Pre-Christmas in NYC

By Cate | December 29, 2011 - 1:00 pm | Christmas, my story, restaurants

So, a few months ago my father-in-law, Rob, mentioned in conversation that he would like to take us and Frank’s brother, Sam, to NYC. I’m not sure how serious he was at the time, but don’t you know I held him to it! I helped plan and book the trip, and between the two of us, we made it happen.

Frank, Elsie and I met Rob and Sam at the airport in Charlotte on Sunday. The Bean did pretty well on her first flight. She napped a bit and squeaked a lot…to be expected for a 9 month old.

We were in the city by 3pm. We stayed at the Affinia Manhattan, and our suite was fab. Check out the views.

That evening Grandad stayed in with EB, and Sam, Frank and I met up with Cousin Drew at Birreria. It’s the restaurant on the rooftop of Eataly, and Sam picked it for the great beer selection. There was a retractable ceiling in place when we were there, but I can only imagine how sweet it would be in warmer months, al fresco.

Drew and Sam:

The food was divine! Here’s Sam displaying how uber thin the proscuitto was.

So, we had heard that one of the owner’s would be playing live music with his band, and sure enough Joe Bastianich was the lead. I recognized him from various reality TV chef shows.

Then we saw a flash of blond hair we couldn’t miss. It was Anne Burrell! Most recently she’s been on Top Chef Masters. This was the best shot I got of her. I was trying to be discreet. Ha.

When last call had been…well, called, a large group that had been seated together began to stand up and disperse. I caught a glimpse of another familiar face…Lidia Bastianich (Joe’s mom, part owner of the restaurant, and also a celebrity chef). Sam decided to ask her for a proper photo, but at the time none of us could remember her name. We struggled to decide on an opening line for him, but came up with a dish we figured she must have published a recipe on at some point. So she walked by, Sam asked her for a photo, and while I snapped he mumbled something about loving her bolognese recipe. Just this moment I looked on her site to see if we were right, and sure enough there is one.

On Monday Rob, Elsie and I hit up Macy’s for the Santaland experience. I’m so impressed by how well they have it all worked out! We did wait in line for about 20 minutes, but almost the whole time we were slowly moving through this winter wonderland, full of fun stuff to look at.

Elsie was quite tired by the time we reached Santa, but she hung in there and just kind of stared blankly.

Macy’s was crazy busy. This was December 19th.

After a nap at the hotel, we journeyed out again this time to FAO Schwartz. B.U.S.Y!

Then over to the Plaza.

I had this recollection of hearing about good hot chocolate here, and when I asked, we were directed down to a little chocolate shop in the shopping area of the hotel. This is what we found:

And this:

And this is how it tasted:

You guys. This hot chocolate was like nothing I’ve ever tasted. I think they just melted some really good milk chocolate and added a splash of cream. It was so decadent! Rob and I both have an affinity for really rich foods, and we were smitten!

Next up: Carriage ride in Central Park.

Then a quick stop at the Rockefeller Tree.

And a peak at the ice skaters.

The crowd was thick, and you had to wait just to look down on the ice rink!

EB had her first subway ride back to the hotel.

Look at those tired eyes! She was ready to crash. It was about 6:45 at this point.

There was a great band playing in the subway. It’s so cool when you can hear them throughout the underground, and it gets louder and louder as you approach. There were several horns, a guitar, bass, and drums here. What a treat to hear good live music, unexpectedly.

Cousin Gussie came over to babysit that night (thanks Gussie!), and we went for dinner in the Village at Perilla.

This was a tiny restaurant Sam picked, and I’m so glad he did! I only wish I had taken photos of the menu items we ordered, as I can’t remember the details. I’ll tell you we started with duck fat popcorn, to give you an idea of how wonderful this food was.

We came “home” to the hotel and crashed.

This is what happens when your baby wakes at 6am, and everyone else is sleeping for another hour or two.

Many readings of Pat the Bunny. Anyway, Tuesday wasn’t nearly as busy as Monday had been. We shopped around a bit. I stumbled on more musicians. This time it was two Salvation Army collection folks, dancing and singing to the beat of their bells. Too cute!

I also fulfilled a little dream of mine that afternoon:

I love me some Project Runway, y’all, and I’ve always wanted to go to Mood. I’ll shop a fabric store anywhere, and this one did not disappoint. I can’t imagine not finding whatever your little heart desires in the world of fabric here. They have everything!

