I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way...

I feel this way every time I have to go shopping. >shudder<

 

If, for some reason, you ever decide to throw shoes at me...

...I'd like to request Doc Martens.

They're my favorite brand, I need to replace my fave pair of combat boots (LOVE those patented "Bouncing Soles"!!), but the entire line is very expensive. So I've put it off for the past, oh, 8 years or so.

Specifics: VINTAGE 1490 10 EYE BOOT, size 8 (US women's, or 6 in UK sizes) is the combat boot. But I also like:

* Lottie, an 8-eye number similar to the 10-eye combat boot, but painted all over with very delicate little flowers;

* Milly, a lovely slightly dressier boot, yet still casual enough for me. Easily worn with skirts or jeans, this one suits me perfectly! Especially in the wine color;

* Chloe is a shoe rather than a boot. And she's quite a knock out. Be carefull when throwing this one. Though it's a patented Doc Marten sole, which only means great support on the INSIDE of the shoe. I wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of one of these hot pieces of leather and rubber;

* Drew is a sassy variation on the Mary Jane, a shoe I've always loved. I love her even more in blue...

* Olga is a classic flat. What else can I say? A girl's gotta have some staples. Especially when dealing with punk classics.

These are my requests. You know, just in case you ever feel like lobbing a loafer.

 

Bazaar Bizaare

My beautiful friend Xan shows off her mad skilz on the the stilts.

It was wicked crowded, and she was not only sure-footed amidst the crowd, she held a baby AND leant over to exchange kisses with me. She is so awesome!

Everyone needs a Xan in their life, if not the original!

 

swelter shelter with reflected clouds

A heat-reflective window shield in a pick-up truck at Costco allows me to capture a bit of today's popcorn-cloud sky.

(Anyone else see the cloud camel?)

 

It's hot & humid. My cue to turn on the oven.

cookie stamps
Originally uploaded by sunspotting.

Yesterday I was invited to join a Flickr group called Stamp Your Sweets & Cookies! because of the above photo. There's a picture of my springerle roll that they liked, too.

I like cookie molds and presses. Cookie cutters I find inspiring, too. There's just something fun about the blank slate, if you will, of a lump of sweet dough. If you can be inspired by a lump of clay or paper pulp or wool fleece, (and heaven help me, I most certainly can!!!) then my goodness, the things I can do with edible medium!!

It starts out with a simple, buff-colored sugar cookie dough. Or gingerbread, shortbread, chocolate, spice, omigoodness! there are so many wonderful flavors of cookie dough.

But why does it have to stay that color? (Ok, chocolate is not the easiest of doughs for a change of color.) Do I not have a multitude of food colors in the pantry? Of course I do. So that's one jumping-off point.

Then, with a variety of technicolor dough, rested, and ready to be shaped, I can cut it free-form. I can cut and stack the cookies, in pre-baked form; or cut them and plan to stack them, Linzer-style (or Oreo style, but Linzer-style, with the lacy cut-outs, is so much more fun!!) post-oven, filled with creme or jam. I can roll some balls of dough and press the little spheres with these lovely cookie presses. I can roll out a large sheet, then re-roll with my springerle roll -- it's another type of cookie press, but in a rolling pin form. Once the images from the springerle roll is impressed, I cut them to separate, and then I have dozens of small rectangular cookies all at once.




After baking, I have some more options!! Decorating options. To frost, or not to frost? Leave it plain? Add nuts? Nonpareils? Sprinkles? Sprinkles come in all shapes and colors (I have some Scooby Doo ones...), as do the many and sugars and edible glitters. There are markers made for food decorating! Amazing. I think that's a wonderful thing.

I've just discovered a neat thing that's been created, and I just don't know how I can live without it. I hope someone can find it, because I really REALLY want this thing.

The German company Stadter (with an umlaut over the "a", but this application won't permit me to use that) has a tool that lets you stamp letters -- actually impress them deeply into the unbaked dough -- into cookies or fondant or Royal icing... whatever your imagination gives you!!! (It's called the Brigitte Cookie Text Stamp.) How amazing is that??? You see why I need this thing?

No?

OK: imagine this, then. Conversation Hearts. But edible. Conversation Hearts are those hard-as-a-rock and tastes-like-barely-flavored-sugar small heart-shaped candies in pastel shades with words and phrases like, "MY MAN", "OH MY", "SWEETIE PIE" "OH YOU"... You get the picture.

