Hello dear Reader. I had a bee in my bonnet, more than once, to bake a Babka. Today was the day I made it happen. None of my cookbooks had a recipe for one, which surprised me. This is the recipe I used. It came out beautifully. The crumb and texture is similar to a Panettone. So far I'm not seeing much swirl in the filling. I had a slice for dinner and one piece feels like a meal! I hope it keeps well. It should with all the butter in it. We shall see!

The dough came together very nicely. You can see the yellow hue from the 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk. I used fresh eggs from a co-worker's chickens. The yolks are bright orange!

I didn't use the 1 1/2 pounds of chocolate that the recipe calls for. 

Hello dear Reader. Today the Mr. and I went to Mystic Seaport to view Nikki McClure's Life in Balance. It is a wonderful exposition of her paper cuttings. I knew nothing about this show, and she is one of my favorite paper artists! I found out about it at work. One of the librarians was admiring my Catastrology calendar. I said I'd be happy to give her one. In return she generously gifted me with two passes to the Seaport. She also told me about Nikki's show! Nikki also did a mural in a brand new building at the Seaport. "McClure, who is based in Olympia, Washington, was commissioned to create the mural in the Pilalas Family Reception Lobby of the Thompson building. Titled “Away”, the 59-foot-long work is a papercut scanned, enlarged, and printed onto wallpaper. It is the largest single piece McClure has ever created, and it will be part of the exhibit." If you have the chance, go see her work. Her themes are of nature and the beautiful world around her. She also features her family in many of her illustrations. I really enjoyed seeing her process. There are large cases that show the stages in making her art and include her photo references and sketches. 

Hello dear Reader. It's been too long. February is just flying by. We've had snow and this weekend you'd think winter was over and done. Here are some highlights of the past weeks: heart filled oven mitts for V-day courtesy of Walmart, an exhausted Bubbe, after spending Sunday with my Sis and nieces, it's hard to be so adored, a V-day gift for Shari, featuring her cute kitties, getting crafty with my sis and our girls and my fishermen with fillets from 6 fresh caught Cod fish.

Hello dear Reader. Yes we are in for a big storm tomorrow. Andrew's school already threw in the towel. We got the call before dinner! URI is closed as well. Meanwhile, word on the street is the library rarely closes. I'm curious to see if we get as much snow as predicted. In the meantime, I've been baking. What else? Actually I finished my first paper cutting for 2017. I'm very happy with it and need to photograph it in better lighting. I was crafting with Elaine on Super Bowl Sunday. We made shrinky dink bracelets, always fun! So the cake, if you are curious is an apple walnut bundt. I think the flavors might develop over time. It's a little subtle right now, aka bland. The cookies are from 'Sallie's Baking Addiction' cookbook. A very rich and delicious chocolate chip with Valentine m&m's. She has you chill the dough for at least 2 hours, for the flavors to meld. They do taste almost butterscotch-y. This Bubbe of ours, oy vey. As soon as I have the camera aimed at something, he has to come and investigate. Tonight Marc went to Trader Joe's on his way home. Mr. Bubbe is over the moon with playing with his new toys; an empty bag and grass fronds. His pleasures are simple.