kellybot

Creative block award!

2010-04-01T15:12:00.003-05:00

About a year ago, I designed the logo for HandmadeMN, an Etsy street team for artists and crafters in Minnesota. On a whim, I submitted it to the AIGA MN Design Show and it was accepted. As a result, I received a creative block award! For a brief evening, it was hung at the Walker Art Center. Pretty exciting, even if it was just a private reception. I am looking forward to having it on my table at our portfolio show next month.

Informational Interview

2010-02-05T18:18:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I had an informational interview with the director of the design studio at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, J. Zachary Keenan. I saw a little article about him in How magazine and learned that he did The Hotel Minneapolis logo, which I love, especially the color scheme. So on a whim, I emailed him and asked if I could interview him, which he kindly agreed to. I only found out he is at MCAD afterwards. How fun!

I got a lot of great information in a relatively short amount of time. Here's some of my favorite pieces of advice:

Life experience is a big part of being a good designer.
Being curious is very important.
Skills for success: socially/politically adept, good listener, able to balance different needs/wants.
Don't take for granted how special it is that you get to express yourself creatively for a living.

I also was grateful for some great information/advice about portfolios, business cards and leave-behinds. I feel a lot of pressure to come up with some amazingly creative (yet inexpensive!) little piece of design goodness that I can, you know, leave behind at an interview. It seems like I have a million ideas and none at the same time.

More school work

2010-01-25T10:31:00.006-06:00

Here's a series of three I did for a faux craft show (but actual non-profit). I scanned my hand, then traced it in Illustrator. The text was drawn freehand in illustrator, with my fancy new Wacom tablet. I'm thinking about using it for an actual craft show for the HandmadeMN team.

Poster:

Postcard:

Website:

Last semester...

2010-01-19T19:39:00.006-06:00

I've finally reached my last semester of school! I will be devoting nearly all of my energy on preparing my portfolio and helping plan our class' portfolio show. I'm definitely ready to finish so I can get out there and find a job in the industry. I plan to post some works in progress -- feel free to critique. I want a spectacular portfolio, so I welcome feedback!

This project was supposed to be about experimental type. It was really more about found type, and even then it seemed like an art project. I asked Greg and some of his co-workers to photocopy their faces at work... so we have Jan and Paul appearing sleepy (or dead). When we moved our offices last year, I found a bunch of very old rubber stamps. Many of them said really goofy things, including "Question Eliminated (Misleading)." So that's where the words came from. I was mainly inspired by the way the copier-faces turned out, and how sweet Jan looks.

Hey, look!

2010-01-11T12:14:00.003-06:00

My boyfriend and I got engaged last weekend! We've been together for 6 years, living together for 4 1/2, so it wasn't exactly a surprise. We picked up the ring that was being sized and went to our special restaurant, and I just put the ring on. Nothing special, but still lovely and overdue.

We've been talking about getting engaged for at least a year and started seriously looking for rings before Christmas. I kind of took over the process, since I was being very picky (Greg was fine with this). I ended up with this gorgeous 1930's ring. It's rose gold with a large Madeira citrine. I was mostly drawn to topaz (esp. London blue) and aquamarine, but the setting of this ring is just so fantastic. I figure if I ever decide I can't live with the orange anymore, the stone can easily be changed.

Super present!

2010-01-07T11:30:00.003-06:00

My lovely co-worker, Beth, gave me this button thingy for Christmas. No, it has no purpose... other than to stand there and look awesome! It is a great decorative addition to Kellybot Industries (aka, my craft room). I also think it will be really fun for my craft show table -- very eye-catching. Thanks, Beth!

New listings

2010-01-05T18:43:00.003-06:00

Now that the fall craft show season has come to an end, I've resolved to photo all my leftover stock and list it on Etsy. I've made some headway - I spent about 10 hours already just taking the photos. Now to edit all of them, not to mention the actual listing! I have really got a lot of work ahead.

Some of my new listings are earrings and bobby pins - items I haven't listed much before. I'm excited to see my shop all spruced up!

HandmadeMN team sale

2009-11-13T14:07:00.003-06:00

The HandmadeMN team (Minnesota Etsy street team) is having a sale this weekend! You can find a list of the shops participating on Etsy, and even more details in our blog. Kellybot is offering free worldwide shipping this weekend. Feel free to stop by and look around!

Vegan kung pao tofu

2009-10-29T16:23:00.002-05:00

I just spent $13 on kung pao tofu from the deli in Surdyk's (liquor store). Primarily a cheese shop, it's not the first place you'd look for a vegan delight. It is sooooo yummy. The tofu has a nice chewy texture, there's a decent amount of heat, and peanuts thrown in for a good crunch. We usually just wrap it up in a tortilla.

Vegan camping

2009-10-28T11:35:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to write up a Craigslist post to sell our groovy 70's camping van. We love camping, but our dogs are getting too old for it. So bye-bye van.

We always assume that we're the best fed campers in the campground because we take extra care to prepare. Here's a list of what we often bring:

*foil packets of fresh veggies. When we were getting our CSA share, it was a great way to use up random vegetables. My tip is to put a little Earth Balance in the packet, rather than oil. The EB will stay mostly solid in the cooler and reduce the chances of an oily mess.
*tofu jerky. We only made it once or twice, but it was delish!
*take-out salads from the co-op. They have tons of varieties of rice, pasta, or bean-based cold salads.
*frozen chick patties or veggie burgers. Don't forget the little tupperware of vegenaise.

Veg-friendly in the Twin Cities, part 3

2009-10-27T11:21:00.000-05:00

See also Part 1(Pizza) and Part 2 (Indian).

Triple Rock Social Club
It’s a bar. It’s a rock n’ roll venue. It’s a vegan mecca. There’s a little too much Wizard Rock for my taste, but the food is amazing. It’s not exclusively vegetarian, but you’ll find vegan versions of all manner of tasty bar food. One time, Jens Lekman ate the last vegan meatloaf, depriving Greg of his favorite dish. I’m a big fan of the Minneapolis po'boy. Other notable vegan gems: sloppy joes, mac n’ cheese, chili cheese fries, and White Russians.

Hard Times Café

This is a worker-owned vegetarian restaurant. Greg gets a kick out of the fact that it’s located right across the street from the fancy business school. The staff is super surly and it’s a total dump, but it’s the best place to get a tempeh Rueben (not vegan). We ate there last weekend with some meat-eating friends, who were adventurous enough to want to go to a vegetarian restaurant, but not ready to try the raw restaurant yet (more on that in another post later). Greg had a vegan bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwich). Other vegan tasties: seitan gyro, breakfast all day, and baked goods.

the bahn mi

message for vegans

Cheater chili

2009-10-26T09:25:00.005-05:00

There are two things I remember my dad being really good at cooking when I was a kid: tomato sauce and chili. When I grew to adulthood and I wanted to make my own chili, I could never seem to get it right. It never had the right balance of flavors, or even enough flavor -- the broth was just thin tomato water, and no amount of chili powder seemed to make it right.

So I gave up.

Years later, I was walking through the Aldi near our house and something occurred to me as I was passing by the jars of salsa. All the properly balanced flavors I had been unable to achieve on my own were right there in that jar. Salsa would be a perfect base on which to build a chili! I loaded up on beans and went home to experiment. The result was the best chili I've ever made, and it was insanely cheap and simple. I've made it about once a year since then, and it always yields enough for a week or two of lunches. I've dubbed it cheater chili since it certainly feels like I'm cheating, using all these canned or frozen ingredients and not even having to chop an onion!

Cheater chili

1 big jar of salsa, about 24 oz. -- I like a medium heat
1 can of Rotel-type diced tomatoes -- that is, those with diced peppers added
2 cans of chili beans -- undrained because you want all that chili seasoning
1 can of garbanzo beans, drained
1 can of some other kind of beans, for variety, drained
1 little can of diced green chiles
Frozen corn, as much as you like -- I prefer between 8-16 oz.
Fake beef crumbles, such as Smart Ground or Boca

In a big pot, dump the salsa. Set your burner to medium. Quickly, before the pot gets too hot and you scorch the salsa, dump in the tomatoes, beans, and chiles. Swirl a few ounces of water in each jar or can, and add that water to the pot. [This achieves three good things: 1) it gets all the flavor-y bits out of each container, 2) it adds water to the pot, which thins the salsa, and 3) it leaves your cans and jars relatively clean and ready for recycling.] Stir it up and add more water if it's still too thick. Put a lid on the pot and let it come to a very low boil. [I usually set a timer for ten minutes and walk away.] Now add your corn and crumbles and bring it back to a low boil. Cover the pot and lower the heat to simmer for about 15 minutes, until the corn and crumbles are fully thawed and cooked.

Many of these ingredients are optional. If you don't like the idea of fake ground beef or corn in your chili, just leave it out. I haven't tried it yet myself, but this could be really good with some Gardein (fake chicken, available in the U.S. as Morningstar Chik'n Strips) instead of Boca crumbles. At any rate, the beans are the star of the show, and the salsa, Rotel tomatoes, and diced green chiles contribute a nice mellow piquancy.

I realize that some vegans -- especially those who are vegan primarily for health reasons -- may be horrified by my recipe, since many of these ingredients are laden with preservatives and additives, and it doesn't necessarily use any local or organic ingredients. Those things are important to me too -- that's why it's called cheater chili!

Vegan Thanksgiving

2009-10-22T21:26:00.000-05:00

We're planning our holiday schedules right now -- what days to take time off from work, which families to visit when, etc. -- and that's got me thinking about Thanksgiving meals.

This year, my (vegan) sister will be visiting the week after the holiday, so Kelly and I will be alone for the day (and the meal) itself. My guess is that it'll be a celebration roast kind of day, since it seems silly to go to really great lengths for just the two of us. Then when Valerie arrives a few days later, we'll do something special.

Last year was a really unusual experience. We were due in Estes Park, Colorado for the wedding of some friends, and Thanksgiving Day was the only available time to make the fourteen-hour drive. We ordered meals-to-go from the co-op and heated them in the microwave of a truck stop in Nebraska. The food was very good and the experience quite memorable!

For one of our first Thanksgivings together, we actually bought the Tofurky kit and did not care for it at all. (It's rubbery, and it has a creepy, crackly "skin".) Usually when we cook for Thanksgiving, we're trying to basically replicate the comfortable ritual of our childhoods, so we tend to stick to celebration roasts, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pie.

Part of that ritual that we can still share with our non-veg friends is thankful recognition of the good things in our lives. For me, this includes the acknowledgement that we live in a time and a place in which we have the luxury of making ethical decisions about our food. For most of humanity and for most of history, life has been a struggle for survival in which eating other creatures might be the only alternative to starvation. Fortunately, I don't have to choose between my life or the turkey's. As I see it, the fact that I don't need to eat other beings to survive is the best reason not to do it.

