Paint Party Friday - Accessory

I saw this beautiful accessory in a restaurant washroom recently. This piece is an ACEO on canvas in permanent marker (2 1/2" x 3 1/2"). It is outlined with a PITT fine point marker.  Happy PPF!

Wow we are at month end!

Thursday Art Date with Rain - Sea Creature

Humpback Whale

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date. The theme this week is 'Sea Creature'. I am showing a piece I did for Paint Party Friday some years ago in my sketchbook. It is a humpback whale.

Summer Fashion

I saw this pretty summer dress at the Michael Kors store at the mall.

Just for Bees

I love all the spring flower planters out and about town these days.

Apparently the McDonald restaurants in Sweden have started setting up beehives on the roofs above the stores. McDonald's build a bee house in the shape of a McDonald's restaurant to recognize these efforts. You can read about this initiative here.

Bartender

Robot Bartender

One of my sisters was on a cruise recently and sent this photo of these robot bartenders. Apparently you order them to make up your drink with your phone. I don't like the idea of putting bartenders out of jobs, not that I would even be comfortable using my phone to do that!  How about you?  I do grudgingly use the checkout machines in some of the stores.

Cookie Crust Cheesecake

Daughter L made a cheesecake using a coconut cookie crust.  It was (hard to stop at one slice) delicious.  She used a low fat cream cheese mixed with whipped cream for the no-bake filling, alhough she did pre-bake the crust in a springform pan.

Crunchy coconut cookies

Daughter L made these crunchy coconut cookies based on Natalia's recipe.

Here is my adjusted recipe

Makes 20 cookies

1/2 c butter or margarine
2/3c white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 tsp tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp baking powder
2c flour
2c crushed cornflakes (or just right cereal)

Preheat oven 300F

Beat butter sugar together
Add eggs, add vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder, coconut
Form batter into spoonfuls, roll them in crushed cornflakes
Bake 15-18 mins

Paint Party Friday - Jenn's Grosbeak

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I did an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") on canvas in Sharpie oil paint markers and permanent markers. Jenn kindly gave me permission to paint her lovely photo of a Rose breasted Grosbeak.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Emotion

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date, the theme is 'Emotion'. Here is my piece, it is an ACEO on canvas (2 1/2" x 3 1/2"), of a baby crying. What could have upset her do you think?

Pork Sirloin Roast

I will often buy meat on clearance in the stores. This was a pre-seasoned pork sirloin roast I found in Walmart. I noticed upon unwrapping that it had a built in thermometer. The instructions recommended roasting it for an hour and 10 to 20 mins at a prescribed temperature in the oven or until the thermometer popped up. I was surprised when I checked on it after only an hour and the thermometer had already popped up. When I sliced it open it seemed perfectly done.

A few days later I cut the leftover slices into small pieces and made a cauliflower rice dish with it along with some leftover vegetables. It was satisfying that none of it went to waste. I will say that pre-seasoned meat is saltier than I would make it, I will likely just go for unseasoned cuts next time.

embedded thermometer

popped thermometer

ready to serve

Dinner versus lunch

We visited my mother-in-law at her long term care home the day before Mother's Day. We ate dinner with her in their dining room. It is a nice, clean place but we didn't realize dinner is double the price of lunch, so next time we will do lunch there instead!

The next day we all went to the Casino to eat their lobster and prime rib deal.  Son K won $30 and the rest of us broke even.  That was my Mother's Day celebration!

I outdid myself

We are enjoying a long Victoria Day weekend in Canada, people start their summer plantings around this time.  There has been flooding in Cottage Country so it is more a time of repair and rebuild instead of the usual 'time to spend the weekends at the cottage' time of year.

I outdid myself with these cilantro lime shrimp lettuce wraps. They were low carb and delicious!  Daughter L suggested I toss some peanuts on top of each wrap, a great idea.

Corn Dog Bites

Daughter L made these delicious little corn dog bites one evening, I had 12 of the 60 that were made! She used a simple corn bread recipe she found on Pinterest. For the corn dog bites, she halved the cocktail sausages (4 cans of Vienna sausages), filled sprayed mini muffin pans with batter, added halved sausage pieces, baked for 11 minutes or until browned.

Hydroponic Lettuce

This hydroponic boston lettuce was on sale at the grocery store for 99c, so I decided to get one. The leaves look quite perfect, would be nice wrapped around something like tuna salad, or even as a part of a sandwich.

