Happy Birthday.

How cute is this drawing I got from Sarah!? Look at the little palette and paintbrush! I love it!

Pepper Jack and Onion Stuffed Mini-Burgers.

My friend Clay bought 1/8 of a cow his sister raised and slaughtered. He gave me 1 of his 25 #s of ground beef and today I used it to make mini burgers stuffed with onions and pepper jack cheese.

HOLY YUM.

PS – I'm missing my brother today.

Chris Payne - Asylum.

My friend Ruth turned me on to this photographer Chris Payne and his Asylum images a couple weeks ago. The colors are amazing. I really love old, abandoned buildings so much for some reason. This is a room of old file boxes...

I think the peeling paint is beautiful... some of the details in the architecture, amazing. This marble staircase...

And these Eames chairs kill me. What a collection of colorful seating in this abandoned autopsy auditorium. You could design a whole house based on the color palette of the chairs alone. I'd love to raid a place like this to see what I might find.

Isn't this bathtub so Girl, Interrupted? All these pictures are so creepy, but beautiful. They evoke an almost physical response in me.

So, it was an odd coincidence to see this next one hanging in my boss' house at a party last weekend. Her's was by David S. Alee. Two different artists, but capturing very similar images – of asylums as the subject. Apparently they photoshop'd a gurney out of this one, as it was off-putting to potential buyers, which I find a shame. If I remember correctly, this was a pharmacy.

The central glare is from my camera flash, but on my computer at least, the rest of the colors are pretty true. Oddly pretty and interesting.

I need to be doing this.

On a pool deck so hot it almost hurts to lay down. For hours. So my skin is still warm even after the sunlight starts to fade and we're firing up the grill.

Image by and via Freckle Farm.

Cinco (Ocho) de Mayo.

Went to the annual Cinco de Mayo party at Kris and Eric's last night. I have a really nice hibiscus margarita headache to prove it. I don't think I should have had 45 of them. But they were so good. Eric cooked the entire meal from scratch while we watched, which is a huge part of why this party is so fun.


THE MENU
Three salsas: A tomatillo, a pickled chipotle, and a pacilla pepper.
Guacamole
Cucumber Salad
Cactus Salad
Poblanos & Cream
Tacos: Vanilla Shrimp, Skirt Steak, Tongue

Habiscus and Guava Margaritas
Carte Blanca

Dessert: Guava sorbet and Chocolate Chipotle ice cream

A super highlight were the fresh handmade tortillas Katy and Steve picked up from La Cabanita on our way there. They came raw and Steve fried them up as we were eating. I never want to eat a tortilla that is not like this ever again. YUM.

Another real treat was this Poblanos & Cream (+ white onions). He roasted the poblanos on the burners on the stove, sliced them and sauteed with onion, then added this cream that is like sour cream but way thicker and less "sour". So good.

This vanilla shrimp was also very good. I had never seen vanilla paste before. And the skirt steak was perfect.

I took pictures* but couldn't bring myself to post the tongue. I've never seen anyone slice a 3 lb. tongue into patties before, or watched it get cooked up on a grill. It tasted very good, with more flavor even than the steak, but I can't get the sensation of the texture of it out of my mouth. I am feeling it in my teeth right now as I write this. Then there's the visual of what it looked like as it was prepped, which was equally fascinating (I couldn't stop looking) and vile (and turning away in disgust).

Loved the spicy chocolate ice cream, and the chunks of sugary Mexican chocolate it was made from.

*You can see more pics, including the tongue, on my Flickr.