More Preparations

Cookie baking and candy making are in full swing here! On today's schedule: Put the icing on the brownie bites and finish making the Peppermint Patties. We ran out of chocolate for the patties, so a grocery trip also is on the schedule. Oh yes, and buy a tree! We always go with a real tree, so we wouldn't want it up much earlier than this anyhow, but the kids are champing at the bit and ready to finish decorating.

Actually, there's a lot more on the schedule, but why get further behind by stopping to list it all? Nothing like heading to the kids' Christmas Concerts to remind us to enjoy all the hustle-and-bustle along with the lovely moments where you get to be still and just savour what is happening! The Christmas Concerts Were a first for both, as it's a small gymnasium, so they usually split the grades into Christmas concert and Spring Concert. Tthis year they did three nights in a row of Christmas concerts, so we attended two of those. They both did a lovely job, and are both doing great with their French! Vive le Vent d'Hiver!



The other night, in between rounds of snow shovelling (lots and lots this year! Will have to take photos for the next post!) we enjoyed painting gingerbread cookies together. This has become one of our traditions, though I prefer the sugar cookies to gingerbread (but there is always next year) and the fun is the same either way. The kids wanted to use the ninjabread cutters as well, so we did, and now have Ninja-Santas. Also the Grinch, Tobias Fünke in his Blue Man getup, ginger-elves, and Bonhomme. 

I found a new recipe for the Peppermint Patties, and it is way easier to work with than the last one I tried. Of course, last time I made these, I did also have a new baby, so that does colour the memory slightly! Still, I know these are a lot easier, because rather than rolling and cutting the filling, in this version the filling can be shaped into balls and flattened by hand, which is way, way speedier, if less uniform.

Also, I used chop-sticks instead of fondue forks for dipping the filling, and it worked great! For some reason, I had the idea to use my new mesh rack for the patties to cool on, but it was a very  bad idea. Stick with wax paper. To remove the patties from the mesh rack, we inverted it and set a warm cookie sheet onto it. My husband figured out that if we propped up the rack with chop-sticks above the pan that they'd be able to drop freely, and most were none the worse for wear, with the others being delicious and eaten.

The kids enjoyed crushing peppermints for decorating the patties, and did a great job as Candy-Sprinklers. My eldest also is enjoying taking photos, so she gets photo credit on several of these!












Sewing and knitting continue. I am almost finished the tuque. I was finished earlier in the week, only it was too short. Sigh. Had to unravel the lining part-way, unravel the tuque itself partway, and then add to both before getting to the decreases. It looks to be a better fit now, but I was hoping to be done and on to finishing the mittens by now! Ah well, better it takes longer and fits right in the end!

Christmas Catch-Up

 It has been a busy but lovely holiday season, and I've been away from the computer for a fair bit, both when I was out of town, or just plain busy with either design work or with my family.

It seems the longer I spend away from the blog, the harder it is to get back to writing here, not just due to procrastination, but also to the increasing backlog of things to write about. Suddenly a little post becomes a long one, and so, more daunting.

I thought I only had a few pictures of home-made things, but as it turned out, we did a fair bit of crafting for Christmas!

My husband and I both made masques for a masquerade party that we attended on the 22nd, at which we had a lovely relaxing time visiting with friends and meeting new people that were a lot of fun to talk to.

We gave away gifts to teachers (and the bus-driver too), and wrapped them up with handmade tags. I made these tags by folding tin-foil, (I think about three times) glueing the sheet all over with a glue stick at each stage, then embossing a design with a ball-point pen. Cut them out, make a hole for threading the cord through, and there you are.

I made a blanket for my very oldest friend (not that she's old; just that we've known each other since grade 3), keeping it simple and cozy, in her favourite colour, blue. Made in polar fleece, the seams are unfinished, with one seam on either side of the blanket. It's even softer than it looks.

I've been wanting to make these meringues for years! I make meringues quite often, but I've never piped them. These are flavoured with peppermint, and the piping bag is daubed with Wilton's paste food-dye to add colour as they are piped. Filling the piping bag with the meringue itself was tricky, but the rest was simpler than I had thought it would be, and they turned out lovely. I used this recipe from Canadian Living (though sans nuts), but Martha Stewart's directions for the food colouring.

