an old trip...

it's been a long time since i've traveled to a foreign city. of the small handful of places i've been, israel is perhaps the most exotic. i was lucky enough to go for work for 10 days a few years back. i would gladly go again. the pictures are a mix of tel aviv, jaffa and jerusalem. i fell in love with the architecture which in tel aviv is a blend of bauhaus and mediterranean which has been distressed gently by time and the elements. i felt so safe here and walked around by myself at night without any worries. the people were always friendly and curious as to why i was there(i don't think that the tourism trade is really kicking right now for some obvious reasons). in jerusalem i was part of a tour group which i liked and loathed. i don't like feeling rushed through my experience, but i was glad to have the guidance through the old city. i did get fussed at for wandering off a bit from the group to buy my god daughter a little embroidered blouse.
and the food...sigh, my god, the food. you have never had an olive unless it has been handed to you by a dreadlocked girl in a market stall and it is dripping with oil and spice and the flavour caresses your tastebuds. also, i don't know why i look so pensive in that first pic. i was elated to be out and about, but maybe i was lonely. the first few days of my trip i spent with a colleague who knew the city pretty well, but after he left i was pretty much on my own. which was fine and i do love to wander. i went swimming in the mediterranean on yom kippur and i had a secret feast(it's the fasting holiday) with israeli rastafarians and watched borat(i had no idea that he was speaking hebrew) but, there is a lot to ponder when you are in this part of the world(or at least there is if you are the pondering type). specifically, this happened in old jerusalem. hearing the muslim call to prayer while you are standing at the front door of one of the most sanctified places in christianity after having just wandered through a mostly jewish market place can really set the wheels to turnin'. it is haunting and so full of the passion and majesty and zealousness of three religeons...and yet, God loves us all equally the same.

my oven's bounty...

oh delicious bounty sprung from my hands and oven. why haven't i done this before? well, i did once, but that was when i was like 22. the mister and i were in heaven when i pulled this beautiful honey wheat baby out of the oven. no breadmaker involved, just me and my own two hands. the next loaf i want to be heartier with added flax and oats or something like that. toasted with peanut butter and honey it's a perfect match for the monsoon raging outside my window.

Honey Wheat Bread
(Adapted from All Recipes)

Makes 1 loaf

1 cup warm water (110 degrees Farenheit/45 degrees Celsius)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add honey, and stir well. Mix in whole wheat flour, salt, and vegetable oil. Work all-purpose flour in gradually. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for at least 10 to 15 minutes (I used a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook). When dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a well oiled bowl. Turn it several times in the bowl to coat the surface of the dough, and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Punch down the dough. Shape into a loaf, and place into a well greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan (or bake on a pizza stone the way i did). Allow to rise until dough is 1 to 1 1/2 inches above pans.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

on pins and needles...

image from here
for a few months now i have had some serious issues with my right arm. this is my do everything arm. the arm that i make my living with. i've tried the other one, but it flops around semi helpfully and really i can only type a few keys and carry a dog leash with my south paw. this problem aka carpal tunnel bka i can't cut anything heavier than hair or china silk syndrome has waxed and waned for a few months depending on what i had been doing at work. somewhere down that road, the pain crept up and over into my left shoulder blade. this sucked. like really. no amount of yoga and stretching could work it out. and then i knew what i had to do. i turned to the mysterious art of acupuncture with an open yet healthily skeptical mind. the appointment was made and it came just in time, because that morning at work i started having crazy shoulder spasms while typing an email. i limped(bring on the melodrama) over to someone who i like to call my pusher man and begged a muscle relaxer. he dug around in his man purse and handed me a little something-something. oddly he popped into my work room about half an hour later just to make sure that i wasn't seeing paisleys or unicorns(what the hell else was in his pharmacopia i wondered).
wow, this story is long. but yesterday felt long. i was counting the minutes until my acupuncture appointment because even the muscle relaxer barely took the edge off my shoulder pain.
i would also like to offer a disclaimer here stating that i generally do not condone slipping into the valley of the dolls to take care of pain(real or imagined). i know i mentioned vicodin in an earlier post, but just try having a root canal with a hidden root. the recovery period is akin to having your head used as a jackhammer. but i digress.
i am sold on this acupunture thing. it is not as relaxing as a massage, but there is peacefulness that i felt while having little pokey things inserted up both arms and then in multiple areas of my shoulder blade. there was no pain. if i felt anything at all it was more like being poked with a pencil in two areas only. the other areas i could barely tell. i lay facedown on the table for about twenty minutes with the needles in place and a heat lamp warming my back. there were jungley-new age tunes(gorillas in the dawn of a new age mist???). i spaced out a little and felt some tingling and then before i knew it it was over. you don't feel the needles coming out.
i got dressed and wait a minute, where did my shoulder pain go? a light ache was still there but the intensity was ebbing. i have some chinese herbs(that kinda look like little blueberry candies or rabbit poop) to take to help with my circulation and i go back on monday for more.
we will also be working on clearing my allergies and revving my lady parts back up for pregnancy.
i can't wait.
unrelated: the mister and i are foraying into the world of home made hearty bread making this weekend. yum.

be still my cut paper heart...

