New Painting

There is a new painting posted over at my art blog

BUT - I am going to be putting all my paintings on Etsy to sell. I highly recommend this site not only for buying artwork, but for buying custom clothes as well. Everything on etsy is HAND MADE by someone and in limited quantities so you know you're fuckin' awesome cuz no one has your shit, homes!

Anyway - the Etsy shop isn't set up yet. I plan to do that after the holidays (maybe before if I really really work on it.)

I'm also modding the HELL out of some Eloh skins and have been passing my mods out to noobs. Unfortunately they think I am kidding and not giving them a skin so they never put them on :(

Maybe I should just set up a shop of 100L modded skins of weirdness. Who knows. I know its taken me weeks to find just the perfect brush (and hardness) to do makeup. That shit blows ya'll. Seriously.

Holiday ... sushi?!

That's right. Yesterday the husband and I put up our badass Christmas tree and I made us sushi for dinner. Sushi doesn't mean 'raw fish' (for those that don't know) and doesn't even HAVE to contain any kind of seafood. As a matter of fact: the ever popular California Rolls don't contain any seafood at all. They have nori (seaweed wrapper), avocado, carrot and usually a tiny bit of wasabi or wasabi mayonnaise. I did use seafood however.

I thought for blogger's sake (and for a bit of my own good, really) that I would post how I made the sushi step by step. It isn't as easy as just using boil in the bag rice and saying "TADA!" I wish it were! Instead - you'll have to allow at least a half hour just for the rice and a good half hour or more for prepping your sushi stuffers. So all in all - though sushi is easy and fairly quick - there is a lot of prep time involved. Let's get started! (don't worry I'll blog about other crap later!)

First you'll need some rice vinegar. Will regular vinegar work? Probably! I haven't tried it - but I would think that vinegar is vinegar. I wouldn't use white vinegar though. And I definitely wouldn't use normal vinegar if you can get your hands on real rice vinegar! That would just be silly wouldn't it?

This is the exact bottle of rice vinegar I use. Pic taken in my messy kitchen while making sushi. Forgive the mess, please! This is a very common brand, by the way.

You will also need single grain rice. You can NOT use instant rice or 'boil in the bag' rice!!! The rice will not be sticky enough and each grain will CRUSH! In sushi - each grain is very visible inside(or outside depending how you prefer!) and the rice is very sticky. Instant, boil in the bag, and normal white rice are NOT suitable for sushi making. Don't do it, mkay?

So here's the exact rice I use. As far as I know - its pretty common.

And the other thing you'll need (besides things to put IN your sushi) is nori. Nori is dried seaweed. This is probably what makes people think of raw fish. Since its seaweed, it does have a fishy smell, but it does NOT have a fishy taste. As a matter of fact, it doesn't really taste at all. Its usually really dry and almost brittle when in the package, but when wrapped around your sushi its softer.

Again - same popular Orchids brand (just to show I didn't ONLY buy that rice vinegar because of the company name!)

So you will certainly need everything that has a picture! Now for the instructions:

Place 2 cups of rice into a plastic or glass bowl

(2 cups of rice makes enough sushi for 3 people - or 2 hungry people. Always better to have too much than too little!)

Cover with water

Swirl the rice/water around with your hand until the water is very cloudy.

Drain water and repeat until water is clear (usually about 3-4 times)

In a medium saucepan (make sure it has a lid!) place:

2 cups of washed rice

2 cups of water

Place lid on saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat

(if you haven't done any prep I recommend doing your prep work at this point)

Once boiling use a wooden or plastic spoon to stir the rice (NO METAL SPOONS)

Reduce heat to medium high and cook for another 5 minutes

Reduce heat once more, stir, and cook for another couple minutes

Be sure not to burn the rice - but be sure all the water is absorbed

Remove rice from heat (leaving lid on) and set aside for a 5 minutes

After rice has set - put into glass or plastic container while Rice Vinegar is prepped

Making up the Rice Vinegar:

4tbsp. Rice Vinegar

4tbsp. Sugar (I use white granulated sugar - as long as you don't use brown you should be ok)

2tbsp salt (I use sea salt - I'm sure it doesn't matter)

Place all the Rice Vinegar ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat

Stir ingredients with wooden or plastic spoon

!!DO NOT BOIL!!

Heat/stir until all granules are dissolved

Finishing Up the Rice

Add the HOT Rice Vinegar mixture to the rice

Stir the Rice Vinegar Mixture into the rice with a choppy motion with your plastic or wooden spoon

Stir the Rice in the choppy motion until it is at room temperature (takes about 5-10 minutes)

My best advice at this point is to have a small bowl of water sitting nearby. This is to moisten your hands and knife to keep the sushi from sticking to you too badly. Its going to stick to you - no matter what - but the water keeps it under some kind of control.

So you place out a single sheet of nori. You cover the nori 85% with the sushi rice. Leave about a 1/4 inch gap at the top (this allows for a roll that doesn't look folded on one side. Perfect circle!) Once you have covered your nori - place your stuffing (I will put a list of things that I like to use inside sushi at the bottom) in the center of your rice. Just eye it - you'll find the perfect positioning once you've done this a few times.

Once you have all the things on the rice you wish to roll up in the sushi - grab the end nearest you and fold the nori (which includes the contents of your roll!) away from you until the piece you grabbed is now touching the edge of where the rice stops (this is why that 1/4 inch at the top is important!) Squeeze the sushi roll until it feels the seaweed will not come unwrapped and wet your knife.

From what I know - its traditional to serve sushi in two rows of 3 (equalling 6 lil sushi rolls) but I really don't see the point in being so traditional at home (unless you have guests - in which case be traditional and show off!) and you will probably mess up one or two if this is your first time - so no worries!!! Cut the roll in half and place the two halves side by side. Wet your knife again - and cut 3 times across the two halves which are side by side. You now have 6 sushi!!

Now you just stick them on a plate (stuffing side up) and serve! Not too hard I don't think. From start to finish it usually takes me about an hour to make sushi (using the 2 cup method I shared here) which is about how long it takes me to make dinner when I'm cooking something like spaghetti. This shows that making sushi (which is pretty darn healthy!) doesn't take any more time than anything else you're already doing. Its just something you aren't familiar with and only SEEMS like more work.

The first time IS a bit hectic - but the steps and instructions that I've put here are pretty much fail proof. There's almost NO WAY you can make bad sushi with the above 'recipe'! Promise! As you can see my rolls are FAR from perfect - but that doesn't effect the taste. The roll you see my husband holding has salmon and mayonnaise in it.

As you can see we aren't going for the whole traditional thing here at my house. We're even drinking a bottle of Andre (pink champagne haha!) with your sushi. I think we're also watching Top Gear or X Factor -- so really just make it your own.

I have to say though - it was really nice to sit back and relax and basque in the glory which is our badass Christmas tree. Our neighbors kept peeking through their window to see our tree - and people were slowing down outside to see our tree as they drove past.

I'm proud of my husband for not only caving and letting me have a WHITE tree - but letting me choose purple, hot pink and blue balls for it! Yay husband!

Now

Things you can put in sushi:

Salmon

lettuce

spinach (wilted in hot water)

avocado

carrot

ginger (pickled)

water chestnuts

sesame seeds

mayonnaise (NOT salad dressing!)

wasabi

wasabi mayonnaise

shrimp

crab

lobster

chicken/duck/goose/turkey (hey why not?!)

Honestly I think anything you can put on a sandwich can be put in sushi - but if you are going for traditional Japanese sushi - its best to use traditional items. I just prefer to have fun with my cooking is all!

EDIT: More pics of our weekend (my messy kitchen and more!) @ my Flikr

Super Dickmann's - and other things

Yes - I only bought this because its called "Super Dickmann's". As a matter of fact - I forced Keith to hold the box while I snapped this pic in the kitchen AS SOON as we got home from the store with it. But turns out - these things are WAY awesome. Its a huge chocolate covered thing with the creamiest softest marshmellow center and a tiny wafer on the bottom! You get almost an immediate sugar rush upon devouring!

How huge is this Super Dickmann's?

Well they're huge. Nearly as big as an iPod Nano. If you don't want some serious sugar almost instantly - I don't recommend ever buying these. They're from Germany (duh look at the packaging!) and they somehow found their way to our commissary at RAF Lakenheath. I was never so greatful for German chocolates until that day. That glorious day we returned home with our little cardboard treasure.

