Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from all of us - Hubby, Little Miss Sunshine, and the Monster included.

We are celebrating in Mexico this year. No presents, no stockings, no baking, and no turkey dinner. But sand, sun, fishing, and infinite days spent in the water. We'll see you in the New Year.

Christmas Morning

Certain traditions cannot be shelved in the name of vacation. Sadly, we didn't chop down a tree this year. Hands down, tree chopping is my favourite part of the year. Coming in a very close second is the Christmas Tree Bun.

Originating in Hubby's family (thanks Susan) the Christmas Tree Bun is a sweet bread dough, formed into this cute tree. Drizzled with icing and rainbow sprinkles it serves as a carrier for the all important honey butter. Mimosas, sausage, and bacon on the side.

On the now rare occasions where the A clan gets together for Christmas morning, er... noon hour, we have to sit through the gift-opening to get to the Tree Bun. After the kids have torn through their gifts and we adults opened our present from Susan we have to wait for Susan to finish opening all the presents her friends and family send her. We aren't very patient with her, to be honest, as she stops her opening to chat and watch the kids. Yes, they are cute and the excitement is contagious, but we need her to finish in order to eat. And eat is what we want to do.

When Hubby and I spent our first Christmas alone in the new city - five years ago! - the only thing he asked for was Christmas Tree Bun. We sat in our dining room, devouring bread with honey butter and downing mimosas. I think people got a few tipsy phone calls that morning. Ah, the days before kids. The tradition carries on, minus all the champagne.

I would share the recipe, but I don't think I am allowed - until my daughters are married off and then, only to their partners. But pick your favourite soft or sweet bread recipe and form it into buns to rise. Bake together and enjoy.

This year we are off to Mexico for two weeks, with my family. While I can make no promises regarding rainbow sprinkles I do intend to bake on Christmas morning, 30 degree C weather be damned!

Have a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. We'll see you in a few weeks.

Christmas Baking Done and Delivered

We made a few things in our house the past few weeks. Nothing fancy, but some homemade treats to share with neighbours, the daycare, and some friends. I wanted to make more, but The Monster was sick and baking wasn't high on our list of things to do.

That still left us with some very yummy results. There was my peppermint bark, cherry vanilla biscotti, sugar cookies dusted with vanilla sugar, and my all-time favourite cookie for Christmas - chewy chocolate gingerbread. I think The Monster agrees with me already.

There are few recipes in all the magazines I read that capture me as much as this one. Good ol' Martha. I've been making them for 10 years now. And it's no wonder that she chose them for the cover of the Cookies cookbook, where the recipe is repeated. I've done nothing to change the recipe, so I won't repeat it here (check out the link above). But I encourage you to go out and make them - right now.

We are currently a nut free household, so my childhood faves are still off-limits. Rugelah and something called Christmas Jewels were the treats that graced our table for dessert on Christmas Eve, along with shortbread and so much more. I'm hoping that our nut allergy potential is proven wrong in time and I can introduce these to the girls.

For now, I am phenomenally happy with the sugar cookies. I tried Martha's recipe and this year it just did not work. Maybe I was overtired when I mixed them up and missed some flour. I'm not sure, but I ended up throwing out the entire batch, what I baked and the rest of the dough after I gave up - an entire pound of butter all said and done. I remembered Julie posting about them after her adventures in Jasper and tried her recipe. Oh. My. Gawd. Fantastic. Nearly as good as these ones, but homemade.

I changed Julie's recipe only in delivery. Rather than roll them into balls and press them down I pressed the dough into a rectangle, sprinkled them with vanilla sugar, and cut out squares. The dough is quite soft, so I thought this would work better. Besides, I already had round cookies and wanted variety.

It was back to Julie for the biscotti as well. I used her basic recipe and added my own flavourings. There were dried cherries in the house so I chopped them up, used vanilla sugar, and doubled the vanilla extract. It would have been preferable to use a vanilla bean, but there were none in the house. As a final touch, I drizzled some melted bittersweet chocolate on top.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to deliver our treats to daycare as The Monster was in no condition for play and company. That means another round of baking in the New Year. I'm sure the girls there will be in no mood for baking in January, but I have a lot of butter and flour to get through. Truth be told, we never need a reason to bake in this house. But I am sure glad we have people we can share with.

