Friday 30 November 2012

Super Brunch Sunday: Buttermilk Pancakes with Warm Apple Cinnamon Topping

Last weekend's brunch was sooooo good.  The perfectly cooked buttermilk pancakes (thanks to Ephraim!), topped generously (I may have added more after these photos, that stack got messy) with warm, gooey, cinnamon loaded apples.  It was like pie filling, but better, because it obviously used to be something that's good for you.  Used to be.  But that time had long since passed.  YUM.

Buttermilk Pancakes (modified from Fannie Farmer's 1945 recipe) Serves 2

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk (or more)
3 tablespoons melted butter (or vegetable oil)
Method
  1. Mix together the dry ingredients. 
  2. Add the beaten egg and melted butter and stir vigorously, adding more milk, if necessary, to make the batter just thin enough to pour. 
  3. Drop by spoonfuls or pour from pitcher onto heated and greased griddle or frying pan using medium heat. 
  4. When full of bubbles and the underside is browned, turn and brown the other side. 
  5. Serve with maple syrup and additional butter (and apple topping.  Come one now.)
Cinnamon Apple Topping (modified from This Homemade Life)
Ingredients
 2-3 apples, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of water

Method
  1. In a skillet, on medium heat, melt the butter.  
  2. Pour in the apples, and saute until just tender.  
  3. Add in the sugar, cinnamon and water.  
  4. Continue cooking (and stirring) until it reaches a syrup-like consistency.
If you like the plate, I won't tell anyone.  I was pretty tempted with this one! And I am happy to report that the leftovers were SUPERB brought in to work to eat at my desk a few days later.  You'll want to double the pancake recipe though!

What are you making for brunch this weekend?
--Erin

Thursday 29 November 2012

Month in an Apron: My Restaurant-less(ish) November in Review

Howdy folks!
The week is ever so slowly coming to a close and I for one am SO excited for the weekend! I'm headed into Toronto for a weekend full of errands and fun (and more fun!).  Can't wait!! This weekend also marks the start of December, so I wanted to take a moment and write about how my attempt at a month without restaurants went.

This time last month I was looking at my credit card statement wondering how I could possibly spend SO MUCH money on food.  I mean, I love food and all, but I don't eat a large amount, nor do I eat out every day, so what's the deal? The fact is, I live in a tourist town, and as such, food (and groceries, and clothes, and everything) are ridiculously expensive.  And while groceries may cost me more here than they would in Toronto, I knew I could make a significant dent in my budget by cooking exclusively, and not falling into the trap of buying a lunch at work (even if the company cafeteria has the most vegetarian options and is the most reasonably priced place to eat in the town.  And now that I've said that I can hear Ephraim saying "ahem, the stagecoach, ahem!". Second cheapest.  There).

The month has not been completely restaurant free.  Let's get that out on the table first.  In the last 30-odd days, I have purchased food from outside sources 4 times.  A couple weeks ago in NOTL we had "Fabulicious", a terrible portmanteau that is the name of an event where the priciest restaurants in the area (and there are lots of those, this is wine country!) do special prix fixe menus, making them more accessible.  So, I had a special dinner out with some friends from work.  That was cheat meal number one.  

Later that same weekend, I had two little slip ups, one of which I'm not sure really counts since it wasn't a full meal per se, but I went out to try poutine for the first time and to celebrate the return of a friend who had been out of the country for a couple weeks.  Actually, I ordered chili cheese fries (also a first) and tried someone else's poutine, but it was still a magical affair, and there was beer, and I don't feel bad about it.  So there.  Then the next day I was ravenous to the point of extreme irritability after an extended trip to IKEA (y'all know what I'm talking about.  And I wasn't about to cave and buy some IKEA food.  Standards!) so we went out for felafel.  Still, I don't feel badly about that, because Ephraim's life was on the line (EXTREME irritability).  So, up to this point we're at 3 slip ups, 0 of which I regret.

I bought lunch at work one day this whole month, and it's the only time I felt that I had really dropped the ball on my goal.  I didn't take the time to cook something large enough the night before that I would have leftovers to bring with me.  I made sure to swing by the grocery store on my way home from work, cooked an extra large meal, and woke up with plenty of time the next morning to pack a substantial healthy lunch for myself. I learned from the one incident this month that I felt could have been prevented, and was worth working to avoid.  And I feel really good about that.

