T-Shirt Making & Brunch at the Alley

Hello and happy middle of the week at the end of April in the first few months of the year! Yeah, I know…odd way to start but I was stressed for an entry opener. That’s quite literally what fell out of my head.

I finally got around to making a t-shirt as the winning entry from my New This Weekend contest. I am sad to say that it didn’t go exactly as I had planned and because of that, I felt it necessary to include another new thing I did this weekend. It’s a double post. Woo!

Anyhow, on Sunday morning I set up my supplies outside. I had my t-shirt, wax paper, exact-o knife, markers, iron (inside), and lastly, paint. I even had a big piece of tile to lie the wax paper flat on so that when I started cutting, it wouldn’t scratch the new patio table Kevin just bought us. I put the design down, taped it to the tile, and then put the wax paper on top of the design for easy tracing.


Tracing Not Optional.

Like the design? I got that off the web though I don’t remember where. I just wanted to put that out there so no one thinks I did it myself and am trying to pass it off as my own. It’s probably a company logo or something. I just thought it was funny. Chicken with iPod. Hyst-TER-ical. (wee!)

So anyhow, I started tracing with a pencil and realized immediately that I was screwed. Essentially, I didn’t read the instructions well enough and got wax paper instead of FREEZER paper. I didn’t know that there was a difference. To those out there who didn’t know there was a difference either, let me enlighten you. What am I here for but to make the mistakes so you don’t have to?

• Wax Paper: Wax paper is tissue paper that’s been coated with paraffin on both sides, making it resistant (but not impervious) to grease and moisture. Wax paper is easily compromised by liquid, it is prone to tearing, and it is not heatproof (the wax begins to melt at relatively low temperatures).
  
• Freezer (Parchment) Paper: Parchment is effectively teflon coated (on one side). It can withstand high temperature heat. According to the Orb (Internet), it is usually best to use parchment paper over wax paper in most situations.

In layman terms, I couldn’t trace anything because pencil lead and marker will not write on wax. I am grateful that they don’t write on wax because if I had forged ahead I would have ended up having to buy a new iron as the wax would have ruined it. Whew! If there’s anything this blog is teaching me, it’s not to forge ahead and use my brain for a moment or two.

Free hand sucks.

Without the stencil I was forced to free hand it. Thankfully the fabric markers turned out to be relatively easy to use and I was quite pleased with the results.

…until I decided that it looked a little boring and that I should frame the design with the 3-D fabric paint I got.

Maybe I got overconfident. Maybe I my hand slipped a bit. Regardless, I ended up with a t-shirt that at first looked like I might have bought it to a t-shirt a 4-year old could make.

Sigh.

After the framing mishap, I was done. I put the t-shirt on the dishwasher to dry and got myself ready for brunch; which is the 2nd new thing I did this weekend.

The Alley, Newport Beach

Well, not brunch….I’ve certainly done brunch before. And the Alley where we went for brunch? Yep, I’ve been there before too. But I’ve never had brunch AT the Alley. And really, it was kind of crap.

Jeff had to point out that my meal looked like boobs.

I shouldn’t say that brunch at the Alley was crap. It just wasn’t as good as other places I’ve been to for brunch. For example, the never ending Mimosas were $8.50 per person. The Village Inn (not the chain, but the little hole in the wall on Balboa Island) only charges $3.00 per person and Woody’s Wharf doesn’t charge at all (they make it up on their food prices). The brunch choices in the breakfast area were minimal, and not very good. Both Kevin and Jeff were disappointed in their lunch choices as well. We did enjoy hanging out on the patio of the Alley to make our $8.50 worth it. The waitresses were excellent at refilling our drinks which is leagues above having to almost beg the busboy to refill your drink at Woody’s.

Mimosas make every brunch that much better.

Wow. I just went in full restaurant review mode there. Sorry about that. Have a great week!

Friday. YAY!

Hi Everyone! No, I haven’t died or given up on the blog, I swear. Last weekend Kevin and I got a surprise visitor in the form of Kevin’s Old College Buddy and I got sidetracked. I bought all the supplies for the T-shirt making, t-shirts included, but never got around to putting supplies to creations. For that I am deeply sorry. In my defense of the new thing resolution, I did go to a place in Balboa that I have never been before (which is an odd statement in itself as Balboa is tiny and there are very few places there I haven’t at least walked into). Sadly it wasn’t exciting enough to make a whole entry about it. However, if you are ever in Balboa having Blue Drinks at the place formally known as Studio Café, stop in to the Shorehouse down the block. They have really nice pool tables.


