You are welcome!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Puppy dog kisses
There once was a boy who came for a visit.
Kisses he gave to all, far and near.
Smacking and blowing to all who could hear.
Along came a dog, a kind one at that.
Who decided to give this kid some kisses back.
Ahhh, we all said...isn't that cute.
Then along came Shelby who took kisses like loot!!!
The dog he knew what position he was in...
when he spied the looter at it again.
He winced but stayed firm.
Not loosing his place.
For he loves his dear Shelby,
despite her lack of grace.
What a good friend!
The END!!
Kisses he gave to all, far and near.
Smacking and blowing to all who could hear.
Along came a dog, a kind one at that.
Who decided to give this kid some kisses back.
Ahhh, we all said...isn't that cute.
Then along came Shelby who took kisses like loot!!!
The dog he knew what position he was in...
when he spied the looter at it again.
He winced but stayed firm.
Not loosing his place.
For he loves his dear Shelby,
despite her lack of grace.
What a good friend!
The END!!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Pictures and Pudding!!
Today is my link up with the SOOC challenge day!
Remember those photos from Monday???
It is okay if you don't, that was a long time ago.
Here is the first.
And here is my edit.
Bluer blue and more shadows!
I knew that is what I would do with it.
This one was a struggle though.
I am of course limited by my program...
...so this one became more about lines and light to me.
Balance and contrast.
I like it. Though it is not my "style" or what I would put in my home...I like it.
Head on over to...
...to see what everyone else was up to!!
Speaking of my style.
Well, I was speaking of it even so this is a stretch!
Chocolate is my style!
Homemade chocolate anything is really my style.
I put out on FB
"Hey, anyone have a delicious chocolate pudding they love?"
Of course I heard back from my foodie friend. (with this awesome recipe)
and my other commenter was a friend trying to give me this recipe that she'd gotten from my foodie friend!!!
Love that!
So here we go with crazy good chocolate pudding!! (link to come later over there in the sidebar)
I have doubled this recipe, so all images you see will reflect that. I will also type out the recipe doubled, because really....please don't waste your time making a single recipe, when you are gonna want more so soon. Just make it a double and eat it twice, but share!!!
I chose to use my big wide non stick skillet for this, to help with picture taking.
Measure out:
2 cups sugar
4 T. flour
4 T. cornstarch
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Oh, no my lighting isn't off, I used cane sugar and wheat flour for this...sneaky me!
Other things you will need are:
3 cups milk (or a combo of milk, heavy cream or half and half)
4 egg YOLKS
4 T butter
a bit of vanilla
a handful of deep dark chocolate chips is optional but highly suggested.
Whisk the dry ingredients right in the pan. Don't be like me...sift your cocoa.
Sift your cocoa, yes I said it again on purpose. This became a hassle during the whole process!
I had to have a separate picture of these lovely eggs. The brown ones came all the way from Missouri from a dear friend of mine!!
Sigh...HI friend I miss you!
Okay, so get those yolks separated, what you do with the whites is your own problem!!!
Of course one broke before the picture...I still love the image!
Ha, I let the little tomato stay in there too as... a touch of red is the visual theme of this post.
Oh, you hadn't noticed. I forgive you...you can now.
This time around I chose to beat those yolks up and add them into the sugar cocoa mixture.
You could instead save them for later and slowly add warm liquid to them to temper them finally adding them to the hot pot when they are tempered or simply whisk those lovely egg yolks into milk and slowly add the 3 cups of milk/cream/eggs into the dry mixture.
All in all, any of those choices gets the job done, based on what you are comfy with.
Just do it slowly and thoroughly is all I ask.
Please don't rush this...your sanity is not worth it.
Notice the change of whisk. Yeah, I didn't sift my cocoa and had lumps and I was hoping this one would do better at getting rid of them.
If you don't have a good whisk for your nonstick pan, use a regular pan and forgo the heartache.
Alrighty then...all of the milk has been added, now you may turn on the heat.
WAIT!!! Before you turn on the heat, be ready to willingly give yourself to see this process through to the end. No phone answering, no diaper changing, no email checking only PUDDING making!! Do you hear me, DO NOT STEP away from the pan.