70's stashes and a happy new year...

we get pretty wild here at the ol' hacienda. this meant that the mister and i had home made pizza(i made, he ate) and watched this kinda "meh" yet entertaining show called "swingtown" that we got on netflix. i also imbibed in some two buck chuck(that's a cheap brand of wine from trader joe's just in case you are reading this mom) and the last vicodin left over from my root canal 10 months ago. in my defense, i was having some serious achy muscle issues since i just rekindled my love affair with the gym and man, c'mon it was new years eve. back to "swingtown," the first best part is the clothes. i love me some 7o's high fashion. the second best part is the soundtrack( although a bit over utilized, we really don't need a song for almost every scene, i get it, it's the 70's). then there was this song that took me back to being a kid and visiting my dad and stepmom in Cardiff by the sea. my dad had long hair and surfed almost daily and my stepmom was a hostess at a fancy pizza joint. we would walk down to the beach crossing the train tracks and i can still feel that sea grass beach bag scratching my legs something awful. so listen and groove and check out that sweet stash...

oh and back to the new years...the mister was signed up for a poker tourney so we stopped watching before midnight and i started working on a new boat, this one with a wire frame and before ya know it, i was getting a midnight kiss. and then i fell asleep...
i don't make resolutions though i think about what i would resolve if i did make them, but mostly i just decide to do stuff. maybe i'll make a list...i'll ponder that.
after a bit of thought, i changed the post name (from something else that utilized an oft used sometimes derogatory term that is used to define female dogs and made me seem cool and kinda urban) to make it more friendly...a new year's "thought" is to mind my potty mouth.

and this too...

i didn't get a good complete shot of my christmas cards. this is almost the finished product, except that there should be gold glitter on the star and then the paper cut square gets black photo corners and is placed onto a silver card stock. it was kind of a pain to make them because my glue stick was more icky than sticky and then i found myself uttering curses at the little bits of snow. i apologize to my local family of who no one got one. i just couldn't finish them in time and was suffering from santa's little worker elf traumatic disorder. so i decided to take my supplies with me to cardiff where i figured i would make them before bedtime the night before our family fete, but i forgot the cardstock and envelopes. i had a minor tantrum(done in the car when i was stuck in 1 1/2 hours of traffic just to get out of l.a.), but after three glasses of wine with my beloved step mom i stopped worrying and just let the visions of sugar plums dance in my head.

what i made...

*delicious gingerbread popcorn(really really very good in the i can't control myself kinda way)
*good lookin' but poor tastin' caramel peach upside down gingerbread (sorry family)
*my sister jessie's favorite green bean casserole
*a mess of my work area in the apartment
*some boats made of a pizza box(supreme combo) and a discarded album cover(jethro tull "heavy horses", don't ask)

maybe i should add that the post it stuck on the frame in photo number one does say "i must not think bad thought x." ummm that's a song. by the band "x." not a reminder to myself to keep my chin up. in fact, i heard the song while driving and it took a lot of focus to get myself to work and not talk to anyone as i dropped off my hobo lunch in the fridge and made it back to my work room so that i could dig for a post it pad to write down the name of the song because i loved it so much. seriously, that takes a lot of focus for me. but then i didn't want anyone to think that i was suffering from pre~christmas suicidal tendencies, so i stuck the post it in my tote bag. i found it a month later. and i can't find the song on itunes.

and...boat inspiration comes from the very talented ann wood. she was generous enough to provide a very basic boat pattern with instructions. i altered the pattern and methods to suit my own needs. i wanted stronger boats, so instead of just doing regular paper mache, i used buckram squares which made for a nice solid hull. i then did paper over the buckram to smooth out the texture as the buckram was a little too gridlike and textural for my taste. i am totally inspired by her and can't wait to increase the fleet(even though these went out to a nephew and a god daughter). the blue boats name is "the sea nymph" and the purple one is "the anemone rose." you should make some too!!!

this has absolutely nothing to do with anything or a brief word from somewhere else...

