Back Baby

This is why I won't apologize for my leave of absence:

Above pilfered from XKCD.com

Of course, I took Spanish, not French in High School, so the above would hardly apply anyway.

On a completely unrelated note, I think Doodles is currently illustrating a dream of mine. More later...

Hip to be Square

About a month ago while sitting at Krankies one day, innocently drinking a Boddington's Pub Ale, I suddenly found a little square piece of wood shoved in my face... Doodles had enlisted me to create a piece of artwork for the Electric Moustache's "Square" exhibit.

After making a trip to Michael's to get art supplies, I went about making my first piece of artwork in several years, and to the best of my knowledge my first painting ever. Here it is, and my sister's are below:

I titled this one "European Rooftops" after taking photos of various
buildings I liked from Google images and smooshing them together.

Doodle's first picture, which she titled "Ganesh"

Doodle's second picture, "Simon Bolivar," modeled after a famous portrait.

The exhibit happened last week, and was accompanied by a silent auction. I was around for most of the auction, watching my picture from afar. I was amazed when someone actually placed a bid down (the first piece of art I've ever sold!). I resisted the temptation to walk up and talk to the bidder, as I imagined he would ask "what can you tell me about this painting?" and then I would say something stupid like "This is the first painting I've ever made... I was figuring out how to use acrylic paints as I was going along," and then the man would be filled with regret and try to scratch his name off the bid list.

Beyond Tacos? Yes, ¡Sopes Deliciosos!

One of the first things Doodles was looking for after getting into town was some good Mexican food. Apparently Koreans are very good at providing good Korean food options (kim chi, kim chi soup, kim chi burgers, kim chi.. other things...), and their foreign food options don't expand much beyond McDonald's.

I was more than happy to oblige in helping her find some good Mexican food, and took her down to Waughtown St., where they have at least two excellent taquerias: La Perlita (which I wrote about previously) and El Paisano... which is a bit harder to get to (an extra couple minutes down Waughtown St.), but which I think has the better tacos.

My friend Pamphilia insisted that I give La Perlita another try, and so Doodles and I found our way there for her inaugural trip to Waughtown St. It was then that I was hit with a strange sensation to order not just tacos, but something else... (I know... I almost didn't recognize myself), and ordered a couple sopes to snack on after the tacos.

Sopes are sort of like open-faced sandwiches, starting with a puffy corn-flour tortilla which is topped with a lot of stuff. La Perlita's were topped with refried beans, lettuce, onions, carne asada (steak strips), sour cream, queso fresco (a mild cheese that might be described as something between mozarella and feta), and a nice piece of avocado.

I don't know... despite the fact that we had already devoured nearly half a dozen tacos between the two of us and were thus adequately satiated, those sopes were so delicious I almost cried. My eyes have been opened: should I be eating and writing more about Mexican food than simply tacos? Si, debo.

¡Viva la Sopes!

Doodle Dispatch: Week 1 in Winston

My sister Doodles and I summarize her first week in town (click to enlarge):

The Cool Kreme Trap

Doodles and I wandered into Krispy Kreme on Stratford to redeem a coupon I had scored for a free Cool Kreme ice cream cone. We wandered in, and were greeted by a cheerful cop who was on his way out.* "Make sure that you ask for a sample cone," he said, "it's free!"

So we ended up going to the counter and getting a cruller and a custard-filled doughnut and our free ice cream cones for a little over 2 bucks. After we handed her the money, the cashier handed us two MORE coupons for free Cool Kremes, meaning that we'll have to go back, I suppose.

As we were walking back to the car, eating ice cream and donuts:

Doodles: "I think that living in the south is going to turn me into a heifer."

Me: "There is no Doodles any more... There is only Helga."

Doodles: "I ate Doodles... she was tasty."

* Krispy Kreme was also running a promotional campaign at the time called "Cops on Doughnut Shops." Go figure...

Doodle's in town!

My sister Doodles made it to North Carolina about 48 hours ago for an extended stay after two years in Korea. We were both up by about 8:30 the next day and by 10:30 (without any help from me, btw) the kitchen looked cleaner than it had in months... a cleaning dynamo...

After seeing this level of industriousness, I decided that it was clear what I needed to do: get her to start contributing posts to Blue Ridge Grass.

One of the first things she wanted to do was make a visit to the nearest bakery. We headed to Ollie's, where she walked in and stared at the bread and the pastries for a good while, soaking it in. After a couple years of nothing but white bread that was pretty nasty anyway in Gwanju, Korea, she said "You don't know what this means to me."

She didn't shed a tear though... just bought a loaf of light wheat bread. She's a trooper I guess.

Kingergarten Teaching in Korea

My sister Doodles sent me a little how-to guide on teaching kindergarten kids from her current station in Korea [click to enlarge]. I especially like the implication in the last panel that she is thinking wistfully about those golden days of corporal punishment. What have those kids done to you, Doodles?!?!

And also: "Hmm... " you ask. "What is a post on teaching Korean kindergarteners doing on a blog about living in the South," you ask? Well, rest assured, she is living in South Korea. (I would double-underline the word "South" if I knew how, for extra emphasis.) So count it!

Super-Doodle

I was rummaging through my stuff on Sunday and ran across this cartoon that my sis ("Doodles") snail-mailed me a year ago. Probably took her 15 minutes to make, but I love it! Even if she is basically mocking me.