Author #176 : Art and Dinosaurs-looking at them in a new light with the Newbolds

If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur with text by Amy Newbold and art by Greg Newbold.  This husband and wife team also collaborated on If Picasso Painted a Snowman.  Both books take a whimsical look at great artists and imagine the art produced by them.  What if Diego Rivera painted dinosaurs (it would feature lilies) or dinosaurs in tutus ala Edgar Degas.  Not only do the books include little bios of each artist but the dinosaur book also includes the name of dinosaur featured in each piece of art such as Compsognathus in the picture done in the style of Rivera.  Have some reluctant art appreciation in your home?  These books are a cute way to introduce some famous works of art in a humorous way.

A Fortuitous Cookie surprise with a basic sugar cookie dough and gumdrops!

Gumdrop Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened (I used 3/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup butter flavored shortening) (shortening not pictured)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups quartered gumdrops, divided

Preheat oven to 350.  Sift or stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Blend egg and vanilla into creamed mixture.  Add flour mixture just until blended. Dough will be a little on the dry side but should still stay together when squeezed into a ball shape and not start crumbling.  If it starts crumbling then add a little milk.  Stir in 3/4 cup of the quartered gumdrops. 

(Secret step:  Let dough rest in fridge in plastic bag for 2-4 days before baking.   Bring dough back to room temperature before forming into balls.  This lets the gumdrops mellow and soften and the dough puffs up more when baking. This makes them a great refrigerator cookie.) 

Place in 1-inch balls on ungreased cookie sheet and smash each ball down gently with a glass.  Place 1-3 more pieces of gumdrop onto the top of each cookie.   Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly browning on bottom and/or edges.  Cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet to let the cookies set up a bit and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Author #175 : Alexandra Day shares her Good Dog Carl in book form

Alexandra Day has numerous tales of Carl, a very loveable Rottweiler that she has also illustrated.  See her website at: https://www.gooddogcarl.com/

A cake in cookie form: German Chocolate Cake as Cookies

Recipe adapted from Sunny's German Chocolate Cake Cookies from Food Network. 

German Chocolate Cake Cookies  (with some adaptations for high-altitude)

1 cube butter (1/2 cup)
1/3 cup butter flavored shortening (not pictured)
3/4 cup white sugar (granulated)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp. baking soda
 pinch salt ( I omitted the salt since the butter was salted) (not pictured)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Cream together butter, shortening, and sugars. Blend in vanilla and eggs. In a separate container sift together flour, cocoa, soda, and salt (if using).  Blend flour mixture into creamed mixture just until mixed.  Stir in chips, coconut and pecans.  It should be a thick, slightly sticky dough. I formed golf-ball-sized chunks and put 12 per large cookie sheet because they spread as they bake.  Bake for about 8-10 minutes.  I needed the 10 minutes and cooked them until the tops were dry but they still looked underdone.  Let cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet or they'll fall apart when you try to put them on a cooling rack.  These were gooey and rich right out of the oven and soft and chewy a couple of days later but I don't think they'd store well or mail well because they were somewhat crumbly.  The flavor is incredible. 

Sunday Randomness #74: Oh, what can you find inside your library? ( A continuing tale-intermittently posted)

Did they want us to do the pressed-leaves-in-a-book art project? (Sent through the sorter and it actually made it all the way to the end to the exception bin!)

 No case to return the missing disc?  No problem!  Just make a substitute case out of paper to deliver the disc back to the library in the book drop!  (Warning: Please don't try this at home kids-the chances of the disc getting damaged are just too high. Items in the book drop just pile on top of one another and a poor little disc in a paper case could suffer an untimely fate if a heavier book cousin were to land in the bin after.  And usually books brings more books along with them-it's rare that a single book is returned-they like to travel in packs.)

We were honestly happy that they found the book as referenced by their note-we just felt bad that they returned it to the wrong library system-oops!  (We sent it on its way back to the right library.)

Our library AC went out for about a month this summer-there were various attempts at levity. These included our manager buying us popsicles that we could have any time and many, many cartoons involving heat, hot, warmth, sweating, etc...

The after holiday reality check. 

Our banned/challenged book display this year.  I volunteered and made the padlocks, flames, and signs.  After putting on a smattering of books, I requested help and my wonderful co-workers added more book selections, thus keeping the display filled.

Sunday Randomness #338 : Vote! It's not too late!

https://vote.utah.gov/vote/menu/index

Here in Utah you can register online or in person to vote until October 30th! 

And you don't have to know about everything on the ballot.  They will only count the votes you make.  If you leave a section blank they will still count your other votes.  Don't want to vote on any of the propositions?  Leave them blank. Don't want to vote for any of the candidates? Leave them blank.  Only want to vote on the retention of the judges? Only mark the boxes by the judges.  You have many choices-please vote on at least something. 


JUST VOTE!  The more things you vote on, the better, but some voting is better than not voting.

And if you need some furry four-legged motivation:  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dogs-voting-election-day-photos_us_5821fcd9e4b0aac624874b41