DollsArtCats

J made this last weekend (this weekend is a pumpkin pie). In theory this went to J's work, in practice we ate most of it. I have no idea how it was made or what was in it besides cream, cake, espresso and chocolate, but it was very tasty :D And today the legs came for the couch, and it is now complete! It looks way better with the right number of legs. It's nice to sit on, too--I hadn't realized how soggy the old couch was. The light is reflecting blue off the cushions; I need to remember that velvet is a little reflective the next time I am making it in Daz Studio, but you can see the true color a bit more in the section in front of the door--it is a dark forest green.  I have to say I am quite happy with it! The only downside is that now Wayfair spams me with more couches, which seems counterproductive--they should be sending me chairs, coffee tables and rugs, not more couches. It's not that big a house! (The floral throw pillows are from Home Depot, which i...

For some reason I just wanted a hard-boiled egg for lunch, but when  I loaded them into the pot, four of them floated. I thought "that is odd, I don't remember seeing that before". I also am one of these people that forgets to look for the expiration date on the carton, though I do think eggs keep longer than the cartons say. But in this case I googled it, and I ended up tossing those four. The rest seem to be fine. Here is the article that I read: https://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/EggsFloat.htm I learn new stuff all the time :D

So I keep falling asleep before I post, after being on the computer all day, making weird little objects. But J has been busy making things, and I have taken some photos --but of things like onion rings and loaves of bread :D Here is a lemon meringue pie: That meringue was the best I have ever had! J also tied a bunch of flies for an upcoming fishing trip: The cat watched the skating in the Olympics--I have no idea why: We grew a giant icicle (now all gone entirely, I think Spring is here early) And I worked like crazy trying to get things textures for Poser as well as learn Hex and Wings. The plumber is paid off and the electrician came yesterday morning to fix our porch lights, so things are getting repaired. Nice weather will help a lot with the other house repair chores--I will be able to clean up outside and clean the porch as well. It's a little warmer than it was before I plugged all the holes in the porch, but aluminum windows meant a 20 degree differe...

It was a small Cooper's Hawk, and it was a big squirrel--he was also at an awkward angle for the hawk to get at. The hawk flew away a few seconds later. Meanwhile, K was working on a homemade tiramisu. We had way too many desserts over the past week, but they were delicious! (She made scones, too, but I ate them before I thought to take a photo)

You will need: 2 cans of pink or red salmon (About 30 ounces total) 2 cups of canned pumpkin (30 ounce can would suffice)   4 large eggs, beaten 1 cup of almond flour 4-5 green onions, very thinly sliced (Just cut) 2 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning 2.5 teaspoon hot sauce 1.5 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 small jalepeno, deseeded and diced Zest from 2 lemon and just a little lemon juice from one of the halves or so.   Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 425F and cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. Drain the liquid from the salmon and using your fingers,  You need to get the bones out if they are in there. This is sort of an annoying process the first few times you do it. There is a method though to getting the bones out, just try to split the salmon in half length wise or where ever you see the vertebrae and then peel the bones off of each half of the salmon. Once that's done, crumble the fish into a large bowl a...

K and I went off to have fun at Akutenshi7's house,(so much fun, and Akutenshi amazed me with a bag of gorgeous wigs, a hat, AND A PAIR OF SHOES and boots :o. Thank you again!!) And J stayed home and baked a cake; basically a strawberry trifle, but less wet. Here he is just before putting it in the refrigerator,so it could set and chill for a while Unwrapping it: Getting out a slice: (harder than it looks) And a piece of cake! I'm not sure any of this cake will be taken by J to work this week...

A while back J got a Dutch Oven as a gift, and yesterday he decided to give it a try to cook a pork roast. He braised the roast, then put it for an hour in the oven, them added the potatoes and other stuff and let it go for another hour. It was perfect. It's been a quiet week--I should be painting doll heads but there is laundry, commissions and other stuff going on, including a package from Chalyss of TINY SHOES!! OMG what a fabulous gift--NO ONE wants to part with shoes, ever, and I happen to know this style of Mimiwoo shoes fits super gem girls perfectly. :D I also poked a bit at Iris' wig--it's roving and I find I love to braid it, though I have no clue how to attach it without stitching lines, short of glueing it. I should probably weft it instead of just tacking it down directly. Here it is so far: I also have some Nephelin wings I am trying to fix up, as part of the "catch up with the dolly backlog while I can", here's just a start, a sketch of sor...

I was expecting a couple of Fed Ex packages this morning, including one I thought I would have to sign for, so I was up with pants on before 8 am. I was also running a temperature of 101 so I figured I was going to have to find things to keep me busy to stay awake. An antapocalypse in the kitchen helped--the ants had, after two years of vague wanderings around in the general area, had suddenly found the cat food dish; and there was great rejoicing. To quote the plumber in Peter Mayle's A Year In Provence "The ants were without number"; so I killed an hour and countless ants cleaning them up, and then prying off the molding and applying ant gel. I didn't mix it with potato chips or jam this time, so I am not sure they will want it--they get bored if you keep giving them the same flavor for weeks. Then I spent a couple of enjoyable hours looking at people's Tumblrs, and if I still am not sure what all those icons do, I know where to find neat pictures to look at....

Last week J went off to inspect a plant, and I had to go buy groceries. Instead of going to Target, I went to a local independent grocery and bought a few things there, including a piece of beef. I picked it because it was inexpensive and had cute herbs and peppercorns adhering to it, which I vaguely associate with roasts, so this evening I hauled it out of the fridge and put it in the oven to cook for an hour and a half at 325. Pretty much everything I put in the oven I cook at 325, unless it is Sculpey. So I take it out, let it rest, and then start to slice it up. It seems to me that the knife is dull, so I switch to another one. I finally manage to whittle off some slices, and then discover that humans cannot chew corned beef unless it has been boiled on low in a kettle for at least three hours, according to the cookbook that J hauled out. Maybe hyenas could chew it, but not humans. Apparently this is because these are the parts of the cow that it stands on, aka the legs; and unli...

On reddit, Orcishwarhammer drove from London to Mongolia; and took some photos, including this one. 50 cent bag of chips; caviar, maybe $25.00 here.

If you like brownies, get the Ghiradelli box--they are so much better than the Betty Crocker or the Duncan Hines. (None of which are bad ; I mean, we are talking brownies here)

J thought it looked like photos of Titan's surface, with hydrocarbon lakes. He cooked the sugar just a little too long, to the softball stage, so it was stretchy and chewy..but still good. We just got the tart pan this weekend so I was glad he tried it out. :D

J once again made a test cake for the office, this time with Cherry Heering liquor, chocolate and creme fraiche. Needless to say, it was excellent-- though it was an expensive cake (even the fresh cherries are not cheap, though we are right next to Michigan and their cherry crop). Also pitting them was not easy and they were sort of "wet" for the cake. None of this kept me from eating the cake, though. :D "I'll have a second piece, plz."

K gave J this cheese grater for Christmas. I think it is far too nice to get dirty with cheese, and that it should be used for jewelry. (Also I am not sure how you wash it without ruining the finish.) Also, we have ants. Angry ants, that are looking everywhere for the food we put away. (when J got up this morning, they were licking the outside of the powdered sugar canister). On the other hand, the kitchen is super clean.

It's pretty good, if you can decipher it; and add the steps of cooking the carrots and potatoes separately. Recipe provided by K, stains provided by J.

One of these is good in coffee, with whipped cream. The other one is not. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating it!