Mmm Vegan Breakfast

I like breakfast food. Here are two of my favorites. I also like waffles but my waffle iron broke one Sunday morning and I haven't been able to make any since. Boohoo. Lemon waffles are my favorite and I miss them. The french toast recipe comes from the Garden of Vegan Cookbook which I slightly changed by adding more nutritional yeast, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I make the scrambled tofu by smashing firm tofu and mixing it with nutritional yeast, turmeric, salt, and paprika. Than I add green onions, tomatoes, and red peppers. Potatoes are baked with oil and rosemary.

Junior Scientists Kids Day

University of Arizona
Junior Scientists Kids’ Day
November 7th 9:00am-1:00pm
UA Science and Engineering Library, Station #49

I presented the kids portion of my Ethnobotany workshop for my Sonoran Desert Discovery Class that I am taking at the University of Arizona at this weekends Jr. Scientists Kids Day. This included displaying basketry objects (Hopi and Tohono O’odham) alongside plant specimens (Soap tree Yucca, Devil’s claw, Yucca root, Straw, Bear Grass, Sumac, and Willow). I had the children try to guess what plants the baskets were made of. Then I explained what an observation and hypotheses were and why they are important. Following this discussion I had them try to use the dichotomous key to sort five different types of beans. They were able to use a magnifying glass and a ruler. If they got it right I gave them a prize (plastic bugs, lizards, frogs, or a magnifying glass). My final discussion included explaining to them that like the dichotomous key scientists ask lots of questions to get answers and sometimes some questions will create more questions. I think I did an okay job.

Vegan Ice Cream Cake

I made this Vegan Ice Cream cake for my friend Meghan’s Birthday Brunch. It looks so pretty and tasted really good too. I made two layers of chocolate cake put them in the freezer and let the Trader Joe’s Vanilla Ice Cream thaw a bit. I smoothed out the ice cream in layers putting the cake back into the freezer as I went. I left the sides undecorated because the layers looked so nice.

Bijou at Dada

Last week I submitted a few prints for the Bijou Exhibit at the Dada Gallery in downtown Tucson. The exhibit looked great and I was proud to see my crafty junk with some real art. If you live in Tucson you should definitely go down and take a look this Saturday December 13th between 12-6pm. There are a variety of pieces including photography, paintings, prints, sculpture, jewelry, handmade bags and cards. You can also check out the website at http://www.dadatucson.com/.

Etchings,Woodcuts, and Accordians oh my..

To the right is an etching with drypoint print of a boston terrier that I did about a year ago. To the left is a woodcut matrix that I also did. It is a reproduction of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's Kristus und Judas (Christ and Judas). I really enjoy the subtractive process of woodcutting, which is why I posted the matrix rather than the print itself. I have made several woodcuts before but all have been reproduction pieces. I am currently looking for some inspiration to start my own piece. I already found a couple pieces of wood that have a nice grain pattern which will hopefully transfer a most excellent pattern to the paper when inked. Some ideas that I would like to incorporate in a piece or perhaps a series of pieces, not like I have the time or money, old strange signage of Tucson, dogs, islamic designs, intricate machinery, accordians, and maybe old people with wrinkly faces. Nothing very original, I know, but I'm no artist I just want to see if I can 1.) carve detailed designs using various techniques and tools, 2.) incorporate my own ideas, as lame as they are, and arrange them in such a way that will be visually appealling and balanced. Part 2 I feel will be the hard part for me. Its very strange I am good at organizing tangible things like books, archives, ect. but very bad at organizing my own thoughts and then expressing them. Probably because I dont have the tools to do so. Oh well we shall see!

SCarfy Scarf

I love this scarf! I got the pattern from "Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker" by Debbie Stoller. I made one for myself in maroon. The orange scarf I made in this photo was a gift for Esther(the lovely model).

Mr. Skull Head..

I saw a similar looking Skull doll somewhere on the Internet. This is my version of it using felt. I am still in the process of sewing and stuffing Mr. Skull Head together but this is what I have so far.