3.20.2007

My Bio

Christopher Bonnette was born and raised in Los Angeles. Since the age of four he knew he wanted to be an artist. He mostly stayed indoors drawing the cartoons he would watch on television. He was taught at an early age to be "constructive not destructive" by his mother. His father was a hard working machinist who taught him the responsibility of getting a job and providing for your family. Having an older brother who would force him to watch horror movies made him develop a strange fascination for monsters, aliens, robots, and anything that goes bump in the night. He would often suffer from night terrors because of this. His father would also tell him ghost and voodoo stories of the old days when he lived on the farm in Louisiana. In 1984 he suffered a grand mall seizure and was clinically deceased for two minutes. Due to this fact his artistic style tends to be dark and macabre yet still maintain a cute whimsical appearance. It is a balance of shape, line and form along with color that makes his artwork very appealing.
Christopher is a true Gemini and never allows he to be pigeon holed into one classification. He can be a graphic designer as well as an illustrator and a fine artist as well as a commercial artist.
Right before entering High School he volunteered at John Muir Public Library to teach arts and crafts for the children's summer program. Christopher's dedication to art is representative in even his early childhood years. A High School art teacher saw Christopher's talent and led him to participate in the Otis College summer program. This led him to be accepted at the Otis College of Art and Design. He majored in Illustration and dedicated the four years of his life to further his craft. His hard work and dedication was rewarded after receiving the 1998 Senior Thesis Award.
He has participated in five art shows that have been very successful. His art can be seen in galleries, stores, and homes all over the U.S.A., and from Germany to Japan. There is no medium that Christopher's work cannot be adapted to. From apparel, book, toys, and anything that can be imagined Christopher will continue to be happy if many people can enjoy what he enjoys doing.
Christopher resides in California along with his lovely wife and two dogs Odin and Tengu.

Macula’s Gumbo Recipe


Macula’s Gumbo Recipe
(Must contain animals from land, sea, and air!)
Ingredients:
-1 bag 50-60ct. Large Cooked Shrimp (peeled and tail-less preferred, that way it won’t slow down your eating)
-3 bags Small Dehydrated Shrimp (usually located in the dry bag spices section of the market)
-1Lb Canned Crab Lump Meat
-3 (49oz) Cans Swanson 33% less sodium Chicken Broth
-2 medium Yellow Onions (chop finely)
-1 bunch Green Onions (chop ¼”)
-1 whole clove Garlic (peel and crush)
-1 bunch Celery (cut off top and bottom discard, chop ¼”)
-Dry Parsley 3/4 cup
-1 Lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Brest or Thighs (Cut 1” cubes)
-Garlic Powder (1/4 cup)
-Red Pepper (season to taste)
-1Lb. Farmer John or Evergood Louisiana Brand Hot Link Sausage (cut straight ¼” to 3/8” slices)
-2Lb. Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage or Polish Kielbasa Sausage (cut at a 45 degree angle to produce long ¼” slices)
-1 can Campbell’s French Onion Soup plus 1 can of water
-1 can Campbell’s Cream of Celery Soup plus one can of water
-1 can Tony Catchers Creole Seasoning or Spike Seasoning (season to taste)
-6 or more cups of your favorite Rice
-1 Bottle of File (pronounced fee-lay)

You will need:
-2 large pots (1 for the over flow, when you put that much meat and broth together 1 pot won’t handle it)
-2 Cutting boards (one for vegetable one for meat)
-1 really good knife
-2 large stirring spoons
-1 large Skillet or George Forman Family Size Grill
-Lots of paper towels (to clean and drain grease)
-Lots of bowls to hold chopped ingredients
-1 small pot
-1 colander
-1 long ladle

Cooking Instructions:
-Add to Pot chicken broth, dry parsley, French onion soup, cream of celery soup, and 2 cans of water
Turn flame to high start to boil

-While waiting for liquid to boil.
Chop yellow onion, green onion, garlic, celery and add to pot.

-Next chop chicken and season with garlic powder, red pepper, and spike
In large skillet cook chicken until brown and no pink in the middle.
Add chicken to pot.
If pot is boiling turn fire to medium and simmer add lid.

-Slice all hot links, and sausage. Cook in separate skillet or George Forman drain as much grease as possible with paper towels from meats.
Add Links and sausage to pot

-At this point pot is probably going to over flow so divide everything into 2 pots evenly.
Cover pots and simmer on medium to low heat.

-In a rice cooker or pot cook your rice.

-In smaller pot fill with water and boil dehydrated shrimp. Drain in colander and boil once more. (This gets rid of the over powering sea flavor from the tiny shrimp)
Add dehydrated shrimp to pots.

-If you bought uncooked shrimp Boil in separate pot and drain then add to pots
-If you bought cooked shrimp just add to pots.

-Add lump crab meat to pots.

-After all of your ingredients are in the pots cover pots with lids and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

Lets Eat:
In a large eating bowl add a good heap of rice.
Get out your good long ladle a stir gumbo around to mix juices. (Do this for each bowl)
Scooping from bottom of pot pull up gumbo and put in your bowl over the rice (do this because the shrimp and crab always sinks to the very bottom.)
Optional if you want file add a spoon full over gumbo and mix well. (It is an extra flavor made from the ground leaves of a sassafras tree and thickens up the gumbo, be careful to not add too much it will make your gumbo ropey)
It depends on traditions on how much gumbo juice one uses. Some people like gumbo like soup and others like just the meat over rice with very little juice.

Makes 15-20 Good size bowls of Gumbo.Enjoy!!!