More Christmas Treats
Today, I made a variety of dipped (and drizzled) pretzels and bark. Pictured here are the chocolate/peanut butter and white chocolate / peppermint pretzels.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Caning at Target
I needed to pick up at few things at Target after the Nutcracker, and Peeper was going to be all dressed up, so I suggested that we hand out some candy canes while we were there.
Peeper did an even better job of this than last year. I even let her get out of the cart so she could chase people down on foot. (She was back in for shopping when the canes were gone, though!)
Christmas Countdown: The Nutcracker
Peeper and I went to see the Nutcracker this afternoon. We enjoyed it, but there were some odd directorial choices. Primarily the fact that the Nutcracker never transformed into a human prince, which I kind of thought was a major plot point.
Seriously, have you ever seen a performance of Nutcracker in which he stays in Nutcracker form (actual dancing man, but with the giant head Nutcracker mask) for the entire show?
Furthermore, it occurs to me that after Clara whacked the Mouse King (Oh, wait, no, the Rat Queen. WTF?) the Nutcracker stayed down, so it's not even clear that she's saved his life. Even his wooden Nutcracker life.
I was waiting to see how they were going to sneak the mask off his head and off stage (I was expecting Drosselmeyer and his cape to be involved, that's how he got life-sized) then the lights went down and he (the dancer, out of character) hopped up and left the stage.
Bizarre.
But Peeper still enjoyed it, which is really all that matters.
I was not thrilled about how far away we had to park, but she didn't seem to mind. Notice that she's wearing ballet flats and tights, which are now covered in snow.
Marley's Ghost
When I started reading A Christmas Carol (the original Dickens) to Peeper, I was afraid I might end up regretting it.
I don't.
Christmas Countdown: Make Christmas Treats
I went a little nuts in the cane section at Target the other day, so this year, we made four varieties:
Candy Cane Kisses with regular green M&Ms
Regular Hugs with mint (green) and white chocolate peppermint (red) M&Ms
Mint Truffle Kisses with regular red and green M&Ms (that's a new one)
Caramel Truffle Kisses with honey-roasted peanuts (another new one)
Peeper was actually a really big help this year. She did the majority of the Kiss-peeling, as she called it (four bags, mind you) and some Kiss placing, as well. And quite a bit of Kiss eating, of course.
Shrike helped out, too but I didn't get any photos of her. By the time she joined us, things were going in the oven, so I was pretty occupied with topping the melted ones while they peeled and placed.
We also tried something new. A while back, I was talking to Peeper about what we'd be making, and maybe I was telling her about the candy cane marshmallow treats that we've made the past couple of years, and she started telling me her idea for a treat that we just had to make.
She said we should take a candy cane and dip it in chocolate, then stick on marshmallows. Hmmm. I considered getting some of those tiny marshmallows like the ones that come in cereal, but then I though about marshmallow fluff. I had to convinc Peeper that it would be ok to put the marshmallow on first, but when I explained that it would stick by itself, and didn't need the chocolate for that, she was okay with it.
When we were shopping, I came across some marshmallow Candy Melts and figured that would have to work better than fluff, and I think it did. For the chocolate, I used melted Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. I didn't intend to go that fancy with the chocolate. I would've been just fine with Hershey's but the only other option Target had to offer was Nestle and I won't buy that, so Ghirardelli it is.
A day or two ago, I came up with the idea of adding sprinkles, and the plan was finalized, other than figuring out how to actually make it all stick together.
Introducing Marshmallow and Chocolate Enrobed Candy Canes.
These were the experimental ones, before I figured out that you have to dip them in marshmallow, then stick them in the freezer for a couple of minutes to solidify before dipping in the chocolate. (Then sprinkle, and back into the freezer.)
These are the final product. I avoided having a flat side where they were laid down by hanging them from a cooking rack placed over the top of a big mixing bowl, while in the freezer. The ends just barely touched the bottom of the bowl.
I was only able to make ten because out of a box of two dozen candy canes, that's all that weren't broken! Most had almost invisible cracks right at the hook.
I then took the remaining marshmallow and chocolate, along with the broken candy canes, crushed in the blender, and mixed that all together to make a "bark." I way over-mixed, so it's not pretty and swirly with candy canes sitting on top. It's sort of light brown and gritty with some pieces of candy cane embedded in it. But it's pretty yummy.
I still have a variety of chips left - milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter, maybe something else - and M&Ms and small candy canes, as well as both square and regular pretzels. I think I'll be dipping (drizzling) some pretzels and will probably make a bark or two, and I'm kind of considering peppermint fudge. We'll see what I have the oomph to actually accomplish over the next ten days or so.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Well, It's a Start
I mentioned something to Peeper about needing to wrap some of Shrike's gifts, and she decided that we must do that right now. She even sent Shrike to the bedroom to take a nap. (That was not a very tough sell.)
She helped quite a bit with the wrapping, actually. She did a good bit of the cutting, the vast majority of the tape-pulling-out (much to my chagrin) and way more folding and taping than I was really thrilled with, but after the first gift, I made myself just Let. It. Go. and allowed her to just throw the paper and tape on any which way if she wanted to.
All the while, telling me, "I'll show you how an expert wrapper does it."
Oh, okay, you do that.
Shrike and I have always filled stockings for each other, and we've explained to Peeper that we have to do that because "Santa doesn't bring presents to grown-ups." She is totally cool with that concept, but did not want me to hide the two stocking gifts that I wrapped, to put in on Christmas Eve. After arguing with her for a little while, I realized that it Doesn't. Fucking. Matter.
Shrike is neither going to sneak into her stocking to peek at her gifts, nor have her delusions shattered by finding out that Santa doesn't actual fill her stocking while he's dropping off Peeper's gifts.
So, I let her pull the step stool over and put the gifts in Shrike's stocking. She decided to add a few more things on her own.
There are some beautiful polished rocks (bought at a museum with Eena and Papa during Mommy's surgery), a washcloth, some magnet letters (including Shrike's initial; that's the only one Peeper told me about, I'm not sure what her reasons were for the others that she chose), some tissues, and an Easter egg pot holder ("I thought Mommy would like the colors."), another actual gift that she took out from under the tree and who knows what else.
She told us "I really like giving people presents and getting presents. I'm the present girl." I can see that.
The tree looks pretty pathetic in comparison.
Christmas Countdown: Read Christmas Books
I asked Peeper about it on the way to school (she and Shrike have been opening the drawers before I'm out of bed most mornings) and when she told me what her note said, I told her, "Okay, this afternoon, we can gather up all your Christmas books and read them," and she said, "I already did."
Evidently, she'd rounded up the books, including some that were in her room, where I was asleep, and Shrike read them to her, and I slept through the whole thing.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Soup's On!
I've not been so good about getting photos of Christopher, but I did get one of him making some veggie soup today.
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