The Christmas crafting bug

I caught it! I was actually tempted to skip pilates tonight so I could have more crafting time- and I really, really love pilates, and haven't been in 2 weeks. But I usually get home from pilates at 7:30, and that gives plenty of crafting time.


Korknisse.
I've been working on these guys for a couple weeks (I've made 8 so far, and have the pieces for 8 more, and I plan to make more)

Candle holders, inspired by Martha Stewart's Halloween spider web ones I made. I've done 14, and have 16 more votive holders.... but these are kind of painful to do, so we'll see if I decorate the rest.

A gumdrop wreath! I bought 2 19oz bags of red and green gumdrops, one 12" styrofoam wreath form, and luckily was able to find my hot glu gun- but I think I needed 5 bags of gum drops, it's nearly half finished, and I'm out of gumdrops. Alternatively, I could have purchased a smaller wreath form, but the Michael's in Shrewsbury only had one size of white styrofoam wreath, so I had no choice. And I think the 12" will be a nice size. I'm eager to finish this, it'll look really cute. We'll have the green gum drop wreath above the mantle and the red gumdrop wreath perhaps in the kitchen.

Not holiday at all, but here's one of my new favorite foods: beets. Now, why did I never like beets before? They're pink. They turn everything they touch pink. How did I not fall in love with them immediately? At restaurants I always see them paired with chevre, and I'll eat anything with chevre. When we went to the farmer's market in Berrysburg, PA, the beets looked good and cheap, and I decided to give fresh beets a try. First I roasted them in the oven for about an hour (a recipe suggested 35 minutes would be enough- they were wrong), which yielded rock-hard beets that I ate anyway. For this batch, I boiled them for about 20 minutes, then sliced them, topped them with goat cheese, sprinkled some sliced almonds on top, and baked for about 30 minutes. Then I drizzled honey over them. That method worked much better, the beets were nice and soft. And tasty. Unfortunately, since I gave my mom most of the beets I bought, I'm all out. I'll have to see if they look at all decent at the grocery store.

Finally, the model for our Christmas card. It's a 4x6 piece of gold paper with a bell cut-out (I'm tracing a cookie cutter with an xacto knife- we'll see how fun this is after making 100 of them... sigh) and a wedding photo of us- the real thing will have a color photo and I'll also make a little paper pointsettia to stick on the card.
I'm also working on my Christmas stocking- although it needs a bit more planning before I get too much farther, I have to grid out my name to knit in white on the otherwise dark red (knitpicks wool of the andes "hollyberry"- how appropriate) yarn.

Giveaway day!

Bird was nice enough to bring everyone's attention to Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day, which was yesterday, and lasts through Sunday!

I don't know about you, but I'm visiting all these new blogs, entering their giveaways, and adding a ton of blogs to my list.

Um, and also getting oodles and oodles of crafting inspiration. Bottle brush Christmas trees, anyone? And I'm thinking January needs to be an official sewing month- I'd say this weekend, but there are too many Christmas fairs to attend!

Stay tuned for more crafts- I have better pictures of the ornaments I started when I had the plague, I've made a bunch of winter/Christmas votive holders, last night I cast on for my Christmas stocking, and as soon as I can find my glue gun, we'll have gumdrop wreaths! The craft bug has definitely bit me this holiday season- for once, knitting takes a back seat! And I have no idea when I'll fit in all the Christmas cookie baking. I haven't even compiled my cookie clist, that usually happens over Thanksgiving!

Celebrating fall

How do you celebrate fall? I like to incorporate apples, and the eating thereof, into my celebration. Thanksgiving is just my kind of holiday- it's all about eating fall foods. Especially apple pie.

Tonight I'm having some friends over for dinner, and because I have a good number of apples at home, I'd planned to bake a pie- basically, another apple ginger cranberry pie, in case Clint and I didn't get enough at Thanksgiving.

Then I was reading Smitten Kitchen, and found this: a caramel apple gingerbread upside down cake. The only upside down cake I've ever had is pineapple, and I'm not a fan (too sickly sweet), but a gingerbread upside cake? ooh.

I made it- it's easy, and I'll let SK tell you about it. I overcooked the caramel a bit, but I don't really think that's a problem for this, since the cake would be baked anyway, and I used more molasses than honey (about 1/6 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of molasses- I ran out of honey), and the batter was really, really tasty. It then smelled really, really tasty. It came out of the oven, cooled for about 10 minutes, and then I got this:

and it looked really, really tasty. And then! There were some stuck-to-the-pan bits that we ate, and the bits were so good, we cursed. Involuntarily. It was that good. I really can't wait to eat this cake tonight.

