Arts and Farts and Crafts: Week 2: Outdoors

Arts and Farts and Crafts is a weekly artistic challenge. Every Thursday, a new prompt will be posted here on Ugly Food for an Ugly Dude. Then, you will create some sort of media based on the prompt. Is it a rhyming couplet? A ten-page story? A photograph? A drawing? A recipe? Whatever you’d like. As long as your piece of art is a new creation and it’s vaguely inspired by the week’s prompt, it’s in!

To enter, post your entry on your blog. Then, e-mail me at MSTrox@gmail.com with a link to your entry. I will then make a round-up post sharing your art on my website, as well as the requisite linkage.

This week’s theme: Outdoor Photography.

Here is my entry:

I got the colors I wanted, but I have a few problems with my final entry. We came up with the theme last week when it was sunny and beautiful, and this week was overcast and rainy. Furthermore, I got a little overzealous with the effects of Photoshop Express, so this is a bit too sharp and oversaturated. However, I got the colors I wanted when I snapped the picture, and it captures a bit of a weird moment.

Here is the entry of my friend Nichole:

Here is next week’s prompt, chosen by Nichole.

“Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy — common clay, if you like — eating, breeding, working, counting their pennies; people who just live; ordinary people; people you can’t imagine dead. And then there are the others — the noble ones, the heroes. The ones you can quite well imagine lying shot, pale and tragic; one minute triumphant with a guard of honor, and the next being marched away between two gendarmes.”
-Jean Anouilh

Entries can be submitted in any medium.  The end-date for submissions is Thursday June 25.  Be sure to notify me at MSTrox@gmail.com!

Kashi Granola – Mountain Medley

I love Kashi. I can attribute a great deal of my 130-lb. weight loss to their GoLean and GoLean Crunch cereals. They manage to make tasty cereals that are packed with essentials (protein, fiber, whathaveyou). For my three-plus years as a vegetarian, they were one of my favorite protein sources. Additionally, their instant oatmeal is the best instant I’ve ever eaten.

Oooh la la! I received a package in the mail from Kashi recently. I’d like to revel in the fact that I receive free review samples from companies due to my super-popular Internet web site, but really I just signed up for their mailing list a few years ago.

The Package asks: “Ready to get off your rump?”

I reply: “No.”

The paper inside the box confuses things even more: STEP 1: Eat Granola. STEP 2: Get off your rump.

Using this handy chart, it is now possible to see how one can “get off of their rump” the Kashi way!

Using this even-handier chart, it is possible to see how one can “get off of their rump” and cut out that pesky, delicious middle man!

In the end, though, I did decide to get off my rump. A week later, I took Kashi Mountain Medley Granola where it was destined to be consumed–an overnight on a local stretch of the Appalachian Trail with my friends Brad and Tom.

Kashi Mountain Medley Granola is okay. Don’t get me wrong–in a lot of cases, granola is granola and that is that. Mountain Medley is a quarter-step above your run-of-the-mill granola. The raisins and c’raisins are plentiful and the grains are as tasty as the rest of Kashi’s oeuvre. I guess maybe I’m just spoiled by the goodness that was Dingeldein Bakery’s homemade granola, which is some of the finest I’ve ever sampled.

According to Kashi’s official web page, there are three other varieties of Kashi granola–Cocoa Beach, Orchard Spice, and Summer Berry. The Orchard Spice (mixed with apples and pecans) sounds exquisite, and I’ll probably pick up a box sometime to taste.

Fresh granola–especially at exorbitant bakeries–comes at a price. Kashi’s is the best off-the-shelf granola I’ve had. If you are looking for a slightly-more-economical substitute in your granola life and you don’t have time to make your own, Kashi Mountain Medley is where it’s at. I’ve got two turn tables and a microphone.

Here are some pictographs of the gorgeous scenery I encountered.

Don’t eat the pictures

I have a tendancy of eating vicariously through my camera. As photography has become my A+ #1 hobby, and seeing as how this is my journal, I guess I will share some pictures that may make you drool!

(Fastnachts)

(Endangered Species 70% Dark Chocolate w/ Hazelnut Toffee)

(Green Marshmallow Peeps bunnies)

(Eggs, oranges, and Morningstar Farms sausage links)

(Marshmallow Peeps lollipop ring)

(Cadbury Creme Egg)

Egg white omelet on wrap, sealed with white-trash mustard

(Kashi GoLean mixed with Wheaties)

(Diet Pepsi)

(Boca Southwestern Breakfast Wrap)

(Pizza Hut)

(Valentine’s Day cakes)

(Endangered Species 70% Dark Chocolate with Espresso Beans)

(Mini Pizzas w/ vegetarian sausage, fresh fruit, and sugar-free Jell-O)