Good Heart and Then Some

Today I am very proud of my son, Jaden.

I had one of those moments you always hope will come this morning when a friend of ours, Claire Taylor walked up to my car as I was dropping the kids off at school, and told me how proud she is of Jaden. Apparently her daughter told her that one day several boys were picking on another boy at school, and my son walked up, took this boy by the arm and said "come on". He walked the boy away from the bullies, and made him feel better. I don't know all of the details, but I know that I am so proud of my son. This isn't the first time something like this has happened either, Jaden has a kind heart and really cares about the people around him. I love this kid! I don't think words can begin to describe the depth of love this proud father has for his 9 year old son!

The Irish in Me

This is by far the very best stew recipe you have ever tasted, I promise, or your money back! (well, since you didn't pay anything you won't see a dime, but I promise this is not a case of "you get what you pay for", this stew is DANG good).

Our family tradition for St Patricks day is to make this stew and watch Darby O' Gill and the little people as a family. Good times, except of course for this last year when I was in China for St Patricks day, the tradition was broken, but it is tradition (break into Fiddler On The Roof ballad).

Anyway, here it is, it is not an easy recipe, it takes time and patience to get it started, but once started it cooks itself in a crock pot, and I promise it is sooooo worth every up-front minute.

Irish Beef Stew

2 lbs lean beef stew meat

1/3 c. flour

Black Pepper to taste

3 medium onions chopped into bite size pieces

4 cloves garlic cut into slices

6 oz tomato paste

1 can Irish Stout beer (Guinness beer, can be purchased at Walmart (DO NOT omit the beer, it is one of the most important ingredients, I promise this recipe will be only a shadow of what it can be if you leave it out, and make sure you use the beer I tell you to, this is an Irish stew after all, for those of you worried about the alchohol, it cooks for 8 hours, which is plenty of time for the alchohol to be neutralized and cooked out, I know, I researched it)

1 c. beef stock

2 c chopped carrots (I just used a few handfuls of the baby carrots you buy in bags in the produce section, much easier, and this is already a lot of work, plus they look so perfect, do your really want to sand the ends to get them nice and rounded like the baby carrots you buy already are?)

½ tsp thyme

1 pinch cayenne pepper

4 diced potatoes

½ chopped green pepper (bite size pieces)

3 bay leaves

¼ c. brown sugar

1 tbsp worschestershire sauce

6 slices bacon (you can cheat and use some more for good measure, I usually do, after all who doesn't like extra bacon?)

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

Pre-heat your crock pot. Coat beef in 1/3 c. flour, cook bacon slices in a pan with butter and olive oil (I know you are thinking, "add fat to already fatty meat?" but trust me, do what it says!, crumble and set aside. Saute floured beef in bacon drippings, adding chopped onion for the last 3 minutes. Add Bacon pieces to the beef/onion mixture and place in the bottom of crock pot.

Deglaze the pan you just cooked the meat in with 1 can Irish Guinness beer, 1 cup beef stock, and worchestershire sauce. (for those of you wondering, I had to look up the definition of "Deglaze" the first time I made this, if you are still wondering, I'm gonna make you do the same :) Pour broth to the meat in the crock pot.

Layer the potatoes, carrots and peppers on top of the meat and broth, then add all the rest of the ingredients and let cook on high in crock pot for 6 hours, or on low for 8 hours. Stir occasionally after about 4 hours.

Serve with warm bread, while watching Disney’s “Darby O’ Gill and the Little People” with your family.

ENJOY! (you are welcome in advance, after all, I only post my best recipes :)

Dragon Spunk

During my first visit to China I had a friend on Facebook mention that she saw a painting of a Chinese Dragon in my future. I thought it was a good idea so here is my version of a Chinese Dragon. I chose a pic I had taken while visiting one of the Buddist temples, and used it as inspiration for my own Chinese Dragon.

Originally I was going to really "Jeff" it up with lots of filigree and ornamentation, but when I had the dragon itself painted, and it was time to add the filigree, I decided there is beauty in letting this painting just be itself. I did curl the whiskers, so that will have to be enough "Jeff" for this painting. Sometimes too much is too much and simple is better.

This is the pic I used as inspiration, the painting is done with Acrylic paint, chosen because I didn't want to worry about whether oil paint was dry enough to pack into my suitcase.