Piecing for Others

One of my quilting friends was recently diagnosed with cancer. The ladies in a group I belong to got together and made blocks for a quilt for her. People sent me the churn dash blocks, I pieced together and appliqued the lighthouse block, and another friend and I put the top and back together this week. Another lady is quilting and binding it before we send it out to provide some real hugs from virtual friends. I'm excited to see how this gets quilted. I'll let you know.

My apologies for the crappy photo. We were in a rush to get this out for mailing.

It Must be the Ukrainian in Her

There are a million lists that circulate through inboxes that start with, "You know you are X when..." I must admit that I can identify with the ones that refer to children of the 80s, Ukrainians, and quilters. But nowhere on the list about Ukrainians does it mention wanting pickles for breakfast.

Mornings in our house are lazy affairs, what with me on mat leave and Hubby self-employed and not a morning person. The Monster wakes up, steals a few snuggles, aggravates her sister and sits down with a handful of raisins and Zaboomafoo while I nurse Little Miss Sunshine. Once the little one is fed I make myself some tea and try to convince the Monster to eat some breakfast. Like her Dad, she isn't much for eating early in the day.

Well, one day last week she made the particularly unique request for pickles for breakfast.

We had a jar sitting on the counter, waiting for Hubby to open. When my parents make pickles and my dad does up the jars with his beefy construction worker hands a special gravity is enabled, one that holds the lids on with particular force. Of course, old lids don't help and being the frugal Ukrainian that he is, he won't replace the jars. Opening his jars is a two person, hot water, wooden spoon, and damp cloth job.

So that morning Hubby and I tried struggled. We rinsed, we banged, we grunted, we braced ourselves and turned. Nothing was working. Hubby finally felt some movement so tried that extra bit harder. I could hear the crack in the other room. The lid came off - with the top of the jar. Definitely time to replace the jars, Dad.

After the Monster got over the shock of the noise and the short-lived drama of thinking she wasn't going to get any pickles, we opened one of the jars that my mom and I made while our playhouse was being built. The Monster got her breakfast of three little pickles, and a bit of cheese too. Off to daycare a happy little Ukrainian. Well, half Ukrainian with garlic breath.

Dynamo Done

This little Dynamo is done! Delivered too, as the little man's bris was yesterday. What a special ceremony for welcoming someone to the world. Intimate and beautiful. Yes, beautiful. My friends, the parents, were overcome with emotion for their wondrous son and for the meaning of the celebration. Their community of friends and family welcomed Charlie and brought a bit of light to what is a busy, stressful time in anyone's life.

My hope is that this quilt can bring some comfort and light to Charlie's life as well. From building forts, snuggles on snow days, and some bright spots in his room - all can bring love to the child.

This quilt was a bit of a different style for me. I am thrilled with the way it turned out - very graphic and bold. The colours are more muted than I normally work with, but they all went so well with the inspiration fabrics. I tried a few layouts after making a whole bunch of half square triangles. It was all too busy, so I went for larger blocks. Then, of course, I couldn't resist a few circles...

To emphasize the graphic nature of the quilt's design I stuck with a simple and graphic quilting pattern. I simply accentuated a few of the circles - free-hand, can you tell? - and did some straight line quilting on the diagonal. It's been a while since I used a walking foot.

Sometimes it is good to try a few new things. Sometimes they do just work out.

The Games We Play And the Songs We Sing

For all you with thirty-something suburban white rap fans as partners, this one is for you. Hubby grew up on De La Soul, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Eric B. and Rakim, and Methodman. For all these folks there is actually a kids show for you. We are addicted to it in this house. Please welcome DJ Lance and Yo Gabba Gabba into your house.

