Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Monday, December 6, 2010

James, hoisting the angel up onto the tree.



After some tweaking and a few new ornament additions,
the tree is finally up and looking as whimsical as ever.


Handsome, I'd even dare say.


The Running Theme:

Red & gold with green, bronze and champagne accents

.... and a dash of candy cane striping here and there.



What's your theme?



Sunday, December 5, 2010

Letters to Santa: 2010 Edition


 Off to mail our letters!


















Don't it just warm your heart?

It does mine : )

Friday, November 26, 2010

Ready, set, BAKE!


I got my bake on this week.

And mostly achieved sweet success {literally}

Two of the three recipes, of course,
borrowed from the all-too-fabulous Bakerella.

She makes my culinary heart go pitter-patter....


  First challenge: Oreo Truffles

This one I had to try.
It has only three ingredients.
You'd be a fool not to...


Oreos
Cream Cheese
& White Chocolate Bark


'Nuff said.

If you like cheese cake, this is the recipe for you.

I myself, am not so much a fan and don't really fancy white chocolate too much either....


But it's not about me.


It's about your peeps and how your going to wow-the-pants-off-of-them with your clever truffle making abilities.



With that said....


Crush, blend, pulverize the Oreos (delicious cream filling included).

Mix in the cream cheese.

Roll into balls.

Chill balls (ha!) in the fridge or freezer for about a half hour.

Then get your white chocolate dip on.



Apparently, I made a rookie mistake and bought the wrong chocolate?!


Aaactually, what really happened was I went all fancy and bought nice expensive Bernard Callebaut chocolate

.......desiring fancy balls, of course.



But, what you really want is 'dipping' chocolate....



It "dips" better.


Duh.



The chocolate I used was a bit thick and therefor harder to get a good coat.



Where I went right,
was sprinkling the tops of my truffles with crushed candy cane.

Makes for minty-good Oreo awesomeness.



And unfortunately, I have not one photo to share with you.



Fail.


But Bakerella does, here.




Next Up:


Whoopie Pies w/ Salty Peanut Butter Filling
~H-e-a-v-e-n-l-y~


From the book, 'whoopie Pies':


As featured on Bakerella.



For the recipe and instructions, click here.


I did manage to snag a few photos of the beginning process:


Photos courtesy my 'old' camera.


.........But neglected to get photos of the final product.



Sigh.... Fail.



And lastly,

my own recipe.


'Kay, actually it's not my own recipe, per sayyyyy....


I really don't remember who I got it from,

(flashbacks of a cookie swap from, like, 9 years ago I think?!).



But, it is the best Ginger Snap recipe I've ever used.


Always, ALWAYS results in soft, ginger-cookie perfection!



Soft Ginger Snaps

1 cup sugar

1 cup margarine (I use butter)

1 cup molasses

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 Tbsp hot water

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

3 1/2 cups flour


Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, and wet in another.

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.

Refrigerate dough for about an hour.

Roll Tbsp-sized balls.

Roll balls in white sugar.

Leave in ball form when baking (in other words-- don't flatten).



*Bake for 8-10 mins (7 mins was enough in my oven)
at 375 degrees C.



And, once more,

no photos.



F-A-I-L.




Stay tuned, lovely readers,

because there's alot more festive baking where that came from.


I plan to tackle even more festive holiday recipes in the next few weeks:

{Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows)
{Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies}
{Christmas Crunch}
{etc}


 And this time--
there will be pics.


Oh yes, there will be pics....







Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The 'Nice' List



My good behavior must have paid off this year,

'cause Santa paid me an early visit yesterday-- and boy, did he deliver.....





Ladies and Gentlemen--

~Meet the new love in my life~
{next to my dearest husband}


My.New.Camera. so lovingly entitled: Nikon D90!!!


'Ohhh Yeaaa-hh, S-A-S-S-SY!"


Have I mentioned how much I absolutely love and adore my husband,

xo James xo
(Jim Plumb to you)

not just because he blessed me with this electronic thing-of-beauty...

And not just because he has known an understood how badly I've desired a camera like this for sometime now....

But because he's my best friend and he knows me through and through.

Today, I am over the moon :)


Best.Present.Eva.

Ps. I have NOT forgot about the Whoopy Pies....
I'm just too obsessed with my new toy today to get to it :)


Friday, November 12, 2010

'Whole' Heartedly

Guess what guys...

You're never going to believe this.

Or maybe you will.

Maybe you knew this all along and were just holding out on me....

No matter.

The secrets out.



Rhymes with 'Sulk Yarn'....



Guesses anyone?



You got it.




~BULK BARN~


OOooOOHhhhYEeeAaah!!



And guess who found 'Whole' Allspice there?!!
*Referencing from a previous post wherein I discreetly question the existence of 'whole' allspice.....as in, ball form, and not a powder...  Like it's mythological or something.


You betcha--


{This girl}


It's a dang ol' Christmas miracle.

Monday, November 8, 2010

If Celebrating Christmas This Early Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right

The verdict is in:



Purchasing a new holiday cd- Guilty.



Listening to that new holiday cd- Mildly guilty.

The kids and I only listened to it in the truck.
Just for a little bit.
Just to make sure it was good.....







Stocking up on assorted Hershey's Chipits (semi-sweet, mini Kisses, mint chocolate, peanut butter & Skor toffee bits) for Christmas baking....

Totally Guilty.

Ask yourself: Can you really be guilty of being too prepared?!





Going to the book store to buy a new novel and instead walking out with Betty Crocker's 'Christmas Cookbook'- Innocent Bystander.

I was not planning on this.






Enjoying a Second Cup  Eggnog Latte- Guilty.
(FYI- James was an accomplice......)






Aquiring the new holiday hand soaps from Bath & Body Works- Super Guilty.

Shamelessly bought those over two weeks ago....





Eye-ing up a new slim Christmas tree.....
Shamefully Guilty.

The one we have works just fine...



And the nail in the coffin.....



Hanging up the outdoor Christmas lights--- BUSTED GUILTY.

Gotta get 'em up before the weather turns nasty.
Reeelax!!  I haven't even turned them on yet.
Only to test them out........




*All photos found on Google images

Friday, November 5, 2010

Wish List(s)


Aaron & Ava 7:50 am

.....First thing this morning

after a hearty breakfast of peanut butter and pomegranate jam toast

followed by a small bowl of Reese Puffs cereal.


The Walmart and Toys 'R' Us Christmas catalogues have arrived.


And so,


The.Wish.Lists. too, have arrived.
  

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

One Week = A Million Photo Opportunities




 
As the title says, only one week and yet a plethora of memories captured in the form of photos.  We were blessed, yet again and always, this Christmas.  Probably the most quiet Christmas we've had to date.  Which is not the blessing I speak of, I might add...  It's always a delight to share it with the ones we love.  The blessings were too many to count and not enough words to expressively share.  So I'll leave the pics to that!

Merry, belated, Christmas.   

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A New Holiday Fave



Just new this Christmas of 2009.  And a Canadian girl, too!  Honey let's play hookey cuz it snowed lastnight ;-)!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

A Birch Bay Ranch Christmas



Cozy cabin, beautiful country, snowglobe-like snow, scenic sleighride, caroling, delicious dinner, Uncle Jack Santa, photo evidence of Aaron & Ava (hers is too blurry to share) on Santa's lap, blackened landjager, chaotic-ly hilarious chinese gift exchange, plenty of laughter and a few bittersweet tears....  Just a really special evening with a truly blessed family.