Stuffed Artichoke

My intention was to post this a few days ago, (when I actually made it), but it just didn't get done as I came down with a wicked case of the stomach flu. Honestly looking at and getting up close and personal with photos of food wasn't a very good idea for me.

As it is pear season, it is also coming on artichoke season. Soon, instead of paying almost $5 for just one, you will be able to get ten of them for $10. Holy crammolie...what do you do with ten artichokes? Well, for me, much like soup, I could live off them for months at a time and never tire of them. My brother would call these "yuppie food" and of course call me, his adorable little sister, a yuppie for eating them. If you know me at all....growing up I lived on Spagettios and Captain Crunch and artichokes were in the book of things I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. But now that I'm older and more cultured...(no snickering out there), I've come to adore these weird pine cone looking things.

Well here is one way to enjoy them. Stuff em'. It's not hard. Gives them a little extra oomph. Personally, I really, truly love them steamed and to dip them in butter, but this is a little different.

Combine about 1/2 cup -3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs, 1/2-3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 2 cloves minced garlic and seasonings of your choice. Cut the tips of the artichoke and then stuff mixture in between leaves. Drizzle olive oil and lemon juice over the top. Steam for about 30-45 minutes....then enjoy!!

My Fair Lady....

Or should I say "May Fair Baby?" Striking blue eyes and wild blond hair. And aren't you jealous of those beautiful lips?.....I am.

Week 13: Green....forgot one that week

Since I completely forgot one, I'm making up for it today. It's pear season and these looked too yummy not to pose for me. They actually look a little chartreuse, but since I'm colorblind, I'll pretend I don't know that they aren't green.


I added a texture layer (another old wall) and then another chocolate layer and selectively erased the pear. I'm not a huge fan of selective color. In fact I really don't like it at all.......I think it takes all life out of a picture sometimes (especially people). But it kinda of worked here.

Typical

I know there are a few people that read this living far away and sometimes miss Wyoming's vastness....so here is a little reminder of home, oh and a little shack that looked gloomy, so I paid it some attention.

Just A Little More Swank

Just in case you didn't get enough yesterday...here's a little more.

And no...the wind isn't blowing in this one.....that's just his regular, everyday hair.

I'll probably have to work on his form a little before he starts his track career....and maybe find some pants that don't hang to his knees.

Good Looking Little Man

He might despise the Easter Bunny and tell him to go away if he's within a 50 foot radius.

He might tell me in the middle of a church service that he's "all done with church."

He might get carsick sometimes.

He might pronounce the word "helicopter" something like "chopter copter" and make me draw and redraw one over and over again 50 times a day.

But oh my........does he look swanky in a pink shirt and make me grin at all his antics.

Week 12: Faith

Fab-u-lous and Funky

There really isn't any other word to describe these eggs but fabulous. Okay...maybe they look a little strange to some, but to me, they are shiny, sparkly (and I've already attested to the fact that I love sparkly things), colorful and flat out funky.....Fab-u-lous.

He colored it all by himself. No help in the least. I think it's a work of art. Very abstract and lightning like. And yes, sometimes, I let him run around with disgusting dirty hands all day long. He's a boy. Dirt makes him look cuter.

And in case you missed it last time around....here's a little peep show for you.

Happy First Day of Spring everyone!!! I hope you were lucky enough to walk through the grass with your shoes off.

Mastering Textures

This is yet another tulip photo I took this afternoon. Since they aren't growing outside yet, they are growing in my house. I really liked the way the picture turned out. Simple. Clean. Elegant. My kind of photo. And then I discovered texturing.

I downloaded this fee macro, up-close and personal photo of an old wall.

I layered over the photo of the tulip and decreased its opacity so you could hardly see it. Then I erased out the important part of the tulip.....and viola..........the more artsy version. Pretty cool. Learned something new. I still like the first one better though. I been experimenting with my banner up top...that is a wall as well. The last couple have been oil paintings.

Apple Oatmeal Crisp with Irish Whiskey Cream

In true Irish form, and since people have giving me a hard time lately about only cooking with liquor lately, leave it up to me to make whipped cream inedible to children.
This makes your mouth and your tummy warm. Goes down smooth and it's not overly sweet. It's truly for adults only......

Apple Oatmeal Crisp with Irish Whiskey Cream

1 stick unsalted butter

2 pounds of apples, peeled and sliced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons Irish Whiskey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamom (very expensive spice.....but absolutely necessary. when I first opened it I thought it smelled like blue berries. It's an amazing spice to me.)

pinch of salt

1/4 cup oatmeal

In large skillet melt 3 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Add Apples, lemon juice, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir well and cook for 5 minutes. Add the whiskey, cinnamon, cardamom and salt, stir well, and cook for 1 minute, Remove from heat.

In large bowl comnine the remaining four, oatmeal and remaining 1/2 sup of brown sugar. Add remaining 5 tablespoons of butter and with your fingers work the micture until it resembles coarse crumbs. (you can add finely chopped walnuts to this as well)

Place apple mixture in the greased pan and sprinkle with crumb mixture evenly over the top. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 35-40 minutes. Serve hot with Irish Whiskey Cream (recipe follows)

Irish Whiskey Cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons Irish Whiskey (you can use less if you want, but it's oh-so-good with that much)

Whip cream until it begins to form soft peaks. Add sugar and whiskey and beat until stiff peaks form. Cover and chill as needed.