That night we got all dressed up. Some friends came over to visit, then babysit (woot woot Jess and Kenny!). We walked up to Broadway to see a show. Below Frank and Rob are proudly modeling pants that Sam helped design. Pretty hot, yes?

Then we walked up to Quality Meats for a late night dinner. This restaurant was recommended to us by Drew, and it carried our delicious-food-in-NYC high. Outstanding steaks! Creamed corn creme brulee. I mean, how can you go wrong? And our waiter made the steak sauce right at our table with a mortar and pestle.

House made “donuts and coffee ice cream” for dessert. Wow. What a meal.

What a fantabulous trip it was! I have always hoped to experience the magic of the city at Chritmastime, and feel so blessed to have done so. Having EB there made it even more magical. Have you guys been? Did anyone do pre-holiday traveling? The airports weren’t too bad, and our flights were on time. Yours?

Our Christmas

By Cate | December 26, 2011 - 3:38 pm | Christmas, cooking, my story, Our House

Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cocktail

By Cate | December 23, 2011 - 5:58 am | Christmas, cocktails, recipes

6 Comments

Recently I’ve come across a few cocktails using fresh cranberries. Yesterday I picked up a bag of them at the grocery store, and when I got home I couldn’t put my hands on the recipe I thought I’d seen in a magazine. So I made one up. Often you see vodka with cranberry, but we didn’t have any vodka, so I used some gin. The taste reminds me of pine trees, so I think it works for the holidays. Add that lime twist, and you’ve got the color palette, too!

I started by making the cranberry puree. I placed about two cups of cranberries and one cup of sugar in a small saucepan and stirred it up. I had rinsed the berries, so there was a little moisture, but not much.

I cooked this on medium-high heat for about eight minutes.

After a few moments the berries on the bottom started to burst, adding more liquid to the mixture, and eventually it all came to a boil.

While this was bubbling, I zested a lemon.

Once the eight minutes was up, I removed the berries from the heat and added the zest.

I stirred it up and let this rest for a few moments. Then I used an immersion blender to blend it all together. You could use a regular blender or a food processor, too.

Next I strained the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Because it’s so thick, I used a spatula to push the mixture through.

This made about one cup of puree. The recipe below is only for two cocktails, so there is plenty of puree left for more later. It will keep well in the fridge. This will be a great pre-Christmas-Eve-Dinner drink for Saturday!

I was feeling fancy, so I pulled out my grandmother’s Waterford Crystal glasses. I haven’t used these in years, but knowing I’d be taking pictures, I thought I’d use something other than our simple K Mart glasses. I’m glad I did!

Here are the other ingredients: Ginger Ale, Gin, a lime, and there’s a cocktail shaker and a small measuring glass, oh, and the pint glass is for mixing.

I poured four ounces of gin into the pint glass. Then I added about two tablespoons of the cranberry puree. I cut two lime peels for garnish before squeezing the juice of both halves of the lime into the glass.

Here’s what the mixture looked like before I shook it.

So, then I used the stainless shaker (like you see bartenders use), and placed it on top of this pint glass and shook vigorously. Here’s what it looked like after that.

Next I strained this mixture into the two glasses, divided evenly, then topped it off with a splash of ginger ale and the lime twists. Of course, you could serve this “up” in a martini glass with no ice if you’re feeling extra fancy.

It was delicious! And pretty easy. I think it’s so much fun to make cocktails (or anything, for that matter) from fresh whole ingredients. I have a couple of vintage cocktail recipe books that are fun to look through and experiment with. Ocassionally we’ll end up in a restaurant or bar where the cocktails are made this way, and it’s such a treat! I could watch those bartenders all day. And their garnishes are an art form…sugar cubes, candied ginger, cucumber slices, a variety of olives and onions, endless fruit slices, wedges, peels. So chic!

Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cocktail
Puree:
2 c fresh cranberries
1 c sugar
zest of one lemon
Place the cranberries and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir often for eight minutes, as the cranberries burst and the sugar dissolves and bubbles. Remove from heat, and stir in the lemon zest. Allow the mixture to sit for three minutes. Blend with an immersion blender or a stand blender, then strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Set aside.

Cocktail for 2:
4oz gin
2 T cranberry puree (above)
2 oz ginger ale
Lime peel for garnish
Juice of one lime
Combine gin, puree, and lime juice in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously, and strain into two glasses. Top with a splash of ginger ale, and garnish with a lime twist. Enjoy!

