Rina To The Rescue!

It’s 6° out SIX! I’m not normally one to complain about the weather… Oh who am I kidding? I’m totally one to complain about the weather and a 6° morning temperature SUCKS!

But it’s sunny and I have a warm cup Starbucks Christmas blend in my newest coffee mug from my notes-so-secret Santa cousin!

 

side 1

 

side 2

Yesterday I had a knock on the door and saw the UPS truck in front. I went to the front door, with the powerchair thus no stress, and there was a package on the front porch. (UPS gets it right when I ask that packages be left on the front porch.) I use the big grabber and pulled the box in the porch and brought it back to the dining room table. It had my name on it but it was from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I didn’t order anything from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I opened the box and there was a copy of an email telling me that it was a gift from my cousin! As if getting a gift isn’t enough to put a smile on my face, it’s a mug! And it totally cool mug that will fit a big cup of coffee. Thanks, Seamhead Gypsy, or wonderful surprise for my collection and a great holder for my morning coffee.

On the less-than-stellar front I discovered that, while I can still make cookie dough, I can’t quite bake the cookies anymore. My legs have gotten pretty bad for balancing while holding a chair long enough to set the timer on the oven in my arms are just a little too weak to get cookie sheet of high enough to put in the oven. That was a little disheartening. David was home when I discovered this and did the pans in and out for me for that one batch but I usually bake when he’s not home.

Davinities is not lost! Rina to the rescue! I sent a text to ask if she would come visit and help bake after her semester is over. I got a call almost immediately. Rina wanted to come visit and make crostadas. The family party for Laura’s family is before Christmas this year. I usually send a couple of crostadas for their party home with Dave and Laura on Christmas Eve. Rina was going to get my recipe from online and make the crostadas this year. (Nana beaming with pride) She’s made it crostada before but it’s been a few years and her dad suggested she should “make them with the master” before she tries it solo. I guess I hadn’t realized how much my brother really likes the crostadas. (Nani is feeling really buttered up now.) So those who get Davinities in the mail will be getting that sweet box a little closer to or just after Christmas. I guess this means I’m not the Davinities Little Princess anymore; I’m the Queen! I’d love it Rina gets the whole cookies for Christmas vibe and decides to take over. We’ll see, but I’m looking forward to a few days of baking with my Sweetie!

A Little Peace, Planning and Poppers

Lookie! All three cats on the bed, kinda touching even! There is still plenty of charging and hissing when it’s not nap time, but they are able to peacefully coexist when they are all tired. Still, when they aren’t sleeping they are doing a little better at ignoring each other, well the girls ignore Marco. Kaline still gives unwarranted growls when he walks by, but it keeps him walking by and Marco only attacks them when, really amped up for playing. It all takes time, Maybe they know Santa Paws is watching!

Today is Secret Santa mail day! The deadline is today and my package was all wrapped up Monday night, but I finished getting it ready to mail last night. I didn’t want to send it too soon, since it’s a SECRET Santa Soiree I want my package to blend in with the herd in the mail. Still I can’t wait until my Santee gets the package and I read about it on her blog.

It’s also time to get ready for Davinities! You know what that means! I sample cookies while I’m baking and crave salad like crazy! It’s so true! When I’m doing my Christmas baking I have to have bags of lettuce and lots of other salad fixins! It’s gonna be an interesting lesson in contrast in the grocery buggy tomorrow!

Salad with tuna and crunchy veggies last year (12/13/12) 

In getting ready for baking and for the January Detox I created a quick and delicious recipe yesterday. Bell Poppers are my healthy take on restaurant fried Jalapeño Poppers. I used mini bell peppers and stuffed them with shredded cheese and a few shakes of green tabasco sauce. The green is a milder sauce with less heat and lots of spicy flavor. After stuffing my peppers I lined then up facing each other to catch any cheese that spills out and microwaved them for 2-1/2 minutes.

Not bad for a first try. The flavor was great! Next time I’m going to try some Neufatchel with the shredded cheese and try mixing the cheese and sauce first, then stuffing the peppers. I’m also going to work on a way to keep them standing and microwave a little longer to cook the peppers more. I may try it in the toaster oven too. But for a first shot, the Bell Poppers are very good!

This was breakfast yesterday:

My great find Raisin Panettone with pumpkin spice coffee. That mug is one of my favorite holiday mugs. It’s three stages of the Eat ‘n’ Park star and tree from their holiday commercial. I’m on their mailing list, so they send it every year and every year it makes me cry a title more because it’s so beautiful. Remember that it sometimes takes a few tries for me to stand up and I rely on those wonderful people who love and support me in so many ways. I posted the spot on my Facebook page and I’m posting it here too with the same message. ”To all my famil; relatives and dear friends, at home and in cyberspace: I am the little star and you all are my tree!



Can you see why it makes a mush like me cry?

Well, I’m off to finish up my shopping list and maybe even do a scrapbook page, maybe; I’m a little behind on that 2013 goal so far this month!

Other Santas in the Soiree: today is the day and part 2 of the fun begins!  Make sure you get your delivery confirmation numbers to Suzanne by the end of the day so she can enjoy her Santa without extra stress!