Photo by Phillip Toledano

Still feeling bad about not having a real entry for you right now, I figured I could somewhat entertain you if you are still stuck at work waiting for that clock to strike ‘Friday Going Home or at least to Happy Hour’ time. Here are a few things off the web that can amuse you…at least for a few minutes:

300 Movie Trailer, PG Version:



The Love Connection’s Worst Named Guest:



Oddly wonderful Cakes


Actual cake, completely edible...this isn't even the best one.

Plumber Burns down house first day of the job:


D'oh!

Because I'm wonderfully lazy, all sites above were directed to me by Neatorama.com. Thank you Neatorama!

Anyhow, hope that gets you though the next 10 minutes. Have a great weekend!

Winners Announced!

Before I announce the winners (but if you simply can’t be patient while I widdle away at this narrative, just scroll down), choosing the winner was really, really, hard. I must be honest when I say that I will most definitely do all the finalist selections at some point. I only did get four entries, but those four people submitted a hell of a lot of great ideas.

Here were the finalist choices:

• Go out and take some photos to enter into the O.C. Fair photo competition.
  
• How about birdwatching?
  
• Griffith Observatory: http://www.griffithobs.org/
  
• Skeet shooting! Go to a gun club and shoot at some clay discs.
  
• Make a freezer paper T-shirt
  
• Go see a Roller Derby bout!
  
• Host a chili dump. Have your friends make a small batch of their favorite chili, dump it into one big pot, and enjoy!

I know! What would you choose? If only I could go to the Roller Derby while skeet shooting while all my friends made t-shirts and chili with birds on their shoulders!


Just some cool artwork I found on the web. Ell-a-phants!

So without further ado, here are the winners. Or as I like to say, the Big Wieners (trust me when I say this phrase is used in a good way):

GRAND PRIZE WINNER of a T-Shirt and a mug goes to: Natalie for her Freezer Paper T-shirt idea. CONGRATULATIONS NATALIE!

FIRST PLACE WINNER of a mug goes to Beth for her Skeet Shooting idea. If I picked the winner off of what make me laugh the most, you would definitely be taking home the grand prize.

RUNNER UP Prizes go to Robert and Ed. Both of your ideas will be used, trust me.

Happy Friday everyone, see you next week!

Tandoori Chicken - Home Entry!

I love Indian food. Well, most of it anyways. I especially love the Chicken Mahkani at Mother India in Costa Mesa. I love Mother India’s Chicken Mahkani so much that not only do I eat it at least once a month but I also subject any visitors that may come and visit me to eat at Mother India as well. I become a little bit defensive if the person I brought to Mother India doesn’t fall in love with it like I have (Hi Mom, yes, I mean you…spicy my ass) (Actually she doesn’t know about this blog…mainly because she considers ‘shut up’ to be a swear word). I love their Chicken Mahkani so deeply that even though I tell myself I will one-day order something from Mother India that isn’t Chicken Mahkani I never do. It’s really just that good. As is their daal…and garlic naan…and samosas…I hear other things are good too but I have never tried them. Oh, but their lunch buffet kinda bites. I know; it’s weird.

This weekend Kevin and I were broke. Like really broke. Like almost considered selling off the CD collection and breaking into change jar for groceries broke. But I was really in the mood for some Chicken Mahkani, which is pretty common of me to want something right at the time when I can least afford it. So I decided that I would make my own Chicken Mahkani, which I have done before but never the proper way, which is to use Tandoori Chicken. Now granted, I still couldn’t make Tandoori Chicken the way one is suppose to do it (clay oven), but I do have a BBQ grill. Clay Oven, BBQ Grill…close enough (there’s a country in Asia right now fainting at the thought).

Surprisingly, we already had most of the ingredients in the house from the last time I tried (and ‘tried’ really is the appropriate word here) so all I had to buy was the world’s most expensive chicken breasts, some yogurt, bit of ginger, and a lemon which I didn’t even use.



I first cut up the chicken into bits and soak it in a bit of lemon juice and salt. Meanwhile, Kevin mixed together all the other marinade things, except for the food coloring, which I insisted that I do just because it would be fun. Yes, I have a weird sense of the word ‘fun’.