Veg friendly in the Twin Cities, part 2

2009-10-21T16:35:00.005-05:00

I previously posted about some fun pizza restaurants in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

I can't remember the very first time I had Indian food, but I think it might have been only within the past 8 years, since I've been in Minneapolis. I used to live in Orlando, FL and with the large international population there, I'm sure there must be plenty of Indian restaurants. Perhaps I just didn't have any friends who liked to eat it. It's weird because I totally love it and they use a lot of the same spices my mom used to cook with when I was a kid.

We are lucky to have 2 fantastic vegetarian Indian restaurants. We used to have three, but one started serving meat, then closed soon thereafter... coincidence??

Both restaurants are in Columbia Heights, a small suburb. Nala Pak is home to the amazing Gobi Manchurian dish. It's basically battered and fried balls of cauliflower in a tangy, tomato-ginger sauce. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! The other spot is called The Vegetarian. The owner is really nice and always gives us jalebi, a vegan dessert. Their website describes jalebi as a golden sweet pretzel, but it's more like a hollow tube of sweet, thin, crispiness. Don't be turned off by the neon orange color! They also have my favorite tandoori naan (vegan).

Last weekend we tried a not-vegetarian Indian place near our house, Raja's Mahal. Their lunch buffet had several vegan options. The baigan bartha was fantastic! And I don't even like eggplant, but this was full of sweet, carmel-y onions. Greg really liked the dish called "mixed vegetables." Sounds boring but it was full of typical spices and flavors. Their pakora was pretty good, too.

Tamales de Abuela

2009-10-20T17:07:00.000-05:00

It's too much effort to try and actually form a tamale and steam it, so in our household, we just eat our tamales in mush/mound form. My mom says that's called Tamales en Casuela (in a pot). They're just as yummy.

Sometime before I moved to Minneapolis, maybe around 2000, I was at my Abuela's house and tape recorded her instructions on how to make tamales. I must've known part of the recipe because I say things like, "How much tomato sauce?" etc. I think the funniest thing on the tape is when Abuela says, "Now stir this constantly for an hour and a half." And I say, "What?! Constantly?" And she says, "Yes, or else it will stick." Well I think maybe she never made them in a non-stick pan, because I don't have much trouble with that.

Abuela died in 2004, so I'm really glad I have this cute little recording, even if the quality is terrible.

Tamales in Casuela
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. olive oil
4 ears corn, kernels removed from cob
1/4 c. soy milk (or regular)
3/4 c. corn meal
1/2 c. tomato sauce
1 t. salt
10 - 15 whole green olives, pitted, with pimentos

In a large, non-stick pan, make a sofrito by sauteing the onion, pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until lightly brown. Puree the corn kernels and milk in a blender or food processor. Reduce the heat on the sofrito and add the corn/milk mixture, corn meal, tomato sauce, salt and olives. Mix well. Cook on low for 45 - 90 minutes, stirring frequently. It will be done when the corn meal is done (the same way rice is done). You can add more milk if it gets gummy or dry. Serve with hot sauce!

Did you know these things are vegan?

2009-10-19T16:31:00.003-05:00

Did you know there was a vegan variety of Doritos? I found out while browsing on VeganEssentials, and I actually bought some. I've since discovered that they carry them at my local grocery store (I think I've just seen them at Cub). I know they're so bad for you, but as a sometimes splurge, or at a party, yeah? They are super yummy. Even if all Doritos were vegan, I think I'd pick this variety over the others.

There's a wide range of comments on VeganEssentials which led to this funny notation on their site:

**NOTE** - We have received an varying array of feedback regarding why we sell this product. While these are certainly not a healthy snack (we don't assume that anyone believes Doritos are truly good for you), we cater to both the health-conscious and the junk food fans as well as vegans come in all types for their preferences. If you are looking for something natural and good for you, then this is definitely not the product you want. However, if you miss the flavor of Doritos snacks, this one is actually vegan, which is why we carry it. If someone does come out with a more natural snack that's similar, you can be sure we'll stop offering this product and replace it with a better version. But, until that time, we will continue to carry this product for those who cannot find it in their area, but want to indulge in something that they like (even if it is not good for them). Thank you for your understanding!

Family support for the vegs

2009-10-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was my dad's 65th birthday; he is not vegetarian and I'm certain his birthday dinner was not -- my parents live in Texas, where science tells us the air is about 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and 2% barbecue meat. But talking to him that night reminded me that for those of us who do make the choice not to eat animals, the support or non-support of friends and family is very important.

I'm lucky to know people who are mostly supportive of my choice. Of course, it helps that Kelly and the dogs are vegetarian, and my sister is vegan. Whenever we've been invited to weddings our friends and family have been careful to accommodate us with more than a mere iceberg lettuce salad. (In fact, at the wedding we attended last Thanksgiving we were so pleased with our special vegan meals that we tried to recreate the recipe at home, with only limited success.)

My dad's birthday reminded me of a specific meal at my parents' house, the first year I was vegetarian (but not yet vegan). It was Christmas, which had usually meant that a ham would grace the table of my omnivorous family. But that year, the whole family agreed to eat vegetarian for Christmas dinner. I didn't even ask them to -- the meal planning just sort of evolved that way. We found some funky recipes and threw together an odd variation on the traditional holiday feast.

It wasn't a great meal, frankly, and we could do so much better now. But it meant a lot to me that the family was willing to forego what a lot of people think of as inviolable tradition, just to support an ethical decision I had made. Our holiday meals -- both with Kelly's family and with mine -- since then have usually been a combination of veg and non-veg items, but the family is always willing to try whatever new thing I've put on the table, and that means a lot to me.

Red pepper jelly

2009-10-15T15:36:00.001-05:00

A friend gave me a jar of homemade red pepper jelly. She was looking for a way to use up a bunch of seasonal red peppers and I think she was excited that it happened to be vegan. She told me that it's similar to fancy commercial jelly, which you can easily find with a google search, and people usually serve it on cream cheese, with crackers. Uh, ok. This does not at all sound like something I would like. But I dipped my finger in the jar and it was interesting, in a good way. So I bought some Tofutti cream cheese and what do you know, I loved it! The jelly masks the weird chemical taste of the Tofutti just perfectly. For some reason, I thought that this should be heated, so I stick it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. I don't know if that's the real way to enjoy it. I imagine that many commercial jellies would be vegan, but I'm sure you're just dying to whip some up from scratch, right?

Veg-friendly in the Twin Cities, part 1

2009-10-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

If you are vegan and you don't like to cook, you will love the Twin Cities (Minneapolis + St. Paul). There are so many restaurant options, it's awesome.

One of our favorite places is Pizza Luce. It's very accessible for non-vegans, so it's a good place to take Mom and Dad when they come to town. Also, it's the only pizza place that delivers to us, so, hmmm, lucky us! One great thing about them is that they are totally knowledgeable about vegan products. If you ask, you can be fairly confident that they know what they're talking about. We did have one mishap, and were compensated with some free food. When I talked to the manager about it, she was concerned and really seemed to understand why it was such a big deal. That was cool.

Pizza Luce makes their own cheese substitute called Rinotta. I like it in sandwiches, but have never been tempted to get it on a pizza. But they also have Follow Your Heart "cheeses" so yum! The Mock Muffeleta is my fave sandwich. Greg is a huge fan of the Lil' Gracie pizza.

There is another AMAZING pizza place in town where you can get great vegan pizzas -- Galactic Pizza. Unfortunately, we are no longer in their delivery area. But when we were, half of the fun of ordering was the delivery experience... they use tiny, 100% electric vehicles and show up dressed like superheroes. It's so adorable!

Greg wanted me to mention zpizza, a chain. We've never been there, but they have vegan cheese. If you've ever eaten there, let us know if it was good!

Recipe round-up

2009-10-13T16:13:00.000-05:00

For dinner this week we've made several of our regular favorites, which reminded me how many of those favorite meals have come from fellow vegan bloggers. So I wanted to round up some links to a handful of recipes that have earned a spot in our rotation.

4. OMG bars from Rhymes With Vegan.
The name says it all. These are peanut buttery, sugary, and -- if you go for that sort of thing -- chocolatey. Give one of these to someone who thinks vegans don't have awesome desserts. (Also give that person a vegan cupcake.)

3. Seitan riblets from Fat Free Vegan.
I've only made these once, but they have convinced me to give up packaged fake ribs. They're ridiculously easy to prep, and only the grilling gave me any trouble at all. Since these are grilled after baking, you can get a nice caramel-y gooeyness to the sauce, plus some bits that are slightly charred or blackened. (Or if you don't like that, just don't grill it so long or so hot.)

2. Crash potatoes from Vegan Yum Yum.

Maybe it's not fair to credit VYY for this, since she more or less reposted it from Pioneer Woman, but we're giving props to vegan blogs here, and she did rework it a bit and take her own photos. Anyway, these are really good, with some of my favorite flavors -- salty, herby, and crackly (which is not actually a flavor).

1. "Lunch meat" seitan from Vegan Dad.
This was the first seitan I ever made, and it's still the one I make the most frequently. (There's one in the fridge right now, in fact.) It's really easy and yields a big log -- loaf? What's the preferred term for a slab of moist gluten? -- and it's good for a variety of meals. I'm including it here to represent its basic form, which can be sliced thin and used for sandwiches, or sliced thicker and eaten as a cutlet. (I've considered stuffing it to make something like a celebration roast, but haven't tried that yet.)
One awesome use for the seitan is to slice it thin, add it to a pan of sauteed onions, simmer in barbecue sauce for half an hour, then serve it with vegenaise on buns as a barbecue sandwich similar to an omnivore's pulled beef or pulled pork. Another favorite is the lightly pan-fried cutlet Kelly wrote about yesterday.