Snickerdoodle Heaven

I have had a few requests for my snickerdoodle recipe, which by the way is not my snickerdoodle recipe, my wife, Sara tells me it is actually the Farley's recipe. (I actually have a really great Lemon Snickerdoodle recipe I have made by altering this recipe, it is really good, but that is not the recipe I was asked for so here is the normal Snickerdoodle recipe) According to Sara when she lived with the Farleys, Chad Farley used to love snickerdoodles and this is the recipe he would make, so now credit is given where credit is due.

This is a great basic snickerdoodle recipe for anyone who loves a great snickerdoodle:

1 c shortening (vegetable)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 c sifted flour

Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs together. Add dry ingredients, and mix well.

Chill dough and roll into balls the size of a small walnut (I personally like much larger snickerdoodles, so I make bigger balls, like the size of golf balls). Roll in a mixture of 2 Tbsp Sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon.

Bake 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, should be barely golden brown around edges, do not overcook, or they will be to crispy, the secret of a good snickerdoodle is getting the baking time right so they stay soft, crunchy snickerdoodles are just not right.

There you have it, enjoy!

Jeff (the rocketman) Goodsell

Death, Dumbledoore, and the Stage of Life

I just got back from taking Sara to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, excellent movie by the way, very well done, acting on the main character's parts leaves a little to be desired, but excellent performances by the others, perfect Horace Slughorn, the cinematography is beautiful, more than just great angles, the color and lighting is eye candy I love being an artist and looking at things from a very visual perspective. But that is not why I am writing, I had a though as I watched Dumbledoore die, and I wanted to type it out.

As we go through life there are a great many people who come in and out of our own life. I suppose our lives are each like a stage, we are always on our own stage, and other people drift on and off at various intervals, some leave and come back making many appearances. Each person who enters our stage, no matter how briefly, influences us in some small or large way, for good or bad, and we are the sum of our life experiences (what is played out on our stage) and the relationships with the actors on our stage. We sometimes we can choose who is on the stage, and other times we are forced into relationships with people, good or bad, but no matter the situation, we can choose whether to let that influence become a part of who we are, or to discard it, ultimately we are the masters of who we become.

I watched Dumbledoore hit with the killing curse by Snape, then fall off the tower to the courtyard below, and the thought occurred to me that Dumbledoore was now taking a permanent step off of the stage of Harry Potter. Then a step further, his own stage had just closed curtains, at least on this mortal existence. I realized that in my own life, my time on this earth is finite, I only have so many years to live, and so does everyone else, whether our lives rub against one anothers or not we all get on this earth and step off, and while I can have some influence in someone's life, for good or bad, I am ultimately only have control of my own life and the choices I make. My children, my wife, my mom, dad, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, work associates, all have their own lives to live. The best I can do is to make sure that mine is a positive influence for whatever duration I am on their stages performing.

I can control the part I play on their stage, but I cannot control what they do with it.

We are each the sum of all of the parts being acted out on our own stages, let's make the most of each and every day, and work hard to act the good part.

Jeff

Taliman Bread

So, I found 5 rather pathetic, quite black looking bananas siting on my counter, perhaps they weren't really noticed because my counters are dark granite, and the bananas blended in, but whatever the case I found 5 very forlorn, forgotten rather over-ripe bananas.

Party Time! around here we get excited when we have old bananas because that means Taliman Bread Time! We have the greatest Banana bread recipe, it is perfectly moist, mouthwatering, and smells so good you can taste it while it is baking.

We have a great little 5 year old Son named Talon, who we nicknamed "Taliman" thanx to us having a luau party for our oldest daughter's 8th birthday/baptism party, at the time Talon was about 3 months old, and we made a luau sound track for the party which included Harry Belefonte's "Banana Boat Song". The "come Mr. Taliman, tali me bananas" caused us to start calling Talon "Taliman" and it has stuck every since. Even Talon's little brother Tristan knows him as "Taliman".

So, of course when we found the most amazing banana bread in the world (thanx to Sara finding it) we adjusted it slightly and named it "Taliman Bread".

This bread is so scintillating, you won't be able to resist and will be eagerly awaiting it's debut from the oven as it's aroma fills your house, believe me, this bread is not just a great banana bread, it is an experience. We made it last night and Talon aka: "Taliman" was jumping up and down in eager anticipation of having the bread for breakfast this morning.

