Sleeping Animals and Wild Flowers

Today's origami centers around Dinh Truong Giang  and his designs using simple folds and few reference points to achieve pretty cool designs.  I folded up two today….the sleeping dog and fox variation.    I took many pictures, but only the front part was the more striking.  Hopefully I will be working on this desing and seeing if I ca perfect it later.  In the mean time….enjoy the pics.    

Also some origami Sheep:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other than that,  We have started sewing up this years stocking proto types and trying to hash out the details to the new shop offerings.   All the while sales keep trickling in via the stockings and the origami.   Hopefully we can maintain a momentum and make this year the best yet.  There still is much to do.

 

 

 But in addition to that,  Cheryl wanted me to post a picture of the wild flowers we have been hunting down along the road side.  Funny, all the cool flowers that are just “there” for anyone to select.   The key is to pick them so they do not wilt or lose color…as several of the flowers we chose today did.  The sunflowers are from the bird seed droppings I put out this spring.  The wind storm blew most of them down, and the birds are eating many of the large ones.  But Cheryl managed to find a few that are in perfect condition and sized right for her vase.   Along with the wildflowers we picked today, the make a nice display.  

Origami Weekend

My latest work.  I probably am going to be drafted into stocking production soon, so I may not be able to fold as much as I would like.  I have been struggling with a sheep for the last several days.  A Sheep should be pretty easy..but  the color change and the design seem to evade me.  In the mean time.  I have been folding a few standbys that allow me to feel a sense of accomplishment.

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Origami Buffalo….with Anniversary Pizza!

Our anniversary is always one of those things that you plan big and it ends up being ….let’s say….Less than big.  We spent our Friday/Saturday in the Twin Cities in Minnesota….Not really much to write about.  It was “ok”…But things actually were better AFTER we came back to Iowa. Mason Iowa has a Wright House that was giving tours.  Cheryl loves those modernist homes. We did not go on the tour, but decided instead to eat some good food at the an Asian Bar and Grill.   

We then toured a wool mill somewhere and purchased a 100% wool blanket.   I love wool..   It’s always warm and toasty.

 

When we finally got home.  We were too exhausted to do much,  but the next day we we made pizza with some Oktoberfest beer by J D Dundees.  The same people who make Honey Brown.   It was good!  And Cheryl says she might actually fight me for the remaining bottles later on.   I’m one of a fan of these beers than Cheryl….she likes the “special ones.”  But it went well with the pizza…..let’s face it…pretty much any beer goes well with Pizza.  

And so it is a lazy day here today.  Cheryl is scoring for Pearson and I am folding a few things.   IT is tough to get back in the groove after a long weekend of travel…but I’m sure I’ll find my stride soon enough.  In the mean time…enjoy the Origami  Water Buffalo.

 

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Origami Piglet

Just a quick post on the latest origami.   A Pig…again.    he always manages to find someone who is willing to give him a good home…so I folded him up again.   Plus,  I like this pig.  Enjoy!  We have a big weekend in Minneapolis this Friday.    Cheryl wants to get a feel for things as we consider various next steps in our lives.  We shall see how things work out.  

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Also…I have been addicted to this gave called “Don’t Starve.”   A fun little game where you have to survive while learning what to avoid, what to eat, and what to build to keep you safe, happy, healthy  and sane!  The best I have managed is 53 days so far….Almost an entire year.   I have yet to live through a summer.   Funny….summers are the worst!   Things catch on fire….you overheat…your crops wither….Anyway,  enjoy the pig pics and if you ever want to play an addicting mentally challenging game…..Don’t Starve! 

Sports Fishing…Origami Style!

Who needs water?   Or a boat, fishing pole, bait, tackle, and a long weekend to travel to some secret fishing spot?    If you want a trophy fish, why not just fold one?   It’s cheaper,  Safer, and will cause you far fewer headaches in the end.  Trust me!  As a former fly fisherman,  I know first hand the small fortune you spend on maintaining that “mystique”.  As a former taxidermist, I used to feel the need to mount most of my trophies on the wall after hours and hours of work and lots of expense.  This is way simpler!  And the cool thing is no fish were harmed during the folding process and no delicate sea life or wetland was damaged in the process.   Now you may be saying,”  Yeah, but you can’t eat it!”   Seriously,   How many people actually eat their fish that they catch?   ( Again,   This is my own personal experience coming in)    Oh, sure!   We clean them and put them in the freezer with the best of intentions to eat them at some special fish fry with your neighborhood friends…..but most likely they are forgotten and end up getting thrown out because they are totally freezer burned.