Whisk and stir and make beautiful swirls in the mixture.
Don't stress about it, just simply keep it moving.
It will slowly come to heat, which is what you want, so the eggs don't scramble up on ya!!
Eventually it will start to thicken, especially in the center, just keep on gently whisking/stirring. Moving things from the edge to the center and the center to the edge.
At some point it will begin to boil. Give it time, pudding should not be rushed.
Let it gently boil for at least a minute. This will get the flour good and cooked!
Next turn the heat off and throw in the butter, vanilla, and if you want chocolate chips.
(uhhhh, you want!!)
(forgive the super bad picture, boiling pudding is stressful...in that taking pictures of boiling pudding is stressful, not the pudding part)
And, if you are really sneaky like me...you will put in some "instant coffee" to punch up the chocolate flavor even more.
Just a smidge, I promise they won't be able to tell, but they will give you accolades.
We all know accolades is good!!!
Once all the ingredients are combined pour the pudding into an ice bath.
See the red theme again...this is my fave picture of the bunch, so graphic!!
To make an ice bath, simply put ice in a large bowl and put a smaller bowl in that one.
In fact if your pan would fit in the bath, just feel free to stick that in there for this step.
The ice will cool the pudding!
My foodie friend insists on this step!!!
Notice the whisk change again!!!
Did I tell you to sift your cocoa? You must!!! This was an attempt to get my pudding exceedingly smooth...wouldn't have been necessary had I....sigh!!!
When there is no more steam a'rising, pour your pudding into lovely vessels!!
Ha ha ha, or just what you have.
I highly recommend portioning it out as it is very rich while being very addictive.
My kids think it is the bomb, my husband says it is just too chocolaty.
It is okay, he can be wrong sometimes.
Cover said vessels with plastic wrap, pushing it down gently onto the top of the pudding.
Don't worry, it peels away nicely....very little loss of pudding, which you can lick off if you need to.
My foodie friend let me know that if you do cool the pudding then a skin will not form, that is why the ice bath is such a critical step.
She says it is really not necessary to cover them...of course, her fridge is probably also spotless without any weird smells that may transfer to the pudding.
If you are like me and are freaked out by that kind of thing, but also too busy to care to clean out the fridge...cover!
My hearty advice is to top this with freshly whipped, lightly sweetened cream.
And try not to let your kids catch you eating more than one cup.
Joking, I am joking...I only had one!
Ohhhhh I have had to rush writing this, and now I must be off. All mistakes are mine!
Ahhhhh, I haven't even looked at my camera today...I promise I will!!!!
See ya tomorrow!!
Remember those photos from Monday???
It is okay if you don't, that was a long time ago.
Here is the first.
And here is my edit.
Bluer blue and more shadows!
I knew that is what I would do with it.
This one was a struggle though.
I am of course limited by my program...
...so this one became more about lines and light to me.
Balance and contrast.
I like it. Though it is not my "style" or what I would put in my home...I like it.
Head on over to...
...to see what everyone else was up to!!
Speaking of my style.
Well, I was speaking of it even so this is a stretch!
Chocolate is my style!
Homemade chocolate anything is really my style.
I put out on FB
"Hey, anyone have a delicious chocolate pudding they love?"
Of course I heard back from my foodie friend. (with this awesome recipe)
and my other commenter was a friend trying to give me this recipe that she'd gotten from my foodie friend!!!
Love that!
So here we go with crazy good chocolate pudding!! (link to come later over there in the sidebar)
I have doubled this recipe, so all images you see will reflect that. I will also type out the recipe doubled, because really....please don't waste your time making a single recipe, when you are gonna want more so soon. Just make it a double and eat it twice, but share!!!
I chose to use my big wide non stick skillet for this, to help with picture taking.
Measure out:
2 cups sugar
4 T. flour
4 T. cornstarch
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Oh, no my lighting isn't off, I used cane sugar and wheat flour for this...sneaky me!