And special cookies with special messages. Fun!! It completely appeals to my sense of culinary adventure. Keep your eyes open, and grab it for me if you see it, please! I'd be most grateful.

I'll bake for you!

 

Oooooh. Ahh.

...and there are many who WOULD say that the pot of gold is truly within the walls of such retail oddness and ecstasy as Big Lots. It's the American take on a modern bazaar, but less livestock and no bargaining.

(Picture was taken on the evening of June 21 on our way in to dinner at Mariachi Loco after A Prairie Home Companion.)

REALLY.

'PLANT! WATER! WATCH THEM GROW!' Seriously. We need that kind of cheerleaderish instruction to put bulbs in the ground?

The Flash and The FERN!!

See that crazy size ratio of person to plant?! To the immediate right of Rick/The Flash? It's like a miniscule holdover from the dinosaurs!!!

Hardy Hibiscus

Wow.

It's a Gray Day Outside...

...but you'd never know it in here. Except for the sudden downpours that sound on the greenhouse roofs.

New Species Discovered at Greenhouse

Rock Owls. 'Whooo'dathunk. Well apparently, *that* guy. And he's charging $8 each for his mad skilz as a stone carver. Rick's cousin Kate is in the background, reviewing her planting and purchasing notes.

At Chain O Lakes Park!

Tribe v Mets. Gametime 1:05. We're gonna hit the teamshop first since it's outside the ballpark (?!?), then try to score some autographs. We, btw, are among the youngest people here.

Box of Wu

Woohoo! Wu = happy! Packages in the mail make me happy. I've been waiting for this for a month!

Um, HOW Much?

Today for the first time, EVER, oil hit $100/barrel.

Crap. CrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapCRAP!!!!

I'm trying to think of all the things I pay for that cost more than $100/barrel.

I don't have the figures. So I have to guess. Here are some shots in the dark.
Milk?
Beer?
Wine?
Chocolate (in its purified,'liquour' form, but that doesn't mean like Godiva liquor, it's a form it takes in the chocolate-making process)?
Olive oil?
Orange juice?
Coffee?
Half & half?
Yarn? It's not liquid, but it sure can be expensive. I'll bet if you fill a barrel with it, it's way more than a measley $100. And I'll be happy to take it off your hands. A barrel full of fabric, too. And another barrel with thread to match!

Anyone know what size a barrel is, anyway?

Adventures at Lunchtime

I thought we were done Christmas shopping. I was tragically WRONG.

Roads are bad. Visibility's worse.

We got zero sleep last night because Cleopatra kept having to go outside in the middle of the night, poor little dog.

We just had a lunch to make up for ALL of that at a small restaurant I've never been before called Don Tequila while finishing our Christmas shopping (dear GOD please) during the daily blizzard. (This weekend, every single day's plans have been altered by Mother Nature. It's ok. We're flexible. Um. You know. Except today.)

At the top is what I'll call the Diego Rivera booth. ALL the chairs and booths were similarly carved and painted. Lots of great folk art adorned the whole place. I was in heaven! Oh -- and the food was phenomenal, with low prices. We are SOOOO going back there!

These are two more booths. This one is a picador (the guy on the horse) in a bull ring. It's the seat Rick had, which means I got to look at it for the whole meal. I'm not fond of animal cruelty, so picadores would be a bad thing for my digestion. Not today! This lunch was soooo yummy. Actually, all I noticed at first was "ah... cool carving... mmmmm... food that's good... mmmmm... freshly made salsa... yummy other things... ok, some conversation, but I still have to savor... no time, eat more"; later I noticed the theme above Rick's head.


This is an agave farmer. I sat in this booth. Rick got to imagine 'baby' tequila while he ate. *ahhhh!* Good times!!! Nah, we didn't drink any. Conditions are really just too bad outside to take any chances! We stuck with iced tea. But we pretended it was tequila. It sure improved our mood for Christmas shopping!

We went to Costco today

For $40, they'd better be effing lucky. I *rarely* buy new jeans. They just end up covered in ink, paint, and dye. Plus, I like the recycle-factor involved in a thrifted pair of jeans! So I really need this pair to live up to its brag.

Oh REALLY

A culturally sensitive query: if it's a product of Peru, how is it 'Mayan'? Is it a brand? Is it a variety? WHAT? Peru is *way* south of Maya country.