Each-Uisge

The Each-uisge, also known as the Scottish water horse.

I took inspiration from the picture featured on Wikipedia, and added my own personal touches. Instead of just a generic horse-head on a man's body, I gave it some fish-like characteristics. If I was to draw its lower-half, I'd be conflicted about giving it a merman's tail, a pair of horse legs, or webbed feet.

Must say I certainly enjoyed drawing his arm.

Gator Buddies

Nearly the end of October and I've only done 5 pieces for Inktober? My procrastination is on a fucking roll, guys!

Anyway, more gators, and more messing around with watercolor pens and shading.

The Gators Next Door

"Hey, you gotta waaaaaakey," Stubby nudged the larger gator he sat on. "We got visitors!"

Crocigator groaned, unwilling to move despite the smaller gator's protests. Meanwhile, Pudgy stared on, completely surprised by what he was seeing. He had always thought Crocigator had lived by himself, but he had never thought even once that the lazy, reserved gator turned out to be a father...

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I said at the beginning of the year I'd make content about them. Nine months later, well, here we are.

It's great to have a background (and in color holy shit) for once. Also did a lot of messing around with my pens, but I think I'll be looking into some techniques online for future inks. I personally don't like how the beams keeping the wooden dock up turned out though.

Am I Doing This Right?

"You could use a little more practice, girl. But it's okay. You'll get there eventually."

---

Mary's not used to this whole dating thing; she was never really the most social person. Thea's at least sympathetic towards the brunette, and simply lets Mary take her time.

Been so long since I drew these two. I'm a little worried about the proportions in this picture, but I'm at a point where I could care less so long as it comes out decent. I am though rather miffed that some water managed to smear on the flower on Thea's slipper... And we have this mess on Mary's pants. More caution in the future!

Inktober 2018

Been a full year since I've come to Japan. It's been really busy, but recently I've had the chance to mellow out from all the studies I've been doing by traveling some, playing games, and getting back into jogging and losing weight. Overall really chill. Now I'm feeling a little more motivated to start again and I've decided to jump back in to art after a prolonged artist's block.

For some reason, while I have a tablet and a photo editing program to work with, I'm still drawn to the allure of traditional art. Some time ago, for the sake of a school project I ordered some watercolor brush pens, and after acquiring a new notebook, I gave inking a try after so long:

My avoiding smudges technique is rather off unfortunately...

So there you have it. My game is a little rusty, but I hope that by doing this I can manage to get back to my old routine of drawing and inking, and with color this time (would it still be considered inking?). It'll be a nice change from all this monochrome I'm terribly used to.

Oh, and I'll try to finish on time this time ignoring the fact that I'm already six days late as of this writing. For once. You can view my progress for this year's #inktober by clicking the Inktober 2018 tag on the right side of the screen, or just the link in this sentence if you're on mobile.

Cheers to a productive Inktober!

-Zip

Yudofu

Some time ago I went to my nearest Uniqlo, a decent 10-minute walk from my sharehouse. I'm not gonna lie; I've got brand loyalty for their clothes, and it's hard not to love their quirky anime and nothing-but-chairs tees and plaid shirts. I found a one-piece dress that I particularly liked, but a moment later in the fitting room where I realized that even with my size the dress showed a significant amount of stomach, I was soon sulking out of the store in utter disappointment.

Stepping out, I grew annoyed of my situation. I was stupid pudgy and I hated it. So I decided that moment that I need to start going on a diet if I'm ever going to find myself fitting anything other than tees and shorts/pants ever again.

Sometime later after writing a short essay in class about how I wanted to go on a diet and getting fairly decent marks out of it, I approached one of my teachers from my last term, whom I liked to share food and travel photos to. I told her of my diet and asked her what Japanese food she recommended for me to have. She told me about yudofu (湯豆腐), a popular dish in Kyoto, and after kindly requesting her, she was more than willing to teach me how to make this simple recipe.

