Thingadailies Feb 4&5

When the child asks if you'll make her a birthday cake and that she's been missing your choclate cake, you have you assignment.  On the 4th I made the chocolate buttermilk cake, and on the 5th I made the dark chocolate sour cream buttercream and decorated it.

Thingadailies Feb 4th

This past weekend was the child's 26th birthday. Part of her gift was her own personal tiramisu, her favorite dessert. For some reason, I didn't make any for us, which is just silly. Today I rectified the situation. 

This is a very classic espresso tiramisu with store-bought lady fingers. I'm trying to tell myself that I'm not ashamed. It's not working, but I think eating the tiramisu will help. 

Thingadailies Feb 3rd

Trying to think of what to give coworkers for Valentine's Day besides chocolate. In my mind, chocolate is a wonderful gift at any time, but there are folks who seem to think candy isn't good for you, and they think chocolate is candy. Weird.

Came across birdseed wreaths, and figured I could do that with my heart cookie cutters. Searched around for a good non-suet option and came across a gelatin option. Gave that a try,  and they completely disintegrated. Looked around some more, and cobbled together a few ideas. Success! Sturdy little pucks of birdseed! 

I hung a couple samples out in my trees and the chickadees and junkos are going nuts for them. Huzzah!

Thingadailies Feb. 2nd

I've been trying to allow myself to make art. I'm not good at it, so I rarely do it, despite knowing that I'll never get good at it if I never practice. Plus, who am I really doing it for? This is the pep talk I give myself every time I sit down to draw. Sorry you had to hear that. 

Ok, so I've been watching these videos made by Andrea Nelson (andrea.nelson.art) in which she draws and watercolors these fun little cartoony sometimes abstracty animals or scenes, which really appeal to me. And she always says, "It's going to be ok." 

A few days ago, I tried drawing this little owl, which turned out a little wonky, but still kinda fun. For day two of Thingadailies, I decided to draw him again, but really focus on going slow and seeing if I could get things a little more symmetrical. 

Thingadailies Feb 1

I've committed to doing this thing! Here's hoping it encourages me to get off my hiney and try out some of the projects that have been swirling around my mind. 

I went super easy today, and made a recipe I saw on BellyFull. It's a triple chocolate banana bread. Of course I couldn't make it exactly the way she wrote it, because of course I didn't check the recipe before I made it. She calls for 1/3 cup each of dark, semi, and milk chocolate chips. I didn't have dark or milk, but I did have some chocolate covered toffee chips, so I used those. 

The bread is soft and chocolately. I thought it could use a little more banana, and maybe something like walnuts to cut through the sweetness. 

(Triple Chocolate Banana Bread https://share.google/95izAgyqs5nbEj2Vm)