Crunch Day

So, today is it, huh? End of the world. It’s gray and windy and 34 degrees, which is almost the predicted high for today, but it just doesn’t seem apocalypsy. So I am going to continue as if the world won’t end today. There’s just too much to cram in tomorrow if it doesn’t end.

Nothing makes me quite as crazy as things being behind and I am behind. After this post I’ll probably have another cup of coffee, no schnapps before noon, but by noon I might be tempted! Today will be crostadas and cleanup for tomorrow night. I’m not overly worried about that. I’ll get it done on time. Just right now out tree has half the lights on it and no ornaments. If the tree is only partially done, I’ll live with that. No one really sees anything but the glow of the lights while we’re enjoying each other’s company anyway. What’s making me unravel is that our Christmas Cards aren’t out yet and while they may get put in the mailbox before, they won’t get anywhere by Christmas. So, if you usually see a card from us, you still will, it’ll just be a “Hope you’re still enjoying the holidays” wish rather than a “Have a happy holiday.”

Still, I grumble inside for what I can’t do to help keep us on schedule for the holidays. I’m considering toning things down for next year. Oh, I’ll still bake and still do the fabulous dessert bar, but I’m pondering asking someone else to host the venue. Maybe do the party in Michigan next year instead of here. It’s the combination of baking and cleaning/getting the house ready for guests that’s making me nuts. So maybe I need to outsource the location.

Our Christmas Bat under the mistletoe

I have officially composed the Friendly Beasts verse for the Christmas Bat. I was mistaken about his eating mosquitos at the First Christmas. I created the story of the Christmas Bat; I can change it if it works better. This does!

I said the bat that flies at night.
I outstretched my wings so he could sleep tight
I shadowed his eyes ‘cause that star was so bright.
I said the bat that flies at night.

There ya go; the Christmas Bat got between the star and the Baby so he could sleep, but everyone else knew where he was.


Davinities

I sent out some Davinities boxes in the mail this year. I promised that I’d tell about this year’s offerings on my blog, so here are the Davinities gift-box treats for 2012:

Krisp Kringles

The Original Davinity

This year’s Kringles are crunchy peanut butter and butterscotch rice squares. The compressed and cut preparation holds it shape better, therefore ships and travels better.

Mr. Goodcookies

This is the traveling Davinity and the one that I make for other occasions through the year, including that it’s the one I packaged for the Paws and Whiskers bake sale in September. They are crushed Mr. Goodbar, milk chocolate with peanuts, in a traditional tollhouse cookie base.

Chocolate Chunk Hazelnut Cookies

I created these especially for David. Well, you know, he’s going to put the Nani Bakery in his train layout, complete with a water tower! These are crushed hazelnuts and dark chocolate chunk cookies, each one garnished with a whole roasted hazelnut.

Pecan Pie Cookies

Back when my friend, Marie, had her baking business, Celebration Generation, up and running, I ordered cookies to augment my Davinities at Christmastime for the parties. When she closed Celebration Generation, she posted the recipes to her cookies on her Celebration Generation blog over time and I’ve been adding a different Celebration Generation recipe as one of the Davinities each year. Last Year it was the Black Forest Cookies and this Year it’s Pecan Pie cookies. They were one of my favorites of her cookies and I’m with the way they turned out from my oven too! There’s really not much to say that isn’t in the name. They are pecan pie filling in a brown sugar-based crust.

Ginger Bats and Bells (and Birds)

These ones are my favorite! I tried many different gingerbread recipes and finally found the right one. This is a semi-soft gingerbread cookie with cream cheese frosting. My opinion, it’s just the right balance of sweet and spicy and crunch and chewy. The ones that break between cooling and frosting get frosted too. I have to be able to taste to be sure they’re good right? Gingerbread is my favorite holiday cookie and while I pretty much like all gingerbread, I wanted mine to be my favorite; I succeeded.

Loaded Loaf

Back again from last year, loaded loaf is a great breakfast cake. The loaf is pumpkin-based with chocolate chips, walnuts and raisins. Experience from Christmas morning last year – a slice of loaf given a little time to toast up in a toaster oven with cinnamon butter is heaven!

And there’s the 2012 Davinities gift-box lineup. You can see the Celebration Generation Pecan Pie Cookie recipe here: Pecan Pie Cookies. Recipes for many of the regular Davinities are available at Simply Davlicious. Simply Davlicious will be getting an update with pictures and new recipes in 2013.

Twas The Hodge Podge Before Christmas

I’m still here! We’ve just been busy with the party coming Saturday and all. I’m bummed that I skipped out on the Monday Quiz About Me again this week. I like the interaction with my fellow bloggers and when I take my afternoon break, I might still get back to answer some of those Monday questions!

The squirrels have been all over this morning! We’re expecting rain changing to snow tonight; I wonder if that’s what all the squirrel-action is about? It doesn’t matter. I love active squirrel days and I’m enjoying seeing one or two busy ones out every window of the house!