So, here is the recipe:

Taliman Bread

1 1/4 c margarine

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp coconut extract (optional, but really yummy, use in addition to the vanilla)

1 cup crushed pineapple

2 c mashed ripe bananas

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

In a large bowl cream margarine and sugar, add bananas, vanilla, coconut extract, crushed pineapple, and eggs and mix. Next add the cinnamon, salt, and baking soda, mix. After that is well mixed, add the flour and mix thoroughly. Lastly, add the chocolate chips. Turn the batter into 2 greased (I use Pam, first because it works really well, second because it is easier than using Crisco, and third because I think of my Aunt Pam who I love dearly every time I use it) bread pans (8" x 4" x 2"). Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes (use the clean toothpick test to tell when they are ready, the toothpick won't come out completely clean tho, because even fully cooked this bread is very moist and full of yummy chocolate chips, so just go with mostly clean). Cool 10 minutes and turn out onto wire racks for slicing.

This bread is really good hot with melted butter, or cool with white vanilla frosting. Yum! so good!

Believe me, you are most welcome.

Jeff

Elephant Painting

I just started this new painting to enter into the Spring Salon here in Utah. It is a continuation of the "Journey" series, and has some cool twists which are not yet represented in this underpainting. 

And yes the elephant's legs are really long, that is on purpose. I love the elephants in Salvador Dali's elephant paintings which have really long legs (much longer than these) but I didn't want to exaggerate it as much for this painting because I am trying to teach a point with the imagery. I won't go into it here, you will just have to watch as it develops.

Imagination's Pathway

Ok, so I woke up at 3:00 in the morning last Sunday and couldn't sleep so I decided to come down to my studio and paint.

I had seen a landscape painting while browsing through online artist portfolios, and decided I would like to create a similar painting just to learn the use of color. The painting was quite loose and as I am on an "experiment with loose painting kick" I decided to try it, adding of course my own touches. I had this odd shaped strip of hardboard so I adapted the portion of the painting I most liked to fit the board.

I think the painting turned out rather successfully and it was a great learning experience as I copied the painting, putting together colors I normally would not have. I am learning that in order to make color vibrate and "sing" on canvas it is important to add color you normally wouldn't think to ad. Certain colors "vibrate" when placed next to each other, and this can create the effect of life and depth in a painting when simply using a color and it's tint and shade makes a painting look dull and lifeless.

Death Knight

I'm almost finished with my "Death Knight" painting. It sort of matches the other painting I (last post). I not sure what to think of this one, but it was fun to paint, I am learning to paint quickly, yet in some areas the paint looks really good, in others it just looks slopped on.

I did this painting of a scene from the Linkin Park video "Numb", I was trying to do a very quick painting going for recognition and emotion.

I guess the gist of this is that I am honing my painting skills and searching for a style I love and can call my own.

Dead End Princess?

I have finally finished this painting, it is a little odd, and I am not sure exactly why I painted it, but here are a few of the thoughts that went into it:

1. I wanted to paint something quickly, I get bogged down and creative energy doesn't flow when it takes too much time to paint something.

2. I wanted to do another "journey" piece based on the idea that on life's journey, sometimes God closes doors, but he always opens windows.

3. I wanted to paint a dead girl. However, my love of the macabre never goes farther than the "fun" level, I wouldn't paint an actual corpse, or something that would be considered "evil" it just isn't in my nature. I love Tim Burton's approach to death, he just adds that element of "fun" to it.

4. I wanted to paint more loosely, anyone who has followed my style up till know knows that I paint rather tightly. Yet I find that the paintings I really love are mostly rather loose, allowing the brush strokes and placement of paint colors that "vibrate" next to each other to really make the painting come to life.

5. I don't really like cats, especially the ones that are pooping in my kid's sandbox all the time now.

So while I find myself constantly wanting to be a fine artist, I think I am more naturally prone to illustration. I am interested to see where this direction takes me.

I have included the beginning of my next painting. I decided I wanted to paint a more masculine painting this time, yet have it continue the series, so I have drawn this knight, dead again of course. I love knights, and suits of armor, and swords. I also wanted the door to be larger and more imposing, it is closed to him, and he will now need to set out and find a new door or window, kind of like me right now, being forced to reinvent myself, hence the push to really paint and produce artwork, I have a goal to be a successful artist, and that means I have to get going on reaching that goal now.

I love harlequin, and usually carefully measure it out when I use it, but since I am on a "loose" kick I thought it would be fun to paint it on by hand letting it be very loose.

This is the sketch of my Knight