prep for leff's bday

leff's birthday is this thursday. plenty of time to wrap his presents.

i know, i know. but who can afford wrapping paper? (the answer is me.)

today i also made the two orange layers of his four layer orange and chocolate cake. stick with me, dear reader, we will do SUCH exciting things. *eyeroll*

it crowd lanterns

did you watch the last episode of the "it crowd"? are you a social piranha or at least wearing women's slacks? then these lanterns might be for you.

frankenberry!

i had heard a rumor that the monster cereals were going to be back this autumn. looks like that rumor was true 'cause i just had a bowl of frankenberry.

leff reported that it has no flavor after one bite and yet there is not enough strawberry to make the milk taste like fake fruit.

things that have not changed:  that waxy feeling on the roof of your mouth has been retained. also, unfortunately, "cap'n crunch mouth".

good news:  we also have procured a box of count chocula. will be on the look out for booberry (MY FAVORITE), yummy mummy and fruit brute.

tardis heart cookies

today i made leff some tardis heart cookies from left over dough.

i think he approves.

can you stand the excitement?!

decorative gourds (old but wonderful) are not the only thing that you can get your fucking hands on right now. it is also EDIBLE gourd season, motherfuckers! aw yeah, bitchtastic pumpkin bread!

fucking wrapped up casa styley in wax paper so it crinkles the way i like it.

welcome to autumn, fuckheads!

12 doctor cookies for leff's bday

waaay haaaay! here are 12 doctor cookies roughly 12 days before leff's bday!

they're raspberry flavored with a cocoa dusting. i hope he likes these as much as the cybemanicotti i made him EONS ago.

still. turpin. ;D

stand and deliver(!), it's a dick turpin lantern.

yes, of course, it is based on the "horrible histories" dick turpin highwayman song. i can never get it out of my head. HUH

i beg your pudding?

it's dean learner kind of night.

this piece for both keen cited and a halloween decoration.

friday night at the casa

how can we afford this rock and roll lifestyle?

kebab with atomic sauce

so hey! did i tell you? I MADE KEBABS WITH ATOMIC SAUCE

no, there's no yogurt sauce. the yogurt had gone off, boo hiss. BUT i made the meat using this recipe and subbing the lamb with turkey. atomic sauce recipe here (i used two jalapenos and two habaneros). veg is cuke, cabbage and onion. all of it is SO GOOD

brian cox lantern

fall starts this weekend and with it comes new cox. specifically, "science brittanica". add in halloween being around the corner and my taking a short trip in october and you get the first lantern of the season.

so yes, here's that brian cox lantern that you didn't know that you wanted.

everyone needs a warm, glowing cox in their life. don't deny.

'k, i'm off to eat these kebabs with atomic sauce that i made. pictures later? maybe.

how can you tell that someone watched "the great british bakeoff" last night?

easy peasy, squeeze the lemon. they have tottenham cakes today.

this recipe is lovely. (handy american conversion chart here.) i halved it and did not use coconut 'cause shredded coconut and i are not a thing. also, i made mine mini. so, they're like, tottenham petit fours.

i will not make a hotsuprious football joke here. you're probably pretty happy about that.

nail art

the thanksgiving lashes may not have worked but i think i'm onto something with this kinda' lost boys nail art.

i'm not so sure about these thanksgiving lashes, you guys

seriously, you guys. i think it's too much? is it too much? it's really too much isn't it? :/

scout's honor

you'll never believe it, i left the house. i know, i know. insanity. but there's a new coffee shop in the hood.

scout doesn't have a web presence as of yet which is a bit odd. i'd link you if i could, i swear.

leff and i split a tomato, kale and asiago baked custard. muy bueno.

i also downed this doppio. you can tell a lot about a coffee shop from a doppio and this one did not disappoint.

so yes. i will be going back. hopefully, i will also be able to link you soon too!

edit, 9/28/12:  they have a facebook page now.

happy friday the 13th!

how did YOU spend your friday?  i shredded my high school yearbook! HOORAY

i should have done this a billion years ago. i have no fucking idea how it managed to move with me as many times as it did (probably because it was in a box labeled "NEVER OPEN AGAIN") but it's now toast. and i like toast!

i like indoors...

new post for the new collab blog!

go add it to your feedreader? your tumblr dashboard? what have you.

homestyle crif dogs in the am

today's gonna' be a long day. long days require extra protein for breakfast so say good morning to this modified, homestyle "good morning" crif dog minus the bacon.