Spaghetti Seitan

2009-10-12T18:24:00.001-05:00

For the past 2 years, I've had night classes one or two nights per week and wouldn't get home until somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30. Fairly often, I'd walk in the house to the smell of something scrumptious and find Greg cooking me dinner. He's got two specialties: tofu scrambler and seitan. We usually make barbecue seitan, especially when we're feeling lazy, where we saute onion, seitan pieces and commercial barbecue sauce. But one day Greg decided to cut slices off the seitan log, bread it and lightly fry it, kind of like eggplant parmigiana (without the parm). Oh my, it was so wonderful. We had it with spaghetti, which worked really well -- I never want to have it with any other kind of pasta. For the breading we used the same kind we use for polenta fries.

vegan swag

2009-10-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

Minneapolis is lucky to have a great vegan shop, fast and furless. We'll probably blog more about it later this month. As you might be able to figure out from the rest of my blog, I'm a crafter. The proprietor of fast and furless is nice enough to let me consign some of my trinkets in his shop. In an attempt to do a better job at branding, I made up the name "Visibly Vegan." Get it? It makes your vegan-ness visible by actually stating it on your jewelry/accessories. Well, at least it's a nice alliteration. Here's what I put together for packaging. There are necklaces and magnets. The soldered pendants with the kitties have various animal-friendly quotes on the reverse side.

art crawl + faux chick salad

2009-10-08T15:15:00.000-05:00

I'll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the St. Paul Art Crawl, exhibiting my handmade, vintage, recycled, jewelry. We'll be in the Northwestern Building, Suite 820, at 275 E. 4th Street in downtown St. Paul. If you're local, and out and about, stop by and see us! I decided to whip up a batch of vegan chicken salad tonight in order to have something really good to munch on while I'm entertaining all the art shoppers. I know my studio-mates will be super jealous. I use this recipe from Rhymes With Vegan (you've got to start RSSing this blog). As I do with just about everything, I made some slight alterations. I chop up big green olives, and add dill and lemon pepper. I also leave out the celery and onion. It's super easy to modify to your own preferences.

Trader Joe's

2009-10-07T17:51:00.000-05:00

I had previously posted about the vegan soy chorizo at Trader Joe's, and how they started putting a "V" on the packaging of vegan products. While we prefer to shop at our local co-ops, sometimes it's hard to resist the draw of cheap, unusual vegan yummies. Today, we picked up Earth Balance, Tofutti cream cheese, plaintain chips, and maple cream cookies, in addition to some other staples. We did notice that they did not have the vegan frozen pizza (which has to be Amy's brand, re-packaged) and the soy chorizo we usually get... hopefully that's just temporary.

Whole Foods makes me reconsider

2009-10-06T10:10:00.001-05:00

by Greg
A couple of years ago, southwestern Minnesota experienced some pretty devastating flooding, which profoundly affected our CSA, Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables. I wrote a long piece about it on my own blog, and Kelly mentioned it here as well.

At the time, I was especially angry that Whole Foods Market was canceling their distribution contracts with Featherstone, which left the farm without a major channel to sell what produce could be salvaged and thus offset as much of the financial damage as possible. (The local food co-ops, like our Seward Co-op, went to great lengths to support the farm. One more reason to favor your own local co-op!) I swore not to patronize Whole Foods again.

Two years have passed and I've kept my promise. But this weekend we stopped for lunch at a place in the same shopping area as the local Whole Foods, and I saw a banner hanging over the front door with some words on it about their local producer loan program. I probably snorted derisively, thinking about how they'd turned their corporate back on a certain local producer. Then I saw the name of the farm written under the photograph. Apparently, the producer loan recipient Whole Foods chose to highlight is none other than Featherstone Fruits & Vegetables!

We wandered into the store to find some details, but they were only able to point us to the Whole Foods website, where we found scant details. But it appears that Featherstone is not only the featured recipient for the local stores, but it's right there on the main page of the entire program, presumably representing all the recipients nationwide.

Does this change my feelings about Whole Foods Market? Not entirely. I still feel like the farm may not have been in the position to need this loan if the corporation hadn't canceled their contracts two years ago. But Featherstone's produce is back in the store, so they must have satisfied whatever recertification requirements the company demanded. If the farmers are willing to forgive, forget, and resume doing business with Whole Foods, I guess I can too.

(But the co-ops are still number one in our hearts!)

Vegan Tater Tot Casserole

2009-10-05T11:35:00.000-05:00

My mom used to make lots of casseroles when I was a kid, but she never made one with tater tots (she's probably cringing at the thought right now). I don't know if it's a Midwest thing, but I had never heard of them before I moved to Minneapolis. I had never eaten one either, but it sounds good, in a terrible kind of way, so I decided to make a vegan version. And because I was not in much of a cooking mood, it will astound you with it's easiness.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 12-ounce package Smart Ground Original
1 package frozen mixed veggies
1 package tater tots
1 32-ounce carton Imagine Creamy Broccoli Soup

[Notes: You can use some other variety of crumble substitute or tempeh or whatever else sounds good. I used a veggie mix with green beans, corn, carrots and peas; feel free to use whatever kind of veggies you like, and however much you want. I used the creamy broccoli soup because it was the only vegan "cream" soup at our co-op. If you can find vegan cream of mushroom soup (or make it yourself!) that would probably be best.]

Saute the onion in a little olive oil until translucent. Add smart ground and saute until lightly browned. Put the ground mixture, frozen veggies and soup into a 13x9 glass baking dish - layering is fine, they will mix up when served. Arrange the frozen tots along the top of the casserole, trying to mostly fill in the whole area. Bake for 30 - 45, minutes at 400 degrees, or until crisp, bubbly and no longer frozen.

Squash seeds!

2009-10-02T14:25:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I posted a recipe for butternut squash soup. I have to tell you, if you make anything with a winter squash, save the seeds! Roasted squash seeds are so good and they're 10 times better than boring ol' pumpkin seeds. I made these with my favorite spice mix: lemon pepper, dill, and salt. I sprayed them with a little olive oil, added the spices, then sprinkled on some nutritional yeast flakes. They roast fairly quickly - about 15 minutes at 300 degrees or so. I had the oven a little too hot and these nearly burned, but they were still yummy.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

2009-10-01T19:45:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our celebration of the vegan month of food! Today, a recipe. I created it after reading about 100 other squash soup recipes. The curry powder adds a nice, mellow heat. This also works well with acorn and kabocha squashes.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cubed
4 - 5 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 T. olive oil
4 c. vegetable broth
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/2 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. paprika
pinch of ground nutmeg
2 t. curry powder
1 c. soy milk

Saute the garlic, onion and green pepper in olive oil, until browned. Place this mixture in a large pot with the squash, vegetable broth, salt, pepper, allspice, paprika, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 45 - 60 minutes, until the squash is tender. Puree soup in a blender in batches, or with an immersion blender. When soup is smooth, stir in milk and curry powder.

It's gonna be vegan around here for a while

2009-09-29T11:40:00.002-05:00

Greg and I are teaming up to participate in Vegan Mofo - a whole month of vegan blogging. There are hundreds of blogs participating; many chances of discovering new recipes, foods, tricks, etc. I think we'll mostly be posting recipes for things we make for dinner, perhaps a restaurant review or two. Maybe I'll tell the story about the time we started feeding the dogs vegan dog food. So stick around!

Something I made for someone

2009-09-23T17:42:00.002-05:00

One of my friends, Michelle, gave me a giant box of vintage postcards. What a treasure! I think her grandmother was the collector (correct me in the comments if I'm wrong). She's from California, so I'd guess well over half are related to the state. The majority of the rest are U.S.-based, but I found some international ones in there too. You may or may not know, but I am vintage-obsessed and I love postcards. There is just something about the old-timey images, the hand-colored look, and even (especially) the messages you sometimes find on the back.

There's a vendor at the Mall of St. Paul (a great antique store) that has a large collection of postcards from a lady named Meta who sent them to her mom in the 40's -60's. That lady traveled everywhere! Her plane ride to Cuba only took 40 minutes, so she must've lived in the South, but her mom lived in S. St. Paul.

As a thank you to Michelle, I made her this box to store the postcards she chose to keep. I used all California images, since that's her home state. I also made her some soldered glass magnets, but neglected to take photos. One of them had an image of Jesse James, which I just thought was kitschy, but turns out they are related!

Minneapolis Farmer's Market

2009-09-16T18:50:00.003-05:00

I had a great time at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. Sales weren't that great, but they're good enough to make it worth my while. Our Etsy street team, HandmadeMN, has been sharing a booth every Saturday this summer. Last weekend, there were six of us so we had a double booth. It was so fun to be with so many team members, and to meet some new ones.

I went searching for ring displays and wrote up a post on the HandmadeMN blog. Suzanne from SuzandRoo was kind enough to take a picture of my new display. Thank you (!) to leandogpottery for the original idea. It worked great!

My supercool new ring display.

Some things about TV

2009-09-11T19:04:00.004-05:00

Greg and I have gotten rid of cable television. With all of the options and different ways of watching programs, we took the plunge and ditched it. We have an older TV so we actually had to get one of those vouchers for a converter box. I’m not even sure how that’s working because in the 2 weeks since we dumped cable, I haven’t just watched plain old TV. I’m glad to not even have the option of just vegging out and flipping through channels.

The main reason we kept cable for so long is for the internet. To replace it, we signed up for Minneapolis ’ wifi network. It’s not installed yet, but I’ll report back on how that goes. We didn’t find much information online regarding connection issues and such so it was hard to determine if the service is reliable. We decided to just try it out and get a refund if it wasn’t good enough.

In no way am I suggesting that we’ve stopped or even reduced watching TV. We just have to be more creative about it. I watch a lot of stuff on the Netflix watch instantly option. We bought one of those little boxes (Roku) that stream Netflix to your TV instead of your computer, which is much more comfortable. It’s good for previous seasons of TV shows (like Californication and Supernatural) and even the current Big Brother is available (I had a lot of trouble trying to watch it online). Our other methods include downloading, which we can easily watch via our PlayStation, and just watching online. I put Greg in charge of making sure we don't miss anything. He reads all the blogs and knows what to look for, so I'm confident we'll watch just as much TV as ever.

Last night we watched Glee - very fun. But the best part is Jane Lynch. Genius!

Tornado cleanup

2009-08-31T16:13:00.007-05:00

On Wednesday, Aug. 19, we had a tornado in Minneapolis. Around 2:00 pm, I was on my way home from having lunch with a friend. It was raining, but we had no idea it was that severe. Of course, once I turned on the radio, I realized there was a lot of stuff going on out there. Right now. While I'm driving. I started to freak out a little. Basically, I was driving perpendicular to the path of the tornado, but after it already made it's way from South Minneapolis towards downtown. There was plenty of other wind damage too, notably at the Electric Fetus. That weekend, Greg and I were running errands and happened upon a neighborhood that sustained a lot of damage, mostly downed trees. When Greg realized that his "baby home" (i.e., the house his family lived in when he was born) was one of the damaged, I started snapping photos. Unfortunately, my camera phone takes pretty lousy pictures.

Summer veggies

2009-08-24T17:18:00.003-05:00

We're right in the middle of the best part of the veggie season - sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes! Our co-op has had some not-so-great local corn, but they had a new super sweet variety last time I was there, so I have high hopes for it.

