It’s the most wonderful tiiiiiiiime…..
….of the yeaaaaarrr!
I have officially declared Christmastime in my life. So haaaaaaappy!
Fave song: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays
And so begins nonstop Christmas tunes, Christmas cookies, Christmas shopping and a strong obsession with all things red and green.
When do you start celebrating Christmas?
Oh, my. Hello goooorrrgeous.
What is better than caramels? Sea salt caramels.
What is better than sea salt caramels? Dark chocolate-covered sea salt caramels.
What a mouthful! Literally.
Make Ina Garten’s Fleur de Sel Caramels, because she’s the best and they’re the best. Her recipe is easy to follow and doesn’t require too many ingredients!
I poured the caramel onto a rimmed baking sheet and stuck it in the fridge for 20 minutes so it would cool faster. When the caramel is cool, roll it into 1-inch balls.
Then, learn to temper chocolate. It is the key to a smooth, shiny finish when you dip the caramels. And it’s not hard, I promise! Here’s a really great tutorial that I used.
The tutorial instructs you to use the best dark chocolate you can find. But here’s a little secret: I went to the market down the road which has a cow on the roof and aisles the size of dollhouses, and therefore was only able to find Hershey’s Special Dark - it worked wonderfully and tasted great ;)
Here’s another tip: a glass bowl placed over a small saucepan of simmering water works well as a double boiler.
Once your chocolate is tempered, dip the caramels, sprinkle a little sea salt and put them in a cool place to set.
Beautiful and SO delicious!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of food, family, friends, and happiness :) I just helped myself to leftovers of stuffing (fave!) and pie and am feeling quite content. Though I should maybe go for a walk.
So, I usually don’t get into the Black Friday shenanigans because:
A.) I don’t handle large crowds well (I have been known to throw a ‘bow or two…*cough* HP7 premiere)
and B.) I’m really impatient.
BUT, I had two reasons to participate in Black Friday 2010:
1. Holiday sale at emme purses!
From now until December 31, 2010, enjoy 20% off your purchase when you enter coupon code “holiday2010″ at checkout!
Do it, do it, do it, do it, DO IT! Great gifts for daughters, sisters, moms, aunts, friends - and yourself!
2. It’s finally time I gave in and bought a digital SLR camera.
I mean, let’s face it: I take pictures all.the.time. I have been lusting after my sister’s Nikon D3000 for an entire year. And Best Buy was having a really great Black Friday package deal on Nikons.
So, Christmas came a little early this year. I can’t WAIT to take pictures of everything.
Happy Black Friday!
I have SO many things to be thankful for. An exhaustive list would probably take me until next Thanksgiving to write, so I’ll just give you the highlights.
I am thankful for my parents,
for being so supportive, allowing me to interrupt their workdays with incessant “When can I come home?/I’m coming home!!!!!” phone calls, and raising me as a Red Sox fan.
My brother and sister,
for making me laugh, going with me on adventures, and being pretty awesome in general.
My boyfriend,
for liking me even when I dress up as a stick of butter, not getting annoyed when I ask for a puppy 5x a day, and always answering my texts.
My job and coworkers,
for being so totally ridiculous, hysterical, and GREAT.
My friends,
{I really, really don’t want to leave anyone out of a picture so I am writing this in its place}
for keeping me sane, liking me despite my quirks, and, for those that aren’t nearby, being able to pick up right where we left off.
My fluffy marshmallow bed,
for being there when I am cold and/or sleepy.
And cupcakes,
PS - I thought you would probably like to see some of the things my kiddies are thankful for. Highlights include:
-and-
I’m thankful for holding hands, too.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
If at first you don’t succeed,
{Sad, stumpy, lumpy macaron attempt #1}
Try, try again!
{Happy, smooth, perfect macaron attempt #2}
I’m going to blame the residual effects of Pete the Cat on my choice to not have a minor breakdown when my macarons came out of the oven looking like (for lack of a better word) poo, and instead chose to dust myself off, separate some more egg whites, and try again.