good morning, good morning! GOOD MORNING I SAY GOOD DAY

playing doctor to the doctor

leff's third doctor tried to kill himself last night. thankfully, it was an unsuccessful attempt but i am going to have to rush him into surgery once i post this.

sadly, i think he'll have to be detained for psychological observation as he was unresponsive when asked about his motivation.  i do have a feeling that it was a failed shot at regenerating into a tom baker figure but that is just conjecture at this point. 

quiet bat people is now a banner

told you halloween was happening early. "quiet bat people" has now been turned into a banner.

you realize that this post is just an excuse to fuck around with the new lens, don't you? 

keen cited

started a collab blog about quotes called "keen cited" with my friend angelica this weekend! here's an out take.

click through to see my version of "quiet bat people".

oh, charlotte bronte!

even shirley is cracking me up these days.

bottling beer

today we bottled the "aw me nut(s!) brown ale" and the "hey porter". here are three pictures from that process.

you can never make the carboy to the bottling bucket look glam. not even with all the glittery eye shadow in the world.

in four weeks we'll have beer! BEER WE WILL HAVE BEER

i like beer, ok?

easterween redux

a long time ago when we were really bored, leff and i made halloween style easter eggs and dubbed the activity "easterween".  seven odd years later and we're bored again. guess what that means? awwww yeah, smartypants, it's easterween up in here.

i started things with a bleeding skull egg.

i know, right? i am such a fan of red food dye and karo syrup.

leff countered with a space kook. 

i wish he'd made the kook noise while he was drawing it.

my last egg was a bride of frankenstein complete with a silly little wig.

but leff really won the day with his free floating phantasm egg.

how could he not? it's just so fantastic.

and so ends another easterween. at this rate, we should have another one in, oh, 2020. hey! that's when the next tokyo olympics are happening! IT IS A DATE

saturday morning

so far today has been rather relaxing. we watched "teenage strangler",

did a bit of indoor grilling

so that we could make some homemade bubble dogs,

which was followed by a bit of thumb wrestling.

it's raining. what a surprise.

the local weather people are jizzing themselves about this rain. as, funnily enough, in a place where it rains all the goddamed time, the infrastructure is not equipped to deal with an inch of rain in an hour. 

whatever. so long as it's not five inches of rain in 24 hours, i don't care. school has started so there are no screeching children at the park and the rain keeps the meth heads inside. it is WIN/WIN (at least for now. after about two weeks of this shit i will want to jump off a bridge. ugh, it is hideous in the pnw.)

bento insanity

i've gone a bit bento crazy. see, the lunches leff can get in seattle are all salt with some food added. who wants that? well, not leff. idk, maybe you like salt licks, how would i know?

anyway, frozen bento styley lunches seem to be the answer. yesterday i froze some cottage pie. today it was all about the cauliflower curry from the joy of cooking.

tomorrow i might make orange chicken. yeah, yeah. none of this stuff would go in a japanese style bento but whatever. it's reducing the salt intake that i'm concerned about.

"what remains"

"what remains" is yet another new show that i'm consuming as fast as it can be doled out.

someone dies alone in the attic of a house full of possible suspects? russell tovey is involved? sign me RIGHT the fuck up!

labor day monday

i watch the worst travel docs. 

anyway, we made the porter. i didn't upload any photos as all the steps were pretty similar to the nut brown ale from yesterday. here is very relevant fermentation video though. blurp.

                             

today we made nut brown ale!

today we started making nut brown ale. IT IS SWEET AS A NUT MATE

here are the grains. i think it's crushed roasted barley, pre milled roasted malt and pre milled crystal/caramel malt.

THEY ARE SWEET AS A NUT SACK MATE

here are boring videos of the brewing process. steeping the grains,

then adding some malts and sugars



before everything foams up and freaks me out.



followed by boiling for 45 minutes.



that step is the best because it makes the whole house smell like a brewery. IN A GOOD WAY! hop pellets go into the worty thing two minutes before you take it off the heat.

and then water and siphoning!

!


 add yeast and, before you know it, it's a freaking carboy full of nut brown ale wort! wooo and etc!

should start fermenting any time now. bottling next sunday? maybe we will make a stout tomorrow? I DON'T KNOW BUT I LOVE MAKING BEER AT HOME WITH BRITISH YEAST IT IS REAL ALE BITCHES WOOO

washington state! it's the shit!™

fecal matters. don't let anyone tell you differently.