Making A 3D Papier Mache Animal Sculpture: Part 1

It seems for an art and crafty blog, my programming has been more eating and pets lately so I am going to try and get some art stuff back into the mix!

I've been asked by a friend to make a large, 3D sculpture of an animal in the Chinese zodiac to be carried in a boat parade during the opening of the new Chinese Reconciliation Park here in Tacoma.  About half the animals were already taken so I chose dog from what was left over.  It seemed appropriate to my life right now.  They need to be about 4 feet tall/wide and light weight enough to carry on a dragon boat.  I have no idea how they are actually going to be used.  I will find out on September 29th!

First, I started by researching the Chinese Zodiac and printing out some dog examples.  (see above)  I decided I didn't want the Pomeranian style dog so I went with a little more stereotypical, yet stylized, dog.  But he's a happy dog.

I drew him on a one inch scale and then roughly transferred him to a one foot scale on cardboard.  My friend Kim is also working on this project and she gets giant heavy duty bike boxes from her husband's work.  Handy. 

I cut out 2 body silhouettes because a) it's supposed to  be 3-D and b) we need to have a tube in his body for a stick to hold them to go inside.  The one at the front of his body is just to balance it out.  I bought a long piece of plumbing pipe at the hardware store and then just cut them to size with a hack saw.  I used heavy duty adhesive to glue the pipes to the cardboard and taped them down to hold them in place while drying. 

Next, I applied glue to the tops of the pipes and set the top cardboard down and weighted it with books. 

Good to know my art history textbook from college still has its uses!  The tail is not glued in yet, I just set it there for looks. 

Next part I will be attaching the legs and tail and then bulking up the body to make it 3-D.  It's fun to do these big arty community projects. 

Bristle Bone: Best Dog Toy Ever?

I guess it is a dog posting sort of day because after showing you that video of Oskar, I want to show you his favorite toy.  This may be the best dog toy I have ever seen; it entertains, stops them from chewing on things they should not be chewing on, and cleans their teeth at the same time! 

OK, the above photo of the "Bristle Bone" looks very pretty but look at it after hard use for just a week! Note the left rawhide ring has been completely eaten away.  They come in four sizes so you can get the perfect size for Fluffy or Spot.

I paid about $16 for it at our local fancy pet store but just discovered it's only $10 and covered by Prime on Amazon.   So when we need a new one, I will probably get it there to save a whopping $6.

You also have to buy these replacement rings.   

The whole toy unscrews so you can put new rings on.  Some reviewers on Amazon noted their dogs were able to unscrew the toy but we have not had that problem yet.  I figure when the plastic screw eventually strips out, it is time to buy a new toy.  That is one important lesson I have learned about having a dog.  I thought you just bought toys and that was that.  No, it turns out our dog relishes destroying toys.  Better the toys than our furniture!

Replaced ring in toy and ready for action!

No time like the present! 

He loves to jump onto his bed and work away on his toy.  

Who ever thought of this is a genius! 

Corgi Video, Can't Help Myself

We just upgraded our phones to Samsung Galaxy 3s, which I am still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles for, but I learned this morning that they take great video!  Oskar loves Vincent and they play all the time.  Vincent is pretty patient with him most of the time and only starts to hiss after about 15 minutes or so of Corgi madness.  The camera is shaking at the end because I am laughing so hard.

38 Things: Make Ravioli From Scratch

 Every time I look at my list of 38 Things I Want to do Before I Turn 39, I am most smitten with the cooking and food items.  Maybe I need my own list of food related desires separate from my artsy and home ones?   Last year's list had Make Pasta From Scratch; this year I upped the ante and decided to make ravioli from scratch. 

Ravioli is intimidating.  You have to prepare the filling.  Then you make the pasta.  Then you have to make the raviolis themselves.  Then you have to cook them and figure out some sort of sauce.  It took about 3 hours from start to finish to make dinner. But that included green beans gratin and an arugula salad too.

I actually enjoy all of these monotonous steps.  Prepping: cleaning, chopping, and organizing is one of my favorite parts about cooking.

I made my filling out of shitake and crimini mushrooms plus shallots, garlic, sage, parsley, and rosemary and sauteed it in a blend of olive oil and butter.   Once it cooled I pureed everything in the food processor and set it aside. 

Next up was the pasta itself.  I had 4 different resources out: Ethan Stowell's New Italian Kitchen,  Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, and the manual that came with the pasta machine.  I tried both Tom and Mark's egg dough and in the end, Mark's won hands down.  It had 2 whole eggs plus 3 yolks and had a lovely golden color.  Bonus it was easy to work with.  But Tom and Ethan both had nice instructions and photos for making raviolis. The pasta machine manual was extremely helpful in rolling directions.  It's very easy to make the dough: blend all the ingredients in the food processor until it forms a dough, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Then scrape out onto your floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes until dough stiffens.  Cover and let rest 30 minutes.  Then proceed with making your noodles or what have you. 

