I have got to figure out how to pace myself! Having the ability to concentrate on nothing but art all day, every day, is crazy and I find I am just exhausting myself. Coming in with a plan was great, because it means I can jump in without wasting any time thinking, but I might have dived in a little too deep right from the start. I should probably slow down and build up some studio endurance. But wow does it feel good to be able to live in the studio if I want. And spread out!! I can have separate areas for different materials so stuff doesn’t get contaminated, or have 5 molds in process at the same time, or everything at once if I want. It’s amazing!

And now some images that hint at what I’ve been working on. I did these test casts before leaving Boston:

A whole bag of Jolly Ranchers, ready for the melting

Jolly Rancher candy art

Jolly Ranchers, cast into an old rubber mold

Set of candy tests. Orange is candy I made from scratch, reddish is what a whole bag of melted Jolly Ranchers looks like

Yesterdays Schedule: Up at sunrise, online time, breakfast, plaster other half of mother mold, lunch duty, studio store, try to take mold apart and break it, replaster mold, dinner, online time, resident slide show, drinks, bed.

Everyone makes a fuss over Vosges’ Mo’s Bacon Bar family of chocolate products, but I’ve just discovered their Organic Habana bar. A mix of milk chocolate containing 45% cocoa and crunchy plantain chips, this bar is calling my name to try it soon. Already I’m wondering if the plantain chips are from immature fruit, starchy and not sweet,  salted perhaps, or made from ripe plantains, lending their natural sugar to the chocolate blend.

I love plantains. They look like larger bananas with thicker skins. While bananas are edible raw, most of the time, plantains are cooked. Depending on the dish, one picks a plantain by color, indicating ripeness.  Their ripeness cycle parallels that of bananas too, starting out green and starchy, then turning yellow, and finally brown and black. They are super versatile and delicious sweet (as maduros), savory, roasted, baked, fried, in chip form, or in dishes like stews.

Growing up with my Dad’s Puerto Rican family, plantains were a staple food. To this day, I still enjoy cooking them  in familiar ways like tostones (twice-fried flattened plantains), and discovering new methods, such as African-inspired stews.

Now, of course, there’s chocolate to explore as well.

Organic Habana available at Vosges.

Delirium: Temporary mental disturbance, a state marked by extreme restlessness, confusion, and sometimes hallucinations, caused by fever, poisoning, or brain injury. From the dictionary. You’ve read correctly. I can only hope this state is temporary otherwise strange might become disturbed. That means me people. As some of you know, I’m a superhero by day who’s an evil mastermind by night. Well, that’s my version of the story. The one I’m going to sticking to. Here are some musts for an evil master mind hatching a plan: Ice cream – Chocolate Cherry preferably for brainstorming sessions Duck tape – Handy in any emergency Number two pencil – For tucking behind the ear Spandex – Need I, explain? I think a plan involving mermaids, a ship and muffins would be just the thing to take over the world, but I need to do further research on the matter. I’m nearly sure I’m not in a state of delirium but I can’t promise you anything as the word also means, a state of extreme excitement or emotion. This could be the state I’m in, given I’m so close to cracking the secret of how they get the caramel in the Caramilk bar.

http://www.canada.en.cadbury.com/ourbrands/featurebrands/PublishingImages/caramilk_bar.jpg
 
However, I have no clue who, Bob from the Doritos commercials in the eighties/nineties was. If any of you have any information that can help me solve this eleventh wonder in my mind, please do so. Fabulous, I just came up with a concept for another story by writing this blog. Back to work.

Mason
a.c.Mason 
www.acmason.com

The finest example of food overindulgence America has to offer!

(pic is from here)

What’s this?

Stormcastle’s favorite chocolate bar, that’s what!

Seriously… I’ll whore my blog out for some of these, LOL.

How’s that for journalistic integrity?

Christmas is coming up… so now you know what to put in my stocking, Santa!

As of 3 minutes ago, it’s officially Thanksgiving! I’m cozy at home in my bed, surrounded by my stuffed animals, Polaroids from high school, and hundreds of books, among other things. What was your childhood bedroom like?

Speaking of childhood, I got a fun e-mail from my friend Jenny at 8 this morning while I was sipping on my coffee. Jenny is hands-down my oldest friend; our mothers grew up together, and although Jenny and I have been separate by half a country for our entire lives and only get to see each other once a year, we’ve always been close. When my grandfather was still living, my parents and I visited him in Indianapolis every winter between Christmas and New Year’s; this photo is from the winter of 1988. (That’s me on the right, with the bowl cut.)

