Wordless Wednesday - contrasts

Achieving Cookie Nirvana...

When I saw the recipe for these cookies, I was intrigued. It said for perfect chocolate chip cookies that stay moist and chewy, you need to melt the butter first before you mix it with the sugar and eggs:

"...when butter is melted, free water and fat are separated from each other. When this melted butter is combined with flour, the proteins in the flour grab the water and each other to immediately form elastic sheets of gluten. This creates a product with a chewy texture. At the same time, the sugars and fats are working to inhibit gluten formation, which prevents the cookies from getting too tough."

Ok, science is fun! The other tips were to add an extra egg yolk, and - very important - let them cool completely on the cookie sheet - do NOT move to a wire rack!

I used sucanat (dehydrated cane juice) in place of all the sugar, and used a quarter cup less than what was called for (some of the reviews said the cookies were too sweet,) other than that I followed the recipe to the letter. (If you use sucanat, note that it doesn't mix as creamy as regular brown sugar.)

Being the good foodie that I am, I want the best ingredients I can find. That's not important to everyone, but I'm pretty sure I've said before on this blog that I'd cut back on electricity before I cut back on the quality of my food. It's one of my passions...


If you've never used real vanilla, spend the extra few bucks and try it. You'll never go back to imitation.

Melting the butter. Yes, that's the old Visions cookware. I love it! They don't make it anymore, but I find it on ebay or at Goodwill.

Cookie dough bliss!!!

Letting them cool on the sheet. As promised, they stayed soft and chewy and are the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted anywhere in my life. Cookie Nirvana has been achieved!

Cookie-face here was an accident. I think the oven mitt brushed against a hot chip or something. You can see the sucanat. It looks rustic. Or, in this case, like freckles. I couldn't stand the way this cookie was giving me the stink-eye. He was the first to go.

Here is the entire recipe, pretty straightforward, maybe a little more vanilla than the norm, but that's another plus. Chewy and Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies If anyone tries this recipe, or even tries the tips (melting the butter and leaving the cookies on the sheet to cool) with their old standby choc chip recipe, let me know how it turns out!

Wordless Wednesday - copper and orange (more patio lights for Jessica)

(I know it's Wordless Wednesday, just wanted to let you know that these are my hubby's beautiful eyes.)

Angry BBQ is angry...

Come on, Angry BBQ. I have Spring fever too, but February in the Midwest means that it can be 60 degrees one day, and the next day we can have our biggest snowfall of the year. I know it's cold Angry BBQ, but just look around you at how beautiful it is...come with me and lets walk around the back yard...

I've never seen the patio lights look so lovely!

The sky looks so blue today.

Everything wears a cloak of white...

that could fall off at any moment.

Logs become figures lying in the snow.

Meditation Bench is meditating.

The simplest things are stunning if you stop to look at them.

Stand under the pergola and look up. Why Angry BBQ, is that a smile?????

See, Angry BBQ, it's a beautiful day.
Lets enjoy the snow. Spring will be here before we know it.

Inner Wolf

I took this photo during a walk with Cloud a couple days ago, because I loved how wolf-like his shadow looked. Such a contrast to my sweet and cuddly little pal, it was a glimpse of his inner wolf. I thought it was pretty cool.

I want to thank everybody again for your outpouring of support for the loss of my sweet Benny. Your comments and emails and kind words were so appreciated. I love the sense of community that I've found in blogging, hugs to you all. I miss him so much and the house feels so empty, but everyday it hurts a little less.

I don't really deal very well with death. I feel like I should handle it better, because I know absolutely that there is more to us than these bodies, and I know that Benny is not really gone. I just get so attached, and I think another part of it is that I feel things SO strongly. I think a lot of you artists can relate...it seems to be part of the creative personality. Of course the upside to that is also the ability to feel outrageous joy over even the littlest things, so I embrace it fully.

Much love,
Kat

So hard to say goodbye

I had to say goodbye to my dear old friend last night. Benny was going on 15 and had a good long life. He died in my arms at home. It feels so empty without him here.

Rest easy, Benny Bean. I hear there is unlimited steak and cookies at the Rainbow Bridge. I miss you so much, Old Man. I will always love you.
This is so hard.

Some sketches...

Eagle sketch.

My friend Jen at Gypsy Mare Studios posted some lovely sketches and asked to see a peek at other artists sketchbooks. I don't sketch as much as I probably should. I need to work on that because I do enjoy it. Some of these are a few years old.

Quick little wolf study.

I love polar bears! I think her head looks too small.

Cloud and Boomer.

Some tigers. The last one is a self-portrait pastel sketch of my hidden tiger (or was that crouching tiger?) Yes, I was a blond then. I'm not crazy about working with pastels - can't stand how messy they are, so I admire people who create with them.

More progress on Hawk the rat terrier

If you remember, this is where we left off.

I started playing with the new paints (Golden Open) on the background, and I am still in love! It would have taken me hours to get this look with the old formula (Golden Heavy Body.) What you see here is just one layer that I painted on top of the underpainting. I'm crazy about how easily this paint blends!

The painting as it stands now. I'm working on darkening his muzzle and starting on his shoulder and collar. The photos make it look a little bit darker than it really is.

I've been tagged

I was tagged by the lovely and talented Jen at Gypsy Mare Studios, so I need to think of 6 interesting facts about myself. Hmmm...

My first crush was on Aquaman. I still think he's kind of hot.

I worked as a cake decorator for a couple years at a cake shop, and had clients ask for me specifically to make their erotic cakes because mine looked more "realistic" than anyone else working there. **blush**

My favorite sushi is the one with flying fish roe.

One of my guilty pleasures is Westerns. Hubby says I'm in danger of losing my Netflix privileges.

My homemade kimchi will rock your world.

I can't swim underwater. Never have been able to. I try and think I'm doing it, but find out after that no, I was on the surface the whole time. Aquaman would be ashamed of me.

I'm not going to specifically tag anyone, but if anyone wants to play let me know so I can read what you wrote. :-)

A little more progress

I haven't had a lot of time to paint the last couple days but I did get some work done on his sweet, wee little nose. The nose is a lot like the eyes - once it's "in place" it makes a world of difference. So even though there's not a lot of progress in this update, I wanted to post because it's kind of fun to see the difference the nose makes. :-)

Todays progress

Starting at the top and working my way down, I'm building up layers of paint to create depth and detail over the underpainting. I just love painting dog ears - they are like a little world unto themselves...

Working on his forehead and the near eye in the second photo. He is starting to come alive now that he has a sparkle in his eye!

What a difference a day makes! I am having a lot of fun painting this little guy.
Still a long way to go...

Andrew Wyeth

I'm sure most of you have heard the news about the passing of the legendary Andrew Wyeth yesterday. I came across this wonderful video this morning and thought many of you would enjoy it. Thank you to the person who made the video, and thank you Mr. Wyeth for your beautiful and glorious art!

Warm thoughts...

I don't even want to talk about how cold it is outside right now. If you live in the Midwest like I do, or read the news then you already know. Instead I will post some pictures I took in my garden last summer and think warm thoughts...







That's a little better. I like the shirt Adam wears on Mythbusters that says, "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" :-)