Other things you will need are:
3 cups milk (or a combo of milk, heavy cream or half and half)
4 egg YOLKS
4 T butter
a bit of vanilla
a handful of deep dark chocolate chips is optional but highly suggested.
Whisk the dry ingredients right in the pan. Don't be like me...sift your cocoa.
Sift your cocoa, yes I said it again on purpose. This became a hassle during the whole process!
I had to have a separate picture of these lovely eggs. The brown ones came all the way from Missouri from a dear friend of mine!!
Sigh...HI friend I miss you!
Okay, so get those yolks separated, what you do with the whites is your own problem!!!
Of course one broke before the picture...I still love the image!
Ha, I let the little tomato stay in there too as... a touch of red is the visual theme of this post.
Oh, you hadn't noticed. I forgive you...you can now.
This time around I chose to beat those yolks up and add them into the sugar cocoa mixture.
You could instead save them for later and slowly add warm liquid to them to temper them finally adding them to the hot pot when they are tempered or simply whisk those lovely egg yolks into milk and slowly add the 3 cups of milk/cream/eggs into the dry mixture.
All in all, any of those choices gets the job done, based on what you are comfy with.
Just do it slowly and thoroughly is all I ask.
Please don't rush this...your sanity is not worth it.
Notice the change of whisk. Yeah, I didn't sift my cocoa and had lumps and I was hoping this one would do better at getting rid of them.
If you don't have a good whisk for your nonstick pan, use a regular pan and forgo the heartache.
Alrighty then...all of the milk has been added, now you may turn on the heat.
WAIT!!! Before you turn on the heat, be ready to willingly give yourself to see this process through to the end. No phone answering, no diaper changing, no email checking only PUDDING making!! Do you hear me, DO NOT STEP away from the pan.
Whisk and stir and make beautiful swirls in the mixture.
Don't stress about it, just simply keep it moving.
It will slowly come to heat, which is what you want, so the eggs don't scramble up on ya!!
Eventually it will start to thicken, especially in the center, just keep on gently whisking/stirring. Moving things from the edge to the center and the center to the edge.
At some point it will begin to boil. Give it time, pudding should not be rushed.
Let it gently boil for at least a minute. This will get the flour good and cooked!
Next turn the heat off and throw in the butter, vanilla, and if you want chocolate chips.
(uhhhh, you want!!)
(forgive the super bad picture, boiling pudding is stressful...in that taking pictures of boiling pudding is stressful, not the pudding part)
And, if you are really sneaky like me...you will put in some "instant coffee" to punch up the chocolate flavor even more.
Just a smidge, I promise they won't be able to tell, but they will give you accolades.
We all know accolades is good!!!
Once all the ingredients are combined pour the pudding into an ice bath.
See the red theme again...this is my fave picture of the bunch, so graphic!!
To make an ice bath, simply put ice in a large bowl and put a smaller bowl in that one.
In fact if your pan would fit in the bath, just feel free to stick that in there for this step.
The ice will cool the pudding!
My foodie friend insists on this step!!!
Notice the whisk change again!!!
Did I tell you to sift your cocoa? You must!!! This was an attempt to get my pudding exceedingly smooth...wouldn't have been necessary had I....sigh!!!
When there is no more steam a'rising, pour your pudding into lovely vessels!!
Ha ha ha, or just what you have.
I highly recommend portioning it out as it is very rich while being very addictive.
My kids think it is the bomb, my husband says it is just too chocolaty.
It is okay, he can be wrong sometimes.
Cover said vessels with plastic wrap, pushing it down gently onto the top of the pudding.
Don't worry, it peels away nicely....very little loss of pudding, which you can lick off if you need to.
My foodie friend let me know that if you do cool the pudding then a skin will not form, that is why the ice bath is such a critical step.
She says it is really not necessary to cover them...of course, her fridge is probably also spotless without any weird smells that may transfer to the pudding.
If you are like me and are freaked out by that kind of thing, but also too busy to care to clean out the fridge...cover!
My hearty advice is to top this with freshly whipped, lightly sweetened cream.
And try not to let your kids catch you eating more than one cup.
Joking, I am joking...I only had one!