Here we are this past summer, in Lake Michigan.

I miss her so much during the year. We look forward to our week on the lake so much!

After my trip down memory lane, I made a quick breakfast: Ezekiel English muffin with almond butter and a banana, raspberry jam on one side and pumpkin butter on the other.

I went to the post office to mail something; it didn’t open until 10 (which seems a little later) but there was a machine that got the job done. Then to physical therapy I went! It as a particularly good appointment. I learned some new exercises to stretch my hips; I can easily do them from the hotel room in Russia. After PT I raced back home to eat lunch before I had to turn right back around and go to an interview. I made a quick salad:

In the mix:

• romaine
• celery
• tofu
• leftover roasted veggiesM

It was one of the rare occasions where I could not finish my meal. Usually, once I’ve dished a certain amount of food out, I will eat every last scrap even if I’ve long since reached capacity. (Last night’s pasta plate was an example of this.) However, today I started getting a stomachache about partway through, and just picked out what I wanted (roast vegetables, tofu, hummus), leaving a fair amount of spinach.

I felt guilty about throwing the rest out (I won’t be back at the house for two weeks), but it was better than making myself sick. As it was, my tum hurt for the next two hours. My eyes are bigger than my head sometimes, and I think the most important thing I need to remember to do is slow down while I’m eating. I’ve been so rushed these past few weeks that although I’ve been eating foods I love, I’ve barely tasted them as I’ve had to practically inhale them to get from appointment to appointment on time. It’ll be nice to have a little break

There’s always room for sweets, though! I had a couple of these strawberry gummy candies from the Japanese grocery store in our neighborhood. Not bad!

I was starving after my interview. Luckily I had about four different snacks in my bag, so I ate one of the apple-flavored Heart Thrive bars that I was sent to review. I’ll do a formal review once I’ve sampled all of the products, but I liked this a lot!

When I got home I folded laundry and did some preparatory packing for my trip to Russia. I am one of the worst packers ever. I always take too much and forget crucial items, like spare contact lenses or pajama pants. Do you have any fool-proof (or LVP proof!) packing tips?

I snacked on some Concord grapes that were about to go bad while I waited for my dad to help me pack some things up. These grapes are really addicting. There are seeds, which I thought I wouldn’t like, but are actually kind of fun to work through and take longer to eat. Plus, these are the kind of grapes used to make grape juice, so they’re the perfect combination of sweet + tart.

While my dad was at a holiday party, my mom and I had dinner at watched Hannah And Her Sisters. Not only is this a really good Woody Allen film, but it’s told between two years’ worth of Thanksgivings! I ordered a bento box for dinner, which came with a spicy tuna roll, tempura, sashimi & shrimp shumai. (It came with rice, salad & miso soup as well, but I’m saving those for tomorrow.)

I also had a glass of Black Box Wine’s Sauvignon Blanc.

My mom brought home dessert from Billy’s Bakery, the same shop she ordered my birthday cupcakes from.

She bought one pumpkin cupcake and one pumpkin bar; we split them three ways. De-lish.

I’m off to bed. There’s a lot on the agenda tomorrow! Have a great night, a happy holiday, and safe travels wherever your day takes you.

I once ‘dated’ a guy who was a witch. I wonder if he’d let me have some of those white-chocolate KitKats before he infuses them all with demons…

Halloween Candy is Evil!!!

“Circle” for Lensday

I started taking Prozac again.  Yep, I did that.

I used to be on Prozac in High School, back when it was cool.  Now I’m on it in real life and it sucks, I’ll tell you why.  When you’re young your body can handle pretty much anything.   Hangovers?  Yah, I had a few more than most back in my early 20’s, not that I remember them all that well, I usually just woke up from a night of drinking, ate a cheeseburger and carried on with my day — this was after consuming at least 5 shots of Bacardi 151.  Today, give me 2 glasses of wine before bed and I’m up in the middle of the night guzzling orange juice out of the carton to hydrate myself and wiping sweat off my brow (mainly just because I drank the oj too fast).  Anyway, back when I was a young punk I took Prozac like it was candy, and it was, pure, sweet, serotonin boosting, endorphin releasing, candy.  It didn’t bother me, I was fine, I was tired some of the time, but with my days filled with keeping myself out of detention, who wouldn’t be?  Fast forward in time 10 years and I feel like I’m about to die and not just because I want to, any more.

