A Little Bit of Sunshine

It's been freezing ass cold again this weekend. During the storm on Friday I decided to bake something for tea-time. This is a Friday afternoon tradition the Monster and I have. Usually we walk to a nearby coffee shop and she has a smoothie while I savour some carrot cake. Too damn cold this week. Instead, we baked.

Hmm, but what to bake? I have a decade worth of cooking magazines (Gourmet, Martha Stewart, Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Cooking Light...) I also have about 40 cookbooks. Lately I've been turning to the Community cookbooks. You know the ones. The church, the hospital, or community association put together recipes from members and the same publisher puts them together in a coil-bound book with white paper and standard pictures to divide the Meats and Main Courses from the Desserts and Pastry. But these are always filled with people's go-to recipes. The daily eats, the ones that make them happy. Sure, we can make fancy stuff, but this is the stuff that gets made and eaten every day.

The one limitation to these cookbooks is that the recipes aren't usually written very well. The contributer assumes the cook just know what they are talking about. You really have to read and understand what you have to do before you start, especially as additional ingredients are often put in the directions, not the ingredients list. And once you decide whether you are for or against the amount of pre-packaged food that these recipes can often contain, you can mine the books for new favourites. This is definitely one of ours.

I strongly recommend the coconut and raisins. The Monster loves these, and will happily spend her tea-time destroying the muffin to selectively eat the raisins. Next time I'm putting in more.

Sunshine Muffins

1 orange

1/2 cup orange juice or milk

1/2 cup oil (I use canola - no trans fats)

1 egg

1 1/2 cup flour (white or 50/50 white and whole wheat)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar (I always have vanilla or vanilla/orange sugar on hand - extra tasty)

1/2 coconut or nuts (optional)

1/2 cup raisins or cran-raisins (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin or line with muffin papers.

2. Chop up orange, discarding stem thing (if attached). Puree entire orange, peel and all.

3. Mix together all wet ingredients.

4. Sift together dry ingredients, except coconut/raisins.

5. Add wet ingredients to dry, with coconut/raisins (if using). Stir until JUST blended. Overmixing will result in a tough muffin.

6. Pour into prepared pan and bake 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Winter blechs

We had a blizzard on the weekend. A blowing, freezing-arse cold blizzard. It is still bloody cold out (-50 Celcius). And I developed a gastro bug overnight so I spent the day on the couch. It gave me good practice for my latest effort:

With my last pregnancy I ended up on bed rest for nearly three months. I couldn't go up and down the stairs so quilting was out. Well, that and I had trouble sitting for any amount of time. In the end, hand work was out too as my hands were so puffy from carpal tunnel and high blood pressure that I could barely hold a pen for long.

So far so good (other than complete exhaustion and almost daily nausea). But I wanted to be prepared, so I decided a hand hobby was necessary. With this as inspiration I finally signed up for a 101 class. Hubby isn't happy - one more crack cocaine habit.

My Attempt at Crafty

My brother's kids have so much stuff. When it came time to planning for Christmas Hubby and I decided we didn't want to get them more brand-name toys. Seriously, they have more toys that the Monster's daycare - all the rooms combined! After some brainstorming we came up with the grand idea of a puppet theatre. It morphed a couple of times, from painted panels to chalkboard paint to our final decision of baltic birch plywood. Hubby made the theatre part and I made the puppets. I must admit, I don't think he enjoyed making his part - at least when it came to the finishing. I, however, loved making the puppets. More puppets are definitely in my future.

The theatre is in three panels and folds to a thickness of a few inches, perfect for sliding under a bed or couch for storage.

I also got a box from Ikea, lined it with the same fabric as the curtains, and included it as safe storage for all the puppets.

These puppets are fun, but I am looking forward to all the plays we get to see, with every creature and doll the kids had. If only I had a picture of the look on our 5 year old nephews face when he realized he could use his new dinosaur in the theatre!

Mayhem and Peace

At our last staff meeting of the year one of the senior staff made a wonderful speech about how much she appreciated the team. It wasn't Bill Clinton, but it was genuine and heartfelt. It beat any other Christmas greeting this year.

In the holiday madness and stress so much gets lost. Not necessarily the spiritual or religious aspect (although, if that is important to you I can see the reason for the lamentation), but the important bits that make the holidays special. We get caught up in shopping, wrapping, baking, visiting, partying, making, and decorating. We give ourselves so much stress to get things done.

I'll be honest, and you can hate me now, I gave up on that years ago. What gets done gets done. This goes for shopping, baking, decorating, everything. And I can honestly say that I am happier for it. It is almost zen like. If I feel like baking, I do. If I feel like making a gift, I do. If I don't feel like shopping, I won't go.

Hubby and I decided years ago what are the important things to us. We make sure to do those things and if nothing else happens then so be it. So, for us, it means going out to chop our tree. It means Christmas morning piled into bed - all together - for presents and Christmas Tree Bun. It means visiting with friends over ice skating or tobagganing. I can do without Christmas cards, turkey dinner, and even gifts.

Today we chopped down our tree and we will decorate it tonight. I can't wait to see the Monster's eyes when she sees it all lit up. Santa dropped off his gifts for her early so all that is left is to stuff her quilted stocking. I have to make the Christmas Tree Bun and honey butter still, but if we order chinese for dinner that works just fine.

I know, it seems hard to break the expectations of family, friends, society, and ourselves. But think about how much more welcome a card for Valentine's Day would be over one of many at Christmas. Think about the relaxed gathering of friends you could have at the end of January when the rush is over and people are ready to socialize again. All people really need to know is that you think about them and care. A well placed hug and some kind words are the best present at any time of year. Thinking of you all.