Do you guys experiment with food or cocktail recipes? I didn’t used to, but the more I cook and prepare food and drink, the more confident I become.

Small Holiday Touches

By Cate | December 23, 2011 - 4:20 am | Christmas, Our House, recipes

1 Comment

It is a cold and very rainy night here in the mountains of NC, complete with thunder and lightening (I LOVE a good thunderstorm). I just walked through our dark bedroom, and caught a glimpse the big ole colored bulbs strung on our crab apple tree. The rain drops on the window are reflecting the colors, creating thousands of tiny color dots, and it just made me smile.

I’ve shown y’all our Christmas Tree and our Advent Wreath, but I wanted to share some other little seasonal touches around the house. Much like our tree, these have been collected over many years, and each have special meaning. In our foyer, the paperwhites are in full bloom!

These were a gift from my dad and his wife, and we have so enjoyed them. The scent is intoxicating! I nestled a few “dead” christmas lights around a pillar candle inside a short vase for a fun holiday touch.

I like the way the light glows through the bulbs. A few years ago I framed a bunch of holiday photos, and I switch them out with other year-round photos during the holidays. Here are a couple of little ones.

This little snowman bowl holds keys. It’s fun to replace everyday items around the house with seasonal stuff. I just pack the everyday stuff in the empty Christmas tubs during the holidays.

Each time the front door opens, these old brass bells jingle. They remind me of the tintinnabulum from my childhood church (dozens of bells were tied to the processional cross).

This delicate little figure hangs from a twig mobile. It’s from Frank’s childhood and I just love the way the stars sparkle and shine.

In our living room, the tree is bursting with gifts! Frank and I are keeping it simple, and just exchanging something very simple and inexpensive with each other. But, we have received several packages from friends and family and are giving gifts to others. Elsie B will have an abundant Christmas!

This little guy arrived in the mail this week! Thanks Dad and Jayne!

The adorable felt goat adorns a gift from my mom. What a cute addition for future trees! I picked up two delicate little wreaths at a precious store in New Bern last year. They are perfect for our two Ikea units in the living room.

Here are some more bulbs nestled around candles. I can’t bear to throw them away once they burn out, so I save them to use in crafts and decor.

This little Saint Nick came from Mud Dabbers Pottery Shop here in town. Isn’t he precious!?

My mom made us new stockings this year. She felted several old wool sweaters and sewed them into unique stockings. We embellished them together, and I made tags to label them. This way we can switch stockings over the years, and as our family grows. I wish I had taken pics of the process…that would have been a great post. Oh well. I’m still getting used to this blogging thing!

Isn’t she creative!?

The carolers are singing proudly. Mom passed these down to me a few years ago, and I love the details and their little faces.

The candles on the wreath have burned down a bit. I gave you a peak of Mary, Joseph, and Baby J on the Oatmeal Cookie Post. Here they are again.

I’m not sure why I’m getting those reflections of the candle lights at the bottom of the photo. Oh, how I wish I knew more about my new camera! I think the lens or filter may be causing this. Hmmmm.

The card bowl is filling!

And, finally a few details in the back of the house. In the guest bath is this precious little creche, another gift from Dad and Jayne.

I was pregnant last year, and after the holidays I collected some items to put together a little tree for the future nursery. I picked up a small white tree, lights, and some ornaments on sale, and last week I put it all together.

The animals are actually from the mobile that hung above my crib when I was a baby. Mom turned them into ornaments years ago, and this tree is the perfect place for them! There’s also a tiny doll-sized tea set from my childhood used as ornaments. The tree skirt is a scarf.

Elsie seems to love it!

There are the reflections again! Here’s another adorable set from Mud Dabber’s.

And, lastly, a fresh batch of cookies. This recipe is from Two Peas & Their Pod. I made them last year, and they’re to die for!

I’m working on our NYC post, and can’t believe how many photos there are! I’ll try to get it up in the next few days. It’s hard to believe Christmas is only a couple of days away.

THE Oatmeal Cookies

By Cate | December 20, 2011 - 1:00 pm | baking, Christmas, recipes

1 Comment

If you know me personally, you’ve probably tasted these cookies. This has been my mom’s go-to cookie recipe for as long as I can remember (hi Mom!), and it’s now mine. For the most part it’s a pretty standard oatmeal cookie recipe, but what gives it umph is the spices. There’s a 1/2 teaspoon each of cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cinnamon. Yum!