Sure, it is pretty much as irritating as any other show geared towards toddlers, at least when you are forced to watch it as much as they are allowed to watch TV or DVDs. It is not nearly as painful, however, as purple dinosaurs or creepy costumed grown men with fake hair. But it is quite catchy and oddly entertaining, what with the beatboxing with Biz Markie, celebrity guests who dance, and funky monsters with weird names like Fufa.

Hubby and I were never ones for pretending that airplanes or choo-choos were making their way to the baby's mouth when she ate. Open up or don't eat. You don't want to eat? No worries. But as The Monster asserts some independence and, at the same time, is getting a bit lazy about eating, we've glommed on to one thing to help us through dinner.

Normal dinnertime in our house generally involves Hubby and I trying to have a conversation over The Monster's singing, or rousing bouts of all of us roaring like lions or comparing owies and eye colour. The Monster hasn't been eating much lately so we resorted to a bit of a guilt trip a la Yo Gabba Gabba. Did you know there is a party in your tummy? And the beans want to be there, so do the pierogies, and the roast beef. Seriously, all we have to do is remind her about the party and she eats more. And when she is done she repeats all the attendees to her party. Heck, days later she is still telling us who came.

She had a bit of a gastro problem the past few days and yesterday she asked why she was sick. I told her it was because a funny bug went to the party in her tummy and made her sick. A perfect explanation. And then she asked to peel a banana and send it to the party, complete with the action of lifting-up her shirt and pointing at her belly button. Let the Party begin.

Check out the official version of the song here.

It Was a Good Idea

Oh, but how the execution sucked. This is why I don't make bags and things with lots of different, somewhat intricate ways of manufacture. Or maybe it is why I'm not one to sew anything but quilts.

I had this grand idea to make a special travel colouring book for the Monster for our upcoming Christmas vacation. Something new for the plane ride and something to keep markers contained.


It started with an idea, a pattern drafted, and some delicious fabrics. Somewhere between my brain and the sewing machine something went screwy. It looks great, but the markers fall out, it is too big for the chosen book, and it doesn't close tight enough to keep everything contained. Laying open and flat it is handy, but that's about it.

It's worth another shot, but not this week. We leave on Sunday and I have way too much to do. I think we'll just be putting the markers in a ziploc and the paper in the little backpack I bought her.

I'll Show You

I've been kicked out of the house a lot lately. No, Hubby and I are not fighting. Sure, we're stressed with the reno, but we're not fighting. It's just that I need to get one or both of the girls out of the house while he does messy or noisy work. There have been a lot of visits to friends and prep for our Christmas trip, but sometimes none of that can be done. What's a girl to do? Fabric shop, of course!

In total I went to four different local stores:

Along Came Quilting

My Sewing Room

Out of Hand

Traditional Pastimes

As you can see, I bought a wide variety of fabrics. Oh, and this isn't all of them. I saved some special ones from the photo because they are to be made into a quilt for new baby for someone who reads here. Generally, it was simply stash enhancement. A few pieces were for one quilt I have brewing in the back of my head.

It was good to go to a number of stores in a short period of time. We often get used to going to the same one or two places. Once I got out and about (yes, I am Canadian) I could see some big differences in the fabric selection. Hmm, maybe that isn't such a good thing when your money is supposed to be directed towards renos.

It wasn't all brand new fabric either. A few weeks back I swapped with Jacquie for this great retro fabric. She found it on a bolt and I begged her to swap with me. It is going to find its way on to our dining room wall, and maybe some placemats or an apron.

Speaking of walls, check out the sweet wallpaper we found hidden behind the basement bathroom's walls.

Not much quilty activity lately. Just getting the binding sewn down on this baby quilt. I'm trying to finish off a travel colouring case for The Monster. We have a 4 hour flight next weekend and I'm hoping this new treat will carry us for a bit longer than 5 minutes. Oh, and I started some Christmas baking.

Best get back to my budget spreadsheet. The girls are both sleeping, the dogs are finally outside for a spell, and Hubby is buying lumber to make some stairs. And I'm working on a spreadsheet. Fun times.

If You Can't Buy Shoes...

