First, a recipe:

macaroon tart crust:

(gluten and dairy free)

2 cups combination shredded coconut and sorghum flour

2 egg whites

2 T sugar (the liquid ratio might be off with a liquid sweetener, try adding more sorghum)

touch of salt

mix all together in a bowl, press into a tart or spring form pan, bake at

325 for 15 minutes or so, fill! (mine was filled with leftover re-melted

lavender truffles topped with chocolate mousse and mint leaves)

Next, I am moving tomorrow! Goodbye Haight St.

And finally, some sketches:

tooth-picker caught in action:

gluten?

I was about to bake some zucchini muffins to share with Helen this morning,

when I realized I only had gluten-free ingredients (having used all of my wheat

flour to papier mache a hippopotamus head).

So, maintaining my inability to use a recipe, I whipped up these muffins. They

taste glutenny enough for me!

Glutenless Zucchini Muffins:

(all measurements approximate)

1/4 c sorghum flour

1/8 c sweet rice flour

1/4 t xanthan gum

pinch of salt

2 T sugar

1/4 c shredded coconut

1/2 t baking powder

2 eggs

1 T canola oil

3 dates, chopped

3/4 c grated zucchini (one smallish zucchini)

chocolate (I used TCHO chocolate, delivered from the magical chocolate

dumpster by the one and only Star Simpson after Maker Faire this weekend)

combine everything in a mixing bowl (add the wet mix to the dry mix)

fill greased muffin tins (these are sticky little buggers) about 3/4

top with chunks of chocolate

bake at 350 15-20 minutes (they'll be done when you push on the top and they

spring back).

Really, these could've fooled me on the gluten.

tomatoes a la your mom, or what to do with leftover rice

This idea borrowed from the Marsh family, and made in a collabo with Jesse

leftover rice (Jesse made an awesome pot of basmati rice with vegetable broth

instead of water)

cheese (mozzarella and feta were our picks)

basil

salt

sauteed garlic and shallots

tomatoes, gutted

mix the first 4 ingredients and taste

stuff the gutted tomatoes with it and set them in a pyrex baking dish (or something)

use the rest of the rice/cheese mix to surround the tomatoes in the dish.

top with garlic and shallots

bake, covered, until sizzly and the tomatoes look cooked. I think we cooked them

at 375 for about 30 minutes. remove the cover and continue baking til it crisps up.

serve with pesto.

I learned a lot drawing this first one. I think I learn more from the slower

stiffer drawings and enjoy looking at the faster looser drawings. Go figure.

product product product

Firstly, some new slimmer leg straps now on sale at Mission Bicycles!

I'm pretty excited about this crop, they look sleek, and have some new

colors of reflective tape as well (red!).

I spent the morning drawing at Velo Rouge Cafe, where that first watercolor

was done. Said watercolor now belongs to the cafe and will hopefully be

hanging soon! (and maybe I'll score some free coffee from it all. that is the

ultimate goal, is it not?)

a shoutout

let me introduce my dear sister, Dwoira Galilea.

more food

a cross between brownies and fudge, without the sweet.

(gluten free, dairy free, sugar free)

all measurements approximate of course

dry:

1/4 c sweet rice flour

1/3 c ground almonds (sub any nut or seed, or some garbanzo/fava flour)

1 t cornstarch

3 T sorghum flour

salt to taste

wet:

2 oz melted unsweetened baking chocolate

1/2 avocado

1/2 banana

1/4 c coconut oil

2 eggs

7 medjool dates, squished, blended, or otherwise made mixable

mix the wet ingredients together and pour into the dry. stir it all up,

salt to taste. I used some himalayan rock salt, which has the advantage

of being pink and sounding culinarily lofty, but the disadvantage of not

dissolving and leaving very salty surprises.

pour into a baking dish and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until a

toothpick comes out clean.

better chilled.

these were anything but sweet. it's like eating a brownie, and fudge, and

a healthy avocado snack all in one. if you want them sweeter, just add

more dates!

these are also superb topped with unsweetened yogurt.

Today was Bike to Work Day! I volunteered with Jesse and a couple other

folks at the Presidio Energizer Station for the SF Bike Coalition, and one

of the guys we signed up posted a little video here.

Woke up with the sun to get over to the station by 6:30 and stayed until the

sun was way too bright at 10. Bike to Work Day is like a holiday over here,

everyone was so jolly and happy to drink free coffee and be on a bike. So

damn wholesome.

Also I've been working on this animation all afternoon. The final drawings

will be inside a chaotic zoetrope (Picnic-a-go-go: High Sensitivity to Initial

Conditions Lorentz Water Wheel, or something) that Jesse and Adam and

B are building for Maker Faire next weekend. And hey! Now I know how to

make a cheap fast animation!

experimenting

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance pointed out to me today that

an experiment is only experiment if the outcome is unknown at the

beginning. Thus, watercolor is one big fat experiment for me, and the

conclusions are yet unknown. Feedback appreciated.

I just wanted to let you all know that I am not dead, but have not been

drawing since I went camping, owing in no small part to spending too

many hours working in the cafe. However, there is still activity on this

end, and the past week has seen some excellent rosemary and lavender

chocolate truffles, savory mochi dumplings in a killer vegetable broth,

vegan truffle sandwich cookies, and 150 miles on my bike!

