Everyone gets bad hair days. Even street fighters. 😛 Last year I made a little Chun-Li to put up for adoption at Comic-Con, and well…when I look back on it, she had a bit of a hairline problem:
I wouldn’t say she looked TOO bad, but it could’ve been better. Sooo…I gave her a new ‘do:
Daaaahling, you look fabulous. Now that Chun-Li’s got a better hair situation, she’ll be reappearing at Comic-Con for adoption too. 🙂 I’ll be posting the full adoption lineup next week, so stay tuned! 🙂
I’ve got a critter lurking in the shadows…
And it looks like everyone’s favorite tormented mutant found his way to my home. 🙂
And there’s a certain…attraction to him.
“HELP ME, you fool!”
Looks like he managed to attract his own kind while he was at it. 🙂 I had some leftover magnets from when I made a magnetic katamari ball last year, so I made myself a goofy desk toy. 🙂 Yay Magneto!
Recently, Alison Cook – one of Houston’s prominent food critics – took on the daunting task of ranking the city’s best restaurants from 1 to 100. And if you check it out, it’s a damn good list. Do I agree with all of it? No. Because if someone has to pick just 100 restaurants out of the thousands that are sprawling this city, there’s bound to be omissions and disagreements in terms of rankings. But the thing I love about the list is that it’s a brilliant snapshot of everything Houston has to offer. We’re not New York or LA, but Houston’s got a flavor that we can call our own, and it’s friggin’ delicious. I love that there’s plenty of down-home, tasty-like-yo’-grandma-made-it ethnic picks peppered in with the fancier dress-up-and-prepare-the-expense account joints. The fact that a no-frills pho trailer is in the top 10 along with our nationally acclaimed restaurants shows that Houston’s best food is far from being limited to the expensive and trendy category. It just needs to be made with heart, and we’ve got plenty of that in this town. I’ve tried 34 out of the 100 restaurants on the list so far, and I can’t wait to tackle more. So Ms. Cook, this one’s for you.
You can check out the list here. It’s definitely worth a look, and even if you vehemently disagree with it, it’s still a great way to get people talking about Houston’s good eats. 🙂
Cupcake pattern from Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli
Confession: I’m probably one of the least “green” eaters you’ll find. Maybe it’s because I don’t have enough cooking prowess to justify paying premium for organic/local food if I’m going to screw it up, and maybe it’s in the interest of saving a few bucks here and there. Even after watching Food, Inc. (great documentary about the food industry), I still ate mass-produced meats, thinking to myself “I don’t wanna know what happened to this chicken, but I haven’t grown a third arm yet, so I’m gonna eat it anyway,” as I chomped down on that chicken wing. But places like Revival Market are slowly turning me into a believer in the locavore movement. It’s a market. But they also serve food. And holy crap, the FOOD.
Revival Market has a simple, straightforward mission: Local means fresher & cleaner, and fresher & cleaner means tastier, healthier, and better for the community. 🙂 The whole menu has wonderful items that are all made fresh, local, and just plain GOOD. But if you want the best example of everything Revival Market stands for, just utter three letters: BLT. Bacon, lettuce, tomato, and dammit, I’m convinced there’s some magic in there. It’s so simple…how could you POSSIBLY make it that much better? Much less $9-better? I had a bit of a Pulp Fiction moment when I saw the $9 on the board…just as Vincent Vega questioned the $5 milkshake, I questioned the nearly-$10 BLT plate. And oh, how Revival proved me wrong.
Half of my BLT, shortly before I devoured it.
That bacon is UH-MAZING. Bacon is already a sacred perfect form to me already, even the cheap-o diner bacon you’d get with a greasy breakfast platter. But THIS. This was something different. Fatty, perfectly crisp edges, smokey and flavorful…this is the remarkable result when your bacon comes straight from a farm and is cured and smoked in-house. Pair it together with fresh slices of tomato, leafy arugula, and a wonderfully light herbed mayonnaise, and you’ve got yourself a BLT that changes everything you knew about the classic sandwich. Those sandwiches that I once loved with the wilted lettuce, chewy bacon, and mushy tomatoes were suddenly shoved into a corner of my mind along with a few ex-boyfriends. One way or another, it’s a beautifully simple demonstration of Revival Market’s mission…when I thought a BLT was a BLT everywhere I go, Revival Market shows how just 3 locally sourced ingredients sandwiched between two slices of fresh-baked bread can elevate the taste and quality to a whole new level. No heavy sauces to mask the inherent flavors, no gimmicky garnishes to make it look prettier. Just pure, fresh ingredients left alone to allow the flavors to speak for themselves, all put together with care. And this is just ONE item on the menu that I’m gushing about here.
These guys have fed me ridiculously well and have helped me slowly turn towards the fresher side of things, so I decided I wanted to give back.
Their logo is a piggie with a chicken perched on top.
So I made them a piggie with a chicken perched on top. 🙂
Yesterday I dropped by and grabbed a BLT with a wonderfully cool and spicy side of gazpacho for lunch. On my way out, I handed the piggie to the girl at the counter. Immediately she says “Oh my god, I saw this on twitter!”…she took it back to the kitchen to show the rest of the staff, and the chef came out from the kitchen to thank me! Chef Pera, thank YOU and your staff for all your hard work and everything that you’ve done for the community. I’ve been visiting more and more often (the Saturday morning specials are enough to continually drag me out of bed on the weekends), and just when I think I’ve eaten through the entire menu, I still manage to find something new (and delicious!) every time. There’s some serious awesomeness going on in the kitchen, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down any time soon. Which means I’ll just have to keep going back. Now ain’t that a shame. 😉
Revival Market
http://revivalmarket.com/
550 Heights Blvd
Houston, TX 77007
713-880-8463
Piggie pattern from Lion Brand Yarn’s website. (you’ll have to register to view it, but registration’s free, and you get access to a nice collection of free patterns)
I’ve kind of held off on posting this because…well, I don’t really know! I guess it’s because I’ve hesitated for so long on this sort of thing (even after having NUMEROUS people poke and prod me to give it a try), soooo…without further ado:
If you live in the Houston area, I’ve now got a small selection of critters available for purchase at Space Montrose! The ones pictured above are the exact ones that are up for grabs, but the last time I peeked into the store, it looked like Batman, Spock, and the little Bob-omb were already taken. So grab one soon before they’re all out! 🙂
Lil’ Bob-omb, cozy in his new space at Space. 🙂
I’m still not taking commissions, but if you’ve got any questions about what’s being carried at Space, feel free to drop me a line at GeekyHooker [at] gmail [dot] com!
Space Montrose
http://www.spacemontrose.com
2608 Dunlavy St.
Houston, TX 77006
Located next door to Cafe Brasil
Just a quickie post here, but if twitter ain’t your style, I’ve finally set up my own Facebook page! Just a-clicky a-likey, and you can start tracking my blog posts and dropoffs on Facebook too! 🙂
The Geeky Hooker 