the Studio Ghibli film Grave of the Fireflies. Right now Japan is having a "Drop Candy boom" with the most interesting flavors of candy available, including rare and exotic flavors from different parts of the country. Each reusable tin contains about 20-25 candies.

sounds great, right? a super depressing movie, regional food in candy form, this taste test is gonna' rock! let's get started! (we need to. leff is getting impatient.)(all quotes are from the jlist site.)



takoyuki drops:

these drops..."featur(e) the real flavor of takoyaki from osaka, balls of delicious batter with a bit of octopus meat inside, which are cooked (and) then covered with a delicious sauce."

leff: they smell like sweet. and soy sauce.
rakka: let's eat them.
l: kinda' cinnamony
r: i think it tastes like a ramen noodle packet.
l: tastes like candy to me. tamirand. mostly gingery and sugar.
r: rameny candy. mild smack chicken ramen packet candy. i like them.

when i asked leff if he liked them, he said "mmmm" which usually means, "they're ok".

kaisen-don drops:

"Hungry for some Japanese Seafood and fresh sushi on-the-go? Now you can have this amazing taste in a traditional drop candy. Usually not available outside the Hokkaido area"

rakka: that description is making me nervous.
leff: sounds like it will be slightly fishy.
r: exactly.
l: smells sort of fishy.
r: exactly.
l: yeah, they taste like fish candy. cuttlefish? it tastes like the texture of cuttlefish. i'm done.
r: i actually like them.
*leff leaves to brush his teeth*
r: i think they taste like sweet white rice with vinegared teriyaki nori. tasty!

sapporo beer drops:

"Enjoy this delicious Sapporo Beer (Hokkaido Limited Edition) food drops. Note, there is no alcohol in this package."

leff: i just had some pretzels, so i'm ready for some beer.
rakka: i wonder if it'll taste like near beer. blech.
r: WHOA! that smells like the morning after!
l: it DOES!
r: lemon custard.
l: yeah. beer's not supposed to be sweet.
r: it's shandy candy! it reminds me of bourbon chocolate, you know, in theory.
l: that's enough of that.



ika-meshi drops:

"This is candy that accurately captures one of the boldest Japanese traditional foods, ever, ike-meshi, which is a squid (calamari) that's cleaned and cooked with soy sauce and flavored rice, with the rice right inside the squid so that the flavors run together. Sounds great, doesn't it? A famous food from Hokkaido."

leff: are food drops just from hokkaido? smells like soy sauce. it's actually mild.
rakka: there's some weird bitter taste in the back of my tongue. i'm done.
l: tamarind.
r: moldy chicken tamarind. aftertaste of moldy leaf smell.

inaniwa udon drops:

"This is a container of candies that accurately capture the delicious taste of Akita-style inaniwa udon noodles, a great taste from Japan. Delicious and fun to eat with your friends!"

rakka: smells like weird christmas.
leff: a lot of times i feel like i'm just smelling the can. ah! it smells strange.
r: that does taste udonish.
l: does it? *makes weird face*
r: i take it you're finished.
l: yeah. it tastes like chemicals.
r: i got carrots.
l: i had to brush my tongue off with a paper towel.
r: i guess this wouldn't be fun to eat with your friends?

hakodate noodle drops:

"Hakodate (hah-ko-dah-tay) is a wonderful city in southern Hokkaido that's famous for its beautiful night view, as well as for its "salt" flavored ramen, which is really a chicken-based flavoring. Taste this fun Japanese noodle in the limited edition drop-style candy now."

rakka: *smells candy. makes involuntary squish face*
leff: smells like salty chicken
r: will it taste that way?
l: duh duh DUHHHHHH!
r: YES IT DOES! BLEAH! *puke face*
l: yes. *gag noise* *water swish* it was almost good while i was eating it. then when i took it out of my mouth, i realized that it was disgusting. does that make any sense?
r: unfortunately, yes. except i don't understand the "almost good" part.

r: two more!
l: thank. god.




awamori drops:

"This is a container of candies that brings you a taste of Okinawa's famous awamori rice sake (without the hangover) in this tasty food drop. Delicious and fun to eat with your friends! Sorry, contains no alcohol"

rakka: i like not having hangovers. mmmm! smells like bourbon!
leff: it does!
r: oh, i like this one! i would marry this one!
l: i think in the right light, it smells like a night of drinking.
r: it tastes like those clear life savers in the multipack. only with much less sucky artificial pineapple.
l: it tastes like if your fruit wasn't sweet enough when you were making bourbon, so you mixed in some pixie sticks.
r: verdict: more please!
l: finally a flavor that's supposed to go with sugar!

jigoku no geki-kara drops:

"This is a container of candies that brings you a spicy taste of "hell" that's actually pretty heavenly for those who love things hot! Delicious and fun to eat with your friends"

rakka: i saved this one for last 'cause it has a demon on it. hmm! hell smells like ginger!
leff: *mouth hanging open* it'sveryspicy!ow! wow!
r: ah!!!
l: it's unnaturally spicy. even hot peppers don't bite into you the second you eat them.
r: ah!!! *cough*
l: ginger spicy and capsaicin spicy all at once. the flavor comes from ginger.
r: *coughing* *clearing throat*
l: it'll give you an endorphin high after a while.
r: *cough* *sniffling* *spitting out candy* i like it.
l: i like it too.

Night Time is the Right Time

Now for the grand finale....*drumroll*...it's the house at night!





Even the moon cooperated.

Daytime Decorations

As promised, here's a picture of the decorations in place.



The lanterns hanging out on the porch:



Here's Leff's picture of what it looks like inside right now. It's kind of cool. I want to live like this all year!



(Leff also has more photos of the decorations here.)

I'll post again tonight! That should be around 4:30 pdt.