Hippo Birdie Megan

ps ..... click on the picture ..... it is HUGE!!

Crazy Snow Dog

It was warm out this afternoon (60 degrees!!) So lic and I ventured out to play in what's left of the snow. Crazy dog,



Contortionist ..... yes, all those parts are attached



"Ah these paparazzi! You just can't get rid of them."



At Ease

Killer Chocolate chocolate chocolate chocolate chip cookies!

We made these this weekend. They were fantastic!! Be careful baking, they need to bake just until firm, and not shiny.



(By the way, this is the pic that came with the recipe, from the
Hartford Courant. We ate the cookies too fast to get any pictures. :)

Chocolate Cookies With All The Chips

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or leave it ungreased.

In a small bowl, mix semisweet, white and milk chocolate chips until blended. In another small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt until well blended. Set aside.

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer set on medium speed, beat the butter until creamy. Add brown and granulated sugars, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until well blended, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl, as necessary. Beat in the vanilla until blended. On low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients and beat until just blended, again scraping down the bowl, as needed. Beat or fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

Drop the dough, by tablespoonfuls, onto the prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake until set and the tops have lost their sheen, about 12 minutes. (Because the dough is dark, the first batch will be the key to when the cookies are done.) Let the cookies firm and cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough, reusing parchment paper.

note from Stephanie .... we didn't have any milk chocolate, so I made them with only semisweet and white chocolate. I used 3/4 cup white chocolate, and 1 1/2 cups semisweet, so that there was the samw ratio of white chocolate to real chocolate.

another one

this one was fun
(click on the picture to get a better idea how the scarf spirals .....)

ice

Typical Connecticut winter storm the other night. Snow,sleet, ice and freezing rain. I got some pretty pictures of the ice on the railing this morning.

scarf

Realized that you really couldn't see what the scarf looks like in the previous post. Had trouble getting my models to cooperate, but this guy stayed nice and still!

silver and white

It is too cold to take any pictures outside, so I am combining
hobbies. I just finished a loopy silver and white scarf.
Here are some closeups. Had to dig the lightbox out for these. :)