Saturday in Spanaway

I was lucky enough to visit with Kim and the kids over the weekend. We were hoping to get Dani in the kitchen since she loves to bake. Apparently Jackson has a knack for the kitchen as well =)





I brought supplies for us to make chocolate dipped pretzels and turtles. Dani and Jackson were in charge of the fun part--SPRINKLES!





They were both very enthusiastic about the job =) I think they turned out great! Then Kim tied the treats up with some of her festive Christmas ribbon, which made them into lovely gifts for friends.

Ukulele Love

Weekend Gorging

It was a very busy weekend for us. Dan and Alexis came over for dinner on Friday night and I (sort of) went crazy. Made Wesley's favorite peanut butter candy, peppermint bark and turtles. For real food, I made the Pioneer Woman's braised short ribs with polenta and garlic mashed poatoes. Oh, and don't forget the salad.

I prefer to take picutres of my food only when there is natural light available, so there is no photographic proof of the meal. In any case, it was nothing to write home about. Seemed sort of bland, but that just means that I should be a little more generous with my seasoning. I also had to make this in a crock pot since I don't have a lovely Le Cruset that can go from the stove to the oven =( This made the dish very soupy and didn't allow the flavors to concentrate. If I ever try this again, I will have to remember to vent the crock pot. I might also try a different wine. I used a merlot and the meat had a sort of purple-ish look to it. PW said that you could use white wine, too, but that just seemed wrong. Aren't you supposed to pair red wine with beef? Anyway, maybe that's why her ribs looked normal--she used white and it didn't dye the meat.

Saturday was the 4th Annual Cookie Baking extravaganza at Brenda's house. The invite said noon - 6 pm, but I didn't leave her place until 8. We don't mess around when we get together for this event =)



So what did we bake for 8 hours?

Brenda: Peanut butter balls (that took 5 hours and a lot of doctoring), dark chocolate and mint cheesecake bars and her signature spritz cookies.

Jan: Russian tea cookies, sugar cookies and she helped fix Brenda's peanut butter balls =)

Shannon: 1,000,000 turtles!

Jeanine: World's best cookies. That's it because they really are the best.

Stephanie: Chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookies and 5-layer bars.

Me: More peppermint bark and rum balls.



Of course the baking really happened in the background. It's mostly an excuse for us girls to get together to eat, drink and be merry =) And in the end we each take home 20 lbs. of baked goods to distribute to one and all.

Yes, 20 lbs.

Remembering Mom

Me and Mom with Hilo Bay behind us.



This is how I remember her.



On this day, one year ago, I remember telling her that we would miss her more than words could ever express. I also told her that we would never forget her. I think of her every day and this is how she looks in my mind's eye.



She is always sunshine and smiles.

Reindeer

Nate bought this cute little Christmas outfit for Milo a couple years ago. There is a collar with colorful jingle bells and a head piece with reindeer antlers. Milo doesn't mind the collar, but the antlers are NOT his favorite.



It took him all of 10 seconds to rip the antlers off his head.



Now, with Milo, you really shouldn't try to restrain him when he's not happy. He WILL claw your eyes out. Payton, on the other hand will just whine.



Oh, the humanity!


Lady, put that stupid camera down and remove this costume at once! There better be a can of tuna waiting for me when this is over.

Pinwheels

A quick and easy appetizer:



All you do is preheat the oven to 425 degrees and thaw out a couple sheets of puff pastry. Unfold each sheet and sprinkle with some Italian Seasoning and your favorite grated cheese. In this case I used parmesan. Roll each sheet of puff pastry up into a log and slice cross wise into 1/4" pieces. Place each pinwheel on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.



These are rediculously good and SO EASY to whip up. People will think you slaved all day, but you and I will know the truth =)

camel up a hill

Oh, lordy. I was laughing so hard that I started crying. Whew! It is kind of like Ken Lee =)

Charlie

AKA Char Bar.



Look at his squishy little face! This is Max and Beth's puppy. He is 5 months old and just as cute as a button.





It wasn't really cold in our house, but Charlie was modeling his coat for us =)

Thank you, Monica!

Got these in the mail the other day =) What a nice surprise!



Monica actually sent more candies than pictured, but we ate a bunch right away =) The one bad thing was that it was so cold outside that the candy was rock hard when I first opened the package. I almost lost a tooth!

kitty =)

Surprised Kitty @ Yahoo! Video

Pumpkin Pie

I hope all of you have recovered from Thanksgiving =) I'm still in a Thanksgiving mood, so here is another recipe that I got from my mom. I make this every year for my brother and leave out the cloves since he is allergic.



The magic of this pie is the shortbread crust. Yep, that's right--the crust is shortbread. Trust me when I say you haven't had pumpkin pie until you've had it with a shortbread crust. I'll never make it any other way. AND since it's shortbread, you can just press the crust into your pie pans instead of messing with rolling pins and crimping. I love it!