We have participated in a CSA for the last few years, but unfortunately decided we needed to spare the expense this year. Luckily, our favorite farm, Featherstone, sells to our co-op so we can still get some of their great organic produce. This week I picked up some beautiful stalks of broccoli.

Greg works in downtown Minneapolis, so he usually buys something from the Nicollet Ave farmer's market every Thursday. Last week, he picked up a big basket of heirloom tomatoes for just $5. We will make delicious vegan BLT's with them.

End of my summer vacation

2009-08-20T14:34:00.003-05:00

Well, this is the last week of the summer for me. I will be entering my final year of school next week, finishing with two degrees in the Spring. I've been really enjoying the free time (which usually turns into creative and/or Etsy time), but I'm looking forward to school starting. The sooner it gets started, the sooner I can finish, quit my HR job, and move on to a different career. I completed the assignments for a graphic design class this summer so that I can test out of it for the fall. I worked on some fun stuff, this poster being my favorite:

Vegan tofu and soy sausage casserole

2009-08-13T18:15:00.005-05:00

This recipe came in the VegNews Recipe Club email newsletter. They don't seem to post these recipes on their website, which is a bummer, but if you like vegan cookin', you should definitely subscribe to this newsletter. The fact that Greg and I made this casserole the day we received the newsletter is a testament to both how good it sounded and how easy it seemed. Also, and this never happens, we had all the ingredients in the house.

We made a couple substitutions, so this is our version (just slightly altered).

Vegan Breakfast Casserole

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium-size yellow onion, diced
3 cups vegan chorizo, crumbled
1 pound tofu, drained and crumbled
2 cups soymilk
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 slices bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add onion, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add soy sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a bowl, combine the tofu, soymilk, thyme, fennel seed, salt, and pepper to taste and mix well. Blend in the sausage mixture and set aside.
Tear bread into bite-sized pieces and place in a lightly oiled shallow 9x13 baking dish. Pour sausage mixture evenly over bread and set aside until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes or refrigerate overnight.
Bake casserole until puffy and lightly browned, about 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into squares. Serve warm.

This doesn't look very appetizing does it? I take terrible indoor photos. We had cold leftovers while we were camping and it was even more delicious!

Working on new stuff

2009-08-13T17:26:00.004-05:00

I'm anticipating several big craft/art shows this fall, so I'm trying to get prepared early. My summer of leisure is indeed very leisurely, which leaves me lots of crafting time. I've been making something nearly every day - yay me!

Part of being creative includes coming up with ideas for new items. And by that I mean, "what else should I make?" Not, "what can I do that is so amazingly unusual people will gasp and stare?" Thus, I've been working on earrings, bobby pins, and brooches. I need to bring them in to work so the hip young ladies I work with can give me some feedback. Actually, there's a nice variety of styles and ages in my HR office, so I can always count on diverse information.

Bobby pins - mostly vintage buttons. My favorite is the one behind the red elephant - the one with the green flower.

Pins/Brooches - vintage ephemera which is laminated, then decorated with vintage buttons. One changed I'd like to try is sewing the buttons on with embroidery floss, rather than gluing them.

Backyard Kitty

2009-08-10T13:39:00.004-05:00

Can you spot the cat in this photo?

He's hiding. I noticed this neighborhood cat because he spent an entire day wandering around the yard on all sides of the house, meowing up a storm. I couldn't tell where the meow was coming from and I was worried that he was hurt or in trouble. I finally spied him walking across the backyard and jumping into the bushes. I brought him some food (I know... but he looked so skinny!) and he spent at least 4 hours snoozing in the bushes. I've seen him back there a couple more times, though I've only fed him one other time. He seems pretty skittish so I haven't really pet him, but he did let me scratch his head for less than a second.

Buttons and boxes

2009-08-05T11:07:00.003-05:00

I always struggle with organization. My craft "room" is actually part of our living room (we call it the parlor), so when it's messy, it makes the house messy, which makes me cranky. I had been storing my button stash in plastic food containers and that just wasn't working for me. I found some cute little drawer/boxes on clearance at Michael's so I bought a bunch. They work very well - everything's tucked away and the drawers are big enough to hold a lot, but small enough to paw through it to find what I want.

When I was organizing all the buttons, I found a couple of bags I bought at the thrift store and had never even opened. There were some awesome finds in there! One of the great things is that there are lots of pairs of buttons. You wouldn't think that was so hard to find, but other than ordinary shirt buttons, it's not often that I have any matching buttons. This means I can make earrings! So that's my next project for a bit... I need to stock up for fall craft shows.

Vintage finds

2009-08-03T14:02:00.003-05:00

Greg and I went garage sale-ing this weekend. There were a couple of things we were looking for, but of course, I've always got my eye out for vintage jewelry and buttons. It feels pretty morbid searching the craigslist garage sale postings for "mother" or "grandmother" hoping that someone's unloading stuff after a family member died, I know that's the kind of stuff I'm looking for. No luck this time, despite visiting many sales. On the whole, it seemed like an unusual amount of really junky stuff in most places. Greg remarked that it made him feel a little better about the amount of junk we have, seeing how much crap other people have.

We did bring home a couple of vintage items. This pair of binoculars that is just like the one my dad had when I was a kid. My brother and I used to play with them all the time. We're going to keep them in our 70's camping van. I plan on using the monkey pod wood serving dish for displays at craft shows. It will be good for pins or bobby pins.

This yellow glass is exactly like the one my mom always used (she probably still does). Did your parents stake claims on particular drinking glasses too? My dad's was green and when I see one of those, I'll probably buy it.

Drawing Class

2009-07-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

I took a drawing class this summer. It's required for the Graphic Design program that I'm in. I think the best thing about was just learning about different drawing media, things I'd never tried to use before. My favorite are pastels and charcoal. Greg and I agreed that there were only two drawings worth keeping. Funny how they're both dogs - I drew plenty of other things, too.

powdered and vine charcoal, eraser

monoprint

It was a great show

2009-07-29T12:53:00.004-05:00

I had much success at the Owatonna Festival of Arts this weekend. It was very well attended and, oh, maybe half the people had the wallets open. I think it helps that I have relatively low-priced items. Once again, the rings were the most popular. I finally sold a couple that have been sitting in my shop for a while, and they're so cool, I don't understand why they hadn't sold yet.

Sold!

Here's the crappy cellphone photo of my booth. Yes, I need a new sign.

100th Purchase Giveaway!

2009-07-27T08:53:00.004-05:00

I'm at 99 sales on Etsy. The 100th sale will include a custom, one-of-a-kind gift with purchase. It will be tailored specifically for the 100th customer and it will be awesome!

Art Fair this weekend

2009-07-23T10:08:00.002-05:00

Kellybot is taking the show on the road this weekend! I will be peddling my wares at the Owatonna Festival of the Arts, in Central Park, Owatonna MN. The festival runs Saturday, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. One of my graphic design teachers offered me space in her booth so we’ll be hanging out together all weekend – fun!

My recent experience with art fair v. craft show is that I’ve done much better at art fairs, which really surprises me. Consequently, I have high hopes for this fair and I hope that it’s worth driving 60+ miles and dedicating my whole weekend to it. But you never know unless you try… wish me luck!

New rings!

2009-07-21T16:51:00.003-05:00

I finally found a sunny morning to spend some time to take photos for my Etsy shop. Rings are the fastest seller so I've been making mostly those lately, and have not been very good at keeping up with the pictures. Now I'm all caught up though, so here's a selection of my faves.

Polenta with Broccoli Sauce

2009-07-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

I can't remember where I got this recipe; I think it came from the newspaper. Greg and I are big fans of polenta and we're always looking for an excuse to eat more veggies, so I thought this sounded like it was worth trying. It was extremely tasty, based on our revisions. First I'll give you the regular recipe, then I'll let you know how we modified it.

Polenta with Broccoli Sauce

Broccoli:
1 bunch fresh broccoli, about 1 1/2 pounds
4 cups water
Salt

Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Polenta:
1 1/2 quarts water
2 teaspoons salt
1 box (13 ounces) imported instant polenta

To prepare broccoli: Discard broccoli stalks that are white. Trim base of tender stalks. Cut broccoli stalks into short lengths. Break florets into smaller clusters. In medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add salt. When water returns to a boil, add broccoli. Cover. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove broccoli to cutting board. (Note: Reserve cooking water.) Chop broccoli coarsely.

To make sauce: In medium saute pan, combine olive oil and garlic. Saute over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until garlic is opaque. Add broccoli. Stir. Saute over low heat for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup reserved cooking water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. (Note: Add more reserved water as needed, 1/2 cup at a time, as it evaporates.) Using wood spoon, break down broccoli into coarse puree.

To cook polenta: Meanwhile, bring water to a boil. Add salt. When water returns to a boil, quickly add polenta in steady stream, stirring constantly with wood spoon. Continuing to stir, cook for 5 minutes or until thick and soft.

To serve: Oil serving dish with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Mound polenta on platter, smoothing it with back of large spoon or with spatula and making large shallow indentation in center. Spoon broccoli and pan juices into indentation. Let some juices and olive oil run over sides and pool around edges. Grind a little black pepper over broccoli.

My way: We did not have instant polenta. We did have one of those tubes of polenta. We normally use them to make polenta fries. We used that recipe, but cut the tube into cubes instead. The breading for the cubes really adds a lot of flavor. The other modification is to not use so much oil - it's way unnecessary and negates the goodness of eating a green vegetable. You can just use more of the broccoli water if you need more liquid. We also added some chipotle powder and sauteed onions to the broccoli sauce. Yum!

Kittens and kids

2009-07-14T15:05:00.001-05:00

Am I like the last person to see this video? My brother was shocked that I had not even heard of it, but I don't sit around trying to find things to watch on YouTube. Maybe I should - this is hilarious! I keep watching it over and over. When we spent the week together, my nephew Jake would just blurt out "Rainstorm!" or "We are eating pepper and chips!" every once in a while. Adorable.

Jenny Lewis is my lady-crush.

2009-07-09T15:22:00.003-05:00

I love Jenny Lewis' new video. Now normally, I don't ever visit the perezhilton website, but I found the video via the BUST magazine website, so that kinda evens it out right?

Here's the video.

BUST also posted the trailer for Diablo Cody's new movie. While I don't care for horror movies, I do like demons and Lilly Kane.

My fave part:

"I choke a guy, and hey, there's my friend!"

Ohio!