So, have fun with your exotic fly-fishing vacation that you spend thousands on and it rains the whole time.    Enjoy eating that leathery freezer fish you caught last summer.  I’ll stick with Origami and buy my fish fresh from the seafood section.  ( Farm Raised, Of Coarse!)

Making Pizza! With the Great Ethan Allen.

After trying several exotic pizzas lately, Cheryl wanted to take a stab at making our own.  And after one such “Ho-Humm”  experience at a rather upscale restaurant, I assured her that we could do better.  All it would take is a few items to make ordinary pizza extraordinary. 

 

  Bakers secret:   The Pizza stone!   Sure you can buy one at your local Hardware store for three bucks.  But I was POSSITIVE Cheryl could not be convinced of me baking pizza on a yard stone or roofing tile.  ( It’s true by the way!   You CAN bake a pizza on a patio stone if it is ceramic and has a porous surface.) So we set out to find the “Pizza Baking Stone”  One for baking Pizzas and ONLY pizzas….not bread.  Not meat.  Only Pizza.  

Luckily, we found one at the local Target and I set about trying to bake the “Perfect Vegetable Pizza”. With Red pizza sauce….not white.  White Pizza sauce is not “real” pizza sauce according to Cheryl.  Only the red Pizza sauce….also known as Marinara sauce for those of us in the “know”.  Again,  it had to say “pizza” on the label, or Cheryl would not consider it.   From my past cooking days,  we used Marinara for both pizza AND spaghetti.   And a number of other chicken and noodle dishes.  It is the same sauce!  The spices may vary a little from company to company, but red is red!

  Ok,   After losing several battles with Cheryl over what is “right”, we got down to the actually making and baking of the pizza.   Cheryl suggested that we stay with “Real” pizza dough that is pre made by Pillsbury.  Making my own in the Ninja is too much for this first pizza.   Another argument lost!

The Wonderful thing about the pizza from Pillsbury is that the dough is square.   SQUARE?   Funny, the Stone is round, all pizzas I have ever seen at restaurants are round.   But not this “Real”  Pizza dough.   So how do you make a square pizza dough fit on a round pizza stone?  You don’t! 

Well,  Ok,  you TRY….But it does not look very pretty.  

Next.  Add toppings and put it in the stove according to the instructions.   15 minutes at 450 degrees.  In the end…CHAR!

Well,  not really.   Just a little darker than I would have liked for my first attempt. On the bright note:  the pizza tastes AWESOME!  Not the best to look at but pretty tasty indeed.   Serve it up with a nice refreshing beer and dinner is SERVED!  Yumm!

Now, tonight was out second attempt and I think it went a little better this time.      First, I took the remaining dough and rolled it into a ball.   Second I assembled the pizza on a cookie sheet with flour on it so it would be easy to slide off and onto the heated pizza stone.  And lastly,  I baked it for only 9 minutes this time. 

 

 

 

Visually there is still room for improvement.   But the taste is consistent and tonight I actually made my OWN dough for the next several days.  They should be well risen in the fridge by tomorrow.  I will have to blog about how things go with that dough. 

 

    In other news,  Cheryl has been itching to bake up those berries we acquired from our walks in the country.  I keep telling her to pick enough for a pie, but she wanted something a little more simple.  Puff Pastry!  

Incredibly simple.   Take Puff pastry,  cream cheese, sugar and berries and stack them up!  We had these for dessert after the pizza.  I wonder what liberties she will come up with next.   We shall see.

Some Origami Shells and Rays

Here is what I have been working on all week.   Enjoy the pics…and mostly I want to see if I can get this windows live writer to publish my photo stream.  We shall test it and see.  Enjoy!

 

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