After applying the marinade to the chicken bits, I left it in the refrigerator for what seemed like eternity. But in real life time, it was 24 hours. Believe me when I say, when you want Chicken Mahkani, 24 hours IS eternity.


My fridge, in case 'Cribs' ever wants to come to my house.

The next day I started the grill. I am embarrassed to say that after two and a half years of living in California I have become accustomed to always being able to grill outside (without freezing my ass off). It’s a luxury I take for granted. This is the round about way of me saying I’m sorry it snowed on your Easter. If it makes you feel any better, we’re in a drought which means that this summer the entire state of California will burn down to the ground that will also mean it will be uncomfortably hot (fire=hot) and we don’t have an air conditioner…or a hose big enough to handle a fire that size.


Grill and the tomato plants that can't grow fast enough.

Where was I? OH YES, the grill. So I threw the marinade pieces of chicken on there and once they were properly cooked, I began calling it Tandoori.


My name is Earl, uh, I mean 'tandoori chicken'.

From there I made the Mahkani sauce.


Ah! How many of you have Kasoori Methi in your house? OK, how about know what it is?

As you can see from the picture below, includes Asia’s ration of butter. I understand that Mahkani can also called ‘Butter Chicken’ but DAMN.


Asia's going to be pissed.

After the butter melted, I threw in everything else and let it simmer awhile. I did come to the realization that a wok probably wasn’t the best instrument to use for this as simmering Mahkani means splattered Mahkani all over stove, countertop, floor, Moe, glass of wine besides stove, cat, and I think even one of the smaller countries in Asia.



So this is the finished product. I was a bit disappointed in the sauce (which means I’m STILL in the mood for Mother India) but the Tandoori Chicken was fantastic.

No Mother India, but not bad.

CONTEST UPDATE: I will be announcing the winners of the New This Weekend Contest on Friday, April 13th. Make sure to check in and if you haven’t already, send in those entries!

Send in those entries!

I'm sorry to say that the contest will be delayed for another week as I only have 4 entries right now. I want to thank the four people who have submitted already as your ideas are very very good. Some I admit I have already done before (though not written about) and some just plain made me laugh out loud. It makes me think I should hire a creative team for this blog.

Anyhow, this weekend's new thing will be of my own creation-which at this point will be a home entry most likely. I will, without a doubt, pick the winner next Friday, April 13th even if there is still only 4 entries. But I hope to get more (hint, hint).

In case I don't write out this week's entry before then, Happy Easter!

New This Weekend Contest!

Happy April Fool’s Day! While I could say the following is an April Fool’s joke, it is not. Kevin did suggest that I come up with an elaborate story for my new thing and make you all think I jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge this weekend (and I’m sure I could have scored the convincing photos somewhere off the web for it) meanwhile doing absolute nothing and finally tell you on Friday that it was all just a joke; but that just wouldn’t be right. So in lieu of the fact that I have never held a contest and truthfully I really am running out of ideas of new things to do, I present to you the first ever New This Weekend Contest.

• TO ENTER: Submit an email (link is on the side panel) to scrabblemoe@gmail.com with your suggestion for what you would like to see me do new next weekend. Please include your name and email address (if different from the one you’re sending it from).
  
  
• PRIZES: (1) Grand Prize Winner will win a New This Weekend mug and their choice of one New This Weekend t-shirt (up to $25.00).
  (1) First Prize Winner will win a New This Weekend mug.
  (2) Runner up winners will win a New This Weekend bumper sticker.
  
  
• The Grand Prize Winner and First Prize Winner will be chosen by the best idea. Runner-up winners will be drawn from a hat (literally).
  
  
• Grand Prize Winner’s idea will be used for an entry. Most likely the First Place winners too and even more likely, ever frickin’ idea submitted unless it’s completely silly.
  
  
• RULES FOR SUBMISSION: To have your idea considered, please keep in mind that the cost of the idea cannot exceed $50.00. Ideas must be able to be done within 60 miles of Costa Mesa, CA. Please keep your ideas clean as my sister reads this site. Lastly, I’m terrified of heights so jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge just wouldn’t be done. Otherwise, I’m open for suggestions. Looking forward to what you all have in mind.
  
  
• Winners will be chosen on Friday, April 6th 2007 unless I don’t have enough valid submissions to give all the prizes too. If that is the case, then I will extend the contest a week.

OH! And feel free to enter as often as you like. And I would enter…I mean, as far as contests go, you have an excellent chance of winning…how many people really read this site? 12?

Have a great week!