Enfin!

I submitted my application to the San Francisco Art Institute as a transfer student today! By applying before February 15th I am eligible for the merit scholarship, but I’d be just as happy getting in without it… Cross your fingers, cyberworld. The artist’s statement was a pain but in the end totally worth it.

Today I have an appointment to get my hair cut, something I have been meaning to do for months because my hair is gross and long.

Tomorrow I will be driving myself and my boyfriend to Las Vegas to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I won’t reveal the hotel we’re staying out lest I have stalkers, but rest assured it’s a good’un. I’ve already got my cameras packed (4 total: Nikon N55, Fed 3, Diana +, Nikon D40). I considered not bringing either Nikon but they both have light meters the Diana and Fed 3 sadly lack so they have some value. The N55 is also an automatic and thus more suited for capturing tumbleweeds should we encounter some in the desert. After Las Vegas we shall be venturing into Death Valley National Park to look at craters and ghost towns before going home via Yosemite National Park. I have a deep fondness for national parks, they’re so fabulous and beautiful. They’re also one of the few good things this country has going for it in terms of the natural world.

Notes on rental cars, gambling, and tumbleweeds will be available sometime next week… stay tuned.

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This is a jelly fish

I’m such an artist!

I’m such an artist that I can’t write an artist’s statement. Maybe I should just write that in on my application… “I’m so deep in my art that I can’t write about it, it’s beyond words [man].” I got a start, at least. It’s due in 10 days. Eep!
My birthday cameras arrived. I haven’t used the Diana yet, but here are a couple shots with the Fed 3. It’s a fantastic piece of machinery.

My hair smells bad

You know why? Some fool on the floor below my apartment foolishly left something on the stove and then wandered off. Obviously it got way burned and way on fire and the whole building STINKS. I’m pretty sure this is the same man who is stealing our Sunday newspaper because on my way home tonight I saw him fleeing the scene (ie our building) like a guilty man and it was the same dude who I saw with our newspaper months ago.

Today was productive! I dropped off about 10 rolls of film at some place in San Francisco, but I won’t name drop unless they do a good job. I am going to name drop about some new tasty fake meat products, however! Quorn products are so far the best. I’ve tried their stir fry style “chick’n” and most recently their version of chicken nuggets. They didn’t really taste like chicken, but the seasoning and breading were quite tasty. There’s also no fear of undercooking the little guys because they’re not a dead animal! Fabulous. I picked up some seitan also, apparently, in stir fry style. I cooked it up with some vegetables and noodles and here’s my conclusion: SEITAN = WEIRD.

Yesterday I made my own dumplings. My boyfriend tried too but ended up just making a burrito out of his ground beef (he completed three, though, and managed to fry them to perfection). Mine had green cabbage, cilantro, green onion, and mushrooms sauteed with garlic. I added soy sauce and ginger to the mix, too. Boasting isn’t my thing, but they were effing tasty. I steamed most of them and basically failed at frying them. I’ll do better next time and I highly recommend you make your own dumplings chez vous because it’s very rewarding.

Fake meat

I purchased a large bag of frozen Quorn “Chik’n Tenders” and have since used it in two stir fries. From those meals I have concluded that it performs well as a chicken substitute and had a much more convincing texture than the aforementioned Smart Chick’n Strips. Both products are equal however in their disdain for the letter “e.” Here’s a picture of New Jersey:

Bored

So I’m stuck at home (like I go out much anyway) waiting for the cable guy. We’ve already had our internet hooked up and our man for the job showed up within 30 minutes of the early side of the time “window” we were given. Today it’s been 2 1/2 hours and I’m wondering if Comcast, like my mobile phone company, emphasize subscription rather than existing customer care. Kind of like cigarettes! Whatever, as long as the dude gets here. I’ve been missing out on too much Law & Order. Yesterday I tried my culinary hand at vegetable stew, although it came out more soup-like. I didn’t do anything fancy or overly complicated like cooking the vegetables before tossing them in the water like some recipes I found online suggested. That’s what the hot water is for, right? Anyway, my recipe:

• 1 cup lentils
• 1 tbsp basil
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 3/4 cups small red potatoes, cubed
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• 3 cups mushrooms, quatered
• 2 cups carrots, chopped
• Water
• Vegetable broth/stock
• Salt & pepper
• Soy sauce
• Olive oil

So I cooked the lentils for about an hour in 4 cups of water, then I added all the veggies, garlic, and basil with another 2 cups of water and 1 3/4 of vegetable broth. An hour later this proved to be too much water so I drained a lot of the broth (3 cups maybe?) and added some more vegetable broth (about a cup), salt, pepper, olive oil, and soy sauce. After another hour or so the veggies were almost entirely tender and it tasted pretty good! 

 

 

I’ve crossed over

Anyone reading this who knows me personally also knows that I love meat. All of it except organs and veal. You folks may be slightly shocked to learn that I have recently gone vegetarian though I did not need Sir Paul McCartney to help me out. I just decided to do it and I have since not eaten any poultry, beef, or pork. Seafood, however, may stay on my menu as I tend to eat out a lot and have noticed that a lot of vegetarian dishes involve disgusting eggplant. Blech. So far I’ve only had oysters. Yum! Anyway, this affords me the opportunity to blog about vegetarian things, at least until my new cameras get here. These little things are fairly tasty, although rather sodium-y. They resemble chicken almost perfectly in terms of texture and I was pleasantly surprised by the seasoning except when I found out how much of it was salty salt.As for that whole Paul McCartney, goveg.com thing, I thought their free PDF file about eating vegetarian was very helpful. For once PETA wasn’t trying to make me vomit or cry with images of suffering, bloody animals (although there were a few, they also included images of happy animals living the vegetarian life). Vegetarian celebrities include Kristen Bell AKA Veronica Mars, Toby McGuire, and Alec Baldwin (but I don’t believe this) and they all think that animals are way too precious to eat. Maybe so, stars…In the final pages of the PDF file, they start plugging brands like the aforementioned Lightlife “Smart” products alongside Boca, Morningstar Farms (belongs to Kellogg), Yves, etc. and include their products in the following recipes. I can see the good and bad, but mostly the bad. Good: people who are actually convinced by this colorful PDF file might not know which brands to turn to instead of their favorite animal-killing brands. Bad: I was completely thrown off by the sudden page of advertising/product placement in the file (although maybe the celebrity endorsements should have warned me). It would be nice to know if PETA asked the brands for permission to put attractive images of their products on its website or if their companies had to donate first.

Birthday presents

I bought myself some new toys to start the new year:  + 140 rolls of film. WOO! Now I just need to find a conveniently located pro photo lab in the San Francisco bay area. 

It’s my 22nd birthday!

And facebook knows it…

Thanks, team! I will have a great day!

Never not use a can opener

I was going to post a picture of my ugly stitched up finger (because I didn’t use a can opener), but this is better: