the beautiful, ecclectic Ball jar

(not my photo. stolen from here.)

not pictured:
leftover soup container
flower pot
terrarium home
jenkem factory
flashy votive setting
kitchen utensil holder
money jar
business card stasher

the possibilities are endless!

the neglectful journaler

hello i'm back. elliot is out of town for the weekend. he was supposed to leave at 4 but 5pm came and went and his friends still hadn't called. i was looking forward to spending the evening hanging out with myself until this point when a change of plans seemed inevitable. sure enough, just as we settled in for the evening his phone rings and he's off to Cleveland to see the last stop on the tour of the movie Gone With the Pope. bummer. i'm bummed out.

HOWEVER.
i did play hookey from work today and got a chance to check out the small vintage resale shop just down the street. the name escapes me, most likely because the title runs a little long, the Clarke Family something something. it says CARGO on the window and they hold al-anon meetings in the back on Tuesday evenings. in fact, i just did a search on yelp for thrift shops in my neighborhood and it hasn't even been reviewed yet! as it turns out, this is just the sort of little pot of gold i've searched for my entire thrift-loving life. frequented by latino mothers-of-5+ but run by a more youthful organization, this place is spilling over with cool vintage glassware and knickknacks, none of which are priced at over $10 and mostly $5 and under. made two scores today and planning to go back for an amazing vintage desk priced at an incredibly cheap $100 soon.

Nautical Barometer $20


i had to take down the fake-weapon arsenal, but it goes so well with Danty's wave painting. as soon as i saw it, this is exactly where i placed it. when i told the cashier that i wanted it, she gets all incredulous, "this one? did you see the price tag?" YES I WANT IT RING THAT SHIT UP JUGGALETTE ! (she was wearing a bedazzled hatchet man belt buckle)

Mechanic's Work Suit make-me-an-offer $5


for Elliot. he wore it out the door tonite with long underwear underneath. i understand there's snow heading for Ohio, so it's good to know he won't be cold.

Luckily, I didn't have to work too many Saturdays in October, so I had some weekend time to play around the apartment. one of my best-looking kitchen creations was a cute, easy find from Tastespotting.


Bacon and Egg Cups (click the link for the recipe and a useful home cooking site)

made 6, ate 4. wasted 2 eggs, 4 slices of bacon and 1 slice of bread. the bread i used was Pepperidge Farm multi-grain and i made a mental note to always include this in the future.

i also re-discovered my love for beets. i attempted to use the entire beet and mostly succeeded, however i still have a few stalks in my fridge but they'll probably just get thrown into a soup.


Baked Beet Chips (i skipped the horseradish dip because really, they didn't need anything)


Beet Greens sauteed in garlic and olive oil with a little salt and pepper to taste

last part of my visual update-

working on a just-for-fun photo project for a friend on Halloween morning.

she sent us a list of 17 words and we had to provide 17 pictures to go along with the words. nothing unusual. in fact, one of the words was "anything" and we used a picture of poop in the toilet for "home." that was elliot's idea.

here's another favorite-

it's for "friend"

Polish Dill Pickle Soup

there's a reason i couldn't find a link to a recipe for Polish Dill Pickle Soup on tastespotting.com and it is this-
dill pickle soup is an ugly fucking soup. and i guess i never realized that site was first a food photography site and second an eclectic collection of recipes.

anyway, i pickled my own pickles a couple weeks ago. see photo for evidence:


i ended up with two quart-sized jars and no plan to use them. the whole thing was mostly experimenting after all.
and then on Saturday afternoon it hit me.

don't be fooled. i thought it would be like drinking warm pickle juice too but no no no. pickle soup is a savory, potato-laden dream. low-fat, high sodium, and not much redeeming nutritional value.

gather your ingredients (i was missing the celery):


cube the potatoes, shred the carrots and then pickles (separately) in your food processor:


follow the more complicated steps to add milk, flour, egg & sour cream and voila:


delicious pickle soup.

i went through a few recipes before i found this one on cooks.com, a website i generally have very little luck with.

the link: Dill Pickle Soup

the recipe:

DILL PICKLE SOUP

8 c. chicken stock or broth 2 chicken bouillon cubes 2 med. carrots, coarsely grated 2 c. peeled and cubed potatoes 1 c. thinly sliced celery 5 coarsely grated dill pickles 1/2 c. milk 2 tbsp. flour 1 egg 5 tbsp. sour cream Salt and pepper to taste Finely chopped parsley, if desired Finely chopped fresh dill, if desired In large saucepan or soup pot with cover, combine chicken stock or broth, bouillon cubes, carrots, potatoes and celery. Cook, covered, over low heat until potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes. Do not overcook, add pickles and continue cooking 15 minutes. In small bowl, beat milk and flour until completely smooth, stir a small amount of hot soup into flour mixture. Mix until smooth and return to soup pot, stirring until well combined. Bring soup to a boil stirring frequently soup is slightly thickened. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, beat egg with sour cream until smooth. Pour a small amount of hot soup into sour cream mixture and mix thoroughly. Return sour cream mixture to soup pot and stir until smooth. Keep sour cream warm but do not boil after this point or egg/sour cream will curdle. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and dill, if desired. Makes about 10 servings.

this is for me, and not for anyone else. but i won't make any promises to myself because i really want to use this as a place to document things i create in the kitchen.

i also don't make any promises regarding capitalization, punctuation, nor will i ever stop starting sentences with the word "but"

anyway i had a hard time getting started but movie nite got cancelled so here it goes.

Takashi Murakami, Flower Matango, 2001-2006.

The Hall of Mirrors, Château de Versailles, 2010.

The Hall of Mirrors??? i can't figure out why i'm so into it tonite. look at this joint.

maybe it's my penchant toward kitsch. i'm not particularly into spacious galleries or gigantic golden statues, but i dig the hell out of this gigantic fronch hall.

i read that king louis the xiv walked this hall every morning from his grand apartment (seriously did they call it an apartment) to the chapel. imagine king louis the zivv, louis the winded bounding down the wooden floors in one of his daily religious crises only to collapse in a heap of robes heavier than a combination of all the textiles you ever owned, forgetting what sent him flying half way across the palace grounds in the first place.

from the looks of it, he employed a couple baguette, oxygen and potpourri stands under the arches leading to adjacent rooms to accompany his trip back home.

on a completely unrelated note, here is a picture of Morning Glory Cloud.