Haute Comme 3 Pommes

Archive for June 2012

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Snapshot

So yeah, haven't been drawing as of late. Here's a crappy webcam photo of a sketch of the interior of the family car that I did today. Speaking of which, I've been rather busy this week, packing up all of my family's belongings for the new house that we're moving into. It's surprising finding all the things that I've been holding onto since we've moved into this house. Letters, boarding tickets, pamphlets of the places my family has been to, notes from Gr. 10 (yup, I'm kind of obsessive of having my notes with me in case I need them), planners, you name it. It's also kind of heartbreaking throwing them away - even though they're worthless and clutter up the house . One example was an cute gift from a friend in Gr. 8. But then again, the memories associated with them are more important. I hope everyone is doing well! :)

P.S. Eurovision songs are so addictive, like this one and this one! I wish I could sing beautiful songs about the rivers in the motherland..except they're probably not as nice.

3 comments

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Eye Eat 15/16

Once upon a time, a tiny girl had a job interview in the northern end of the city. On that faithful day, she came across a famous patisserie (okay she knew it was already there) located beneath. These are the delicacies she came across...(with the help of the shop assistant)

Eye Eat 15: Jamaican Style Panini with Almonds, Watercress, Fuji Apples,Chicken with Moroccan Spice, and Havarti Cheese. (forgot the actual name)

The Verdict? One of the stop assistants recommended this sandwich to me - it's apparently a customer favourite- and I have to say it was quite delicious! The tangy taste of the apples gave the sandwich a pleasant twist. To be honest, I couldn't really taste the watercress nor the almonds (I don't think I could even find almonds); the main flavours that I remember were: the cheese, butter (?), and chicken. Speaking of the chicken...I was kind of disappointed. There was an expectation that the Moroccan spice would give the chicken a bit of a kick*, but I couldn't really taste it in the sandwich (it was fine alone). But overall, this was a lovely sandwich - maybe the chicken was under seasoned that day - which I would love to have again.

*For those of you wondering, Moroccan cuisine makes use of spices such as paprika, cumin, ginger, and cinnamon.

Eye Eat 16: Caramel Macaron

The Verdict?: Okay, so this is my first time analyzing a macaron before (I've had the patisserie's macarons before - cassis and chocolate- but never did anything but swoon in happiness after eating them), so I've examined it according basic guidelines*:
Visuals:
-shell should be smooth, and free from bumps
-- the shell was smooth, with a minor bump
-"feet" (the rough edges of the macaron) should be present
-- yup

When You Eat:
-when you pick them up they shouldn't fall apart
-- didn't break
-when biting into the shell, it should crack like an egg shell
-- not sure if I like that, but it didn't happen
-should be soft, moist, tender
-- it was definitely soft to the tooth, and tender
-flavour should not overpower the basic ingredients (almonds)
-- the caramel flavour was light, so you could still taste the almonds, yum
-even ratio between filling (jam/confiture, buttercream, etc.) and shell
-- i felt there was a nice balance between the buttercream and shell

So according to these guidelines, I think it was a lovely treat! Only flaw is that it's sort of pricey for a poor university student like me. These bad boys fit into the palms of my tiny hands and they cost ~2 Tim Hortons donuts. Ouch to the wallet.

*Adapted from Follow Me Foodie, found here

3 comments

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Surgery

This weekend has been a fantastic one. Finishing up my English Lit. course, going to the seasonal nightmarket with my seniors, finishing my OC revamp and a yummy Father's Day dinner equals happy happy happy. Ah, written English at its finest. I'll be posting some shots from my visit to a famous chocolatier very soon. For now, here's the revamp and the painting process. I know, I hate the lips too. Happy Father's Day!

...

Cringeworthy. 2009?

6 comments

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Nostalgia

I was recently inspired by one of my favourite artists on tumblr to revamp one of my first original characters that I created when I was twelve. Boy, has it brought up some good memories! I'm feeling quite nostalgic right now painting her. It doesn't help that I'm reading Le Petit Prince either haha! And it's now time to indulge in some more memories by watching La Grande Séduction (remember this D?).

To my 12 year-old self:
- Woah, woah. You have some crazy taste in hair colour for your ocs girlfriend.
- Art is more than just drawing with a pencil. Try other mediums like painting and photography.
You'll probably end up liking them!
- Some will eventually tell you that drawing isn't worth it. Don't listen to them.

P.S. If any of you were interested in my oc, here's a small rundown:
Name: Mariko (guess who liked Japanese names?)
Age: 15
What You Need To Know: She's a sweet girl (daughter of a florist), who's always looking after her best friends. She can't stand it when people misidentify flowers - seriously, who CAN identify their flowers?
Character Song:Style by Kana Nishino

4 comments

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Eye Eat 14

Or as I like to call this piece of work, Unintentionally Spicy Mushroom Noodle Soup. The gloomy weather hasn't been doing the city or I many favours - the wet sock feeling when running? No thank you. On the bright side (if there is any), it has ignited my desire for hot soup. I decided mushroom soup would be a nice cure for the blues, so I adapted this recipe to what I had on hand. Which was...interesting. I added some garlic, broccoli stem, straw mushrooms, bay leaf (I still don't know if it did anything, oh dear), macaroni and cayenne pepper powder - all to the therapeutic sounds of Mother Mother.

Verdict?
It was fuh-reaking delicious, oh mah gaw. Add some toasted pita bread with pesto spread on top (which I did) and you will be happy as a clam. Seriously. The only flaw was the spicyness. The recipe called for some good ol' s and p (salt and pepper) for flavouring... and for some unknown reason there was a shortage of salt. Sac à papier. So I threw in quite a bit of pepper and cayenne pepper powder to give some form of flavour.

N.B. Do not taste the soup immediately after you've frantically tried to bomb it with seasonings, you're probably NOT going to taste it. Until after ~20 min, where you regret everything.

2 comments

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

"Frailty, Thy Name Is Woman"

Sup buttercup? I mean, thy eyes shine brighter than the stars which line the sky; I long to hear of your day and listen to your voice, the sweetness of which is only rivaled by the singing of birds. Okay, enough romantic banter / wannabe Shakespeare talk.Speaking of which, anyone recognize this quote? If so, kudos to you! This actually applies to my character T, which I'm finally showing off (her profile at least) today. She's different from the girls I like to draw, which is so refreshing! And no intricate backstory this time either, yessss. It's time to draw her partner, A.

Profile:
Name- Tiffany
Age - 20
What You Need to Know - Lady by day, temptress by night. She has a very easy-going personality (profile fails to show this orz), and is very persuasive. You'd want to get to know her for a good time in the club or in bed.
Character Song - Something along the lines of Chromeo and Ezra Koenig's "I Could Be Wrong", but a little more sultry/ jazzy.

P.S. Sorry for the absence, last week was a whirlwind of volunteering and first aid training. And to my scanner, I hate you.

5 comments