Lisa's Day

Best Of Journaling 1997 Sketchbook

  Steve hugging me from behind while I'm doing something (probably making coffee)

What is in my future?

Relaxing with a big cup of my home version of cafe au lait (w/boiled milk)

Steve sleeping & Griffin keeping him company.

 Steve asleep a.m. w/Sentry Cat (Griffin)

 
(These two are on white handmade paper, from papermaking class, ink pen drawing, then brown ink brushed across the back side, then left on my studio floor all night to dry, and let the ink bleed).

I've discovered that my self-confidence is like a plant - it needs attention and care or it will start to wilt. It's not enough to build it up just once. I have to keep at it...

 

I'm still afraid to reveal ALL about myself. Perhaps I can get some imagery about that. "I'm fine."

   7/4/97 Last night the A.C. died! Might be a blown fuse, but the basement padlock has been changed! HOLIDAY = NO HELP FROM APT. COMPLEX. I sit by the phone all day, SWELTERING, occasionally standing in the doorway of the fridge. (apt. people never call) Steve & I bash at the window, trying to get the cast iron grille out, to no avail. We eventually semi-install my little a.c. unit. It cools as best as it can. I take an ice-cold shower. I'M STILL OVERHEATED. Later on, it cools off & cool breezes blow through the apt. I HATE THE HEAT!

Shit Job

I forgot to mention that I finished all the shredding - all the old stuff I pulled out of my filing, all the saved receipts and junk mail from the months without a shredder. All of it. And while sorting through my old letters, I found this:

p.s. Working on the Best Of Journaling Project - coming soon!

Assorted Things and Stuff

Full Menora burning. I like this photo because of Eeyore's face at the top.

Nice close-up.

Steve's birthday cake with too much frosting at the edges. NOTE: In cold weather, the glaze will turn into frosting, even with the lesser amount of powdered sugar. Oh, well. We ended up scraping it off and putting chocolate pudding on top.

Steve's birthday gift from me.

I'm giving up on this. It got too heavy with the materials. I think I'm going to just scrape her off and start over. I don't think heavy layers are "me."

A Relatively Lighter Meal

Enough heavy comfort food. A nice vegetarian meal. First, we browned some breadcrumbs in a frying pan over medium heat - mix breadcrumbs with some olive oil, cheese (we used Asiago since Safeway is always out of Parmesan), salt and pepper. Stir as they turn brown. Set aside. Then we cooked a whole package of Angel Hair pasta, so we have lots of leftover pasta.

Saute Asparagus and Crimini Mushrooms in iron skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Add Goat Cheese.

Then add some Vegetable Broth.

Stir to make a sauce.

He looks like Sylar. The Evil Chef.
Saucy Goodness!

And plated: pasta, breadcrumbs, saucy veggies, garnish with Asiago. Excellent.
 
 
 

 
 

Around Home

I had to take some reference photos, mainly for our hands. But this one came out nice. Steve is so patient with my artist crap.

This was the last one on the self-timer!

Our holiday table this year, complete with Shalom stocking, and burning Menora. See the felt circle garland?

And a better picture of the Menora.
 
 
 
 

What I Did on My Snow Day Yesterday

Darla is still calling it my Snow Day. No, we didn't get snow - I was so disappointed we didn't get one last week, she said I could take yesterday off. Yay.

Applied modeling paste to Daphne, then dark blue paint, then white scumbled over. Still in progress. Suzi said it was too much the same all over - not enough variety of marks.

Added text and washes - still in progress.

This one on wood is still in progress - I applied some blue paint washes, then water-soluble oil pastels on top. Next I need to "bring her back."

I also worked on my two Day of the Dead pieces, but realized the heavy paper I used wasn't right, so I soaked/scraped it off. And I started a piece on wood - this time a square (except the paper is too short on the sides - OH WELL). These photos of works just in pencil weren't very interesting - will post pix when I work on them some more.

And this new one. I really like her! I think her name is Carrie.

 
 
 

Shredding Update

Forgot to mention - I finished shredding the reject Journaling Project pieces!!

Will post the Best Of soon.

More Comfort Food Plus Menora

BISCUIT PAH!

We call this Biscuit Pah. It's like Pot Pah, but with biscuit dough on top instead of pah crust. Made with turkey leftovers, and yellow onion (red onions turn purple in leftovers).

If this were video, you could see it steam and bubble.

 Does that look good or what?! Leftover Biscuit Pah is equally awesome.

And the burning Menora. (Slightly out of focus, sorry.) Steve likes to burn the Menora because it reminds him of Dad, and Nanny.

"NOW GET YOUR B*TCH A** BACK IN THE KITCHEN AND MAKE ME SOME PAH!!"

http://www.southparkstudios.com/

15Ria Sammich Part II

I took the fixings for my turkey-goat cheese-pesto-pickled red onion sammich to work yesterday. And I took my camera so I could get a photo. (Yes, I did.)

 We had wheat bread, but it would have been better on french bread, but these days Panera is always out of french bread, and we never finish the loaf. It was also too much stuff on the sammich and very messy to eat.

But was it good! I probably should have had it as an assembled salad. The bread got soggy and fell apart. But it was still good.

Here's a pic of my forgotten 15Ria leftovers! Not as good. Couldn't taste the onions at all.
  And I took photos of the flowers I received.

Aren't they pretty? Even if it is kinda weird getting a vase of roses from a work client of my Boss, but still: they are pretty. They must have sent roses to all the secretaries. I hardly ever get flowers.

Steve doesn't go for flowers. In truth, neither do I. Unless I need them for a specific art project or drawing, in which case I'd prefer Anemones, which are impossible to find. Steve gets me cool stuff, like the time he got all the Stargate DVDs. And CDs I didn't even know were on my list. 

One of my coworkers said, "Flowers are just expensive, and then they die." Well said.

Cookies!

 I baked cookies this weekend.

I was going to put my famous Sugar Cookies through the cookie press, like I did here: http://klisaanne.typepad.com/lisas_day/2009/06/my-signature-cookie.html  But the dough would not release from the cookie press! Every time I pressed out a cookie, it just stuck there and would not stay on the baking stone. AARGH! Finally, I just had to roll them out. Not wanting to mess with cookie cutters, I used my round biscuit cutter. I think it may have been too cold in our kitchen for the cookie press to work.

I put frosting between the cookies and made little sandwiches. I used both chocolate frosting (from the Hershey's Cocoa tin, but with less powdered sugar) and vanilla frosting (recipe is with my cookie recipe in the link above). For the Hershey's frosting, the recipe calls for 3 Cups powdered sugar, but we have been using 2 Cups. Steve made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting a few weeks ago, but wanted a runny glaze instead of a thick overly sweet frosting. It's Bittersweet Frosting. Chill till spreadable. And I only made a half-batch of each frosting, but a double-batch of cookie dough.

Did they turn out good. The chocolate ones are like Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. Steve likes those better. I like them both - the vanilla frosting is so good. But so is the chocolate.

 I wrapped each cookie in a treat bag, with decorative ribbon. Cookie!