Vlogmas, Day 1

Tis The Season

Yes, it's that time of year. 

I've finally finished all my Christmas knitting projects, and mailed them.  Now I can relax a bit. 

Kim and I cut a tree this year for the first time.  Our cutting area was about 10 minutes down the road from us, in the Flathead National Forest.

After quite a bit of looking around this was our choice.

And the final result!

We've been enjoying all the snow.

Frankie's not so sure...

But he and Felix are in love with Santa.

The big news has been my newest grandson, Perry, who was born last month near Seattle.  Isn't he a sweet looking baby?  It's not just me, right?

I am missing this guy.  Scarface used to enjoy the Christmas tree so much.

Chicken Update:  Brazil is back in the chicken coop and doing well.  The hens have survived -24F so we hope they're getting acclimated to Montana weather.

Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas/whatever you celebrate to all!!!

Post Christmas

Our Christmas happened later as usual, on the Sunday after Christmas.  This year it was just the four of us;  Kim and I and my daughter Vanessa and her husband Chris.  Or five of us if you want to count the baby boy.  (Which I do of course!)

(We're all soooo tired!)

Scarface continues to enjoy the Christmas tree.

Food was eaten.   I won't give you the full run down this year.  I made all appetizers again, it's one of my favorite meals.  And the winner was.......Endive Petals with Rosemary Chevre.   Delicious.  You can find the recipe here.  I wanted to use the red endive but it wasn't available.
Here is a super easy recipe for the candied pecans.

Another hit was the White Chocolate and Raspberry Trifle Cake.

Here's the recipe.  It's a Donna Hay recipe but I couldn't locate the exact recipe at her website.  It calls for sherry but I didn't want to buy any and we don't usually keep sweet wine around the house.  I ended up using hazelnut coffee flavoring, the stuff they use at coffee shops.  I diluted mine just a bit with some water,  I was afraid it was going to be too strong.  But everyone loved it.

A big disappointment was Brownies a la Resolution.  You can find the recipe here.

The recipe sounds delicious, but it was a bit too cake-like for me.  If you try it I suggest you don't do as I did and follow the instructions to bake "until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean."  In my experience that's always a mistake when baking brownies, the toothpick should come out with some clinging crumbs.  But that's me and I wish I had followed my own advice.  On the other hand, if when eating these brownies you tell your brain "Cake!", they taste just fine.  

Hope your holidays have been great.  We're looking forward to a new year.  Another new grandchild in March, more knitting, more Montana visits, and perhaps Seattle to see this sweetie?  I sure miss my granddaughter and her parents.

And I think Scarface is telling us it's time to take the tree down.

It's That Time of Year

The Stuff We Do

That's done.  96 cookies decorated.
Yes, I'm a bit crazy.  But I give most of them away.

Now that that's finished, looks as if we have an open weekend coming up!  Yay!!!!

Hope your holiday season is going really, really, well.

Cats, Dogs, and Christmas Knitting

Fifth Holiday Post

My family celebrated our "Christmas" together yesterday.  Had lots of fun.
Our granddaughter Hayden was a big attraction.
Here she is modeling the duck hat I knitted.  She's also wearing her Green Bay onesie, because, well, she must.  Her Daddy is a big Green Bay fan.

Here Hayden attempts to eat her aunts hand.

Daddy entertains her for a while.

Grandma and Grandpa get in on some baby loving action.

Everyone enjoyed the hand knit socks I made for them.  And Kim gave his home made beer, which was a big hit of course.

There was football to watch.

And lots to eat.

  I went for appetizers this year instead of a sit down dinner.

Using recipes from Pinterest:

The Schweddy Balls, (yes, remember them from SNL? - Schweddy Balls skit), well, they were a hit. Easy to make, too.





Garlic Herb Roasted Shrimp with Homemade Cocktail Sauce;  also popular, and again, easy to make.

And who doesn't like red pepper jelly with cream cheese?  This time with a cranberry twist for Christmas.  Delicious.

I took a chance and tried this Scarpaccia.  It's all veggie, but also I left off a portion of cheese at the end for those with a dairy intolerance.  Worked well.  Made a lot.

There were also Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Garlic Aioli (delicious), guacamole, hummus, fresh veggies, and, thanks to my daughter, a variety of olives.  My friend Carol brought over pork and seeds.

For dessert, three new recipes.

Lemon Shortbread Truffles were a big disappointment to me.  Maybe I'm just not good at making them.  They never achieved a nice "rolling" consistency.  Then I added too much yellow food coloring and they were orange instead of yellow.  Oh well, win some, lose some.  I made my own shortbread cookies for this recipe and my own lemon curd.  Still have plenty of those leftover so it's not a complete let down.

And some chocolate for dessert is a must.  These brownies really hit the spot.  I think they'll be my go-to brownie recipe from now on.  Supposed to be one of Oprah's favs.  I see why now.

Am I the only person who likes meringues? Well, in my family anyway.  I love that crunchy texture on the outside and the way they melt in your mouth.  I thought these Peppermint Meringues were a nice dairy free dessert option.  And pretty, too.  Also super easy.

Later we played monopoly...

and watched a movie.  Bad Words is good fun.  Rohan Chand is adorable.

To top off the day we even received more snow.

It was a great day.  The one sour part was when Scarface growled at Hayden, so he was banished from the house for a while.  That's part of the reason he's part of our household now, he's a grouchy old turd.