Tahini Date Coffee Cups

Hi guys, sorry, I meant to post this last week but things got away from me.

You have to try these, they are so tasty and different than any other dessert.

I made them a couple weeks back and now we keep a ready supply in the freezer

because they are the perfect little healthy treat when our sweet tooth scream for something.

"Tahini Date Coffee Cups"

Coating:

·  1/2 cup tahini

·  1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

Filling:

·    1 cup of dates (make sure you get the pitted kind)

·   2 teaspoons coconut oil

·   1 teaspoon vanilla

·  1/2 teaspoon sea salt

·   1 cup of water (to soak the dates in)

·   3-4 tsp of instant coffee

Instructions:

1. Put the dates in the water and soak for atleast 2 hours or until soft enough for you to mash.

                     2. Line 20 to 22 mini muffin cups with paper liners.

                     3. In a medium bowl, beat together the tahini and coconut oil until smooth. Line the cups with a little under half of the mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes until set.

                     4. Make the filling by mashing up the dates using as much of the water as you need from the prune soaking, I just use a fork, it takes some arm power but it won't take too long.  Than add the coconut oil & tahini mix, the vanilla, the salt and the instant coffee and mix until you have a smooth, thick paste.

                   5.. Remove the cups from the refrigerator. Evenly drop about a teaspoon of the filling into each cup, let it pool in the middle, do not spread out.  Than fill the cups with the remaining of the tahini mixture until each cup is. 

6. Chill in the refrigerator again until set and then gobble up and enjoy.

(These need to be kept in the freezer afterward or in the fridge otherwise they will melt).

Teela's Portrait

I did a portrait in Polychromos of one of my soulmates, my beloved departed Teela.
It took me awhile as I just kept getting so emotional whenever I worked on it,
her getting so sick so suddenly, us doing everything we could but not being able to save her,
never really knowing what happened to her because I just couldn't agree to an autopsy,
her dying at such a young age, her leaving her bonded mate Yuuji behind...

hers is a loss that I carry with me every day that's all I can say.
But that's all sad stuff...this picture is about her beautiful amazing spirit.
She was just pure sunshine to me...in fact I sang her that song every day at bedtime!
I knew upon minutes after adopting her that loosing her would be impossible for me, I just knew.
She was our very first shelter adoption &
she helped pave the road for so many others to come after her.
She was magic.  She was my best friend.  She was my baby girl.  She was my heart.
This ones's for her.
  I might release limited edition prints but I am not sure yet, I'll let you know.

Before The Snowpocalypse

These are from the beginning of winter...

Now we are quite buried in an a mountain of snow that is quite unbelievable!

Pretty Lady

This is one of my newest mixed media ladies and I have to say I am loving her.

I don't know where she's going quite yet, I started her without a concept but I'll get there.

Happy 1st Year Homecoming Higgy

Last week, February 11th.  marked the day one year ago

that we adopted our Higgins

otherwise known as Higgy-Buttons

(or at the shelter as Buttons).

The Toronto Humane Society reached out to us asking if we were able to take him

and at first we said no, we were full up at the moment but I asked about his story anyhow...

I firmly believe that every single animal has a story and that it's important to tell & hear those stories.

Apparently he was a surrendered as a stray, but the shelter questioned that & wondered if he was just a bunny bought as an Easter gift that the people ended up not being able to handle.

He was somehow also missing a part of his cute little button nose.

He hated the shelter and everyone in it...

he was there awhile and the shelter was out of options for him in regards to foster families to give him a shelter break etc and they were worried he was going to be there for a really long time.

Because of his behavioral issues, they were not able to adopt him out to a family that had children because in that case he very most likely would have been returned or possibly worse.

He was ferociously territorial over his shelter pen, he was biting all of the volunteers

and even some of the potential adopters who stuck their fingers in his area

(that's on the people not him however in my opinion!).