Today will be another day that my wedding ring spends in the 1/3 cup measuring cup in the kitchen drawer and it will probably stay there until Friday. That’s where it stays when I’m doing stuff with dough that I don’t want caked in the setting. The next at least two days are the final Davinities baking days before Christmas. Today will be 2 small and a few mini Loaded Loaves. I like a loaf for munching on Christmas morning and so we have some for the party. That Loaded Loaf is one I made for the first time last year and I hope everyone who gets to taste it likes it as much as I do! (Rina loved it last year) The loaf is pumpkin-based with spices, raisins, chocolate chips and walnuts. It’s very good!! Tomorrow will be dough-day for the crostadas we’ll have for Saturday and the ones that will go to Michigan with me on Christmas Eve. I also have wrapping to finish up and we need a couple of little gifts for my brother’s present.

But, for now, I’m joining Joyce at From This Side Of The Pond for Wednesday Hodge Podge!

1. How will you spend 'the night before Christmas'?

Christmas Eve is my family’s Christmas dinner at my cousin’s. It’s been, all of my life, a bounty of mostly fried fish, although last year there were some tasty non-fried options. As I’ve said before, I don’t go for the food, I go to be with my family, but I just might chance fate that there will be un-fried options again and pass on my traditional Christmas Eve burger on the way.

David will meet us back at Pop’s house after he gets off work. The family meal is an early dinner and dinner starts about the time he gets out of work…an hour and a half away! Pop says we’ll bring him a doggy-bag. LOL Then we exchange gifts between our sibling families. My cousins don’t exchange gifts amongst the adults, so we have our gift exchanging at Pop’s. We did that before dinner last year, but this year David won’t be there until later and besides, Dave didn’t like it earlier, so both of the “Dav Men” will be happy..


2. What is one thing you are not?

Fast



3. Fudge-are you a fan? Your favorite flavor?

I do like fudge, although oddly enough, I don’t care for the smell of it cooking. Yes, I’m odd. Give me something that tastes like fudge and smells like a steak cooking and I’m all set, but if it smells like fudge cooking or tastes like steak, keep it away from me!

I won’t eat Rocky Road fudge or anything with cookie dough I it. Other than that I pretty much like it all! The favorites I’ve tried have been plain old chocolate, black forest and pistachio.



4. Did you attend any craft/vendor fairs in the month of December? Do you prefer homemade goodies or the more professional stalls? Are you giving any homemade gifts this year? 

No, I didn’t attend any events.

I do give cookie boxes as gifts and have also done hand-made gifts over the years. I did wool-capes for both my Mom and SIL years back as well as wool scarves and one year everyone got a cross stitch ornament. Most recently is the silk-screened pillows I had done for my Aunt with photo art I had done of both of her dogs.

This year, I bought a couple of hand-made gifts from Etsy shops and I’m a very satisfied customer. That may be a regular place I look for gifts going forward.


5. What's your favorite type of holiday gathering?

My favorite type of gathering is coming up! I like small groups, fewer than ten people, where everyone can be part of the same conversation and enjoy each other’s company together.


6. We're approaching a new year...what's going to be different in 2013?

Well, as 2012 is ending, I am an official TARPS rider and have available paratransit services curb to curb. I’m also in the process of getting a power chair. Hopefully that means that 2013 will see me get out of the house more and hopefully, find employment. Golly, I miss the 3 P’s that make working worthwhile; People, Productivity and Paycheck!


7. Share a favorite scripture, quote, saying, or song lyric relating to peace.

I’ve always loved the hymn “Let There Be Peace On Earth.”


8. Insert your own random thought here.

Kaline has a vet appointment tomorrow. We think she has a sore tooth/teeth. She sniffed at treats and struggled to eat them yesterday, this morning I gave the kids treats and she acted like she wanted it, lacking her chops and it and sniffing, but didn’t eat it. She did the same thing with breakfast; acted like she wanted it, but ate one kibble and walked away. She’s not acting otherwise sick, which is why we think it might be teeth. Poor baby-girl! :(

Happy Lunchtime!

Busy, Busy day today! That’s lunch. David laughed because I sent him a text yesterday asking him to pick up salad on the way home. We’d just opened a new bag on Wednesday, but after lunch. He asked if I “went all rabbit” on the salad. The truth is, and it’s been the truth for many years, baking makes me crave salad. Dough on my hands, pinch a taste to make sure the seasoning is right, taste the “test cookie” to make sure the taste is acceptable to be a Davinities treat, I baked 8 dozen cookies yesterday morning; my veggie crave was off the chart!

So now I’m relaxing with my crunchy veggies; celery, carrots, radishes and red bell pepper, protein: a sliced string cheese and Omega-3 fat; 6 Kalamata olives with lettuce shaken in 2 TBS Newman’s light Balsamic vinaigrette; a feast fit for January.

So, now I’ll tip my cap to Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time and thank her for hosting Friday Fragments! Here are the rest of my tid-bits:

**  So far I made the batter for the loaded loaves and have two small ones done. I’m waiting for them to cool so I can remove them from the pans to reuse. My new pans are the perfect size for gift trays. The ones last year were the entire gift. I like to give variety.


**  I’ll be finishing the Oreo Truffles before David gets in from work and the Pecan Pie Cookies will be after dinner. They don’t take an awful long time to bake..

Once you taste them you forget what they look like!

**  After considering the lines at the post office on a Saturday before Christmas, David and I decided to do our mail drop on Monday, his Sunday. We’ll still, I hope, have time to get the tree up.


**  I have the most awesome husband in the world!

I’m late in saying that, but I ate the last of the support material that goes with that declaration for breakfast.

