The Shrunken Head Aging Process

As promised, here are some updated time lapse photos of my apple crafts.

One week old:



And two weeks old:



The red one is especially more deflated with age. I realize I should have been more scientific about this and put in a measuring tape for scale or tried to be more consistent about the distance between the camera and the heads, but I think you get the idea.

Along the lines of science, I may have inadvertently started a fruit fly breeding colony in my kitchen as I found one little drosophila having a little snack on the green apple's face. For all you science nerds out there, my new "friend" had the cinnabar gene for eye color.

Now We're Cookin' With Gas - Seared Scallops

My new gas stove and I are just getting to know each other. Up until this point, I've never lived in a place with a gas stove and always marveled at how fast things cook when I've been at a pal's place who had one. I've had to modify my cooking timing somewhat with all this hot hot heat. The good news is that my new kitchen is a lot skinner than my old one, so I'm never too far away from what could be boiling over or burning.

To test the burn potential, I thought I'd try something seared, so picked these juicy looking scallops on my last online shopping spree at Peapod. For a great overview of the Peapod shopping experience, check this out. Some may think it is odd to buy seafood online that then spent time in a truck on the way to my house for who knows how long, but I survived with no red tide to report.

3/4 lb of fresh scallops on Peapod - $15.99/lb. Did I get ripped off here? Who cares, cause they were deeeeelicious.



Here is what they looked like searing and seared.





And what they looked like on a bed of veggies just before going to bed in my belly!

Autumnal Crafts - Shrunken Apple Heads!

I don't normally like Martha Stewart but here is something that I saw on Boston.com that was Martha Stewart inspired that I got really excited about.

Shrunken apple heads! I remember making these with my babysitter when I was a wee one. She had a little wooden rocking chair and would make little bodies for them and everything. I am not that crafty, but I thought I would try it out since I am having a Halloween/Housewarming at the end of the month and these shrunken heads would add to the decor.

Assemble the ingredients for the shrunken head making. Essential items are the lemon and the salt so that the apples don't get all brown and nasty.



Here is what my apple heads looked like on the day of their birth...





And what they look like at two days old.



The green one started to get a little mold growth because I think I didn't have them stored in a dry enough place, but I tried to salvage him by carving off the mold. (image not shown because it was a little icky) I will post their progress through puberty into ripe old age over the weeks to come...