Life is sooo good...: December 2010

New Table!

December 30, 2010

I am so excited I got another Christmas present today from Chris. A new dining table! We had been using a small counter height bar table and Penelope was still in her highchair since the stools for the bar table had no back to them. We can finally get rid of the highchair and we actually have room for guests now!

I love it! It's just missing a nice center piece...maybe a pretty vase filled with my favorite flower, yellow tulips...

Recipe

Homemade Bread!

December 29, 2010

I used my KitchenAid for the first time today and made homemade French Bread. I am so proud of myself, it turned out really yummy. Here is my new toy in action...

Here is my dough formed into a loaf after resting for an hour and a half...

Here is my perfectly baked homemade French Bread...

Crusty on the outside, soft on the inside...

1 Packet of Active Dry Yeast

1 Cup of Warm Water

1 1/2 tsp. Sugar

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

2 1/2 Cups of Flour

Egg Wash (egg white mixed with a little water)

Add water, yeast, sugar and salt to your mixing bowl. Using your dough hook stir until yeast is dissolved. Add flour and mix on low for a couple of minutes, increase speed to medium and continue to mix for another 10 minutes or so. Leave dough in bowl and cover for about an hour and a half letting it rise at room temperature. Flour your working surface and your hands and lay dough out and form into a loaf. (It will look small but will get bigger as it cooks in the oven.) Cut several slits along the top of the loaf with a knife and then brush entire loaf with your egg wash to get that nice color and shine. Make sure you lightly grease your baking pan before putting your loaf on it so that it does not stick. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes until nice and golden brown. Eat warm with butter. Yum!

Holiday Photo Contest- Chatting with Santa

December 28, 2010

Uprinting is sponsoring a holiday photo contest via Giveaway Blogs. Here is my entry...

This picture was taken this year a couple of weeks before Christmas. It was Penelope's first time meeting Santa and she loved it! She asked Santa for a pink piano and a little barn...Santa brought her both. :)

The winner of the Holiday Photo Contest will get a $100 Amazon Gift Card and an 18x24 museum wrapped canvas print. Wish me luck!

Post Christmas Wrap Up

December 27, 2010

We had a fabulous Christmas. We got to spend it with family we hadn't seen in awhile and ate a ton of food. I didn't get a picture of everything but believe me we ate well. I did take a photo of the marshmallow pops Chris and I made.

Yummy marshmallows dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with coconut, graham cracker crumbs, peanuts, crushed candy cane and candy sprinkles.

We had a blast opening gifts, Penelope scored big time and I made out pretty good as well. Santa brought Penelope the pink piano and little barn she asked for,

and not only did I get the food processor I have been wanting but check this out!

I finally got it! I must have been really good this last year.

Hope your Christmas was as much fun as ours was!

Wordless Wednesday

First...Wordless Wednesday

December 22, 2010

Penelope's first ever visit with Santa, she couldn't take her eyes off him.

Eclipse!

December 20, 2010

Bento

Christmas Bento

December 17, 2010

Christmas is only a week away, I am so excited! I love this time of year and it is even better this year because Penelope is actually old enough to understand what's going on. She can't wait for Santa to come and bring her presents. I have been trying to teach her different Christmas songs but so far the only one that she lets me sing all the way through is Frosty the Snowman, she loves it. I decided I would make her a little Frosty inspired bento today. I wrapped it in a Furoshiki, which is a Japanese cloth used to wrap items for transport such as gifts or other items. Here is the edible gift I made for her.

OK, so this was my first attempt at making a "snow man", don't laugh! I used an ice cream scoop to scoop out balls of rice from my rice cooker. Unfortunately I only had long grain rice and it didn't quite stick as well as short grain would have. The snowman is on top of ground beef seasoned with soy sauce, mirin and a small amount of ginger. I used an olive for the eyes and nose and a hat...LOL. Green peas for buttons and wait...wait...a fruit roll up scarf! (She pulled the scarf off and handed it to me...smart girl.) the other box contains star shaped jack cheese, star shaped apples and banana slices with a Christmas chocolate to end the meal. Thumpety thump thump, thumpety thump thump...

Bento

...,Please!

December 11, 2010

Today when I asked Penelope what she wanted for lunch she of course answered "macaroni and cheese". This and "cheesy roll up" are the usual answers I get when I ask her this question, so I don't ask her very often. She is almost always satisfied with what I give her anyway. Today I thought I would give her what she wanted with a little compromise. I added some tuna and peas to her macaroni and cheese along with some grape tomatoes. She loves tomatoes!

Wildlife

December 06, 2010

There is a large population of Bald Eagles in Homer, Alaska. One of the reasons is the abundance of salmon in the area another reason is a lady named Jean Keene. Jean Keene fed the wild Bald Eagles that visited every year between the months of December and April on the Homer Spit, between 200 to 300 Bald Eagles daily for several years! Since she worked at a seafood plant she had access to surplus fish to feed the birds. Jean Keene, the "Eagle Lady" died on January 13, 2009 and even though it is now illegal to feed the wild birds in the area you can still see many of these majestic birds soaring in the sky and often times perching on the tops of tall trees all over Homer. We drove out to our local dump today and their were about 8 to 10 large birds just hanging out. I tried get some good pictures but Chris felt kind of weird snapping shots at the dump. Here are a couple of photos I took of the birds on two different trees. They are awesome to look at.

And on another note...I think I am being stalked by wild animals. First the bear, then the other night I was on my computer and I looked out the same exact window I saw the bear through and there was a round face looking back at me. AAAHHH! It looked like a large cat maybe a mountain lion? There have been several alleged sightings of them in the area. From what I have read a Lynx is more likely since they are native to Alaska. Either way it frightened me to see some wild critter trying to find a way out of the cold via our office window. I ran upstairs to let Chris know about the peeping tom but by the time he looked out the window it was gone. I think Chris is going to start thinking I am imagining these animal visits, really I am not!

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New Table!

Homemade Bread!

Holiday Photo Contest- Chatting with Santa

Post Christmas Wrap Up

First...Wordless Wednesday

Eclipse!

Christmas Bento

...,Please!

Wildlife

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