happy, merry, yummy

christmas has come and gone as it does, nicely. amira enjoyed all aspects of it, from cookie baking (look at how many sprinkles these candy cane cookies required!),and the candy canes on the tree, which she felt free to distribute to family and friends as they visited, to the inevitable consumption of sugary treats. it was wonderful to experience the holiday vicariously through a four year old's perspective. for her it was about opening presents,new dolls, and new art supplies .

luna kitty really enjoyed the wrapping paper, noche kitty wasn't as thrilled but i made him participate anyway. he's a good sport.

i waited until christmas day itself to make my contribution to the wonderful dinner we had at my mom and stepdad's place. thus, we arrived in our customary slightly tardy fashion. i spent my baking time thinking of several of my grandmothers, wearing an apron as gram edith would have strongly suggested, using my favorite stainless steel bowl i inherited from grandma lola, and making my grama hazel's signature dessert, apple slice. it is a dangerous dessert for me to be around, because i could easily eat a whole batch, if left alone with it for too long. here is the recipe, but i think next time i would use about half the amount of sugar and it would be even better.

Apple Slice

Pastry:

2 1/2 c flour

2 T. sugar

1 t. salt

1 c. butter (original calls for shortening)

1 egg yolk, beat in cup with enough milk to make 2/3 cup (reserve egg white for later)

mix and roll like pie crust,(roll 1/2 first) preferably on parchment paper or something you can use to transfer it to a cookie sheet with edges. slice 2 to 4 peeled apples thinly and spread over first half of pastry. top with 1 cup sugar(or less) mixed with 1 t. (or more) cinnamon. drizzle with 2 T melted butter with a few drops vanilla mixed in it. roll out other half of pastry, place on top, and seal edges.

beat egg white stiff with hand mixer, spread on top. bake at 350F for 40 minutes or more.

drizzle with glaze made with powdered sugar thinned with lemon juice. let cool a bit. enjoy!

birthday festivities begin the season

it's been one of those mornings that make schedules seem like a bad idea. if i had to actually be anywhere this morning, it wouldn't be a good thing, as amira and i are still not dressed for the day at eleven in the morning. that being the case, we have been somewhat productive, finishing making a christmas ornament and sorting out drawers and doing various little tasks. what was forecast to be a very cold day that was to top out at 15 F must be warming up, because there are drips from our roof as the snow on the roof melts. it is sunny, and that helps in every way for some of us light pigs. the days feel so short...but, only three or four more and the days start getting longer again!

last month we successfully celebrated amira's fourth birthday, that she had been talking about for months. she informed us shortly after her third birthday that the next one was her strawberry shortcake birthday. so, because we used the celebration she wanted so much as incentive for some major and needed milestones, we needed to make good on the reward. the adults enjoyed hanging out, the kids danced and played, we ate cake and amira was abundantly blessed and bestowed with gifts.

i hesitated to tell anybody luna the cat checked out the table for us before anybody arrived....is that bad?

we did make cupcakes for amira's preschool class for her actual birthDAY.

amira and i unpacked our christmas tree once thanksgiving was over.

i love that she enjoys the tree and baking so much. we made cookies, the first of the christmas baking. now begins the sugar fest...