It isn’t just that three hours after I took my first dose I was feeling a full 95% better than the day before when I was at the bottom of a dark, brick well surrounded by spiders, moss and bad smells (mentally);  And that 3 days later, I felt like I was back in that same well, only this time there was a shoddy looking rope ladder that I could use to get out depending on how desperate I was feeling (although, by the looks of it, in my brain, it didn’t seem like a very safe option).  It’s the way I feel physically.  I mean, I took a pregnancy test because I thought I was having morning sickness!  Morning sickness that turned into all day sickness combined with dizziness, weakness and, my personal favorite, insomnia.  Seriously, insomnia?  This stuff is supposed to help that!

I went out with Lindsay last night.  Lindsay who is currently going to school to become a Physician’s Assistant and knows all about everything there is to know about medicine, Lindsay.  She asked me what’s new and I responded, “I’m back on the ‘Zac.”  She made an audible gasp and said, “You must be feeling like shit!”  Thank you, Lindsay!  Yes, I am feeling like shit, and until you said that, without any prompts or complaints from this end, I thought it was all in my head.  Then she said, casually, as if it were no big deal, “Well, you should start feeling better in about 8 weeks.”

EIGHT WEEKS?!  What am I, some upper-middle-class white person who tends to her garden for a living!?  No!  I have a job!  How the hell am I supposed to feel this way for EIGHT WEEKS and still be able to afford to pay my rent?!  Also, how is making someone who has crippling depression take a medicine that will not only continue to make them feel depressed, but sick, tired and unable to sleep, a good idea?  Can’t my doctor just write me a prescription for some pain killers so I can develop a chemical dependency on something that actually makes me feel good?  Oh, wait, I/she/we already did that.

I know Prozac works.  It worked so well the first time that I thought I could stop because I wasn’t actually depressed, just paying my $10 monthly co-pay to Eli-Lilly.  Wrong.  Sixteen months off and I’m worse than I ever was.  This stuff is so tricky, man.  I mean, the first time around it gives me no side effects, makes me feel great and later seduces me into thinking I am a strong enough person to live without its tasty nectar coursing through my veins.  The second time around, after finally convincing myself that being on drugs for the rest of my life is something I am just going to have to accept,  it gives me the cold shoulder, not to mention weakness, nausea or insomnia, and makes me wait.

“Look, Prozac, I’m sorry I doubted you, but you’re the one who made me feel like I wasn’t depressed anymore.  What did you want me to do, continue our love under false pretenses?  I had to find out, for myself, how truly miserable I was without you!  Take me back!  Take me back and I’ll do whatever you want!”

I have been having that conversation with my pill bottle on a nightly basis for the past 4 nights.*

Only 7 weeks and three days to go!

*Prozac also forces me to sound as if I’m in an abusive relationship when I’m talking to myself

Candy é a primeira revista de moda dedicada a celebrar o crossdressing, travestivismo e o transexualismo com fashion information (pra aquela galera que não gosta de ‘Informação de Moda’) . Luke Worrall na capa e tudo.

Buzz Girls 2nd Anniversary Party

The products that were featured were as follows:

Align Digestive Care – probiotic supplement  - Not all probiotics are created equal – for optimal results, strain specificity and quantity are critical as well as viability at the time of consumption (bacteria must be alive to be effective).

Ascenta NutraSea fish oils – Not all fish oils are created equal – what matters is purity (look for “pure √” symbol), concentration, and how it is processed to prevent oxidation.

Ayala’s Herbal Water – Many are bored with plain water, this provides flavor with health benefits (i.e. digestion, stress reduction) without adding sugar, calories or artificial ingredients.

Coconut Bliss soy, dairy & gluten free ice cream - A true treat is one that is indulgent, tastes great and contains ingredients about which you can feel good.

Crofter’s Superfruit Spread – Unlike competitors’ products, this sweet taste comes from mostly organic berries and a little organic sugar.

Dr. Khalsa’s Vitamin D3 – Low Vitamin D is implicated in everything from ADD/ADHD, cancer risk and survival, and hormonal health. This site offers a test kit to test your levels, a book and supplements for further information and treatment.