David got these for me when he was combing grocery stores looking for my “solo uvetta” (only raisins) panettone before we left New Jersey Monday. He didn’t find only raisin panettone, but he found pumpkin cupcakes with Rudolph decorations! AWESOME!


**  I don’t care for the traditional panettone and Noni always had the only raisins bread for Mom and me. David found one that was just raisins and candied orange peel and I said I’d give it a try because the citron is what I didn’t like. Well, it turns out that what I always thought was the reason I didn't care for it, the same reason Mom didn’t like the traditional panettone, was not the reason I didn’t care for it. It’s the candied orange-peel. I tasted on piece off the top and didn’t cut it, so I’m taking it to Dad’s on Christmas Eve. I ordered a raisins-only one for me…at 4 times the cost of the one I didn’t like!


**  They discontinued offering the bracelet I had my eye on at Swag Bucks just before I got enough points for it. But they did start offering the one you see below. So I cashed in part of my Swag Bucks for it. I was wondering if they’d charge me for the shipping. They didn’t! Then I expected to see my bracelet sometime in January. It took a week before there was a package in my mailbox! Wow! It kinda makes me want to watch some more videos.

My Swag

Wednesday Hodge Podge

Joiniung Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for Hodge Podge

1. So, when did you last take a walk in the woods? A stroll along the beach? A drive going nowhere in particular in the car?

When David and I train-chase, it often starts as a drive to nowhere in particular. I used to go to the park to walk every day when it was nice and no snow. Yes, even in the cold as long as there wasn’t ice and snow to slip on I walked about a mile or so daily. I think now I might consider going to the park for a “walk” for the mental relaxation, but after the power chair is okayed and here.


2. Are you sending Christmas cards this year? About how many do you send? Photo card or something more traditional? How do you display the cards you receive?

We send cards, either our family cards or train cards every year. I always sent family cards and David always sent train cards, so now we send them both. They are photo cards that I created using Digital Scrapbooking and I write the verse on the card.


3. What's a word you've heard too much of in the past week?

“Grrr.” ?? I audibly “grrr” when I get frustrated, like getting in and out of the car on long rides or the lifting and moving necessary for baking. I don’t like to be grouchy, but a temporary “grrr” and some minor grunting helps me get what I need done. Think of the grunts you hear in a tennis match; it really does help!


4. December 13th is National Cocoa Day-are you a fan? Plain or flavored? Marshmallows or no marshmallows?

I love cocoa! I like really good cocoa just in its chocolaty awesomeness, but I also LOVE cinnamon hot cocoa and I like it with a splash or two...or three, of peppermint schnapps!

I can do without the marshmallows although as long as they melt, I can deal with them.


5. What is something you do to help alleviate the hectic pace of the Christmas season?

Oh! The hectic pace of the Christmas season is what I do to alleviate the mundane day to day of every other season!


6. Besides jewelry, what's a favorite sparkly-glittery item in your home or closet?

Wow. I’ll think of something as soon as I hit “publish” but I can’t think of any sparklies that aren’t jewelry right now.


7. Share a favorite line or two from any Christmas carol.

“How do you measure the love of a mother, How do you write down a baby’s first cry?” From Candlelight Carol

That was the first song on the CD I listened to while meditating on Christmas Eve the year my Mom died and I cried for about a half hour. It still makes me tear up but they are happy remembrance tears now.


8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’m on break right now from Ginger Bats, Bells and Birds baking. When I can barely lift the tray from the hot pad on the chair to the counter to put the cookies on the cooling racks, it’s time to take a break! It takes me longer now, but I still get it done! (And I love it!)

Now you may have noticed that there are birds added to the mix in my Ginger Belles and Bats. It occurred to me, strange as it sounds to me, that some people may not appreciate the blessing of the Christmas Bat. I know, I know, how odd, huh?

Bronner’s, my favorite Christmas store makes up stories for some of their ornaments. I mean, “Legend of the Christmas Chile Pepper?” So, why not the “Legend of the Christmas Bat?” A cute furry bat with garland on its wings, right? Think about it; if God saw fit to make sure Noah put 2 bats on The Arc, I highly doubt they flushed the bats out of the stable. If “I said the dove” cooed that baby to sleep, couldn’t “I said the bat” have been the one keeping the mosquitos away from him? I think it’s perfectly okay to offer all of God’s creatures a place in the Christmas celebration.  (I have a dog and three cats in my Fontanini Nativity.) And before you bring up spiders to my arachnophobic self, there IS a story about a spider creating the first strands of tinsel on a Christmas tree, which is one of the reasons we don’t use tinsel, but I even respect that there is a place for a Christmas Spider; just that place is in someone else’s home. Ours has a Christmas Bat.

Hustle and Bustle

I was wondering about that term. Tomboy me totally gets the hustle part; move quick and don’t get called out. It makes sense in a Christmas context because there is a deadline and the rest of life doesn’t take a break so you can keep up. But the bustle part…

I had to look up bustle to make sure there wasn’t a definition other than the big butt of a Victorian skirt. Of course there is, but I wanted to know the origin of the word defined as energetic and busy activity. The best I got that wasn’t a dress was possibly from an obsolete Norse work buskle, also busk, which meant to prepare oneself. So, hustle and bustle is to quickly prepare oneself. Okay, that works for me!