Every time this little guy bite someone,

it had to be reported & a city official had to go all the way to the shelter to put a 'bite quaratine'

on the animal, which meant a big orange sticker was placed on their pen doors

and for 5 days straight no one was allowed to go near him...

(He was not potty trained either & made big messes in his pen)..

Higgins was put on FIVE bite quarantines!!!

We ended up calling him 'The Terror Of The THS"!

BUT thankfully someone there at the shelter believed in Higgins

& saw he had a sweetness under those teeth

and he reached out far and wide when their usual crew in/close to the city wasn't able to take him on

and that's when we were contacted.

The shelter knows we have a lot of experience with behavioral issue bunnies...

After I heard Higgins story, I asked to see his little face...and once I saw the pictures I knew in my heart, looking at his sweet little face that he was meant to join our motley damaged crew.

I talked to my honey, we looked around the house, considering his sex and age etc to see

where and how we could indeed fit him in comfortably with agreement that he had to spend

so many hours upstairs every day and once we had that figured out we said 'Well adopt him".

A week later, with arrangements made, we made the 8+ hour drive to go get our little guy.

Nowadays he's doing soooo much better.

He's sectioned off in his own big area in Misa's big room

and after a year they have finally started to bond and

now almost every night they spend 3-4 hours together.

It's going to be awhile before Misa allows him to be in her set of rooms but we think it'll happen

and than we'll be able to happily converge his area with hers but already they play outside together

and cuddle and play during their time upstairs and it's so so amazing to witness and watch.

I managed to get him potty-trained in less than two weeks too.

I just realized that he wanted to pee on blankets, not on hay or litter,

so I spread hand towels where he was peeing the most and every day moved them a bit closer to potty, than I started putting the hand towels into the potty letting him pee on them in there,

than I slowly started adding just a bit of hay and wood pellets at a time and

eventually I started pulling the towels out and voila he was trained to use the potty...

I admit I was pretty proud of him and myself for getting that done ha ha

because one of this things we were dreading, even in a way more than the biting teeth!

was the mess in a room that we and Misa usually keep very very clean

(but we weren't about to not bring a needy little soul into our home just because he was messy).

We are so so so glad that we took the plunge

& trusted that we could handle him & make him feel loved.
I'll never forget it, when we were leaving the shelter with him,
it spread quickly that it was Buttons who was being adopted
and suddnely a big wave of cheering & applause broke out, everyone was so happy for him, ha ha.

He can still be a little bit naughty when we are in his area cleaning

but you can tell as soon as he nips, he knows he's done a mean thing,

and he doesn't nip as hard as when he first came & even then he wasn't too too bad to handle.

Out of his area, he's a golden nugget, he never bites out of his area

and he loves to be picked up during the day for cuddles,

he closes his eyes and leans into my body, and it's than, every time

I see that comfy dreamy look in his blue eyes and feel the pressure of his precious body

press against mine that I am flooded with pride at how far he's come...

and at us for this life we live with these amazing precious strong animals.

So yes, that was a long story! ha ha,

a very very Happy 1st year homecoming to our Higgins...

we love you baby XO.

Rainbow Rabbit Coming Along

I roughed in where I want the main rainbow colours...

This is going to be a cool one and perfect for t-shirts and such don't you think?

Whimbley Underway

Hey guys, I started a new little character, his name is Whimbley...he's going to be a pretty cool guy.

He's a stargazer, I know that already, the rest of the story to come sooner than later hopefully!

More Jurrassic Jewels

How amazing are these ammonites....I am so lucky to have a little collection going.

My honey knows me, he knows that I much prefer these kind of Jurrassic jewels to real jewelry!

Ammonites were very prolific back in the age of the dinosaurs,

so they are a pretty abundantly found fossil nowadays.

They went extinct 65 million years ago, with the dinosaurs but some of these may even be older

than that & that's what blows my mind, that I can hold something in my hand that is that old, wow!