Also the August show at the SoCha Cafe has been bumped up to June,

so if you are here that month there will be two shows amongst which to

divide your attention. I'll be getting a move on soon.

Also, more prints to come as soon as Hilary and I can work out a time.

Vegetable broth:

Use whatever veggies you have. The more the better. I used:

2 onions

1 carrot

leftover feathery bits from fennel

dulse (seaweed)

1 japanese sweet potato

the top of a leek

garlic

ginger

1-2 T miso paste

salt

shitake mushrooms, sliced

leek stalks, sliced

boil the crap out of your veggies, (with miso and salt to taste).

I used just enough water to cover, which made the soup extra tasty (I

was low on veggies) but only made enough for 2 bowls. I think it boiled

at least an hour, but probably closer to 2. Strain out the veggies, add the

leeks and mushrooms and simmer a little longer. I also saved the

japanese sweet potato rounds and kept them for the soup. Mmmmmm

A 5:45 alarm woke me up in time for the SF2G (san fran to google, 42 mi.)

meetup ride this morning. I downed some decaf coffee at Philz in the Mission

before heading out with this really intimidating-looking group of riders (I was

one of the only ones without cycling shoes or spandex). We immediately hit

some hills and I was at the back of the group, but after 3 consecutive climbs,

the rest of the route was flat! I couldn't believe it.

That said, I continued to be at the back of the group. The whole damn time.

But while unfortunately, my bike weighed more than anyone else's (and I got

comments to that effect more than once), I had the distinct advantage of being

female, so one of the more experienced riders hung back with me to make sure

I didn't get lost ("Oh, it's okay, I've ridden to work 4 days this week already so

I'm taking it easy. Anyway we're riding back tonight."). He also helped me fix

a flat with his much better mini pump, and also gave me iphone directions to

the Atherton CalTrain station when I bailed (that particular station is

unfortunately only open weekends, so I finnagled my way back to Redwood

City. Between the meetup, getting lost, and getting back home I think I'm just

shy of 40 miles.).

A note on bailing: part of me wanted not to, wanted to man up and keep riding

way too quickly for my comfort level, and I would have. However, a well-timed

flat was all I needed to remember that I was no longer having fun, and that

there is no point riding if you are both in pain and doing it for no reason.

Came home and passed out. Feeling good.

news!

Color? Multiples? Nice paper? I forgot about these things it seems, but

5 hours of printing at Hilary's today yielded 2 small editions of my

Christmas drawings.

If anyone would like to buy a print, please let me know.

Laying them out to dry (this is my bed):

getting our camp on

Well, first a recipe, inspired by a tart I made, inspired by a lemon and

chocolate tart from the restaurant Lucques.

I followed the lemon curd recipe, replacing butter with coconut oil and

adding lemon zest, with about 2/3 the amount of sugar it called for. For

a gluten-free crust, I used a combination of sunflower seed meal, teff,

buckwheat, and sweet rice flours with cornstarch and xanthan gum, with

a touch of sugar, salt, and coconut oil, and ice water.

The tart was excellent, but I was left with a bowl of leftover lemon curd

that didn't fit. So running with the lemon chocolate idea, I now have a

mini batch of lemon curd and chocolate sandwich cookies.

the cookie:

it's basically the same as a date nut bar (which is made of dates and nuts)

but cooked.

dates

nuts

optional: sunflower/sesame/hemp/flax seeds, cacao nibs, buckwheat

crunchies, etc.

combine your choice of nuts (I used cashews walnuts and almonds) in a

blender or food processor (or coffee grinder if that's all you've got), and

chop coarsely.

pour these into a bowl, add seeds and crunchies and mix.

add dates (pitted) and mix with your fingers until the dates are well

integrated and everything sticks together.

here you can separate the mix into bowls if you want to make different

flavors. i made a chocolate, a curry and a lemon.

to the lemon ones, add lemon zest and a touch of lemon juice (to taste).

make the dough into tiny balls and flatten to discs.

bake at 325 for 15 minutes, chill.

while the cookies are chilling, melt a tiny bit of chocolate in a double

boiler (i use a frying pan on top of a saucepan). add a touch of salt.

dip the cookies pan side first in the chocolate, invert on a plate, and freeze

until the chocolate solidifies.

spread on a thin layer of lemon curd, and sandwich away!

keep cookies in fridge.

Alternatively, the cookies without any chocolate or lemon curd make really

great snacks while biking, which is what they were this weekend on our bike

trip to China Camp State Park in San Rafael.

The ride was great, it's a pretty wonderful feeling to be so independent, with

everything you need on your vehicle (maybe if I knew how to drive I would

have discovered this feeling a long time ago). With a slow-paced 35ish miles

each way, there was lots of time to think, gaze, daydream, sunbathe, etc. The

things I learned are as follows:

Always secure your bags to your bike well.

Sunscreen!

Don't put all your beers in the cooler at once; if you don't finish them, the

coons'll get the thing open and steal your food.

Raccoons like truffle cheese.

Mexican food is a bad idea mid-ride.

Radio waves travel close to the speed of light, which is why there's no doppler

effect when you are driving and listening.

If you don't have any tongs, keep a bag of cold water at hand, dip your hand in

it before going for the food on the grill and you won't burn.

Lady Gaga probably has something to do with the Singularity.

Just some snapshots from the trip: