Christmas Baking

I did a lot of baking this Christmas season. As I mentioned I went to a cookie exchange earlier in the month. Basically all of the participants had to bring half a dozen treats and exchange them and then bring an appetizer to share. For my treat I ended up doing mini loaves of chocolate toffee bread - I found a great recipe at Crazy Little Projects that I used. Rather than slicing it and then packaging it, I just decided to give away whole loaves.

For my appetizer I decided to go with a Brie cup. I was inspired by a recipe on Recipe Girl's site but decided to shake it up. I took phyllo cups (in the frozen section at the grocery store) and added a little bit of raspberry jam to the bottom of each cup. Then I added a piece of Brie on the top. I baked them at 375 for about five minutes. As soon as they came out of the oven I topped them with chopped walnuts. They were so delicious but bad blogger that I am, I forgot to take a picture of them.

In addition to the cookie exchange I did my usual Christmas baking. I made peanut butter balls as I usually do but the rest of my baking was very mint-centric. I had fun with the seasonal m&ms and Hershey kisses! For one of my goodies I took a chocolate cookie recipe I've used in the past and added 1/4 teaspoon of mint extract and then mixed in mint m&ms. These were probably my favorites.

Next up were brownie bites with candy cane kisses. I followed this recipe and while it ultimately ended up fine, I had some problems along the way. I have a convection oven and was having a hard time getting the settings right. The were underdone in the center but ended up dry in the end. I think I need to work on my temperature control. I also didn't grease the tin enough on the first batch so they stuck but luckily fixed that on the second (but hey at least I was able to eat the messy batch myself!) The other thing is the candy cane kisses are much softer than the normal ones - it takes a while for them to set but I was prepared for that to happen at least.

Last up were sugar cookies with the rest of the candy cane kisses. I took the sugar cookies and rolled them green colored sugar for a festive look. Like the brownies, the kisses ended up very soft but they ended up setting up okay.

(This was taken pre-kisses)

And for good measure here's a picture of the peanut butter balls!

My favorite!

 

Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas season full of lots of activities and hanging out with our families. I also managed to get all of my Christmas knitting done, just barely - I finished a little hat ornament for my aunt on Christmas Eve morning.

I went to a cookie exchange early in the month and made chocolate toffee loaves to share. I also made raspberry Brie phyllo cups for my appetizer.

My boys participated in a church Christmas program (J's first program)

They visited Santa

J's preschool had a Christmas program too

We made giant gingerbread men at my mom's house

Everybody also got the presents they wanted.

It's been a great month

 

 

The view from my ride

As part of my goal to lose some weight (15 pounds so far - woot) I've been trying to bike more. One of the great things about my city is the wonderful bike trails, lanes and bridges. It makes it easier to stay motivated since I can explore more than just my immediate neighborhood.

While I've been out on my rides, I have also taken the time to stop and get a few pictures. The variety of the scenery on my rides is just amazing - suburban and desert mixed together.

Plus this guy!

I had a roadrunner cross pretty much right in front of me! How cool is that?!

 

Finished Object Friday - Booties

A friend of mine is having a baby and I'm going to her shower this weekend. I wanted to make a pair of booties for her so I decided to knit a pair of Saartje's booties. I have had this pattern in my Ravelry queue forever and decided this was the perfect chance to make them.

I had quite a bit of leftover yarn from my first pair of socks so I used that and I found the most adorable buttons at Joann's - little flowers! I used my size 1.5 needles, which is what the pattern called for, but they ended up smaller than they are supposed to be. I think they will still work okay for a newborn but I was hoping they would fit a little longer. It is a really cute, quick pattern though! I will definitely make them again, although probably with a larger needle and thicker yarn.

For more finished objects, check out Tami's Amis!

 

Finished Object Friday - More Socks

This week I finished up another pair of socks - for C this time. Earlier in the year both my kids asked for a pair of hand knit socks. I finished J's pair a few weeks ago and then moved onto the pair for C.

The yarn is Heart and Sole by Red Heart, knitted on a Size 1.5 needle. C's shoe size is somewhere between a kids 13 and an adult 1 so I went about 6.75 inches long with 56 stitches around. The pattern is a plain top down, slip stitch heel flap construction. I think it may be time to branch out to a new pattern for my next pair since I've done this pattern a few times now.

After finishing these socks I moved on to my next project. My friend's baby shower is next weekend so I wanted to make something for her. I'm giving Saartje's booties a try.

I also have to take a minute to brag about my knit worthy niece! Her birthday was earlier this month and a few days beforehand I was teasing her, telling her she was going to love what I got her for her birthday. She said, "ooh did you make me a hat and scarf?!" Unfortunately the answer was no but now I totally know what she is getting for Christmas! What a cutie!

For more finished objects check out Tami's Amis!

 

Vegas!

This past week E and I went to Las Vegas. We had already done quite a bit of traveling this year between Iowa and San Diego but this time we had a chance to go somewhere just the two of us so we seized the opportunity. It was so nice to get away, even for a few days. We spent most of the time just wandering from hotel to hotel but also had a nice dinner each night and also went on the Effiel Tower Experience. A few pics from the trip:

The view from our room. We stayed at Paris.

This was the view from dinner the first night - we ate at a place with an outdoor patio and spent some time people watching while we ate. Plus the Bellagio fountains went off while we were there.

This is a view of the strip from the Effiel Tower. Kind of scary for me when we were going up but I really enjoyed it when we were up there.

Gardens inside the Bellagio

Walking on the bridge between New York New York and Excalibur

Inside the M&m store. I've got to admit that a store devoted to chocolate is right up my alley!

Speaking of chocolate, this was dessert the second night. Chocolate and vanilla mousse with a ladyfingers crust and chocolate curls. E went with the strawberry cheesecake.

I had a lot of fun on our trip. I think we will have to make this an annual event!

 

Finished Object Friday

It's Friday and I have not one, but two finished objects to share! First up, the pig. Another coworker had a baby so I wanted to go with my usual book and stuffed animal for a gift. I decided to knit the pig from Itty Bitty Knits and pair it with "Moo, Baa, LaLaLa" by Sandra Boyton. Side note: I love her books; they are super cute and fun!

I used my Size 5 dpns and knitted it with what I think is Pound of Love (a friend decided after trying to learn to knit that she wasn't going to continue so she gave me some of her yarn and I'm not 100% positive on what I used.)

This is such a great pattern. I absolutely love his tail!

I wasn't originally expecting to have another finished project this week. I have been working on socks for my kiddos. My kids are so sweet; they want hand knit socks just like mom has. What I forgot to take into account is how much smaller their feet are and how much quicker the knitting goes because of that. All the sudden I realized I was only about 15 rows from being done. I decided to go ahead and push to finish them.

My son wears a size 11 in kids so these are 2 and 1/2 inches high and 6 inches long. I used my 1.5 dpns and cast on 48 stitches, using a very vanilla sock recipe with a heel flap and gusset that was done top down. The yarn is something that I got at Hobby Lobby but the brand escapes me right now. They are slightly too long but this will allow him to get more use out of them before he outgrows them. My next project is to make the same socks in a size 1 shoe size for my other son.

For more finished objects check out Tami's Amis