I made the front page of Etsy today! Thanks to etsy user palimpsestic for including Le Petit Chaperon Rouge in her creepy, dreamlike collection They Tell Stories Of These Woods. I am honored to be featured among these works!

Sexy Deathray online store

Quartz crystals strung and wire-wrapped on a silver chain.
Don’t worry folks, it won’t happen again.

Science Fiction Earrings
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I tried pineapple salsa at work yesterday for the first time. While the flavor was good, it was a little too sweet and not fresh or spicy enough for my tastes. So I decided to try my hand at making my own version when I got home. I probably haven’t made salsa since I was about 10 years old, so this was a case of “just throw in whatever feels right,” like most of my cooking. Sometimes, reading recipes can be like trying to decipher IKEA instructions, so I don’t follow them if I have any reasonable chance of success without them.

Sarah’s off the top of her head pineapple salsa recipe: Drink 1 gin martini (a requisite first step for any cooking endeavor). Then cut up two jalapenos, one onion, four vine-ripened tomatoes, a huge handful of cilantro, and half a can of pineapple. Mix all these together along with a good amount of habanero sauce, juice of one (preferably home-grown) lemon, one pour of pineapple juice, salt and pepper to taste, and a dash or two of Angostura bitters for good measure.

A conversation with a friend went as follows:
Him: “Sounds like a good recipe; however, I don’t usually mix alcohol and knifes.”
Me: “You’re missing out on a lot of fun.”
Him: “At least I’m not missing out on a lot of fingers.”
Me: “Hey… I only have cuts on two of my fingers right now!”

The salsa turned out very well. I would have added Sriracha sauce if I hadn’t just used up the last of it. I add it to pretty much everything because it is delicious. Some day I may even try to come up with a cocktail recipe that utilizes it.

After finishing the salsa, I moved on to the margaritas! I made blended strawberry-coconut margaritas. I’m not usually a fan of girly or sweet drinks (Scotch, neat, please), but these were good enough for an exception to be made. I didn’t measure properly, just added a big pour of tequila, small pours of Grand Marnier, strawberry puree, and coconut cream, juice of one lime and a handful of ice straight to the blender. They are rimmed with a light dusting of freshly-ground Himalayan pink salt crystals.

After the margaritas were finished, preparation of dinner could commence. I mixed together tilapia, brown rice, and pinto beans with a liberal quantity of the pineapple salsa and crumbled cotija cheese on top.

It was a most delicious and satisfying dinner and will continue to provide sustenance for several days hence.

I’m also working on giving a sad little orphan dresser a much-needed makeover. This is the dresser in its current state:

And when it is finished, it is supposed to look something like this:

It was supposed to be a shade of strawberry pink and have a cute vintage feel, but when I see it like this, all I think of is Gloomy Bear. I suppose that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

In science fiction, there seems to be two main archetypal female personalities:

1. The “good” girl. She’s tall and blonde and tan and wears white and silver. Not too bright, she’s always getting herself in trouble and needing to be rescued by a man. She sleeps with every man in sight.

2. The “bad” girl. While more intelligent, she’s pure dag-nasty evil. Maybe she used to be a “good” girl and was kidnapped too many times and now doesn’t trust any men… except for one, who will eventually betray her, ultimately leading to her defeat, disgrace, or death. She also sleeps with every man in sight.

This started merely as musing on space fashion but it’s grown a little past that. Now, I could go into a huge discussion of feminism and how these are reflections of different attitudes in society at different periods in time, and perhaps I will at a later date. It doesn’t help that most of what we consider “classic” science fiction was created in the 60’s and 70’s, for socially awkward men by socially awkward men. But I’m a strong, capable woman living in the 21st century who likes outer space and fluffy skirts, and I want to see some cute, nice, self-reliant space girls with slightly more innovative fashion sense, damnit!

With that in mind, I have crafted some outer-space-inspired adornments:

Dilithium crystal earrings. Can be used to power the warp core of a small ship in a pinch.

Pretty space baubles.

Strange space flowers.

Random fish earrings. Not completely related but too awesome to leave out.

Space computer parts.

Super-cute stars!

Space candies.

Helios. These have a matching bracelet.

Green antique flowers.

I also have new gloves available in the shop: Dragonfly Blue and Spring Green.