Sources for Specialty and/or Quirky Gifts

Been browsing the web lately looking for "exciting and new" (Always gets me thinking...) gift ideas. This year Kevin and I have decided not to really "do" gifts since it gets out of hand and we're trying to save money. If we buy a gift for one person we have to buy gifts for 30 people because that one person knows like 5 people who we also know and ... basically, things get expensive fast.

However ... Kevin has his birthday (30!!) and our anniversary 2 days from each other, followed closely by Christmas. I know how difficult this is (for kids and kids at heart) to have their bday and Christmas so close together; parents tend to combo-gift, which is kinda lamesauce (totally just learned that!), however much I might understand and appreciate its frugality.

So I'm trying to make sure Kevin isn't forgotten: on our Anniversary (7 years) and his very important (to me) and a tiny bit stressful (to him) 30th bday.

All that to say, I found a few interesting sites in my quest for a cool Kevin-worthy gift. I thought I might share since ... well, tis the season.

1. Canoeonline.net for their unique and pretty pieces:

Teak Trivet

Copper Tea Canister

Sake Carafe with Ice Pocket

2. KnockKnock.biz for their goofy and lol-inducing sticky pads and stamps:

Go To Hell Notepad

WTF Sticky Notes 

Deal With This Self-Inking Stamp

3. PerpetualKid.com for their adults-are-kids-too theme:

Personal Library Kit

Chocolate Chip Necklace

Giant Gummy Bear Lamp

Happy Shopping!

Happy Christmas, hopefully

This year I have not been much in the Christmas 'spirit'. I was excited to put our tree up for the first time in our new house and I love it. I love the glimmer of the tree, I love the bright lights along the eaves of the house whenever I pull into the driveway after dark. I love hot mochas with Kevin and Christmas cookies and watching the cats play and sleep under the tree. I love watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' and 'A Christmas Story' and in a way trying to recapture (or capture for once) a different, happier feeling that Christmas is supposed to evoke. I'm pretty sure after 26 Christmases that the feeling of the Christmas spirit, of joy and magic in the air isn't so real as I hope - just make believe. I guess it's just made up by adults to make the very youngest of children feel like there is something wonderful about life and something to look forward to - cuz us grown ups are looking for it, too. Reality and the truth about false expectations sets in and we realize Christmas is just another man made holiday like the rest and just an excuse to buy things and eat more sweets than usual.

This Christmas Eve, my cousin Mike passed away. He had cancer and was fighting it hard for a couple of years. He leaves behind two wonderful young children and many, many friends and colleagues.

He is missed and will be missed as time passes and the truth of this reality sets in: he's not there anymore if I want to text him or have him over for dinner. I won't be at his house anymore drinking boxed wine and laughing about something trivial or talking about his next art show.

I feel angry and sad and shocked and uncertain. I am not sure what I feel or how to feel but I am pretty sure I have a conglomeration of feelings and conflictions going on all at once.

A pretty sad thing to dwell on at Christmas. We're supposed, I guess, to think about family and love and Jesus and lots of good food and company. It's next to impossible to do that when life's razor-sharp ability to sorely disappoint our expectations kicks us in the butt when we let our guard down just a little and dare to hope just a little.

Today Kevin and I are having turkey and mashed potatoes and peas for lunch and I'm drinking some Chardonnay. There's something ironically happy about the Christmas music playing in the background and the cats playing with each other. The lights are still on, the music still plays, and people still talk and live with one another. It just helps you appreciate a little more, I suppose, those people that you care about while they are here for you to talk to and see with your own eyes.

Holiday Baking - Part II

These are the last cookies I baked this month but I hadn't uploaded any photos yet. They were SO good and not too sweet. They are Lemon Pistachio Cookies. I love the crunch of the nuts and the tang of the citrus glaze. You can find the recipe here. If you don't have a wreath cookie cutter (which I do not) just use a round one - or the lip of a smallish glass - to cut simple circles.

Very easy and very yummy with a steaming cup of Earl Grey.

