We live in zone 6a and I have been gardening and cooking for years. This blog is an opportunity for me to share with you my success and those failures that come about on occasion. Plus, I want to hear from all the gardeners and bakers and cooks out there and learn from you. Feel free to share your ideas.







Saturday, December 24, 2016

Merry Christmas Eve


Just a few photos of our decorations. The tree is in our bedroom. This is the one that goes up every year in that room. It really would be out of place in the rest of the house, but this is the tree for us as Stephen Andrew Jones would say--"Do you decorate for yourself?" and the answer is "Yes"
 I made this wreath from shiney bright ornaments stored in a box in the basement. It was a piece of cake to put together with a hot glue gun and a greed foam form.


I really like this Santa, but my niece's husband thinks the reindeer looks like a chipmunk. He is right, but I still thought it was adorable.


More Santas. I really enjoy decorating the mantle with them. However, I have stopped collecting because we need to downsize. Or at least stop collecting in general. After cleaning out my MIL's condo of her personal items, it really hit home how difficult it can be to have to do such a clean out after someone dies. She was a collector and never tossed things. A couple weeks ago I packed up 28 medium moving boxes, 24 were just kitchen items. We had been going through her things over the past few years while she was ill. I calculated we tossed between 400- 500 13 gallon hefty bags over those years. What a chore. I thought, oh this is too much stuff.  However, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

By the way--One of my favorite Sanats I found at TJ Maxx a few years ago.
We are having family over for dinner this evening for ham, scalloped potatoes with Swiss cheese on top, fresh green beans and toasted almonds, and biscuits. Plus an assortment of candies and cookies--all homemade. Hope you have a wonderful evening.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Christmas Baking

I am on a roll with Christmas baking and candy making. Recently I took a Christmas cookie baking class and one of the favorites from the class is a ginger . It involves a lot of chopping of pecans and candied ginger, grating of ginger, but it is worth it.

I also mixed dough for gingersnaps. I love this recipe that comes from a Williams Sonoma cookbook that I bought years ago.

The final adventure was a chocolate bark that I make every year. Only use really good chocolate. otherwise it just is not worth it. I add toasted nuts and dried fruit and then a little sea salt.

Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas and holiday season.