 My daughters did their fair share of creating, especially in Calgary where they made lovely ornaments with my mom (so sorry, but the pictures did not turn out, and now the ornaments are packed away; I'll have to be sure to take some next year). Please enjoy in place of these, my eldest showing off her art skills:

 I drew my sister's name this year, and, determined to make her some Mittens of Awesomeness, asked what she would like. She wanted Pac-Man, so, happy to oblige, I knit these flat, used Intarsia for the figures, and duplicate stitching for details. After sewing these up, I knit the thumbs in the round during the trip down to Calgary on the 23rd.

For my husband, I made some Gingerbread Truffles, a pair of pyjama pants (Butterick B5572), and 40% of a sweater-vest, including an IOU tag for the other 60%. I downloaded the tag from Knit Picks, as they were clever enough to advertise their free IOU tag download right before I was about to wrap up the part sweater.

The sweater will be the Argyle Vest by Veronik Avery, and the upside to having only the back finished was that I could ask for input for the colours to be used for the front. Resulting choices are pictured below with the 40% of a sweater-vest.

It was an amazing holiday, and we enjoyed visits with family and friends at our house, at both our parents' houses, and at friends' houses. Also, thanks to Santa, the girls now have snowshoes, so we have been out snow-shoeing, and enjoying the weather that turned a bit nicer after a Christmas cold-snap.










With the exception of tomorrow, the weather looks like it will continue to be nice enough for outings, so we'll have to have some winter fun on the weekend! Hope you and your families had a lovely Christmas, and are enjoying a splendid New Year!

Christmas Candy

My husband has been making sponge toffee the last few years for Christmas. I make sure to be on hand, since scraping the foaming molten sugar quickly out of the pot and into the pan is definitely a two-person job.

Apparently, we did a better job with the foaming part than usual, because it foamed up much bigger than the last few times, overwhelming the pan that usually is just the right size:

We also made cranberry-apple jellies and candied oranges this year, and I think they look lovely packaged together.

Nearly everything is done. (Except for cleaning the house top-to-bottom). I have one more gift to pick up today with the kids, and we'll be walking out to get that on our way to buy groceries. I do still have to make a custard and caramel sauce for a trifle that I am planning on making for my contribution to a Christmas dessert. I usually make a gluten-free dessert for Christmas, and so to make this one gluten-free, I made a pound cake from this recipe using coconut flour. There was enough batter left to make a cupcake, and I can report success. If there is a disaster as far as the rest of the trifle-making is concerned, I can at least offer up a tasty pound cake. I'm always less stressed when I have a plan B. After all, I nearly forgot (until looking up the link to the recipe) about going out to buy Calvados, which I have never been able to find so far. Wish me luck!

My plan today is to get through a few necessary tasks, and then relax with my knitting (a last-minute idea that might not get finished in time, but it's still relaxing, because I won't worry if it doesn't get finished in time. Really. At least, I think so...).

I likely won't be posting again until late next week, so I'll close by wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!

In Which We Enjoy Further Christmas Preparations

I've been busy in the kitchen lately, but I've also had time to knit a fingerless glove version of the Pirate Mittens by Adrian Bizilia.  These are a Christmas gift, and they're knit in Patons Classic Wool.  These were pretty fun, and pretty quick (except for the weaving-in of 30 ends, which was tiresome). 

I'm almost through my Christmas knitting and sewing gifts (one more knitting, one more sewing to finish up), and I'm taking photos so I can post the more secret ones after Christmas, but I think I can show off one more yet.

In the kitchen, we've been baking gingerbread (gluten-free), and sugar cookies (not so gluten-free), decorating both varieties with icing, and in the case of the sugar cookies, immoderate amounts of sprinkles courtesy of the daughters:

And we've been making candies too!


  These are apple and cranberry jellies, which my husband and I made over the course of two evenings.  Last year, we did up sponge toffee (which we plan to make again), and had such a nice time that we're hoping to make a Christmas tradition of candy-making, so we can work on a fun project together in the evenings after the kids are tucked into bed.  I think we might make some plain apple jellies as well if there's time later in the week.

Today I found a bit of time to make mint patties.  I dipped some into white chocolate, and some into dark chocolate.  My eldest sprinkled candy-cane bits on top, while my youngest watched and ate candy-canes.
Both candy recipes are from Canadian Living's Christmas Cookbook edition from 2009, but I also found the mint patties on their website here. 

It's very wintry outside tonight; dark, blowy, snowy, and cold, (it's only -15 Celsius, though the wind-chill brings that down to -24), but we're warm inside with all sorts of treats to eat!