Powerpuffesque

So I got a call from a motion design firm in town to illustrate in a style a la the Powerpuff Girls. After a moments hesitation, I said "I don't have any examples in that particular style.. but I think I can do it...." dot dot dot. Anyhow I started drawing and eventually after a few botched attempts came up with the characters below:


Portrait of Ana. What was important was capturing her lip.


Tried vectoring her unibrow but it was just too busy.


Self-portrait. This is me angry with the world.


This was the first of the drawings.


A curious, croissant-charming French fellow.



This was the one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had working in a long while. Can't wait to draw some more.

Anra Marionettes

The Ara Doll. Born on Christmas day, two-thousand & six.

Ara and I decided to make each other gifts on holidays and birthdays. I made the Ara doll for him on Christmas and the Ana doll was born six months later, coincidentally, on my birthday. This was Ara's first toy sculpture!


Ana Doll w/Ara. Born on Ana's birthday, two-thousand & seven.


Anra sleeping in harmony.

Happy Family - Review

Happy Family is a staple for all our carnivorous and vegetarian friends. Go for dinner (after 5:30pm) and order "All you can eat" style for approx. $10 and stuff yourself silly. Here are some must-have vegetarian dishes that we typically delight in:


Minced Squab. Crunchy, crispy, nutty deliciousness.


Sweet & Sour Pork, Pork & Broccoli, Green Beans, Deep-fried
Chicken w/Sesame, Deep-fried Tofu, Eggplant w/Basil, Tea

Minced Squab

Unlike all the other items, you can only order one of these per person. A fresh leaf of lettuce stuffed with crunchy bits and diced fake meats. We always start our feast with this.

Deep-fried House Chicken w/ Sesame

Meat made out of mushrooms; an alarming concept at first, but once you taste you will never question it again. Deep-fried, sweet, savory, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I prefer these dishes to the wheat gluten or silken tofu ones, for savoriness.

Deep-fried Tofu

About ten or so large chunks of golden fried and crispy tofu with a side of a rich savory sauce to dip in. One of my favorite dishes.

Braised Green Beans

Finely diced caramelized onions and a delicious sauce cover these tasty green beans. We order this dish about four times over with our meal and its the plate that is devoured almost as fast as the deep-fried house chicken.

Fried Buns

Delicious, soft, slightly sweet, puffy, slightly crunchy. Perfectly compliments the twenty seven half-eaten dishes on your lazy susan. I've never had a bun this tasty.

Sizzling Pork & Broccoli

Comes out on a sizzling hot plate with veggies and tofu and fake meats. Not excellent like the other dishes but still tasty and a great presentation to boot.

Fried Rice

A nice alternative to the steamed rice they typically bring with the meal. Bits of ham (that almost mimic the real thing) and veggies mixed with white rice.

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Service

Relatively prompt if there aren't too many people. Sometimes they forget orders, so you'll have to remind them if a particular dish doesn't arrive with the general flow.

Atmosphere

Clean and a step up decor-wise from their old location up the street which resembled an accounting office. Though, I do prefer the quaintness of the old place.

Would we recommend it?
Very much so! All you need is one sitting and you'll be a regular.

Dinner with a Numan Being

As we stocked up on farm fresh foods at the Pasadena farmer's market this Saturday, we decided to make a feast. Our friend Steve Neumann from San Francisco was visiting and we thought of treating him to a home-cooked meal.

The menu for the evening:

Inari - Japanese tofu pouches filled with white rice, dill, and roasted sesame oil.
Japanese Curry - with Azuki beans, carrots, celery, red onion, Seitan, and zucchini.
Rice - sticky white rice seasoned with pickled vegetables and roasted sesame oil.
Salad - of celery, chopped parsley, cucumber, tomato, red onion, and romaine lettuce.
Orange Juice - oranges picked fresh from our orange tree that day, squeezed, and sprinkled with cinnamon.




Our beautiful orange tree. Source of our cinnamon orange juice.


The Seitan was initially pan-fried with sesame oil, caramelized onions, dark mushroom sauce, and teriyaki. The rest of the ingredients were thrown in (Azuki beans, celery, red onion, boiled carrots and zucchini) before the curry was introduced to the mix.


The curry mixed all together. I also added honey, salt, pepper, and a touch more teriyaki. In the end it had a semi-sweet bite to it.


Inari and rice.


Ana putting the finishing touches on our plates.


And, voilà!