2009-07-07T19:50:00.006-05:00

My boyfriend and I were in Ohio last week, joined by lots of family. We both have relatives that live around Cleveland, and then others that met us there. It was originally a trip for my 40th birthday, but turned into a mini family reunion. Here are some photos:

The Painesville Methodist Church, where I was baptized.

I think this is the Painesville Town Hall, or something like that. It's off the big, green town square.

Perry H.S. football field, with the nuclear plant in the background. The power plant has made the small town very rich, including allowing them to build this fancy, fancy high school.

My dad, brother, nephew and cousin in front of the house where my dad grew up, Perry, OH.

My adorable nephew playing dress-up at the Science Center.

More squirrel

2009-07-06T17:23:00.003-05:00

My previous post is about the squirrels that visit us on our front porch. Here's a little video of the squirrel with a bun. Bonus points to whomever correctly guesses the soundtrack. Hint: it's a TV show.

The visitors, part II

2009-06-27T08:00:00.002-05:00

I recently posted about the cats that hang out on our front porch since our screens are broken. Apparently, they aren't the only neighborhood critters that like to take a stroll around the porch. I caught this squirrel bringing in a snack, which he then rudely just left behind.
(Excuse the bad photos - that front window is about as dirty as the porch.)

Vegan Famous Bowls

2009-06-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

Here's another guest post from Greg, regarding one of our favorite special vegan meals.

There are certain dinners we never make during the week, because they just take too much work and we're too zonked out by the day's labors. We save these meals for the weekend, and one such meal is the vegan famous bowl.

We were introduced to the recipe quite innocently, via BethBee's Rabbit Food Cookbook, though I think we've departed from the original a fair bit. She calls it "Super Breaded Tofu 'Fried Chicken'-y Dinner", which is kind of a lot to keep repeating as you discuss it, so when we noticed the dish's passing similarity to the actually-infamous KFC Famous Bowls, we just started calling it "famous bowls". Comedian Patton Oswalt has gotten some attention for mocking the heck out of the KFC Famous Bowl, and by extension those who enthusiastically consume it, so I have to admit to a twinge of shame for enjoying something similar. (Both of those links include profanity.)

But we do enjoy it, because it is delicious. The little cubes of breaded, fried tofu are sufficiently reminiscent of fried chicken. The tofu is tossed with steamed vegetables -- corn, carrots, green beans, and onions -- on a bed of mashed potatoes, with gravy over the top. The effect is something like a pot pie or shepherd's pie, and it's delicious.

The pieces, in progress.

The insanely delicious finished product.

Big blooms

2009-06-21T10:41:00.006-05:00

I've been waiting over a month for this big plant to bloom. The buds are huge and I was very curious about what that meant for the flowers. Sure enough - they're gigantic! Anyone know what kind of flower this is?

The flowers are so big and heavy that the branches have a hard time holding them up. See how they dip down on the bottom.

A big ol' bud.

The giant flower - it's nearly as big as my head.

Another really pretty flowering bush in our yard. I don't know what this is either. It has huge thorns.

How to get more fans for your Facebook page, Part II

2009-06-18T16:46:00.002-05:00

My previous post on getting Facebook fans (consolidation of information from others, thanks) seemed particularly helpful, so I’m back with more. That post also includes my reasoning for why ANY fans are good ones, regardless of whether or not they’re potential buyers.

Many of these are targeted to Etsy sellers; if you’re not one, perhaps you can find ways to generalize them for yourself.

If you post a link in your shop announcement, tell people that your fans get exclusive updates and offers (and follow through on that).
In your “message to buyer,” which gets automatically sent to anyone who buys something from you, post a link to your FB page.
Project Wonderful ads are very affordable. Consider one that links to your fan page instead of your shop.
Include a link in your customer newsletter, especially if it's in email format.
Post a link on your personal Facebook page. I put my link in that "write something about yourself" box which is near the top of the lefthand column on your profile page. Hopefully, any new FB friends who are snooping around for more info about me will be curious about that too.
Do a giveaway just for facebook fans. Promote it on your blog, twitter in the forums, in your shop announcement, etc.
In addition to suggest your page to friends, you could also ask your friends to suggest it to their friends. If this one makes you a little uncomfortable, think about asking close friends and family (people who are supportive anyway) and they will probably be happy to help.

Good luck! Feel free to drop a link to your page in the comments and maybe you'll get more fans! And here's my page if you'd like to become a Kellybot FB fan.

Wanna buy a Sidekick 3?

2009-06-16T16:08:00.003-05:00

Update! I sold it for full price yesterday yay!

I got a new phone last week - I traded my Sidekick 3 for a Sanyo Katana. It's pretty cute, but more importantly, it doesn't make me feel like a weird and old. I'm amazed anyone over 25 years old is even allowed to buy a Sidekick. I really liked mine a lot, but I always felt a little inappropriate whenever I whipped it out.

The main reason I got the new phone is because I switched services to Credo. So far, so good. If you have progressive, liberal sensibilities, you should check it out. They donate a portion of your phone bill to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the like.

I'm selling the old Sidekick - it's in great shape and I took really good care of it. Lots of accessories are included. If you're interested, let me know!

A sale and a show.

2009-06-11T15:28:00.005-05:00

Art + Yard Sale = Yart sale

Kellybot is participating in Etsy's Second Annual Yart Sale! Everything in my shop ships free.

There are lots of wonderful Etsy sellers also participating. Just search for "Yart" and you'll be amazed at all the craft goodness.

And if you'd like to come see me in person, I'll be at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market (Lyndale, right behind the Basilica) on Saturday! If I can make it there and set up by 6:30 am (!!), the least you can do is come visit, right? I'm going to need lots of caffeine...

The cub and the bird feeder

2009-06-08T14:53:00.002-05:00

Did you see this story? This poor little bear cub got a bird feeder stuck on his head. The mama bear wouldn't let DNR officials get close to help him. Later, they found the feeder in pieces near the pair; they assume that the mama managed to break it apart to free the cub.

Geocaching on the light rail

2009-06-02T14:44:00.002-05:00

Greg and I spontaneously decided to do some geocaching on Sunday. We were looking for nearby hides and decided to do the series that's along the light rail line. We started near the beginning, at the first stop with a cache (it seems that there are none downtown, which makes sense). After we found that one, we bought a ticket and rode to the next stop, got off a cached, and so on. It was pretty fun, but a little tiring. Definitely a good way to get to know the light rail and the stations. We found 5 out of 8, but I think one is unavailable due to construction. And on another one, we were run off by the popo, despite the fact that we were doing nothing wrong. The last one we didn't find, we're going to look for tonight. It was so frustrating, I reaaaally want to find it.

The visitors

2009-05-29T18:46:00.004-05:00

Our landlord moved to Germany over a year ago. Since then, our duplex has started to fall into disrepair. Nothing major... just the cosmetic stuff that she would fix because she sees it everyday. Because of this, there are 2 major holes in the screens on our front porch. Personally, it's no big deal to me, but it just makes the place look junky. The ones reaping the benefit of this are the neighborhood cats that like to hang out on the porch now. (For the record, I think having an outdoor cat is inappropriate. But I love cats and this is my only chance to interact with them.)

Cuties!

Geocache photos

2009-05-27T17:32:00.015-05:00

Here are the caching photos from this weekend. We found 7 out of 10, which is really good for us. I'll not say where we were in order to not potentially spoil it for anyone, since there are some pics of the actual containers and hiding spots. If you don't know what geocaching is, you're missing out! I blogged about it here.

the cache is a film canister, covered in camo tape. it's hanging from the branch in a pine tree.

there's a cache hiding up there, in between the bricks

an azimuth marker in a tiny "town" near the main city we were visiting.

a weird tree. it was just a pine tree that someone decided to cut off all the lower branches.

greg's favorite house ever. i like it too.

an odd cache container. it was like something a boy scout would use.

tiny town near the city. the kind lady cleaning out the museum let us come in and look around.

the dam store has good milkshakes.

looking out over the riverbank from one of the caches.

possibly the cleverest cache we've ever seen. there's a tiny log book in this bolt.

see... i told you so.

it was hiding on this sign.

it blends right in.

Weekend of fun

2009-05-27T08:17:00.002-05:00

Greg and I had a great, long Memorial Day weekend. Highlights would be geocaching, grilling out with friends, and Rock Band. We took tons of pictures on our geocaching day and I intend to post those later today.
Hope your weekend was fun too!

Cricket with a haircut

2009-05-22T19:28:00.004-05:00

I included a picture of Cricket, one of my dogs, in my last post. She's since had a haircut and Greg thought I should post a pic of her new 'do. I decided to try out the video feature on my camera instead. It's not too bad!

More spring photos

2009-05-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

I think one appreciates flowers and greenery much more when you live somewhere like Minnesota. It's always exciting to see the first buds, or when you realize all the trees are green again and it seemed to happen overnight. Through no effort on our part, we have a really pretty yard. When I go outside to walk the dogs, the lilac smell is pleasantly abundant.

view out our (dirty) kitchen window. this is the first thing to bloom.

tree with red/maroon flowering things. no idea what it is.

the lilacs are everywhere.

the lone tulip.

the dogs' sniffers are on high alert.

Logo contest

2009-05-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

I keep forgetting to blog this, but I won a logo contest recently! Our Etsy street team of Minnesota sellers changed our name to HandmadeMN, then needed a new logo. The idea for my submission came to me immediately, and the inspiration for the dotted line was the paypal mailing labels we all use. The colors represent lakes and foliage (Minnesota is gorgeous in the Spring and Summer). My prize is a post on the team blog, and some future, to-be-determined promotion. I'm mostly just excited to have a portfolio piece that is actually in use!

End of school, time for more crafts

2009-05-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

This week was my first week on summer vacation - woohoo! I finished up my last project Monday and promptly started crafting again. For laughs, I thought I'd post one of my final projects... marker renderings of ad layouts. It really makes me worried about the drawing class I have this summer.

Tuesday was my first day off (no work, either). I have some freelance projects I need to work on, but I just wanted a day to do whatever I wanted, not what I have to do. I soldered some pendants, made some earrings (which I *never* do), cleaned a bunch of buttons, and took apart several vintage pieces. It was a fun and productive day of crafts.

I also started watching about 5 different TV shows on Netflix or Hulu, but quit them all because they were not interesting. I ended up putting a hold on The 4400 at the library and will rewatch that series instead. There's so much available to watch instantly on Netflix, which is great, but jeez, there's a lot of crap.

Whoa. Lost.

2009-05-14T09:40:00.001-05:00

Did you watch Lost last night? Intense. We were watching on Tivo and Greg's mom called halfway through, after she finished watching. She was stunned and I was terrified that she was going to give something away! I can't wait to watch the entire series from start to finish, all quick-like.

