A Quest for Christmas Cookies and Other Holiday Treats

We attempted to make some of our traditional holiday fare. For the most part it went well, but it was not without incident. The first batch of “chocolate bark” ran into a problem when the timer was mysteriously set to 7 hours instead of 7 minutes. Hmmm, that’s what happens when Diane does too many things at the same time. The first hint of trouble was when that burnt aroma began to permeate the house. 

 

Before                                After

Next we attempted some Kiss Cookies. Somehow one of the cookie balls decided to roll off the sheet and bake itself on the bottom of the oven. Fortunately there were no flames, but it did get a little smoky.  As you can see the rest made it.

Finally we tried some cut out cookies. These were successful. All the cookies and the subsequent successful batch of bark are now gone. Looks like we’ll be baking again next week. Click on photos for a closer look.

Greg put out a some outside lights. They look so pretty at night. This is proof that we do have some snow. I can hear the Fulton people chuckling now.

Merry Christmas to all. Click on the link below:

Christmas Card

Last Weekend

One of our traditions is to set up our New England Village the weekend after Thanksgiving, we leave it up into January. I love the warm glow of the lights at night. Somehow I find it comforting and peaceful.

Last Sunday we drove Emily back to school. I know winter is coming fast to the area, there was already ice on the rock walls the closer we got to her school. I don’t think we’ll be making the drive too many more times, Emily has decided to transfer to Salem State University starting her sophomore year. She decided it would be better to be closer to home. She wanted to get away and has now realized the down side is she is also trapped there on the weekends as she is 3 hours away. We have applied for her to transfer. Salem State is only about a half hour from home and many kids compute. We decided she could live there for her sophomore year as it’s a good experience and I tend to be a worrier when it comes to driving. It’s a tough area for commuting, there is no quick easy in and out to Salem and the traffic can be horrendous. Forget the month of October, Halloween is celebrated the entire month.

Thanksgiving 2010

I tend to be an early riser as many of you know so Thanksgiving morning was no exception. Above is a before and after of our traditional coffee cake.

Next it was time to prepare the turkey. It was just us this year so we decided to simplify the day. The turkey was under 13 lbs. and it fit nicely in this baking dish.

Many years ago my mother-in-law told  me about putting the stuffing in cheese cloth before stuffing it into the turkey. It makes it so incredibly easy to remove later on.

 

Once the turkey was ready there was time to do whatever. Greg makes fun of me when I ride my bike now. It was only about thirty degrees out so I’m heavily layered. First there’s my heavy sweatshirt, followed by a long windbreaker coat and topped off with a down vest. I wear cotton gloves on my hands, heavy socks to keep my feet warm and keep my pants from getting caught in the spokes. On my head I always wear a helmet but at this time of year I also wear ear muffs. I may look bloated and comical but I stay warm and get to keep on enjoying the fresh air as long as possible.

Above is the finished product. We enjoyed our dinner around 1 and relaxed the rest of the day.

Wind Ensemble 11-22-2010

              Mondavi Fanfare

              To Tame the Perilous Skies

              A Light Unto the Darkness #1

              A Light Unto the Darkness #2

              Seven

              Little Buckaroo

             

Last Monday was Derek’s Wind Ensemble concert. He is involved in several ensembles but this is one of his favorites due to the challenge of the music and the skill level of the group.

They played six pieces. The links will take you to 4 of them. A Light Unto the Darkness is in 2 parts only because when I was adjusting the camera I hit the off by mistake. (I won’t be quitting my day job Little Buckaroo features a trombone soloist who is also one of the professors.

An Unwelcome Visitor

Last night the sensor light on the barn came on. Now that it’s fall I’ve started filling the bird feeders again. Unfortunately they’re attracting more than birds. This resourceful fellow used some buckets to make his climb easier.

To get a better view I went up to our bedroom, opened the windows and took the rest of the shots. I yelled down to him but he didn’t seem to have any fear. Eventually he decided not to take any chances and ambled off into the night.

On a more fun note I got an iPhone 4 and have been enjoying playing with it this weekend. It really is a combination of the itouch with a phone. I wanted to carry one device instead of two especially to work. I have purchased several medical reference books and like to have them with me to look things up so now my pockets won’t look quite so bloated.

Getting Ready for Winter

 

I found this great banana bread recipe that I finally got around to trying. I’ll post the recipe at the end of this. It tastes almost like ginger bread. I enjoyed it warm with peanut butter, Mark liked it with whipped cream. I made it without the glaze which I bet is really good.

Life at our house has been status quo…work, chores and work, not too exciting to blog about. I think I mentioned before that I have really gotten into bike riding. I continue to do it as many times a week as I can as long as it’s not raining. I have ridden in the 30’s with earmuffs under my helmet and tears in my eyes from the cold but I feel so much better after a ride that it’s worth it. A typical ride is a little over 5 miles. I’ve even managed a few rides after a day of being on my feet at work because it helps me to decompress.

One goal that I had was to break the 10 mile mark which I did on Halloween, 10.14 miles. As we get closer to winter I know that riding outside is not going to be possible so in preparation we have invested in an exercise bike. This bike has built in workouts and can be customized. It is extremely quiet which was a big draw for us. I will continue to ride outside as long as possible because for me the wind in my face, fresh air and the sounds of nature are all part of the package but I’ll be ready as that will soon not be possible.

SPICED BANANA BREAD WITH MAPLE-CINNAMON GLAZE

Banana Bread

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/8 teaspoon salt

Maple-Cinnamon Glaze

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom and sides of an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan; set aside.
2.  For Bread:  Whisk together flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a small mixing bowl; set aside.
3.  In a large mixing bowl combine egg, bananas, sugar, oil, and salt.  Stir in reserved dry ingredients and mix just until all ingredients are moist.  Batter will be lumpy.  Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan.
4.  Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes.  Remove bread from pan and cool 10 more minutes.  Prepare glaze while bread is cooling.
5.  For Glaze:  Mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside.  Place syrup and butter in a small saucepan over low heat and heat until butter melts, stirring occasionally and until completely blended.  Using a pastry brush, brush top and sides of warm bread all over with glaze.  Sprinkle top with cinnamon-sugar mixture and let cool. Cut bread into slices to serve.  Makes 1 loaf, serving 12-14.

Fall Family Weekend

Last Saturday was family weekend at Emily’s college. We left around 7 a.m.  There was a full moon still visible. Unfortunately western Mass was pretty much past peak but we did find some beautiful colors here and there.

Emily’s dorm is below left. The building to the right has classes in it but I mainly liked the fall colors.

The weekend seemed geared towards Alumni so we mainly spent time with Emily taking her out to eat and to shop. She seemed very happy with that. I’m always impressed with how fresh and clean the air smells out there.

When Greg graduated from college his first job was in Pittsfield. The photo below right was our first apartment. We lived upstairs. It used to have a small grocery store below. I’m sure the original owners are long gone.

The photo below is in North Adams where Em’s college is. One of the streets is aptly named Church Street. There seems to be a church on every corner.

We took a leisurely trip back stopping here and there to take photos.