The Ghost of Christmas Present

Dear Son,

I am not a stop over, quick stop, lay over, pit stop, inconvenience or detour. I am your mother, mom, the person who gave you life. All I wanted was an hour or so of your oh so precious time on Christmas eve. I didn't think I was asking to much. You decided that I was, told me that you had to work, and would be to tired...Hey kid your not the only person who had to work Christmas Eve, battle traffic to get home, get the dogs walked and deal. 

What I got was a 6:30 a.m. txt Christmas Day asking me if I wanted to do coffee. I was out walking my dogs, didn't see that txt until an hour later when I got home, I did see it coming, just wasn't there to get it. I also had plans, not to stress myself out with your grumpy attitude on Christmas day.  I declined your generous offer and wished you well, and Merry Christmas, asked if you liked your gifts...deafening silence. 

Silence speaks volumes. 

I still hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year, didn't hear from you on New Years either. 

Love
Mom

Christmas Tags

I know I have not posted in a long time, but there just hasn't really been any free time to post anything.

Meet Aki! She is the latest addition to the family, and has stolen her big brother Katsu's heart. These two spend hours playing and getting into mischief. This is a rare quiet Kai moment caught on film.

I did put together a little Christmas project this past week during all the hustle and bustle of the Holiday. I found myself staring down an aisle of sparkly, glittery, shiny Christmas wrap, ribbons, tags and bows and I decided I hated all of it. I miss simple, cute with some thought put into it. I made the decision that next year gifts will come in holiday themed kraft paper with colored jute ties...you know the song "brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things"...Well I decided I wanted something in the way of a gift tag that would match the feel of the packages I see in my head for next year (not exactly sugar plums, but you get the idea). I searched on Etsy for the perfect little Christmas tags and found them. Then I searched some more shops and found a small little stamp to stamp the backs to and from...works perfect!

Aren't these the cutest little tags? They came with the little ties as well, or you can get them without the ties and get your own colored bakers twine for the tags.

I found the little stamp on Etsy as well. The ink pad I had from other projects.

See how cute those are. Simple, easy and fun to do.

Wishing one and all a Very Merry Christmas.

Christmas

I spent another Christmas with a bad cold. This year was the worst the bf and I had plans and everything with the exception of taking the hell hound to the park was canceled. I was so sick that the bf slept on the roll away cot in the living room so he would not catch my cold... Next year things will be better.

I did manage to make some delicious goodies for home and for the bf to take to work to share. I made some coconut flour brownies and toffee with nuts and chocolate. Both recipes are super simple and easy to do...perfect actually when you are sick as a dog.

Coconut Flour Brownies

Lay out your ingredients into individual bowls.

Mix all the melted butter, honey and vanilla together.

Then mix the egg, cocoa and coconut flour in with the butter, honey and vanilla.

spread into a greased 8 x 8 pan and bake at 300 for about 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares. I did make a change to the original recipe I added 1/2 tsp of salt. I honestly feel chocolate does better when you add just a little salt to set it off.

4 Ingredient Toffee

Making toffee is easy if you make sure and have all your ingredients together and at hand, and having a thermometer is essential. Timing and heat are the two most important factors when making this easy candy.

Having room temp butter will make things go a little faster. Since I don't have a third arm and hand sprouting from the center of my body to operate the camera I was unable to take more photos of each of the steps. Use your imagination...lol.

This recipe is easily adaptable to your personal tastes. I did use semi sweet chocolate and pecan bits, but you could easily use white chocolate and macadamia nuts or pistachios and dark chocolate.

Lastly I made a traditional family favorite... Russian Teacakes I don't think there has ever been a Christmas celebration in my family that didn't involve mounds of these deliciously addicting cookies. They were my favorite as a child and they are my children's favorite today. I don't deviate from this tried and true recipe. Just remember one thing they are always better with butter.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday, and are looking forward to the coming year. I did manage to pack away Christmas yesterday and go through things and toss some relics out and organize things to make ready for next year. I think it is always helpful to have a handle on all that before the month of December and the holiday madness begins again.

Happy New Year!

Odds and Ends

I have been busy, but I am pretty sure everyone else out there is busy to. This is the month of madness. The month where we spend to much time energy and money busily trying to get that one thing or trying to get from place to place in record time...honestly certain aspects of this holiday I hate. I want simpler, quieter and calmer moments. Time to reflect, time to relax, to be able to enjoy the moments with family and friends. I keep telling myself that next year things will be different...I will find the time for all the quiet things...sigh.