All in all, this experiment has been really worth while.  It has saved me money (which incidentally I will be spending on a reward for my efforts :P), it has pushed me to try to cook things that I would normally just go out for (burger night was a 2 time success.  Whoop whoop!), it resulted in much less food waste due to better meal planning, and a substantial shift in the ratio of perishable to non perishable food items I bought over the month, as I was shopping for produce twice or even three times a week, instead of only once.  I feel good about the changes I made, and I feel confident that I can carry over the habits I have formed into the coming months, while granting myself some leniency, because let's be honest, life without the Guru's Dhal Makhani is not worth living.  Gimme my curry, please!

With holiday shopping well underway, have you made any changes to your budget to accommodate for the extra spending this time of year brings?

--Erin

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Four Simple Goals Update: Success in Failure

This past week I took a moment to try and rededicate myself to my four simple goals before 2013.  I think I set myself up for a bit of disaster, by making my goals less simple, and larger than the original intention of this motivator is.  Oh well, I wrote out 4 things, and now I have to hold myself to them (I did share it with the internet, after all!).

I decided to use my Singer 29K leather patcher in a project I was working on, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to knock a goal off the list, and finally acquaint myself with this beautiful albeit daunting machine.  Well, I tried, and tried, and no such luck.  I sat down at the machine for a good hour, and failed to get more than about 3 stitches in.  There is something very wrong with the tension, but I can't seem to find the source! Added to that, the hand wheel was mounted on the front instead of the side for transport, and it just isn't a natural spot to use it in, and naturally the only screwdriver I have to try to remove it is that for my domestic sewing machine...so uh, totally not happening! I'm hoping that the next time my dad comes out here with his tool box he can move the handwheel (and have a look at my beloved toaster oven!),and then we should be in business.  But that won't be till the new year, so what do I say about my goal?

After some deliberation, I've decided to make this count as a win.  The intention of the goal was not to make anything with the machine, but to use it.  I took the time to try to familiarize myself with the machine, and do some trouble shooting, and I think that's worth something.  And until I get her in happy working order, the machine (named Doris) looks damn pretty in my home studio!  So, that's one more off the short list, folks.


 How are your 4 simple goals going?

--Erin

Monday 26 November 2012

Ships Ahoy: Navy White and Red Life Preserver Print


*** First, a quick notice.  I have made the blog more narrow for easier viewing for those with smaller screens.  All images can be clicked to enlarge.  I am going through the archives to do a rough resize, but it will take some time.  Please leave a comment if you see a particularly egregious formatting error. Thanks for your patience!***

I finally took the plunge and dyed my hair dark! I have always envied those girls with dark beautiful auburn hair, and now I walk among them. I was going on two years since my last professional haircut, which is obviously really long overdue. I can't believe how light my hair feels. Or how confident I feel to style it! Turns out I had no idea what to do with my hair simply because there was too much of it to really do anything with. Well, unless I wanted a style evocative of the trends of the Victorian lady, which, no. Point is, I am so so happy with my new hair. The cut and colour look amazing with my new frames (not pictured, I am taking them to get my prescription put in next weekend), and I am really pumped to do a bit of retro styling in the coming weeks. Exciting times, friends! Okay enough blabber, more glamour. (HAH)
It was snowing and I was FREEZING
I picked this dress up from the Goodwill last week, and took a bit of a gamble on it. I basically had to be in and out of the store pretty quick, so I bought it without trying it on. It's a petite 10, neither of which are sizes I wear, but it actually worked out pretty perfectly! To be fair, some of that may be because I can cinch the waist in with that amazing self-fabric belt, but all in all I'm calling this a win. And I'm glad it worked out, because thrifting is getting expensive! All the dresses I saw at the Goodwill were marked at $10 (well, $9.99 to fit in with their weird palindrome pricing). It's not so easy to pick up whatever looks interesting anymore, but on the same note, my closet is way too full already. I suppose I'll have to learn to be more picky, hard as it may be! Have you found thrifting in your town to be becoming more costly, too?