You could toss in some dried fruit or nuts, but our favorite addition is chocolate chips. For this batch, I also added pecans. The full recipe is at the bottom of the post. Here’s what I did:

Mix together granulated sugar, brown sugar, shortening, and butter.

The original recipe calls for only shortening, no butter. After some experimentation I’ve found that using half butter, half shortening gives a chewier texture in the end.

Once that’s mixed together, add eggs and vanilla. I like to crack the eggs into a separate dish (I used the measuring cup I’d just used for the sugars). That way, if a little shell gets into it, I can easily see it, and pick it out. I also added the vanilla to the eggs.

Now, in a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda and all of those spices.

My helpers!

Now, turn your mixer with the wet ingredients on medium-low, and slowly add the dry ingredients.

Once those are just mixed, add your oatmeal and mix for a few turns until just combined. Then do the same with any other additions (chocolate chips and pecans here).

Almost done! Now, do y’all use parchment paper?

It truly is a simple secret to baking! It makes clean-up a breeze and is naturally non-stick. Tear off a sheet for each cookie sheet, then scoop the dough right on. I like big cookies, and I just eyeball the scoops.

They’re maybe two tablespoons worth of dough, and they come out to be 4-5″ cookies.

In my oven they bake for about 11 minutes. Take them out when just the edges have browned a bit. Don’t over-bake, or they’ll be crispy. Hey, you might like it that way, though. This is definitely Frank’s favorite cookie, and they don’t last very long in our house. Be sure to taste them while they’re warm, and pour yourself a cold glass of milk.

Yum!

Check out our little Mary, Joseph and Baby J. Aren’t they cute? I got them at our favorite pottery shop here in town, Mud Dabbers.

I added them to our dining table to compliment the Advent wreath.

Anywho, here’s the recipe:
(Printable version here)
Chewy Spiced Oatmeal Cookies
Cream with a mixer:
1/2 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup Butter, softened
1 C Granulated Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar
Add and beat well:
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
In another bowl, mix with a wire whip:
1 1/2 C flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves
Stir dry ingredients into mixture. Stir in 3 cups of oatmeal. You could also add any or all of the following: raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, dried cranberries, etc. Mix well. Bake on a greased cookie sheet (or parchment paper) at 350 for 10 minutes.

Let me know if you give this recipe a try. You should! They’re perfect for the holidays, with all of those wintry spices.

How We “do” Christmas Cards

By Cate | December 16, 2011 - 1:00 pm | Christmas, photography, Pinterest

9 Comments

One of my favorite things about Christmastime is receiving cards from friends and family. I just love seeing the photos and reading about everyone’s year. Of course, many (us included) just send a photo, with little or no writing, but it’s still fun, nonetheless. As they arrive, we toss them into a big wooden bowl and frequently look at them throughout the season.

Yes, that’s Homer, sharing a table with my Grandparent’s vintage Holiday recipe and cocktail books.

Once the season ends, I used to reluctantly toss the cards out, not knowing what else do do with them. But, over the past few years I found myself saving them and wanting to look back through them.

After all, some families put a lot of effort into the card by staging a special photo, hiring a photographer, or writing a detailed account of their year. I even have a great aunt who hand paints each card. At the very least, they bought a pack of cards on sale after the holiday last year, stored them in their attic for a year, hauled them out, signed their name, wrote out our address and stuck a 42cent stamp on one. So, to honor the effort we all make to send them out, I came up with a way to save them and keep them organized. I simply punch a hole in the corner of each one, and string them on a ribbon, along with a tag to label the year. It’s a fun little decoration, and we can easily thumb through old cards and reminisce.

This is a great way to wrangle the mass of cards, but “archiving” our own cards is another story. Frank’s Mom has 5 brothers and sisters, and when they were children each year their parents set up a little theme for the family photo. Most of the time it was only the children pictured. Cathie recently gathered them all in one large frame.

Some of the themes include a nativity scene, gathered around the fire, dressed as a church choir, on Santa’s lap, and my personal favorite, visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. See them all snuggled up under the covers?

Her project prompted me to think through how I’d like to preserve our own cards in a special way. So, I picked up a small scrapbook from Michaels. Each year I slide our card into a new page. I envision us 20 years from now looking through that scrapbook. It will be a mini chronicle of our lives.

