Recipe - beef short ribs (crockpot style)

I made this the other night, and the missus and I just had to sit afterwards and just immortalize the flavours upon finishing the meal.

1lb or so of beef short ribs
soy sauce
ketchup
Worcestershire sauce
molasses
chicken stock
cumin
garlic
onion
one apple

(Red Hot Peppers are optional but good)

Another simple one for those that work all day!
To start with, for extra flavour, heat a fry pan to super hot then sear all sides of each piece of meat.
Place in the crock pot and adjust for 8-10hrs slow cooking time.
Like always, I always put a little bacon grease in there to add that hint of smokeyness
squirt about a 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, a few table spoons of soy sauce (salty),  dash of Worcestershire sauce, good couple of spoon fulls of molasses and about a cup or so of chicken stock - you add more if it is all dried up during the day but let it give a thick sauce at the end. Add good dash of cumin, dice garlic, onion and slice and peel apple.
During cooking time, I stirred and turned a few times, hell it aint rocket science

So I served this up with a cheese risotto that took about a half an hour to cook, plus I had a handful of arugula and a splash of garlic infused olive oil and some brags liquid aminos.........

Funny - comments on hair removal product!!

This review is from: Veet for Men Hair Removal Gel Creme 200 ml (Personal Care)
After having been told my danglies looked like an elderly rastafarian I decided to take the plunge and buy some of this as previous shaving attempts had only been mildly succesful and I nearly put my back out trying to reach the more difficult bits. Being a bit of a romantic I thought I would do the deed on the missus's birthday as a bit of a treat.
I ordered it well in advance and working in the North sea I considered myself a bit above some of the characters writing the previous reviews and wrote them off as soft office types...oh my fellow sufferers how wrong I was. I waited until the other half was tucked up in bed and after giving some vague hints about a special surprise I went down to the bathroom. Initially all went well and I applied the gel and stood waiting for something to happen. I didn't have long to wait.
At first there was a gentle warmth which in a matter of seconds was replaced by an intense burning and a feeling I can only describe as like being given a barbed wire wedgie by two people intent on hitting the ceiling with my head. Religion hadn't featured much in my life until that night but I suddenly became willing to convert to any religion to stop the violent burning around the turd tunnel and what seemed like the destruction of the meat and two veg. Struggling to not bite through my bottom lip I tried to wash the gel of in the sink and only succeeded in blocking the plughole with a mat of hair. Through the haze of tears I struggled out of the bathroom across the hall into the kitchen by this time walking was not really possible and I crawled the final yard to the fridge in the hope of some form of cold relief. I yanked the freezer drawer out and found a tub of ice cream, tore the lid of and positioned it under me. The relief was fantastic but only temporary as it melted fairly quickly and the fiery stabbing soon returned .
Due to the shape of the ice cream tub I hadn't managed to give the starfish any treatment and I groped around in the drawer for something else as I was sure my vision was going to fail fairly soon.I grabbed a bag of what I later found out was frozen sprouts and tore it open trying to be quiet as I did so.I took a handful of them and tried in vain to clench some between the cheeks of my arse. This was not doing the trick as some of the gel had found it's way up the chutney channel and it felt like the space shuttle was running it's engines behind me.
This was probably and hopefully the only time in my life I was going to wish there was a gay snowman in the kitchen which should give you some idea of the depths I was willing to sink to in order to ease the pain. The only solution my pain crazed mind could come up with was to gently ease one of the sprouts where no veg had gone before.
Unfortunately, alerted by the strange grunts coming from the kitchen the other half chose that moment to come and investigate and was greeted by the sight of me, arse in the air, strawberry ice cream dripping from my bell end pushing a sprout up my arse while muttering..." Ooooh that feels good ". Understandably this was a shock to her and she let out a scream and as I hadn't heard her come in it caused an involutary spasm of shock in myself which resulted in the sprout being ejected at quite some speed in her direction. I can understand that having a sprout farted against your leg at 11 at night in the kitchen probably wasn't the special surprise she was expecting and having to explain to the kids the next day what the strange hollow in the ice cream was didn't improve my status...So to sum it up Veet removes hair, dignity and self respect...:)

Art - creation of Da bodies

creation

Commissioned to create something very unique for their down town Kentucky Loft.

Understanding that the room was arranged corner to corner, I created the wall sculptures to sit at an angle.

The image was derived from holiday photos - there are three levels off art styles and dimension.......

on display in Kentucky Loft

Recipe - Lamb 2 from 1

 What’s 2 from 1, cause if you cook enough, you will be able to create two killer meal from this.....

Meal one ---

shoulder of lamb

carrots

celery

onion

garlic

small red potatoes

salt-pepper, rosemary

half a cup to a cup of ginger ale

1.5 - 2 bottles of stout beer

touch of bacon grease - must for everything.....

sauce

Fig jam and fresh Mint

crockpot!!

real simple

High heat on cast iron pan or plate and quick sear all sides of lamb - fast and gives extra flavour - you can also sauté onions.

then place this bad boy into the crockpot.

Cut up all veges small and place around and season meat. Pour over the liquids and if you feel like those 2 bottles of stout are too much - then drink some.....!!!!I did.

I placed the setting to 4 hours but I would have preferred it to be 8 to 12 hours to be more tender and broken down, just ran out of time....

I chose to serve the meat sliced up with the fig sauce spooned over it, with a side salad that consisted of was a bed of arugula, slice of Irish cheese, sliced heirloom tomatoes and a bit of garlic infused oil and balsamic vinegar.

