Facebook fan page

So sorry for the lack of updates recently.  They also changed the layout of blogspot!  Weird...

Anyway, I've been mainly updating the Facebook fan page for Sasha you bitch, which you can visit here.  Check it out!  Friend it!  Like it!  Whatever!

I'll try to get back to updating this thing more often, I promise.

Pusheen + eggs (and tinykittenteeth.com) = love

Pusheen, that adorably tubby gray tabby Internet sensation of a cat, has been recreated by Becky and Frank of  TinyKittenTeeth.com.  I love it.

Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply

First:

I want to apologize for my extremely long overdue update.  I've finished my Masters degree, moved from Canada back to the States, and have started a new job.
すみません、近頃とても忙しかったのです!

SO!  New favorite store:  Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply in Saint Paul, Minnesota!

Why is this store so great? 

- Garden supplies. including raised bed kits, heirloom veggies, organic, etc. etc. etc.  

- URBAN CHICKENS.  Yes.  In store, they sometimes (depends on season) have several different breeds of egg-laying chicken chicks for sale!  Check out their scheduled expected breeds for 2013. 

- They also have a ton of great bulk feed bins, starter "kits" for your own chicken coop (or you can buy one pre-made). 

- Canning/pickling/preserving goods.  Large pots, those tong things, cookbooks, all sorts of fun stuff for your canning/pickling/preserving needs. 

- Classes.  Total beginner?  No worries!  Egg|Plant offers a plethora of classes, from worm composting to shiitake mushroom cultivation to cheese making to maple tapping to URBAN CHICKEN KEEPING.  They've got all of your urban farmer needs.  

Self-sustainable living.  Take pride in what you eat, 'cuz you did it!  

Even the Smithsonian Loves Eggs

.../appreciates them.  Perhaps the people of the Smithsonian aren't as...."obsessed" as I am, but that's all just semantics.  Right?  Right.

ANYWAY.

For those that somehow don't know what it is (or perhaps just haven't been to the States), the Smithsonian Institute was created by a British scientist named James Smithsonian.  In his will, Mr. Smithsonian asked that his entire estate go to Washington DC in the United States to create a scientific institution (if his nephew died...who obviously did).  No idea why, especially since Mr. Smithsonian had never even been to the US, but I digress...

Today, the Smithsonian Institute consists of 18 museums, 9 research centres, 120 affiliates worldwide.  Pretty impressive.  If you ever have a chance to go to a Smithsonian museum, I highly recommend it.  Little no fact as well, the Smithsonian released some AMAZING music compilations a decade or so ago (unfortunately discontinued).  If you ever happen upon one, buy it...totally worth it.


So, here are two articles from one of my all-time favourite establishments:

from the Smithsonian article How the Chicken Conquered the World

1. How the Chicken Conquered the World.  An anthropological/historical account of how chickens/eggs literally saved Western civilization from starvation, and in some cases, Damnation.  Did you know that the ancient Egyptians were the first to develop artificial incubation?  YOU DO NOW!  And knowledge is power.

I want this picture mounted on my wall. 

2. How Do You Cook the Perfect Egg?  A mix of science and culinary arts.  As famous chef, Jacques Pepin says: the true test of a chef is how they cook their eggs.  Honestly though, it all comes down to personal preference.  Some people like runny yolk, some like well-done.  Some love sunny-side up eggs (yours truly), others really love scrambled (me too!).  Still, a fascinating and very short article worth a quick read.

Ok.  bed.  

Shaped Eggs

Do you ever get tired of the same old egg-shaped hardboiled egg?  Do you ever find yourself eating a hardboiled egg, thinking, "This is so dull!  I need more excitement in my eggs" ? Well now, you can have that excitement!  


EGG SHAPES. 


There are basically two ways off approaching this: cheating or effort.  


Cheating is quite simple - you get an egg mold online or from an asian food store.  You boil an egg.  While it's still warm, you peel and rinse the egg, then place it into the egg mold.  Press the egg mold closed.  Open the egg mold.  Tear off the excess egg bits that make the shape look sad, and voilà!  Egg mold. 

Pictures from CoffeeandVanilla.com

Effort requires a bit more...effort.  Here is a step-by-step guide from bento guru Anna the Red.  It doesn't appear too difficult, but it does require a bit more work than opening an old and squishing it shut.  Add two more pencils, and you can make flower/star eggs using the same procedure.  

Also from Anna the Red is how to make cube, sphere, and pyramid shaped-eggs.  

Nifty!  You'll never again have to settle for dull egg-shaped eggs ever again. 

The Scariest Egg Dish Ever! (My Ignorant Westerner Post)

As you probably know...I love eggs.  Love them.  Everything about them.

What you might not know is that I also pride myself as being a huge foodie, food tourist, and adventurous eater.  I live by the motto: try everything at least once.

I also looooooove ducks - not only are they very cute with their little quacks and spastic flapping when flying, but super ridiculously tasty.



NOW.  With that being said, there are a few dishes that make my stomach turn at just the thought of them.  Perhaps one day, I'll suck it up (HA!) and try them, but in the meantime...I try to avoid.

One such dish from the Philippines is balut.  Seriously, I don't know how they do it.

Starts off innocent enough - take some duck (sometimes chicken) eggs and cook them.  Tasty, right?

NO!  It's a 17-21 days old, partially developed bird fetus!  It's not even a vague sense of development and shape - IT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK.

from Philippines Food Recipes blog

Essentially, balut is street food.  Here's how it's *enjoyed*:

1. Crack tip of egg enough to make a small hole so you can suck out the juices.

from EdiblyAsian.com

2. Open up the egg some more, add a pinch of salt, and CHOMP!

from gpwa.com

Yes, it is very intense if you're not used to it (which I am definitely not).  But, it's part of another country's culture and cuisine, just as hamburgers are part of ours.  Perhaps one day I'll try belut, then I'd get this shirt:

My (late) Easter Egg Post

Soooo yes, I'm a little late.  Only one hour EST.  Not too bad...

Anyway!  Etsy.  Yes, Etsy.  I love Etsy (even though I've never bought anything from it); MANY people love Etsy (and they probably have bought things from it).  For those who do not know what exactly it is, Etsy is essentially the more creative cousin of Ebay (if you don't know what that is, sans auctioning.  If you don't know what Ebay is, Google it.  Etsy is a global market for people to sell goods that they have created, collected, etc.  It's fair to say that it's a bit more slanted to the Wes Anderson movie subculture...but that isn't necessarily a bad thing (sometimes...)!

Etsy, in their cute, crafty, Royal Tenenbaums-esque glory have posted two blogs that showed different ways of decorating Easter eggs.  And since I LOVE decorated eggs, I had to share pretty much them all.  Even if Easter is officially over.  Whatever.  Save these ideas for next year.  Or tomorrow.

From the website Orange Kitty Crafts:

Pointillism (never even HEARD of that!) and Origami Decoupage Easter eggs (and how to do them!)

LOVE the simplicity of them!

Next, we have even more Easter egg suggestions from the blog, Papersnitch:

Decoupage eggs

Neon dip eggs

Leaf print eggs

Polka dot Easter eggs

So many great ideas, why wait for Easter?