Random Photo Post - Zoo Edition

I know I said all further "random" posts will be plunked in the Wookie/Romulan Craft Crossover, but since this wing of the blog will be on temporary hiatus, I decided to put these here just for shits-n-giggles for those of you who prefer to only follow the recipes so ya don't feel unloved, left out, or bored!

A few weeks back, we went to the zoo.  Again.  We're such massive dorks that we usually go several times a year and are considering just buying season passes next year because we enjoy it so much that if we get passes it would be a nice thing to have for those "oh shit, we're bored but broke" days.

Mostly we go on Mondays because it is usually completely dead, so you can take your time at each exhibit watching the animals, but on this particular time (and the first time I ever remembered to bring my camera and batteries, of course), there was some sort of field trip going on so there were absolute swarms of kiddos running around, therefore there aren't too many pictures and the ones I have aren't that great, but I promise to get many more and much better ones if I can next time we go!

This is a water feature thing that I always just love every time we visit.  It reminds me of that movie Congo.

Komodo dragon!  He wasn't very cooperative, so part of the words etched on the glass had to be in the shot.  He should really work on that whole "consideration" thing a bit more.

Like this little guy!  He knows what's going on.  As soon as I got my camera out, he hopped up on the little tower thing and started posing like it was his only chance to get on the cover of Vogue and he was NOT going to fuck it up.  These little guys make my full-on Elmira from Tiny Toons "ZOMG NEED TO CUDDLE IT NAO" nerve go ape shit.

Flamingos!  They weren't as pink as some I've seen, just a pastel pink instead of the vivid pink you see on some, but I've heard that is all related to their diet.  Zoo, feed the flamingos the things that make them turn pink please!  kthx

Giraffe...He wanted that tree with a zeal I usually reserve for cheesecake.  We stood there for about 5 minutes while he just kept straining and straining and sticking his tongue out to reach the leaves.

Another one that knows how to pose, and quite majestically.

I thought this little guy was cute.

I don't remember what these are, but I liked the color on the blue one.

Albino skunk!!!  I'd never seen one of these and don't remember him being there before, though he could have been in one of their little hiding places in the exhibit.  He's so cute, though, and had the prettiest pink eyes.

A blurry shot of bats.  The nocturnal room was particularly packed with kids and they were all squeaking and the echo in there is horrendous and after a few seconds it sounds like the shrieks are in your head, so I snapped a few quick shots and got out asap, but hopefully I will get better pics next time as the bats are my favorite.  I also love the reptile room, but due to the crowd, we skipped that all together.

Glad I had my camera this day as this is the closest this one's ever been to the fence.  He was sleeping so peacefully and I just wanted to curl up and cuddle him...bad idea, I know, but he just looks so lovable.

Mr. Bear.  He always looks forlorn.  This is the happiest I've ever seen him.

A cougar.  I've always thought these are so beautiful.  Growing up, we had some family friends who raised them and I got to feed the babies once and good GOD they are cute.  Funny story:  The zoo has, for several years now, been having a problem with buzzards.  They seem to have just moved in, presumably for all the free grub.  They cover every exhibit, except there wasn't a single one in this one.  Only a pile of feathers.  I can hear how that went now:

Mr. Buzzard: "Imma eat your food, kthx."
Mr. Cougar:  "Gettin' real tired of your shit, man."
Mr. Buzzard:  "Trolololol."
Mr. Cougar:  *nom*

Gator.  I'm pretty well obsessed with them.  I think they are gorgeous, I've always wanted to hold a baby one.  Also, they make beautiful bags and shoes, and taste scrumptious.

That's all for this round of zoo pictures, but as I said, I will be sure to get more next time we go!

So, how about you?  Are you a huge, over-grown dork that still loves the zoo?

I hope everyone has a great week!  :)

<3
WW

News Time!