We found that it was best to work in an assembly line.  Trevor managed rolled out the dough and then I made the raviolis.  Each time you put it through the rollers you have to fold it over and roll it again to really blend the dough.  Then you slowly turn down the thickness of the rollers as you go.  We needed it pretty thin for ravioli.  

The machine cranks out dough about 5 inches wide which is perfect for folding over into ravioli.

I set out little scoops of the mushroom filling onto the dough.  Then with a pastry brush I used water to wet the dough, folded it over and pressed out the air bubbles.  The recipes were very strict about pressing out all the air bubbles but I know I didn't do the best job of it and the ravioli came out great anyways.  

Finally, I used a fluted cutter to cut out the ravioli and then I placed them on parchment paper with a light dusting of flour.  

I lightly boiled them in small batches for about 3 minutes.  When they float to the surface, you know they are done.  I tossed them with an olive oil and garlic sauce and then we dug in!

I think everyone should try making pasta from scratch at least once.  It tastes far, far superior to anything that comes in a box, including the "fresh" pastas you find in the refrigerated section.  And if you are just making linguine, it takes about 1/3rd the time of making ravioli!

What I Ate: Vegan Enchiladas

I don't normally eat vegan but I am in a book club and one of the members is vegetarian and another member can't eat cheese, so I try to make something everyone can eat.  Usually, this translates directly into salad, but I wanted to try something different.

I have been experimenting in making roasted tomatillo/anaheim pepper sauce for a couple of months now and I stumbled upon this Green Enchiladas recipe when I decided to try a dish without cheese.  It's spinach and mushrooms wrapped tortillas with a roasted tomatillo sauce and cashew cheese on top.  The "cheese" for the dish is roasted poblano pepper/cashew cream spread on top after the dish has been baked.  Cashews soaked in water and then blended up seem to be the go-to item for any vegan dish requiring a cream or a cheese.  It tastes pretty good but cashews are awfully expensive.  When I make this again, I may just skip the cashews and just blend the poblanos with a lowfat sour cream and call it good since I am not vegan.

The secret weapon in this recipe is roasting the peppers.  Roasting peppers may seem difficult, but it is a super easy way to add fabulous taste to a dish.  I myself don't like to have to turn peppers under the broiler or over a grill to get them all black; you do have to watch it constantly.  But I read about a great trick in Cook's Illustrated: cut the peppers in half and seed them before hand and then put them cut side down on your baking sheet.  Then when you stick them under the broiler, you just have to put on a timer for 10 minutes or so.  It works great.  You still have to peel them but if you stick them in a brown bag for a few minutes as they are cooling, it makes the process much easier.   Then you throw the roasted peppers in the food processor with whatever else you need in a sauce and you have perfect yumminess every time.

I modified her recipe a bit by using a lot more mushrooms--portabellas specifically because I wanted big pieces--and roasting anaheims with my tomatillos for the sauce.   I also microwave my tortillas to soften them because dipping them in the sauce is messy and doesn't always work.  I made another batch on the side with ground turkey spiced with chile powder and cumin along with the mushrooms and spinach and that was really tasty. 

Best Gluten Free Brownies (Not Kidding)

 True story:  A dear friend of mine is allergic to wheat.  Like seriously allergic to wheat.  It is pretty easy to have him over for a dinner party but I always feel at a loss when it comes to dessert.  A few weeks ago we had a big lawn party and I decided to go crazy and I bought a very expensive gluten free cake from a local, fancy bakery that specializes in gluten free and vegan desserts.  My husband picked up the cake and once he had it home, I eagerly opened the box to discover.....they had decorated the cake with Oreos.  Really, people?  I tell you 8 times the cake needs to be gluten free and you decorate it with Oreos????  In the end we were able to serve him a big piece from the top part not covered with the cookies, and the cake tasted delicious and not too un-cake-like at all but I am still ticked off about the lack of oversight in a $50 cake.

I had been meaning to perfect a gluten free dessert on my list of 38 Things I Want to do Before I Turn 39 and this was the final straw that made me actually do it!  I decided to stick with one of my all time favorites: brownies.  I had seen and baked brownies and chocolate cake with black beans before and I decided to mess around with some recipes online.  Mostly they all come out tasting like black beans, or as my husband puts it, "Like some weird hippy thing--" and not at all like delicious brownies.  With a little experimentation, this batch earned his stamp of approval. 

