365, week 14 plus (last batch)

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It shames me to say I’m quitting my 365 photo project. Quitting makes me feel like a real butt but I need some quiet, project-free time to deal with this unshakable state of blah I’m in. Life is still chugging along ok, I’m just slow at processing loss. I am also taking a breather from this blog but don’t worry! I’m still scrolling through my reader and checking out what you guys are posting. Back in a flash.

Here are my last few ‘daily’ photos.

April 1: two photos of flowers by the office

April 2: date night. Ever since I quit meat we’ve called this ‘hot dogs and not dogs’

April 3: the ever-changing Tubs building

April 4: d’oh!

April 5: Nate got me a copy of Crackpot while he was living in Baltimore. It’s signed by John Waters and is a newer edition with essays I hadn’t read before. Soooo good.

April 6: a page by Jen at Chocolati. This was a full and happy afternoon. I caught a matinee of GI Joe: Retaliation with Nate and Dave (not gonna lie, I totally loved it), grabbed lunch at Paseo with the fellas plus Kristy and James, spent a couple hours drawing at Chocolati.

April 7: poor Morpheus looks on with envy at our vegetarian taco fixings.

Happy Birthday, You Handsome Devil

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Dean turned 30 today. We celebrated by sleeping in until almost noon and watching Safety Not Guaranteed on the sofa, in our jammies. Nate and Kristy came over for cake in the evening and the fellas (Nate, James, and Dean) are playing video games now as I type this. Supah chill.

I whipped up a cake using this recipe. The only things I added were some lemon juice to the batter (this maybe had no effect…) and raspberry jam to the frosting. Yummmm.

365, week 13

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Last week was difficult… I guess this whole year has gotten off to a rough start. Things can only start looking up though, right? Good things on the horizon: longer days, Dean’s birthday (he’s turning 30!), seeing Ghostface Killah, seeing PRINCE, seeing some friends in Portland. Lots to look forward to in April and this week is already a little easier than last.

March 23: dragon fruit from the International District- quite a bargain.

March 24: crumbly chocolate beet cake. I consider it a minor failure in that it fell apart, but it still tasted good enough.

March 25: a yard full of dinosaur figurines (and woolly mammoths and saber tooth tigers) by the office.

March 26: the day my grandmother passed away. I didn’t get out of bed until 3pm and the weather was strangely beautiful.

March 27: my co-workers made me a sympathy card. Very sweet. Painting by Jen.

March 28: new kitty friend.

March 29: after two months in Baltimore, Nate is finally back home in Seattle. :)

End of a Century

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My Grandma Griffin passed away at the beginning of the week. We knew this was coming but, of course, I still wasn’t ready and I’m crushed. She taught me how to quilt, how to garden, and the fundamentals of socialism. She always tried to engage me in political debate even though I usually agreed with her to begin with. I’m gonna miss hearing the big stories about her childhood, her overseas adventures during WWII, and her travels with Grandpa- but I’m lucky to have most of those stories written down. It’s a shame there’s no way to properly document some details like her collection of bird figurines, Charlie the squirrel, or the countless crossword puzzles she solved like a boss. I’m grateful Dean and I saw her this summer at our wedding and I’m sad I only wrote her once since the new year (seriously pissed with myself). Anyway, she was really wonderful and the last of my grandparents. I wish I could’ve teleported to New York when the family found out so I could give my mom a hug.

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Since her death, I’ve been doing a lot of self-examination. I’ve been shiftless and uninspired since we lost our cat this last summer; now I feel completely wiped out. Over a week ago, Dean and I quietly celebrated my 28th birthday (also the first day of Spring). That day seemed hopeful and with everything that’s happened since, it seems like a natural point to re-assess our goals and find some way to carry on. Definitely time for some changes.

365, week 12

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March 16: Gavin’s birthday brunch at Romanza. Chocolate cherry tea and a fancy tea service!

March 17: in the bottom of Risk Legacy. Yeah, I’m gonna open this eventually.