And it’s a good thing I did! Macarons are so darn temperamental. Some still ended up looking like volcanos:
But for the most part, batch number two was pretty adorable. I followed this recipe from Eat, Live, Run (new fave blog!), but swapped the raspberry and rose for 1/4 tsp pumpkin spice in the macaron batter and pumpkin for the filling.
Some were filled with a mixture of chocolate and pumpkin puree (uh, YUM).
And others, Trader Joe’s pumpkin cream cheese (which should definitely become a staple in your household - thanks Miss Tracey!).
Macaroon, french macaroon, macaron - whatever you want to call it, these little guys are SO cute and SOO tasty.
And if at first your macarons don’t succeed - try, try again! It will be worth it - bon appetit!
Are you ready for this????
Ice cream + self-rising flour = bread
This is a true story. You can make bread from ice cream.
I’ll say it again: you can make bread from ice cream.
From ICE CREAM.
ANY KIND YOU WANT.
Aside: sometimes I worry that I use caps lock too often.
Here’s what you do:
Mix together 2 cups melted ice cream (I repeat: any flavor) with 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour. Pour into a greased and floured 8×4-inch loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
TA-DA! Bread.
Thanks Miss Tracey, for this amazing recipe!
Last week, a librarian came to our school to talk to us about some new great children’s books. Normally I like to keep my books at a thousand page minimum, preferably in French* (I do have a long T ride after all), but she introduced us to Pete the Cat and I instantly fell in love. Cute book, cute illustrations, CUTE little song = on my Christmas list. Fact.
Read on…
Pete the Cat was walking down the street in his brand new white shoes. Pete loved his white shoes so much, he sang this song.
*Click here for the song*
Oh, no! Pete stepped in a large pile of…
strawberries!
What color did they turn his shoes?
Did Pete cry?
Goodness, no!
He just kept walkin’ along and singin’ his song…
Then Pete goes on to step in things that turn his shoes blue, brown, and white again. Does Pete cry? Goodness, no!
The moral of Pete’s story is,
no matter what you step in,
just keep walkin’ along and singin’ your song….
because it’s all good.
*False
This week has been NUTS-o. Happy, sad, up, down…but mostly up. In the past seven days…
I went to New York City and saw my LONG-lost old roomie and biffle from Cornell, Alix.
I toasted marshmallows in the toaster and made them into a milkshake.
Our TV broke.
Liz and Dave GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!!!
So, so, happy for them.
We celebrated with cookie cakes, champagne toasts, and the Biggest Loser.
Love is real, my friends. Aren’t my decorating skills superb?
I decided to apply for grad school.
Fina got a job!
Far far away. Happy, sad.
What a week it’s been.
PS -
I saw the tree!
If you are anything like me, you might really, really wish you could play with a kitten and/or puppy all day, every day, BUT realize you could probably not yet handle keeping one in your apartment and being responsible for its whole…life. Enter Idaho Humane Society. The people at this wonderful animal shelter have created a program that allows you to play with kittens, puppies, dogs and cats over the internet. All you have to do is install a quick Microsoft app on your computer and you can be well on your way to playing with adorable kitties minus the responsibility and litterbox changes. And, it makes the animals happy too!! Win, win. Just visit:
http://www.aprioricontrol.com/ihs/
Thanks, MOM*, for this awesome idea!
I have found a NEW favorite cupcake shop in NYC. Get ready for this….
Teeny tiny, eensy weensy, itty bitty cupcakes.
Even teeny tinier than mini cupcakes! Barely bigger than a quarter! Behold…
Cupcakes by Melissa. This woman is a genius. She makes bite-sized cupcakes, which means, in my case, that for only $10 I was able to purchase and try eleven different kinds of cupcakes. ELEVEN!
I loooove trying cupcakes. WHY didn’t I think of this idea first??
Here’s what I got…
(from the top, left to right)
Peanut butter and jelly, chocolate peanut butter, chocolate chip pancake,
s’mores, cookie dough, red velvet,
cinnamon, s’mores (had to try this little guy twice), tie dye,
mint chocolate chip, cookies ‘n cream, coffee caramel.
Oh BABY. Yum yum yum. Cute cute cute.
Just a little bite of happiness.
Next time you are in New York, stop by one of Baked by Melissa’s two locations! I promise it’ll make your day.