Healing Movement – Raw Cultured Vegetables and Young Coconut Kefir – Optimal health begins with a healthy digestive system.  These organic products help reduce bloating, alleviate sugar cravings and assist transition to a healthy digestive tract.

Late July Organic Snacks – mini sandwich cookies - Mom knows best (in this case, Grandma, Dad and Mom)! Providing all of our favorite snack treats made healthy without sacrificing taste.

Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils – hemp protein and hemp seeds - In hemp, nature provides us the only food source of certain fatty acids as well as a complete protein.

Natural Calm – The Anti-Stress Drink – nutritional magnesium powder – When it comes to magnesium, whose benefits include – aiding digestion, reducing the effects of stress, and heart and bone health, this product stands out as organic and highly absorbable.

Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola - because organic can and does taste great, these products make any meal satisfying and healthier.

Nuttzo – organic, omega 3 multi-nut butter - this crazy combo of nuts and seeds provide fiber, omega 3’s, complete protein and minerals with a delicious crunch.

Olade organic, electrolytes, zero sugar added beverages - diabetics and non-diabetics alike should choose organic beverages that are naturally very low in sugar (sweetened with stevia)…and taste great!

R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence – light and refreshing beverages for anytime of the day.

Yummy Earth Organic Candy – lollipops, gummy bears and gummy worms - a candy you can feel better about because they are organic with no artificial coloring and per portion are lower in sugar than other candy – a treat for kids and adults alike!

In my post yesterday, I asked if anybody could identify these curious little dots.

They’re candy buttons or candy dots, a classic American candy that I ate as a kid. They’re just colorful little sugar candies evenly distributed on a strip of paper. My mother sent me some at some point, I guess to evoke some nostalgia. Since the candies are pretty well stuck to the paper, we used to lick the back to moisten it so the candy would peel off neatly (how sanitary, right?). The Wikipedia entry claims they come in three different flavors, cherry, lime and lemon, but all I can taste is sugar and food dye. I guess the flavor varies slightly among the colors… mmm, Yellow 5.

Well done to traynharder23, who answered correctly yesterday!

2 ½ cups sugar
¼ cups cocoa powder
¾ cup whole milk
¼ cup cream
1 T. light corn syrup
½ cup butter, divided
½ cup peanut butter, or crunchy ( I prefer Jif)
2 t. vanilla

Combine first 5 ingredients in a 3 qt. saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Add 2 T. butter and stir until it melts. Cover and boil over low heat 3 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook without stirring, until mixture reaches soft ball stage (240) on a candy thermometer.
Remove mixture from heat and without stirring, add remaining butter, peanut butter, and vanilla. Let cool for 10 minutes.
Beat mixture until well blended; pour immediately into a parchment lined and butter 8 inch pan. Let cool and remove from pan. Cut into desired squares.

Note: can be made ahead and frozen in Freezer bags for 2 months

Several weeks ago, in an attempt to energize my quiet third period class, I promised them candy if each and every one of them asked a well-thought out, intelligent question.

They did, they got candy, I rejoiced.

They’ve been quiet again. When I asked why … they wanted to know where the candy was. Oops.

I’m not setting a really great example through my relatively new blog, am I? Sorry it’s been so long since my last post! Life has overtaken, as usual.

Nevertheless, I wanted to share our Thanksgiving plans. My husband and I will be making completely homemade pumpkin pies to take to his family’s feast. While hubby makes some sort of mashed potato-like casserole, I’ll be testing out a candy recipe. I’m pretty excited about it and hope it’ll  be easy and tasty! I’m actually making the candy now as a test run. If all goes well, I will be making it for my book club’s Christmas Cookie (and some candy) Exchange in mid-December. I’ll be sure to take pictures while we’re in the kitchen and will post an update after Thanksgiving with the results of our food items. Until then, I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope that you have a lot to be thankful for!

(photo © elmotoo)

It shouldn’t surprise anyone who has traveled in a party of  seven persons that at any given moment you will probably have someone who comes out with the potential  activity stopping words” I’m hun-gry!”

Hopefully this phrase is not  voiced 25 minutes after you have paid for a breakfast that they said they were ” too full” to finish and hopefully it’s  also not one hour after a massive breakfast that you were rather amazed that  they did finish !

