Recipe Time: Beef Roast

By

  My wife grew up on pot roasts and casseroles. I grew up on fried chicken and homemade mac ‘n cheese. I still am not a fan of pot roasts. I think they turn out dry and bland, but in an attempt to be a good husband I decided I would try to get excited about beef roasts. I spent the last year working on making a beef roast that I wouldn’t mind eating. I started the process by picking out a cut of meat that was affordable and commonly available. Something that I could experiment with but was consistent enough in its cut that I could make tweaks to my recipe and be able to tell a difference. After a few trips to the store I settled on an Eye of Round. The store I frequent has nearly the same cut every week. Same size and the same shape. So I settled on 2.5 lb hunk of meat.     I then went about searching different methods for prep and settled on tying the roast...

Quick Pics (01.25.21)

By

Black Holes

By

  Black Holes are fascinating and terrifying.   This Black Hole Is Really Taking Its Time Eating a Poor Star http://playground.knitdogproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IO9BlackHole.mp4   In November of 2014, observers spotted a burst of light that they thought was a supernova but when astrophysicist Anna Payne started analyzing the data she noticed that the burst was reoccurring every 114 days. In other words, it wasn’t a supernova. It was something else. Click Here for the whole article.     Not 100% sure what a black hole actually is? Check out this informative article from NASA, which includes a nifty Guide to Black Hole Safety. Click Here for the full article.   But what if you did fall into a black hole?       And now that you know a little more about them, you might be happy to know that they are actually alot easier to...

More Orchid and a bit of Buzzing…

By

  I can’t lie, I have not been very productive this week. So many things in the air but the last two nights I just haven’t had the will to do any work. I haven’t been at a total standstill but close. Here is some progress on the orchid…     I’m starting to like the direction this is going. The extra time and effort is really starting to pay off. I think I might make some prints on wood of this after it is done. I also messed around with this idea a little more…     This was a little less successful. Some has to do with the way the markers lay on the substrate, some of it was the design not really working. The first drafts were more simple and clean and worked much better. My daughter colored one too but she was really unhappy with how the marker looked too and asked me not to post it. She chose a really nice color scheme...

Art History: Penitent Magdalene by Donatello

By

  Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, not the Ninja Turtle, was a Renaissance era Italian Sculptor. He worked in a variety of materials including stone, bronze wood and clay. It is believed he started his art training as a goldsmith. His work mostly focused on religious figures and iconography. One of his most well known sculptures is a fascinating bronze depiction of David but I have always been taken by his Magdalene.     The Penitent Magdalene is a poplar wood sculpture of Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene is an interesting figure in the bible. Our understanding of her is now questioned and, in my opinion, Donatello seems to humanize her in a way that many don’t. She was a “woman of sin” (prostitute) who was tremendously beautiful but possessed by demons. Jesus cast out those demons and she went on to become one of his most ardent followers. The Bible...

Another New Project!

By

  “I’ve got one idea that I’m especially psyched out of my mind about. Ya’ know, it’s one of those ideas where you’re just like, YES!”    – Miles Finch, Elf (2003)   Ok so now I’m juggling a few different things at the same time. It is great to have ideas but it is awfully hard to actually complete anything. The orchid is coming along but very slowly. I’m going to try to focus on this for a minute and get it done. What is it? Well here is a hint…