My Week in Pics

My first week of vacation and the beginning of summer!

As most of you may already know, last wednesday night, June 23rd, was the beginning of the summer solstice. Back home in Spain it's a big deal (who would have thought: such a pagan rite in such catholic country! Oh, the irony - love it!) and it's celebrated with huge bonfires on the beaches and an assortment of rituals (jumping the fire, walking into the sea, etc).

Pure coincidence had it, that we were to head out to Catalina Island for an overnight camping trip just on that day. As you will see in the pictures, Avalon (the main city on Catalina) is a gorgeous little place and it somehow reminded me a lot of Europe. We went with two friends and two kids and had an amazing time: lot's of walking (cars are extremely restricted on the Island, a cabdriver told us the waiting list is about 30 to 50 years!!!!), we rented tandem bikes, had a bbq (including marshmallows), played tag in the dark armed with flashlights, spent a day at the beach and I event went for a quick swim in the ocean!

View of Avalon from the ferry.

Instead of cars, everybody on the island drives golf carts

a very minty looking house

Dog taking a nap in a golf cart - judging from all the stains on the seats it wasn't the first time ;)

Me, making funny faces on the back of the tandem

Mikki, making funny faces in our tent

Boats on the way to the beach. Who names their boat Huevos (Eggs/ balls, depending on the interpretation)???

Hmmm... iced water with lemon on a hot beach day = perfection

Every summer I face the same issue: finding a summer dress. I either don't like them, or they don't fit. So this time around I decided it was time to sit down and make one. It's a military green knit dress with black trims. I opted for a racerback top and an a-line shape for the skirt. I'll take pics when I wear it!

Then I received the cutest letter from my friend in Japan! I don't know how they do it, but even magazine pages and color swatches look much more special over there.

On saturday I finally finished my latest necklace. It's a one of a kind piece. The pendant is made out of a thick sheet of faux bone, which I then sawed and filed into the shape of a C2 cervical vertebra. To make it more interesting I added a little "spark". Faux bone is a fun material to work with, but it's a lot of work. I'm happy with my result - so worth the infected blister on my finger!

No, I'm not in Germany (yet). This is at a local Biergarten in Silverlake: The Red Lion. Although the name sounds more like an irish pub, they have really good authentic tasting german food. The inside is quite austere, but the outside space is perfect for summer evenings.

Apparently all the soccer/football craze turned this week into an culinary experience, because we watched the Spain-Chile game at Tinto in Hollywood, the day before heading to the the Red Lion. The food was pretty authentic, too. The gazpacho had been made by the owners mother, not the chef! Too bad that it was pretty pricey.

Hope you had a great start into the summer, too.

Have a great week, xx

EAT. {Stink free fish}

So I'm pretty easy with food. One thing I sometimes have trouble with is fish. I'm not a 100% sure what it is, but I'm pretty sure one important factor is texture. Don't get me wrong, I'll devour tuna sashimi in no time, I just have to feel like it.

The point I'm trying to get to, is that we've been trying to incorporate more fish in our diet, and eating less meat.

One thing that really makes me shudder is the smell of fish in the kitchen, so instead of frying it in the pan, I'd rather put it in the oven!

I found this recipe in the book "Happy Days with the Naked Chef" by Jamie Oliver. Like most of his recipes, this one really lends itself to personal variations: so that's what I did.

You'll need:

White fish fillets (I've used Hoki and Cod - I prefer the first) they can be fresh or thawed.

Cherry tomatoes or chopped normal tomatoes

Mozarella Cheese (I've also used Parmesan - and I liked both variations)

Pesto (my personal touch!)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

What to do:

Preheat the oven.

Coat an oven dish with a little olive oil.

Put the fish filets on the dish.

Coat them with the pesto.

Chop tomatoes and cheese and put on top of the filets.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for approx 10 min at 450ºF (230ºC)

Done! Easy or what!?

EAT.

{Ruth's Curry Garbanzo Salad}

Remember how I said I loved summer food? Well, here is another reason: my mom's curry chickpea salad - yum!

It's really easy to make and it tastes absolutely delicious. It's best after a couple of hours in the fridge, somehow that gives it time for the curry flavor to unfold.

Ingredients:

1 can of tuna

1 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

2 tablespoons of greek nonfat plain yogurt

2 tablespoons of light mayonaise

juice of half a lemon

curry powder, salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Mix the yogurt and mayonaise in a large salad bowl. Add curry powder (about a teaspoon), lemon juice and salt and pepper. Mix.

Stir in the tuna.

Drain and wash the garbanzo beans with a lot of water (so you get rid of the can flavor - yuck!).

Add them to the mix and that's it!

(I had some organic cauliflower that needed to be eaten asap, so I just steamed it, drained it under cold water and added it to the mix, too).

Put the salad in the fridge and be ready for a feast in a couple of hours.

Tip: I made way too much dressing, so I saved some and used it as a curry spread for sandwiches - it adds a great kick to turkey or chicken sandwiches!

My Week in Pics

This week truly felt like the first week of summer, no wonder americans decided that Memorial day weekend is the unofficial start of summer! Summer started the best way possible: celebrating! Three of my favorite girls were born on May 31 and June 1, isn't that crazy? Stuff like that makes me believe in astrology!

On Monday we celebrated my friend Mel's birthday with an amazing greek lunch in Malibu, followed by an afternoon by the pool and a bbq dinner! I was so relaxed that I had completely forgotten about having to go back to class the next day! Luckily I remembered in time, so I could expose the screens for my last screen printing project.

Then I finally decided it was time to hit the workshop again, rework some old projects and start some new ones. Here is one of the new pieces: The Tibet Statement Necklace. Click on this link to my shop to see some of the other newly uploaded pieces.

My landlady recently replaced the old dark green garage doors, providing me with an ideal new backdrop for quick photo shoots. -Thank you :)

This is a very delicious breakfast I made myself the other day. Homemade curry spread (I'll post the recipe soon in the EAT. section of the blog) with turkey breast, tomato slices and arugula leaves on Trader Joe's Parm-agio bread. Yes, I'm a huge fan of TJ's - how couldn't I be, when they come up with such fun bread names (Parmesan and Asiago cheeses provided the name inspiration).

But this week wasn't only about gift giving, but also gift receiving! I decided to buy an iPhone sleeve that I can strap around my arm, so I can't come up with excuses not to go running. Didn't really work out so far - now I'm blaming the heat. Oh man!

Well and then I had been on the lookout for a really tiny purse/cardholder for the summer. Not such an easy task. Luckily I ended up finding one in the Leatherwerks etsy store.

The great thing about having a typographer as a teacher is that you get so much background info on fonts in an otherwise boring computer class. So let me share my recently acquired wisdom: the font avant garde, started off by "just" being a logo for Ralph Ginzburgs Avant Garde Magazine. Everybody liked it so much, they decided to design a whole font. Here are some blurry phone pics I took of some of the awesome layout of the magazine.
And what would "My Week in Pics" be without a floral picture? I just couldn't resist: bougainvillea petals on the concrete floor. I love the contrast of color and meaning.

Another huge highlight, although not directly in my life, is that my mom adopted this adorable kitty on saturday. Here she is, relaxing on the windowsill.

How do you end week that has started with celebration, you may ask. Well, with celebration of course! Our excuse? The aforementioned birthday girl and her engagement. What better excuse for a big party? And trust me, it was great. So great that I'm posting this laying in bed at 6pm, feeling quite terrible :) But it was so worth it. Here is the only picture I can officially share: a pair of very cute and very high heels on the windowsill of a limo. Sometimes pictures speak volumes.

My Week In Pics

Vellum for my next CMYK Poster. (Each paper has tiny dots at different angles, one for each color)

What is it with the japanese that they make even the simplest thing looks so pretty?

A red plastic teapot? I think it looks great!

The last screen print I finished:

same principle as the one above. [This one was printed on fabric.]

Eel and Avocado Roll - our absolute favorite.

And look how thinly they sliced the avocado!

UFC. Seriously? The only thing I like about it, is that it gives us

a great excuse for a regular get together with awesome friends :)

Random shot I took while trying to shove my

phone in my bag. Voila, our red door.

I decided to sew after what as been an eternal hiatus.

Dug up all this cute trim I bought ages ago in downtown LA.

Bougainvillea on my kitchen window. That's where it grows at my mom's place too.

I love how the flora in California is soooo similar to the one back home in Spain.

Apparently someone hasn't been taking that many pictures last week. It's been a strange one, sneaking by and providing us with all kinds of weather: sun, wind, even rain (read drizzle) (hello??? SoCal in May???), and pure summer heat today.

I finally finished the layout for my last screen printing project, decided to sew a little (nothing too complicated), and worked on some tribal jewelry pieces I had had on my mind for some time now.

It's funny how inspiration works. I see something that appeals to me, then it triggers something in me. After having it in my head for some days I might draw some sketches in my little moleskin. Usually at the sketching stage something starts happening, either the design works out, or it doesn't. Sometimes I come up with an entirely different piece. But sometimes even while I'm working on a piece it kind of develops a mind of its own. And many times, or even most of the time, I end up with something completely different to what I started off with...

I'm heading out to the movies: Prince of Persia. Mikki's turn to choose :). But there's a few other ones that I really want to see: Exit through the Gift Shop, El secreto de sus Ojos and Please Give.

Have a great first week of June everybody! Can't believe we're already halfway through 2010!

My Week In Pics

I haven't stopped this week. Most of you already know, but next weekend, April 24 & 25 is the next Unique LA show. An amazing design and gift show with 300 local vendors - and I'm one of them! Next week is my (very late and very needed) spring break, so I've been trying to shove everything on my "to do for unique" list into this week! And I almost succeeded!

I've been screen printing, drawing, sawing, hammering, tarnishing, bending, beading, sewing and cutting all week long! Wow. Now I'm exhausted!

Luckily enough I managed to squeeze in some fun:

A get-together with my girls - this time a laid back afternoon at home featuring cake! Yum.

A concert at the Troubadour: the australian band Karnivool - on the top of playlist these days! Right after "Diamond Eyes" the new Deftones single)

A forced time out in the sun (I locked myself out again)

New shoes!!! Yes. Converse. Again. Of course.

So, without further ado, the pictures!

New shoes and Karnivool live at the Troubadour

As American as it gets: shopping cart with cup holder and pancakes on sunday morning

My forced break in the sun. (I left my keys at home and had to wait for Mikki to return home)

Work: My retro tumbler (the cut out pieces are polished in soapy water and shot [nails and other metals]) and some silver rainclouds

More cut out pieces and my work bench

Signs for Unique LA: hand painted on mini canvases and hand screen printed on paper

Left: screen for my NIMO. banner. Right: printed muslin just cut our with my pinking shears

Detail of my banner (it features a giant copper Phoenix bird) and my sewing machine

TA-DAN: my pride and glory. The finished product hanging in the doorway.

The NIMO. Banner. You should come see it in person at Unique LA :)