For Your Viewing Pleasure

Here are a few interesting documentaries if you've got some time to kill.

A revolutionary tattoo artist:


London apartment dwellers. Wait for the sad quiet man tell his story at the end.


Italian teeth knocked out of Italian mouths:


Tattoos and prisons in Russia:

Ghetto Home Fabulous: We Party Right

I loved the Lord of the Rings so hard when I was in high school, you guys. Probably a little too hard. For a while, my brothers and I had memorized every line of those movies, and we would recite them all as we watched. Last weekend I finally scanned this poster that I made for my little brother's birthday back in 2002. I would hole up in my bedroom every day after school, pop the Fellowship of the Rings soundtrack in my little CD player, and bust out the colored pencils....

(You can see a better version of this on my tumblr)

Anywho, because of my undying love for all things Tolkien/theme parties, I decided to make everyone dress up and watch movies for my birthday.

My friends are incredibly good sports who are always willing to make me happy by wearing ridiculous costumes.

Here we have Tom Bombadil, Gandalf, Arwen, an Entwife, Sauron, Galadriel, and Gregolas.
I made this wizard hat the Ghetto Home Fabulous way - out of paper bags, duct tape, and tempera paint.
I think Tom won the prize for best costume. Those are wooden weapons that he made himself when he was a kid.
For dinner, I made four cheese macaroni with fried ham. The recipe is from the Best Recipe cookbook - literally the best cookbook in the whole wide world. Also pictured is my most recent garden harvest. There are sooooo many tomatoes - I need to do some major blanchin' and freezin' tonight!
Here I am as the Dark Lord, canoodling with one of my sworn enemies. A beautiful elf with a beautiful ent <3
I promised a certain lady that this photo wouldn't be seen on the facebook, but I love it so much I couldn't help putting it up here. She was showing us what Liv Tyler's lips look like, haha.
And you know that if the Russian comes to your party, then it is indeed a special occasion.

Next up: First Ladies of America theme party (oh, I hope!)

Tommy Toes

It seems like my long, sweaty hours spent in the garden this summer are finally paying off. Everything looked like it was on its vegetable deathbed for a while there. But almost every day this week I've gotten to walk home with my skirt pockets full of tomatoes - in all sizes and weird shapes. I eat them the way my grandma taught me, sliced up and sprinkled with onion salt.

This one was my favorite. I named it Gomer :)

Laundromat Quotes: Part II

Snack Bar Lady: Oh, you got the bad one (washer). You just gotta smack it real hard for it to work.

Me: tap tap

Snack Bar Lady: No! Think o' somebody you hate. Now bang it real hard! Bang it!

...........................

Uhhh, in other news, a mighty storm came through town last night and totally ruined my plans for swimming fun with Iliana. Afterwards, we drove past downed power lines and broken trees laying on top of cars while I smugly explained "this happens aaaaall the time here- no big deal. We midwesterners are hardy folk." Ha ha hooooo.

Sad Sack Mondays

Ghetto Home Fabulous: Sugar Voodoo - Putting Butts on Vegans Since 1875

I would say that given my "experience" in "sampling" baked goods "over the years", my cake-critiquing skills are....advanced. Not to brag or anything. But I do know a good cake when I taste one. And with that being said, I will admit to you that I think most vegan baked goods taste like those rubber chips they use to replace sand on playgrounds. Nothing can live up to my three tasty boyfriends: Barry Unsalted Butter, Evan Eggs, and Henry Heavy-Cream.

Sometimes, though, you become friends with some dude who does karate and dresses up like Keyboard Cat for Halloween and happens to not eat animal products, and you can't out of the goodness of your heart stand to watch him nibble on fruit while you shovel down a huge piece of Grandma's lard-crust french silk pie at one of your weird parties.

Thus, I give you the following recipe which was probably-but-don't-quote-me-on-this created by some lazy wife of a lactose intolerant sailor in 1870's Connecticut. Seriously- it's an oldie. And I said "lazy" because this cake is meant to be mixed and baked in a single pan. Yes, that's right! That means that instead of washing dishes while your goods are bakin', you can spend that time trying out awkward new moves on your exercise ball, forcing your cranky pet to snuggle with you, or crying about the direction your life is taking. Just my style!

1 1/3 c flour
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 t salt
1 t baking SODA (not powder! not powder!)
1 t vanilla
1 T vinegar
1/3 c oil
1 c water or soy milk

Grease a 9ish" by 9ish" pan, yo. Mix your dry ingredients in said pan. Make three "craters" in the dry mixture. Into each hole, pour the vanilla, vinegar and oil respectively. Pour water or soy milk over the whole thing and mix it up, baby. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes - nobody likes crispy cake, so keep an eye on that sucker.

If forgot to take pictures before I ate the thing, so instead I made this highly accurate rendering in MS Paint. Enjoy.

Vacation

This is what I do in the car for eight hours. Do little kids still braid friendship bracelets like this? P.S. My mom used to use that duckie safety pin to fasten my diapers and she still carries it around in her purse. How bout that.