Etsy made a Lost front page yesterday, which I thought was super cool.

Craft show display

2009-05-11T15:45:00.007-05:00

I thought I'd post some photos of my craft show booth. I had an especially boring and unsuccessful show this weekend, so I broke out the camera and snapped some shots of the table. So far this Spring, I have been using my own 6-foot table at all the shows I've done. For last weekend's show, they provided 8-foot tables so I had some extra room. I brought some "mom jewelry," which I don't normally have at show, and don't sell in my Etsy shop. The 6-foot table is plenty enough room for my items, so I need to figure out more display options to fill an 8-footer again.

weird how symmetrical it ended up...

button rings on left, pendants in the middle, rings with vintage earrings on the right

button pendants hanging, button rings in my super cool, owl-shaped, wood plate

soldered pendants and pins

Great vintage find

2009-05-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

The advantage of talking to everyone you know about your Etsy shop, your craft, what you sell, etc., is that sometimes you're lucky enough to get some wonderful free supplies. In my case, it was an incredibly generous gift of vintage earrings that belonged to my coworker's grandmother and great-grandmother. How awesome is that? There were some with missing stones, but she actually had the loose stones, so I can easily repair them. I'm so excited to start using the new pieces!

Best of the bunch
My favorite one

In return, I just need to make rings out of these two for my coworker. The opal is so gorgeous and rather large, I'm a little jealous. But still so grateful!

Add a Facebook button to your blog

2009-05-05T09:28:00.002-05:00

It took me forever to figure this out, so I thought I'd write a post about it, in case anyone else needs some help. Yes, you can just do a screenshot of the Facebook logo and link it to your page, but this is the official way. Plus, it's the fancy "find us on Facebook" badge. My badge is at the top of the lefthand column.

Finding the badge
First of all, you need a Facebook (FB) page for your business. When you're logged into FB and on your business page, click on "Edit Page." It's located right below your profile pic, top of the left column. Then look for the Communication section, towards the bottom of the righthand column. Click on "Promotion Guidelines." This page gives you all the information about how your can reference FB and link to them. About halfway down is the actual badge, including a hi-res version. If you're posting it on your blog, you don't need the hi-res one... just right-click on the badge and save it somewhere on your computer.

Adding the badge to your blog
(For blogger) If you're looking at your actual blog and you're signed in, click "Customize" at the top. If you're on the Dashboard, click "Layout." Then click "Add a Gadget" and select "Picture." You can enter a title and/or caption, or just leave it blank (mine says "Become a fan on Facebook!"). Copy and paste the link to your FB business page into the "link" section. Upload the badge picture from wherever you saved it on your computer. Click "save" and rearrange the gadgets so the badge is where you want it in your layout.

Any questions?

OMG - it's spring

2009-05-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

I opened up the kitchen blinds yesterday to find blooming azalea goodness. We had lots of azaleas surrounding our house when I was a kid, so these are rather nostalgic for me.

ain't they pretty?

St. Paul Art Crawl - success!

2009-05-01T15:39:00.004-05:00

I had a great time at the St. Paul Art Crawl last weekend. It was a different (dare I say better?) crowd than most craft shows. It seemed like almost everyone was there to walk around and have fun, drink some wine, chat with artists. It just made it so enjoyable. Of course, that was seriously helped by the fact that my temporary officemates were really fun too! I totally enjoyed spending the weekend and being a little goofy with WildDogStudio and OddArtist. OddArtist's naughty jewelry kept us laughing quite a bit.

WildDogStudio's awesome "dalmation" pendant

OddArtist's funky retro earrings

And yes, I also sold a bunch of stuff. That capped off the weekend quite nicely. My bold rings from vintage pieces were a big hit. And I'm now searching high and low for more rhinestone buttons.

More mammatus clouds

2009-04-26T11:06:00.005-05:00

Last year, I saw a mammatus cloud for the first time. I blogged about it. While we were driving around Friday afternoon, we saw them again, and I yelled "mammatus!" And Greg replied, "they're heaven's teats." Wikipedia says they are named for their resemblance to a cow's udder, but I've seen elsewhere that the name comes from mamma (Latin for "breast"). Cool, huh?

I need a better camera phone.

St. Paul Art Crawl this weekend!

2009-04-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

I'm soooo excited - I'm doing the St. Paul Art Crawl this year! I will be set up in Suite 820 of the Northwestern Building at 275 E. 4th Street in downtown St. Paul. I'm sharing space with Wild Dog Studio and Odd Artist. I think we'll have a grand time amusing ourselves for three days. If you're doing the crawl this year, be sure to stop by!

St. Paul Art Crawl
Friday, April 24, 6 -10pm
Saturday, April 25, 12-8pm
Sunday, April 26, 12-5pm

This is super-dorky, right?

2009-04-23T08:10:00.002-05:00

Check out Greg's new purchase...

It's a mic stand for Rock Band, a video game. I'm sure he'd say that the best feature is that there are clips to hold the Playstation controllers, so now we have somewhere to store them. I think he really just wants to sing and play guitar at the same time. Rock on!

Craft show surrealism

2009-04-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is a guest post! My boyfriend, Greg, is kind enough to accompany me to craft shows and sit behind the table looking cute. He's a great writer, so I begged him to write up this terrible/ridiculous craft show experience we had last weekend. He's too nice to mention the promoter's name, but I will. It's Name Brand Guys (I'm not even going to provide a link - don't bother, they're awful. Beware Minnesota sellers.)

As Kelly wrote recently, we did a craft show last weekend, and it was a surreal experience.

It was promoted to vendors and advertised to the public as "100% handmade". Which it was not. Remotely.

The fun started as we pulled up outside the venue to unload Kelly's stuff, and the SUV parked in front of us bore a very prominent Mary Kay nameplate. That's not inherently bad, of course, since one person could certainly sell Mary Kay while separately making and selling handmade crafts. But no, the woman who got out was wearing what was obviously a Mary Kay-themed suit. I think it had pink piping.

Once we got inside we realized just how many non-handmade vendors there were, including the Tupperware seller directly across from us. By our later count, only sixteen of the thirty-three vendors were selling handmade items. Less than half!

Although we didn't realize as we arrived just how disproportionate that number would turn out to be we were still pretty bothered to see any non-handmade vendors at the event, so we talked to Todd, a representative of the promoter. He explained that they'd had a hard time filling all the vendor spaces, so in order that the company not lose money on the event they had no choice but to fill with non-handmade vendors. We'd seen some other shows canceled outright for this same reason, so I accepted his explanation that it's just hard to fill a roster in the current economy. (It should be noted that the entry fee charged by Brand Name Guys is significantly higher than the other shows Kelly has done, which may have something to do with their difficulty signing folks up.)

Of course, that explanation is palatable when it appears to be just a few extra vendors filling in the gaps in your floor plan. But when more than half of the vendors don't fit the billing as "100% handmade", at the very least we should have been notified of this policy and the advertising should not have made a claim that the show could not fulfill.

The rest of the show was an assault on the senses of smell and hearing.

In the opposite corner of the hall was a mini-donut cart, and since we were in an enclosed space that sickly sweetness hung over everything like your old pothead roommate. If I'd been selling aromatic candles or soaps or something that requires unspoiled air to sell itself, I would have been seriously pissed at the donut people. To be fair, the donut folks were only trying to sell their products, just like the rest of us. It's the organizers who should have considered these things.

For those of us who sat in that hall for eight hours, the aural offensive was even worse. One vendor sold customized CDs of sappy baby songs, wedding songs, and memorial songs. They all sounded pretty much the same, and they were blared from a set of large speakers all day long. The "customized" aspect of the CD is that the singers recorded not only the songs but also, from what we could tell, every conceivable name ever given to a child born in the continental United States. So you pick the song from their list of six or so, pick the name of the person it's dedicated to, and you get a disc with that name seamlessly plugged into the song. Again, not an inherently terrible idea -- though the songs were incredibly awful -- but excruciating to sit through for eight continuous hours.

Near the end of the show, Kelly and I took turns walking around, trying to get an accurate breakdown on the question of handmade-versus-not. I defer to her greater expertise in this area, as to my eye some things could've been counted either way. I think she basically applied the Etsy standard; for example, if someone bought hand towels at Target, then embroidered them with cutesy sayings about grandchildren or kittens, that would still count as handmade. It's a loose definition, though not loose enough to cover the chiropractic clinic that was giving out free chair massages. (Not only were they not selling a handmade product, they weren't actually selling anything at all.)

We found that the promoters had a booth themselves, at which they were selling bed pillows and stuffed animals, neither of which could be considered handmade by any stretch of the definition. (There was also a booth selling knockoffs of designer handbags, which appeared to be run by the promoter's wife, and which were certainly not handmade and may have been illegal.) It may be that the promoter only filled those two spaces himself once he started scrambling for vendors, but I doubt it. I imagine that if the entire hall had been otherwise filled with handmade crafts, he still would have been shilling that same mass-produced merchandise at his own table.

As I said, it was a surreal day, unlike any other craft show we've done. Some of that can no doubt be attributed to the economy -- the crowd of shoppers was small, even though we've had good shows and good crowds at that same venue before, and Kelly and I agreed that if we'd walked into the hall as shoppers expecting the kind of show we usually patronize, we might have just turned and walked out. By the end of the day, possibly overcome by a hallucinogenic cocktail of donut fumes, slow-burn annoyance, and cloying, repetitive lullabies, I remarked to Kelly that a pair of children walking by the table looked like cartoon characters. They were twin Augustus Gloops, pawing at a display of marionettes (which, at least, may have been handmade).

Needless to say, we won't be doing any further shows with these promoters. But you can find Kellybot at the St. Paul Art Crawl from April 24-26! I may sit this one out.

A little surprise

2009-04-18T17:15:00.000-05:00

In the bathroom at school, when you sit on the toilet, you get a little surprise (a good one) ...

I think it's kinda sweet that someone decided to put this sticker at the bottom of the bathroom stall post, facing inward. You can only see it if you're sitting on down in that one stall. It makes me smile. I wonder if that was her intention?

A simple observation

2009-04-16T20:26:00.002-05:00

So... there are lots of lurkers, people who read and don't comment. That's totally cool, but I sure wish I knew more about you! Especially if you have any feedback on which kinds of posts you prefer more. Ah well, maybe I'll make a poll sometime.

kitty lurking

Holy cow, I'm crocheting!*

2009-04-15T09:57:00.000-05:00

Warning: you're gonna be jealous. Because my partner (what else should I call him?), Greg, likes to have excuses to give me presents. Yep, even after over 5 years together. We have a tradition of exchanging easter baskets and this year was no exception.