Holiday Baking - Part I

I have always enjoy baking for Christmas. I have always been the most festive person in any house I have lived and so the baking and decorating seems to be my responsibility. When I lived with my parents, I was the one baking the huge snowflake sugar cookies with blue glaze and silver dragees and now with Kevin, I am still baking and putting up the tree and insisting on Christmas movies and music and a DVD with a crackling fireplace. We don't have a fireplace in our house so I figured a big screen TV with a video of a fireplace was the next best thing - and it doesn't hurt our energy bill!

This year I hunted around for easy but pretty (and yummy!) cookie recipes. I found several at MarthaStewart.com, of course; you can always rely on Martha to provide some nice recipes. I also decided to make my 'traditional' Peppermint Bark which is so easy but always seems a popular favorite among recipients. Here are a few recipes and photos from my baking endeavors so far this December. More to come, I'm sure. =) There has been some recipe swapping among friends so I think I will experiment with some new goodies this year.

Crispy Molasses Snaps (this is from Martha but I renamed them)

2 c all-purpose flour
1-1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt
1-1/2 c sugar
1-1/2 sticks (3/4 c) butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 c molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Whisk together flour, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a separate small bowl, pour 1/2 c sugar. Set both aside.

In another bowl with electric mixer, beat butter and remaining 1 c sugar til fluffy. Beat in egg and then molasses til combined. Reduce mixer to low and gradually add dry ingredients just until a dough forms.

Pinch off and roll dough into balls, about 1 T each. Roll in reserved sugar then place on baking sheet (does not need to be sprayed or lined) about 2 inches apart. Bake about 10-15 minutes til edges are just firm. Cool on sheet for a minute then transfer to cooling rack.

NOTE: It's better to bake these for the least amount of time possible; just keep an eye on them. Baking them JUST too much makes them too crispy and the centers are no longer chewy as they should be. Edges: crispy; center: chewy - perfect with a glass of milk, still warm from the oven! Enjoy!

Angelettis (another Martha recipe)

4 c all-purpose flour

2 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 c granulated sugar

6 eggs

1 t vanilla

For glaze:

16 oz confectioner's sugar

1/4 c lemon juice

1-2 T water

sanding (or other colorful) sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In medium bowl, sift together flour, powder and salt; set aside.

With electric mixer, cream butter and sugar til fluffy. With mixer on medium, add eggs one at a time; blend thoroughly before adding the next. Add the vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until dough comes together.

Scoop dough into tablespoon-size balls onto sprayed baking sheet (or lined with parchment or Silpat). These cookies don't really 'spread' when baked so an inch or so apart is fine. Bake for about 15 minutes til the edges turn a little golden. Cool on wire racks.

NOTE: This dough is about the worst dough I have EVER had to handle. The cookies are lovely and came out delicious and flaky and perfectly accented by the mildly-tart lemon glaze. However, the dough was very difficult to handle. I think you probably need a scoop like this one to work more easily with this dough. Alas, I do not have a scoop. The alternative is to flour your fingers generously before scooping up the dough; this worked well for me, but my cookies are slightly more 'free form' than I think they are supposed to be. Didn't affect the flavor at all, but it's a good-to-know 'fun fact' before starting this recipe.

For the glaze:

Combine the powdered sugar with the 1/4 c lemon juice and about 1-2 T water; whisk together til combined. Dip the tops of your cooled cookies into the glaze and set back on the cooling racks (place a cookie sheet or a strip of wax paper or paper towels under the rack to catch the excess glaze). Let set for a short time (about the time it takes to dip an entire cooling rack of cookies) then sprinkle with sugar of your choice. I had some green and red sugar sprinkles and some golden turbinado sugar.

Once the glaze is set you can store them in plastic storage containers or zip bags. The flavor is very moderately sweet for a cookie and is a great compliment to coffee or tea.

Dipped Pretzels:

So easy but a yummy, slightly-lighter treat.