For Thanksgiving I brought my standard apple ginger cranberry pie and pumpkin pie. Clint said: everyone in my family eats the pumpkin pie, I'm the only one that ever wants apple. When we got there, everyone wanted apple, and only my nephews (I have nephews now!) and I wanted pumpkin. Huh. But they were a big hit, and that's the most important thing.

Pansy-versary!

It's Pansy-versary! 2 years ago today, Pansy came to live with us. Let's look at Pansy through the years.

2007, 6 months old, 2.75lbs

2008, 1.5 years old, approx. 4-4.5lbs, winter coat of fluff

2009, 2.5 years old, 5 lbs, and less of a winter coat (due to a very mild fall)

The Plague

I have the plague. It's a cold, really (I hope- I hope it's not swine flu, but I don't have a fever), but I'm still stuck at home. When I'm sick, I usually get huge crafting/baking urges, which is awful because 1. I can't share any baked goods, and 2. I can't get out to acquire all the necessary crafting supplies.

Luckily, I had red yarn. So I got started on Christmas gifts for everyone.They still need white beards and white hat pompoms, and faces, but so far I've made 6 of these little guys. Now I have... oh, probably 20 to go.

And some recipes: These are all ones I've seen in the past week, and look forward to making, but haven't actually tried yet.
Cranberry ribbon cake
Gallina de madre
Honey brown butter sauce for manchego cheese (you can be sure this'll appear at my next cocktail party)
Beef in salt crust

Craft project ideas:
Glitter painting (wedding photos, perhaps?)
Glittered snowflake candle holders (based on this Halloween project)
Glittered birds (idea suggested by Bird)

Halloween treats, part 2!

Spicy kettle corn! Gah! Hot!

But oh, so delicious.

1/4cup oil
1/4cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1/2 popcorn kernels

Combine all ingredients in a big pot with a tight-fitting lid. Stir to coat the kernels. Place on a burner turned to medium-high, and cook. Once popcorn starts to pop, start to shake the pot (up and down or swishy side-to-side, but swishy results in less chipotle steam in your face). Once the corn seems to have stopped popping (maybe after a total of 10 minutes), transfer to a big popcorn bowl. Eat and enjoy. Serve to your friends without warning them it's spicy, and watch their sinuses clear right before your eyes.

Taken from Rachael Ray.

Stay tuned for more spiced kettle corn variations in the next few months.

Halloween treats, part 1!

In preparation for Saturday's Halloween party, I have made tasty things.
First, the ingredients for Bakerella's new Spider Bites. We have (clockwise, from middle-left bottom): red raspberry gumdrops, black sugar, liquorice, brownie balls, and not pictured is melted chocolate. I still haven't assembled everything, but that's up for tonight!

Pumpkin pecan raisin bread. Recipe from a recipe swap that I must share- it's delicious!!


And I taste-tested a candy corn martini. I think this become an annual tradition- it's delicious!
Recipe:
combine 1/2cup candy corn with 1.5cups vodka in an airtight container, let sit for 3 hours (I did 6- btw, the candy corn dissolves.), then discard candy.
combine: 4oz candy corn vodka, 2oz triple sec/cointreau, and the juice of one lemon (2-3T) with ice, shake, strain into a martini glass. Garnish with candy corn.

Lots of deliciousness happened at my house last night.

ETA: I'm about 3 months late for this... here are photos of my Halloween party spread!

The main table, with a half-dead flower arrangement. Cheeses, crackers, cheese balls (they're orange), swampy spinach quiche, spicy kettle corn, chicken satay skewers with peanut dipping sauce, veggies, homemade tortilla chips, hershey's caramel kisses, and ranch dip.
Close-up of the tortilla chips. I cut flour tortillas with a cookie cutter, brushed with lime juice, sprinkled with chipotle powder (spicy) or cumin, baked for about 15 min at 400oF. The finished spider bites.
Ladies' fingers
The dessert table: jelly candies from Sweden (wine flavored), pumpkin bread (also pictured above, recipe still unposted), apple tart, apples and caramel fondue (recipe as yet unposted, but I'll fix that)Mummy sausages (super easy, but I left out the cheese)