Tuesday, December 22, 2009
I haven’t bought any candy for Christmas except one candy cane.
Just one.
But look at it….
This is not an insignificant candy cane.
It’s a Hammond’s Candies Peppermint Chocolate Filled Candy Cane (found at my local Bulk Barn). I will admire it for a while and then crack it open. I first heard of Hammond’s Candies while watching Martha Stewart more than 5 years ago and seeing how they make their peanut butter ribbon candy (which is what I truly covet). I find the candy making process fascinating, which will become more obvious in the next year, but I have a feeling hard candies will be out of reach for a while or forever.
I fully intend to visit the factory for a tour someday.
And bring home peanut butter ribbon candy.
And not share.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Today is Chris’ birthday so we are celebrating but I am still admiring my mantle, all decked in blue. The colour blue is definitely the favourite colour around here so why not for the holidays – although I am not seeing a lot of blue in the Christmas decorations at the stores this year.
I had cut the bottom branches off the Christmas tree and just had to use them. I was able to balance a few branches on top of the mirror and lay the rest around. It’s, um, rustic. Yeah, that’s it. I already had the decorations from last year’s last minute hunting (50% off) and decided to stick with one colour. I think it works.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
I had some family over this afternoon for lunch and to help me trim the tree. I served apple walnut salad, Swedish meatballs and roasted potatoes followed by dark chocolate truffles and cranberry orange loaf with tea and coffee.
After lunch, we trimmed the tree. Well, the ladies did. And with three ladies to help, it took no time at all.
The tree in all it’s splendour!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
I haven’t made popcorn strings in years. More than 20 years…
Right. Let’s not do the math.
I spent the afternoon with a friend and sat on the couch stringing freshly popped popcorn. It was nice to stop and relax. In our excitement, and once we fixed the tree (see below), we strung up the lights and placed the popcorn strings on the branches. We made enough strings to do the entire tree! Maybe not exciting to many, but we were thrilled. I’ll be posting more photos on Flickr in the next few days.
The tree is completely thawed and the boughs have fallen after being bound so tightly. I was up until 2 am last night trying to get the tree to stand up straight and not waver. Only after all this, I remembered I didn’t have a spike plate to keep the tree from wobbling everywhere (the last one was eaten by the neighbour’s dog). Thankfully, Chris made up one with some scrap sheet metal and a few screws. Now the tree stand tall and hasn’t wavered since. I brought this 7-foot tree home for $20 (marked down from $40 at the Superstore, not bad.)
I am off to gather all the decorations from upstairs and get ready for the party tomorrow afternoon.
Friday, December 18, 2009
It’s still naked and frozen but it’s thawing and ready to be trimmed on Sunday. I have a feeling I was suppose to thaw it before putting it up. No matter, what’s done is done. I am staying up for a while to make sure it doesn’t fall over and to keep feeding it water.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
I love the holidays classics as much as anyone but I always have room for more. Lately, I have been listening to Sting new album ‘If On A Winter’s Night…‘ and have been enjoying is very much. He doesn’t the jingle the bells and sing about the old man in the red suit, instead, he set out to make an album about the winter season (the video in the link is worth a look).
This album is a nice contrast to the music the malls has piped in and most radio stations and can be listened to throughout this darker season once the tinsel and baubles have been put away for another year.
Mt favourite track is The Cherry Tree Carol, which dates back to the 15th century.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
I like a challenge, and for me, it seems that working with chocolate will provide it. I tried my hand at Carole Bloom’s Dark Chocolate Truffles and everything went well until it was time to temper the chocolate. I used Callebaut (one of the varieties Bloom recommends in her book). I also had to remember that my thermometer reads 2 degrees higher in Celcius, quickly converting to Fahrenheit… Here was the result.
Okay, so not a complete disaster and they get the seal of approval for taste, but it’s clear the finish in the chocolate is less than desirable. I think what happened was that I kept the chocolate at the highest end of the acceptable temperature range for tempering dark chocolate. It is also possible the truffles were still too cool (thus the little explosion of truffle you see at the left of the photo). Or it was both factors. I am pretty sure temperature had something to do with this. Notes have been taken and another try will be taken during the winter months. All in all, I am happy with my first try.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I went to a Christmas party this evening and had good chats and ate myself silly; a little socializing did this girl some good. Sadly, no photos of the spread or the merriment but you’ll have to take my word for it.
Today (and yesterday) my other Christmas activity has been listening to ‘A Christmas Carol’ as read by Tim Curry. We had currently become members of audible.com and their gift to the members is this audio book.
‘Pshaw’, you might say, but this has truly been a treat and I know that listening to this recording each Christmas will become one of my favourite traditions.
Adding, that the only Christmas Carol I was familiar with was Mickey’s Christmas Carol featuring Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer, it’s been a good introduction to Charles Dickens and his Victorian world.
Monday, December 14, 2009
I meant to do the truffles today but I missed a step. That step could have been done yesterday, easily, but it was tonight. Anyway, truffles moved to Wednesday evening. Instead, I made snacks for a Christmas party tomorrow. I’ll do my best to write it out but I don’t measure everything (which is okay).
I start with a large, square 21 cup rubbermaid container, and fill is halfway full with pretzels, Cheerios and Shreddies (the bits). You could probably use other things like peanuts, cashews and popcorn, but this is our favourite combo.
In a glass measuring cup, place 1/2 cup of butter, 1 tbsp. of Worcherstershire Sauce, 1 tsp. of garlic salt, and 1/2 tsp of celery salt. Melt the butter mix in the microwave and over the bits and mix well.
Put the container in the microwave a minute at a time at 70 to 80% power. Stirring each time. As the bits get closer to being done, the sound will change. For those concerned about putting a plastic container in the microwave, you can spread the buttered bits on a jellyroll pan and pop it in a 350 oven, stirring the bits around occasionally until they sound dry. Either way, make sure you don’t burn them. Cool completely uncovered. That’s it.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
No one thing was done but a task started, a task continued, and a task ended.
Started: I had a lot of black and tan polar fleece that I didn’t know what to do with. So I have cut it up to make quick polar fleece hats and scarves. It looks like I should get about 31 hats and 8 scarves of double thickness. Thankfully, the sewing will be quick and I’ll be leaving off the pom-poms since they will be mostly for adults. I watched Miracle on 34th Street while I cut the fabric.
Continued: I had made up the truffle centers for the dark chocolate truffles I am dipping tomorrow. I am a little nervous about tempering chocolate, I am hoping it’s not that hard or I just get lucky, I’ll take either one.
Ended: Christmas cards. I admit, these took a little longer than one night. They are being plunked in the mail box tomorrow morning. I am hopeful they’ll arrive before Christmas Eve.