Each page is just an open pocket, so we can pull out the cards to look more closely or see the backs.

So, as far as planning and ordering our own cards, here are some things I keep in mind:

I make sure to include the year on the card so that we (and anyone else who happens to save it) will always have that reference
As much as I don’t want to be in the photo myself, I think it’s important for Frank and I to be included. I enjoy seeing whole families in other’s cards, and I doubt I’m the only one who appreciates that. Plus, if we do it at Christmas, we’re guaranteed to have a picture of our whole family (pets included) at least once each year.
I try to include a sentence or two about memorable events from the year. This didn’t happen this year, but with a new baby I figure most people know what we’ve been up to.
I shop around for deals. Every printing site offers discounts this time of year. I get emails and promotional discounts from shutterfly.com, tinyprints.com and minted.com, so I compare to see where I’ll get the best deal. This year it was shutterfly, hands down. They let me combine several discounts, plus they print the back of the card for free. I could choose from photo lay-outs, text, or both for no additional charge. This is a great place to add that sentence about the year, or a top 10 list, or a haiku to sum up the year’s events.

Our good friend Beth came over to be the photographer for our photo shoot. She was so patient! She took about 300 photos, and I’m so glad she did. It takes that many to get a few good ones to choose from. We posed in a few different places around the house. This one was our favorite (ie everyone was pretty much smiling):

I played around a bit on the computer to perfect the shot. I use Aperture to edit photos, so I cropped, then added the Toy Camera action to intensify the colors and add a vignette effect (the darkness around the edges) for the final pic:

I also did a little photo shoot of my own. I was inspired by this great pic on Pinterest:

source

I set up a little studio on our bed

and did a few test shots with Bear while the Bean napped.

I know so much less than I would like to know about my new camera. But, I just played around with the settings until I liked what I saw. It was a cloudy day, and I had very little natural light. I was anxious to give this a try, though.
When she woke, I stripped her down (there was a crib pad under those white sheets, and it came in handy!) and I set her down.

Again, I took tons of shots. This is what they looked like SOOC (straight out of camera):

But, with a little tweaking and editing on the computer, I ended up with shots like this:

Again I cropped, used Toy Camera, and I also lightened up her face with the Dodge tool.

When the Christmas lights began to warm up, I threw in some plastic ornaments for her to grab.

I’m pretty pleased with the way they came out! I didn’t get any big smiles, but still got some nice shots. I would love to be able to smooth out the wrinkles in those sheets in the background, but Aperture won’t let me do it (as far as I know, anyway).

Here’s the final product this year:

(front)

(back)

So, that’s how we “do” Christmas Cards. Do you guys save old cards? Do the family photo, or just kids? Does anyone use the self-timer? We did that last year, and it took about twice as many photos to get a good one.

The Christmas Project

By Cate | December 14, 2011 - 1:00 pm | Christmas, Volunteering

2 Comments

I just have to share this great experience with you all. Our church started this project last year and called it the Christmas Project. Leading up to December, they ask for donations of new or gently used gift items for men and women, as well as baskets and purses.
Once all of the items are collected, volunteers sort through it all, then package it up into gift baskets. Children at the Boys and Girls Club then get to “shop” and choose two of the baskets or bags to give to their primary caregivers. Typically this is their parents or grandparents. I think this is such a fabulous idea…to give the children the gift of giving. They are able to show appreciation and gratitude for their caregivers by giving a nice gift. For many, this is the first time they’ve experienced this kind of giving.

I helped out at the church early last week sorting through the donations. I was assigned the candles and picture frames table. I just organized it all and sorted through it all, to make it ready for assembly the following day. Other volunteers did the same for spa items, kitchen items, books, DVDs, jewelry, accessories, and more. There were so many donations!

The big event was held after school on Friday. I arrived to see 8 or 10 tables packed with overflowing baskets and bags. A whole assembly line was set up for wrapping and tagging the gifts once they had been chosen.

Y’all, I could not get over the abundance of these gifts! Each basket or bag held 4-6 gifts. This one had a make-up bag, a cute porcupine figurine, a book, scarf, and jewelry.

This woven suede purse held a hand-sewn travel bag, kitchen cups, jewelry and gloves.

