A Place I Live: Planet Tnez Art Gallery

 

Planet Tnez will be hosting an all wood design art show this Saturday November 10, 2012. We are delighted to announce that Jeremy’s reclaimed wood designs will be part of this show.

We met Tommy Martinez, artist and owner of Planet Tnez last May at the Anaheim Art Crawl Experience. He stopped at our booth because something caught his eye: wood. He was showing his paintings and wood benches at the CIM Art Gallery and made sure we stopped by afterwards to talk and see his space. He commented that Jeremy’s designs really needed to be shown on a wall.

Normally during craft shows we display Jeremy’s designs on tables since hauling makeshift walls strong enough to hold up the heavy wood pieces is pretty cumbersome. Because of that, there is sometimes confusion as to what the pieces are supposed to be. We are very excited to finally see the designs up on walls where they belong.

A big thank you to Tommy for the opportunity to get our wood designs up on a wall.

The Planet Tnez wood art show coincides with the Anaheim Art Crawl Experience so please come on down and support local artists!

Planet Tnez

508 W. Chestnut St.

Anaheim, CA 92805

Located at the west end of the Center Street Promenade, just across Harbor Blvd.

What's For Dinner?

 

Last Fall I saw a recipe for a stuffed pumpkin filled with ground beef and lots of other tasty fillings. Now that it is the perfect time of year to eat a stuffed pumpkin I can’t find the same recipe I had seen. Instead, I put together the foods I think would taste best in a stuffed pumpkin and it was good!

Preheat: 350 F

Prep:

Wash the outside of the pumpkin and cut the top off for a nice bowl shape. Keep the lid of the pumpkin for later. Clean out the inside and give it a quick rinse. Remember the pumpkin seeds can be toasted or even dried for planting next year. Rub butter on the inside of the pumpkin until coated. Add a tablespoon of raw sugar and one of cinnamon inside and rub it into the buttered sides and bottom.

Buttered pumpkin with cinnamon and raw sugar

Wash veggies, then peel and dice them. Start with the carrots so they can be put to steam while prepping the other veggies. Sauté the mushrooms, peppers and onions in a large pan and add the carrots once they soften.

Mix the ground beef and sausage together adding garlic powder and pepper to taste. Brown the meat until it is cooked and stir in the vegetables. Spoon the mixture into the pumpkin including the gravy. Place the pumpkin on a large glass pan to catch any spills and help move it into the oven with ease. Be sure to cook the pumpkin with the top on so that it traps the condensation and juices, helping to cook the pumpkin quicker. If the pumpkin is tall this will require using the bottom rack in the oven.

Bake at 350 F for an hour.

If after an hour the pumpkin isn’t soft enough to eat yet, toss it back in for another 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the top of the pumpkin to dry up the delicious inside if it looks too wet. Once ready pull it out of the oven and serve straight from the pumpkin.

It’s a delicious meal and festive platter all in one!



Stuffed pumpkin served with wild rice and biscuit

Lovely Link Ups: Eat. Make. Grow., Mercantile Muse, Little House in the Suburb, The Glamorous Housewife, Real Food Freaks, Craft Berry Bush, Parlo & Logi, 52 Mantels

The bowls are filled with candy, a stuffed pumpkin is in the oven for dinner and pumpkin cheesecakes in the fridge for dessert. Just waiting for the little ghouls to arrive!

A Place I Live: Anaheim Halloween Parade

Just this past Tuesday Jeremy and I were spending Taco Tuesday at the Anaheim Brewery when we were invited by our friend Kevin to join the Anaheim Halloween Parade. We were already planning on watching the parade, so why not be part of making history, again.

Photos courtesy of the Anaheim Historical Society

The Anaheim Historical Society (AHS) was replicating part of the 1953 parade for the 2012 festivities including the infamous flying saucer known as the “Sasser”, Mid Century ladies dressed as Martians and the ribbon winning robot from the 1951 parade. It’s not too hard to guess that the theme for the parade was “Out of This World.” 60 years ago the space age craze had landed at the Anaheim Parade and it was time for a comeback.

Kevin had explained that to capture the original essence of the 1953 parade everything needed to be handmade and look like the Little Rascals had made it. AHS member Bill Couture created a fantastic replica of the original Sasser out of metal tubing, wood and a wagon, including a built from scratch TV antenna and light effects. Kevin and Jody, also from the AHS, painted the Sasser making it look like it had really travelled to the future from 1953.

I was cast to be a Martian, but not just any Martian. The mid-century ladies from Kress Five & Dime Store had dressed as Martians complete with space helmets made from kitchen colanders, shower caps, wire, Christmas ornaments and other household goods. They even wore protective gloves known these days as dishwashing gloves.

1951 Robot, Jeremy testing his radar reader on Sophie, posing with Kevin and Sophie as we wait for launch time

Jody made some fantastic Martian space helmets out of some of the same materials that were used back in the 1950s. Barbara from Anaheim Brewery helped me choose the perfect helmet, which was a fabulous fascinator-like piece made from a colander. It had a Saturn ring, decorative jacks and of course my Christmas ornament antennas. For the finishing touch it was all painted space age silver. I am convinced I had the best space helmet ever.

 

Jeremy thought it would be funny to go as a UFO Scientist complete with white lab coat, Martian radar reader and clip board for taking notes of his findings. Let’s not forget that Sophie got in on the action! We built her a shiny jet pack out of water bottles and aluminum foil and a headband for her own set of Martian antennas. She was the best behaved Martian dog I’ve ever seen. She even earned herself a special Martian treat, or as we call them here on Earth, a cheeseburger.

AHS vintage cars, AHS friends riding Penny Farthings, 1953 antenna replica

On October 27^th at 6 PM the Sasser took its maiden voyage down Broadway Avenue with a full moon shining down. It travelled behind a fleet of hearses and was followed by AHS classic cars and the Anaheim High School marching band.

Our first experience in the Anaheim Halloween Parade truly was out of this world! We made new friends and can’t wait to see what vintage float the Historical Society decides to bring back to the future next year.

A Place I Live: The BEST of the Best

Have you heard Anaheim stole the show? Last week the OCWeekly released their best of 2012 and Anaheim was a big winner in many categories including best residential neighborhood, cemetery, karaoke, pie and many more. Be sure to check out the winners and support our community!