Sadly, the cooking blog will be on a break for several weeks, so if you like the crafts and beauty reviews, be sure to follow those as they will be being updated as usual.  There's about to be a jaw surgery in the household and doing a lot of cooking would be just cruel, and though I'm a bitch, I'm not THAT much of a bitch.  However, I will be making lots and lots of malts, I'm sure, and I use my dad's recipe, which is splendid, so I'll try to post it.

The good news is, after that stint's over, I plan to begin to delve into my great-grandmother's recipes I have laying around here as well as a collection of recipes that belong to an old family friend who is an amazing cook, so there will be a lull in recipes, but after that it should be back to the at-least-once-a-week schedule!

<3

WW

Undiscovered Country

So I figured it was time to shake things up a bit.  I know there are a lot of people who read ONLY for recipes, crafts, or reviews, so here's how things will be from now on:

How to Feed a Wookie will be cooking and recipes only.

Wookie Wifey's Romulan Vanity will be all about makeup, skin care products, beauty reviews, hair, jewelry, etc.

The Wookie/Romulan Craft Crossover will be crafts, photo posts, DIYs, organizing, and just whatever other random shit I decide to go on about that day.  All nerd types welcome.

I'll provide links to the other blogs on each blog on the top right-hand side for easy navigation, but in the meantime there may be a bit of a lag in posting and things may mysteriously move around on here and the new blogs for a few days.

Also, you may note, the conspicuous Star Trek theme to the new "wings", if you will, of the little budding blog manor here.  As is mentioned in my 'about me' thing, although the Wookie is a Star Wars fan, I am actually a Trekkie, yet somehow we live reasonably harmoniously despite our obvious nerd differences.  This blog is about picky-man-friendly food and therefore earned his name in the title, but even though I am a Wookie's wife, I've always leaned more towards Romulan, myself.  They tend to be emotional and passionate and that is probably a big reason why I've always identified with them!

Since I am very lazy, I will just add a link directory for all the past posts on the new blogs and post new things where they belong from here on out.  I was going to draw new chibis for the two new sites, but I'll just end up using the ones I have.  I didn't draw them and there's a reason for that.  Mine didn't come out so well....  Don't forget to follow the ones you want to stay caught up on and fix any bookmarks and I hope you all enjoy the new stuff!

<3
(the Romulan) Wookie Wifey

Birthmarks

This is just a quick, random post of something I read about this morning that I found humorous.

I read that your birthmarks are where you were killed in past lives.

I only have one.

It is a small, light, almost triangular-shaped spot on my right knee, so I guess in a past life I was an adventurer until I took an arrow to the knee!  -.-

<3
WookieWifey

Tuna Boats

This is a fun, light, crisp, easy recipe that is just perfect for summer.  The success of this depends on how fresh and nice your cucumbers are, though.  While this was good, the cucumbers I'd bought were a tad on the bitter/tart side, so I'd imagine with a sweeter one this would be ten times better.  I got the idea for this recipe off of Pinterest, but as so often happens, it didn't link back to a source.

This starts out with the tuna recipe I use faithfully - my grandmother's recipe.  I've had a lot of tuna made by a lot of different people, but nowhere else have I ever seen anyone put apples into it and that is a shame because it is just stellar.

Starting off, you'll need 3 cans of tuna in water or oil, your choice.  Drain it well and put it in a large mixing bowl or container.  I knew there'd be leftovers so I mixed it straight into a Tupperware bowl with a lid to save on dishes.

You'll also need 1/2 of an apple - red is best, but green works in a pinch - and half an onion of any color.  The cucumbers are for the little boats.  I made 4 boats and had plenty of tuna left over and could have made about 4-6 more.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach, I couldn't even finish one boat, but the Wookie came to the rescue and ate all the rest!

Other stuff you'll need includes mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip), spicy or brown mustard, salt, pepper, dill pickles or dill relish, and garlic powder, the last two of which seem to have been camera shy on this day.  -.-

Hard boil 3 eggs or one egg per can of tuna and let them cool completely.

