Long Time No Post

Where did the end of January/beginning of February go??

Seriously?

The past week or so here- we have been celebrating, you see- there are 3 birthdays in the beginning of the month in our family (Pop, Donell and Mister Moses)- which means a whole lotta parties...last one being Saturday at noon.

For party #2 (last night) I made this delicious chocolate bundt cake from Shutterbean- so scrumptious! (The only thing I did differently was use fat free greek yogurt rather than sour cream)



and I topped it with this super tasty icing idea that I had...Donell LOVES Breyers vanilla bean ice cream- so I thought I'd whip up some vanilla bean icing:) I DID NOT use a recipe- so try to follow along as best you can!

I started of with about 3 tablespoons of softened butter (not melted, but VERY soft)

then I added the powdered sugar and milk, whisking the heck out of it between additions, I added more sugar when I wanted it to be stiffer- and then milk to thin it out. In total I probably added about 1.5 cups of sugar, and 4 Tablespoons of milk.

again, whisked it like crazy with to get all the lumps out...

then came the vanilla bean- I sliced 1/2 a bean in half length wise

and scraped it out with the back of my knife into the icing

whisked it altogether to get this lovely speckled concoction- added a touch more milk so I could drizzle it- and voila!

DELICIOUS

Birthday Boys 2 and 3 (picture by the fabulous Simon)

You may have read in last years post- that my water broke while out to dinner for D's birthday- so Mos was born the 7th, and D the 8th. Aquarians all around me!

This pic is form celebration #1-My Dad's birthday is the 4th- he was also blowing out a candle simultaneously, but not in the picture:)

Another thing I wanted to share is my most recent salad love-

this recipe is from a super-healthy-eating friend, who got the recipe from Terry Walters, author of Clean Food, and Clean Start, here's what you do....

combine a bunch of torn raw kale (I prefer the green or lacinato variety), 1 avocado, juice from 1 lemon and 1 lime, a drizzle of olive oil, lots of pepper and sea salt

You then "massage" the oil and avacado into the kale

(today I added pepper crusted parm, and little spiced corn flatbreads for my tasty lunch-yummy!)

Why I love this salad:

#1- Its super simple

#2- Its super healthy

#3- It goes with anything (more veggies, quinoa, tofu, etc.)

#4- It lasts in the fridge for a day or 2 as is- kale is super sturdy- even when dressed!

On the painting front:

I have made the big decision to get some add space on a fabulous blog- I just began the process, but once it's up and posted I'll send you there to check it out!

So with this decision, comes the refreshing of my Etsy shop storefront....check it out! Lots of new paintings, new pictures, new prices- the whole bit!

and I recently finished this massive (24" x 48") painting...here it is in progress....

and the finished piece:

What do you think?