FOOD WE COOKED FROM THE FARM

STUFFED BELL PEPPERS:
A very loose adaptation of this recipe here. I used to make this with cous cous, but since it's not "Taylor approved", I used ground turkey instead.  It turned out to be very filling but in a light way, and really quick to make.  I feel like you could really put anything you wanted in there to, so if you have the peppers, it's one of those recipes where you won't have to go buy more ingredients.









BRUSCHETTA
A very loose adaptation of this recipe here. The main thing I took from it was to roast half the tomatoes and mix with uncooked tomatoes. I made the tomato mixture the night before, so all the flavors had some time to meld together, then put it on freshly grilled bread.  This was insanely good. I usually try to buy whole wheat for home cooking, but if I'm going to eat white bread, this is how to do it!

MONDAY DATE NIGHT #4 // Pick Your Own Crops at Underwood Family Farms

We went to Underwood Family Farms  for our Monday date night this week. They are about a 5 minute drive from where Taylor works, so I finally convinced him to go with me.  The original plan was to pick a bunch of veggies, and then come home to cook dinner with produce picked straight from the farm. But to tell you the truth, I was so pooped after this, we ended up drinking jamba juice and eating pre-frozen hash browns for dinner instead!

I've been reading up/listening to podcasts on locavorism (both for and against) these days, so all the talk of delicious and unique local produce had me itching to pick some local produce and see for myself.  I don't think I know enough about the complexities of the food production system in American to fully determine my own opinion on whether or not locavorism is good or bad for our environment as a whole; however, in terms of a personal experience, I did find it quite theraputic to spend an hour or so picking vegetables and learning about crops.  (If it was about 5 degrees cooler, I probably could have stayed out there for a lot longer!) There were definitely a lot of veggies that I didn't even know existed, and I can't wait to come home from work tonight and experiment with what we picked. 

A CLOTHESPIN DEER HEAD

I've been stumped on a project I am working on, so I decided to go on a bit of a tangent and do a small structural study on an everyday clothespin. It's such a nifty concept when you think about it. It's made of two wooden pieces that pivot like a seesaw around a metal spring. The force in the spring causes the wood pieces to act in compression, which gives it a gripping force that is able to hold up objects that are many times its own weight. It's no wonder we've been using it since the 1800s!

When combined with other clothespins, this simple object yields an endless amount of shapes and types of connections; forming curves, lines, corners, depth and height.  I decided to see how far this could go and used it to create a deer head.  It would be interesting to see if there was a way to use this concept for a structural system in a building!

oh and p.s.: a post about the structural properties of another everyday object: an egg

MY FIRST ESTATE SALE FIND

Man oh man, for people living in LA- has it been hot or what? 108/109 in our parts last week!

We took these photos while Taylor and I were checking out estate sales around Mulholland Drive. (Estate sale, as in buying people's used things, not buying estates (for thrifting noobs like me who might have needed that clarification!))  It's such a pretty area! The views are spectacular!

 I've never been big on craigslist, flea markets, garage sales etc... but decided to give it a try.   I'm looking forward to going with Frances when she's feeling better, so she can teach me her ways! I was skeptical I'd find anything I liked, but I ended up getting this huge frame. It doesn't show very well in the picture, but it's really big- almost up to my shoulders in height! I painted the backboard with chalkboard paint, and drew some flowers inspired by the tall flowers we saw while walking around in the first picture.

For now I have it sitting in our apartment to add some color, but I think I want to eventually get around to starting over and drawing a big calendar on the chalkboard and hanging over my desk where I can also pin inspiration and pictures on. That's the beauty of chalkboards right? Erasing and starting over- an indecisive person's dream!

PACK YOUR SANDWICH IN A COLOR BLOCKED LUNCHBOX

PAINT IT:



FOLD IT:


MAKE IT:






WRAP IT:


PACK IT:


GO!

MONDAY DATE NIGHT #3 // We finally went to LACMA!

Taylor and I haven't had a Monday date night in a really long time (since June), because we've been traveling a lot lately, so I was happy we were able to get to it this week, and even more happy that I finally got to go to LACMA! I had been dying to go for quite some time now. We kept waiting for the first Sunday of the month, because it's free admission if you have a Bank of America debit card, but somehow we still ended up not going this past Sunday.  I was so sad we didn't go that we decided to rush over after work on Monday since admission is free for LA county residents after 3:00, even if it meant the visit would be shorter.

One of the exhibitions I was most interested in seeing was the Levitated Mass  (pictured above).  After all the hype about the "340 ton rock arriving in LA" earlier this year, I have admit that I was kind of surprised at how small this guy looked! But I have to say that I still loved the exhibit. At first when you approach it, it just looks like a big rock in the middle of nowhere, but as you get closer, you realize that it's actually suspended in air with a tunnel underneath for you to walk under. A simple concept, but I loved how it plays with perception of space, location and scale.

They didn't really let us take pictures of the indoor exhibits, but the outdoor exhibits were just as fun! Here were some of the photos of the outdoor stuff (which is free all day, everyday):















There were a ton of other things that I didn't get a chance to look at and absorb. The museum is quite large. So I think I will look at this trip as more of an introduction, and I do hope to go back and spend more time with the artwork there! It's a very relaxing atmosphere and I could picture myself spending a huge chunk of a day there.

Some things I cannot believe I missed are Metropolis II, Watts Towers, and the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, which was designed by one of my favorite architects, who also designed one of my favorite museums across from another one of my favorite museums, in one of my favorite cities!