Yudofu is derived from oyu (お湯), which means hot water, and tofu (豆腐). As its name suggests, yudofu is simply silk tofu cooked in hot water. It's not just any water though; it's water infused with kombu (昆布), or kelp. Afterwards, the tofu is eaten with veggies, bonito flakes or katsuobushi (鰹節), along with other condiments like grated radish and ponzu (ポン酢).

Whether you're starting a vegan diet, a tofu lover, or just wanting to live better in general, this is a dish worth making if your ingredients are within reach.

Rice Cooker Nabemono

It's the middle of spring over here in Japan, and after a few days of cloudy days, sun, and more clouds,  the sky finally decided to make up its mind and rain on us over the weekend.

From 26°C we fell down to, what, 15°C, 16°C? 10°C is a huge difference. Although as I write this blog post the sky's clear as all hell and we had been hit once more with 26°C this afternoon, I felt like I needed to have something warm and healthy for the cold weather the last two days. I wasn't feeling like having some sukiyaki this time, so I went for the more savory alternative:

I've given a brief explanation of nabemono (鍋物) back in my post about sukiyaki. In the old days of Sunrise Land, nabe was a staple of most dinners especially in the winter, and to this day they still are. Families and friends alike gather round clay cooking pots over hearths on the floor called irori (囲炉裡), sharing bowls of soup filled with veggies and meats, sharing warmth and a hearty meal to get them through the cold. These days you rarely see traditional Japanese homes with irori; instead you see a cast iron pot boiling stew over a butane gas stove.

This is an irori in a traditional house in Okutama (奥多摩), the mountains of western Tokyo. In the old days people cooked nabe through these things in the comforts of their homes, and people in provincial areas still do so today.

In my time here in Tokyo, I rarely run into a nabe shop. Most shops I see are ramen shops, izakayas, sushi counters, and gyūdon restaurants. Then there's the occasional tempura or curry place down the corner. Call me ignorant and maybe I am, but that's just my experience.

There are different kinds of nabe, as I mentioned previously. But their components always consist of a basic dashi broth, soy sauce, mirin, vegetables, and meat. You can also essentially put in whatever mix of veggies and meat that you want. For today though I'll be doing my own rice cooker nabe (oh, the irony) that has a bunch of ingredients, a couple of which being optional.

This should serve about 3-4 people.

Mac n' Cheese

Following weeks of take-out, convenience store snacks, and a full week spent with my girlfriend from across the globe after she came to visit me in Japan, it's about damn time I came back to this blog (*sprays confetti*)! And I'm back with a simple recipe that doesn't have you doing anything too complicated.

Over in my Discord channel the other day, one of my good friends shared this lovely video of Cheetos Mac n' Cheese by Matty Mattheson. I suddenly had an unquenchable desire to make my own mac n' cheese following that, and it didn't help that another one of my good friends was making mac n' cheese at the same time while her little kid was running around playing with a ladle. I made a first batch but it turned into a flop, because I was too lazy to make a proper roux and it became a terrible mess. Now I wasn't stupid enough to not do it again this time, and it came out just the way it should have.

This should be enough for 3-4 people.

Sukiyaki

Spring is just around the corner here in Japan! Man, I'll miss the cold weather. Though it seems like winter isn't that ready to leave just yet, as my weather app forecasts a fair amount of precipitation this week:

That said, I'm in for a cold week in the coming days. Not that I mind; I do love cold weather, as I hail from a country where cold weather doesn't exist (what is snow?). But with the rain I'm likely to end up in house arrest for a good amount of time, as the rainy weather tends to make me so lazy to even leave the sharehouse. For weather this cold, a good ol' soup does the trick keeping me warm, and for today I turn to a favorite traditional Japanese dish to bring me all the warmth I need.

Sukiyaki (すき焼き) is a sweet and salty beef and veggie stew that falls under the line of what Japanese call nabemono (鍋物), which are essentially stews cooked in a pot called a nabe (鍋). Most people know these as hotpots wherein you take beef strips, dip it in the soup for a few seconds, then eat it as it is with rice, and sometimes dipped in a raw egg, or a sauce like ponzu (ポン酢).