Either way it’s sure as eggs that once the “I’m hungry” cat has been let out of the bag that the thoughts of others  in the group will immediately turn to their stomaches and heaven help us if some days the morning started out looking like we would be hopping from one eating establishment to another ( especially if  kids had their way).

I am a firm believer  that the state of  ” starvation”  is only  bought on after  going without food for days on end and not by the first tummy rumble bought on by the sighting of an ice-cream sign in a shop window, and that treats are treats and not items  expected to be supplied by parents on demand ( in said child’s mind: seemingly every  hour or so)

Therefore, harsh Mama that I am, our kids  have to learn to live with their tummy rumbles and master the art of :

A) Patience  and self discipline.

B) The lesson that instant gratification is not  the way Life was meant to be.

C)  The realisation  that  in normal, fit, healthy and able children ( such as themselves)  these small pangs can be ignored with great safety for rather some hours without threat of death or  any kind calamity,

D)  That the addition of fresh air and exercise will make the later enjoyment of a larger meal much more enjoyable.

So no surprise then, that pitiful plea’s for ice-cream for the ” I’m hungry bunch “  immediately after breakfast were steadfastly ignored .

(photo © kiwidutch)

Herding the kids out into the fresh air for a decent walk around the Waterfowl Park has been a great experience, well enjoyed and now, with the distraction of an activity over, someone’s little voice in the back started pushed everyone’s “I’m hungry” buttons almost as soon as we were all loaded back into the van.

At least they have had the fresh air and exercise to have earned  lunch…  so we head into the heart of Sackville to look for an eatery that looks like it will survive a charge of ravenous children.

(photo © kiwidutch)

This is how we ended up in a fabulous diner called  “Mel’s “,  in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.

This place is part shop at the front, and Diner at the rear. there are booths for the diners. Adults and smallest kid settle into one booth while the bigger girls gaggle together in the booth directly opposite .

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

The Kiwidutch adults are now getting better at knowing what to expect in this kind of eatery, so we order something simple that we know will go down without fuss for the kids…

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © elmotoo)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

Again we have found a family run eatery  that serves simple food cooked very well… The food is a hit, the staff are friendly and the atmosphere is easygoing and relaxed.

Mel’s Tea Rooms, Bridge Street, Sackville, NB, Canada.

Even Mr. Four manages his toasted sandwich with gusto and the girls do well with their lunches too.  All in all, we have a reasonable  lunch for a reasonable price. So if you are looking for a successful family lunch without hassle  then I would recommend Mel’s Tea Rooms.

The only point to Note: We discover that we can’t use our credit cards here, however there is a money machine on the premises and so I use  my “pin”  card to withdraw some cash  to pay our meal  instead.

Let’s take a look at the surrounding buildings … we love the fact that this is quite a large town that  retains a small town friendly  feel…

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

¡Bonitas piernas! ¿A que hora abren?

Este post es algo tramposo pues no se trata de alsun asunto o tema particular. Solamente encontre esta buena foto y quise compartirlas con ustedes.  ¿ A poco la zorrita de la foto tiene un par de piernotas capaz de provocar infartos? Sin embargo, a la que le debemos dar las gracias es a su amiga de rosita (que se ve que tambien esta potable), la cual, segun se ve, fue la que animo a su amiga carnosa a mostrar su fenomenal par de apendices. ¡Gracias por ser tan cooperativa, ojala hubiera mas mujeres como tu… la neta!

Hi everyone,

I want everyone to know that I am not just the art guy at Thompson’s Originals but also a client. If you can’t love what you design then I just don’t see the joy in doing this sort of work.  So…yes I can be my biggest fan and therefore pardon my bias.

With that being said I recently purchased my Christmas wardrobe of T-shirts and the fine folks at Printfection got them printed and out to my door just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend.  In case anyone was wondering the quality of the t-shirt prints from Printfection, (my current choice of online printers) I decided to take a picture with my digital camera. As you can see that the shirts feature a large and bright, bold print and the colors come out flawlessly. True the colors on the darker T-shirts are not as vibrant as they are on the lighter T-shirts they still do stand out rather nicely from the darker shirt material.  (You can click on the image for a larger view.)

I invite everyone to have a further look at my Jolly-T’s Christmas store at www.thompsonstshirts.com or www.jolly-tshirts.com.

Well that’s all for now folks.  Wishing everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Matt Thompson