I have a bag of pretzel rings but really any pretzel shape will work (pretzel rods would look nice with the peppermint sprinkles)

Peppermint Pretzels: Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler (I add about 1 T of water for every cup of chocolate, as well as about 1/2 T of butter). Once chocolate is melted, dip pretzels in the chocolate and then sprinkle with crushed peppermint (I use candy canes and whir them in my mini prep for a few seconds). Lay pretzels out on wax paper to set. yum yum

Peanut Butter Pretzels: Soften some peanut butter (about 1/2 a cup) on the stove - just to warm it through. Using the same melted chocolate, dip the pretzels in peanut butter then in the chocolate and set out on wax paper to dry. (NOTE: Scoop some chocolate into a separate bowl since the peanut butter likes to drip into the chocolate; this way it doesn't affect the entire bowl of chocolate, just the portion you are using for the peanut butter pretzels).

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark:

I'm not a really big fan of white chocolate but for this application it's perfect. You mostly taste peppermint anyway; the white chocolate is just a really nice canvas for the pepperminty goodness.

1 bag of white chocolate chips or morsels

12-16 candy canes, chopped fine (you can either do this in a plastic bag - pound the candy canes with a rolling pin or heavy pot - or in a food processor)

Melt the white chocolate chips using the same method as for the pretzels: melt over a double boiler, medium-high heat with about 1 T water for every cup of chocolate; this does not have to be precise but it IS important to have enough water so the chocolate can melt successfully - otherwise is seizes up and turns into a dry clumpy wad. Gross, even for chocolate. You can add more water as the melting progresses if you think it's necessary, just mix thoroughly. The chocolate should not be too thick, but should run smoothly off the spoon or spatula, almost like syrup.

Once the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl (this double boiler method works well with tempered glass mixing bowls over a medium pot) to an oven mitt or trivet. Make sure the mixture is smooth then add the crushed peppermint, reserving a little bit for later. Mix this in thoroughly then pour onto a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Spread it out relatively thin, then sprinkle the top with the remaining peppermint. Let this set then chip pieces off with your hands. Store in an airtight container.

Thinking about Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of those sadly overlooked holidays.

Take my neighbor, for example. She put her Hallowen decorations up - including a lighted, inflatable Jack-O-Lantern-Scare-Crow-on-a-Harley (fact) proudly standing guard on her front lawn. She is one of 'those' people; perhaps she didn't celebrate Halloween as a kid and is making up for it now, tenfold? When I was growing up, Halloween - erm, Reformation Day - was the one night annually that we, ignoring our usual alert and vigilant crime-detterance, intentionally left our porch lights off, shut ourselves into the living room and watched 'Martin Luther' (1953).

The day after Halloween is when many people traditionally turn to Thanksgiving: planning a menu and figuring out what side of the family you will grin and bear for the day, thinking of cinnamon rolls and coffee while watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade and that lovely feeling as you realize Christmas is just around the corner. No. Not my neighbor. November 1st, I come home from work (and it's dark around 6:15pm since Daylight Savings has kicked in): her house is aglow with flickering, colorful Christmas lights, her cactus draped in a white strand, her roofline twittering in full-color, her porch festooned in strands of snowflakes. She completely skipped Thanksgiving! Who does that?


When I was a kid, Thanksgiving was a good holiday in my house. No sadly-disappointed expectations of gifts (even when we get what we want, it's not quite as electrifying as imagined; I blame Hollywood!), no decorations to tear down and if it didn't snow, you really didn't care. The food is the centerpiece on Thanksgiving. Maybe this is partially to blame for my food addiction, even now. Mom's spread was over the top and more delicious than words can convey. Hers is the best Thanksgiving meal I have ever had. What is sad though is that I haven't had it in 6 years. I really miss it.

I really miss my mom's great cooking. Her turkey and homemade turkey gravy - lots of it (I hate going to people's houses and there is one boatful of gravy for like, 10 people. Doesn't each person get their own boatful of gravy? Btw, I love that boat and gravy are friends here...mmm). Her cornbread dressing with celery and sage and lots of garlic; her wild rice dressing with mushrooms, green bean casserole (after many years, she updated the delicious traditional green bean casserole with fresh beans and carmelized onions), sweet potato casserole, jello salad (not like any jello salad you have ever had so don't judge!), corn casserole and most years canned cranberries (apparently, the comparative qualities of canned vs homemade is a topic of debate). There is something magical though about a slice of gelatinous cranberry 'sauce' on a turkey sandwich with mayo the day after Thanksgiving. Homemade is lovely, but it just doesn't compare.


