Good Eats xs 2 - Santa Monica & Los Angeles, California

DAY TIME:
Cora's Coffee House

Turkish Breakfast - homemade simit, cherry compote, yogurt, poached egg, feta cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers...

NIGHT TIME:
Mario Batali's Pizzeria Mozza
This is the first time where I tasted food and understood the chef.
Grazie mille, (Iron) Chef Batali!

Fried squash blossoms with ricotta (umm, not pictured...) and meatballs al forno for starters:

The pizzas were thin crusted - the sides just look "thick" but they were puffed up from the air bubbles. Pizzette (Ipswich clams, garlic, oregano, percorino & parmagiano), pizza (stinging nettles & Salumi salame with cacio di Roma):

Caramel copetta with marshmallow sauce & Spanish peanuts, California lime torta with Santa Barbara blueberries:

Mattias Wallin - The Artist, and the (Cyclical) Food Chain -- Matryoshka Dolls ~ Set 3

This 3rd set of Matryoshka dolls are different from the others, because majority of the characters are "dead" - umm...that's why they have their eyes closed....except for the bacteria, silly! :P

I wasn't sure who I could give this set to, as I didn't want to offend the receiver.

After a quick conversation with the Lille Prinsen, it was decided that this set will travel to Gamleby, Sverige where they will keep Mattias Wallin - a most talented Artist/Svensk God/(Brother) Werewolf company, and will follow him to Göteborg at a later date.

Perhaps, I will let the visuals from Mattias' video project illustrate why my (Cyclical) Food Chain Matryoshka dolls were perfectly suited for him:

And so in life, there is death.

Here is the process (please click on images for a larger view).....

Rough sketches:

Base coats, pencil sketches and outlines:

Painting completed:

Front:

Sides:

Back:

Legend (no comments on my phallic flourishes please! :S):

Personalized message at the bottom:

Varnished and ready for their long journey....

Safe travels!

To the Mountains - Sacramento, California

One day, during my LA trip, I had reeeaaaallly wanted to go see the desert...
....but we ran out of time while rushing back from Santa Barbara. :(

So we headed here instead...

...to the mountains...

...and what little light was left, I took pics of the scenery......
...and said "hello" to the Tim Burton trees.

35mm on my Olympus XA2:

669 on my Polaroid 350:

Loyal Luxe Teepee

It is a long story as to why I have a cat as I am really not a cat person at all. Yes, I am a dog person who owns a cat.  Please do not judge.
With that said, however, I am a Fig Newton person!! :O

A while back, I was introduced to Loyal Luxe and their sustainable pet products through Melinda and Anabela.  Melinda suggested that I should have a look at the teepee and ofcourse I thought it was a great choice for Fig Newton. 

When I got home from LA, I received this lovely package...

After assembly (..it was a hard decision, but I ended up choosing the tomahawk as the ornament):

Testing it out the next morning in my bedroom....

Someone was a little coy and shy at first....

After some coaxing.....and her wanting to chew on the cardboard "ball".....  voila!

(Elapsed time...1 minute..........

......... 2 minutes..... ...)

Umm...that was fast.... 

Here's hoping that Fig will ultimately go hang out in the teepee by herself for longer periods in the future. *sigh*