It has pockets!
The Deets
Nautical Print Dress: Thrifted
Red Tights: Topshop
White Leather Ankle Boots: Vintage
Bracelet: Betsey Johnson (gift)

What hair colour have you always wanted to try, but never worked up the nerve? Give it a shot, it's only hair!!

--Erin




Friday 23 November 2012

Mama's Got a Brand New Look

Howdy folks!
Sorry it's been such a quiet week round these parts, but I have been hard at work preparing what you see before you! 

That's right, this little blog has got a makeover.  I'm considering today to be kind of a "soft launch", as there are some things I need to tweak and a couple more buttons I'd like to create over the next week.  That being said, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a bit of feedback from you all about the new look! How you like the layout, and how easy it is to navigate the site.  I'll be taking all your feedback into consideration as I continue to improve the site in terms of aesthetics and functionality.  Woo!

I'd also like to take this chance to point out a few new things!

It has been so painful for me to have to sit on this gorgeous portrait by Daisy of Boux Who.  I commissioned the piece specifically for the new blog layout, and didn't want to unveil it preemptively! Daisy did a bang up job, and she was so fun and easy to work with.  You should definitely check out her site (you can click on her image in the right sidebar, FANCY FANCY!) and her shop! You won't regret it. Thanks again, Daisy!!

Naturally, the next feature to point out is the new right sidebar! This is a perfect location to show all my readers what blogs I am reading regularly, as well as an opportunity for a bit of Button Swapping to increase exposure for your shop, blog, online portfolio, whathaveyou!

If you are interested in a button swap, please email me at efgerofsky@gmail.com.  I have a few sizes of buttons available in the left sidebar, please let me know if you need a different size.

Alright champs, that's all for today.  Hope you all have excellent weekends!!

--Erin

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Currently...

Watching: Late last week I decided it was finally time to get caught up on Breaking Bad.  I started watching the show when it was a couple episodes into the first season, and watched episode by episode until the fourth season.  Honestly though, I much prefer to mainline it, and watch a season over the course of a couple days, and really immerse myself in it.  So when things started getting really emotional in the show, I couldn't stand waiting a week or several weeks for some resolution! Having been out of the show for so long, I figured I'd start over from the beginning, since I loved the show so much, and it was the best decision ever.  The show is SO GOOD on the second pass through! I mean it's excellent on the first pass, but knowing what's coming next has made watching Walter's slow descent so interesting.  One show I can't wait till the season is over to watch, it The Walking Dead.  I love scary movies, and zombie stuff in particular, but TWD always manages to make me feel tense while I watch it, which is quite a feat.  I love catching up on this show every week!!
Listening to: I tend to get pretty stuck on an album or two while working on a project, but building this model has been a bit different.  This is probably because I had forgotten my ipod in Ephraim's car, so I was using my less jam-packed and current ipod touch for a couple weeks.  Having it on shuffle opened me back up to some stuff I had put on the back burner for a while.  Albums I am listening to a lot while working are Port of Morrow - The Shins, Hvarf/Heim - Sigur Ros, Eureka - Mother Mother, Metropolis - Janelle Monae.
Planning: Nothing too thrilling I'm afraid! I have most of my Saturday to myself this weekend, so I'm dragging myself to Virgil to finally get a haircut.  It's been about 2 years since I've paid anybody else to cut my hair, and I'm ready for a big change.  Not that I'm necessarily going to go short, but it's time to do something a little different, and hopefully a little lighter.  My hair is SO heavy because there is just SO much of it.  I want to change that, even if it's just putting some layers in so it doesn't take 4 hours to air dry.  I'm also planning on changing up the colour a bit! I'm not super fond of chemical dyes and have been tinting my hair with henna for years, but I haven't been achieving as dark or bright a colour as I'd like.  I'm going to have the pros chose a colour for me, and hopefully I can use it as a base for henna for the next year or so (so I don't destroy my budget). Either way, change is a-comin'!
Thinking about: Going back to school.  I treat my career not as a linear path (because my brain SO doesn't function like that, one look at my studio full of half finished projects makes that clear) but rather as a bucket list of things I'd like to do and places I'd like to work.  One of the major items on that list is to work in stop motion animation.  While my model work is great experience for that, the industry is shifting into 3D printing.  Luckily, I'm a pretty great draftsman (this revelation shocked me), so it's simply a matter of learning the correct program.  At this point and in my area (and I use area pretty widely, basically the southern half of my province) the only option is to do a college course in 3D Animation, which offers a wide range of courses in Autodesk MAYA, the leading industry standard in 3D drafting and printing.  The way I see it, even if stop motion animation doesn't materialize for me, 3D printing is going to become less costly than paying someone like me to build set models in a couple of years, and I don't want to be out of a job. I'm not certain how going back to school fits into my life plan for the next couple years just yet, but it's really at the front of my mind right now.
Looking forward to: Hitting up some excellent craft shows over the next couple weeks! The One of a Kind Christmas show is currently on in Toronto, and if you have any time to spare and some outstanding gifts on your shopping list, you should really go check it out!! Ephraim's mother has a booth selling her fine jewelry, and even if it's out of your price range, it's really worth stopping by and checking out her beautiful sparkly wares.  She has rings with giant precious stones that look like crystal rock candy you get from "olde time" candy shops! Plus she's a neat lady to chat with.  So look out for Paradigm Designs at booth I-33.  The following weekend is City of Craft, which I attended for the first time last year.  I had already finished shopping for other people by that time, but I sure did find LOTS of stuff for myself!! From what I can gather, it's like a smaller Canadian version of the Renegade Craft Fair; lots of local, young artisans selling cool stuff, a DJ spinning some sweet indie diddies, and a bunch of uber fashionable 20 and 30 odd year olds looking for some unique pieces for their homes, or under the Christmas tree.  Definitely looking forward to doing a little shopping, haha!
Reading: Nothing. I don't want to talk about it, I'm too ashamed!
Making me happy: Seeing the model I am working on coming together.  It's a lot of prep and planning and measuring twice and super gluing once (or once, then snapping the bit off, adjusting and gluing again :P), and sometimes it can feel like it'll never be finished, but all that planning means that once the designer has painted it, it will go together smoothly, and will be sturdy enough to withstand the action a rotating/sliding/flying set goes through.  Plus, it's looking so detailed and sharp already, and it hasn't even been base coated with white paint yet!
If you want to see peeks into my model building, be sure to follow me on Instagram (@efgerofsky) or you can see what I've been up to recently by clicking the camera button on the left sidebar.  

