lookin' at stuff can be fun..

this is one of the pumpkins we put out this past halloween. we did not carve him. his face appeared through time. he came to us to say hi! 
over time, we didn't have the heart to smush him or throw him away. 
we just let him continue to decompose.    but... i think the unicornist stomped on him once or twice.. isn't that right?



anywho, obviously his will to chill wasn't broken. let's take a closer peek...

look how cool the pumpkin 'skin' is.. i mean that is not mushy in any way!! now it's like paper. 

awesome!

ooh and let's get even closer. ...

   this is the interior.
it's still a little sweaty... 
or fleshy but still neat-o!

this little handle nugget is the remains of the other pumpkin we had. again, we didn't carve just let it do it's think. it was much smaller... poor little guy i stepped on part of him once. 

slimy.
   i like all the pumpkin seeds.
one time we were coming up the street and we saw someone taking a picture of our two sad pumpkins. it made us feel good. i mean someone else liked them enough to take their picture too!

 wanna dumpster dive with me? 

that photo really doesn't even capture how bright and alluring that red interior can be.  i'm happy that someone knows red/blue have such push/pull qualities. i'm happy that someone really felt strongly about spray painting the inside of a garbage bin. 

nice!

last night was the first night of art of 

the book: design and binding! we just did two quick simple fold n' cut booklets. 
this one you make a total of six big folds, which create squares, rectangles, what have you. 
then you make three cuts, 
creating either an 'm' or a 'w'...

then you fold boxes into each other like an accordian, flipping twice. 

confused? 

it really makes sense when you do it!

                                             see...

different image. same design. 

is that like same shit, different day?

m-i-ss..-i-ss..i-pp i

we decided to drive to breakfast today. our goal was gravy. however, with already a little line outside and a litte rain we ditched that idea.
we settled for miss delta.
before we went to b-fast i had spoken with my chi-town friend dj. he had mentioned eggs benedict... with that the seed had been planted.
m61 ordered the bene w/collard greens and tomato.
i ordered the bene with pulled pork.
mc61 felt a different type of sauce might have played better with the acidity of the greens and tomato instead of regular hollandaise sauce . i felt like mine was good all around.
we both however, could not figure out why our english muffins weren't toasted?
                      is this a southern thing or did they really just forget to toast'em.
                      this is what made our dishes    just.      fair.

c'mon if yer gonna do eggs bene, do it right!

the hasbrowns were the best i've ever had.    period. 

after breakie, we hit up the recycling center. this was one of the reasons we drove. this place, it is just chalk full of inspirational materials. 

i mean you can totally get some old cabinets and use those as raised planter beds. or you could use the old claw foot tub ... when i was in the fourth grade our teacher had a carpeted claw foot that you could read in. pretty cool.or you could just look at all the stuff piled everywhere!


love this bathroom faucet.

meeting of the minds?

if we had a real house of our own, we thought this recycled wood would make a cool porch. 

 we will be going back. absolutely.

in like lion, out like a lamb

spring. we've got the spring bug in our house. decided that even though we rent, we have a backyard therefore we should work on some garden ideas. this weekend we got our "soil" concoction up n' running.

at first we thought about having above ground planters... like boxes or maybe recycled steel plates that are bolted together. however, we decided to re-use the low planter areas our previous neighbors created. 




and after tilling through their crappy choices look what we found.

no those ain't no idaho 'taters...just yer pacific nw planter box type 

me,  i dug up the area in front of the back wall. there i will be planting purple calla lilies and yellow snapdragons. excited.

then i did some little vases/planter boxes. italian parsley, italian oregano and cilantro. eventually we'll have other herbs but this is our start. an orchid, some jade and a cute random succulent will live inside.  i would love to find a dread-lock cactus as well. an old roommie had one, and they've been a fave of mine ever since. 

either way the inside of our place is going to be a nice as the backyard.

 

love having greenery inside. makes me happy.

paradise by the dashboard light?

noooo but it is a meatloaf reference and i made THE ultimate meatloaf last night. okay real simple featured a bacon, gruyere meatloaf in this month's issue..ur i mean in the april issue.

holy crap. 

that sounds a little over the top to me so naturally i had to make it. 

i admit it                i was lured in.

sheesh, so weak!
 

 

now i'm not one to follow a recipe to it's true design. however, i realize people like to know the exacts, especially if it's something they've never made before. so here's the scoop:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef chuck

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup ketchup, plus more for serving

3 sm red onions (1 coarsely grated and 2 cut into wedges. NOTE the side dish with this recipe was roasted carrots & onions. we didn't do that. we had broccoli instead. so technically you really only need maybe 1 small onion)

2 slices of bacon, chopped

1 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large egg

3/4 cup grated gruyere or cheddar (3 oz)

kosher salt n' black pepper

here are my side comments: you could probably skip the bread crumbs and the onion. maybe use some onion powder if you don't like the red ones. as noted we didn't use the full amount. i actually diced 1/2 a small red onion and that was enough for me. i never put in the amount of garlic a recipe calls for. clove size varies so i make my own call on this one. bacon, oh bacon...

   i used maybe like 4 slices which is really like 2 after you cut away fat. i want the meat!   

i would never substitute cheddar. if i didn't have gruyere, i would not sub in cheddar. i'd call in gouda off the bench. yum yummers.

