The 3 F's pretty much sum up my last few days. I was commenting with Kendelle the other day that our family's holiday traditions include a lot of food. We spend more time and effort and planning and preparing the food we will enjoy than the activities or people we will be with...it may be kind of a mixed up priority but it plays a huge part in our celebrations. Because Kendelle and I eat vegetarian most of the time we decided to make a special item to add to the Celebration dinners. The main meat for our family was roast beef one night and pork ribs another which didn't really interest me or Kendelle. We found a tasty recipe on the internet for something called Tobago Parcels. They were caribbean and delicious. The filling was made with sweet potatoe, onion, garlic, black beans and some lemon juice and thyme as seasoning. These were wrapped up in phyllio pastry and then we made a mango curry dipping sauce to go with. It was so good. They will be made again....
FUN-my family loves to play card games during the holidays so that's what we've done a lot of this holiday. Hand & Foot, steal, wizard are three of our favorites. Last night we also got out to the skating oval for the first time this year. IT's so beautiful out there with all the lights, music playing, and bonfires burning. I hope to get out there quite a few more times this winter. Today we're also hoping to pull out the cross-country skies for the first time of the season.
As the end of the year approaches, I've found my thoughts turning a lot to what's to come. 2009 is going to be a year of many new firsts in my life. My graduation from Education in the spring will be be biggest instigator of change in my world. It is mostly an open/empty canvas right now...but there are several ideas/possibilities working in my life...I'll publish them when things are officially decided.
I'm off to go and have some more holiday fun...take care friends.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Holidays
So I got back from Calgary Wednesday. I had a lot of fun out there in Calgary playing with an adorable (though sometimes bossy) 3 year old and cuddling to my heart's content with 2 beautiful 6-month olds. Sorry for spoiling them Rayna! Hopefully they've got back into their routine:) I got to spend some time baking some Christmas goodies and we even decorated little gingerbread people to represent the family I was staying with. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with my hopes of getting out of the city to the mountains or even to the zoo. An arctic system moved in, dumping a chunk of snow and then plummeting temperatures that encouraged hibernation rather than outdoor adventure. It was still a good time and I even managed to meet up with a camp friend who's going to school there which was a nice addition to the trip. Mytravels to and from were fairly uneventful although my return flight ended up being 1 hour late so that made for a long day (got into Winnipeg at 12:40am!)
Since being back in Brandon I've been making the oven work double time and baking up a storm. So far this week I've made mini-mushroom tarts (with cream cheese pastry), piggies in a blanket, banana chocolate chip muffins (not really Christmas baking, but yummy!), mock cherry tarts, ginger snaps, mince meat tarts and mini quiches. There are still a few things on my to-do list with regards to baking but I'm looking forward to it. I love all the baking that goes with the Christmas season!
I still have a few small things to pick up for Christmas gifts, but thankfully it's almost done and I should be able to avoid all the crazy malls and just go to a few small boutiques downtown that won't be so busy:)
My other big event since returning home was volunteering with Operation Red Nose last night. here were no crazy adventures or super entertaining rides but it makes me feel better knowing that a service like that is available to people. Seeing the state of some of those people frightened me thinking about what would happen if they got behind the wheel instead of calling us or a taxi company.
That's about all that's been happening in my life...enjoy the weekend and the celebration of Christ's birth.
Merry Christmas All!
Since being back in Brandon I've been making the oven work double time and baking up a storm. So far this week I've made mini-mushroom tarts (with cream cheese pastry), piggies in a blanket, banana chocolate chip muffins (not really Christmas baking, but yummy!), mock cherry tarts, ginger snaps, mince meat tarts and mini quiches. There are still a few things on my to-do list with regards to baking but I'm looking forward to it. I love all the baking that goes with the Christmas season!
I still have a few small things to pick up for Christmas gifts, but thankfully it's almost done and I should be able to avoid all the crazy malls and just go to a few small boutiques downtown that won't be so busy:)
My other big event since returning home was volunteering with Operation Red Nose last night. here were no crazy adventures or super entertaining rides but it makes me feel better knowing that a service like that is available to people. Seeing the state of some of those people frightened me thinking about what would happen if they got behind the wheel instead of calling us or a taxi company.
That's about all that's been happening in my life...enjoy the weekend and the celebration of Christ's birth.
Merry Christmas All!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Finished
That's right folks. The school term is officially over. I just got back from my last meeting with my prof to show him my project and now it's Christmas Break!!! Yipee! I know it will take me a few days to get into the relax and enjoy mode. For now I'm still antsy about finding things to do. I guess that's a good thing since I still have to pack up for my trip to Calgary and get some Christmas shopping done too.
I'm pretty excited to enjoy this last LONG Christmas break...I realized that this is the last 1 month Christmas break that I will ever have since it's my last year as a student (at least as far as I know!)
So to all of you who still have exams to finish...good luck!
And to those who have passed that era in life...enjoy the day, whatever it may bring!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Christmas is Coming
These past few days have been filled with all the wonderful things that come along with getting ready for the Christmas season. BAKING, DECORATING & SHOPPING!