The tree is up and this morning I wrapped and put the first of few gifts under it. For some people it is the amounts of gifts under the tree. This years gift for me is four-legged and healthy, and that is all I really care about this year. Shockingly, the chupacabra a.k.a. Katsu is ignoring the tree and it's many wonderful glass and hand beaded ornaments...so far not one casualty. (Side note the tortie kitten in the house (Willow, Bean or Willowbean) has decided to play the role of "The Grinch" this year by stealing Christmas and running off with every single bow I just stuck to every single package...Oye!).

I had my Christmas cards done, addressed and in the mail the first week of December. I am very proud of myself for that. I send out about 30+ card per year, and I never seem to get more than a handful from family and friends. Christmas cards are a old time tradition that I love to do. I love getting cards in the mail it puts a smile on my face and I like to think that my cards put a little smile on friends and family faces as well.

One more note about Thanksgiving and pie...I love pie, and one of my favorite is pumpkin pie. We have it every Thanksgiving, and maybe once or twice before and after Turkey Day. One of the reasons my pumpkin pie is so good is the love I bake into it...o.k. maybe it is a little more than love...haha.

First you start with some lovely pie pumpkins and a sharp knife.

Cut them down into manageable chuncks.

Use that handy dandy tool that you used when making Jack O Lanterns way back in October...if you can find it...check the junk drawer in the kitchen...under the unwound roll of dog poop bags...that is where you will find it. Scrap out the goop you don't want. Peel the skin from the pumpkin with a sturdy vegetable peeler.

Steam those big chunks of pumpkin until nice and tender.

What a gorgeous color!

Then puree the pumpkin in your food processor until you get a nice smooth consistency. Then after the pumpkin cools completely measure it out (It takes a cup of pumpkin for an 8 in. pie) and place in containers to freeze and use later.

Well the next step in making merry around here will be putting the finishing touches on on the gifts...if Willow ,the Krampus's handmaiden, will let me, and making the Christmas cookies for home and work. I have selected the three that I will be making so things should go smoothly.

K.B. shopping yesterday was fun always is, and we will have to do it again after the holiday madness subsides...Jan 25th...hehe. Lets start with Donuts...you know where.

One more Christmas Cookie

So as I mentioned earlier that I would have another Christmas cookie recipe to try out...It was by far the biggest hit yet. I don't know what it is about ginger but it somehow has the magical properties to transport me back to the Christmases of my childhood. Ginger is warm, comforting with just a little bite to keep you on your toes. I love that bite. Molasses is something dark and mysterious and lives on a shelf in your pantry until the holidays roll around. Unless you are me...I love molasses and go through a few bottles a year.

Chewy Molasses Cookies

Into a bowl you place 1 stick of super soft butter (almost to the melting point), 1/3 cup white sugar, 1/3 cup dark molasses (you can use light in a pinch), 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar. Cream these ingredients together. Into a second bowl place 2 cups of flour, 2 tsp. baking soda, 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. ground ginger, 3/4 tsp. cardamom, 1/2 tsp kosher salt and 1 to 2 pieces of crystallized ginger finely diced (it should equal somewhere between 1 to 2 tablespoons). Blend these dry ingredients together with a fork.

Add 1 large egg into the butter and sugar mixture and incorporate.

Start adding in the flour mixture a little at a time blending in between additions.

You can go ahead and bake these right up or put the dough in the fridge over night and bake the next day. If you decide to wait and bake later make sure you let the dough come to room temp to make things go easier.

Roll the dough into 2 inch balls and then dip in raw sugar making sure to cover all but the bottom of the cookie.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for somewhere between 8 and 10 min. It took me 9 minutes per batch and I probably could have pulled them about 30 seconds sooner...crazy as that sounds it does matter.

These cookies were disappearing off the plate at my office almost as fast as I put them out. The bf said people at his office were very happy with these. I tell you it is the ginger it brings back warm memories of Christmases past. Bake up some memories.

Christmas Cookies

So I have been working on some Christmas cookies to bake and give this holiday season and I think I have come up with a couple of recipes so far that will be perfect for gift giving. A few weeks back I made Chocolate Anise Biscotti and I had mentioned that I was going to switch out a few things and do a lemon blueberry flavor...well it turned out delicious.