I saw lots of video and photos for bustle, as in dress, including a how-to for “bustling a wedding dress.” There is so much I missed not doing the wedding thing. I had a very different definition of train for my marriage celebration. But bustling is what the maid of honor does so nobody steps on the train. Because the wedding was so expensive that one last fitting to adjust the hem on the dress would break the budget? Yes, I don’t understand wedding dresses and if there had been a wedding, I think the only train would have been the one we were photographed photographing in our wedding suits.

I suppose that’s one of my few regrets with not having a wedding. The shocking photographs we’d have had done of things you don’t do in a wedding dress and tux. Like the bride and groom trackside photographing a train or mini golfing in a wedding gown. You see a train on the putt-putt course would have messed up my game and let’s not even go there on what it would have done to my skill in the batting cage! No joke; when we talked about what we’d want to do if we were doing a real wedding, it was “take pictures early, because I’m planning to wreck the dress.” Old family tradition is to do something to the brides dress so it can’t be worn again. My mom’s aunt stomped the hen on her dress near the end of the reception because it hadn’t been torn yet. The reason is quite simple; One wedding, one marriage. It is a blessing and if something doesn’t happen to the dress on its own, someone had to ensure that blessing is made on the marriage. Can you imagine in this day and age where a wedding dress can be used several times by the same bride and few bat an eyelash?

I do understand the concept of passing the dress onto a daughter, but even that I question. Styles change so much and a beautiful dress a mother wears could be considered a major fashion mistake by the time the daughter marries. I like a concept Tori want to do much better. She asked if she could have my Mom’s dress. That id my Dad couldn’t send Mom’s dress to Good Will and he gave it to me. Tori asked for it before I had to think about where it should go. She wants to use part of it incorporated into a gown she has designed. Mind you Tori is an 18-year old college freshman, not currently dating. The Wedding Industrial Complex is always glad to see wedding plans on a Pinterest board for very young, very single women. But her idea is mushy wrapped in memories, totally the kind of thing I’m a sucker for. And I’ll happily go to hopefully her only wedding and at the end of the reception, unless she’s already spilled wine on it, like she always did with white shirts and fruit punch as a kid, I’ll stomp on the hem of the dress to wish her luck.

Okay…But bustle in hustle and bustle is only really related to the dress in that the maid of honor hustles to bustle the dress. MY bustle is baking. Er, my hustle is baking? Anyway, holiday baking wave one starts this afternoon.

Right now, why don’t I do the Monday Quiz About Me? Thanks to Heather at Acting Balanced and Wayne at Touristic for hosting again this week!

1. When was the last time you had your picture taken with Santa?

I don’t really remember. I’ve talked to Santa and hugged Santa, but not sure when I had my picture taken with him. The last photo we found in Grandma’s house, under her buffet, was a picture of Dave and me with Santa dated 1972. I was 6 and still believed. By 1973 I’d become an elf, way too young to be an elf already, but I’d become an elf, but I probably went anyway because Dave hadn’t become an elf yet.

In case you weren’t sure about the reference, an elf is what you become when you are no longer receiving the magic but have become part of making it happen; Santa never dies just because you grow up. I never stopped “believing” in the magic.


2. Which do you prefer - ham or turkey?

Ham, although this year we’re planning on turkey for Christmas Day dinner. We winded up not doing Thanksgiving dinner except for Cracker Barrel after all and I’m still craving my mom’s stuffing! But usually I prefer Honey Baked Ham for Christmas. It too makes awesome soup! But we don’t have a set traditional Christmas meal. On Christmas Day it’s usually just David and me, so we decide what special meal we’d like together.


3. Do you give more to charity in December?

No. I think I actually give more of what I can afford; money or time, during the less busy times for giving when it’s still needed.


4. Which US City would you most like to visit and why?

If you remember from Friday, there’s the whole “I saw this place in a dream” thing, so San Antonio, Texas, just to see the place I saw in dreams. It’s also close to Lulling to see the watermelon water tower!


And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!

5. My question for you I need 5 jars of preserves for my Crostadas. I have Apricot, Peach, Raspberry and Cherry. I’m not sure if I should get another flavor or double up on one of those four. So question #5 this week is what are your thoughts? Would you pick one of those four for an Italian cookie-cake or is there a different flavor you’d prefer?

For me, being a black forest gal, I’ll always pick the cherry. But I also know that for the crostadas we have for our party, I always make sure there is a raspberry for David too.

Fill-In, Dream, Fix, Frag, Cook, Smash, Scrap

Happy Friday! Tomorrow is December already. Wow. November was actually a pretty quick month. I think that’s because the political ads made things seem r….e….l….l…y…s…l…o…w And the holidays make time seem to just zip by! But don’t worry; things will slow back down in January, not politician slow, but nothing to do slow. I always find that I can make January go faster if I stress about Valentine’s Day. Whether it was “Oh please, not another February 14 without a date,” or “What can I give him that he won’t take the wrong way?” or “I’m married now; what can I give him he will take the wrong way?” stress with a deadline makes things go much faster!

