Jun 15, 2011

Inception + Rifftrax + Graukes for dinner

sweet potatoes and asperagus

Is anything better than perfectly toasted asparagus topped with olive oil, parmesan, fried sweet potatoes and spices?

Yes.

Eating it with my entrepreneurial buds JT and Kelsey who joined me for an evening filled with tears of laughter and lots of wine.

Congrats to them for starting their own business! Check it out HERE!

fried

The variety of textures was definitely hard to beat. The sweet and savory combo was a delicate blend of crispy and soft textures.

cucumbers

With spring at ramming speed, I've been able to bust out the sides of seasonal fruits and veggies as delectable and darn good looking filler.

feta and honey

I've also recently come to enjoy roasted red pepper feta cheese on french bread drizzled with honey.

peppers in feta

Of course I'd probably take any excuse to bust out my honey dipper. (What?!)

peaches

The peaches I picked up were at peak ripeness and tasted even better than they looked.

strawbs

The strawberries followed suit just so they wouldn't be forgotten.

salad

The warm asparagus was countered well by a fresh springy salad tossed with cashews, white onion, strawberries, cucumber shavings and goat cheese.

pre-noodles

yum.

asperagus

Although everything looks delicious, the table was a little naked without the main dish.

pesto chicken

Once the cilantro pesto chicken with roasted red peppers, scallions, feta and bacon was brought to the table the meal looked a little more complete.

la tabla post noodles

After dinner JT, Kelsey and I watched Inception with running commentary from these guys.

Don't get me wrong. Inception is a brilliant, amazing movie not to be taken lightly but,
the MST3K guys do a great job shedding new light on an inevitably transcendent film.
These past two weeks have been flying by at the speed of smell and I'm more than ready for them to be over.



So long and thanks for all the fish!

oil

With the end of the school year comes sweet parting sorrow. My buddy James just graduated to move on to some greener pastures. Before he parted ways however we threw him a little farewell party.

cheddar jalepeno

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE the jalepeno cheddar bread from this excellent bakery? (crazy I know) It was a hit.

pasta

Our pal Laura made this delectable pasta complete with tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and olive oil.

tomatoes and basil

Any excuse to twirl a fork, I'll take it.

lookin' grood

Sean thought it was pretty good.

samdickuelison

So did Samuel.

Obviously.

the dish

Laura made enough for an army, and surprisingly there was not a lot left over.

rose

Rosalie brought some interesting apple wine, and Lulu helped in the kitchen.

cabe

Caleb helped shrink the portion of leftovers. Along with all the other guys.

james

James had countless stories to share before his departure. All of them hysterical and a little quirky.

brock

At least his brother Brock will be around next year for some late night runs to Panda Express.

Sandpiper Grill

breakfast

This is the meaty breakfast wrap I ordered. It was divine if you enjoy some good meat and potatoes every now and again.

burrito

For what ever reason I always seem to have issues when there are toothpicks in my food. Probably because I never take them out before consumption.

bacon

All was accompanied with a hearty side of bacon of course.

tabasco

I mean how could you go wrong with 4 different selections of TABASCO?

Jun 5, 2011

Cups o' Dirt

worm

"Cup o' dirt"

dirt

I tried to make the cups o' dirt a little less daunting and a little more classy by giving new meaning to "dirty martini".

I remember having cup o' dirt as a kid at some seriously awesome birthday parties.
of

Oreos, pudding and gummy worms make for a delicious dessert.

charcoal

I followed that with some chalk drawings and my afternoon was complete.

The Renaissance Fair

spoons

About a month ago the annual Renaissance Fair came to town and had a swell turn out. I'd like to highlight a few booths.

I loved these wooden spoons and...

spread

wooden spatulas, they were handcrafted beautifully.

water beads

These water beads were also very interesting. They are made out of contact lens material and can water your plants while you're out of town. I was also informed that you can fill them with any liquid and use them in cocktails.

Just make sure you spit out the plastic.

juicy

They had quite the array of colors.

fresh

The man at the booth said he had some friends that filled these red beads up with Cinnamon Schnapps and threw them into whiskey.

squak

I never tire of these dip dyed tees. Wax protects the areas of the shirt that you don't want dyed. Once you've finished the dying you melt the wax off with boiling water.

He does a fantastic job with some fine detail.

bonsai

I'm a fan of bonsai trees.

tree pots

And planting foliage within other foliage.

ladies

Abby and Elizabeth joined me on this little excursion and never allowed a dull moment.

pink sweetie

Alicia Cunningham had some awesome stuff for sale.

hot magnets

She creates fabric button magnets,

more

hair ties,

buttons

and jewelry... you name it.

mini fridge

Not to mention her really cool mini fridge.

alecia

Check out her store here.

abby feetsies

Abby was sporting some exquisite red shoes that begged to be photographed.

puppies

The palouse humane society was also there with some delicious looking dog treats. When I told Tyrone about them later he wished he had come.

woof

Many passers by wished these good looking treats were available for human consumption.

dog cookies

uh.

chinese dragon

This year the fair had a Chinese dragon available for the kids to play in. It also made an appearance in the parade later on.

knead

It was quite interesting to see the behind the scenes of the Elephant Ear assembly line.

dough

To this day I have never had an Elephant Ear but I hear they're delicious.

elephant ear

That dough looks good for sure.

bag pipe

I can never pass up the opportunity to photograph a man in a kilt.

urchin

abeth

eliz

Elizabeth had a fun time doing her thing. We had a fun time watching.

special leaf

Another really cool booth was hosted by Michael Sage with Sage Designs. He created "Phantom Leaves" through a chemical process that dissolves the leaf fibers and only leaves the leaf skeleton behind.

leaves

He had some neat shadow boxes

earrings

and some colorful earrings

colorful leaves

and necklaces

necklace pendant

all created out of dyed leaf skeletons.

I wanted to buy them all... and you can by visiting his shop here.

color

There were also some crazy colorful bottles on sale although I'm not quite sure their purpose.

bottles

This lyre bottle was something. I don't know if I really want to know what came in it originally.

yarn

Another booth I really enjoyed was hosted by mixed media artist and illustrator Cori Dantini.

sea

You can visit her website here.

pigtails

and her blog here.

birdsnest

And if you're so inclined to purchase something beautiful you can do so here.

sticks

Her style is out of the ordinary and quite fun.

lumberjack

This piece resonated well.

brass

Finally the parade commenced and fair came to a close. Thanks to all the artists that made the fair whimsical.