i have memory recall that is extremely motivated by music. i'll hear a song and shazaam i'm thrown into a trip down memory lane. anyway, this song popped up today and while i am not particularly a huge Rocky Horror fan, this tune really floats my boat. perhaps it was a highschool ex(and not bongwater boy from a previous post) who used to prance and highstep and bump and grind to this song using his single bed as a stage while i giggled and rolled on the floor in hysterics.
that said, we did not go to prom together...

everybody's doing it...

yeah yeah, home made marshmallows are all over the place...and they're gooooooood.
vanilla marshmallows dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in graham cracker crumbs. snaaap.
recipe found here.

saturday brings...

image from here
* a 1 1/2 hour massage at elements(thanks greg!!!)
*an afternoon party(probably will arrive in a state of loosy goosey relaxation and will embarass myself by showing up in a robe or wrapped in a festive sheet because i won't want to get dressed)
*potential hand to hand combat at Target, Macy's and possibly Michaels(which will ruin all benefits of massage) i am so behind in my present constructing escapade. this is compounded because i need to head to Cardiff on the 23rd for the family fete.
i have a history of waiting until the last minute...like when i was a junior in highschool and i put off doing a research paper until two nights before. i didn't even choose a topic, i just avoided it like athlete's foot. i say athlete's foot because there was always this little itch in my brain that i should be working on it in the months that followed it's assignation, but somehow hanging out with my glassy eyed boyfriend and his friends with their homemade bong that smelled like the business end of a goat took presidence(uhhh i never used that bong. it stank).
anyhoo, i ended up doing my research paper on...effects of smoking?home made bong making? procrastination? i truly don't remember, but i used a couple of tattered library books and get this...a whole stack of readers digest. i'm serious! i think this was one of the first times that i used limited resources to finish the race. ok, i'm babbling...my presents will be awesome, but there just might be a reader's digest or two involved, ya never know.
unrelated, listening to Roots Reggae on SKY.FM through my itunes...they make it nice.
and damn you Pandora for limiting the number of free hours that i can partake in your tunes.

baby got bundt...

marshall and my bake-off entry, a salted caramel banana chocolate chunk bundt. yum...
didn't win, but i'm now in sugar coma bliss and so happy to not have to go back to work until the 4th of january. i do have to swing into overtime at ye olde homestyle christmas workshoppe though.

ha!

finally finally finally, i sold my first "hallie original" in my etsy shop after months of selling vintage only. thank you artyoneoz in australia who ever you are, you just made my morning!
unrelated...i'm trying to decide what to make for tomorrow's 2nd annual costume shop holiday bake-off.
it will definitely involve a bundt pan and chocolate. more to follow...

not tacky and almost just right...

the only thing that i don't like about my branch is the vessel that it rests in. right now it is nestled in a really large terra cotta pot with three bricks supporting the balance. i'll have to figure something else out. or maybe it's the gold lame' fabric the i swaddled it in. i've been dragging that fabric around for exactly ten years now and this is the first time it's seen the light of day for exactly ten years.

just a touch of the spirit or i speak for the trees...

look! it's a snowflake garland made of lace scraps and this stuff called stiffy(how funny is that name?) which is essentially white glue. i made this at work today before deciding that i should probably just go home since i had nothing more to do(a small luxury that i have in exchange for being salaried and having to work many extra hours unpaid during busier times). i found the perfect scandinavian minimalist organic Christmas branch in an empty lot around the corner from me. i almost poked a bicyclists eye out when i was dragging it back home(sorry stranger). i'll have to snap a couple more pics as i can't tell in our dimly lit apartment if i love it or if i made it tacky. no live trees were harmed. this branch has been laying around for a few months and the little pine branches that i tucked in were cast off under bough clippings from the Target tree center...merry thrifty Christmas to me(and the mister who made chicken and waffles for dinner).
addendum~ no live trees were hurt by me, but perhaps i fall into the carrion scavenging category for stuffing the trunk of my car full of left over pine boughs...sigh...i can't win.

Sausage Curls and a Hex...

please note that i have no true photographic reference and/or evidence for any of this...
yesterday afternoon the mister and i decided to take the curling iron to our respective heads of
hair. his is already curly and mine is straight as a slightly crooked arrow. it was fun. i curled his into antebellum era sausage curls and mine into something resembling a kinked and steamrolled slinky. we were a mostly kind of curly mopheaded couple as we stopped in at the library for him to pick up some anime dvd's and for me to do a drop off. i was thrilled when i spotted an older lady scurrying through the stacks looking like someone straight out of Hogwarts...long hooded cloak over long flowy dress and hair braided and coiled with silvery ribbon. i tried to spy on her in the "S" fiction stacks, but she was onto me i think and vanished herself away. later that night i made the worstest grossest most blech cookies(i truly have no idea what could have happened and how pumpkin snickerdoodles could go so wrong...maybe there is the slightest use of hyperbole here, but really wow, yuk) ever and my luscious almost curls straightened themselves back out...i think she hexed me. oh but we did make some delicious chicken and dumplings even if the dumplings were done in the mister's mom's style(cut into strips and chucked in the pot) and not in my oma's way(batch of bisquick biscuits mixed up and dolloped on top of simmering liquid).