Yeah, that wasn’t as happy an opening as it could have been, huh? Sunday evening is the big grocery trip to buy the necessary things for Davinities season and the start of things going on every weekend that I’ll be baking for. Okay and you all know I love it! In the midst of baking and gatherings, there is also a train card to put together so we can get everything printed and mailed, a few gifts to mail, including my Secret Santee’s box. My Santee’s gift(s) will be wrapped today and mailed tomorrow or Monday, depends which works for my sleigh driver.

Fun Fill-ins from Hilary at Feeling Beachie today and some big frags on my blog to clear that I’ll share with Mrs. 4444 for Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time, so let’s get to it!

This week’s statements:
1. I have always dreamed of ____
2. My ___ is my ____
3. I love to ____ when I ____
4. I will never forget ____ with ____

My Answers:

1. I have always dreamed of visiting San Antonio, TX. There was a place I’d never been and never seen pictures of that I kept returning to in dreams. The dreams were never the same or the same people, so not recurring dreams, just a recurring place. When I saw pictures of San Antonio, maybe 10 years ago, I was shocked; it was the place in my dreams! Now I want to go see it for real!

2. My husband is my blog editor. He took the place of my Mom’s proofreading the poor typist who is equally poor at proofreading…but I do okay with the ideas and words part of writing. Every text I get telling me of a typo on my blog leaves me convinced that sound I hear is Mom laughing at me. She would have loved David.

3. I love to sing when I bake.

4. I will never forget going fishing with Kelly that first year we knew each other.

** 

 

Doesn’t that look good? We had Cocoa Pork Chops for dinner this week; SO GOOD! I agree with a comment about a similar recipe I read, “Cocoa and chili powder together?" But they are fabulous!

Since there’s just the two of us for dinner, a recipe for a family is usually way too much, but for this one, I made the full recipe for the rub and keep it in a zip-loc with the other seasoning mixes. Good thing too! When we had a leftovers night and there was a serving of pork chops and a serving of meatloaf, David picked the Cocoa Pork; score!

The recipe for the rub is simple. 2 TBS brown sugar, 1 TBS cocoa powder, 1-1/2 tsp. garlic powder, ½ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. cumin. Put the spices in a zip-loc bag and shake them to mix. Rub onto pork and prepare in your favorite way. The first time I made them, I rubbed oil on the chops and then rubbed the spices and baked them for about 20 minutes at 375. Last time, I rubbed the spices on the chops without oil and grilled them. David and I both preferred the grilled method, but both were good!


**  Ronalyn, of The Adventures of Esa and Zed, asked in comments to see some of my current Smash book pages. You might remember seeing some of my Smash Archive pages here, and I like them. They are personal and fun to look at, fun for me to look at anyway, and I think that’s the point. They aren’t works of art, except that those of us that paper craft add our art without even trying.

Here are some of the pages I’ve done in my new Smash book:

First pages; Nani past and now likes

 

Cool stuff

MS Awareness pages with information from magazines

(Still filling that one)

I want to get some bags of crafting letters. The MS has really taken its toll on my penmanship so I’m cutting letters out of magazines and writing some words ransom-note style, which I think looks pretty cool! A nice assortment of styles and colors of letters would also make way for some cool Word art too. Of course there are the gazillion pother fun things that will complement my stickers; clips, pockets, paper tapes… that I have on my wish list that I’ll add after Christmas since I don’t spend on me in December, but I really am enjoying smashing and I love the quality and size of the K & Company books.


**  If you’ll all indulge me in a little scrapbooking brag time, I’d like to share some of the fun things I’ve been working on.

Credits: Christmas In July contributions from Amy Peck,

 Blue Heart Scraps, Connie Prince, Pixels by Jen, Rosey Toes Designs, 

Twin Mom Scraps, Z Pink Boudoir, Find Your Bliss Designs

I did this for the scraplift challenge for November at Ginger Scraps. I like how it turned out. I do a page documenting each year’s Davinities with my Christmas pages for that year. Last year was a banner year for Davinities, the cookies and baked goods were all so good! I was proud of how simply huge by golden-brown thumb was! I’m almost intimidated going into this year’s baking!

The next layout goes with the sentimentality of the Christmas season.

Credits: Ladies’ Boutique by Darlene Haughin

That’s Kelly and me! The photo on the right was taken way back in the 80s; Kelly and her maid of honor, me! The photo on the left is from this January, when Kel and her dad visited 24 years is a lot of history!

Besties was made with Darlene Haughin’s Ladies’ Boutique kit. It was the current kit and this layout was done before the end of October and before the computer that died necessitating the new computer that was replaced with the one I’m typing on now. Ladies’ Boutique is still on introductory sale, but today is the last day!



**  Darlene has a new kit in her 3Scrapateers and My Memories  stores:

A Very Merry Christmas is available and ON SALE for 30% off until January 4. So you have some time to make some of those Christmas memories that will be perfectly scrapped with this kit! If you’re like me, you still have a folder or Christmas 2011 photos on your hard drive begging for this kit while it’s on sale to get caught up!


**  Let’s finish off this week’s fragments with a freebie! Darlene okayed me to share the quick-page version of my layout with Ladies’ Night with you at The Chronicles of Nani! There are two quick pages in the download; one with and one without the Besties word art:

Click mage to download at 4-Shared.

And my blog is all clean and defragged and ready for the weekend!