This recipe doesn't have you gathered up with your friends around a butane gas stove heating up a pot of stew, but it does have you all gathered around a rice cooker, which is even cooler anyway in my opinion. Hope you've got your rice cooker ready!

This recipe should be good for 3-4 people.

Cheese Cauliflower

Been a busy February and March for me, traveling around Japan, finding run-of-the-mill culinary wonders in the least likely of places, learning the language, and just living the dream by merely living here. It's been an amazing six months and it's still so surreal to me. That said, my wallet's taken a sizable blow due to all the times I've been eating out instead of cooking at home. So today, I've decided to stay home for once and settle for some homemade cooking, especially now that my finals for the term are all over. But I'm sick and tired of the curry that I've been eating since Monday, and if I have to see it again I'm gonna barf.

I was running through some ideas as to what I can make this time, and interestingly, I found one from a recent PC Gamer article about the people making Stardew Valley's recipes a reality. In particular, I went to Stardew Kitchen, and what caught my attention most out of Helena's remake of SV's recipes was her Cheese Cauliflower. Her version involves the addition of macaroni and a béchamel with reduced pale ale in tribute to Pam, whom players can learn the recipe from. I was not only impressed by the result, but I also felt a genuine desire to do a version of my own… Using only an induction and a rice cooker.

This recipe is enough for four.

Spicy Tuna Salad

Here's a simple recipe that doesn't need a rice cooker nor a stove. And should also make use of your leftover Sriracha sauce from the wings the other day.

Back in early 2016, I used to intern for a (now defunct) modern Japanese bistro back in the Philippines. I could have kept working for them if it weren't for the toxic environment their kitchen started having, but it wasn't as if I didn't learn anything out of my three months there. One of the things I learned while working there—which to this day I have not forgotten—is how to make spicy mayo. This wasn't just some store brand mayo with hot sauce in it though; this was exactly the kind of spicy mayo that just screams Japanese when its flavors make contact with your taste buds and explode in an overwhelming umami climax inside your mouth.

At the bistro I worked at, this spicy mayo was combined with tuna (sometimes salmon) tartare and served on a salad where the greens outnumbered the spicy tuna. As a customer I find that total bullshit, man. Why? Because I may have paid money to eat the salad, but I taste more greens than the spicy mayo, which is boring as shit. Well if you want something delicious, I say try making it yourself, eh?

This recipe is good for two.

Buffalo Wings

It's Friday evening. Work and school just ended and you're off for the weekend. You think to yourself, you've been working hard all week long, and it's about time you treated yourself out for once. A nice cool beer or two sounds just about enough to hit the spot right now. You head home and buy a few at the convenience store, and then you realize it wouldn't be as enjoyable if you didn't have something to eat with this beer. You've got some money to spare... What would go best with beer right now? Nearest pub and resto is miles away, but there is this delicatessen nearby. You walk inside, and after the staff greet you warmly, you go on and have a look around.

The delicatessen is exactly what you'd expect; various dried meats and specialty ingredients are on display all around the store. Rows of exotic ingredients line the shelf, either in boxes or jars, and there's a display of a pyramid of stacked cans on sale near the meats section. As you put down the vegemite you had some small interest in, you turn and see a shelf full of nothing but organized stacks of Munz chocolate on one side of the store, next to the pastry goods. But you don't want anything sweet. You want something that goes well with this beer you've bought and that chocolate is anything but.

But then, you see the blue cheese, packs of chicken wings, and Sriracha sauce, and suddenly it all hits you.

My plating could have been better.

Time for a personal take on my favorite kind of chicken wings.

Arroz Caldo

With the onset of winter a lot of people have been getting sick lately, like myself (but my illness has nothing to do with the weather, at least I don't think it is). I've been sick the last two weeks; throat hurts like a godawful bitch every night and even with my new meds it's not going away that easily. I've been drinking some ginger honey and lemon tea that my mother recommended, and one of my friends was kind enough to recommend that having a drink of milk with some honey works too. It's alleviated some of the pain and other than the fucktard in my classroom giving me a headache all the time and who won't shut the fuck up, because for some reason he needs to make a display of his dumbfuckery every five seconds, I think I'm getting better a little at a time. Just keeping my fingers crossed that I haven't jinxed my ass off though.

