So Danielle and I went on a hunt for sweets on St. Patrick's Day and ended up at Crafted at the port of Los Angeles. It's this old warehouse they've fashioned into a place for crafty/food vendors. It's really fantastic. We didn't end up buying any sweets (they had them but we decided against), but we did find one of the coolest booths ever. It was all spices and teas! The guy had such an awesome set up.

I will definitely be going back to get some of this stuff. The smell of this booth was downright intoxicating. I'm a big ol' whore for tea, so I will be loading up on some of that for sure.

There's also a homemade cookie cutter booth, a hanging terrarium booth, jewelry booths, woodwork booths, art booths, a nautical booth, and various sewed stuff booths. I'm probably forgetting a whole bunch of stuff, so you'll have to go find out for yourself. They have food trucks that sit outside sometimes and they sell sodas, beer, and wine inside (not positive that beer and wine is always there though). Crafted even has a big ass room that is rentable for parties, receptions, weddings, etc. It's beautiful!

That's only one half of the space. It's absolutely huge. I'm always trying to support local stuff, so I'm all for Crafted at the port. Please go check it out and help support our locals!

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man
Crafted: Crafted at the port of L.A.

Still working on posting all the stuff I forgot to post when I got back from the March Meet. So here's one of the things Danielle and I threw together one night:

Chicken & veg sautée

6 or 7 chicken tenders, diced
3 or 4 cloves garlic
1 onion, chopped/diced
A crapload of Brussels sprouts, quartered
3 big ass handfuls of spinach
1 bushel kale
Worchestershire sauce
Seasoned salt
Pepper
Dill
Powdered mustard seed

Toss onion and Brussels sprouts into a pot/pan and shake some pepper and seasoned salt on 'em. Start to sautée stirring periodically.

While that's going, toss chicken, Worchestershire sauce, a teeny bit of dill, mustard powder, and maybe a bit more salt and pepper in another pan. Cook it through.

When the chicken is close to being done, add kale, spinach, and garlic to the onions and sprouts. Let it all cook down for a bit.

When everything is cooked through, plate it and devour.

Danielle and I are counting calories these days, so meals like this make us super happy because we can eat to bursting and have calories to spare! Plus, it's all pretty healthy anyways and tastes fantastic.

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man

After a whole week of not seeing her (due to racing), I hung out with Danielle all day. We ran some errands, ate some food, she got her toe attacked by one of her damn chickens, we went to hookah, and baked brownies. Eventful, right?! We had to get a lot of stuff in to make up the time we lost. We totally win. Before I go into the baking of brownies, I must tell you what transpired as we were collecting ingredients. For some reason, I had a headache so I said, "My headache says that I need chocolate, so I like this plan." Danielle, bless her heart, responded, "My everything says I need chocolate, so I like this plan." I laughed so freaking hard I thought I was gonna collapse. On to brownie baking.

I don't know where she finds these wonderful cookbooks.

If you can't read the above, here are the ingredients:
3 oz/85 g unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 1/2 oz/125 g semisweet chocolate
1 tbsp corn syrup
2 eggs (we used ones from the damn chickens in Danielle's yard)
1 tsp chocolate or vanilla extract (we used vanilla)
3/4 cup flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder

Danielle busted out three kinds of chocolate for this.

Put butter, sugars, corn starch, and chocolate in a sauce pan. Heat, stirring enough to keep it from burning, until smooth. remove from heat and let cool.

Beat together eggs and extract.

Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in dry ingredients (the ones that are left that is).

Pour it into a greased pan lined with parchment paper (paper isn't necessary really) and pop it into a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

We couldn't wait to eat these freakin' amazing brownies and cut into them before pictures were taken, so you get my plate with brownie on it. These were super fluffy and moist. I also took two slices home with me. They didn't last long.