How Davinities Started

2011 Davinities

If you’ve been a regular at my coffee shop, The Chronicles of Nani, for a while, or if you searched for Digitalegacies Designs scrapbooking freebies or found some tidbit that encouraged you to read back a bit, you’ve read and seen photos of my Davinities creations every Christmas. My Secret Santa this year could be one the folks reading the old entries, maybe? I have found not just good reading getting to know my Santees through their blog archives, but I also found some nice tips for their gifts. I’m not revealing anything this year, but Linda, of Linda’s Bee Hive, is the one who gave me the idea to send her a letter from Santa Claus, Indiana last year! Let it suffice to say that if I follow you, I’ve read your first blog entry and a few in between.

The beginning of Davinities is somewhat like the beginning of a blog. If the current blog is the first blog you did and you’re still blogging a few years later, watching the transformation is neat as the blog grows into its present level of blog proficiency. Maybe you blog more often now, maybe less often but you only blog about causes you really believe in. Maybe you started blogging before you were even expecting and now your blog is a full-blown Mommy or Daddy blog. Me, The Chronicles of Nani started out claiming it was a coffee shop on the Information Superhighway, which it still is, but I really feel like I moved in more of the comfy chairs. I hope you all like them!

So, Davinities roots were, plain and simple, a little girl trying to make Daddy happy, and everyone knows a nice treat from his Little Princess makes Daddy happy! Princess was what Pop called me when I was little. I imagine I was princess baby since I honestly don’t remember a time before he called me “his princess.” Davinities is what I call my baking at Christmas, often shared with friends at gatherings or given as gifts. The story goes that there was once a Little Princess who so loved the King that she wanted to create a confection of his favorite flavors to present to him as a gift. Pop’s favorite sweet flavors are peanut butter and butterscotch, and I found the recipe for what later became the Original Davinity when I was seven, so of course sweets were the only flavors that mattered. And Pop really did/does love them. So the rest of the story is that the King was so pleased that the Little Princess honored him by sharing them with all of his people, and the tradition of sharing Davinities with special people was born. I’ve given and shared Davinities every Christmas since then. I‘m 46 now; that's a LOT of baking!

But the beginning is not just a recipe I tried at 7, for how did I ever get the idea of making something special for my dad? Well, it was the first time that I used the stove by myself, under Mom’s watchful eye and with a chair to boost my height, but it wasn’t the first treat I’d made him!

Circa Nani's Easy Bake Oven

I got my Easy Bake Oven the Christmas before. Pop ate many mini chocolate and yellow cakes with white or chocolate frosting. That’s possibly four totally different cakes! I loved the magic of baking with a light bulb and seeing my dad smile when I presented him with dessert. It’s not like I never ate any of my cakes, I did and I liked them a lot. I made them for Mom and even Dave, although sometimes he wanted to help and it bugged me that anyone wanted to “bake in my kitchen.” I did get over that when I made the first Krisp Kringles, then called Peanut Butter Scotch Krispies in my first cookbook. I was in Mom’s Kitchen and she shared, I guessed I could too.

Circa Tori's Easy Bake Oven

When Tori was 7, I got her an Easy Bake Oven. Rina didn’t get the oven because she didn’t have the cooking passion Tori already had. If “Baby T” had been Trevin and not Torine, and he showed the desire to bake, he’d have gotten one too. I don’t buy the “sexist toy” crap about getting the oven for girls and I wouldn’t have bought the “girl’s toy” crap if I’d had a nephew who was interested. I really didn’t hear a ton of feedback, but then again this is the daughter of the kid who gave back a drum to my Mom, and complained that it sounded like a toy, the Christmas before he got his first real drum set. It’s possible she thought the cakes tasted like toys too! But she is a great cook at just 18. I was a great baker, but in trying to create a meal, I’d burn Kool-Aid until my mid-20s, so she has a serving-table leg up on me there.

What brought this reminiscing about my younger baking years to mind was an internet search for a Christmas gift that brought me to a search hit for this:

Today's Easy Bake Oven

The modern Easy Bake Oven plugs in but NO LIGHT BULB! How do you pass up the joy of baking with a light bulb? Let alone the additional science questions and answers that come with baking with a light bulb. It’s how we knew in the early 90s that putting a bag of mini hotdogs on the dashboard of the car in the zoo parking lot would give us hot cooked hot dogs by lunchtime. It’s part of an adult not having to tell you not to leave a candy bar on a sunny window sill or touch the bulb when you turn off a lamp. It teaches not just how to bake a cake, but it also imparts some critical thinking too. They do still have a light-bulb powered oven, but it’s the lesser product.

I’ll comment more at some other time about “girl’s toys” and “boy’s toys” and how awful those stereotypes are. Dave and I played with our dolls together; oh excuse me, action figures. My PJ action high school girl dated his GI Joe doll while my action coed, future lawyer Barbie was in love with action med-school Brad while action construction worker Ken and the Six Million Dollar Man doll fought over the attention of action Barbie’s action sorority sister Christie. Oh, it was something like that.

So, did you or someone you know - friends, kids, grandkids - have an Easy Bake Oven?