I miss the warm kitchen on Thanksgiving morning and knowing mom was up early, at least for a few minutes, to put the massive bird in the oven. I miss the din of the parade and then football in the TV room, our simple table and mom's French Countryside dishes (I love how the raised sides held in our huge platefuls of food - some plates are just too flat for Thanksgiving feasting!). My dad is a piemaking pro and he would always make his famous (yes, famous) Lemon Meringue and Coconut Cream Pies. They were divine. I remember in the old house we would put them in the laundry room on top of the drier, one in a vintage Tupperware pie carrier and the other covered in a lime green plastic bowl; it was cooler in there during the winter months and kept the pies but without being too cold in the fridge (you have to respect the meringue!). Dad's homemade crust and flour on the countertop, mom's Frugal Gourmet apron, our very old carving knive buzzing over the brown turkey (all of us vying for the crunchiest pieces of skin!), casserole dishes everywhere. Good times.

However bizarre my little family is, there will never ever be a Thanksgiving that will compare until I can eat my mom's Thanksgiving dinner again.


I'm thankful this year for my good husband, our new home, our health, and the small things.

The Weekend Update

This weekend has been so lazy. I have slept entirely TOO much, but enjoyed it in the moment. This evening I have a headache though; interesting how wonderful, luxurious sleep backfires when you indulge a bit too much. The last 2 days have gone quickly, too; I guess that's another side effect of sleeping 1/2 the day. ;)

Saturday I slept in and woke up to a late breakfast and coffee. Kevin and I spent some time in the yard in the afternoon then went on a couple errands including a stop at Garden Ridge where we found a curtain rod for the new curtains I got at Target last week. We still have the white curtains up that the previous owner used but I thought something colorful would be nice. The grommet top will be easy to push them open and closed. Now I just need to get some hold backs; I'm thinking something with beads - maybe something I can make myself. =) Saturday night, I pulled out the Christmas decorations and put the tree up. I usually don't decorate til after Thanksgiving but I think I was too excited about seeing the tree in our new house for the first time. I love it! As if our living room wasn't cozy already, it's now extra cozy. Plus I acquired a few new ornaments this year and I love admiring them on the glowing branches. Of course the soft and unbreakable ornaments are on the bottom branches so my curious cats can play with the tree without breaking any of my favorites.

Kevin informed me I am no good at fluffing branches, so he decided to help me out. ;)

One of my new owl collectibles - a sparkling gold owl ornament for my tree. Isn't he handsome?? I knew he would look wonderful glowing against the lights on the tree.

Sunday I slept even later. Not surprising since we stayed up til the wee hours playing games on Saturday night. I had some Cheerios with a banana and we spent the afternoon watching 'Avengers', napping (!), and playing games together. This evening I made a big pot of sausage and vegetable soup with homemade cornbread that was the perfect dinner on a cool(ish) evening. Kevin hasn't been feeling too well and he asked for soup: the perfect feel better food! I just threw the soup together with items I had in my kitchen; here is the recipe in case anyone is interested in replicating it.

Sausage and Vegetable Soup

12 c water on high heat

Add and bring to a boil:

1/2 white onion, diced

3 ribs celery, diced

3 medium/large red potatoes, diced small

4-5 sausages - I used bratwursts, prepackaged and cut in half (I cut them into bite-sized rings before serving)

Cook this for a while until the vegetables start to soften and add:

1/2 c corn (I used frozen)

1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes with liquid

5 cloves garlic, minced

Simmer everything til the vegetables are completely soft. Remove the sausages and cut into bite-sized pieces; return to the soup and turn off the heat. Leave the pot on the warm burner and add about 1/4 head of cabbage (green or red) and cover to let the cabbage wilt. I seasoned with generous pinches of Kosher salt; then added dried parsley, oregano and paprika.

Cornbread

Whisk together:

1 c cornmeal

1 c all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

Then add:

1 egg

1 c milk

1/3 c vegetable oil

Mix until smooth and pour into greased 8x8 pan. Bake in preheated oven (400 degrees) for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.