Paint Party Friday - Jenn's Finch

Welcome to Paint Party Friday hosted by Eva and Kristin. I did a finch based on a photo on Jenn's blog, she is an avid nature watcher and her photos always inspire me. It is done on textured grey cardstock (6" x 6") in permanent markers, Winsor Newton acrylics, outlined with a PITT finepoint marker.

Thursday Art Date with Rain - Drips Drops and Splatter

Welcome to Thursday Art Date with Rain!  This week's theme is 'Drips Drops and Splatter'.

It is an acrylic pouring challenge. I found this beginner video by Kristen that helped push me out of my comfort zone.

Here is the final result, I see at least one winged bird here do you?

Here are some photos of my process:

Single Origin Chocolate Bars

Have you ever wondered how chocolate gets made.  It starts by drying the cocoa beans produced from plants in their country of origin.  The beans are then exported to chocolate manufacturers worldwide for processing.

Bean to bar chocolate manufacturers like TCHO make chocolate directly from the cocoa beans.  Chocolatiers like Purdy's melt their bars from these manufacturers.

Single origin chocolate refers to chocolate bars made from beans from a specific region or country, thus having a distinctive flavour, much like how fine wines are distinguished.  I found some of this chocolate at Purdy's chocolatier  in Canada. They use TCHO single origin craft chocolate to make these bars.

Purdy's sell 3 of these single origin bars for $15, or $5.25 each.  Here are the ones I tried. Single origin chocolates tend to be very dark chocolate and can be bitter, but I liked all of these.  The Ghana one is a milk chocolate.  The Peru one has cocoa nibs.  My favourite was Ecuador.

Wonderful Initiative

Vancouver has built modular homes for the homeless in a wonderful initiative. Toronto is interested in doing this too.

'Each modular home is about 320 sq. ft. in size and includes a bathroom and kitchen. The buildings are managed around-the-clock by a not-for-profit housing society, and residents are provided with various health and wellness support services, life employment skills training, and volunteer opportunities.'

AND Rain is starting a new art challenge on Thursdays if you are interested in joining.  Her first challenge is 'drips, dots and splatter'.

A handy device

Finally!

new leaves

One of my sisters alerted me to this Brix Jarkey jar opener.  This video demonstrates how to use it. It pops the lid on the can free with a simple lift and is inexpensive.  This is great for people who have trouble gripping things.

Gluten Free Biscotti

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

unbaked

baked 

I found a simple recipe for gluten free biscotti in the newspaper and decided to use it as a guide. Here is the recipe with a few changes. I used stevia instead of sugar, cranberries instead of chocolate chips, also finished up a package of gluten free flour blend I had as opposed to using almond flour. After watching some biscotti  videos on youtube, it seems you should cut the biscotti on the diagonal and bake with the cut sides up.  I will do that next time, as I am now curious to try making biscotti with actual flour.

2c gluten free flour (eg almond flour)
1c potato starch (or corn starch)
1c sugar or 1/2c stevia
1/2c olive oil
2 eggs
(I needed to add 1c water)
1/4c dried cranberries

preheat oven 350F

combine dry ingredients
add oil, eggs, mix well
add cranberry, mix together
shape dough into a roll approx 20" long (add the water if it doesn't seem to be coming together)
flatten it to a 4 - 5 inch width
bake 20 min at 350F
cool
slice into 1/2" slices on the diagonal
lay flat on tray, with the cut sides up
bake at 300F for 15 mins (optionally can turn half way thru baking)

Carmelized Pear

I had an idea to make carmelized pears, inspired by the carmelized bananas I made the other day. It just required slicing the pears and cooking them for 3 to 5 mins a side. I added a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vanilla at the end and served them with whipped cream.

Paint Party Friday - Tulips

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! These are some spring tulips for you today, done on textured cardstock (6" x 6") in permanent markers, outlined with a PITT marker.

Strawberry Muffins and yesterday's puzzle solution

Yesterday's puzzle was indeed tricky, thanks to those who tried!  Here is the solution:

The answer is 43. boot=5 points, the man =5 points, a telescope=2 points. 
5 + ((5+4+10) x 2) =43. The last man is a bit different, notice he is wearing 2 extra boots and carrying 2 telescopes. It is a good puzzle more about noticing the details I think.

So:

5 + ((5+4+10) x 2)
Gives you 5+ (19 x 2)
Gives you 5 + 38
Which equals 43


Marie of The English Kitchen posted a recipe for 'Little Blueberry Puddings'. I think 'pudding' refers to 'dessert' in England.  I decided to adapt it to strawberry muffins using fresh strawberries and strawberry jam. They were delicious!

ready for baking