The best things to put in your mouth, by j

As our second week of vacation draws to an end it’s time for me to dump all the photos I took while I was Christmas baking. I went a little nuts.

First up? Cookies and biscotti.

I’ve memorized this recipe when I was about 11 years old. Do not try and substitute the margarine for butter. This recipe requires the chemicals of the margarine.

Then I started on the fruitcake biscotti.

What really made it this was the booze.

It calls for a few tablespoons of Grand Marnier. But that was no where near enough. I dumped a whole bunch in there.

And voila:

The trick is to under cook the cookies. I HATE crunchy cookies.

Then I wanted to try my hand at truffle making, so I made two.

First with these:

Then with these:

And then they turned out like this:

And this:

Sidenote: would not recommend the peppermint chards. Even after about 15 minutes the peppermint candy got a weird texture. I rolled the rest in cocoa. The lemon ones just kind of made weird blobs.

And then the most important candy making: the crack (aka peanut butter cups).

Let’s start with this stuff (also go to your gramma’s because A is deadly allergic to nuts. She ruins everything).

Oh yes. That’s some fleur de sel. I didn’t use a recipe- just my own brand of awesomeness.

Melt your chocolate (I used semi sweet for the tiny cups and milk for the big ones). And paint some muffin liners. Most recipes I found said that you should use a pastry brush. I just used a spoon.

The do the first freeze.

Ta da.

Then mix some peanut butter and icing sugar and put a layer in the frozen cups. Put that in the freezer for another 20 minutes.

Then pick your second filling. Because if your making these you may as well go full out. I chose strawberry jelly for half, dulce de leche for the other half. Freeze that too.

Then put a final layer of chocolate on top, and sprinkle with some fleur de sel. And freeze one. Last. Time.

Package them up, give them away.

Be warned, they might send you into a sugar induced coma. But they are awesome. They are also huge. So share them. Or don’t. No judgement.

My Christmas Shame, by j

I thought I had inherited a skill from my mom.  She does this AMAZING thing, where she makes a recipe once and it turns out fabulous.

Or she tries a recipe for the first time and makes it better.  And then, as if to give a giant swear finger to any nervousness she might have, she makes these first time recipes for dinner parties.

I thought I had developed this skill.  And so I approached a rather tricky and temperamental recipe with my mother’s bravado.  Salted caramels.  I decided to go with Ina Garten’s recipe.  She usually solid when it comes to butter/cream concoctions.  Here’s what happened:

First, I gathered everything.

Then I put the corn syrup, sugar and a bit of water into the pan, thusly:

And I turned on the heat.  First it starts to look like this.  It should be said I did NOT stir this pan- at all.

Here’s where it gets funny.  You have to watch this like a baby.  It needs to get some colour.  I read several recipes before trying this, and no one was able to give definitive explanation of when it’s time to turn off the heat.  Some described at “golden” others preferred the term “warm”.  It was difficult.  So, here is where I decided it was good enough:

I left it for a couple more seconds/minute and pulled it off the heat.  Then I added the cream and butter (which I had melted and heated through).  Every recipe I read that when you pour in the cream it will react “violently”.  Seriously.  We couldn’t decide on a term for the colour we want the sugar, but we all called this reaction violent:

Yes.  So very violent.  Then I followed directions at this point and put it back on the heat and used the candy thermometer.  According to directions I needed to cook this to 248 degrees.

140 degrees

 

200 degrees

240 degrees

Then it was time to pull this stuff off.  And put it into a pan to cool, then I would cut it up, sprinkle some fleur de sel and impress everyone.

This is what ended up happening:

I was not impressed.

But I would not be defeated.  This time I turned to Jacques Pepin’s recipe for caramel sauce (maybe if I was going for sauce it would be better?).

I thought wrong.  Here is my second attempt:

One friend told me it looked like beef tenderloin.

My father told me he “knew I had messed it up” and proceeded to give me tips on how to make it the next time.

I have been momentarily defeated.

I will try again.

AODA Chai Concentrate, by j

I just finished my final assignment for the Fall semester…a twenty page policy paper on the Accessibility for Ontarians Disability Act.

It was a dismal affair.  And I’m so glad it’s over.

But during the researching and writing I needed a break.  So I made some Chai Concentrate.

I love chai.  Love it.  It’s my go-to beverage, but I’m starting to get wary of the full fat version I get from Starbucks.

