Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Oh my goodness, the slackitude!

How have I NOT posted about the ice cream that I made and have nearly polished off yet? I think the prospect of going through the entire experience again seems daunting to me. But I have pictures. And the ice cream is good. However, I feel like the next frozen treat I'm going to attempt shall be of the sorbet nature, because I honestly don't NEED a quart of full-fat frozen custard waiting for me in my fridge on these days where the temps are consistently 100+. Oh, you wacky San Fernando Valley, you!

Hmm.

I want to make a necklace out of washers and ribbon like this...
... in the style of Anni Albers. I decided I wanted to when they started selling "kits" to make her kind of "junk jewelery" at Urban Outfitters, and I thought to myself, "THAT DEFEATS THE PURPOSE! I mean, go get some friggin' washers and a piece of ribbon! This thing is MEANT to be easy, but still be a project! Get your lazy, skinny hipster asses off your re-upholstered vintage loveseat and put in the legwork."

So I went to my local Ace Hardware. They didn't have enough of the washers I liked. I figure I'll swing into Lowe's the next time I'm in the area.

(Lazy.)

OH! I DID make a dress, though! Yeah. From scratch and everything. Well, from fabric and string and without a pattern. I didn't weave and loom the cotton or anything. Pics to come...

(Lazy.)

And my recent decision to start going to the Santa Monica Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, in an effort to get me doing stuff on weekends, eating more veggies and fruit, and supporting local farmers has resulted in a grand upswing in my cheese consumption. Sorry, cheesemongers of Santa Monica. Gotta cut myself off.

There's a new (to me) dresser sitting in my living room. (Thanks Adam!) The plan is to paint it, fill it with clothes that currently reside in an old unsightly plastic set of drawers, and use said plastic set of drawers to organize and store some of my craft stuff. The farthest I have gotten into this project is doing my laundry. Crucial, and yet that dresser is still in my living room.

(Lazy.)

New show opens July 31st.



Anyone who'd like to sing me sing the hits of Wham!, The Smiths, Eurhythmics, Duran Duran, and Prince while dressed like Boy George would be well advised to attend.

"But Dana! What does any of that crap have to do with Shakespeare?"

Why are you asking so many questions? It's gonna be fun, okay? And they sell booze at the theatre, so that's ALWAYS a plus.

July 31 through August 23, 2009
Fridays @ 8 p.m., Saturdays @ 8 p.m., Sundays @ 6 p.m.

Click here for more info! And if you order tickets, tell them I sent you. It won't help you any, but apparently there's a cash prize for the cast member who brings in the most paying audience members. This is CLEARLY not going to be me, but it never hurts to throw it out there.

Alright, I've got a date with a man, a margarita, and pollo en mole. Adios.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Pardon my absence.

It's currently too insanely hot in my workshop to want to spend any large amount of my free time in there. Greg, I don't know how you did it all those years. That room be HOT.

Also, I'm in rehearsal for a show, so that squeezes out any evening blogging.

Excuses, excuses.

Back to work.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Gabrielle Anwar


I like her a lot. I think she's great. "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" is just the kind of movie I was into as a kid, so I was obsessed with it. Now she rocks big time on "Burn Notice", and makes rompers, wedges, and fanny-packs look cooler than they would ever look on anyone else.

My only concern?
She's looking a bit damn skinny.

Gabrielle, in the interest of keeping your fabulous cheekbones from cutting right through your skin, I recommend the book "The Perfect Scoop". Start with the Ice Cream chapter. Work your way through. Repeat.

Reverie Interruptus

So I AM in the midst of making my own ice cream today, being at the crucial "letting the base chill completely" phase right now. I'm not posting my account of the actual process yet, because it ain't done. But I will tell you this...

After I had finished the custard and was letting it chill in an ice bath before transferring it to the fridge, I was cleaning up after myself in kind of a daze. I tasted the base of my ice cream, and it was so resplendently tasty that it sent me into a "what if ice cream changes my life" kind of cloud. I began envisioning starting from the ground up, making crazy-fantastic ice creams and selling it small-scale locally. I began envisioning opening a cafe that specialized in custard-based ice creams, also selling coffee, eventually expanding to be a full-fledged cafe. And in the midst of this...



I broke a glass in the sink. Luckily, it broke into big pieces and wasn't one that I particularly cared about (hooray for POM Wonderful and their juices/teas that come in reusable glasses!). Funny thing is that Matt recently broke one of 'em too. Luckily, there are 2 brand new glasses Matt got from McDonald's waiting and ready to go.



What are the odds?
Call it the Conservation of Glassware Law.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of the hamburgers/french fries/ice cream I'll be consuming tonight, I'm being all healthy and chowing on a quinoa dish I made a couple days ago with garbanzo beans, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and some olive oil. Yum.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

CRLLL - Impending knowledge, impending doom, impending increased LDL cholesterol level...

I just ordered an ice cream mixer attachment for my KitchenAid mixer.

Along with this book.

I'm in soooooo much trouble.

However, I feel like I'm more likely to feel like making ice cream than pies. Especially now that it's July, when the regular temperature in the Valley hovers pretty steadily between 90 - 105 mid-day, and the temperature in my apartment can range from "comfortable" to "surface of Mars on a particularly hot, red day".

But please. This book has recipes for things like Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream, Saffron Ice Cream, Tiramisu Ice Cream and Roquefort-Honey Ice Cream.

THAT'S ICE CREAM WITH BLUE CHEESE, FOOL.

When my heart just stops beating, know that I died happy.