ketchup. please. and no thank you. and no, it was not present at serving time either. thank you very much!

so then you through everything into a bowl, get yer hands in there, really mix it up. except the gruyere you put in 1/2 cup of it.  

put your blended meat concoction into your bread pan or loaf pan. 

then sprinkle w/remaining 1/4 cup gruyere.

this cooks for 40 -45 mins at 400 degrees. after time is up, pour off any accumulated fat and let rest for 10 minutes. slice. impress your dinner guests.

viola!

i served the slice of meatloaf over a bed of fresh spinach.. the juices just softened it right up. de-lish!  

i will most definitely be making this dish again. so easy.

onion blossom

you know when you misplace something, then you look for it hard core and you don't find it. well, recently you may recall i was looking for my copy of skin because i had been emailed by the artist and that got me thinking about having the story...    i was convinced i had put it inside a frame. i mean i had the idea to do that, it would stay flat and safe therefore, i must have done that. right?

now with may fast approaching i needed to find my passport for travel up to b.c. i went to the place it's been for year, the place that makes the most sense too. the little hanging purse/travel wallet all in. nope, not there. why would i have moved it?  

 tonight one of my tasks after work was to find my passport...seriously. because in order for me to get a new one i'd have to request a certified copy of my birth certificate from n.y. then send everything in and most likely expedite it. so if i could eliminate extra steps that would be best.

low and behold. i found it. it was in this cool purse i have and rarely use. typical. but look what else i found. boom. certified. verified.

...and these are certifiably some unappetizing looking biscuits. don'tcha think? 

lost in the goodwill hunting

"oh my god!" that is pretty much all i could say by 8:05 am thursday morning at the goodwill down in the sellwood region... mind you the doors open at 8:00 am! 

holy smokes talk about your prime people watching. 

this place is insane. people were waiting outside for the doors to open. apparently the first in the morning slot, brings the stuff picked up directly from donations. so it's "brand new" no ones seen it yet. 

people were like zombies, rolling there carts up to the bins and just riffling through, grabbing anything. throwing it their cart. next bin. pants shuffled, shirts flying. oh grab that, get it, get it! 

don't forget to pull a blanket or sheet over the top of your cart so no one can see what you've scored! seriously.

holy crap.  

i mean what are these people doing with all this stuff they feel they really need.

all i know is that american's generate a lot of stuff! and i need to find hand sanitizer when i get to work. don't scratch your nose. no, you don't have an inch on your face..

wait, what is this? do i need this?

oooh barbie dolls... no. no. NO. 

you don't need those remember you still have some at home,,, that you got from the goodwill in seattle. 

remember. and you still aren't doing anything with them..

all this talk, makes hulk mad!!!

          okay calm now.

this is a kids toy... i found the shape to very interesting and the fact that there's a little girl doll stuck inside, floating in water even more interesting. wtf

jeff koons yer so tired. so uninspired.

 

i'm not really too sure what this is for.. i like that it works with demother... ya know DA mutha!  

sorry this is just what happens when i'm picking through big huge blue bins for an hour..

ahh old marketing. 
straight and to the point.

i'm sure you might be wondering what i did walk away with. some interesting things, three frames matching in color and size. a black velor short-sleeved jumpsuit with hood and silver piping. i mean how can you say not to that? some other fabric pieces. two small planter pots. two small brown medical bottles. 

my big score was finding addition cards and what was probably a life magazine trivia card set.... i just kept finding more and more cards the more shit i moved around. unfortunately there were some underneath the bins. i would have gotten them but they were smack dab in the middle and well, it was the goodwill floor... i really didn't need to go there!

experience the thrill of modern day exploration...

 the kbomb n' the coon ass, which i know is a rather un-p.c. moniker, let's call him the cajun instead! yes, so they came to visit the wonderful pacific northwest.

something soothing about people you've know for say twenty years, as the kbomb and i have, it's effortless. conversations flow. or maybe there is quiet time. company is appreciated regardless. 

and small advetures become ..well, you decide.

a simple trip to pdx furniture and fixture can really make you feel you're as inspired and as good as atget. 

but then again that's a rather ballsy statement...

   

quit your job & hop trains!

been a little time since i posted... whatcha been doing? where to start? in that span of time mc61 and i got some new ink work, got new cozies from cozy o' the month club, had friends visit and sadly raised a glass of whiskey for our lil' whiskered friend.

there were many times when i tried to catch boo playing with his tail, but he was a little energry ball not to mention, great at not letting you take his picture. 

however, every now and then, you get lucky.. you catch him!

our friends were a great support  during their visit when we had to say goodbye to our beloved kitty. he was a fine, spry, lil spaz.. and only fourteen years young. so here's to you boo head. as my friend the kbomb so eloquently noted, boo is now being pile-driven by Hank "the squasher" which is a comfort and a laugh! (Hank the tank, Henry portrait of a serial kitty, Jabba the Hank, a/k/a Henry,was our other kitty and Boo's wrestling nemesis.we said goodbye to the Hank about a year and half ago.

after boo was diagnosed with kidney disease we changed his diet to a high fat, low protein.. naturally he started craving meat. he never bothered with 'people food' until about this time. i remember i was home after happy hour, having a little sandwich... to my surprise boo felt the need to have a snack as well. what a little fawker - can you believe how ballsy he is, going for my sandwich.

my favorite after work activity... getting love from boo.