--Erin

"Currently" is a feature started by Danielle Hampton of the blog Sometimes Sweet.  I have used her sample categories, but the answers are all tragically my own.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

O.O.T.D: Safety Pins, Ox Blood and Mustard



Here's a little outfit from last weekend.  I basically wanted to recreate the outfit I wore on Halloween, but have a little time to put on a bit of makeup, as it wasn't a weekday! Work tends to keep me from doing the makeup thing, especially in the colder months.  Wind + eye makeup and scarf + lipstick = disaster.  Oh well, that's what weekends are for, am I right??
The Deets:
Beret: no brand tag, purchased in town
Mustard Cardigan: Macy's 
Safety Pin Tank Top: Winners
Ox Blood Jeans: Bluenotes 
Ankle Boots: Jeffrey Campbell

These photos were taken on the front porch of a nearby church.  The big white pillars in the late afternoon (SUNSET?!?) photographed so beautifully! This is definitely a spot I hope to take more pictures in, in the coming months.  The side of the church is beautiful too, with the gorgeous brick you see here and white framed windows that much be 15, 20 feet tall!  Really beautiful.  And if there should happen to be a service when I am itching to take photos, the church is right across the street from this abandoned house and barn I love to use as a backdrop as well! Score.  Tiny town, you may not have much, but pretty backdrops for photos is an area you excel in.  Keep up the good work.
Hope you have a bang-up Tuesday.  Hah.
--Erin

Friday 16 November 2012

Super Brunch Sunday: Baked French Toast

Last weekend, I knew I wanted to make french toast.  But how to make french toast fancy, worthy of the Super Brunch Sunday name? We were already using special bread, so that was a start, but we knew there had to be more.  Ephraim suggested a sauce, and when I found THIS Martha Stewart recipe for Baked French Toast with Raspberry Sauce, I knew it was what we needed; along with our special raisin challah! Some bananas and maple syrup on top of that, and we were in business.

Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients

1/4 cup sugar
1 bag (10 to 12 ounces) frozen raspberries (or strawberries), thawed

Directions

  1. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine raspberries and remaining 1/4 cup sugar, mashing lightly with a fork. That's it.  Yummy.

Baked French Toast

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 thick slices challah, brioche, or other egg bread (1 inch thick)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon (or more) cinnamon

Directions

  1. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, whisk together eggs, milk, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla, and salt.
  2. Arrange bread in dish in a single layer; let soak 15 minutes. Turn bread over; cover, and refrigerate until most of the liquid is absorbed, at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with butter. With a spatula, carefully transfer soaked bread to sheet. Bake until French toast is set in center and lightly browned on the bottom, 25 to 30 minutes.
  4. Remove French toast from baking sheet with a thin metal spatula; serve with raspberry sauce and, if desired, sausage.
What are you making for brunch this Sunday?

--Erin

Thursday 15 November 2012

Autumn Leaves

Here are a few shots from my walk to work yesterday.  I love the colours of autumn (who doesn't?), but these days the ground is covered in crunchy leaves as the trees themselves become more and more bare.  It's sad to know that the words warm and sunny are soon to leave our vocabularies for a few months stretch.  I'm not ready for another small town winter.  Already, the shops are open only on weekends, and there are no people on the street.  You know it's bad when even my favourite coffee shop is closed by the time I finish work.  Just a few of the things I can't stand about how this town functions.  A pretty place to visit, and a lousy place to live.  The beauty and activity of the summer is fleeting.


-- Erin

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Spotted Collars, Red Lips and Riding Boots.

Here's a little outfit I wore out to the movies and to run errands this past weekend. I picked the spotted top up on sale at Anthropologie a couple months ago, and love the challenge of working a sleeveless piece into my autumn and winter wardrobe. I just love having that cute bright collar peeking out of a cardigan or another shirt.  
The boots are my favourite boots to wear in the fall! Too bad they're not the least bit water-tight, so I have to be careful not to get caught in the rain with them! Still, for $7 at Value Village, I'm willing to put up with whatever shenanigans I have to. 
Also, check out that rose! I bothered to learn a little bit about roses this year as the house I am living in has a couple rose bushes out front.  Looks like I'll be enjoying blooms well into November!! I'm so happy, they're so nice to see as I leave for work every morning!





The Deets:
Collared Shirt: Anthropologie
T-Shirt: J Crew
Cardigan: Target
Landscape Skirt: Anthropologie
Tights: Hue
Boots: Thrifted

Apologies, dear readers, that things have been a little quieter than normal around here.  I'm deep in model making mode at work, and it tends to satisfy my creativity pretty well.  If you want to see some peeks into what I'm working on, follow along on instagram: @efgerofsky.  If you don't have instagram, you can still check out what I've been posting if you click the camera button on the left sidebar.

Happy Wednesday everybody! Soon, we can rest!
--Erin 

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Recipe: Fried Rice with Tofu

One of my favourite things to make for dinner is fried rice.  It uses up the veggies in my fridge that are on their last legs, keeps day old rice interesting, and is full of protein.

Ingredients:

Assorted Vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, broccoli, peppers etc)
Day old rice
Soy sauce
1/2 Cup tofu, cubed.
1 egg, scrambled
Sesame oil


Method:
  1. Fry your tofu in sesame oil until browned.  Flip, and let brown again. Remove from pan to a bowl.
  2. Scramble egg, then set aside with tofu.
  3. Crumble leftover rice into pan, using chopsticks to break clumps apart. Drizzle with sesame oil
  4. Add vegetables to rice according to cook time.  
  5. Add soya sauce to taste
  6. Reintroduce tofu and egg.  Stir until heated through.
Enjoy! This super easy meal is quick to prepare, and mighty satisfying.  Plus, it can be very easily modified to be vegan; just omit the egg! 

--Erin

Friday 9 November 2012

Super Brunch Sunday: Pumpkin Pie Waffles

I know, it's Friday.  Well, Super Brunch Sunday is going to be my Friday post for the next couple weeks.  *GASP* a regular feature?!! Crazy, I know, but this is happening!! I'm doing these brunch recipes on Friday, so if you're like me and shop for the weekend on Friday night or Saturday morning, you can pick up what you need to make this weeks recipe on your weekend grocery shop.