Baking:
My kitchen has been busy with all sorts of goodies. I made the first chocolates of the season with my mom the other night. It's so much fun to see the perfect little goodies pop out of the tray. I also made horse shoes (an almond shortbread that is shaped into a horse shoe and then the ends are dipped in melted milk chocolate)...one of my favorites of Christmas baking. I also made some delicious cranberry and white chocolate oatmeal cookes (a nice variation of the traditional chocolate chip, raisin and oatmeal cookie that you eat all year long). One other fun adventure in cookie making of this past week was making a candy cane cookie. I made a regular cookie dough (sugar, butter, eggs, flour, salt, baking soda) and then added crushed candy canes to the dough. I'm personally not a big fan of peppermint flavoured foods but the cookies looked really pretty and the rest of my family though they were pretty good. The red and green specks from the candy canes show up really well in the cookies.
Decorating:
Yesterday was D-day in my household. I had a lot of fun working with my mom during the day to bring all the decorations down from our attic and transforming the house into a winter wonderland. I always seem to forget how much work it takes to carry all the boxes down the stairs and then take the empty ones back to the attic after the deed is done. We waited until everyone was home in the evening to put up the tree so that we could have the fun all together! The male population of my home is not so interested in decorating, but it's super important for my sister that we wait until she is home. I made a bunch of popcorn strings to put on the tree which was a lot of work but I think it looks pretty and I also had fun stringing the popcorn on. Our dog thought that popcorn strings were also a fantastic idea. He was greedy enough to try and eat the popcorn right off the string! Can't really blame the little guy though...it was just lying there on the floor...he didn't see the string!
Shopping:
Yesterday was definitely a full day when I look back at it because once Kendelle got home from school after finishing her final lab test we decided to do some Christmas shopping. I got several people crossed off my list and it wasn't even too chaotic in the stores which was nice. I don't mind shopping if I can avoid the big chain stores and the mall where all the people seem to congregate. I found a bunch of things at 10,000 villages which is great because I find unique gifts and I am supporting fair trade...two great perks!
Today has been my first Pyjama day since the end of summer break. It's been lovely to lounge around and just soak in the almost holiday feel in my house. I only have 2 days of classes left and then I'll be flying off to Calgary to spend a few days with some of my favorite people!
Hope your day is filled with all sorts of blessings and a chance to relax!
Baking:
My kitchen has been busy with all sorts of goodies. I made the first chocolates of the season with my mom the other night. It's so much fun to see the perfect little goodies pop out of the tray. I also made horse shoes (an almond shortbread that is shaped into a horse shoe and then the ends are dipped in melted milk chocolate)...one of my favorites of Christmas baking. I also made some delicious cranberry and white chocolate oatmeal cookes (a nice variation of the traditional chocolate chip, raisin and oatmeal cookie that you eat all year long). One other fun adventure in cookie making of this past week was making a candy cane cookie. I made a regular cookie dough (sugar, butter, eggs, flour, salt, baking soda) and then added crushed candy canes to the dough. I'm personally not a big fan of peppermint flavoured foods but the cookies looked really pretty and the rest of my family though they were pretty good. The red and green specks from the candy canes show up really well in the cookies.
Decorating:
Yesterday was D-day in my household. I had a lot of fun working with my mom during the day to bring all the decorations down from our attic and transforming the house into a winter wonderland. I always seem to forget how much work it takes to carry all the boxes down the stairs and then take the empty ones back to the attic after the deed is done. We waited until everyone was home in the evening to put up the tree so that we could have the fun all together! The male population of my home is not so interested in decorating, but it's super important for my sister that we wait until she is home. I made a bunch of popcorn strings to put on the tree which was a lot of work but I think it looks pretty and I also had fun stringing the popcorn on. Our dog thought that popcorn strings were also a fantastic idea. He was greedy enough to try and eat the popcorn right off the string! Can't really blame the little guy though...it was just lying there on the floor...he didn't see the string!
Shopping:
Yesterday was definitely a full day when I look back at it because once Kendelle got home from school after finishing her final lab test we decided to do some Christmas shopping. I got several people crossed off my list and it wasn't even too chaotic in the stores which was nice. I don't mind shopping if I can avoid the big chain stores and the mall where all the people seem to congregate. I found a bunch of things at 10,000 villages which is great because I find unique gifts and I am supporting fair trade...two great perks!
Today has been my first Pyjama day since the end of summer break. It's been lovely to lounge around and just soak in the almost holiday feel in my house. I only have 2 days of classes left and then I'll be flying off to Calgary to spend a few days with some of my favorite people!
Hope your day is filled with all sorts of blessings and a chance to relax!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
My Toque
Just the other day I finished my latest knitting project. I'm pretty proud of it! Of course there are a few small things that didn't go quite as planned, but considering it is only my second cabled project I think it turned out quite fine. I'm still not decided about whether I'll keep the button I have on it right now or look for something different.
I apologize for the poor quality of photos...I took them quickly this morning before getting ready for school:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