Finely dice up the 1/2 onion and 1/2 apple and add them to the tuna along with 1tbsp of the mustard, 1 tsp garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and 2 tbsp of dill relish or finely chopped pickle.  The mayonnaise is up to you.  Some people like their tuna drier than others.  I add mayonnaise until it is to the consistency I like it at, then squeeze in a little more since I'll be adding the eggs in later.

Peel your cucumbers and remove the seeds so they are hollow.  I like to use a melon baller, it gets all the seeds out with one fell swoop.

Next, once they are completely cool, dice the eggs up and fold them into the tuna mixture.  I like to do this after everything else is all stirred up so that some of the chunks of boiled yolks stay intact.  If you mix them in as you mix everything else, they tend to break up and just sort of become one with everything.

Once your eggs are in, pop the whole thing into the fridge, covered, until it is nice and cold, then spoon the mixture into the cucumbers and sprinkle with some parsley.

That's all there is to it!

A close-up shot of the goodness.

Do you have a special tuna salad recipe that's been handed down?

<3
WW

DIY Button Makeover

I tend re-purpose and/or re-vamp things.  A lot.  At any given time, I have boxes of small objects stashed all over just waiting for their turn in a project.

Recently, we sorted through a huge stash of buttons we had that we had no use for in their current state.  You know how it is:  You see one cool button you want, it is on a card of 6 for like 2 bucks, so you buy the card, pin the one button to a bag or coat, then the rest rot in a drawer somewhere.

Not anymore!

Here's the leftover, abandoned, and unloved buttons before.  Some buttons sort of clip together and have paper between them so you can pretty well easily replace whatever is in them, but these weren't like that.

I started out by putting 2 coats of white nail polish on them to cover the prints that were on there.

Then, I started layering on other colors.  Most of these had a base color before I put the glitter over them, but the one with the glitter you already see on it was a hot pink jelly with holo glitter, so I wanted to just put several layers of that over the white so it would have a cool depth to it.

Once I had the base colors on, I started adding the glitters over them.

Once they were painted to where I was happy with them, I let them sit until completely dry, then I applied some cute Hello Kitty stickers to the centers.  Well, roughly the centers.  Some are a little off!  >.<

Once that was done, I added a super thick clear coat.  I just used Hard as Nails clear coat and put it on in very thick drips, then just sort of spread it around so it formed sort of a glaze.  This worked better than I ever could have hoped!  The buttons came out smooth, slick, and shiny just like they'd been pre-painting, even over the glitter.

That's it!  Here's the rest:

Even though the sticker is a little off-center, the gold holo is my favorite.  Sort of hard to get its full brilliance in the picture, but this think sparkles like it's nobody's business!

Have you ever re-done buttons?  Any improvements or ideas you could add?

<3
WW

Review: Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash

Damn, do I love this stuff.

I mean just...damn.

Due to the black and silver design of the container, the pictures didn't come out too well, but you get the idea.

This, in case you hadn't noticed, is Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash in Blackest Black.  This, ladies, is the Holy-fucking-Grail of mascara.

I choked on my own tongue and may or may not have died for a minute or two when I saw on amazon this goes for about 40 bucks.  Then, I grew a brain and looked elsewhere and was able to find it at other websites for around half that.  While that is still about double what I pay for the cheap shit I normally use, it is worth it and this will most likely end up being one of those things I'll have to save up to get when I start running out because if I don't get more...I...I can't.  I don't even want to consider it.

This has the newer silicone-style wand, which I don't mind it as long as it is sturdy and shaped well.  My lashes are relatively thick, but they are fairly short and this made me look like I had fake lashes on after one coat.  I use Koji Spring Heart lashes in "natural cute" and this makes me look like I have those on.  I've never had a mascara do that.  If I apply two coats, it just looks crazy dramatic.  If you have naturally thick lashes that lack length and need an extra kick or two, this is for you.

<3 WW

**This was a gift from a friend, but the opinion is 100% my own.