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man

So, not gonna go into a lot of detail right now, but I've been hanging out with Danielle, baking and cooking, and went to Lebowski-fest. I'll make separate posts for each thing. I've put some photos on Instagram for all to see as well. Today, however, I'm with Danielle running errands and going to Rocherin Thai Bistro for the bestest Thai food ever. Yesterday she and I took her pretty pit bull pup to doggy day care for a temperament test. Echo passed! She also got to stay and play with all the other pups for a few hours for free. She was so tuckered out and happy afterward! The place we took her is called Camp Run-A-Mutt.

This facility is absolutely amazing. They have cameras all over the place so you can watch your dog play from their website. Truly fantastic. It worked out fabulously for Danielle because she's a crazy pet mommy. Everywhere we went she was watching Echo play on her phone and taking screenshots of her. When we went to pick up the pup, we watched her from their lookout window for about ten minutes as well. Crazy. Pet. Mom. That's alright though because the dog was happy as could be... And I got a teriyaki bowl somewhere in there, so I was happy as could be too.

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man

Remember the part when I said I'd post tomorrow night? Didn't happen due to coma. I was so tired I fell asleep almost instantly when I finally settled into bed. It was fantastic.

So yesterday... Racing actually happened! We started the day out with second round of eliminations (first round was the night before) against an old friend of ours. I won, but only by luck. Third round I was up against one tough cookie and got super lucky again. I only won the semi-final round by the skin of my nose because I was up against another really tough racer. Sadly, that's as far as I got. In the final my car picked up a whole tenth of a second (yes, that's a lot to us) and I broke out. I let off the gas and everything, but it still wasn't enough. All but the final round's time slips are on Instagram. Oh well, getting to the final round at the March Meet is kind of a big deal and I've done it twice in two years with one win (my dad keeps saying this. To everyone that'll listen and some that won't). All in all, not too freakin' shabby. I'm really glad to be home after six days away though. 

Now I'm off to the doctor's office for a routine "hey, you're not dead or in danger of dying" and then I'm running errands with Danielle. I has racing swag for her and she doesn't know it yet. I haven't been away from my dad and our racing friends for six whole damn days. I can not wait to see Danielle! Alrighty then, have to go get ready for my day. Stay tuned on Instagram!

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man

Finally ran my second qualifying pass and first round of eliminations. The schedule is still all screwed up though. We were supposed to have all of eliminations done by now. I could be in my own damn bed tonight, but nooooo... We have to finish the race tomorrow (Monday) and I'm in a crappy hotel bed again. If you hadn't deduced it already, that means I won first round. I have to face an old friend in second round though. That really sucks because he's pretty damn good and I don't like racing my friends. Oh well, that's just part of this whole whole racing thing. Rudy and Daisy came up to watch me race (only got to see the qualifying pass) and we got to hang out all day. So good to see them!

One really awful thing that happened was a crash involving our buddy Wes. From what I understand, one of his wheels busted up and he barrel rolled his unbelievably gorgeous Corvette. He's perfectly fine, thankfully, and we know this because of the response from him when the car had come to a stop on it's head. When the ambulance and Safety Safari guys got to him, all he said was, "Get this mother f***er turned over so I can get the f*** out!" Sadly, the 'Vette did not survive.

Tomorrow is another day. Dad is a bundle of nerves and I'm just tired of freakin' Bakersfield. Win or lose, all I want is to go home. I love racing, but I've hit a wall this weekend. A day of rain, a day of doing nothing, and a day of constant run order changes has me burnt out. I'm seriously sick of how things have gone these past few days. Weather is one thing, stupidity is another. Keep checking my Instagram and I'll post the whole scoop of the next round(s) tomorrow night.

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man

Didn't make a run today. Two days in a row! I am so pissed. Can't even talk about it. I'm that livid about the situation. Maybe tomorrow.

The promised recipe: Tamales and Chili with SPAM

XLNT tamales

Hormel chili (NO beans)

SPAM

Shredded cheese

Chopped onion (forgot to take a picture)

We make this at the race track, so we don't have certain amenities. We have a microwave in the trailer, a camping stove, and a small barbecue. That said, do what you can with what you've got.