I simply left out the anise and chocolate and made the addition of the zest from one lemon and 1/2 -1 tsp. of lemon extract and a handful of dried blueberries. Then to finish I mixed some confectioners sugar with some fresh lemon juice and drizzled over the completely cooled biscotti.... it was delicious. Big hit with both my office and the bf's office. This will probably end up on my cookie gift giving list.

The other contender is Chocolate Espresso Snaps. Super simple and they really satisfy that chocolate craving. These were also a huge hit with the co-workers

Into one bowl you add 3/4 cup butter, 3/4 cup shortening, 2 cups of white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Cream these ingredients together. Into the second bowl mix together 3 cups of flower, 1 cup Dutch process cocoa powder, 2 Tlb. espresso powder, 4 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. salt.

Into the first bowl with the creamed together butter and sugar add two eggs one at a time blending between each egg.

Then start adding the contents of the second bowl to the first bowl 1/2 cup at a time blending between each addition.

Yum...chocolate cookie dough.

Roll the dough into 2 inch balls and then roll in sugar. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake in a 350 degree oven for somewhere between 12 to 14 minutes (depends on your oven).

Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for several minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.

When completely cooled you can store these scrumptious cookies in a airtight container...Ummm we ate them one and all over the course of a weekend. Monday saw the last of them going to the bf's office.

For me Christmas gift giving cookie has to be simple yet scrumptious. I have to be able to easily half the recipe if needed, and the cookies have to hold up well for traveling over the river and through the woods. I don't want something that is really complicated or fussy. A cookie that stands up well to hot cocoa and compliments the flavor and will also go nicely with that glass of milk for Santa Claus. I have one more recipe to try out this week, but first I need to replenish my supply of parchment paper...Have a great rest of the weekend.

Tired of making Lemonade.

So Katsu went through his neutering surgery with flying colors, but he has has a couple of issues lately that we are trying to sort out...One is well things aren't coming out quite right (if you know what I mean) and that has been going on for some time. It is not a consistent problem but still troublesome, and then the latest is he has been wetting the bed and having a little dribble here and there (which started about 3 wks ago)...sigh. So he has been in had his urine tested and currently we are doing a regiment of antibiotics (broad spectrum)in the hopes that whatever ails him will be found and destroyed, and we won't have to go to the next level. In the meantime however I am keeping track of everything he eats, and when, how often he goes and what, when he is given his meds and which ones, and when we go for walks. This is all very traumatic for the bf and I having lost a dog 2 1/2 years ago, so everything is really still raw and fresh in the back of our minds. Any progress right now I am being cautiously optimistic about...mostly I am just terrified. I will tell you something right now I would happily give up Christmas and my birthday for the next 20 years if it would make him all better...fact.

In the meantime people still need to eat in between me worrying myself sick and making babbling baby talk to my puppy...yes that was me you passed. I made a super simple and easy dinner last night that is so versatile you will find yourself making this many different ways...Honestly anything complicated right now would totally freak me out.

Breakfast Fried Rice Super easy and not just for breakfast. We eat it as a main dish all the time.

Start with your protein. This is one of my favorite options. BBQ pork diced up (about 1 cup or so).

One bunch diced green onions.

Into a bowl or measuring cup measure 1/3 cup light soy sauce (has to be light), 1 Tlb. rice vinegar, 1 Tlb. sesame seeds (toast them if you like), 1/4 tsp. chili flakes (more like 1/2 a tsp.).

Then you will need 3 to 4 cups of cooked white rice. Make your rice the morning before or the night before. Using fresh rice will make it mushy.

Heat (medium heat) a tablespoon of sesame oil in a large skillet and add half the green onions and cook for a couple of minutes.

Then add the rice working it around and breaking apart the little clumps of rice.

Then add the remaining green onions and BBQ pork and keep working it through until hot.

Then add the soy sauce mixture and incorporate it into the rice.

You will end up with this golden brown, fragrant rice loaded with tasty bits of BBQ pork, and green onion.

This recipe feeds two hungry people or three not so hungry people. I love it because you could easily swap out the BBQ pork with any kind of protein...just cook ahead and set aside. You also could add more veggie to this dish with the simple addition of snow peas or carrots or...whatever. Just cook them up ahead and add them in with the addition of the last half of green onions. Originally this recipe called for bacon as the protein and placing eggs on top of the finished dish...honestly I have never made it that way, but it does look delicious.