Jes Reaves

I’ve never been a fan of seafood.. ever (besides shrimp, crab, and lobster rolls), so eating at a sushi restaurant with friends used to be quite difficult.. I mean there are only so many california rolls and ebi nigiri (shrimp) a person can eat before you just. can’t.

My problem with sushi is that one, it’s fish.. and two, it’s raw.  I’ve never been comfortable with eating uncooked things.. I mean I used to not like my burgers to be anything but cooked through and through (little bit pink now).. so when I decided that I was going to expand my sushi palate, I didn’t really have many options.  My friend Rachel convinced me to try unagi (bbq eel).. which.. is delicious!

That was just earlier this year.. and I’m sorry for all the eels I’ve been noming down ever since….  Well, I’ve been going to a sushi place around the corner from my apartment rather frequently and I’m running into the same “I’ve had everything I can eat too many times” issue I had back when I was eating only shimp, crab (occasionally), and california rolls, so I decided that I would make myself try what people have been trying to convince me is good ever since I stepped foot in a sushi restaurant… yesterday I ordered, ate, and enjoyed one tuna nigiri and one salmon nigiri.  I’m not 100% sold.. because one, it’s still raw.. and two, I’m stubborn.. so I’m not going to be eating sashimi anytime in the near future.. but I might have me a tuna roll at some point..

So I guess I’ll probably be trying other seafood dishes (bites of other peoples.. I don’t like potentially wasting food) to see if maybe I liked cooked salmon and not just tiny tiny pieces of it on rice.. onward to more culinary explorations*!!

*unless it has mushrooms.. that is never going to happen #evil

I made some Lembas bread for a LoTR movie marathon at my friend Kenny’s house, and I promised I’d post a recipe.. so here be it:

I’m horrible at taking pictures of my own stuff sometimes, so here’s a photo my friend Kenny took -

lembas bread

3 eggs
1 c. honey (raw/unfiltered) **picture of what I used below
6 dried apricots
2 tsp. orange blossom water
3 oz. chopped blanched almonds
¼ c. melted butter
2 3/4 c. flour
½ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Put the eggs, honey, kumquats, rose or orange flower water, and nuts in a food processor or blender. Blend on high for 2-4 minutes. Add 1 cup of the flour. Blend for a minute or two. Put mixture into a bowl and add the remaining flour and the salt. Whisk or stir until well blended. Add additional flour (if necessary) until dough isn’t sticky.  Roll out the dough and cut into 3″ squares, put a slight diagonally most of the way through, put on a parchment paper lined baking sheet,  brush with melted butter and bake for 10-12 minutes.

For the leaves – follow these directions (minus the painting)

**honey I used

So, pretty much all of my posts start out with.. “I should really update this more often”, “I’m really not a writer/sharer”, or some other lament for neglecting my blog… so we’ll skip that and head right into the post…

I made things!!

First up, I made (for the very first time) a costume with a plan in my head to wear it to a convention.  I also made it for Halloween, but I usually allow costumes “just for Halloween” to be constructed as a ‘one time outfit’ and don’t put a whole lot into it.  This time, I wanted it to be challenging, and accurate-ish since I was going as one of my favorite batman villains Harley Quinn (Arkham City outfit), so I gave myself months of prep time to learn how to do things I’ve never done before.. like make a corset, or make boots.   I finished it just in time for Halloween, and since I was also going down to Long Beach Halloween weekend to visit my Guild of Extra friends at the Long Beach Comic Convention.. I made the decision that I would wear my Harley Quinn outfit for a couple of hours at LBCC.. I would have worn it longer, if it weren’t for the vinyl pants…

The second “I made this” of this post is: I was in the mood, back in August, to do another large craft project, so I decided to do plushies of the group Team Unicorn FTW! I debated for quite awhile which outfits I was going to have their plushies wear, and decided to go with the lace dresses from this photo shoot:

I’m so glad that I did, because I absolutely LOVED making those dresses.

Back in September, I was down in LA for my friend Kenny’s birthday, and one of the members of Team Unicorn, Michele, was at the party as well.  Knowing this ahead of time (thanks Kenny!), I brought the plushies with me, gave Michele her plushie, and asked her take the other plushies to the other unicorns.

Fast forward back to the Long Beach Comic Con… I knew that Team Unicorn was going to be there, so I swung by their booth to meet the other 3 unicorns, and was excited to see that they had brought their plushies to display at their booth.

They are an awesome group of ladies!

That’s all I really have to share for now, unless you want to hear me drone on about work…. I have other crafty projects I’m working on, have it the queue, and another cosplay in mind, so we’ll see where I’m at the next time I decide to write a blog post.