 

Best Gluten Free Brownies

1(15.5 oz) can rinsed black beans
3 large eggs
3 Tablespoons oil
1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee
pinch salt
1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon ultrafine baker's sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 oz. 70% Cacao bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (Or the best bittersweet chocolate you can find)
1 Tablespoon cocoa nibs (see note at end)

Heat oven to 350F.  Grease one 8 x 8 baking dish. 
Combine all ingredients except 1 oz chopped chocolate and cocoa nibs in bowl.  Blend well with immersion blender.  Alternately, you can blend it all up in a food processor.  Either way, make sure those beans are pulverized.  Stir in chopped chocolate and pour into prepared pan.  Sprinkle batter with cocoa nibs. 
Bake 30 minutes and just try and let it cool before you eat them.  Cuts easily with butter knife. 

Note: Cocoa nibs are the shelled cacao beans that have been roasted and broken up but are unsweetened and without extra added cocoa butter.  Some are labelled Cacao nibs. They are crunchy and have a subtle coffee bean flavor.  You could skip this or add nuts instead, but I like the extra flavor punch they give to baked goods.  I used Theo's Organic Cocoa Nibs.

We've Been Flocked!

Yesterday a couple showed up at our house and "flocked" us.  It's a charity thing for my dad's Rotary group.  You donate money to charity and get a house of your choosing flocked.  He chose our house.  It's pretty neat and makes me want to have someone else's house flocked too!  You can see how eco-friendly (read: lazy) we are by letting the grass die instead of watering it.   

Vincent is confused about the flamingos, but loves the dead grass.  

He spends a lot of his time rolling around,

acting like a goof ball.  A hippo-sized goof ball. 

Moneypenny is not impressed. 

Finally, Vinnie ends the morning by photobombing Moneypenny.

  Moneypenny is still not impressed. 

What I Ate: Vietnamese Salad

Anytime is the perfect time to eat Vietnamese food, but summer is an especially good time because of the importance of using fresh ingredients.

Vietnamese salad has many variations but in general you start with cold cooked rice noodles and add lots of fresh veggies like cucumber, cilantro, mint, and green onions.  I like to add carrots, tomatoes, radishes; anything fresh in the fridge is open for consideration.  Usually I will top it with grilled pork or chicken but here I chose plain and simple tofu.  Side it with a nuoc cham dipping sauce made from garlic, red chiles, lime juice, fish sauce, a touch of sugar, plus water, and you have a perfect summer supper!  You can added chopped peanuts on top for crunch and more protein.  Yum!

Opera for All

I had the great pleasure of seeing the opera Turandot at the Seattle Opera two days ago.  Puccini's Turandot is about a princess that relishes her freedom being unmarried and kills her suitors if they can't answer her three riddles.   She meets her wit's match in the unknown Prince.  I've mentioned before how much I enjoy opera and so I might as well say it again.  It's part musical, costume drama, symphony, sculpture, performance art, humor, dancing, acting, singing, and poetry all rolled into one.  And Turandot is also pretty violent.  (OK, artistic violence, but in spirit it's as violent as any action picture.)  So you can't say opera is boring or all sappy love stories and such. 

I was struck that I needed to say more about opera after reading an article in the New York Times today about How Hollywood Films Are Killing Opera.  Basically, the article points out how a few movies like Moonstruck and Pretty Woman have made the American viewer think that real opera can only be serious and traditional and thus has stopped opera houses all over the country from trying anything new or innovative because the masses won't come to anything they don't think is real opera.    

  

 I both agree and disagree with this premise.  Moonstruck went a long way to making me interested in opera to begin with, only it took a couple of decades and more money in my pocket to finally get to go see any opera.  The price is one of the main reasons in keeping people away from it.  But really, when you see the sets and the costumes and all the actors and musicians that take part, you realize how cheap the tickets really are.  Stop and think, how much do people pay for Madonna and Paul McCartney tickets?  At some point in my early thirties, I lost interest in going to concerts and staying up all night in clubs but I still longed for rich cultural experiences and opera has helped to fill that need easily. And maybe in New York opera is all fancy pantsy and intimidating but at the Seattle opera I have seen Crocs and polo shirts and dog collar necklaces and Birkenstocks as well as full on suits and fancy strapless gowns.  You can take it to whatever level you want.

As a newbie to opera (I have only seen four.), I find myself wanting to see a lot of the traditional "classics" just as the article states.  And I don't think this is wrong.  But the more opera I see, the more interpretations I want to see and the more variety I want to see.  And as I looked over the Seattle Operas current season, I caught myself thinking I wasn't interested in the unknown operas and that we really needed to see Cinderella and La Boheme.  But I am still a beginner and need to pick and chose carefully where I spend my opera dollars.  Hopefully next season I will be able to get season tickets and then I will get to experience a larger range.   I also have a fantasy of traveling the world to see different versions of the Barber of Seville, my first and favorite opera so far. 

If you have a chance to see opera, don't turn it down.  You may be surprised how much you like it.  And do research.  Read up on the opera or listen to it beforehand if possible.  The more you know, the more you can appreciate and enjoy.