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Whoa. I've got a little something to tickle your tortilla. So last week I went to Taco Bell's drive through and ordered a Fresco Chicken Burrito and a Side of Fresco Pintos. But I got WAY MORE than I asked for. Check out this awesome promotional piece the lady at the window slipped into my bag....



Free breakfast...on a FRIED EGG! It was so cool. The yolk was a thin plastic dome that held a coupon for a free breakfast. Looks like Taco Bell is doling out more than just pintos and pit stops...they're doling out some muy bueno design.



Bravo for Taco Bell!.....but they still got my order wrong. =(

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Just some ordinary things I find beautiful.

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Although this is written in first person, it does not necessarily mean I wrote it about myself. Sometimes I think we are at odds with our surroundings: the current trend is towards natural foods, products, and lifestyle; but convenience is not part of that lifestyle. However, what is convenient usually isn't good for us. Strange paradox.

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This year is OUR YEAR. Shockey's gonna do his cockwalk (Shockwalk?) all the way down the field and right into the endzone. You'll see.

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I've begun reading the classic books which so many high schools oblige students to read...only this time, I'm actually going to read them. Lately, I've grown tired of the hype surrounding pop culture books whose popularity will fizzle out along with the Legging Revival. I'm sure the Twilight Saga is a wonderful teen trilogy, and I bet the Harry Potter series is probably a glorious pubescent paradise.

But I just want something with substance, something with weight. I wanted to read something with an underlying commentary, my agreement or disagreement with the author's commentary notwithstanding. So this post will serve as an on-going checklist for those books which I plan to tackle in the near future.

These are in no particular order and which one I read next will greatly depend on the book's availability at the EBR Library.

1. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities
2. Orwell, 1984
3. Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five
4. Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath
5. Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
6. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye (on the fence about this one; teenage angst is a turn-off)
7. Heller, Catch-22
8. Steinbeck, Of Mice & Men
9. Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter
10. Hemingway, Farewell to Arms
11. Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin
12. eventually, Tolstoy's War and Peace
13. Austin, Pride and Prejudice
14. Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
15. McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

I noticeably left books like Invisible Man, Frankenstein, Things Fall Apart, Silas Marner, and Heart of Darkness off my list for a particular reason. I was, in fact, required to read these in high school.

I tried. I promise.

But I just couldn't make it through them. Having to highlight, take notes, and decipher the implications behind the symbols, irony, and foreshadowing made it more difficult to pay attention to the overall plot. I resented something about Summer Reading Lists...probably the "Summer" part. Still to this day, when I think of Silas Marner, all I can remember is the weight of my eyelids.

I might try Invisible Man and Heart of Darkness again, but I can't force myself back to Silas Marner or Things Fall Apart. Some friends have suggested that I try Hemingway's Old Man and The Sea;Vonnegut's Galapagos, Breakfast of Champions, or another of his books; and Austin's Jane Erye. They are unofficially on the list, too.

Let the geeking begin!

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Love a little Looziana.



Here's my abbreviated photo recipe for Jambalaya.The bottom of my cast iron pot has gotten a lot of use and is beginning to take on the look of an heirloom piece...I can't wait for it to take on the smell of the spices I've used after decades of love. My cast iron skillet is generational. I have a small skillet I use for cornbread, eggs, or biscuits that belonged to my great grandmother. My favorite one of hers is a skillet with four little heart-shaped pockets, perfect for shaping scrambled eggs. Perhaps I'll share pictures of that one day, too.




Lace

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There's not a day goes by that you don't hear about The Storm. Although the city has made leaps and bounds, it's still important to remember the significance of the event.

Forget the politics.
Forget the racism.
Forget the pundits, the talk shows, the sensationalism.

Don't forget, however, that actual people were involved. Breathing, feeling, thinking, scared human beings. Think back to the last time you were scared. Truly, completely afraid. Recall the helplessness that overcame you. Now multiply that times your mortgage, your pets, your neighbors....your favorite restaurant.

Fortunately, New Orleans no longer looks the way it did in 2005. Most of The Ring Around The City has been pressure washed, painted, or demolished and rebuilt. The Big Easy is bustling, partying, cooking, and functioning beautifully. I never fully appreciated the Gem of the Gulf until it was almost lost when the water rose.

Hurricane Katrina Tribute 2.009

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After a friend at work brought in these delightful little eggplants, I absolutely HAD to do something with them. They were too cute to leave behind, but too cute to eat!

As a result of my inability to make a committed decision, I compromised (that's a decision, right?!). I decided to eat them...after I photographed myself making a mini-eggplant Parmesan dish, complete with marinara dipping sauce!

To honor the lovely ADPi who gave them to me, I named the photography series and the dish after her: Eggplant Barbesean.



The entire photography series, and somewhat of a recipe, can be found here. Of course, if you so choose to photograph your recipes at every step, keep in mind it takes thirty times as long to make. It took two hours from the time I washed the little suckers until the time I took the final photograph. This was a dish that should only take 20 minutes.

Labels: barbesean, cooking, eggplant parmesean, photography

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Finally! I have finished redesigning my website! Soon, I will post new pictures, poetry, and other artistic ventures...or mildly artistic ventures...HERE!

I do have a project list...which I will tackle at my leisure and depending on my motivation levels:

1. Post my photography series: Eggplant Barbesean
2. Post the "Vending Machine" Poem and Photos
3. Finish and post the Jambalaya photography series
4. Re-do the Hurricane Katrina Tribute in honor of the 4-Year Anniversary
5. My Black Is Beautiful series, which I've waited two years to make public.

The United States Post Office--well, the gubment in general--isn't really known for its outstanding creativity in Graphic Design. However, I received a piece of [junk]mail this week that I just couldn't throw away...even though this is something I would have trashed otherwise.

Check this out!




The whole thing is laid out like a file folder with collage bits-n-pieces of information that you might normally find in a rough-draft idea.The whole thing had shadows and bevels (obviously form real photographs of the items, not Photoshopped in) to give it a realistic, three-dimensional look.

Horray for the USPS! Let me know if you know the design firm who did this!