Stay-at-home moms don't get Christmas parties. Especially stay-at-home moms married to a self-employed men. There is no reason to go shopping and buy a fancy dress and wickedly sexy shoes. There is no babysitter to find and pay a small ransom. There is no mediocre prime rib dinner and boring dance. There are no door prizes, cheezy centerpieces, and someone embarrassing themselves.

Okay, it isn't all bad. But a night off is nice. My girlfriend Tanya to the rescue (she is so good at that)! She invited a few of us over for treats, gossip, and Grey's Anatomy. We all brought more treats too. That way none of us was really cooking and all our little girls stayed home with Daddy (or were already asleep).

We had a fantastic time. What a treat to talk without interferences from little girls demanding our attention. We ate way too much sugar and talked about everything from Barbies, pajamas, colo-rectal surgery, vacations, bilingualism, waxing, and politics. There was no need to watch what we said, and no reason to watch how much sugar we ate. Oranges gave us some semblance of feeling healthy.

My contribution to the night was peppermint bark. Williams and Sonoma be damned, make it yourself. I am by no means a chocolate making expert, so anyone can do this. If you know how to temper chocolate (to make it solid again at room temperature and a little but shiny), great. I don't, but I try. Either way, it is ridiculously easy and highly addictive. Just keep it in the fridge and no one will know the difference.

Peppermint Bark

4 candy canes

16 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate

10 drops peppermint extract

16 ounces white chocolate

1. Prepare a rimmed cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper.

2. With candy canes still their wrapper bash them lightly with the handle of a knife or a wooden spoon. Don't bash too hard or you will have candy cane dust everywhere. Unwrap them over a bowl.

3. Chop semi/dark chocolate coarsely. In a bowl set over a pot of simmering water melt chocolate slowly. Pull off the heat just before it is fully melted. Stir to finish melting. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until it is still warm, but not hot. Stir in the peppermint extract. Pour and spread around prepared pan.

4. While the semi/dark chocolate is resting, coarsely chop the white chocolate and melt in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Pull off the heat just before it is fully melted. Stir to finish melting. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until it is still warm, but not hot. Pour directly over the semi/dark chocolate.

5. Sprinkle the candy cane bits over it all.

6. Cool in the fridge until hard. Break into bite size pieces.

Little Helper

I had a little helper the other night. Oh, she was so interested in what I was doing and insisted on helping. It breaks your heart. And drives you insane. Very insane. Just when you get things the way you want she starts placing/throwing blocks around or crawling over the blocks to get one where she thinks it needs to go.


You just can't get mad though. She is taking such interest in quilting. When she wakes up from her nap she comes straight to me at the machine, pulls up the chair next to me, and grabs hold of the quilt to help. Of course, it doesn't really help when you are trying to actually quilt and she's pulling in the opposite direction.

Is she too young to teach how to sew?

Poor Hubby. It's bad enough that he has one girl in the house with this expensive habit. Of course, this is also the girl that loves to go to the basement and look in the holes and watch Daddy bang things.

Oh, an actual quilt update. This was us playing around with the layout for the latest baby quilt. I went with a completely different layout. I thought this was far too busy. I'll post it as soon as the baby is born - my friend reads the blog sometimes so I don't want her to see it here first.

Tragedy

It was a sad day in the kitchen a few weeks ago. With an accidental bump of my wrist while turning on the oven I also turned on a burner on the stove. To maximum. Dinner was cooking away in the oven, and I may have had rice on another burner. We could smell the burning, we opened a window (one day we'll have a hood fan), and we checked inside the oven for crusty bits maybe burning on the dirty floor. Did we drop something on a burner? After about twenty minutes I finally noticed the smoke rising up from the cookie sheet.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

This was the cookie sheet and Silpat Hubby bought me to avoid buying me a new oven. I was sick of burning cookies on my old cookie sheets and I blamed the oven. So he bought me these instead. I have to say that it really helped. I still wish I had a new oven, but I settled for buying two new cookie sheets and Silpats last week. Just in time for christmas baking.