The Art of Sushi

Over the past year or so, I have gained a strong liking for sushi, to the point where I crave it and is on my top list of foods. Of course, like many other people, I never thought that I would even try the stuff. Raw fish? Gross! However, last year around this time, some friends of mine invited me out for sushi and I have been hooked ever since. When we sat down, I was skeptical and looked at alternate options on the menu, but essentially decided that I would try it. I mean, it couldn't hurt to try it. I, of course, had to ask what I would like, or what the best roll to try would be and my friends definitely steered my in the right direction. I finished the whole plate, and raved about it to everyone, introducing my boyfriend, other friends, and family to one of my new favorite foods. Now, I am not simply writing to express my love for this food, but to take into consideration the art of the food, and how much the presentation actually adds to the fun.

Sushi chefs spend years in training in order to create their own style and presentation of the sushi they roll. Sushi was originally invented as a way to preserve fish, by being frozen, soaked, or blanched. The fish was then salted and paired with rice and rolled in seaweed. Sushi rolls today are now combined with several other elements and are one of the most colorful plates to eat. There are three things to consider when constructing a sushi roll: color, taste, and texture. Most plates are presented with pops of pink, orange, yellow, and green for contrast agains each other and the white rice, and dark seaweed. Plates usually only present 1 or 2 rolls of sushi, and is never piled to high. Japanese feel that this crowds the eye and takes away from the main event, and the roll as a an art. Often sauces will be delicately placed in some sort of pattern on the plate, and always is served with small piles of ginger and wasabi.

If you have not tried sushi, I definitely recommend giving it a try even if you don't think you would like it in our wildest dreams. I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised. However, if you can't seem to take a liking to the taste, please appreciate the art that goes into it.

Wondering How to Transfer The Songs from Your iPod to Your New Computer?

For 4 years now, I have been frustrated that I had thousands of songs on my iPod, and no way to transfer them on my lap top. The original song files were located on my family's desktop which crashed some time ago, and as far as I knew there was no possible way to get those songs on to a new computer because of the limitations Apple placed on the device. My friends and I were talking the other day, and someone brought up there was indeed a way to get the songs back, but didn't exactly know how. Since I had alot of free time today (on this boring Spring Break) I did some research and was thrilled to find several online tutorials on how to transfer songs, and relatively simply. Here is a step-by-step process, just incase you, or someone you know may be stuck in the same predicament.

1) Download "Senuti" a program designed for exactly the problems of transferring songs between PCs - Download Senuti

2) Once the program is downloaded, it will ask you to plug in the iPod to your computer, but maybe sure you disable automatic syncing. Plugging in your iPod will automatically open iTunes, but you can do this in your iTunes preferences.

3) Leave your iPod connected, and a list of all of you music files will appear in Senuti as a list. When you click on the song, choose the green arrow that says "Transfer" at the top left of the window.

4) A window will open asking if you would like to copy the files to your computer only, or add to your iTunes. By choosing "add to iTunes" the file is saved on your computer, and additionally added to your music library.

5) You can pick and choose each song manually, and a blue circle to the left of the song file indicates that it already exists in your iTunes library.

Unfortunately, there is no "Select all" option, and with the trial version you can only transfer 1000 songs before having to purchase the program. Also, keep in mind there is a different process for both the iTouch and iPhone, but tutorials are available online as well. Lucky for me, my iPod is ancient (30G color screen from 2008) and it was super easy.

Here is a sample of a tutorial I found. Hope this helps!

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Birthday Invite

People are already starting to take advantage of the fact that I want to be a graphic designer. My roommates are constantly asking if I can make things for them, and with my busy schedule I never actually end up doing it. The other day, my roommate asked if I actually could go through with it this time and make her a birthday invitation for her brother's 30th birthday. Since I didn't have much work due this week, I decided to help her out. I had her practice as if she were the client coming to me as a designer with her idea to let me know exactly what she wanted the invitation to look like. We discussed size, color, graphics, and of course what it was going to say. Not having many true ideas, she decided she trusted me enough to make something good, but it was still fun to pretend it was a real life situation. We both decided together that the invitation should not be one that would be folded, since printing it front & back would be a pain. Since I have been seeing several wedding invites on 4" x 6" horizontal cards, I suggested a similar layout, with a one side design and she agreed. I decided to use a speed limit sign with the number 30 on it, as a fun graphic element that would also represent the 30th birthday. I had the invitation use a red and black scheme, with hints of grays and whites for contrast. For the text, I chose something blocky, yet fun and bold to get the point across. Overall, I think it was a pretty cute concept, and I figured I would share it with everyone just in case they need to do something similar in the future. I obviously went back in and changed all of the information, but you get the idea.

Vintage Beverage Posters

In one of my courses at Eastern this semester, we began studying the graphic elements of Soviet propoganda posters and it gave me the idea to do some further research of vintage posters. I decided to focus on the graphic designs of beverage posters that were used and included some of my favorites below.

real.eyes: EHHS Takes 4th Place at States

See the link below to watch the routine of the cheerleading team I coach, which landed them a 4th place spot for the Connecticut State Competition in the Class S Division.

New Blog

Hey everyone, I decided to switch over form my Wordpress blog after viewing several others hosted at blogger. I just feel that blogger has a lot more fun things to offer, and I want to create a more interesting blog. I'll be developing this new blog over the next few weeks, so bare with me while it still looks empty. Feel free to leave me a post or some feedback. Thanks!