A puzzle, candle holder, candle, note cards, jewelry, and a nice pen. I was overwhelmed by the abundance of the gifts.

The children arrived by grade level, starting with the little Kindergartners.

My job was to pair up with a child and help them shop around. We would talk about who their gifts were for and would discuss what gifts they might enjoy. Some were fast shoppers, and others liked to really look at each gift and make a sound decision. Once they picked two gifts, we made our way down the wrapping line.

As the children shopped, volunteers discreetly refilled the tables with more baskets. Each child had hundreds to choose from. About 300 children came through, so there were over 600 baskets!

That bag is almost as big as she is!:

Check out that loot!

This was such a great experience. I got the fun job. I know there were many many hours put in behind the scenes, organizing and preparing for this day. It’s been a while since I volunteered for anything, and I’m so glad I did. These children seemed genuinely grateful.

Oh Christmas Tree

By Cate | December 9, 2011 - 2:47 pm | Christmas, decor, my story, Our House

5 Comments

Oh, Christmas tree, how lovely are those big bright bulbs! The way I see it, you’re either a white lights person or a colored lights person.

As you can see, I’m of the colored lights variety, with a string or two of little white lights for extra sparkle. Don’t get me wrong, I can completely appreciate the classic, elegant look of all white lights, in fact my Advent wreath has quite a muted palette. But, I do like to use Christmas for an excuse to get all colorful and sparkly.

We usually get a tree at a local farm, and this year we chose a new place. We followed some signs off of a familiar road, and came across a quaint little spot where you cut down your own tree. At first we walked around a while, searching out the perfect tree. Elsie was very discriminating.

She liked this little Charlie Brown number.

We chose the perfect tree for us (about 7′ tall, with a good number of gaps and spaces for ornaments to hang) and borrowed the farmer’s chain saw. Love that intensity!

And that smile!

Here’s the tree set up at home, pre decorating. All of those spaces between the branches allow me to hang ornaments and lights throughout the entire tree, not just on the tips of the branches. This creates such depth and interest!

And the decorating supplies:

That’s a grand total of 10 strings of lights! And last, but certainly not least:

I’ve been watching Love Actually while I decorate for the last several years. It just gets me in the Christmas mood! This year I turned on the Director’s Commentary, which was quite enlightening and entertaining.

Oh, and my furry helpers were on hand:

Charlie LOVES Christmas for this reason

Billie was less than helpful

Anyway, lots of folks seem to go with color themes for their trees (i.e. red and white or gold and silver) or location themes (i.e. beach or mountains) for their tree, but I look at it differently. Rather than trimming the tree from a decorator’s perspective, I prefer to go at it from more of a nostalgic angle. We have so many beautiful ornaments that have been collected over the years and were given or purchased with meaning, to represent a special event or time in our lives. If I worried about matching them all, the meaning and memories would be lost.

And, it’s fun to take little trinkets or gifts from the year and turn them into ornaments. That’s a great way to save something special, without keeping it out all year long. Just add an ornament hook, and you’re set!

So, I like to start with putting a string of lights right up the trunk of the tree. It creates depth and really makes the tree glow from the inside.

Then I just go to town, mixing string types and bulb sizes, and just load the tree up.

Next up, ornaments. Here are some of my faves:

Smocked by Mom, with a Billie ornament in the background

My Grandmother helped me make this as a child.

Mom made several beautiful butterflies for me when I attended Happening, they later became ornaments.

A gift from Summer ages ago!

Beautiful cut glass little tree

A pic from our wedding

Another exquisite butterfly

A childhood friend made this stained glass one

Do you spy the pickle?

We typically add an ornament each year, to commemorate something special. We haven’t yet chosen one for this year, but surely we’ll find the perfect something to represent that little cutie patootie who joined our family.

So there’s a glimpse of our Christmas tree. It reminds me of my Grandparents’ trees from back in the day. Happy and colorful and packed with memories. Are you a colored or white lights kid? Do you go with themes? Get a new ornament each year? Hide a pickle?

Join the tree party over at ThriftyDecorChick.

Serious Eggnog

By Cate | December 5, 2011 - 7:43 pm | Christmas, cooking, drinks

2 Comments

Alright, y’all. This is the real stuff. Not for the faint of heart. If you can’t deal with raw eggs or a bunch of booze, you should probably skip this post.

