Comfort Food

So, I am feeling pretty bleh today.  We have had unseasonably gorgeous weather here in Northern Ca. Last week it got up to about 77 degrees F.  Phew, in February, no less.  It has been truly wonderful.  Now there is a storm blowing in and who knows?  Maybe it just has me in a mood.  On the up side.  A friend of mine has ducks that have been giving him more eggs than he knows what to do with.  Who knew ducks keep producing eggs durring the winter?  So, I cheerfully agreed to take some off his hands. Now, people who know me will have their eyebrows lifted in a question mark.  Because when I think of eggs, I usually think, EEEWWW YUK.  Yea, I am not a big fan of eggs.  Unless, that is if I am baking with them.  I will eat them, though for protein when I am tired of tofu.  But it has to be like, a little egg with those veggies, please.  Like that veggie scramble up there in my delightful little Erin Paradis bowl that I got at Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville, NC last spring.  Can you see any egg in there.  I didn't think so.  One egg and a whole lot of veggies, spices, salsa, and olives just to make sure.

Now, eggs are eggs are eggs.  But try as I might tell myself that they were just bigger, fresher, better versions of chicken eggs I was a little squeamish about using them.  So I figured it would be best to try them out in brownies first.  Yup.  I killed two birds with one stone.  Comfort food and new territory, albeit, a teeny tiny challenge.  Now they were scrumptious, but I don't think nearly as beautiful as this Sharon Virtue tile I picked up last summer at the ACGA show in Palo Alto, CA.

And...don't you think these images are fun?   I got a hand me down iPhone 4 so I could finally play with iPhone photo artistry.  Alright then, I am going to pull up my big girl panties and get out of the house!

Spiritual Renewal and Banana Bread Recipe

With all the storms renewing the planet with water we decided to take the small break between storms to head to the Sacramento for our own spiritual renewal and to drink from some refreshing living water. This is the Sacramento Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and is located in Rancho Cordova. It was cold and gray outside but warm and peaceful inside. We were there for about two hours but I wished I could stay there all day. It was good to have the opportunity to have a break from the outside world for a little while and take some needed time to ponder and meditate on the changes in store for us. It was a little hard making the two hour drive down and back and having to come back to the real world. I must be tired because I overcooked my flan.

Speaking of baking, here is the recipe for the bread I made during the power outage. This is from an old book I think my mom got in Home Economics in Junior High. It's called, Let's Cook with Gail and was published in 1961.

Banana (Nut) Bread

1/2 cup shortening (my mother and I have always used butter, yum!)
t teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 bananas, mashed (use very ripe, they mash easier and have more flavor for the bread)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (you can omit this if using salted butter or margarine)
1 1/2 tablespoons sour milk or buttermilk (we never seemed to have this on hand and would put some lemon juice in the milk)
1 cup chopped nuts (we used to use walnuts until I started getting canker sores from them)

Start the oven at 350 degrees
Grease a loaf pan, 9 by 5 by 3 inches
Cream the shortening, lemon juice and sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy, and very well mixed. Beat the eggs in a small bowl, and add to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Mash the bananas with a fork, in the same bowl you used to beat the eggs (this cuts down on dishes but I always find it easier to mash the bananas on a plate).
Sift the flour, soda, baking soda, baking powder and salt together, and add half to the first mixture. Stir to mix well. Add the sour milk, and mix. Then add th3e rest of the flour, and mix well, but do not over beat. Add the nutmeats and stir.
Pour into greased loaf pan and bake about 1 hour in 350 degree oven.
Cool about 15 minutes, then remove from pan to cool on rack (run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen if you have any trouble getting the bread out).
Slice thinly with a sharp knife.
This bread is easier to slice when completely cool (if you can wait), and tastes even better the second day after baking (if there is any left).

We like to eat this bread a couple of different ways: hot out of the oven with butter or a scoop of french vanilla or vanilla bean ice cream or toasted with butter or cream cheese. I can't believe we ate all the other banana bread. My mouth is watering now, the flan is hot and can't be eaten until tomorrow and there are not other baked goodies to eat. Besides, I'm ready for a good night's rest soon.

Alternative Power and Baking

Winds were gusting at 60 to 80 miles per hour and transformers and power lines were going down everwhere. We lost our power for good at about 8:00 am and still don't have any this morning. Thank goodness for the generator. We didn't plug in to it until late afternoon when my husband finally took pity on my internet withdrawals. Before that I kept busy baking by candlelight. I made a super yummy banana bread recipe from my mom. I'll post the recipe later. I'm too lazy to get out from under my nice warm blankets to go and get it.



The banana bread was delicious and I ate way too much of it. It was especially good with a scoop of french vanilla ice cream. All in all the day was a very interesting one. Being cooped up in the house with no power gives you a chance to spend time on things you might not otherwise take time for. I had a lot of family time with my husband and son. I brought one of the rabbits in from his outside pen that was too exposed so we had a bunny hopping around which entertained the cats. I took a drive with my husband and took a lot of low res photos and learned how to turn them into an animation using Photoshop Image Ready. But I need a new computer. Mine had to work too hard to crunch the info. I could then use Photoshops CS3 which uses animation right in the program instead of jumping over to image ready which I'm using with my CS version. And I am so impatient.

In the late afternoon the rain let up and the sun peaked through for about 15 minutes so we ran outside to do some damage assessment and reinforcements but nothing major. Then we took a drive downtown to take a walk with all the other people to see the downed trees and leaf and limb litter everywhere. It was kind of earie because there was no
power or lights anywhere and none of the businesses where open.


I'm still running on the generator today and I've got to get back to work and not be lazy all day. I need to get out into the pottery studio and put handles on the batter bowls and uncover the heart bowls so that I can get them going for Valentines Day. The weather reports say we wont have as much wing with the next system but it is supposed to get colder and snow levels will be dropping. We may even see a few flakes of it on the valley floor here in Chico. Have great day and be happy.
Kelly

My orange tabby, Funny Cat

One of my best cat pals, Funny Cat. There are three short hair orange tabbies, three long hairs, two torties (orange tabby mom, silver tabby dad), plus two totally feral males lurking around that I'd like to trap and relocate. This buddy of mine catches me when I'm out in the garden, coming seemingly out of nowhere, to demand my attention and get some love. Yesterday evening during my daffodil photo shoot I found myself lying on the straw in the garden with Funny Cat on my tummy getting lots of loves and scratches. And I got to have a Funny Cat photo shoot. Then the mosquitoes started biting and when they started itching I decided I'd better get out of there. Poor Funny, He could sit on my lap all day. This is the first time I'll thank mosquitoes, though. If it hadn't been for them I might not have remembered the cakes and they would have been completely charcoal.






Aw, shucks mom, too many photos. Really, I just caught him mid-groom as he was washing his face.