Getting Ready for the Deathy Hallows II

In celebration for the final Harry Potter movie, I have made more Movie Poster Mosaics, using tiles from the previous movies.  (cough ok just the first 5 movies).  Being a techy I wrote my own program that resizes pictures and does math calculations of 9 points in each tile to match that section of the picture to replace.  A little intense but makes awesome mosaics  You can click on the photos to go to the DeviantArt page to see the picture in full scale by clicking on the photos again.

Who are you rooting for?

Cooking with Racks

Today I've decided to share with people some simple tips to cooking with racks.

  

Racks above the Rice - Saves Effort and Energy

Your rice cooker can do more than make perfect rice.  It can also be used as a steamer.  Put in some racks above the rice & water before you start cooking (sorry my photo is from after it's done cooking). and put a bowl of veggies or meat and hit the start button.

When your rice is done you'll also be blessed with a side dish of healthy food.  It saves energy because you’re not using another pot on a burner or in the stove.  It saves effort because you don’t have to watch it to worry about it being undercooked or over cooked.  And it's healthy; no need for cooking oil and it's still very moist.

  

So I'm betting that some people are thing, Oh gross, steamed meat?  Well If you've ever experience Dim Sum than you've more than like enjoyed the wonders of Chinese steam dishes.  With this, I shall give you my impromptu recipe for Chinese Steamed Pork Ribs.

Ingredients

• 2 Rows of Pork spare Ribs about 1/2 inch thick (found in Asian grocery store, or you can ask your butcher to cut your spare ribs across the bones)
• Teaspoon of Fermented Black Beans (found in Asian grocery stores)
• 1 Minced Garlic Clove
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of corn starch

First thoroughly combine mix everything but the corn starch.  Next sprinkle the cornstarch over the ribs giving a light coating to every piece.  Try to arrange the meat to be evenly spaced apart.  Put your bowl onto the racks above uncooked rice in a rice pot, and hit go.  When your rice is ready, so will your meat

I promise this will be delicious. 

Chopsticks as Racks - Saves Money



Fried food on racks help it cool down without getting that soggy bottom syndrome.  I discovered using chopsticks is a great rack substitute.  I came across this because all my racks were being used for the steamed spare ribs from above.  It elevates the food, works as a rack, and because i have a stack of chopsticks in my drawer I can make it any size I want.

Hope these cooking tips can be of some use to you.
-SmallRiniLady

Little Mermaid Graphic

I've found some Deviant artwork that was quite intriguing because instead of shading their pieces they used textures to give their art depth.  As I continue to practice my vector skills I wanted to give this texturing a try. 

I started by creating my piece in vector graphics using Microsoft Expressions.  Then adding the textures in Adobe Photoshop. 

I think it turned out quite well.  I also love those transition pieces in which you can see the artist's step by step in making their creations.  So I tried to make one.  Although because my history only saved a small number of steps I had to cheat for the earlier steps.  :p  It still looks cool though.



Vocaliod Magnet Headbands

Vocaliod Magnet is a Sony software for making music. The Mascots for the the Vocaloid have become so popular in japan. The characters are distinct that they all wear headphones to listen to their music



I made their head gear accessories out of Foam and ribbons making them lightweight yet sturdy.

• One has the wing headphones on a headband.
• The other has the wing headphones on hair clips, and comes with its matching top hat (whoops forgot to take a picture of the top hat)

I would cosplay it if it wasn't so overdone.