Happily Listing...

i'm starting to feel the holiday spirit. i think that the mister and i will need to drag the christmas decor out of the garage. good thing that the night time marauder who stole about 12 bags of recycling cans out of our garage was kind enough to not go digging into the giant cupboards that are in there as well(is it wrong of me to suspect my cat hoarding neighbors??).
this year my california family has decided that for our gift giving that we would each select(or have selected for us...thank you Jessie) a single name and give to that person only(except for the little niece and nephew who deserve the king's ransom for just being so awesomely adorable).
here is one of my lists:

Etsy Buy Handmade remainsoftheday

the swanbones prints are so hauntingly beautiful and i have been eyeing the little le creuset sugar bowl and hippocampus print for many moons now...
unrelated...i want everyone who reads this to know that i am still taking my prenatal vitamins(man my hair and nails are healthy) and i'm really looking forward to another go in the new year.
and also that i will always and forever love this song. i love that scene in Valley Girl(yea i'm old so what!) when Randy is hiding out in the bathroom at the "val" party and this song is playing in the background. oh! adding this movie to my Amazon list.

The Family Closet...

photos from my personal collection
every few months or so i type my great great grandmother's name into google. a couple years ago there were a few blurbs and photos here and there along with her
Hollywood Forever memorial. so, a couple weeks ago i was doing some computer dilly dallying and thought that i would type her name. the basic information that is always provided i'm familiar with as it is family history...she was a Zeigfield Girl as well as the highest paid performer on the Vaudeville circuit. her name was a dark cloud over my great grandfathers stiff moral code. her daughter(my great grandmother Florence Tanguay Dufresne) was illegitimate and handed over to her aunt and uncle to be raised in a more "wholesome" manner. my aunt debbie has a stack of old photos and i have a few myself that i hold very dear. but when i stumbled upon some images that had been posted by the Henry Ford museum (that aren't the same ones that i had seen over and over as a little girl) i was blown away with pride. the one thing that i had never heard was her voice. in june i had done a youtube browse for her with no results, but this last time when i found this clip, i almost cried. Eva baby...you're a star.

H is for Hippocampus or Little Ignacious rejoins the stars...

i'm glad that November is finally out the door. it was a tough month. the first day was beautiful. a joyous and love filled birthday with cake and hugs and family. the second day blew me out of my knee socks and down a blustery barren mountain. on the second day i found out via ultrasound that the little spark of life that i carried inside me had flickered out, packed it's bag and returned to the stars. every day since has been spent in slightly misshapen states of normalcy and emotional repair.
a miscarriage really fucks with you. if nothing more, i am a trooper and i lives to fight another day...that's pretty much all that i really want to say about that.
but i would like to add that sea horses are awesome.

some randomness...

a date to my favorite three dollar a ticket glorious Academy Theater to see "Inglorious Basterds" last night. it was a hot box this favorite theater of mine that always promises some sort of extra quirky perk.i don't think that they have any heat or any air...or maybe they were trying to replicate the days of yore when people would bring hand fans to keep the air circulating. unfortunately all i had in my purse to use as said fan were some seed packets that i had picked up at the nursery earlier in the day. for obvious reasons, they were a no go. i also tried a tissue without much success. almost as entertaining as the(mostly ok, but a might long in spots mr. tarentino) film was a fellow who had fallen asleep in the back row and was snoring and breathing heavily for about an hour or so. and this is a small theater (as it is oldy timey), so the whole audience were privy to his apnea rythyms. it was definitely more comical than the time the large gentleman in the seat next to me was ahem...pleasuring himself under his coat(i was alone that night) and that was during "Children of Men." nothing sexy about that film aside from handsome mr. owen of course.
i also am so in love with this song right now...

lost in a forest...part deux

i rode the 5 miles on my squeaky old bike. listening to the Church, the White Stripes and Bowie on the way there. a grove of towering sequoias. a bed of pine needles and an old sarong. sucking in the majesty of the trees and getting my vampire on with Sookie. nibbling on almonds and watching an army of ants bum rush an artery of sap. a beautiful day...