Mosslike | Gemma Hazen

Author: mosslike

  • Pressure Cooker Pork Adobo

    Pressure Cooker Pork Adobo

    First step is to velvet your pork.

    2 -3 pounds of pork butt or shoulder cut into 1.5″ cubes. Or somewhere thereabouts.

    1/2 Tablespoon of baking soda.

    Spread the baking soda over your pork cubes and mix/massage it all in. Let this set and tenderize for 20-30 minutes while you set up the rest of the prep.

    For the sauce:

    Prepare and set these ingredients aside.

    1 cup white distilled vinegar, cheap kine is fine

    1/2 cup shoyu (I use Kikkoman)

    1/3 cup brown sugar

    At least 6 cloves of garlic, sliced nice. I put a whole bulb in, cuz can.

    1 Tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper. You can put whole peppercorns too – but I haven’t done this in years! I should.

    I also haven’t added bay leaves in a long time, but a couple added in here work REALLY well.

    Cooking steps:

    Brown the tenderized pork in some olive or vegetable oil over high heat. You’re just browning for flavor, so you only have to do it on a side or two. Don’t fully cook the pork. Add the browned and pink pork to the instant pot.

    Add all of the sauce ingredients over the pork.

    Cover your instant pot, and set to ‘pressure cook‘ on high for 20 minutes. When the timer goes off, let it naturally release for at least 15 minutes.

    Open the instant pot and add to thicken the sauce:

    2 Tablespoons of corn starch, 3 Tablespoons of water. Mix well and add to the porkl adobo while stirring.

    Heat on ‘Saute’ just until boiling and turn it off again. Sauce will thicken.

  • Some progress shots of the recent painting class I took

    Some progress shots of the recent painting class I took

    Hi!! I recently signed up for a month’s access to some acrylic painting tutorials! I hope I can make at least 3 of them before my subscription runs out. Wish me luck! I’ve listed more information about the painting class below.

    The first painting coincided with Mother’s Day, so it’s alrady been gifted 🖤 But I took some progress shots along the way so I could have proof that I actually made it. I’ll share them here.

    Starting the underpainting in 5 different tones. The class called for Copic markers, but I used acrylic paints in Naples Yellow & Burnt Sienna, as well as Acrylic Ink in Sepia.
    Underpaint is complete! I love it already.
    A “ground” wash of Burnt Sienna was added before the colors went on. I took a pretty long break here becuase I was really afraid of ruining all the hard work.
    Beautiful Blues
    Vibrant greens.
    The completed piece!

    This class is offered on JimMusil.com I still have the rest of the month to access even more classes on his site, so I’m hoping to paint a few more to really learn these skills.

    The end goal is to make some paintings of the views I love so much from my hikes!

  • Art I made for Mod Gala 2026 Celestial Concerto

    Art I made for Mod Gala 2026 Celestial Concerto

    I was very lucky to be invited again😸 to be a participating artist in Capitol Modern’s annual fundraiser, Mod Gala. The theme this year was Celestial Concerto. We had 2 assignments. One being collectable cards that would be sold at the event in a blind envelope called “Particles”. The other, called “Parsecs”, would be paintings completed LIVE that evening. All proceeds from the sales were donated.

    I had intentions of creating a ‘before’ post. Like, a sneak peek of things I was working on leading up to the event. I also had intentions of putting together a nice outfit, maybe embroider some sparkles, or paint some planets…. Then, my 19 year old cat passed away. I’ll save the details for another post… dedicated to her. At least, that’s the intention. 🖤

    Below are some photos of collectable cards I was working on. The constellation cards feature the ʻŌlelo names for commonly recognized western constellations. And I also created sun, moon and star linoleum stamps to make some Tarot inspired cards. I used gold and black, and added gems and rhinestones for extra zing.⭐ The ones I finished at the event turned out pretty awesome and I hope some of them sold!

    Some early drafts of my Celestial ‘particles’

    Collectable artist trading card featuring: Nāhiku - ʻŌlelo name for the Big Dipper.
    Collectable artist trading card featuring: Hōkūlei - a wreath of stars. Also associated with the constellation Auriga
    Collectable artist trading card featuring: Heiheionakeiki - the modern ʻŌlelo name for the western constellation Orion.

    I did spend a lot of time trying to brush on my painting skills. You can peek at some of my practice paintings in the card photos above. And I think it paid off. I’m mostly happy of the paintings I was able to create live at the event.

    ‘Parsecs’ created live at the event:

    An acrylic painting of a full moon over water with surreal stars sitting atop the waves.
    An acrylic painting of a crescent moon hanging over a mountain range personified, with surreal stars glistening in the hairs of the mountain maiden.
    An acylic painting of the Moon and Venus in quiet meditation over cotton candy clouds.

    The center painting above, the Mountain Maiden caught in her moon-gaze… it SOLD! Woohoo! I’m happy that I was able to “mint” my own donation currency that night. I think the 3rd painting had a good chance of selling too, but I finished it as the event ended.

    I WILL be exploring these themes again in the future – for sure!

    Thanks again to the peeps at Capitol Modern for including me!! It really helped push me to make things during my hard times. Next time, I will try a lot harder on my outfit 🖤 I really missed the all black with sparklies opportunity that I had that night. Also, I wlil document and share more! Like, in general. That needs to be a goal of mine. More intentions, lol. Subscribe to follow along!

    Cheerio!