I love chai when it’s hot and when it’s cold- and I’m always mystified by the spices.  Let’s break it down.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups water
8 bags black tea – I used orange pekoe
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split in half (or 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract added at the very end)
1/2 cup coconut sugar, date sugar or raw cane sugar (you can add more or less depending on how sweet you like your chai)
1 – 3-inch section of fresh ginger, cut into pieces
10 whole cloves
8 cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 whole star anise pods (I only used 1)
1/2 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon raw honey

First start off by boiling the water and the sugar:

After the sugar dissolves, it should look like this.  Only this was not an awesome pic. But you get the idea.

And then, add in all the spices and the cinnamon sticks and zest.  And simmer that spicy stuff for 20 minutes.

Get ready.  It will smell AMAZING.  The original recipe calls for you to wrap all the spices in cheese cloth for easy removal.  I just used a strainer:

AHHHH!

Let it all cool and try not to drink it all up.  Then put it into an awesome jar and take it to your BFF as a thank you for her letting you sleep on her floor.

To drink this stuff, just add 1/2 chai concentrate to 1/2 milk.  When I tried it at Shannon’s we used soy milk.  It was my first attempt at soy milk since “Holly Nog-Gate 2007”.  It was not half bad.

Couple of things:

It was waaaay too sweet.  I added 3 parts soy milk to 1 part chai.  Reducing the sugar content next time I make this stuff.

I only used one star anise- but next time I may not use any.  Not a big fan of the licorice flavour, but I will add in more orange next time!

And it’s even more delicious when you have someone prepare this to go with it:

And then because you’re so happy that you finished the semester (relatively) unscathed, you take a picture of your friend’s cat like this:

And then celebrate that the semester is done:

Hello December! By j

Hello December!!

Yesterday I finished my fourth semester- one more to go before I have fancy letters after my name.

And December is quickly passing- but not without lots of business to attend to.

We all know December arrives when we see this on the door:

And when the park looks like this:

Sidenote: I went to the lighting of the lights (on work business) and got into the VIP lounge, stocked with hot chocolate, cookies and heaters. At one point I was alone in this room with our esteemed mayor and two of the loudest city councillors and all their bad Movember ‘staches. I high tailed it out of there for fear of commiserating with them.

During the last week of my internship (done-yay!) we did some decorating. We all did a Christmas wish list. Here’s what I want:

And it was such good decorating that I won these:

But before this I lent a hand to a friend who was throwing a baby shower. Check out this spread:

To bad the woman of honour didn’t get to see it since her little one decided to arrive 12 hours before the baby shower.

So this month will bring a few more exciting things to come: visits from family, seeing friends and hopefully some snow!

So, it’s November, by j

Is everyone having the same conversation as I am?

“Can you believe it’s November?!”

The past few weeks have been crazy- but good…shall we recap?

1. Celebrating auntie

The fam (or at least some of us) went up to the Pillar and Post for some birthday spa-ing.

It included some drinking of wine out of plastic glasses, steak eatin’, and being touched by a stranger.

Oh, and I walked into a glass door.  Note to masseuse: when I tell you to slow down because I took my glasses off, listen to me.  Your spa is so dark I think it’s lit with nightlights.

Also, I prefer my pedicure woman to be less judge-y about my feet.  Don’t be telling me my nails be short.  I know.  They’re my feet.

2. I went to the Santa Claus Parade this year, on account of the fact that I’m all up in a BOARD OF DIRECTORS now!  It brought back a lot of lovely memories.  We used to go to our local parade and see all the floats.  Here’s what I remember from my youth: candy (there was waaay more candy), snow (I remember wearing snow pants to the parade), more bands and less dancing.  Here’s what I don’t remember: the Star Wars characters.  Every year there is a group of Star Wars folks (Jedi, Chewy, storm troopers, etc.) walking downtown with their light sabers.  I can’t be too mad, I sure that these lovely folks don’t get out much in their costumes.

There was one group that I could have used less of- the Shriners.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the free masons do some kick butt work for the community (I hear that keeping that secret handshake safe is a full time job)…but perhaps we could get rid of this:

The Shriners in the Middle Eastern garb playing their symbols and fancy instruments strikes me as a touch…racist?  They used to scare me as a kid, I hated when they marched by in their head scarfs.  Looking back, I’m pretty sure this is where my internalized Islamophobia started.  Thanks a lot.

3. Did you hear?  It’s World Kindness Day.  Let that soak in for a minute.  We have a day to remind us to BE NICE TO EACH OTHER.  I’m not sure how I feel about this dedicated day (which is a dedicated week in the office).  Apparently we need to stop, look around and check our KINDNESS!??!  DOES ANYONE THINK THIS IS THE SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE?  I’m all for reminding us to take a minute and remember to check our breasts for cancer, think about mental health issues or to plant a tree.  But kindness?  KINDNESS?!  WE NEED A DAY TO REMIND OURSELVES TO BE DECENT HUMAN BEINGS?