That’s your fair warning, so now I’ll get down to business. I love me some eggnog, and I love anything homemade, so a few years ago I set out for a fantastic eggnog recipe. After a bit of googling around, I settled on this recipe from chow.com. Readers gave the recipe a very high rating (mostly 5 stars), which is always a great sign.

Now the recipe calls for a bunch of egg yolks, and there’s no cooking process. This gave me pause at first, but after doing some research (googling), I found that the risk is minimal, if that. The recipe also calls for a bunch of liquor. Three different kinds, and lots of it.

And, the recipe calls for you to age the eggnog in your refrigerator for at least a few weeks, but up to a year! This all sounded quite wonky, but I figured, “eh, let’s give it a shot,” At the time I had a few weeks before Christmas, so I made up a batch. I’m sure I couldn’t quite wait until the 25th, but whenever I did taste it, it was divine! Having only aged a couple of weeks, the consistency was thin, but still delicious.

The following year I was preggo, so I didn’t make a batch.

This September I stocked up at the liquor store, bought a dozen eggs, and whipped up a batch. It makes quite a lot, and I filled two large liquor bottles (but only took pics of one).

Next year I may go for several large Mason Jars. Anyway, once you’ve bottled the eggnog, the recipe calls for you to wrap the bottle(s) in tin foil. This may have some chemical significance, or may be to keep you from seeing the ingredients separate. A few days ago I pulled the bottle out of the back of the fridge, unwrapped the tinfoil:

I’ll spare you the photo of the contents before I shook them up. Egh.

I poured myself a glass, and it was again, divine! A bit thicker this time, since it had a few months to meld and delicioufy itself. Yum-o! Now, if you think it’s too strong at this point, you could add a splash of milk or you could whip up some eggwhites and fold them in. I like it strong, though, so I left it as is.

So, if you’re not totally disgusted by the process, do try this out! Hurry up, you don’t have much time! What do y’all think? Am I crazy? Would you never take a sip for the raw eggs? Have you made homemade eggnog with a different recipe, where you temper the eggs on the stove first?

Our Holiday Table

By Cate | December 4, 2011 - 8:57 pm | Christmas, decor, dining room, link parties

1 Comment

This year I put together an advent wreath for our table…

When I was a kid, each year our church would have a time for wreath-making after church on the first Sunday of Advent. We would all gather around tables full of fresh greenery to fill our oasis rings. There were taper candles and little plastic holders for them with a pointed end you’d jab into the wreath. We would go home with a beautiful, fresh wreath to enjoy through the season.

I went to Michaels in search of the supplies I’d need to recreate these wreaths of yore, thinking I’d use fresh (free) clippings from the bottom of our (soon-to-be-purchased) tree to fill the wreath. Sadly, there were no oasis rings or nifty candle spikes. What I did find was a less than inspiring fake pine wreath complete with taper candle holders wired in. Ehhh. I wasn’t convinced until I saw some sparkly silver dollar eucalyptus. Recently I saw the fab Emily Henderson decorate a couple’s home for Christmas, and instead of using pine garland, she used eucalyptus (it’s shown on in this e-mag on the cover and pages 37-38). It was so fresh and unique! So, I grabbed a few of the fake sparkly versions (I can’t resist the sparkle, especially at Christmas!),

and a couple of sparkly fruit clusters.

I started by nestling the eucalyptus in with the existing pine.

Then I cut the fruit/leaf/berry clusters apart and arranged the pieces throughout the wreath.

I secured it all with floral wire, stuck in some tapers, and was just about done.

For the 5th candle, I grabbed a big white pillar candle I had and placed it on an old gilded salad plate. An upside down wooden bowl gives the plate/candle a bit of height, and is hidden by the wreath.

I love the way it turned out! The good news was that all Christmas decor was 50% off at Michaels, so for less than $20 I came away with this classic wreath I can use again next year.

Generally I’m opposed to using fake florals, but during the holidays I make an exception. The lure of the gold glitter dust gets me every time. I must say that I do always stay away from fake flowers. I guess it’s something to do with the fact that real petals have such a short lifespan. But, I somehow convince myself that fake evergreens and hardy plants aren’t so bad.

I set the rest of the table with stuff we have year-round. Plastic gold chargers (purchased on clearance from Target, Frank’s Grandmother’s dinner plates, my Grandmothers glass hobnail salad plates, and simple napkins tied with sparkly floral ribbon. The tablecloth and runner were wedding gifts.