March 18: You never have to apologize to me, Metro. ;)

March 19: a lunch break look at Spring.

March 20: a Flying Apron cupcake for my quiet birthday celebration, at home with Dean.

March 21: I almost forgot to take a photo again and quickly snapped this one of Dean. He’s laughing at me under our mis-matched florals

March 22: in the gender neutral bathroom at Vera’s. Dave and I caught the Ted Leo show there this past Friday. This is the second time I’ve gotten to see him on a birthday weekend and it is the best gift I could give myself. Always worth seeing!

Monster Burger

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While I no longer miss eating pricey slabs of steak, I still get cravings for fast food burgers… of the gooiest, grossest variety. Here I attempted to make my own version of the Hot Mess burger. I failed at making it messy but like to think I succeeded in making a small mountain of spicy goodness.

A black bean patty topped with onion rings, Daiya pepper jack, and a few extra jalapenos.

Black Bean Burgers (about 4 large patties):
1/4 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon warm water
1 chia egg (1 tbsp ground chia + 3 tbsp warm water, mixed well)
1 teaspoon chili pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
dash of salt, dash of pepper

• Heat oven to 350
• Sautee the onions till soft, about 3-5 minutes.
• Mash black beans in a bowl; add onion and garlic
• Whisk cornstarch, water, Sriracha, chili powder, cumin, salt, and black pepper together in a separate small bowl.
• Stir cornstarch mixture into black bean mixture, add chia egg
• Mix bread crumbs into bean mixture.
• Spoon ‘burger-sized’ mounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheet (I made 4). Shape into burgers.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cooked in the center and crisp in the outside, about 10 minutes on each side.

Onion Rings:
1/2 onion, sliced into rings
1/3 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 nutritional yeast
dash of salt, dash of pepper

Heat oven to 450, line with parchment paper
• In one bowl, mix flour and cornstarch. Add half the milk and stir with a fork to dissolve. Add the rest of the milk and apple cider vinegar, stir, set aside.
• In another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, yeast, salt, and pepper
• Dip rings in the flour mix, then the breadcrumb mix
• Transfer rings to the baking sheet
• Bake for 10 minutes

Next time I’m going to try skipping the Daiya and making a pepper jack sauce… Gooey is good.

365, week 11

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March 9: beautiful photos from Ottolenghi’s Plenty.

March 10: Dean and I had a tax date- our first time filing jointly. Afterwards, cupcakes and coffee!

March 11: walking by the Gum Wall before catching the bus to work

March 12: saw this sign at my bus stop in the morning; it was gone when I walked by again in the evening.

March 13: our Emerald City went extreme green in anticipation of St Patrick’s Day.

March 14: Yet again, wandering around Downtown before catching my second bus to work. I’ve been up real early lately.

March 15: Flashed out photo of our Friday quick draws (James-the middle, Dave-either side, me-top)

City Stardust

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On our last day in Las Vegas, Dean and I took a tour of the Neon Museum- an outdoor ‘boneyard’ of elaborate neon signs. The tour was phenomenal. We loved hearing stories about the city’s flashy past and almost every sign had a good story to go with it: Sinatra riding a camel up to the Dunes, the Moulin Rouge being the first integrated casino/hotel, the La Concha lobby being sliced up like a layer cake and moved over piece by piece. Even in disrepair, these signs are knockouts. Giant, swoon-worthy, fantasy lights. :)

Here’s Dean, horsing around

Sassy Sally’s (only the sass fit in frame)

Happy, dance-y shirt. Hi, hi!

The biggest Tam o’Shanter imaginable. This hotel was still kickin’ until the early 2000s. I wish it was still going!

A duckling maze of lights and the Yucca’s impossibly twisty tubing.

The Moulin Rouge sign, sweetly arranged to spell ‘In Love’ (I wish there were a mini, home version!)

Posin’ under a lucky horseshoe.

The Silver Slipper, restored to its former glory!

