" I'll have my eggs poached for breakfast, I guess. . . "

How to Make A Poached Egg!
In color.....

Bring a small pot of water to a simmer, and add a teaspoon of vinegar to the simmering water.

Crack a egg into a small bowl, and gently slide it into the pot.

Let it boil for two or three minutes.

It will look like an amoeba.

When its shape has somewhat solidified, remove it from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and check to see if the yolk has set....

 And the egg whites are no longer runny. If it doesn't look done, put it back in the water for another minute. When it has reached your expectations, remove it from the water with your spoon and drain well. You don't want it to make your toast soggy!



It makes a good breakfast with toast, but it also makes a tasty Egg McMuffin.
If you feel very hoity-toity, put on toast, layer with arugula, Canadian bacon, and Hollandaise sauce for a lovely English brunch.

                                                                            Meow,
                                                                                          The Artful Cat
                                                                        

This little fox has quite a story!

    "What are you looking at..."

It's funny, life is.
Sometimes we decide to be the creators.
Sometimes we are created.

Yesterday, I decided to make a cat out of clay. I sat down in a chair and started to sculpt a head.

Nothing came out right.

The head looked like a football, the few legs I made looked like sticks.(Don't even think about asking about the ears!) I started to make a cat lying down, but to no avail.
I tried for half an hour.
Finally, I gave up and scrunched my few creations into my lump of clay, and dejectedly began to twist it around, pulling lumps and twisting them.

'Funny, it's starting to look like something...'
Suddenly, my small ball of air-dry clay began to have personality!
I closed my eyes and smoothed down the cracks in the drying mass. I pulled out triangles and smoothed a snout. I expected the clay to just disappoint me again.
Then I opened my eyes.
A fox.

And so little Sparks was born.
                                                                       *******

                                                                  The(real)Artful Cat

A delicious treat!

Today, my family and I made a delicious treat; Olive oil dip with bread and Dukkah!

Materials: One small bowl
One spoon
One sharp knife(which may require adult help....)
One scissors(optional)
One plate(optional)
One cutting board

Ingredients: One sprig of rosemary, thyme, and a little bit of parsley(preferably from your garden or pots, if you have any)
A loaf fresh Italian bread
Red pepper flakes(optional, but strongly suggested! ^.^)
Dukkah*(at your friendly neighborhood Trader Joes, also optional but YOU REALLY NEED IT)
Olive oil, Garlic or Regular
Some butter(optional, not recommended)

Step 1-
Fill your bowl half way with the olive oil.
Step 2-
Lay your delicate herb leaves gently in the bowl, cut from your garden or pots with your scissors or from the store. (For best flavor use home-grown leaves. You can buy a small container with all three of these plants in it for very cheap at some plant stores)
Step 3-
OPTIONAL STEP: Lightly sprinkle your red pepper flakes over the bowl. Lightly, mind!
Step 4-
OPTIONAL STEP: Take out your blend of nuts and spices or Dukkah, and pour a small(but not too small)amount on the plate.
Step 5-
Politely ask an older brother or sister to please slice your bread for you(a bribe often works), or if you can, slice it yourself or ask a grown-up.
Step 6-
Put your now-sliced pieces of bread next to your Dukkah(or if you didn't use it your pats of butter)
Step 7-
Dip the bread in the olive oil,(and then the Dukkah OPTIONAL)and sit back and enjoy!

 (What ours looked like. <----)

 

*Dukkah is a delicious and salty blend of crushed almonds, caraway seeds, and other spices found at your neighborhood Trader Joes. But if you don't have one handy, you can find this delicious accompaniment to my dip at this link. 

Enjoy!

 

The Artful Cat

A few weeks ago, my sister baked a marvelous(and extremely delicious)looking apple pie.

I would enclose the recipe, but she refuses to talk.

We also came up with a different kind of creation.....Mittens the Modern art sculpture. 



 I just got a new set of building blocks called ArchiQuest Classical and European. Here's what my siblings and I built!

The Arch of Constantine

                                                   

St. Marks Cathedral

Big Ben

Crafty, are we?

                                                                The Artful Cat
                                                                Craft Spotlight

Today's craft is an origami fortune teller!
The fortune teller is a small device made of paper, that you can use to tell your friend's and family's fortunes.Let's get started!

Materials: A square piece of paper.*

Step 1-
Lay your paper on a flat surface, as shown, and fold like so.

Step 2-
If you want to, decorate one side of the paper.

Step 3-
Fold the paper in half towards the decorated side(if there is one), to form a rectangle.

Step 4-
Now fold rectangle in half and unfold, or do the following, ending up with the picture below.
THE FOLLOWING: Unfold the rectangle, turn it, and fold it in half at a right angle from the previous fold, but towards the same side of the paper, (the decorated one). Unfold it. Now you have the square with one horizontal and one vertical crease down the center.











Step 5-
See the spot in the center on the previous picture? That's the center. Take the corners of the paper and fold them so each point touches the center, like the picture next to this paragraph: <----

Step 6-
Almost done! Turn the paper over and repeat Step 5. Your paper will look like this:









Step 7-
You ended up with a thick little square. Fold the whole thing in half, then unfold.

   

Step 8-

Your paper now looks like this. See the little pockets? Put your two index fingers in the top pockets then place your thumbs in the bottom to manipulate your fortune teller.

   

You are now done! You can find instructions how to use your new toy on Google or in an origami book.

*Most of the time, you've most likely noticed ordinary paper is rectangle-shaped. Here is a trick I've learned to make rectangle paper into a square.

1. Lay out your paper vertically as shown.

2. Fold one corner of the paper till it meets the opposite edge, forming a triangle. Make sure they are

even.

3. Tear or cut the extra paper at the bottom. 

4. Done!

(pictures from Wikihow.com)

Hope you have enjoyed this craft!

The Artful Cat

This is my drawing of a sleeping tabby cat. Hope you like! :)

And now, the moment you've been waiting for.....

HOW TO MAKE A PAPER HAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First, materials: One piece of ordinary paper*

Step 1-
Place piece of paper on a flat surface, such as a table or book, tall side up.

Step 2-
Fold like so.

Step 3-
Fold like so again.

Step 4-
Now, take the bottoms of the paper and fold them up like in the picture.

Step 5-
Your hat is done! Secure the sides with scotch tape, and you have totally completed it.

*Unless you have a doll-sized head, just one piece of ordinary paper is not going to work. For my hat, I used 4 pieces, taped together, and it fit me perfectly, but some people may have to use 6 or even 8 pieces. A page of newspaper works best.


(Pictures from Buzzle.com)

The Artful Cat

 
 
 

This is my Tuxedo Cat, Mittens. He is "posing" for a photo.
He is about 3 years old and he likes birds and catnip.
He also likes to sleep in the sun, climb trees, and watch me catch bugs in my butterfly net.
One of his favorite pastimes is eating.
But he loves me and his family very much.

The Artful Cat

Dear viewers,

This blog is dedicated to all of you who, like me, love or like cats and are very crafty and artful. It's fine if you don't like cats, though.

This blog will be filled with information, tips, and those things that you've always wanted to know how to do like make a paper hat or a fortune teller. Tips about your pet cat and how to treat him or her, and various other things! So look it over and have fun! Hope you like it!

The Artful Cat