Mine contained this adorable print and a super cool chihuahua ornament from my sister-in-law's shop, fatbasset. There was plenty o' candy (easter candy is the BEST) and a book. Greg got a usb hub, a sackboy charm, jellybeans, a monster in a chicken suit and a handmade basket. Yes, you heard me... I crocheted an easter basket. It was actually amazingly easy and only took a couple of hours. Greg wants to wear it as a hat. The orange yarn is vintage acrylic/cotton yarn that I found at a garage sale. I think they had several skeins and now I'm sad that I only bought one (which was used up for the basket).

*Bonus explainer: I used to have this book I got at a thrift store, called "I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting!" (Val - did I give it to you?) This title incited all kinds of exclamations like, "No effing way - I'm crocheting?" or "WTF? I'm crocheting!" or "I can't believe I'm NOT crocheting!" It was an awesome book for teaching yourself crochet, though. Very easy to follow.

Website and Craft Show Update

2009-04-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I recently revamped my website. What do you think?

I wanted to create a page before clicking straight to my Etsy shop. Now, if someone clicks on "Shop," I explain that they'll be redirected to Etsy and that it's a pretty simple check out process. I also put in my Etsy mini so the photos from my shop would be more up-to-date.

I updated my 2009 craft show list, too. I'm really itching to get out there and do more shows. I was testing my current table set up and realized I have room for A LOT more merchandise, so I need to do more crafting. I have a nice build-up of supplies, I just have to find the time to make things. I really like my setup though.

The first show (White Bear Lake) was a total bust. There were so many things wrong with it. My partner Greg is going to write a guest post about it. It was so terrible, but we laughed a lot.

Morrissey!

2009-04-10T12:05:00.000-05:00

I looooove this new Morrissey song, "Something is Squeezing My Skull." It's totally classic Morrissey. I think it's awesome how he just looks like someone's dad.

I'd say I am a fair-weather Morrissey fan. I definitely haven't stuck by him during the years. But I did unearth this hilarious photo of me showing off my new purchase, a cassette of "Viva Hate." I played that thing until it fell apart. This picture was taken in my freshman dorm, where I lived Fall 1987 - Spring 1988. "Viva Hate" was released March 1988, so this must have been at the end of the semester. That does not explain why I'm so frakking tan. I did go to Florida State University, and I remember laying out on the roof of the dorm, but I don't recall spending everyday in the sun. I'm sure I did some studying too (is that a text book in my lap?).

How to get more fans for your Facebook page

2009-04-09T10:15:00.000-05:00

Particularly Pretty posted a very helpful article about more things you can do with your Facebook fan page. Here's mine if you're interested in being my fan (yay!): Kellybot on Facebook.

In the comments of that blog post, I asked for suggestions about getting more fans, and poof! more helpful information. Here's what others suggested:

AshleyPahl suggested that you put your Facebook link in your Etsy shop announcement, and drop your link in the Etsy forums when someone calls for them in a post. She also suggested including the info on your business cards.
VenezieBags recommends the "suggest to friends" link on the fan page. At first, I was thinking that my FB friends aren't really my target, because they might join just because they think it's cute that I have a shop or something. But then I thought about how it would show up in their newsfeed, then maybe some of their friends would see it and join because they're actually interested in my stuff. Some of my FB friends have 700 or 800 friends - that's a big market!
VenezieBags also suggests using "Send an update to fans" versus making a post, so it shows up on their profile and not just in the newsfeed, where they might not see it.

Thanks for the great ideas! If anyone has any other suggestions for getting fans - particularly fans who are potential customers, not just FB friends, please post them!

I sewed something!

2009-04-07T19:19:00.011-05:00

I've been preparing for craft show season -- redoing displays, signs, figuring out how to show the new stuff, etc. I have two corkboards that I use for pendants, which hang from picture holders that pin to the cork.

picture hooks attached to corkboard --
there's a 2x4 hinged to the top in the back, which allows it to stand.

It works very well. Last Fall, when I did about 6 shows in a row (every other weekend), it was really helpful to have the pins/hooks already stuck in the board before the show. With just one board, it was pretty easy to transport it pre-setup. But this year, I have two boards. I was trying to figure out a way to carry them both, while minimizing the chances that the hooks would fall off. This is what I came up with...

finished transport bag

For fabric, I used two pillow shams that came with our latest bed-in-a-bag. I mean, really, who uses pillow shams anyway? Maybe on a guest bed, but your regular bed? I know I'm not the only one who snorts and tosses them aside when I find them in a comforter set. However, I'm very happy to have found a way to reuse them. Plus, they already have nicely sewn edges, since my technique is terrible. First I sewed a line down the middle of each one in order to close up the opening in the back (where the pillow goes). Then I sewed them together along one of the long edges, sewed ribbon handles on the top, and a couple pieces of velcro on the sides. [btw, I think that's how you know you're a total craft dork - when you're able to find sew-in velcro amongst your supplies.]

velcro tabs on side, ribbon handles on top

So it's a little cumbersome, but I think it will work ok. I'm sure some of the hooks will fall off in transport, but at least they should be contained in the bag.

how I sew... with the manual by my side.
I can never seem to remember how to thread it or load up the bobbin.

Little Big Planet

2009-04-06T14:10:00.004-05:00

Greg and I spent, like, half the weekend playing Little Big Planet. Yep, instead of doing homework, tending my Etsy shop, or cleaning the apartment, I spent hours and hours playing video games. What am I -- a 13-year old boy? Ah, well, I guess every once in a while is ok.

This game is so charming and adorable - any crafty person should really get a kick out of it. It's one of those types of games made for a casual gamer (like me). Nothing is too difficult, especially given all the walk-throughs on the internet. If you get completely stuck, you can just look it up online to get hints. Greg and I played at the same time, so it was really fun to see our sackboys running around together, helping each other. Yes, the main character is called "sackboy" (or "girl" or "person"). Mine is customized with pigtails, a dress and fairy wings, while Greg dressed his up to look like Teddy Roosevelt. Sackboy is made from "knitted" material and much of the environment looks collaged or sewn. Sometimes you access content by putting stickers on cardboard shapes. Trust me, it's adorable. Oh here, just watch this trailer:

There's a handmade aspect to the game: there is a ton of user-generated content available. So instead of playing the pre-built levels that come with the game, you can play levels created by other users. Some are seriously clever, and others not so much. Greg even played online one time and ran through the game with three strangers. Weird to me, but I'm sure it's par-for-the-course for regular video game players.

I really want to make a crocheted sackboy, but I'm not sure how far I'd get trying to figure it out on my own. I found some patterns for sale, but I'm pretty sure they're violating copyright, and I don't want to support that. I found a free pattern for the head, so I may give that a shot and wing it for the body. There's an official knit pattern; I'm hoping they'll put out an official crochet pattern soon.

Rock Band

2009-04-04T10:15:00.003-05:00

Greg and I got a Playstation 3 for ourselves for Christmas. I was sold on the idea because I really wanted to get Rock Band. Turns out I LOOOOVE playing the drums. It's unbelievably fun. They have really great songs available and new downloads come out every week. Some of our favorites are Teen Age Riot (Sonic Youth), Lazy Eye (Silversun Pickups), and Heroes (David Bowie). They recently put out new Neko Case, Glasvegas, and New Pornographers - how cool is that?

Greg bought some drum pad silencers, which are like thick foam pads that attach to the set like a sticker. We tried playing last night and the smell from those things made me nauseous and my head was all fuzzy. But I played better. Weird. We put the drums in the basement overnight; hopefully they've aired out so we can play some more this weekend.

So... anyone else play Rock Band? Want to start an online band? One caveat - I get to be the drummer :)

Rock the Garden lineup

2009-04-01T16:39:00.004-05:00

The Current (amazing, awesome public radio station in Minnesota) just announced the line up for Rock the Garden, the annual outdoor rock show at the Walker Art Center.

Solid Gold
Yeasayer
Calexico
The Decemberists

I would LOVE to see the Decemberists and am sure I'd enjoy the other shows too. I know Greg wants to go, so perhaps he'll be able to make me join him. I just have issues with crowds. I'm doing an animation project inspired by a song by The Decemberists song - The Rake's Song. It's fun... I'll post it when I finally finish it.

Plant-a-palooza

2009-03-30T14:34:00.003-05:00

How fun to walk into work this morning, and be greeted by this row of plants?!

Our office was recently remodeled and we moved to the second floor (downtown St. Paul, across from City Hall). While there are many problems with the overall, terrible set-up, I actually like my little cube, minus the fact that it's a double-wide and I basically share it. I especially like my big sunny window. I've been thinking that it would be a nice place for plants, and perhaps I'm grown up enough now that I won't kill them. One of my co-workers brought in a peace lily for the front desk and commented that she had more plants than she could handle. I offered up my space and whoop-de-doo, there were five lovelies waiting for me this morning.

The christmas cactus is over 60 years old! It still blooms, too. The others are the same kind of plant, nearly a succulent it seems, with it's thick leaves. All of them have come from one plant, which apparently grows babies periodically. Fun!

Vegan polenta fries

2009-03-25T14:55:00.007-05:00

Greg and I recently discovered the wonder that is polenta fries, so I'm going to share the recipe. The original recipe came from VegNews, although I wasn't able to find it online. We altered the recipe by using the breading formula from Beth Bee's Rabbit Food Cookbook (which is totally awesome, btw). This resulted in a delicious, almost chewy, outer coating and a creamy, soft polenta innards. While not exactly health food, it is really low in fat, since you just use a little olive oil for coating.

I discovered that many people have never heard of polenta, which is really surprising. I correctly predicted that when unable to find it in the grocery store, the first employee we asked replied "what's is it?" So here's the wikipedia article, if you don't know.

Vegan Polenta Fries

1 tube of polenta
1 tbsp. olive oil

breading:

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
3 tbsp. flour
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt (a little more if you really like salty)
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. poultry seasoning
1/2 t. cayenne pepper (optional, consider replacing with paprika)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Peel the thin coating off the polenta (a vegetable peeler works great). Cut in half lengthwise, and cut into strips that resemble french fries.
Mix together all the breading ingredients.
Toss polenta in the olive oil, and then dredge in breading. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once or twice, until lightly browned.

Peeling the polenta

The oil/breading set-up

The finished product!

My art on a vinyl wallet

2009-03-20T17:52:00.005-05:00

Guess what?! My designs are going to be on a tinymeat wallet! What is a tinymeat wallet you ask? Well, it's a vegan, vinyl lovely with art on it. Here's an example, available on the herbivore website.