Wee Bit O'

"May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May love stick to your face, and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success and may happiness slap your across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! "

The man on the horse is the person I get my wee bit of Irish from. My Grandpa Bones. Actually his names is Vernon, but everyone called him Bones. Don't really know why. He had dark, dark hair. He was tall and thin, and very un-Irish like. That is to say he had a quiet demeanor, but he was very very witty, you just had to be listening very carefully.

This little guy is the last in line. He doesn't have black hair or red anymore. He had a awesome time drinking green milk that the leprechauns left him last night. (His shirt says Lucky and Charming) I doubt his grandfather ever drank green milk from the leprechauns. But he did eat his cereal in the morning covered in coffee rather than milk.

He's got them too...

the looks. Red hair and dimples (he only brings them out every once and a while.) He'll break some hearts for sure!

Fog

I don't think God got the memo yesterday. After a beautiful sunshiny day yesterday, I had high hopes of better days to come. Today there is two more inches of snow on the ground and a hovering fog. We never have fog. I love how these photos express the mood

Born with them.....

...looks that is. She had all kinds of them for me. That and some piercing blue eyes.

Wishful Thinking

I was really hoping. Praying more like it...that there wouldn't be anymore. No more freezing cold mornings that I have to start the car. No more slick streets. No more moon boot wearing days. But alas...here it is. The white stuff. It is kinda pretty. And it does have little sparkles in it. Sparkles are always good. And I guess I should consider myself lucky, beacause some people in the world never have even seen or touched snow (sometimes I wish I was one of those people.) It will be gone by noon today as the sun is shining bright. Thankgoodness. It'll be back though. I'm sure of it. God if you're reading this....please send Spring.

Week 11: Animals

I've never in my life birdsat. That is to say...take care of a bird. If fact, I've never really done that much babysitting until the last couple of years in my life. (Had a bad experience with a 7 year old trying to stab me with with a fork once....but that's another story.) Meet Peetree. He's staying with me for a week or so. He's pretty cute. Not much work and makes pretty noises in the morning when I open the windows to let the sunshine in.

You see....I had a bad experience with a bird once. In an antique store when I was in college. There was a ginormous parrot sitting at the check-out counter with absolutely no signs warning me not to touch him....and well, I'm the person that can't resist. I had to touch his beautiful rainbow colored feathers. He in turn whirled around and BIT me. HARD. REALLY HARD. His big, hard, dirty mouth cut right through my fingernail and halfway through my finger. If I wouldn't have been in a public place I would have been writhing around on the ground in pain, pleading for mercy. But instead...I quietly left, bleeding, ashamed that a big ol' bird had gotten the best of me and cursing him at the same time. I NEVER returned. I haven't touched a bird since.

Peetree, though, is sweet. He won't let you touch him. I'm fine with that. I just wanted to take his portrait. And we're both pretty content to just talk to one another.

The BVD Chronicles

I know I've been posting a ton of pictures of Parker lately....well, I apologize, but he's at my disposal, and he's so darn hilarious. I like to call myself the momarazzi.

Today I asked him, as I do everyday, if he wants to wear his elmo underpants. The repsonse today was as usual......"nooooooooo mama!" (I counted the times I heard the word "no" this morning....it was 62.) So, I let it go and went about my business for a little while. Park disappeared into his room. I went in to see what he was doing. He was intently playing with his books and he was wearing his BVDs......ON HIS HEAD!!. I cried I laughed so hard. I guess I should be more specific about where he should wear his underwear.

A mama couldn't be more proud.

Mixing it up....

Trying out some new things, borders, fonts,post work styles, etc..... what better way to do that, than on a Park picture.

Week 10: Cropping

I tricked these little daffodils into blooming in my house. I planted them a few weeks ago and here they are. Normally they like to sit in the ground for ages, but these got sunlight and love and popped right up. I first attempted this photo with a bright red background ( a camisole I was wearing today) and they posted horribly, but were much more colorful. Then I tried just white...hated them. So in my closet I found a blouse not quite as bright as the first red one and here is what they came out like. Still a little funky, but they will do. I think everyone knows the basics of cropping. I'm a big fan of the side crop...it's pretty apparent in my photography. But......

I'm also a HUGE fan of the square crop. Same picture, different crop, completely different look.

Little Ones

Both of my parents were raised on farms. Growing up I spent a good share of time on both of them. I adored them both. If you were to meet me on the street you would probably never guess that I like to wear dirty jeans and big boots and ride a 4-wheeler through pastures. Not all the time, mind you, as I like my high heels too. But there have been times in my life that I day dreamed about living in the country. On a farm. With cows and chickens and maybe a pig. This day dream normally occurs after I've been chased through the city by some gigantic tattooed man driving a minivan for accidentally cutting him off. But, alas... I don't really think farm life is for me. But I like to get a taste of it every now and again. And I like my son to as well.

Today we went visit a friend of my brother-in-law. And this is what we saw......(I can almost hear a resounding aaaawwwww though computer waves)

And then they grow up to look like this. I have to admit...the eyes kinda scare me.