1. Slice SPAM fairly thin and grill. (Fun fact: slice it thin enough and grill until crispy. Will taste better than bacon)

2. Heat chili in a pot on the stove. (Rudy was my sous chef today!)

3. Microwave a tamale for 2 minutes.
4. Put a ladle-full of chili on the tamale.
5. Top with cheese, onions, and grilled SPAM.

Voila! Enjoy our mishmash of crap in a bowl. For what it is and how simple it is, it's utterly fantastic. Sorry for not taking more pictures. I was hungry and in a hurry.

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man

...That's how we felt today. By "we" I mean the entire body of racers and spectators at the track today. It rained until 3 or 4 o' clock. Just long enough to ruin the whole day. Not a single car went down the track all day long. Ridiculously boring day. The highlights were watching our buddy's canopy collapse because of the amount of water it collected overnight, ragging on my buddy and fellow driver Jason for a few hours, chatting with my friend Meredith for hours on end and playing with her pup Nitro, and talking with my dad's buddy from New Jersey over dinner. Lots of talking... Talking and rain made up my entire day. It really wasn't that bad, but it was damn cold. I am so tired of being cold. Tomorrow is a new day though and I'm fairly certain the rest of the weekend is gonna go just fine. There should only be the usual/expected amount of screw ups. That works for me.

Tomorrow's post will have a recipe for our traditional big race weekend breakfast. We look forward to this food and we only make it at two races. It's probably going to ruin our arteries, but that only makes it better.

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man

Well, shit... Weather channel says this isn't clearing up 'til 3:00 or so. I don't think we're getting a run in today. Racing is stupid. Why do we do this? Oh yeah... We love this sport... Man, I could be baking rainy day goodies with Danielle right now... Bakersfield sucks.

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man

Today was only exciting for a few hours. Somewhere around 10:30 we had our first run of the weekend. I don't know where I qualified yet, but the car ran 9.62 at 136. I posted a picture of the time slip on Instagram. I'll be posting a whole bunch of photos this weekend, so check back soon. 

I'm fairly sure I've never explained how our racing works. Bear with me, I suck at this. We run what's called an index. Our class is called Nostalgia Eliminator III (NE III). In NE III you can run a front engine nostalgia dragster or a center steer, pre-1979 car. Our index is 9.60 seconds, which means we have to run as close to that number as we can without going quicker. Going quicker than your index is called "breaking out" and means you lose. There's also a "double breakout" where both cars go quicker than the index. In this case, the car that ran closer to the index wins. Your speed and engine combination don't matter so long as you can run the index. Here's a list of all the nostalgia classes and what they run:
-Nostalgia Top Fuel & Nostalgia Funny Car - all out, bad ass nitromethane-burning beasts
-A/Fuel - no index/supercharged, methanol-burning, and injected nitromethane-burning front engine dragsters and center steer altereds
-AA/Gas Supercharged - no index/must run specific engine specs and weight
-Junior Fuel - no index/must run specific engine specs and weight

-7.0 Pro (front engine nostalgia dragster or a pre-1979 center steer altered) - 7.00
-A/Gas (door cars 1979 and earlier) - 7.60
-B/Gas (door cars 1979 and earlier) - 8.60
-C/Gas (door cars 1979 and earlier) - 9.60
-D/Gas (door cars 1979 and earlier) - 10.60
-NE I (front engine nostalgia dragster or a pre-1979 center steer car) - 7.60
-NE II (front engine nostalgia dragster or a pre-1979 center steer car) - 8.60
-NE III (front engine nostalgia dragster or a pre-1979 center steer car) - 9.60
-Hot Rod (door cars 1979 and earlier)- 9.00-11.99 dial-in bracket

Y'know what? I really do suck at this and Family Guy is on. Here's a much better list by the NHRA: http://www.nhrahotrodheritage.com/rules-09.pdf

Lindsey
Jewelry: HardWear by Lindsey
Instagram: craftmakingdragracing
Sister: Film Making and Cookie Baking
Rusty J: Rustified - Lifestyle Inspiration from a Renaissance Man