Friday, December 30, 2011

The Right Pan Makes all the Difference

Guess what I got for Christmas ...

An actual Popover Pan!!!  Instead of having twelve cups like the muffin pan I was using it just has six. The cups are deeper though and they taper down slightly at the bottom. I was so excited to try it out!

So I made popovers on Monday evening and my family agreed that they are so much better when made with the popover pan :)

What is one of my new favorite things?

You guessed it: my Popover Pan!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

'Tis the Season ...

 ... to be busy, busy, busy. But joyfully so :)

I have been too busy to try out any new recipes though. And the gloves I'm knitting are a disaster. It's really not my fault though. I think that the lady who wrote that pattern sat down and thought, How can I make this as confusing as possible? My mom and I spent half an hour trying to figure out the cuff until I finally set it aside in frustration. That was weeks ago and haven't picked it up since. That'll teach it!

What I have been doing is getting all of my Christmas shopping done (finished Wednesday December 21st) and wrapping gifts (which took five hours and two Christmas movies).

I did however go to a dear friend's house on Monday to help her make Christmas sugar cutout cookies. She had already made the dough so I just helped her roll it out and use the cookie cutters. She said that I did a really good job rolling out the dough. This may seem like a small matter, but it is not. If she says I have done a good job with anything having to do with baking I count that as a huge success. She is a fabulous baker and I hope to be half as good as her someday.

Funny story that has nothing to do with domesticity: I was out running some last minute Christmas errands the other day and on the way home I decided to stop at the coffee shop for my favorite drink - *a plain cappuccino with extra foam. I thought I would take it home and enjoy it while I watched a Christmas movie and got my wrapping done. I carried it in and set it down on a ledge as I put my purse at my feet so that I could hang my coat and hat up. As I reached over to put my hat on top of the coat rack I knocked over my cappuccino. Right into my purse. Not by my purse, not just on top of my purse, but into it. An entire 16 oz. (a.k.a. Grande) cappuccino now saturated all the contents of my bag.

What have I learned from this? Cappuccinos are awesome. But if you dump them in your purse you don't get to drink them. (Not to mention it makes a huge mess that takes a long time to clean up since you have to take everything out, one at a time, and dry it off.)

*one of my favorite things

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Fa-la-la-la-la ...

Well, I haven't been doing much attempted cooking or knitting lately. I've been busy with Christmas shopping and gift wrapping. That endeavor is coming along swimmingly :) Christmas shopping usually stresses me out to no end. But this year I am actually enjoying myself! I am proud to say that I actually started my shopping before Thanksgiving. That never happens. Also, I have discovered the joy of shopping online. It's so convenient!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I did make a teeny-tiny contribution to the holiday.

Spicedoodles.

They're like Snickerdoodles but instead of cinnamon and sugar you roll the cookies in a mixture of sugar and pumpkin spice. I thought that sounded like a nice Thanksgiving type of cookie. They turned out just fine and I had no trouble making them. Yay me!

As far as my knitting goes I haven't picked up my glove in over a week. The pattern becomes increasingly more complicated with every stitch. But I'm so close to the end!!!!

Confession: There is one other thing that has been keeping me from cooking and knitting.

Christmas movies!

Here are a few of my favorite things:

Scrooge (A Christmas Carol) - This is the 1951 version with Alistair Sim.
Elf
It's a Wonderful Life
The Santa Clause
Christmas Vacation
White Christmas