We've now eaten nearly all of them (I think there are 9 to a box) and they are my new love. Forget Galaxy bars or even ice cream. I love Super Dickmann's!! Germany - thank you for this most yumtastic chocolatey treat. How sugary are Super Dickmann's? Well put it this way: we drink a LOT of energy drinks in my house - and ONE of these things made me hyper for like 3 hours. I'm talking completely rambunctiously annoyingly hyper. Yeah I'd totally feed one of these to someone's kid right before they went back home with their parents. I'm evil like that.


In other news - I have decided to only post paintings on my art page to say "Hey look this is for sale" once I get my Etsy shop going. This way it allows MORE people to see my artwork and gives me extra opportunity to sell them. I did look into the option of selling prints - but unless I do the prints myself I would be losing a lot of money. I'd make about $.50 per print. Instead I'll just sell the original on canvas and not offer prints at all.


This means that every painting purchased is a one-of-a-kind. I highly doubt I'll price anything over $30 because I'm mostly just interested in paying for art supplies to paint more - and not looking to make an actual living from it right now. Perhaps in the future. Of course I'll post something here when I have everything all set up - including figuring out where to get proper boxes to ship things. It'll all come together eventually!


I feel like Keith and I are still getting acquainted with each other now that he's back from Iraq. Small things about both of us have changed while he was deployed and we're both working on getting used to those small changes. Nothing major - but still. It was kind of disturbing at first when I noticed there were any kind of change at all ... but then I realized that its pretty much natural.



We still have a lot of fun together. I even gave him a spa facial treatment a few days ago. Cucumber peel and avacado mask - the whole works! He didn't actually say it .. but I think he enjoyed it :) Looks like he's having fun to me!


I think we get on each other's nerves a bit more than we used to (we're both terribly annoying) but we're starting to get used to it. I make his lunch almost every morning - and he seems to like going to work. Maybe its because he isn't working 12 hours a day 6 days a week like he was in Iraq.


I think that's all for now. I mostly just wanted to share the awesome that is Super Dickmann's - but I got off on another subject!

Manic Artwork - Soon for Sale

I paint. A lot, actually - and I've decided that instead of letting all these paintings pile up that I would try to sell them ... and possibly take on commissions for art. The commission part is still iffy - but I am definitely going to try to sell my paintings.

How am I going to do this? Well to start out with I will do it on a first come, first serve basis. I'll post a picture of the painting on my site : ManicStatic with a price. The first person to email me and say 'Hey I want that picture' will be the one who will own it. Then I say 'Hey dude, you got the picture" and they say "Wowee! Gee golly really?!" and I say "Yup!" and they'll say "Well here's my address!" then I mail it to them. Sounds easy huh?

Anyway - that will be my thing. I refuse to do videos for people in SL anymore. 90% of SL Society fucking pisses me off. My husband was deployed to Iraq for 5 months - I was working 50 hours a week - and people were STILL on my ass about things. But ya know what? I bet if I had told them I was in the process of leaving my RL husband for my SL boyfriend they would give me all the time in the world. It seems people are more understanding about fake SL shit than they are about vital RL shit. Surely I can't be the only person who thinks this.

As far as my paintings .. I guess you'll just have to wait till I get one posted to see my 'style'. I've always called it vector -- but that might not be 'technically' right.

My Webcomic

So I started my webcomic yesterday. I've decided that it'll be a daily thing of whatever random funny stuff that comes to mind :D

http://ManicStatic.wordpress.com

I opted for a wordpress blog thing because I couldn't see paying for a domain if I'm unsuccessful. And by successful I mean people actually like the stuff I draw and buy shirts and whatever from my cafe press store. (there's a banner on the site!)

Upcoming Projects

Alright so Keith has a wedding to film Saturday and I have one to film as well. I'm so so glad to be busy again! Don't get me wrong, the vacation was sooo awesome, but what did I accomplish while gone? Nothing. :( That makes everything seem like such a waste.

I have been planning to shoot a roller derby type music vid for over a month now - and I still plan to do it! Of course things are pushed back a bit due to contracted work .... but that's alright. It will get done when I get time enough to do it.