Not Just A Tooth

Check out this tooth! but it's not just any tooth, it's a Jurrassic Tooth!
OMG!!!
My sweet sweet man actually got me a dinosaur tooth this past Christmas
HOOOOLLLLLYYYYY SSSMOOOKKKKEEESSS!
I am so so amazed by dinosaurs, the completely different world they lived in,
in a time so inconceivably long ago, on this same precious earth that we are now living, wowza!

This tooth is from a Mosasauras.
He would have lived in the water and would have been about 50 feet long and 28,000 pounds!
Mosasauras's lived from 175 to 65 million years again,
how crazy is it that I can hold a piece of that history and world in my very hands.
It's like holding a star, it's unbelievable to me, it makes me feel very very small
and it reminds me of how very very precious life is because it can be over in the blink of an eye.

Henrie's Line Portrait

Back in the summer I started this ink drawing of Henrie and I totally forgot to show you!

I just recently put the finishing touches on it...I'll show you soon.

Don't forget to sign up to Keep In Touch, if your not already, my next issue is going out really soon.

Brrrrr, Cozy & Lucky

Brrrrrrr....it sure is nasty out there today.  We're expecting over a foot of snow

and that's just after a week of very slippery and icy conditions....YUCK.

But it makes the house and home so so much cozier & delightful & embracing, don't you think?

Those of us who are so very lucky enough to be able to get and stay inside that is!

A Lino Of Flynn

When I say the rabbits we adopt and rescue are my main inspirations I really mean it...

There's no mistaking it, our Flynn is the model for one of my newest lino...I hope I do him justice!

Cozy Weekend Wishes

The Buns & I hope you all had a really restful and cozy warm weekend...

We hope that your looking forward to the week & we hope you have time to join us once again XO

Flynn's Carrot Theory

Flynns thinks he has cracked the world's problem to happiness, he thinks it's pretty simple...

A safe warm home where you can be yourself & most importantly of all a giant carrot for everyone!

Cutting Out The Colour

One of my favourite parts of making my images is the part where I releash the image from it's paper suuroundings, it's a delicate somewhat time consuming process sometimes but it's meditative too.

It goes much more smoothly when I work on a thin less textured paper which I tend to use for these butterflies because they are so small.  I always get a few colored & cut out before I get them onto their backgrounds.

Friends Not Food Tee

When I was having a rough patch a few months back a friend gave me this sweet tee and I love it so...

Animals are "Friends Not Food".  Every single time I eat, I choose to honor this very true statement.

Suffering With Sweetness

Leisel, otherwise known as our marshmallow wrapped in a razor blade! seems to be my sentient.

Teela, my beloved departed used to be my ever trusty watcher,

before her it was our lovely Ella-Luna who took on the job

....always seems to be a female bun that's my watcher.

When I am laying in the bed Leisel comes and checks on me almost hourly,

sometimes she waits and watches me from the end of the bed...

If I don't move for awhile she keeps nudging me until I do move and say "I am okay baby".

It's really really very very touching and sweet, especially coming from our broken Leisel,

even when my head is feeling like it's going to split open, the utter sweetness of it isn't lost on me.

On these days another sweet lovely thing are lovely large sweet soy lattes with a big hit of

coconut whipping cream! (I know I know 'the sugar' but my sugar intake is otherwise low).

Sometimes the hit of strong caffeine with a dose of codeine helps me out a bit pain wise so I see it

as medicinal in a way ha ha! But they do truly feel needed, well deserved & certainly appreciated too!

A Gash Ack!

Back in the Fall my sweet man gashed his head open.  He was building me a new studio shelf

and in a battle between a ceiling fan and a forehead, the ceiling fan won! Ugh.

Of course, he's a man, so he was protesting that he didn't need to go to the ER, even though

you could see skull-bone!!  As you can see, I got him to go, he'll have a scar for awhile though.

Rainbow Here We Come

I am super excited about this one...

He's going to be a rainbow of colours.

Big Books Small Bunny

Is it the big bookshelf's and picture books that make our Higgins look extra small...

or is he so small he makes everything else look bigger, ha ha, either way here he is in a favorite spot.