Author Archive

Wedding Maddness

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Posted by msabicer

empire_lineil_430xN.759535492003854173745742191_rsil_430xN.53081228So, since I’ve been absent for a minute, I thought I’d share a new photo post from some of the things I’ve been snooping around lately. enjoy!-xoxo- Marla Ann

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Dia de los tres!!!!!

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Posted by msabicer

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So, you should definetley come out to our community block party, this Saturday! Starting 3-6, art exhibits at The Tree House, followed by music 6-8 at Synchronicity L.A. feat. Johanna Chase, and Harrison Ford. Thridly, indy films being shown at The Opium Den  8-late. So BYOB, or donate a few $ to the cause and celebrate de los tres con nosotros!  All donations will benefit the Synchronicity L.A. Studio project. See you there.

Posted in Sprout's Miscellaneous Bag of Tricks | No Comments »

Cross dressin n’ messin arround…

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Posted by msabicer

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img_8821img_8782img_8785img_87841img_8783img_87811img_8744img_8739img_8778img_8735So here they are, the much anticipated photos of our gender bending party. Phew.

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Posted in Guests, Photographs, house happenings | No Comments »

OH Sweet Jesus, I’ve found it.

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Posted by msabicer

picture-11Remember a few posts ago when I couldn’t figure out who produced those beautiful pictures?

Well I’ve found it.

picture-21I remembered seeing some of his work with Marilyn Manson and that one model, you know, the one who looks like a redheaded doll?

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Turns out her name is Lily Cole. I heard she likes punk.

Anyway, the photographer is Miles Aldridge, and you should seriously check out his stunning portfolio.

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Along the way, I found some other bad ass work- mostly from google searching Vogue Italia photography.

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They look and feel like they were shot in the 70’s. It’s sort of like discovering that old box of photos your mom had stashed in the crawlspace with old love letters and pictures of boys who were not your dad.

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His name is Niel Krug, and I found him through some artsy site you might like.

They describe the photo series as “Beautiful, majestic and a little bit Choose Your Own Adventure or pulp novels come to life.” – Remember  those things? Dang.

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Posted in Photographs, Visual Art and Design | 1 Comment »

Haunted camera

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Posted by msabicer

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So this last weekend, I went on a three day backpacking trip with my family to a place called the Champion Sparkplug mine, near Bishop CA. The views were gorgeous, the wine delicious, and the nights bitterly cold. Everything a good camping trip is supposed to be.

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This place is amazing. It’s an abandoned mining camp from the 1920’s. It’ s like a secret ghost town. You have to hike a good four miles in to get to the actual lower camp- but we cheated and used quads to get to the main trail head. From there to the camp was only two dicey miles mostly uphill. All of the Miner cabins are still standing, complete with pot bellied stoves and wooden plank floors.img_3449

Water comes from a spring and can be carried to a working camp kitchen complete with cast iron wood stove as well as a few white gas stoves from the 1950’s thoughtfully left by other campers. The miner’s cabins themselves have beds and even some linens. Everything is just as it looked in the mines hayday during the 1920’s. Even the glass windows are intact from the turn of the century.

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During the day we took a 4 mile day hike up to the high camp that contained the mine itself. My family has always had a pension for crawling around in old mines, but this thing was massive. The tunnels were wide and cold, damp with old air. I strapped on my headlamp and wandered around a bit only to find more open mine shafts and twisting tunnels in every direction. Afraid of getting lost I turned back to find the daylight.

At night the stars were crisp and clear, and the air  very still. One night, before a light snowfall I started getting crazy weird vibes from the place. It occurred to me that mining is usually a very dangerous proposition, and that most likely, several men had died in the camp.

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Then, this happened to my camera. Streaky, blurry, muddled photos. Maybe it was the rocky hike in, but part of me likes to think that it was the resident ghosts I felt roaming around that turned my camera into something from the twilight zone.

Unfortunately, those ghosts haven’t left my camera, and now ny six year old friend has finally given up the ghost. Looks like I’m in the market for a new camera.

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Swine Flu…

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Posted by msabicer

Last night, the hospital was on high alert. Working on the infectious disease unit I saw this coming, but the fever pitch of the SWINE FLU epidemic hit us hard. For the last week the ER has been packed with literally hundreds of people worried about the flu. Then yesterday it happened, a young patient came to our hospital with a “highly probable” case of swine flu.

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The hospital spared no precaution, and the nurses had to be suited up with the same level of protection we use for surgical sterility- bonnets, goggles, respirator masks, gowns, and booties.  We’ve had epidemics come through before, and the infectious disease unit always takes the brunt of it. I’m sure that in the coming weeks we’ll be quarantined from the rest of the hospital .Lisa Solomon

It seems only natural then that overnight I had a creeping sore throat and today I have raging cold. But I’m sure that’s just what it is, a cold. Never the less, I can’t help but think that flu symptoms are mostly respiratory.

Lisa Solomonimages from Lisa Solomon, and amazing artist working with doily art…

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Posted in Sprout's Miscellaneous Bag of Tricks, Visual Art and Design | No Comments »

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Posted by msabicer

I really need to figure this out…. I have a compulsive problem with tearing through blogs and mining out beautiful imagery. Unfortunately, now that I want to share them with you, I don’t have the links or credits to go along with it.

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I stole these off of a photograpers website. I can’t seem to tract back my steps.

picture-7UGH, this is killing me.

picture-1If this looks familiar to you, please, let me know where I got this from.

I remember that the photographer had been featured in Vogue Italia, and thats about it.

Simply beautiful and haunting.

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Posted in Photographs, Visual Art and Design | No Comments »

New Foods…

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Posted by msabicer

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So its time to get creative. Ready for spring – half winter and half summer delight.

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I’ve been trolling around for some new recipes, and so far these caught my eye.

Fig & Honey Cupcakes

From Earl grey truffle of Austin,  Texas:  http://earlgreytruffle.blogspot.com/

So my little recipe is made with figs grown in my backyard and honey made from local Austin bees. Our little fig tree was there before we even moved in and it now produces several pounds of figs each year…unless the birds get them first.

Recipe Details

Makes: 12

Prep Time:

20

Cook Time:

30

Ready In:

50

Servings:

1 doz

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup diced fresh figs
  • 2/3 cup sugar (you could substitute with some other sweetener, nothing artificial of course, but something mellow so it doesn’t overpower the figs!)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (unsalted)
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • pinch of cardamom
  • Icing:
  • 1 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 3-5 tablespoons local honey
  • Optional*bee pollen

Directions

  1. Because of the extra liquid from the figs you might need an extra dash of flour or two but the result is extra moist and delicately sweet goodness!
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. Whisk the flour, baking powder,spice and salt together in a medium bowl.
  4. In another medium bowl, beat the eggs and sugars with an electric mixer until light and foamy, about 2 minutes.
  5. While beating, gradually pour in the butter and then the vanilla.
  6. While mixing slowly, add half the dry ingredients, then add all the milk, and follow with the rest of the dry ingredients. Take care not to over mix the batter. Divide the batter evenly in the prepared tin.
  7. Bake until a tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove. Cool on the rack completely.
  1. For icing: Mix the confectioners’ sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Add the honey and mix with an electric mixer to make a firm but pourable icing.
  2. This makes more of a very thick glaze and you should let it run down the sides of the little cakes.
  3. ice generously!
  1. I topped each with a sprinkle of bee pollen (very good source of protein, but be careful if you have really bad allergies). Put the pollen on right after you’ve spooned on the glaze on top in the middle of the cupcake. The glaze will pick up the little bits of pollen and run down the sides with them!

Oatmeal brulee with ginger cream

From Taste of Home Magazine April 09

This is an awesome dish for a chilly morning. I love the crispy caramelized top and raspberry surprise at the bottom.

Makes:

4

Prep Time:

30

Cook Time:

10

Ready In:

40

Servings:

4

Ingredients

  • Ginger Cream
  • 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
  • 2 slices fresh gingerroot (3/4″ diameter)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 Tbsp. grated orange peel
  • 3 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  • Oatmeal
  • 4 C cold water
  • 2 C old fashioned oats
  • 1/4 C dried apricots- chopped
  • 1/4 C dried cherries- chopped
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1 C raspberries
  • 1/4 C sugar

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan, bring the cream, ginger, cinnamon, and orange peel to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 min. Remove from heat; strain & discard solids. Stir in syrup, nutmeg; set aside.
  2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring water to a boil. Add the oats, apricot, cherries and salt; cook and stir 5 min. Remove from the heat; stir in brown sugar and 1/4 C ginger cream. Cover and let stand 2 min.
  3. Grease four 10 oz ramekins with the butter; add raspberries. Spoon oatmeal over the top; sprinkle with sugar. Place on a baking sheet. Broil 4-6 in from the heat for 7-9 min until sugar is caramelized. Serve with ginger cream.                    * Featured in Taste of Home magazine April 09*

Garlic and Wintergreen Pasta

From Foodnetwork.com

A great way to use up all of those greens from the CSA box.

Recipe Details

Makes:

Prep Time:

10

Cook Time:

27

Ready In:

37

Servings:

4

Ingredients

  • 16 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 medium onions, halved and sliced
  • 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
  • Kosher salt
  • 12 cups torn winter greens, such as kale, chard, escarole or mustard
  • greens (about 2 1/2 pounds)
  • 12 ounces spaghetti/ pasta
  • 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, cook the garlic in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. (Be careful not to over-brown the garlic or it will taste bitter.)
  2. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic chips to a paper-towel-lined plate. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil into a small bowl to use as a dip for crusty bread, if desired.
  3. Add the onions and red pepper flakes to the oil in the pan; cook, stirring, until the onions are light brown, about 10 minutes. Season with 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt.
  4. When the onions are almost done, add the greens to the boiling water and cook, uncovered, until just tender,about 2 minutes. Using tongs, remove the greens, shaking off the excess water; add them to the skillet with the onions (set the pot of water aside).
  5. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes.
  6. Return the cooking water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and
  7. reserve about 1 cup cooking water; drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl. Add the cheese and toss.
  8. Add the greens and some of the reserved pasta water and toss, adding more water as necessary to keep the pasta
  9. from clumping. Top with the garlic chips.

* Taken from Foodnetwork.com*

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Posted in The Kitchen | No Comments »

Design things.

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Posted by msabicer

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Posted in Visual Art and Design | No Comments »

So Silly

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Posted by msabicer

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Posted in Moving Art | 1 Comment »