Holidays

I hope you are all enjoying this post-christmas, pre-new years time to relax and reflect. Personally I don't do either of those very well so instead I took to decorating the animals.

If you can't tell from her tortured expression, Sammy did NOT enjoy this as much as I did.


Franklin, on the other hand, was pretty indifferent about the whole thing, which made for good picture taking.



The bulbs must be getting warm, he's had about enough in this picture.


Thanks Mo for providing the photo inspiration!

Merry Christmas

I can’t believe Christmas is on Saturday. I’m so excited!

It seems I am more excited for Christmas this year than in the past. It is probably the combination of finally being healthy for the first time this month, having all my Christmas shopping done, and I’ve started supplementing with sunshine in a bottle (vitamin D). Take that cold weather!

This year, we added tinsel to the Christmas tree to honor the Good Cook’s husband. Read their beautiful story here

After reading her story, I thought my husband might get the same joy from throwing handfuls of tinsel on the tree. When I told him what I wanted to do, he was all for it.

Then I was faced with an unexpected problem, locating tinsel. I went into two local craft stores. When I asked where to find it, the high school girls behind the counter stared up at me wide-eyed and oblivious. One of them even said, “what’s tinsel”? SERIOUSLY? Luckily a seasoned woman in line spoke up and said “Try Lowes”. Thank you wise woman, Lowes was a success.

When it came time to adorn the tree, I began throwing fistfuls of tinsel on the tree. Husband, who I previously thought would enjoy this immensely, was instead displeased with my process. Turns out, he is a one strand on each branch kind of guy, like the good cook. We compromised to ensure that I didn’t have the clumps of tinsel still attached to one another before I threw them in wild abandonment at the tree.

I’m just going to say that I LOVE the tinsel on the tree.I think it is beautiful in that tacky, homemade, lots of love kinda way.  I think this may have to bee an ongoing tradition.

What do you think? Can you feel the LOVE! Thank you Linda for bringing this joy to our holiday.

I hope everyone has a safe, warm, joyful, Christmas full of family, love and LAUGHTER.

Merry Christmas

Tis the season...

Tis the season for my pants to fit a little too tight, alas I’m headed to Momma T’s this weekend to make Christmas cookies with all the girls. If you know us at all, making Christmas cookies is not-very-secret code for drink a lot and make a mess….

This year I think I’m going to try and make these yummy lemon cookies. Maybe if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll try and reprise the cream puffs. I might have more success at Momma T’s house. She has better baking equipment than I do, not to mention a convection oven.

Tis the season to buy for others and not yourself, that is, until you drop your phone in your soup. Husband desperately needs a new phone and I was going to surprise him with one. Instead, surprise, I’m a klutz. It all will work out since there are so many BOGO phone deals. Too bad for husband he has to wait until Jan 3rd for his phone, while I’m typing away on my new one. It’s a long story but lets just say cell phone contracts SUCK.

Tis the season for snow and cold weather, which makes me oh-so-happy that I have Roxy. The butt warmers in my new call melt my anger away and ALMOST get me to appreciate the beauty of snow.

What do you love about this season?

Baking FAIL

So I don’t know what has gotten into me lately but I’ve fancied myself a baker. I think it started with attempting to make cream puffs, (pate choux). Well they came out beautifully the first time. I figured that must be the hidden talent I’ve been searching for. While my sisters and mom are the masters of the stove, I would be able to tackle the science of pastries.

I am so confident of my new skill that I am going to make cream puffs for every occasion. But that one instance of beautiful tall cream puffs failed to reoccur. Well, maybe pate choux is just too difficult to tackle for a novice like myself.

Then there was the soufflé. I’m going to just erase that one from memory. It was bad…

I forged forward. I still envisioned myself a baker extraordinaire. As I mentioned before thanksgiving, I set my sights on the elusive crepe cake. The last time I made it the taste was awesome, but it looked like a gloppy mound. This time, it would be BEAUTIFUL, worthy of bakery display case.

I was diligent in my goal. I carefully made the crepes, froze them, thawed them, layered them with the mousse stacking carefully and glazed it all with a beautiful ganache. I even fretted over transporting the thing.

In all my worrying, I messed up the mousse! I didn’t beat the egg whites long enough, it got warm, or the weight of my stress was too much for that light hazelnut concoction to hold up. The mousse fell and ran.

In the end, it did look better than the last one but it was just a stack of crepes with ganache on top. It was chewy and disappointing.

Not to worry, I will forge ahead. I will make a better cream puff!

Oh by the way, check out a suggested christmas gift for me…..

I'm thankful for traditions...

Next week is Thanksgiving, which means the turkey trot. This year is the first year Momma T is participating – GO MOMMA!

Thanksgiving, that reminds me… I’m going to try and reprise my baking of this crepe cake. This time, however, I know the pitfalls and my expections of final presentation are much lower.
AND, I will do my research.

Luckily, I found this lovely blogger that was also enchanted into attempting the Martha confection. The blogger, self proclaimed Cream Puff, was disappointed in Martha's recipe so she tracked down the original crepe cake recipe from a famous NYC bakery, Lady M Cake Boutique. After baking both the MS and the original recipe from Lady M’s, Cream Puff claims the original kicks Martha’s crepe cake’s ass!

The only problem….the original recipe lacks a key saliva-inducing ingredient CHOCOLATE.
Now my dilemma-
 Do I attempt to tackle the original recipe, staying true to proven success? Do I stray not far from the path and find a way to work in some coco confection? Do I give Martha another chance now that I am older, wiser and know what the pitfalls are?

What do you think I should do?

Not Feeling The Love

I'm wondering if should take a break from this for a while. I feel like I'm talking to myself. Does anyone really even care about this crap? Am I writing this for myself? If so, why on the internet, such a public channel.


Maybe I'll feel differently in a couple of days....

Beautiful People Portrait Series - Part 5

Part 5 in my series is dedicated to my always beautiful older sister. Monkers has always been exponentially more beautiful than she thinks she is. Her beauty is effortless. While I have to spend an hour in the mirror, putting the package together, she looks best au natural. If you don't get lost in her big blue eyes, her engaging manner will draw you in. I think she is a storyteller by nature, her expressions, energy and excitement turn even a boring car trip into a song.

If you ever get invited to her house, don't decline. She has a way of dotting on you and putting you at ease, maybe it's the glass of wine she has ready for your arrival!

She has always been paving the road, teaching me as I follow behind her.




Beautiful even candid




Scientifically stylish


because we all share the same gene pool




Standing up for me at my wedding (notice my beautiful sister-in-law in the background)



Stolen from her wedding album because she made such a BEAUTIFUL bride