Here's the scoop: Sometimes I make stuff for our local vegan boutique, fast and furless. Jon has been extremely encouraging and motivates me to make custom stuff for him. We recently created a bunch of shirts, like this: Jon decided he wanted to get the design printed on tinymeat wallets. Score! right? Then he tells me that the folks at tinymeat want to carry them in their Portland store and their extremely successful Etsy shop. Score again! It's all quite exciting. I'll keep you updated and post a photo of a wallet when they arrive at fast and furless.

David Hockney

2009-03-18T17:00:00.010-05:00

I'm working on a layout assignment for one of my graphic design classes. We have to pick an artist and compose a two-page spread about him/her. We will also use this artist for other assignments. We got a list of about two dozen to pick from and my eyes immediately went to the ones I know fairly well: Magritte, Warhol, Jasper Johns, Pollock, Kahlo, etc. Thankfully, Dali wasn't on it because I probably would have picked him without another thought for anyone else. But I forced myself to pick someone I didn't know much about, just to learn something new. I picked Hockney because he's not completely foreign to me, and he has a really interesting palette. The spread has to include a photo of the artist, so I got a little creative with one I found online. I cut it apart and resized, changed perspective, etc., in homage to his "joiners" (photocollage).

Here are some of my favorite pieces; I just need to decide which one to use in the layout. Do you have any favorite Hockneys?

The Fourth Love Painting

Sun on the Pool

American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman)

A Lawn Sprinkler

Weekend and Playstation

2009-03-16T14:30:00.002-05:00

Greg was a little under the weather, so it was a pretty quiet weekend. We did manage to get out and see Watchmen and eat some Indian food. I enjoyed Watchmen, but it won't be one of my favorites. It was just a good blockbuster-y kind of movie. Greg gave it a 7 on a 1-10 scale, for both how good it is as an adaptation of the book, and how much he liked it.

I got in a game of Flower (Playstation 3) while Greg napped. It's so hard to describe this game, here's a blurb from the CNET review:

The idea behind Flower is to collect petals by steering a gust of wind through idyllic pastures. You guide the wind using the motion-sensitive controller and use any button to accelerate, which lets you take the game at your own pace. In fact, you're encouraged to lose yourself in this digitally created nirvana, and the time slows down to help you take it all in whenever you're not accelerating. There's no incentive to collect every petal in each level, but key flowers return the environment to its natural vibrancy. It's a serene experience, and though it's engaging, prolonged play will lull you into a deep state of relaxation.

I totally agree. Most levels are mesmerizing (one is kinda scary) and I find myself just rushing through the long grass for no reason. The one downside is there are only a few levels and then you're relegated to just redoing the same levels. If you're interested, here's a trailer:

Custom pendant

2009-03-12T10:15:00.004-05:00

This week I was contacted through Etsy by a person in Australia. She asked me to make a pendant for her mum, with a photo of her dear chihuahua that recently died. Of course I said yes. This photo of Jefe was so cute, it made a great pendant. I'll be adding a generic, custom listing to my shop, since this is not the first time I've been asked about custom pendants.

front

back

Vegan carrot soup

2009-03-06T19:04:00.004-06:00

I made this yummy soup last night... I wanted to make something special for Greg since I was home all day and not too busy, and he spent the day at work. I first found/altered this recipe at the end of last summer when we had TONS of carrots from the CSA. As is fairly typical, I find a couple of recipes that have some interesting qualities and then I synthesize them into one tailored just for me (yes, I'm the picky one - Greg's pretty happy with most of my creations). It's really easy to do with soup, which is hard to mess up. Here's the recipe.

Beautiful carrots of unknown origin (feel kinda bad about that)

Carrot Coconut Soup

5 carrots, cut into circles/coins
one medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium potatoes, diced
4 cups veggie broth
1 can coconut milk
a little olive oil
1 t. turmeric
1 t. paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a pot for about 5 mins. Add the carrots and saute about 5 - 10 minutes (don't let it get too brown). Add veggie broth, coconut milk and potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add spices, and simmer about 20 minutes, until the carrots and potatoes are soft. Blend with an immersion blender and eat it all up.

Pre-blended, as it's cooking

Vegan stuff at Trader Joe’s

2009-03-02T17:47:00.003-06:00

Has anyone else noticed all the vegan food at Trader Joe’s? They’ve started putting a “V” on anything vegan, which makes shopping so much quicker and easier. Of course, we usually spend way too much money and buy all sorts of stuff we shouldn’t eat, so maybe that’s not such a good thing. But it’s hard to resist soy chorizo. It’s unbelievably yummy and goes really well in tofu scrambler. Though I’ve seen veggie chorizo elsewhere, TJ’s is the only one I've tried. I think I'm a little weirded out by the others.

New Rings and Pendants

2009-03-02T17:21:00.003-06:00

If you know me, you would know that I really like old stuff. I’m a sucker for just about anything from the 50’s to the 70’s. Lately, I’ve been using vintage pieces in my jewelry designs. I recently acquired a huge bag of old earrings, necklaces and rings and I’ve been cleaning them and taking them apart to use in new items. My favorite is the ring pictured above. It’s from a set of earrings – one is mine and my friend Liz claimed the other one, though there are plenty more different ones where that came from. I can’t wait to take them out for a test drive at my next craft show. As soon as I get photos done, I’ll put them up in my shop.

Where have I been?

2008-10-30T14:33:00.002-05:00

I just want to acknowledge that I'm still here, still making things, still updating my Etsy shops, etc. I think I've lost interest in blogging and I hope it's temporary. I've been quite busy with school, work and craft shows. I'm on Facebook now and I find it a little easier to keep up with the small amounts of info there. If you find "Kellybot," you should become a fan because you will be in a small, elite group. Toodles, for now.

New shoppe

2008-08-25T12:20:00.003-05:00

As part of my Summer of Downsizing (~10 bags of clothes to Goodwill), I opened up a supply shop on Etsy in order to pass on the oodles of crafty supplies I’ve been hoarding. I have so much stuff it’s threatening to take over the parlor (pronounced, “pah-lah," dahlin'). So far, SupplyFarm has been doing pretty well. I think I had the most fun creating the graphics for it.

Yesterday I took over 300 photos of beads alone. It will probably take me all week to get them listed. I still have a couple of boxes I haven’t even touched yet. I feel myself getting lighter already!

I won, I won!

2008-08-21T15:51:00.003-05:00

I'm a member of an Etsy group called Etsy for Animals (EFA). We do animal-helpy things and give to monthly charities. You may have noticed in my shop announcement that I mention a monthly charity and that I donate 10% of my profits to that charity. The group has an Etsy shop which is having it's one-year birthday next month. To celebrate, members are offering 20% off coupons in their own shops. To increase participation, EFA did a raffle - you agree to take the coupon, you get a raffle number.

Anyhoo, I won the grand prize! I get a $50 donation to the charity of my choice; a tote bag with my logo printed on it; and one week shop advertising on a popular blog. Cool, huh?! I haven't decided what to do with the donation yet - I have lots of choices, I'm trying to think of where it will get the most bang.

The coupon sale starts September 15. Let me know if you're interested in getting a coupon - they will be available soon!

New couch

2008-08-05T15:28:00.002-05:00

Greg and I got a new couch this weekend! It's a very cool 1960's granny couch. You may already know that I love old stuff, especially mid-century modern. Our cheapy couch was starting to look a little too "college dorm room," if you know what I mean. Buying vintage is sustainable, plus I like the styles better. I had spotted this couch when I was on a hunt for a lawn chair.

[Funny aside: I went to several stores looking for a plain old lawn chair and couldn't find one anywhere. I made a wrong turn and passed by Succotash, a cool vintage shop, and exclaimed "Holy crap!" when I spotted the perfect lawn chair sitting outside. It was only $10. They said, 'thanks for coming in' and I said, 'thanks for putting my chair outside so I could find it!']

Greg and I checked it out, went to another store and saw one we also liked, thought we would sleep on it, then talked ourselves in to this one. It's in really great shape and I just love the diamond pattern on the back. It's a lot more gold-colored and bright than the photo shows.

Now if I could only get rid of the old one. I posted it on craigslist and freemarket and no one wants it. I'm ready to stick it out on the sidewalk, but I'm afraid no one would take it! Someone just emailed me from the craigslist posting and said "I'm sorry but that couch looks like it should be kicked to the curb." OMG! Who has time to go through CL postings and harass people about their crap? Oh well.

Been busy

2008-07-30T20:44:00.004-05:00

Oops, it's been a while since I let a whole week pass by in between blog posts. I really haven't had much to say though. Tuesday, I made some awesome black beans so I thought I'd share the recipe. My mom, uncle and abuela all make different versions of black beans, and I think they started with the same recipe so it's interesting to see where I stack up. Perhaps my mom will chime in and let me know if these resemble hers.

Frijoles Negros

1 lb. black beans, dried
2 quarts water
2 medium onions, chopped fine
2 green peppers, cut in strips
4 cloves garlic, minced
about 1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Inspect the beans for rocks or other foreign particles. I thought this was ridiculous until I actually found a rock. Wash beans thoroughly. If you're planning far ahead, soak the beans overnight in 2 quarts of water. If you want to expedite this step, cook the beans in the water for about 30 minutes. My mom's trick for knowing how much water to put in the pot is to stick your finger in it until you touch the beans, then pour water up to your second knuckle.

When the beans are ready (after cooking 30 min, or soaking overnight), saute onions and green peppers in olive oil until light golden. Add crushed oregano, bay leaf, cumin, and garlic. Put the beans (with the water) into a crock pot and add the onion/pepper/spice mixture. Add salt and pepper and cook on low heat, covered, until beans are tender. I usually leave it overnight, but it will probably be done in 4 - 6 hours. You might need to add extra water, either at the beginning or during cooking.

Serve over rice, topped with chopped onions. Whoever finds the bay leaf (don't eat it!) will have good luck.

Done with school

2008-07-24T18:06:00.003-05:00

I finished up my painting class today. The final activity was a critique - a weird experience. I was surprised that whether or not we were any good is a factor in the grading. I figured that I came to every class, I tried really hard, I applied suggestions/feedback, I spent a lot of time working... that should be enough. Apparently, the bar is set low for "good" because my professor said he would probably give me an A. Whew! It was a fun class, but I'm glad it's over. Sometimes it's hard to be creative on demand.

So I can't show you the best one because my professor kept it to hang in a gallery, er, I mean hallway, during school break. That puts me in the top half of the class at least - 12 spots and 25 students. Next time I'm at school, I'm going to find it and take a picture because that will probably be the only time I have art work shown somewhere. Here's one of the ones I liked OK.