4. It was Remembrance Day.  My irritation continues that we pay lip service to those who are in war and who have been fighting, but treat them like this and this.  I am kind of over the tokenism that it our country’s Remembrance Day celebrations.  If I had my way, I would change the entire process by which we remember.  It would be a critical examination of war, the motivations, how folks find themselves in the armed forces (whether by force or by choice…’cause I put money on coercion being used), and all the casualties of war (including civilians caught in the middle of battles, and the soldiers that come home injured physically and mentally).

But that’s just me.

5. Related: I heard a big ol’ stink by several people who complained about Christmas decorations going up before Remembrance Day was properly recognized.

Now listen here: I’m all for soap boxes.  I love them.  But people that I heard complain to “wait for November 12th” for the lights, music and yuletide excitement need to calm down.  Firstly, you need to relax, because if you were this concerned about remembering those who serve in the military maybe you should be talking about how suicides are increasing by the month for those coming home from Afghanistan and how families are waiting years for government support that good old Stephen promised (you know, before he got himself a majority government).  Second (and I think my grams would agree), Jesus doesn’t care when you put your lights up.

6. My second placement is almost done.

Which means I’m closer to being DONE this entire degree.  And for which I am practicing this walk:

7. Christmas is coming.  M and FFD are bringing their pup.  According to our mama, this thing is going to be huge by the time they roll into SWO.  I prefer to believe that this is what it will be like to spend some time with Jackson over the holidays:

8. We are getting ready for GREY CUP WEEKEND!  Also known as the merging of the families in TO in a week and a half.  While we are ALL there we are trying to get some tickets for the Grey Cup.  I’m not excited about this, as I don’t understand football.  But I hear Bieber is performing at half time.  Maybe this will make up for my confusion.

9. Tonight we made some epic plans.  Can’t say what, but it will be amaze balls.  And a little weird.

10.  Did you hear what the 2012 Word of the Year is according to Oxford Dictionary people?

IT’S “GIF” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So enjoy:

Mish Mash, by j

A random Thursday night has me visiting a prison and my beautiful friend, Hilary.

Side note: Those were two different events.  Hilary is not in jail.

I found a couple of videos that made my night!

First, is a video from Jimmy Kimmel.  If you caught it in November, Jimmy Kimmel (the late night talk show host) challenged parents to tape themselves telling their kids that they ate all their Halloween candy.  And it was hilarious.

Now, he’s charged parents with a Christmas themed prank.  It may be evil, but relax.  It’s also AWESOME.

And another Jimmy Kimmel piece (that guy is on a roll!).  He recently had Tom Hanks on, and he did a spoof of “Toddlers & Tiaras”.  And it was awesome sauce.

 

Tree Trimming In Photos, by j

M brought back the family camera that was trapped in Kindergarten!

Check it out what we’ve been up to!

I made marshmallows! They are awesome. And are even tastier when you add them to hot chocolate w/ a shot of Baileys.

As Grams liked to remind me (over and over again) we had lots of sugar-y goodness

 

We got our first "real" snow! It feels like Christmas according to A!

Our tree! It had to have an impromtu haircut, but it doesn't look half bad.

 

The ugly paisley ornament problem? Solved. We stuck it in the MIDDLE of the tree. 😉

 

 

Linky Love, by j

– Zooey Deschanel has a new album out with “She & Him”.  They do a cover of the date rape classic, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, but they reverse the genders.  Read this review about the contentious song and “She & Him’s” take on it.

– People need to wake up.  Omnibus is closer and closer to being passed.

– One of my favourite books, The Purity Myth, of the past few years has turned into a documentary.  Check out the trailer here.  (Those purity balls are sooo creepy).

– A beauty of an article from rabble.ca about the colonialism and Attawapiskat.

– December 6th came and went…did we all remember?  Check it out .

– Now, we’ve all checked out this blog (on the blogroll)?  Now check this shiz out.

– I just made these.  I call them “Santa Hats”.  And they are delicious.

– Only 18 days until Christmas!

Tree Trimming Time! by, m

‘Tis the season! For the first time in years, I’m going to be at the family Christmas tree decorating soiree! In discussing my excitement with my peers, I’ve come to realize that this type of tradition isn’t a big deal to all families…especially families with children all over the age of 23. Leave it to little A to hold steadfast to our rituals; without her, they might be lost.

