7 January 2012 – 11:03 pm
As I’ve stated many times before, I’m simply enamored with things that are miniature and those that are oversized. Lately, three artists have caught my eye who deal with extreme proportions.
The first is Carrie M. Becker, who created a Hoarders inspired, Barbie-sized mess. She created amazingly detailed, doll-sized rooms filled to the brim with clutter and garbage. Especially wonderful is the neatly organized “after the intervention” room. Bravo.
The second artist is Jean-Francois Fourtou, who shoots beautifully surreal portraits of seemingly miniature and oversized people. His photos trick the eye and are both deceiving and charming.
And lastly, I’ve fallen in love with the work of Shay Aaaron, who creates impeccable food replicas at the tiniest scale. I still can’t believe he can manage that level of detail from sculpting clay, let alone at that size. He sells his creations as jewelry in his Etsy store, and I must say, I want them all.
At the beginning of each year I find myself in an anxiety-filled frenzy of organization. Clay and I emptied and scrubbed down our refrigerator, making our food the first thing to keep organized this year. I wanted to maintain that organization with me during lunch at work, so I searched for some bento box lunch containers. I couldn’t find any at our local Oriental market, but I did find these Klip-It Lunch Cubes at the Container Store.
The containers are only $4.99 and perfectly fit the size of meal I prefer. I bought two, one for my small lunch and one for my afternoon snack. I’m sure it wouldn’t give many people much joy, but it really excites me to see my lunch in organized little compartments. It’s the little things I guess. And, truthfully, anything to make my lunch-bringing more consistent is great in my book.
Just a few of my favorite things combined into one adorable accessory: Diana Eng’s whimsical design, Asian inspired fashion, and things that look like food, but aren’t. I love these coin purses by the Project Runawy alum. They are made from recycled leather and each one is unique. They also include a printed fortune inside. While $65 is a little steep for a coin purse, I still can’t help but swoon.
I love cake. I love eating it and especially looking at beautiful and intricately crafted display cakes. As shows like Ace of Cakes prove, modern cake decorators are artists and sculptors; their media just happen to be butter cream and fondant. I saw this cake as I was browsing one of my favorite cake blogs (yes, I read cake blogs, leave me alone). This seriously blows my mind. One of the greatest illusions I’ve seen to date and it looks delicious! Scroll down to be amazed and then visit sweetapolita.com to view the step-by-step process.
Due to an overly crazy workload and other obligations, I slowed down quite a bit on my 26 before 26 list. This one I’m pretty happy to cross off: #21: Lose 15 pounds.
For quite a while, I’ve been feeling tired, sluggish, and all-around icky. I was drinking several diet sodas in a day and eating plenty of junk. While I’m not one to condemn the delicious merits of fast food and processed treats, it was time for a change. So five weeks ago I started a nutrition plan in hopes it would raise my energy levels, make me feel better, and, as a nice side-effect, allow me to shed some pounds. I decided to cut out all carbs and sugar, eating 4-5 meals a day of lean protein and vegetables. I’m glad to report that I feel more energized, much healthier, and my clothes are fitting better too. I’m going to continue on this nutrition plan for 3 more weeks and then slowly start incorporating more foods in. I definitely want to keep eating fresh, healthy food from now on, but with the occasional pop-tart or cheeseburger thrown in.
For the finale of this season’s Top Chef, they are having five chefs competing for the title. The lineup for this “all star” season was pretty impressive, but most of my all-time favorites were left missing. If I were to pick the five best chefs who didn’t win, from all the seasons, the group would look a lot different.
I would have picked: Kevin Gillespie – ginger beardie with lovable personality and comfort food awesomeness, Richard Blais – the wizard with the faux hawk and liquid nitrogen tank, Sam Talbot – tall and handsome with love for sweet and savory combinations, Bryan Voltaggio – the nicer and more professional of the brothers, Stefan Richter – everyone’s favorite carefree Euro. Now that would be a competition!
