Walkin in a Winter Wonderland

Snow! Yes I have snow! I have it on my doorstep, I have it on my bushes, I have it on my car...I HAVE SNOW! As I mentioned in a previous post, the Westside of Albuquerque doesn't usually see snow. So when I was at work yesterday and the beautiful flakes kept falling from the sky and suddenly turning into 3 inch piles outside the office I was ecstatic. There's something about snow that turns everything into a beautiful serene landscape.

This is the time I wish I was a kid again! Our schools are, for now, on a two hour delay, which takes me back to my own childhood snow days. I would wake up, run into the kitchen and have my ears ringing with the words that came out of my mom's mouth, "No school...snow". My brother and would get all bundled up and head out for our first mission, snowman building. But not just one snowman, we would make a Daddy, a Mommy, a Sister and a Brother snowman. The next task was sledding.

We used to live by a park that had this huge hill, we actually the park was built kinda like a pit. We'd show up at the park and all the other kids would have these fancy sleds and would make it half way down the hill and come to a complete stop. Well we didn't have enough money for a sled, so my parents gave us an extra scrap of linoleum they had from when we revamped the kitchen floor. All the kids gave us a look of disgust when we pulled out our blue checkered linoleum sled. Chris and I were a little embarrassed at first, but the second we zoomed down the hill like a speed racer, making it all the way to the bottom, the embarrassment quickly faded.

Pretty soon everybody wanted to take a turn on our sled! Ah, those were the days! As I'm writing this post they just announced all schools are cancelled, and I just received a text from my boss that we still have to go to work, no delay, no closure. Please, please can I go back to being a kid?!

This week's TWD was another great cookie recipe, that I'm sure Santa would LOVE to eat during his busy night of present deliveries. This recipe, Buttery Jam Cookies, is brought to you by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl . I really enjoyed these cookies, they were light, buttery and the surprise chunks of jam really got me excited! Not only will this be a favorite of Santa's but of favorite of my family, and hopefully yours!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

It's officially holiday time here in Albuquerque. As I woke up and turned the TV on this morning the first thing that I heard was notice of school cancellations, which can only mean one thing...SNOW! Now in New Mexico, we get quite a bit of snow up in the Eastern part of the state, but when it snows here in Albuquerque, it's usually only the mountains that see any of the snow.

Albuquerque is pretty much divided in half, one half is the east side. Which is home to the Sandia mountains (which holds the worlds longest tram ride!) and pretty much downtown Albuquerque. Then you have the west side, which is where I live. The west is the newer, continuously growing part of Albuquerque.

So, although my side of town hardly ever gets any snow, I love waking up in the morning and looking over at the Sandia's which have been frosted with white icing! Then you get the sun peeking up over the mountain and you have the most beautiful winter wonderland you've ever seen!

And although this weeks TWD could mimic my Sandia's with a good coat of icing, I chose to leave my Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies icing free. I did however decide to adjust the flavor a little bit by adding some orange zest and some allspice to the mix. And boy-oh-boy did I hit the Christmas nail on the head! The cookies were fruity, yet had the warm coziness that everyone loves during the holidays from the allspice. To check out the recipe and make a batch of these yummy cookies for yourself check out Ulrike's blog Kuchenlatein.

It's the Holiday Season

It's that time of year again people! It's time to wake up at the crack of dawn and stand in 3 hour lines for Christmas presents. It's time to get on the wobbly ladder and hang the Christmas lights. It's time to have the smell of an evergreen tree permeating your house. It's time to get in the kitchen and bake, bake, bake and then bake some more Christmas cookies!

TWD started off the Holiday baking with Linzer Sables, chosen by our first male TWD-er, Dennis of Living the Life! And I have to say that this recipe is pretty easy going. I sometimes hate when it seems like Holiday cookies take more effort to make than they do to enjoy. But these cookies were simple and straight forward.

I still don't know if I'm a big fan of them yet. I'm not sure how I feel about the cookie itself. It was good and crisp, but for me tasted a little bland. I also am not a fan of inhaling powdered sugar when I eat my cookie so I chose to fore go suffocation this time around :)

There's plenty more to bake and plenty more to decorate, so stay tuned for more Holiday Baking!

What came first, the pumpkin or the pecan?

Yahoo! We are just days away from my second favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. There are a few reasons why i love this holiday. I would like to say that the first reason is the food, but I'd be lying. The biggest reason I love Thanksgiving is that I get to spend of full day of cooking, laughing and sharing memories with my family.

In my house we start cooking the night before actual Turkey Day. We have to make the cornbread for the stuffing (or dressing as we call it), pies are made the night before, and we also make a breakfast casserole to have in the morning. Then, at the crack of dawn on Thursday Mom and I are up, with coffee in hand and we are chopping away. Celery, onions, sausage, all meet the knife, and we are thankful for their sacrifice.