Generally at our parents’ place, tree trimming includes the following:
-J and mom bake yummy things
-the biggest, tallest, best smelling, most symmetrical tree is chosen
-the Christmas decorations get hauled out of storage
-hot chocolate is served
-carols are played

Once the stage is set, the decorations are unwrapped one by one, and hung from the branches according to the following attributes: weight (heavy play dough lion needs to go on a low, thick branch), sentimental significance (prime real estate goes to the Lion King ornament from Florida, circa 1994, that once slipped from a careless adult’s grasp but was saved from certain doom by an agile sister of mine…I can’t remember which), and aesthetics (ugly yellow-orange paisley Christmas ball is relegated to rear of the tree, year after year).

Before the (NON TWINKLING) lights are plugged in, the tinsel happens.

I will now describe the tinsel technique, with Beyonce’s help (as tinsel technique photos are lacking on the internet).  First off, J has a very strict, rigid method of draping tinsel: one strand at a time, evenly distributed.  It hangs like so:

Meanwhile, I prefer to fling chunks of tinsel, like so:

This gives a more realistic, drifts-of-snow appearance.

Little A tends to drape tinsel evenly, but has been known to fling a chunk or two in the past (if memory serves me right?).

For future reference, Beyonce also enjoys tinsel hair…

…and tinsel shades…

…but I digress.

The tree trimming madness takes place later this week. Will post results soon.

Oh! And just for good measure, this puppy loves tinsel too:

Let the Month Long Vacay Begin, by j

I survived my first term of my Master’s of Social Work!  Wahoo!  Thank the good goddess!

This was the heaviest term that I will have in the program (five half courses) that had me driving back and forth to Kitchener three days a week.

Shall we do the math?

3 days a week

3 hours a day of driving (9 hours a week) x 12 weeks

= 108 hours of driving

1 round trip – 218 km x 12 weeks

= 2616 km

Wow.

Holy crap.  I don’t even want to calculate what I spent on gas.  Luckily, I will only be driving back to Kitchener once a week starting in January (yea!).

So, shall we do a round up of what I’ve learned from these past three months?

1. If given the chance, MSW students will take advantage of free anything

– Lunch

– Printing (we had free printing for the first four weeks…after we printed off 1600% more than last year, they had to stop)

2. You cannot assume that all MSW students will be aware of social issues and politics.  I learned this the hard way.

3. Going along with number two, do not be surprised when the majority of MSW students don’t identify as feminist.  (I know!  What the hell?!)

4. Misery loves company.

5. The workload wasn’t exactly difficult.  I worked 10 hours a week and spent nine hours a week driving.  I still was able to avoid stress until the last two weeks of class.

6. Don’t tell your fellow MSW students about #5.  They will hate you.

7. Every male MSW student will participate in Movember.

8. The practicum team assumes that MSW are idiots, and thus makes us attend 3 hour seminars on how to “communicate with your supervisor” for your placement.  3 hours I will never get back.

9. Just because you are a MSW student does not mean you will have critical thinking skills.

10. You learn some wacky shit that makes you go “whaaa?”

11. When you go “Whaaa?” to said wacky shit, don’t expect your fellow co-learners to back you up.  You can expect them to love wacky shit and make you feel as though you are the only sane person in a sea of mentally challenged monkeys.

12. MSW students love to make “class room guidelines” on the first day.  They include rules like: non-judgmental space, keep an open mind, be respectful.

13.  On day two MSW students and staff forget these guidelines and never refer to them ever again.

14.  On day three the program gets frighteningly competitive.  In a group of social workers-to-be this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.

15. You will meet a professor that you think is off their rocker.  Don’t be surprised when large groups of MSW students love said crazy prof.  Don’t try to understand.

16. You will get to have some pretty kick ass discussions.

17. The community building courses are awesome.

18.  One of the reasons they’re awesome is that the counselling stream students hate them so much. Muahahaha.

19. Group work.  Lots of group work.

THIS IS VERY TRUE.

20. Watch out for the “over talkers” or “never shut uppers”.  They will present themselves early on.  Avoid them.

21.  You will meet some awesome people.  Facebook friend them immediately.

22. Watch out when you walk past the adult learning centre.  You may be spit on by careless smokers. Ugh.

23. There are only three study tables in the FSW library.

24. You can never be too self-reflective.

25. Despite the first world problems, this program is pretty awesome sauce.

How I feel right now.

And now I will begin my one month vacay.  These are the things I will do:

1. Clean everything something fierce

2. Bake treats

3. Eat said treats

4. Go to the gym*

5. DIY treats

6. Select best smelling Xmas tree

7. See the Muppets with RZ and A

8. Read Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando”

9. See some people’s faces that I haven’t seen in a long time

10. Plan our NYC trip!

Sigh.  I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eggnog bars

Oranges and cloves!!

Sigh.

*This may be a crock of shit and not actually happen