Ohhhhh I have had to rush writing this, and now I must be off. All mistakes are mine!
Ahhhhh, I haven't even looked at my camera today...I promise I will!!!!
See ya tomorrow!!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
no pudding (for you) today
First thing this morning....(We have talked about that before, so you know just what I mean right??)..I headed back out with the bottles.
Here is where they settled again today!
This is cropped from that above.
Wowza, the green coming up off of the grass was a surprise today.
Here is what I got when I zoomed, as opposed to cropping.
I chose to bump up the blue a bit in this one, to help with the yellow going on.
I suppose that is as close to what I wanted as it was gonna get today.
Then just for kicks I took it gray-scale.
Then I felt like I cheated on what I was hoping to do!!
Ha ha, oh well.
I am not feeling so defeated today anyway.
I have a hankering to share a pudding recipe with you, but I just don't have time today.
I have all the pictures taken, cropped, sized and ready to load.
However, I still have to also type out the recipe and instructions so I will have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry!
I can't decide if a picture is cruel or a motivator?
Maybe it is a cruel motivator...to come back that is!
I gotta get, need to whip some cream to go with my pudding!!
Ahhhhhh, sorry!
Here is where they settled again today!
This is cropped from that above.
Wowza, the green coming up off of the grass was a surprise today.
Here is what I got when I zoomed, as opposed to cropping.
I chose to bump up the blue a bit in this one, to help with the yellow going on.
I suppose that is as close to what I wanted as it was gonna get today.
Then just for kicks I took it gray-scale.
Then I felt like I cheated on what I was hoping to do!!
Ha ha, oh well.
I am not feeling so defeated today anyway.
I have a hankering to share a pudding recipe with you, but I just don't have time today.
I have all the pictures taken, cropped, sized and ready to load.
However, I still have to also type out the recipe and instructions so I will have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry!
I can't decide if a picture is cruel or a motivator?
Maybe it is a cruel motivator...to come back that is!
I gotta get, need to whip some cream to go with my pudding!!
Ahhhhhh, sorry!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Windows and more.
This is going to be my submission into Sailor & Company's RAW challenge this week.
I took this photo a few months back and had it firmly fixed in my mind as my submission for this one.
We have lots of windows at my house, but they are boring!!
There is no way I am dragging all three of my kids around town to find just the right thing either. Nope, that is just not gonna happen.
I also have this one...but I had already worked on it a bit so it had to be excluded.
Remember, NO touchy the photo!
I took those bottles from yesterdays post back outside today and came away with more disappointment and frustration.
I guess that means I will hit it again tomorrow.
I will show you, just so you can keep track of my attempts.
This article got me to thinking about how I am viewing things and composing. It made me want to really try some new things, and whoa...I feel like I have only taken steps backwards so far.
Unfortunately I am not much of a written word learner, more of a see it done and practice til I get it right, doer. And that is why (Cedar) I still haven't done the mouse over trick yet. Tried, failed, tried, failed, failed failed failed!!!
Back to the photos.
I think what I want is for them to have a sparkle and stand out gray against gray feel.
At the same time I want each of them to be sharp and in focus while maintaining a nice blur in the back ground.
This is one tough assignment I have given myself.
So here I have the nice blur, but the bottles are not sharp.
On this I used my 50mm lens with f/stop of 1.8
Here the bottles are more sharp but I want more blur.
This one I bumped it up to a 6.5 f/stop....too far I am thinking AND per the article I need to use my long lens, get farther away and possibly open it up even further.
If anyone reads that article and can explain it again and differently please let me know.
By differently I mean...not technically!!
The sun finally peeked out, which helped to aid in the sparkle department....
...sigh, still not what I wanted!
Try, try again!
I have a new goal.
I simply MUST spend more time photographing people.
You know, so I can take good pictures, on purpose.
I think I am going to extend that category though to include anything with eyeballs that can catch a sparkle.
Man, if you can get the eyes, then you have truly gotten the window to the soul.
(did you catch that vain attempt to work in windows again!?)
I decided after speaking to my fish about this, that frankly, they are no help to this particular need!!