Christmas Bats and Monday Quiz

Good Monday morning! This is sort of “limbo-week” for me. Thanksgiving was the earliest in November that is can be this year which technically gives us an extra week before Christmas for decorating, shopping and wrapping/shipping. But my brain is just not wrapping around that. I keep thinking it should be December already and I find myself fretting about the things I’m not done with and “I have to start baking this week!” No I don’t; the early baking starts next week!

I have some smaller baking pans coming in for my gift boxes I want to do some small loaves and, because I’m a total glutton for punishment, some small crostadas. I’ll be making the Davinities standards; Krisp Kringles, Mr. Goodcookies and Chocolate Chunk Hazelnut as well as 3 other selections. I loved the gingerbread last year and I truly hope I have perfected the gingerbread recipe. If that’s true, Ginger Bats and Bells may become a regular Davinity.

Some of you might remember my Ginger Bats from last year.

Ginger Bat 2011

Sometimes I worry that my sense of propriety may seem a little warped, but like so much in my world at Christmastime, there is a memory that goes with my Christmas Bat. When I was a producer at Omnicom Cable in Michigan, I got a rubber bat at Halloween. It was less than a dollar and in my humble opinion a WAY better Halloween decoration than a spider. People always tell me “But spiders eat mosquitoes, they’re good.” Well, bats eat mosquitoes too and they’re bigger so the eat more of them. Plus they’re cute.


My rubber bat hung just above the double doors that lead to the outer hall, the doors we used when we loaded equipment for remote production. So, everyone saw my bat during the Halloween season as he bounced above the door with a candy corn pumpkin in his mouth. I was usually off Thanksgiving week as it was between regular high school sports seasons and nobody attended the public access classes during the holiday season anyway, so I went to Grandma’s house early and spent the week there. But when I got back, I put some simple decorations in my office and put a Hershey’s kiss in holiday foil in Batty’s mouth. (He had a bonnet for Easter too) So, my bat dressed up for Christmas is close to 20 years old and very natural to me. Besides, the bat cookie cutter makes a generous sized cookie!

I want to try a new Celebration Generation recipe this year too, but Marie’s recipes make a lot of cookies! So I hope to make a half batch. That only works if I can find someplace to buy half-pound bags of pecans and candied fruit. Also making a recipe that calls for abundant candied fruit and nuts is not an inexpensive one to make. I used to order and have shipped to me this particular cookie and I loved them, but bow that I’m really thinking the cost of the ingredients I realize how completely reasonable Marie’s prices were. Of course when she baked professionally she had the discount of much bigger bulk than me, but still, WOW.

If anyone knows of an online site that sells nuts and candied fruit in half-pound bags, please let me know!

And now, Happy Monday means we join Heather at Acting Balanced and Wayne at Touristic for this week’s Monday Quiz About Me!

1. Do you decorate outdoors for the holidays?

David has put some lights in the bushes in front of our picture window on occasion, but as a rule our house isn’t a huge one and the big tree in the living room is plenty to make the house warm with the holiday spirit. I also add a holiday table cloth in the dining room and when you add the displayed Christmas cards we receive, it’s pretty festive. The neighbor across the street fancies up his front yard and the view out the picture window with our tree in the foreground is beautiful. I hope his view with the glow from our tree is nice too, but it’s also why I really like it when David has time to do the lights in the bushes. That’s not about our view, but what we can do to return the view from across the street.


2. What is the best thing about office Christmas parties?

The office parties I’ve been to over the years usually have great food, especially the ones where the big boss comes into town and takes your department out.  I’ve tried many a restaurant I could never afford via the big boss taking the department out for a holiday lunch!

3. Gloves or Mittens?

As a Michigan-born gal, I should automatically be drawn to mittens, no? Mittens do keep your fingers toastier and are great if you don’t need you fingers for anything. Last year I got David and Laura both texting gloves. The tops of the mittens flip back so you can use your fingers, originally designed for texting or otherwise using the phone, but in David’s case more for taking pictures in the cod. When you don’t need your fingers available, they flip back to be warm mittens again; GENIUS! Tori has them on her Christmas list this year and well, I wouldn’t kick them out of my stocking either!


4. What do you think of Secret Santas?


Well, I AM a Secret Santa for the second year! Honestly, getting to know fellow bloggers through swaps like the Secret Santa Soiree is so much fun! Reading about them in their own words and picking out the right gifts get me bubbling with joy.

Having said that, I’m not nuts about work-sponsored Secret Santas. I was at a larger company that did Secret Santas and I chose not to participate I was plenty festive enough, everyone was welcome to come to my desk to visit me holiday candy jar, but gathering information about coworkers you don’t know so well during the workday is disruptive.


And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!

5. What is the best holiday candy?

My holiday candy incudes favorites of others who are gone but not forgotten. The hard candy filled peanuts for Papa, the Snickers bites for Grandma and the Ghirardelli mint and dark chocolate squares are for John. The Torroncini for Noni and the Baci are my favorite Italian candy, but there’re in honor of Noni always making sure there was one of the Italian chocolates for everyone after Christmas dinner. So, I make sure all of those are in our candy baskets. But the one treat that is my absolute favorite and only available during the holidays are the Lindor Snowman Truffles that are milk chocolate on the outside with white truffle filling. They are THE BEST holiday candy. Give me a Baci, Milk and White Lindor Truffle and bring back the Pecan Pie Ghirardelli squares and it’s holiday candy heaven for me!