IMPORTANT --- left over lamb should be placed (broth and all) into an air-tight container

Meal two -

left overs

tortillas or flat bread

american cheese

arugula or mustard greens

fresh basil

tomatoes

mayonnaise, horseradish and honey

so the next day, or maybe the day after, all the flavours have been absorbed and shared thru the left overs.

on a wooden block or cutting surface, dice into small sections the lamb and a few of the veges that were refrigerated in the stock. Heat them up in the pan so they have a little brown sauté action happening.

warm up tortillas or flat bread (which is what I really prefer), let a little american cheese melt on it too.

Slice up some tomatoes (you should have some heirlooms left over) add some arugula, or mustard greens sliced up with basil.

Place all of the ingredients on to the flat bread, then I created a sauce with mayonnaise, horseradish and a touch of honey that I spooned over it.........The way to live.....

Recipe - Grilled Strawberry Salmon

What the hell is strawberry Jam Salmon - I know it may not sound that appealing but it is the same appeal as apple sauce and pork or cranberry sauce and turkey......

Salmon fresh wild with skin is best but a bag of prepackaged portions at costco are nice a simple.
Strawberry jam and fresh strawberries (if you can’t get the fresh stuff, the jam is still great.)
black cracked pepper
rock salt
onion and garlic salt
rosemary - better fresh
oil - I like olive oil and a touch of bacon fat.....yeh I said it

You can do this in a tray foil on the BBQ or a small pan that can go in the oven/broiler
First pour some oil in a pan or create a small tray out of foil by folding up the edges, make it a little bit bigger than the portion itself. Add a dash of bacon fat for that extra flavour - dont need much but the smokey/porkiness is great.
Place the salmon skin down in the pan/tray, season with pepper, rock salt and flavoured salts - not too heavy.
Using a butter knife, get a good portion of jam and spread it on the top of the salmon - if you need more, clean the knife first otherwise the next time you have toast, the jam will taste very fish - you will only need this once.
Put some sliced strawberries on top then sprinkle the rosemary to finish the prep.
If using the BBQ, the edges and underneath should get toasty and then you can decide if you want it fully cooked or a little pink inside - fresh salmon is always better a little pink inside.  If using stove top, cook until the skin is crispy and it is almost to your liking - either pink or fully cooked - about 7-10min high, then do about 3 minutes in the broiler (still in pan) to toast the top.

This goes really well over quinoa or brown rice, with a light arugula salad......

Art Surfboard- Embrace

Embrace - painted live in Thomadro Gallery, Haleiwa North Shore, Hawaii Aug 2012

Art - Glassy Shores

Live at the Easel during Aug 2012 Pacific Crest Gallery show, South Lake Tahoe....

Glassy Shores.

Downtown Board Meeting

Latest Surfboard Piece - throwing down an image of the Gas Lamp of San Diego - just delivered to the Michael J Wolf Gallery right there in the Gas Lamp

Funny - Medical distinction between Guts and Balls

We've all heard about people having Guts or Balls.  But do you really know the difference between them? There is a medical distinction between Guts and Balls.


In an effort to keep you informed, here are the definitions:

GUTS - Is arriving home late after a night out with the boys, being met by your wife with a broom, and having the Guts to ask: 'Are you still cleaning, or are you flying somewhere?'

BALLS - Is coming home late after a night out with the guys, smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your collar, slapping your wife on the butt and having the Balls to say: 'You're next, Chubby.'

I hope this clears up any confusion on the definitions.

Medically speaking there is no difference in the outcome.
Both result in death.*

as relayed by Mr Bill Weeks - James Coleman Gallery

Recipe - Fried Lettuce Salad

bacon
red onion
black or green olives
extra virgin olive oil
strong dry cheese - I like Irish cheese - grated
baby iceberg lettuce
rock salt and fresh cracked pepper.
red wine vinegar

extra plus (mix of mush made by a couple of my fellow artists at the Scottsdale show -
consists of garlic, jalapeños, ginger and olive oil blended together)

start off by cooking up a few slices of bacon.
When crispy, remove from pan and dice.
Tip most of the bacon grease out (not down the drain! oil does not go down the drain) but leave a little there for later on.

Dice red onions and olives.

Slice baby lettuce in half and place in the hot pan, cook until fried brown on cut side then place on plate cooked side up, garnish with cheese then follow with the rest - easy and dam good by themselves as a side!!

Art - Objects Appear Closer

'Objects in the Mirror Appear Closer than they are'

Latest surfboard adorns a close up shot of a Zebra.

This was created during the Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale Arizona - love this one

Celebrate of fine Art

Well we are a month into this 3 month festival, enjoying all aspects of this except for surf and family - yes I know the order I put this. The fam has been a out and I talk constantly to my girls - surf cant talk on the phone!
Here are some shots from the set up where we had a shell, that was only a couple of walls and a freshly laid cement floor.
New work is completely inspired by my new tent crowd, it is refreshing to be surrounded by artists that arent necessarily coastal influenced, I am drawing lines from native indian artist - James Ayers, urban artist - James Randle, and Vintage Vehicle artist - Santiago Michalek among others.

set up - not sure what I am supposed to do here!

a few days later the easel is out and paint is moving.

Not sure what is next on the easel or what will even come off it - but things are moving.

Art - new snowboards from scottsdale

Betweeen the LinesDrawing Lines

Lines lines everywhere - new work from the desert.