Afterwards, we walked down to Fremont Street to see some of the restored signs. They were beautiful under the sunshine but I’m sorry we couldn’t have stayed later to see them lit up.

An Atomic Afternoon

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On our first full day in Las Vegas, Dean and I hoofed it off-strip to the Atomic Testing Museum. Like most right-thinking people, I am terrified of nuclear weapons… but that fear is matched by fascination. We loved this place! It’s chock full of information on the Nevada Test Site and the history of the A-bomb, as well as cases of artifacts and interactive exhibits. You can actually experience a simulated blast (our butts were rattled and our eyes were bugged out!).

Cold War propaganda and some nifty test site badges (PJ Turner looks pretty cool, right?).

Fallout Family

The cross-section of a cable bundle, about the thickness of a tree trunk.

Winding up an explosion forward, backwards, and in slow motion

A still from A Is For Atom, a 1950s informational film by General Electric. Check out Element Town where an anthropomorphic Radium gets crazy dance legs. This may be my new favorite animated movie.

A tour guide at a different museum told us, ‘Vegas families would pack picnics and watch the mushroom clouds. It was an attraction; we made lemonade out of our lemons.’

Viva Las Vegas

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It’s been two weeks since we visited the gaudy, glittering gem that is Las Vegas but I’m only now going through our photos and diary scribblings. This was such a happy weekend! The Strip is like a series of whacky cover songs with celebrity and city impersonators. Everything’s lit up like Christmas and the streets are paved with sex workers (or discarded sleaze cards that are handed out on every block). Even some of the rougher patches between our hotel and Fremont seem sort of beautiful since it’s all framed by mountains and desert. It’s tough to sum up what I found so charming about this place, but I was quite charmed.

a mish-mash of memories:
Kiss mini golf! Super friendly staff, giant platform boots and ax guitars, our glowing grins under the blacklight, the unlucky fella who had suspicious crotch stains and DID NOT know he’d be under blacklight, ending the game by hitting the ball into Gene Simmons craw. ♥ ♥ ♥ Staying at the Flamingo which is in just the right spot with the best sign on the Strip. Pink and gold all over the place. Pink-tinted windows, a view of Paris and the fountains from our room, namesake birds in the backyard. I love that their tagline is ‘Forever Fabulous’ ♥ ♥ ♥ The Bellagio Fountain shows. I got a little obsessed with catching these. The best was the middle of the day when a crazy Christian sign guy kept yelling over the music, ‘There isn’t gonna be any water works where you’re going!’ ♥ ♥ ♥ Porking out all weekend: veggies and pesto pasta at Slice of Vegas, urth burgers and beer at Holsteins, a Cuban sandwich at Red Velvet Cafe, late night take-out sushi, and four gluttonous plates at the Wynn Buffet. I was bowled over by all the vegan options- Slice of Vegas has a separate menu, Red Velvet can adapt anything on their vegetarian menu, and the Wynn Buffet- omigod. The Wynn Buffet was our big food splurge and it was totally worth it: pasta and mushroom alfredo, roasted corn and quinoa cakes, Asian slaw, a rainbow of salads and roasted veggies, passionfruit tapioca pudding… Drooool. ♥ ♥ ♥ Museums that really surpassed our expectations. ♥ ♥ ♥ Looking up at a ceiling full of Chihuly pieces and laughing because even when you leave Seattle that guy is INESCAPABLE ♥ ♥ ♥ Gold glitter bubble baths at the end of a perfect day. ♥ ♥ ♥ Walking a couple miles out of the way to see the remains of the recently closed Sahara and grab a few souvenirs at the Bonanza gift shop. We walked everywhere, every day, and never felt tired. ♥ ♥ ♥ Ending our trip with a few cocktails. Our first round at a Bond-themed bar under a multi-story chandelier and our second on a blood-splattered table at the Goretorium. ♥ ♥ ♥ Being too dorky to gamble but feeling like we should and throwing $1 into the penny slots.

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