food, fox, shoes and discs

the last seven days have been prep for the time we'll be out of nanny washington state.

well, ok, not all of it.

these tomatoes have managed to grow despite the shit summer that we've had here. i'll probably have to take them off the vine before they ripen though.



but here's some prep! i got my new fox shirt from threadless. hooray!



and new cheap shoes for the airport.



again, not prep related but related to the food in the title: my dad sent me three kinds of moon pies!



the banana flavor is a lot saltier than i remember. the mint is all kinds of gross and the peanut butter is just right. although i'm still not sure how i feel about crunchy moon pies.

oh! we've started to solve our dvd storage dilemma!



we ordered those kick ass dvd folders from gaylord. (library supplies rock.) unfortunately, we have maybe 200 dvds too many and need to order more. oh well. at least it's a start.

clouseau agrees.



can you not see that he is being serious?

oh, by the way...

london! nov 3-10! who's buying us drinks? hahaha!

another week down, huh?

the past week was another one of those that didn't really warrant documentation. i'm still working my ass off but, you know, i don't think any of you want to see pictures of pages that i'm reading or photos from the inside of lowes.

things worth noting: i got a kick ass present from melissa that included a green plastic native american!



there were also some goo goo clusters but i don't have the energy to take a picture of them right now.

i made leff a sorta' mameshiba.



i also started a dr. who trio of paintings for him. here's the dalek.


you can see the other images either at stupid f--king awesome or in the flickr set.

also for sfa, the completed clue set with their respective game pieces.

time to get back to work. vacation in two weeks! i cannot WAIT to get out of wa state!

Homemade Orange Creme Pop Tarts

Ever since reading this review I have been craving Orange Cream Pop Tarts.

This is problematic since I'm currently super broke (for real. I can't even afford to buy a box of Pop Tarts for Christ's sake) . Obviously, I can't afford a plane ticket either so I won't be making it to Pop Tarts World any time soon. The only option left (other than just not satisfying the craving which, um, no) was to make my own. I mean, I had all the supplies that I needed.

If you recall, I did make some Pop Tarts earlier this year using this recipe. But those were plum.

The secret to Orange Creme is vanilla and orange extracts (+ a little bit of orange zest)



added to vanilla pudding. (I used this recipe adding 3 teaspoons of orange and 1/2 extra tsp of vanilla extracts.)


After this point, assembly is the same as the plum tarts. (Please refer to either the "37 confections" or "Sweets by Sarah" links above if you need directions. I'm sugar crashing and don't feel like typing them out.)

While these Pop Tarts don't taste exactly like creamsicles, they do come very close.

They certainly cured my need for orange creaminess wrapped in pastry dough.



Plus they're even better when they're cold and wrapped in foil.

a slow type of week

technically, this past week was really busy but it was the kind of busy that doesn't lend itself to documenting in a public space.

basically, all that i have from the past seven days are food photos. this is a label that always makes me laugh really hard whenever i see it. because i am 12.



i started a bachelor jam. not in this picture: sugar and gin.



(recipe)

It was also FINALLY fucking warm enough here to enjoy popsicles. i made two kinds, cucumber and watermelon + cucumber.



leff made american style sushi. spicy tuna salad sushi a la the awl. it was delicious.



and i started a new blog (i know.) called book plate. here's the about and a link to the first dish that is pictured below.



i need to catch up on stupid f--king awesome now. see you next monday.

in the navy (museum), etc

leff and i are both knee deep in research. while i can't tell you exactly what we're both reading about until, say, 2011 or so, i can tell you that one of us found the puget sound navy museum to be very helpful.



yeah, that's from the navy museum and not a boutique hotel.



have i told you that i loooove wooden boat models? that love springs from "chips ahoy" which i saw when i was tiny.

you know what's not tiny though? this sloop model.



after the museum, we had a bowl of the best pho in the pnw.



the base of this stuff is amazingly peppery and delicious!

after lunch, we were unironically ionic.



ok, not us, the column.

here is a hornet's next that i didn't kick.



here's a question for you, what's a girl like you doing on an island like this?



two questions: was it really col mustard in the library with a candlestick?

how can it possible be monday again already?

it might be cool and beautiful in the beer garden



but the weather outside in the seattle area is typically passive aggressive and deserving of a bitch slap. or possible a swift knee to the balls. in other words, it is currently overcast and 61 FUCKING DEGREES AT NOON ON AUGUST 2ND.

i'm so over this sad excuse of a state at the moment.

i did see some wildlife in the lack of summer this weekend. like an octopus in port orchard.



also this paper tiger.



hot dogs don't really count as animals at this point in the life cycle, do they? whatever, they were tasty.



this shitstack of a summer hasn't dampened my desire for skyr which is something, i suppose. here's some of the blueberry variety that i picked up at the farmer's market last thursday.



i'm gonna' duck out of here now. go look at stupid fucking awesome which is where this murata still life is from.



alternately, after you've finished looking at the following cat photos





you could check out a new tumblr that i'm doing specifically to make leff laugh. nonsensical caldera. it's funny if you're one of us.