It's a New Year and I'm Late Already

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My last post was on Dec 30. It's been 5 days.  My goal for the new year is to post twice a week on specific days~~the days for this month being Thursday and Saturday.

Well, here it is Tuesday, so not only has it been a long time, but I'm late and it's the wrong day.  Hmmmm, is any day really the "wrong" day?  I guess not, but if one makes a schedule and then breaks it immediately by stalling and not following the schedule, does that constitute "wrongness".

Volumes could be written about that, so let's just move on.

By my sloppy calculations we've only had between 12-18 hours of total sunlight since before Thanksgiving.  That's about 40 days....  That's a lot of dreary weather.  I'm taking Vit D and have considered upping the dose.  So the other day (Sunday to be exact) I looked out the window and saw even drearier, foggier, cloudier and depressing-er (I know that's not a word, but it fit well with the sentence) conditions than previously.  I sighed and went about the business of getting ready for church. Then the lightbulb went on and I realized I should get some photos of it.

With very little time left, I stepped outside my door and made a few images.  I'm glad I did, I got a few keepers, even if they're just for the record.

Then yesterday, while I was in the midst of about 4 chores I decided to make myself a bagel with cream cheese and then I got the urge to photograph food.  It's ridiculous, I'm really bad not very good at it, mostly because I don't cook anything exotic enough to make a good image, but there's just something in me that wants to pursue food photography.

So I decided to photograph the bagel.  I dropped all the other half-finished chores I was working on, set up the table, ironed the placemat, made a cup of coffee, grabbed the tripod, camera, reflectors, toasted the bagel and attempted to Work-The-Subject.

The bagel and coffee tasted better than the picture turned out.  I once read the book "Art & Fear" that stated many times over that an artist's good work is born out of the artist's bad work.  I often feel like I should be creating some R.E.A.L.L.Y. good work pretty soon considering how much bad work I've done in my photographic career, hahaha

I guess I should cut myself some slack though.  If I had taken this picture 15 years ago it would have been truly pathetic.  Anyway, I will persevere!~!

Cranberry Cream-cheesy Bars 

(otherwise known at Starbuck's as Cranberry Bliss Bars)

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I have been waiting FOR.    EV.    ER.   to make these things.  Well, maybe not that long, but definitely for a long time.  I discovered them about 5 years ago when I first began frequenting Starbuck's on a fairly regular basis, especially when in Hawaii where there's a Starbuck's on every other corner.  They only sell them during the winter a little before and a little after Christmas.

They are Amazing!!!  Like, over-the-top it's a good thing these are so expensive or I'd buy and eat many more amazing.

Then a friend of mind, actually a friend of my daughter's who used to come to the house when they were in high school, began posting that she was making and selling these scrumptious bars along with other goodies, as a fund raiser for their adoption efforts.  

Of course I purchased some and oh, my goodness, fell in love with them again.  I'm not sure it's the exact recipe that Starbuck's uses, but it's close enough to call it a SCORE!!!

Over the years I've thought of contacting the girl to see if she'd be willing to share the recipe and finally put feet on my dreams this year.  Last night I made them.  Now....I don't usually cook, bake or do anything else constructive/productive at night because, well, I'm a morning person as I mentioned in a recent post, and once noon comes & goes I'm pretty much off the clock.

But I really wanted to try these bars.  Really wanted to as in "I'm going to make them now even though it's 7 pm and I'd rather be sitting on the couch editing photos".

And really....they are as scrumptious as I thought they'd be.  So now the struggle begins:  do I eat one every time I get the notion?  do I eat just half at a time?  do I resist 3 out of 4 times?  or do I just eat them and not make them again for a long time?

Well, the verdict is out on that.  I'll get back to you about it sometime, or maybe not.