The hardest part about being sick is actually being able to take care of yourself. At some point some people can't even stand because it's just that bad. With my sore throat, swallowing is an absolute hassle. How is anyone supposed to eat when their throat twinges with sharp spikes of pain every time they eat something? Lucky for me (and anyone with a sore throat), hot liquids help relieve my constricted throat, and today's recipe has certainly brought relief to my throat and stomach whenever I'm sick.

Arroz Caldo has been part of Filipino cuisine for as long as anyone can remember (well, no, it's been there ever since the Chinese started trading with us waaaaay before the Spaniards colonized us) and anyone who's lived in a Filipino household all their lives is all too familiar with this rice gruel dish. I learned the recipe from my mother, and when I used to live back home she would always make this when I or one of my siblings were sick, or when it was the pabasa during the Holy Week. Why does it have a Spanish name when it's been there before the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines? Fucked if I know. Panlasang Pinoy says the Spaniards couldn't pronounce freakin' congee and said Arroz Caldo was apparently easier to say. Sounds about reasonable.

Just about every recipe out there tells you how to cook this dish in a pot. But none of these recipes ever tell you how to cook it in a rice cooker. Real helpful to the people without a stove, guys. Here I tell you how to cook it using both pot and rice cooker.

01/17 Dominator Sketch Dump

I'm frequently on GTA Online these days when I'm not reading up on my Japanese grammar nor drawing stuff. At first I was honestly apprehensive of giving it a try because of all the rumors of how terrible online can be in this game. However, despite the game's reputation for modders and hackers fucking everyone over, I do admit my 360 hours and counting of playtime I have does stand as a testimony of how I just love the game in general. You'd have to be lucky to find some actual people to play heists or stuff with though.

What I especially love about the game though is their ever-expanding collection of cars online. Admittedly as a kid I loved collecting small toy cars, and despite the teasing I received for being a tomboy then I couldn't care less about it; I thought they were really cool. Playing this game and seeing the cars over on their in-game online stores always feels like an absolute throwback to that time. And I especially love the fact that I could collect and drive any car I wanted and drive it all around the scenic locations of Los Santos and Blaine County. But that's assuming I was more than willing to grind or shell out the IRL ka-ching just to buy the cars I wanted in-game. Not that I mind grinding the hours away. Besides, racing was and still is an awesome way to earn money; I love the thrill of coming in first and leaving dirty fucking racers in the dust.

Japanese Curry

Ah, Japanese curry. Usually served as curry rice, this dish is the stuff of Japanese home-cooked dinners and tight-belted college students trying to come up with a decent meal plan that fits their budget and will last a few days longer even though they know they'll eventually get absolutely sick of it. Unlike the more flavorful Indian curries or the well-balanced Thai curries, Japanese curries are made from solid gold curry blocks packed with just about everything a typical curry soup stock needs, minus the veggies and meats of course. But don't shun their curry just because it's not like the Indians' nor the Thais'; their curry is just as flavorful with the right ingredients... And other seasonings.

New to Japanese curry? Here's how they look on the package.

Here's a personal take on this classic Japanese dish.

Self-Portrait 2018

Isn't it long overdue for a new self-portrait?

Hastily made sketch; I'm satisfied how it turned out more or less.

Sure pays to have more color in my work for once.

Gators... And Snail

As part of my New Year's resolutions for 2018, I've decided to draw more digital art, regardless of whether my work is refined or otherwise. I want to be able to develop my skills, and I feel that unless I actually go out and try to make art despite any mistakes I might possibly make, then I won't ever move forward in my art in general.

For today's doodles I've decided to take on a more cartoony art style, with the most unlikely of subjects: my gator plushes, and a snail I had made from long, long ago:

Crossover New Year's 2018

A continuation of this post.

And with the advent of the New Year on my side of the world, I'd once again like to wish everyone a prosperous 2018! Time flies ridiculously fast, doesn't it? Cheers to the road ahead!