You probably won't see most of that practice, but I will be working I promise you that!!
I have another exciting something to share with you, but alas it must wait.
Okay, got to get to supper prep now.
I know it is hard to believe but supper didn't really turn out last night!!! Ha haha!
I will give it another go this evening!
Back at it tomorrow!
I took this photo a few months back and had it firmly fixed in my mind as my submission for this one.
We have lots of windows at my house, but they are boring!!
There is no way I am dragging all three of my kids around town to find just the right thing either. Nope, that is just not gonna happen.
I also have this one...but I had already worked on it a bit so it had to be excluded.
Remember, NO touchy the photo!
I took those bottles from yesterdays post back outside today and came away with more disappointment and frustration.
I guess that means I will hit it again tomorrow.
I will show you, just so you can keep track of my attempts.
This article got me to thinking about how I am viewing things and composing. It made me want to really try some new things, and whoa...I feel like I have only taken steps backwards so far.
Unfortunately I am not much of a written word learner, more of a see it done and practice til I get it right, doer. And that is why (Cedar) I still haven't done the mouse over trick yet. Tried, failed, tried, failed, failed failed failed!!!
Back to the photos.
I think what I want is for them to have a sparkle and stand out gray against gray feel.
At the same time I want each of them to be sharp and in focus while maintaining a nice blur in the back ground.
This is one tough assignment I have given myself.
So here I have the nice blur, but the bottles are not sharp.
On this I used my 50mm lens with f/stop of 1.8
Here the bottles are more sharp but I want more blur.
This one I bumped it up to a 6.5 f/stop....too far I am thinking AND per the article I need to use my long lens, get farther away and possibly open it up even further.
If anyone reads that article and can explain it again and differently please let me know.
By differently I mean...not technically!!
The sun finally peeked out, which helped to aid in the sparkle department....
...sigh, still not what I wanted!
Try, try again!
I have a new goal.
I simply MUST spend more time photographing people.
You know, so I can take good pictures, on purpose.
I think I am going to extend that category though to include anything with eyeballs that can catch a sparkle.
Man, if you can get the eyes, then you have truly gotten the window to the soul.
(did you catch that vain attempt to work in windows again!?)
I decided after speaking to my fish about this, that frankly, they are no help to this particular need!!
You probably won't see most of that practice, but I will be working I promise you that!!
I have another exciting something to share with you, but alas it must wait.
Okay, got to get to supper prep now.
I know it is hard to believe but supper didn't really turn out last night!!! Ha haha!
I will give it another go this evening!
Back at it tomorrow!
Monday, July 11, 2011
SOOC second time around
Ohhh boy I have run out time today!!!
Link HERE for the SOOC challenge for today!!
Our assignment was "skies the limit".
I truly wanted to think outside of the box and shoot something to do with achieving goals, or having dreams that you are close to realizing.
It has come down to crunch time for supper so here is what you get.
This little tree is a little maple that we put in a few months ago. It is growing like crazy...despite the drought we are in.
He has no limit, it seems!
Also for you....ahhh my husband just walked in and supper is still where it was when he called to say he was coming home because I got distracted with pictures, and ebay, and email, and facebook. shrug!!
Okay so also for you...
I will take another picture of this same thing tomorrow so I can show you what I really wanted to. The grass was really wet, and well it would have meant me laying down in it to get the shot. ha haha.
Bye now....really gotta get.
Link HERE for the SOOC challenge for today!!
Our assignment was "skies the limit".
I truly wanted to think outside of the box and shoot something to do with achieving goals, or having dreams that you are close to realizing.
It has come down to crunch time for supper so here is what you get.
This little tree is a little maple that we put in a few months ago. It is growing like crazy...despite the drought we are in.
He has no limit, it seems!
Also for you....ahhh my husband just walked in and supper is still where it was when he called to say he was coming home because I got distracted with pictures, and ebay, and email, and facebook. shrug!!
Okay so also for you...
I will take another picture of this same thing tomorrow so I can show you what I really wanted to. The grass was really wet, and well it would have meant me laying down in it to get the shot. ha haha.
Bye now....really gotta get.
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