Happy Valentine's Day & Some Random Things

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! 

Our little Valentines from Last Year

Before I go off to celebrate Valentine's day with my family, I wanted to share a few things.

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I've really enjoyed blogging in the past few months. I am grateful for all the comments you have left here (thank you!) and for the new friendships I started to establish. But I also have to admit that it's been challenging to post on a regular basis while I try maintain my life with two little kids. It seems the harder I try, the more things get in my way. Trying to accomplish something while surviving motherhood is more challenging than I expected. The lack of time is what I struggle with, both during the day and at night. 

That being said, I'm not giving up on this blog. This is my creative outlet, and I am following through with what I decided to do. When I came to this country twelve years ago, the only way I could pursue my Bachelor's and Master's degree was through my determination. I was determined not to give up. 

I am now determined to continue this blog. So, here is the plan. I want to write three posts a week, ideally Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But some weeks, the best I can do may be two posts per week. I want to give myself and this blog a year to see where it takes me. 

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This is what I did yesterday while the kids munched on their afternoon snack.

I used a 14" x 17" heavy weight paper for pen and ink drawing, and did a wash using a tea and coffee mixture. I have stained paper with coffee before and this time I wanted to try it with tea, which ended up being too weak for a wash. So, I added instant coffee granules to the still warm tea water. 

While the paper was still damp, I applied a light wash of red paint (I used Cotman's cadmium red watercolour paint) and then splattered the same paint with a brush. I did like the splattered effect, so I repeated the same technique using the ultramarine blue. It only took me about 10 minutes to do the whole thing, and I like the way it turned out. 

I think I'm going add either a pencil or pen drawing to this. What do you think? 

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Last of all, I baked this dessert this morning, and it was divine. (note: I like my dessert tart and not too sweet.)

This is Martha Stewart's recipe, called Cranberry Clafouti. You can find the recipe, here. The only thing I added to the original recipe was some maple syrup to the whipping cream. This is a trick I learned from a maple syrup baking class I took a while back. Adding a spoonful or two of maple syrup (I used Grade B, dark maple syrup for this) to heavy cream gives the cream richer flavor than just using granulated sugar. The sweetness in the cream will also counter balance the tartness of this dessert. 

My plan was to celebrate Valentine's Day as a family with this red cranberry treat. But I just peeked into the kitchen and the half of the dessert was already gone! I might have to bake something else. 

Steve and I are not going out tonight. We will try to have a date night at home after the boys go to sleep though, only if we don't fall asleep with them. Wish us luck.

Wishing you a Valentine's Day full of hugs and kisses!