My biggest fear with these independent things I've been doing is that I'm going to bite off more than I can chew. I have this bad habbit of getting an idea in my head ... and I want it just how I imagined it, but I tend to forget that I lack the technical knowledge to make it identical to my vision. This leads to frustration, aggrivation, and in the long run I totally give up and scrap the whole thing. But I'm going to really really try to not do that.

Self Image

A while back I had posted on how my self esteem had gone down the toilet for various reasons. Well .. it isn't doing much better but now that we're back at home I've kept myself so busy that I haven't had opportunity to really focus on it for it to bother me. Yeah I saw a few celeb pics that made me whimper ... but I'm really not going to fuss with it. I mean seriously ... as far as celebs go they all but get paid to look the way they do. And me? Pft I let my personality do my talking usually. Well that and my totally inability to match. That seems to draw some attention too sometimes.

At any rate I'll just say that I'm over it and be done with it. When I'm feeling a little more aggressive and motivated I'll do something about my self image. But for now? For now I'm going to stay busy with staying busy and feel like I'm worth something instead of staying preoccupied with how I look.

Another thing ... I saw the lead singer of one of my fav bands earlier and was totally blown away. She's a big girl! And she's pretty! Kinda made me puff my tits out a bit. ANYWAY!

Song of the Day

So now to expose you to the woman who made my day. Today's Song of the Day is brought to you by Gossip :)


Standing in the Way of Control by Gossip

Your back's against the wall,
There's no-one home to call,
You're forgetting who you are,
You can't stop crying.

It's part not giving in,
And part trusting your friends,
You'd do it all again and I'm not lying.

Oh-whoa-oh, oh-ooh,
Oh-whoa, oh-oh-whoa-ooh.

Standing in the way of control,
You live your life,
Survive the only way that you know.

I'm doing this for you,
Because it's easier to lose,
And it's hard to face the truth,
When you think you're dying.

It's part not giving in,
And part trusting your friends,
You'd do it all again but you don't stop trying.

Oh-whoa, oh-oh-whoa,
Oh-whoa, oh-oh-whoa.

Standing in the way of control,
You live your life,
Survive the only way that you know, know.

Oh-whoa, oh-oh-whoa,
Oh-whoa, oh-oh-whoa.

Standing in the way of control,
We'll live our lives.
Because we're standing in the way of control,
We will live our lives.
Because we're standing in the way of control,
We'll live our lives.
Because we're standing in the way of control,
We will live our lives, lives, lives.

Ooh-ooh-ooh-oh,
Hey, yay, hey, hey.

Your back's against the wall,
There's no-one home to call,
You're forgetting who you are,
You can't stop crying.
It's part not giving in,
And part trusting your friends,
You'd do it all again but you don't stop trying.

Oh-whoa, oh-oh-whoa,
Oh-whoa, oh-oh-whoa.

Standing in the way of control,
You live your life,
Survive the only way that you know, know.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I am now going to subject you all to my music. There are days that I go back and read my own entries to kinda say "Yeah - i remember that." I know it sounds quite cheesy but its so very true.

So for that reason - and for all my LJ friends that are reading past posts in order to get caught up I have added a music player. I know that I listen to obscure music -- but will it hurt you to get exposure to something new? No, it won't. I can guarantee you'll like something. Its also set on random shuffle so you won't hear the same song start up every time you come to my page. If you don't like the music ... or if you're at work .. I'd think by now you've learned to turn the volume OFF on your PC.

Anyway .. so I have to start paperwork to get my passport and visa as soon as Keith and I get married (which will now probably be even SOONER than the 'moved up date' we set) this way he won't leave and go to the UK without me :( O M F G I'd be crushed.

I have a few things to work on - and by that I mean video - but I need some help so it'll be a while yet before I start filming. I highly doubt I post anything for anyone to even see the vid once I finish it. Its a late Valentine's Day present for Keith. He thinks my videos are 'cute attempts' and likes to watch 'em to see what I come up with. So that's why I decided to make him a video.

Most likely I'll post again later with snapshots and whatnot - then it'll be off to edit (PFT off where? I'll be using Keith's beast of a computer!)

To-Do List while Keith is at work

*Purchase anything needed for shoot
*Film what I can
*Call my Mother
*Respond to e-mails/Offlines
*Pick up trash
*Edit footage
*Schedule filming (if needed)
*Make March Calendar

I think that's all ...