inkwet's blotter

 

Thing-A-Day: DAY 1!


Despite being unfazed by the Snowpocalypse! now terrorizing so many people, I could see that it was soup weather. Hence, my first TAD is a giant, nutritious VAT of soup. 

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Just in case someone wants the details: It was a pretty simple soup... I basically just layered each new vegetable on top of the other, so "1 layer" of each would be a pretty decent measure of how much to use. Layer soup, maybe? 

What ended up fitting in a 6-qt pot, each chopped to soup-appropriate sizes:

3/4 lb onion

3 stalks celery

3/4 lb carrot chips

1 lb red potatos 

1 big clove garlic

(Simmered 10-15 minutes before adding:)

1 lb bag of butter beans

3/4 lb bag of peas 

Simmered about 45 more minutes (less would have been ok, but the flavors did come together nicely), and added basil, salt, pepper, and an unlabeled spice that I hoped was coriander. 

I also made grilled cheese sandwiches, and had a charming snow day lunch with my neighbors. Take that, blizzard.

Then, since I'm having such a lovely snow day (and since I'm using the oven as a space heater some of the time)...

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Baked s'mores!

 

Posted February 1, 2011
 

TAD 12: 75 shumai dumplings or 1 wire rose?

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Once again, I seem to think that I still haven't met my own requirements for a Thing, because I didn't make the filling for the dumplings.  Okay.  Since 75 assembled dumplings for Chinese New Year don't seem to count in my head, I'll make something else.

Here is my (successful) experiment: yes, you can make a teeny tiny wire rose, almost as easily as a larger one. 22 guage, steel wire.
Going to bed now. I don't even remember what I made before dinner. Oh: chopped mushrooms, that went into the shumai filling.

Posted February 11, 2010
 

TAD 12?

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I assembled at least 75 shumai (chinese filled dumplings). Does at least one of them count as a thing?  

Posted February 11, 2010
 

Thing 10: Papercut Mandala

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The problem with mandalas, you see, is that they're round. I like triangles.  
I tried to get a few angles into this, and, well... It's a thing. 

Posted February 11, 2010
 

TAD 9: Coasters

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This weekend, as I handed my guest a drink, it occurred to me: I don't own any coasters. 
This evening, as I wondered what to make, it occurred to me: I *do* own a roll of cork and a lot of black pens. 

Posted February 9, 2010
 

Day 8: instructions for The Box

Today I wrote/constructed the guidelines for The Box, which will go into circulation tomorrow in the mailroom at my workplace (a college campus).  I'm claiming this as my Thing today, even though I got input from others. 
The context of The Box: I hatched the idea last Friday, talking with a few coworkers about how exciting it is to find out that they have a package waiting in the mailroom, and then how disappointing it is when the package is (inevitably) merely a textbook for them to sample. They approved of the idea, and ran with it; a friend has provided The Box itself, and we are each putting in an item.  
Here is how The Box will work...  When a coworker receives The Box in the mailroom, instead of finding boring junkmail, s/he will find 4-5 objects, and these instructions: 
***
You have received The Box. 
This isn’t just another sample textbook.
The Box exists to brighten your day, and to let you send a bit of fun to other members of the campus community.  This exchange has been secretly started by several of your colleagues, and will continue until Finals Prep Day.  You get to decide what will stay in The Box, and who should receive it next. 

What you can do with The Box:
1. Pick one item you want to keep from The Box.
2. Add one item to The Box.
3. Scratch your name off the list. *
4. Send the box to another campus employee, preferably one who has not received it yet.
5. Have an excellent day. 
        * If and only if it is Finals Prep Day, open the envelope instead of resending The Box.

Please keep The Box going, and enjoy whichever item you keep. 

***
That, my friends, is the box. (Inside the envelope will be instructions to send The Box one of us originators.) I'm not sure whether to call it a game, an improv, or a cumulative found-object collection, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this Thing plays out.

Posted February 8, 2010
 

Day 7: A Crane

Day 7 is a simple thing, because Day 6 was a highly-overblown thing and because I was tired. 
 
 

Posted February 8, 2010
 

TAD 6: Hidden Box / Collage

Who's up for a metaphor?

What's that?  A discarded middle-school literature textbook?  Why do you have that on the shelf?

This is a prime example of how Inkwet overcomplicates things.  I was just going to core the book, mod-podge the pages so that it would be sturdy, and call it a secret box...  Perfect for storing your back-up $20 or your thimble collection. But nooo, I had to illustrate the inner box...  Now I'm not even sure I will glue the pages; I may leave it as a loose, leafy box, or I might go back and decoupage other pages.  I may also be adding a flying ship to the sky page, because there's a lot of steampunk going around, and I approve. :)

This definitely took longer than 30 minutes. Where did the 30-minutes concept come from, anyway? I never could find any official rules/guidelines (not that I would follow them, most likely, but it's more fun to know when you're bending the rules).
This was finished around midnight on the correct day, if anyone needs to know (and I probably should have stopped earlier).

Also, I made ratatouille, and now I can't figure out how to detach those photos, so there they are. :) Essentially, you take lots of beautiful vegetables (onion, bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant, & tomato), hack them into little pieces, and cook them until they taste far better than they look.  I tried making it in the slow cooker; sticking with the stovetop would have been better.

Posted February 7, 2010
 

Thing 5: Snowpocalypse.

Snowpocalypse

Wrong place; wrong time. 

Snowmen should never do improv.

Posted February 5, 2010
 

Thing? Nothing. It's a hole.

I made a hole. 

 

In a book.

 

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Yes, there was some anxiety involved--Cutting up a book?! Oh no!--even though it is a discarded book that I don't think anyone will use for a better purpose, at this point.  
This is going to end up as a box, disguised as a discarded Jr High literature book.  For the moment, I am giving up and going to bed it has progressed partway there.  Next time the edges will be cleaned up, another 400-600 pgs are getting cored, and there will be mod podge.  Hopefully, by then I will have found my box-cutter. *facepalme*

Posted February 4, 2010