Oh, Happy Days - Birthday Weekend!

Happy birthday to me!

We had a very small dinner party on Saturday for my birthday.  I roasted some chickens, Cari made a wonderful warm quinoa salad, my mom made mash potatoes and I baked my cake.  My sister Cari offered to bake my cake and Mr. H was wondering why I decided to bake my own cake this year.  I came across this recipe for old fashion cake and I wanted to try it.  Besides, baking is a treat for me and it felt good to bake my own cake.  This is a really easy cake and it uses only egg whites instead of the whole egg so it's a little healthy, right?  I love how it matches the colors of the tulips that I got from my dear friends, the Edlands.

On Sunday, Mr. H took me to the ballet.  This was our first professional ballet.  I have been to plenty of musicals and operas but I have never been to a real ballet so I was really excited.  The story was The Little Mermaid.  The interpretation was interesting, a bit darker and probably more close to the actual story than the Disney interpretation.  Now, I want to read the actual story by Hans Christian Andersen.

To cap the weekend, we had dinner at David and Jeanette's.  David made his wonderful Asian soup.  It hit the spot on such a cold night, and after a weekend of reckless eating, it was just the right thing.  Light and satisfying.

I am so grateful to all of the wonderful people in my life.  I feel truly lucky to be surrounded by such a caring and loving and thoughtful bunch!  God bless them all!

Chihuahua in Paris

The other day, I needed a last minute gift for a darling little girl who loves everything Paris.  I literally had 15 minutes to either go buy or make something.  The details of why I needed such a short order gift are not important.  Let's just say that in my circles, it is not uncommon....

So, I went into my craft closet and found this little chihuahua dog figurine and fire hydrant that I had picked up at a yard sale, drew a quick Eiffel Tower, and viola I had a gift.  It made me happy to finally use the little guy and to know that he went to a good home.

This can be a really fun craft to do with the kids.  You can use any little figurines that they already have, draw a backdrop and place in empty jar with a little moss.  So cute and fun! 

Adieu!
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Once upon a time, in a woodland far, far away...

 

The inspiration for my woodland themed cookies this year came from, you guessed it, Martha Stewart's Living December issue.  I used the cookie recipes featured in that story: Boiled Gingerbread, Honey Spice Gingerbread, and Chocolate Cut Out along with the ones I use every year; Sugar Cut Out (my friend, Shannon's recipe of The Misanthropic Hostess) and another MS recipe, my favorite; Spiced Cardamom. I don't think that I have ever made chocolate cut out cookies before but I am going to add them to my cookie repertoire, they were so easy to work with and yummy.

I also did things a little differently this year.  Since I only made one type of cookie, cut outs, instead of different variations, I prepared all of the cookie doughs at once, chilled them all, then leisurely cut them out and baked them as I went, and then decorated them.  This helped control the equipment and ingredients that tend to pile up when I am working on a big baking project like this.  In years past, I would work with one cookie recipe at a time and I feel that the plan for this year was a lot more efficient.  One of my favorite tricks is a trick I learned from Shannon (which you will see in her Sugar Cookie recipe post linked above), and that is to roll out the dough as soon as you have prepared it (skipping the making a flat disk and wrapping it in plastic and chill part), layer the rolled out dough between layers of parchment paper, place the stacks of rolled out dough on a cookie sheet or tray and put in refrigerator until you are ready to cut out.  This works really well with most of the doughs except for the Honey Spice Gingerbread.  This cookie dough was a little sticky and was really difficult to work with.  Not only did it stick to the parchment paper when layered but I found I had to add a lot of flour to it while cutting and re-rolling.  Another tip I learned along the way is to drape a dish towel over your mixer while you add the flour mixture to your wet mixture to avoid a flour storm.

I didn't have a toadstool cookie cutter so I improvised.  I cut out a circle with a round cutter, then traced the shape with a knife.  It was really easy and fun to do.  Next time you are looking for a specific shape and cannot find it, check your cookie cutter inventory and see what you can do with what you already have.

I was really pleased with the cookies this year.  I think that having a specific theme really helped me stay focused and took some of the pressure off.  I am already thinking of what theme I will do next year.  Suggestions are welcomed.  The picture below was my inspiration.

XOXO,

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Dinner at the Edland's

Anna and David Edland by one of their Christmas trees

Kato, one of their three cats (also Red Beard's sister), sleeps soundly in the company of warm and cozy teddy bears

The Edlands have many family heirlooms.  Among one of them, is a beautiful dining room set, which Anna cross-stitched the seats of.  A project that took her almost 5 years!

Last night, we had dinner with our good friends and neighbors, the Edlands.  Anna and David Edland are the parents of Mateo's friend, Malachi.  They have a lovely, warm and cozy home up the street.  Anna made a wonderful chicken dish which is their version of Chicken Cordon Blue.  They served it with baked baby potatoes and steamed veggies.  The meal was delicious and the company and conversation was, as always, delightful.  I made a lemon pudding cake with candied lemons and lemon simple syrup with some beautiful Meyer lemons I got from my dear Aunt Felipa.  We feel so blessed to have the Edlands in our lives.  Anna has the rare and coveted blessing of working from home.  So on most days, she is able to take Mateo to and from school and is happy to include him on their weekly stops to one of our local eateries (Pollo Loco, The Habit, Panda Express, etc.) on the way home from school.  Mateo spends a lot of time at their home and he is treated like a son by David and Anna.  As a mother, there is nothing that touches your heart more than knowing that your child is truly loved and cared for by others.

When we were looking for a home in this neighborhood, we looked at and fell in love with several other homes before we found ours.  We had our hearts broken a few times on escrows that fell through or sellers that changed their minds.  Each time that happened, I felt our dream slip away farther and farther.  I felt discouraged.  Finally, we stumbled upon the house that we now call home and although it was in less than desirable conditions, it was in the right neighborhood.  So we embarked on a construction project that took almost 3 years but we made it home. Our home.  And even though our home is the embodiment of what our humble dreams call our dream home, it is made even more special by the fact that we have such wonderful and caring neighbors as Anna and David.  I guess the moral to the story is never lose hope and trust in God's plan for your life.  Sometimes, the things we cling on to are not meant for us and there is something better in store for us.

Happy New Year, Everybody!!!  May God bless you all and bring you happiness, health, love and friendship in 2013!
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