Day 120: It Tastes Better Than It Looks

This is what happens when you're out of triple sec but want to make a blended strawberry mojito, so you substitute blue curaçao. You get the Mudjito.





And here's the picture that'll get your taste buds excited:





It more pinkish than this picture makes it look, and it has festive red and green flecks from the strawberries and mint.

But really, it tastes good. As long as you drink with your eyes closed.

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Day 119: Mappy Booklet with Stab Binding

I used another of my maps to try out a Japanese stab binding. Sadly, stabbing was not necessary.




I alternated map pages and plain white pages, and the binding is made with fuzzy yarn.










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Day 118: Banana Bread

Yes, I can bake. I even made this banana bread from scratch. Not box-scratch, but real scratch, with flour and sugar and baking soda and the whole shebang. I ended up with enough batter to fill three of the four mini loaf spots in my stoneware mini loaf pan.




It's not the best banana bread I've ever had, but it's certainly the best I've ever made.

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Day 117: Mappy Origami Butterfly

I couldn't figure out how to do this exactly like the instructions, but I think it looks butterflyish anyway.




And FYI, iPhone's autocorrect thinks 'butterflyish' is code for 'butters tush.' Good to know.

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Day 116: Pie Chart

Today I made a pie chart. Not the kind you might be imagining. It's a little paper spinning wheel thingy that lines up the ingredients and cooking instructions for different kinds of pie.














I found this somewhere online and cut it out and added a fancy little brass brad. I didn't really make it from scratch. But it's not like I'm gonna make a pie from scratch either.

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Day 115: A Shark Bowl, Kinda

I made this origami bowl using an old calendar page of sharks. Either I didn't follow the instructions correctly, or it's a weird bowl. It kind of looks like the picture, but I was led to believe the "front" design would be covering the outside and the inside of the bowl. It didn't, so we get to view fragments of the month of April, circa 2003.



















I wonder if it snowed in April that year too.

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Day 114: Unorthodox Clamdigger

Today I made a Clamdigger, which I've enjoyed countless times since stealing the recipe from a rooftop bar in Friday Harbor. But today, in honor of Easter, I made it with Bakon vodka instead of plain vodka.




For those keeping score, the Clamdigger is made of vodka, Clamato juice, worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, celery salt, and black pepper.

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Day 113: Cilantro Vinaigrette

Today I made a delicious green concoction. Cilantro is one of my favorite foods in the world, so I couldn't resist.

Here are all the parts ready to be blended:




And here it is post-blend. Looks tasty, no?




And here it is drizzles on my happy little salad:




Mushrooms and tomatoes and olives, oh my!

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Day 112: Origami Something

Today I used my magical origami powers to make this thing that's either a box with a hole in the bottom or a lid that doesn't fit any boxes I have.














Made with more mappy goodness from the fabulous Andrea.

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Day 111: Unphotogenic Kusudama

I made this pretty folded flower thing called a Kusudama, but it's apparently a color does not like being photographed. It's so much prettier in person. Guinness is sure a fan of it though.















It's a big flower. Did I mention that?

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Day 110: Pangramania

A pangram is a sentence containing every letter of the alphabet at least once. They're used in typing and fonts and other situations where you want to make sure each letter is included. Most people are familiar with this one: The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.

For some reason, I've decided to compile a bunch of my favorite pangrams, maybe for future use in trying out different kinds of decorative lettering. Or maybe just because I'm weird that way.

1. Whenever the black fox jumped the squirrel gazed suspiciously.
2. Jaded zombies acted quaintly but kept driving their oxen forward.
3. Fake bugs put in wax jonquils drive him crazy.
4. Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz.
5. Kvetching, flummoxed by job, W. zaps Iraq.
6. A quick movement of the enemy would jeopardize six gunboats.
7. Six big juicy steaks sizzled in a pan as five workmen left the quarry.
8. The big plump jowls of zany Dick Nixon quiver.
9. Blowzy red vixens fight for a quick jump.
10. The explorer was frozen in his big kayak just after making queer discoveries.
11. A quizzical gawking child scampered forth, vending bijoux.
12. Cozy sphinx waves a quart jug of bad milk.
13. How quickly I am vexed by daft jumping zebras.
14. While Suez sailors wax parquet decks, Afghan Jews vomit jauntily abaft.
15. The five boxing wizards jump quickly.
16. The job requires extra pluck and zeal from every young wage earner.
17. Ebenezer unexpectedly bagged two tranquil aardvarks with his jiffy vacuum cleaner.
18. Watch "Jeopardy," Alex Trebek's fun TV quiz game.
19. Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes.
20. By Jove, my quick study of lexicography won a prize.
21. A mad boxer shot a quick, gloved jab to the jaw of his dizzy opponent.
22. Jinxed wizards pluck ivy from the big quilt.
23. A quart jar of oil mixed with zinc oxide makes a very bright paint.
24. The public was amazed to view the quickness and dexterity of the juggler.
25. The job of waxing linoleum frequently peeves chintzy kids.
26. Foxy diva Jennifer Lopez wasn't baking my quiche.
27. Wolf zombies quickly spot the jinxed grave.
28. The July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt.
29. A quick chop jolted my big sexy frozen wives.
30. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.

That last one's my favorite, although I do enjoy concise sentences about zombies.

At first, I had planned to write some of my own original pangrams, but it's Wednesday, and that's just not going to happen.

Day 109: Mappy Gift Bow

Today I made a gift bow using one of the many superfantasic maps my friend Andrea gave me.




I can't wait to make more Mappy things.

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Day 108: Circle Critters on Squares

Today I drew some animals using circles on very old graph paper I found. Some ended up more retarded than others. I decided to label them, since it may not be readily apparent.




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Day 107: Bookshelf Heaven

One of the problems with having such a small place is finding room for my billions of books. Here is an illustrated list of some of bookshelves out there that I covet.

1. A whole wall of books might be sufficient.

2. Best reason for a second floor.

3. More reading, less eating.

4. It's a reading chair. Kinda literally.

5. Why not use all that wasted space up on the ceiling?

6. Another reading chair.

7. Collapsible to save space when all my books are out being cleaned.

8. A much better use for closets than stupid old clothes.

9. The books never end...

10. Poor Rhode Island.

11. Books eat TV.

12. These kids have no idea how lucky they are.

13. For intellectual hamsters.

14. Watch out for those lazy robot servants, always taking breaks.

15. So adorable, I want a dozen.

16. Look! It's a bookshelf AND a desk AND a seat that encourages good posture.

17. This shelf would look much better crammed with more books.

18. Because books get tired too.

19. Why am I having Atari flashbacks?

20. Again, a better use for closets.

21. ?

22. Physics-defying wall decor is always nice.

23. Uh-oh.

24. A Lego-ish shelf that can reach up to the sky.

25. These tangram shelves can be arranged in different ways, but I'm partial to this scene.