As you know, I am not going out to restaurants for the month of November.  If that's news to you, you can read about it here. One of my absolute favourite meals to go out for is breakfast.  Ephraim and I can get whatever we want, including meat for him (which I seldom make at home). Giving up brunch was just not really a thing I could do for a month.
The only solution is to make an elaborate brunch at home each week, in place of going out. I'm calling it Super Brunch Sunday.
The debut recipes for Super Brunch Sunday are Pumpkin Pie Waffles and Spiced Candied Pecans, which were used as a topping!
I recommend you make the pecans ahead of time.  But not too far ahead, or you'll snack them all away.  They're shockingly addictive!

Spiced Candied Pecans (from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

  • 1 pound unsalted pecans
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine. Spread nut mixture in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat. Bake, stirring frequently, until browned, 12 to 15 minutes; let cool. Pecans can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container up one week.

I like to chop some of the candied pecans up before using them on waffles.  They're good halved in a salad as well!!

Alright, on to the really good stuff.  I was originally just going to make pumpkin waffles following Smitten Kitchen's recipe.  I ran short on time and had to go to the corner store for a couple ingredients and had to substitute pumpkin pie filling for the pumpkin, sugar and spices in the original recipe.  I don't know how the originals taste, but this was delicious. Like, really good.  Here's Smitten Kitchen's recipe, with my substitutions at the bottom!


Pumpkin Waffles (Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing waffle iron or cooking spray

** for Pumpkin Pie Waffle variation, substitute canned pumpkin, sugar and spices with a can of pumpkin pie filling (because the corner store didn't have those other things.  And this was TASTY!)**

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron. 
  2. Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. 
  3. Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. 
  4. Whisk in dry ingredients just until combined.
  5. In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold them gently into the waffle batter, until just combined.
  6. Brush waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter (about 2 cups for four 4-inch Belgian waffles) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.
  7. Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Make more waffles in same manner. 
Top with blueberries, spiced candied pecans, maple syrup, and a dollop of whipped cream.  This is pumpkin pie, after all.
So, what are you making for brunch this Sunday?
--Erin

Thursday 8 November 2012

Seth on Survival

Howdy folks!
I hope you're all having a good week. I'm pretty pumped that this week is coming to a close because then I get to hangout with mah boyfraaan.  We haven't seen each other in a couple weeks, so this is exciting, people!!

Ephraim is kind of the topic of today's post.  I may not have mentioned this in so many words, but the boy keep himself busy being an actor for film and TV (if you think he looks familiar and you're between the ages of 14 and 25, yes, he was on Degrassi and yes, he did shoot Drake). 

A couple years ago he played the lead in a web series called Seth on Survival.  The show is about a monster expert (Seth), creating his own web site and video series in his mothers basement, in an attempt to keep the masses safe from attacks by supernatural predators (mostly zombies).  And while I probably should have shared this before Hallowe'en, I think the show is hilarious and can be enjoyed anytime.  Here's the first episode, take a look!
You can check out all the episodes on Youtube, or the Seth on Survival Website, here.

Honestly, Seth is my favourite character that Ephraim has portrayed (yes, more so than the character he was portraying when we met.  That dude was a weirdo!), and it's great that this level of horror and sci-fi is totally appropriate for kids.  The creators of Seth on Survival, Torin Stefanson and Teri Armitage, created another series called My Lupine Life, which takes place in the same universe as Seth.  In fact, Seth makes a guest appearance in one of the episodes! But even greater, is that Seth's part in My Lupine Life, was written by Ephraim.  The writing team (Torin, Teri and Ephraim) won an award at LA WebFest for writing in a horror/sci-fi series. AMAZING.
Examining the contents of the zombie's stomach.  It appears he recently ate Paris Hilton.
The creative team is always working, sending out tweets in character, maintaining the websites, and working at generating more content.  Actually once "Seth" tweeted me, it was very surreal.  So if you liked what you saw, please share it around.  It would be great for this independently produced series to get the recognition it deserves! Plus, you know, I'm awfully proud of Ephraim, and I wanted to share!

--Erin