The rest of the day is filled with me, Mom and Dad moving about the kitchen, with pots clinking, burners boiling, and Mr. Turkey roasting away. The smells fill the kitchen quickly and little by little the magic starts to happen. Deviled eggs are made, green been casserole is browned, pea salad is refrigerating, marshmallows on the sweet potatoes are melting, biscuits are rising, gravy is thickening, cranberries are jellied, pickled and olives are trayed and of course Mr. Turkey is carved.

My plate is piled with food, and I'll probably go back for seconds. The crowd of family now moves to the living room to surround the TV and watch some football. The dogs sit close and stare with puppy dogs eyes, begging for a morsel. After a few hours and some games, the pies, pumpkin and pecan, are unveiled, coffee is brewed, wine is opened and we all sit around the table talking about memories past. This is also the time that we bust out the shopping ads and create our plan of attack for the next days shopping mission.

It is for all of these reasons that I love Thanksgiving. I love spending all day with my family, I love, love the food, I love the football game, I love playing games at the table, and I love to be able to reflect on everything I am thankful for.

This week I was thankful for TWD for a few reasons. Vibi from La Casserole Carrée was our recipe queen this week and she chose Dorie's Thanksgiving Twofer Pie. It's half pumpkin and half pecan. I was so excited about this one, because my pie crust actually worked. When TWD made our blueberry pie, my pie crust was dumped in the trash and store bought was substituted. But not this time! My pie is completely home/hand made! The pumpkin filling had an extra kick thanks to the rum, which I really liked. And I loved the crunchy topping and nutty pecans. If you're anything like my family where we always make a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie, your life may have just got a little easier thanks to this scrumptious hybrid!

High Spirits

It's time to kick off Holiday Season! This year, the holidays are a little more special to me because I'm living on my own. It's my first time to ever go out and buy Christmas decor, decorate my own tree and host my own cocktail parties. Ever since I was little I always dreamed about this! I know, you may think it's silly, but I was raised in a Christmas loving family. My mom, god love her, has an entire shed in the backyard dedicated to Christmas decor. Every year our house would transform into this magical wonderland full of Gingerbread Kitchen, Snowmen Living Room, Santa Family Room. Every room had it's own theme, and there wasn't one spot of the house left untouched.

Well, her magic decorating elf dust has sprinkled its self on me. For now I find myself roaming the stores planning out my themed rooms. Buying up endless amounts of red and green. And with each purchase I make I find my self smiling more and more. I never knew that creating my Christmas Wonderland could lift my spirits so much.

To compliment my "high spirits" theme, I decided to give my Arborio Rice Pudding of this week's TWD challenge some added spirit. When I saw that Isabelle of Les Gourmandes d'Isa chose this recipe I decided to stray away from the original flavors of vanilla and/or chocolate. I wanted a little kick to my rice pudding, so I added a little cinnamon, orange zest and Grand Marnier.

I also noticed that many TWD-ers were having probably with their puddings being to liquidy, so I actually used 1/2 c of rice and reduced the milk by about 3/4 of a cup. I was left with silky, creamy, orange-y rice pudding. I was tempted to eat my whole margarita glass, but I put the spoon in the dishwasher before I had a chance :) This recipe was such a cinch to make, and has endless possibilities to it. So I raise my glass and toast to the kick off of the Holiday Season, may all your days be merry and bright!

Rising Again

Hello Blog World!! I am so happy to be back! My surgery went perfectly, although they did discover that I have arthritis at the age of 24, but other than that all is fine. I am now in my recovery stage. Today was the first day, in three weeks, that I was allowed to take my stiff-leg brace off. And boy does it feel good to bend (slighty) my knee!

As with todays' TWD, I feel like I am rising again, on my way back to my full potential. It's gonna take some time to be completely 100%, but like a good Kugelhopf (chosen by Yolanda of the All-purpose Girl), it's all about the waiting process! I don't think there couldn't have been a better chosen recipe to represent these last few weeks for me!

I must admit, I was a little nervous about making this recipe, not only because it had been a few weeks since I have even looked at my mixer, but also because of the dreaded word Y-E-A-S-T. As you may remember from the TWD Sticky Buns I was very apprehensive about a yeast recipe, because all of my previous attempts with yeast had failed. But I tell you, there's something about Dorie's recipes that always seem to work out. I now have two successful yeast baked recipes under my belt, and am slowly starting to warm up to the bubbly, fermenting little guy!

I wanted to switch up my Kugelhopf, maing it a little more suited for the fall season that has hit New Mexico like a shcokwave. So, I opted to used dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. And boy what a match. The sweet/tartness of the cranberries gave the perfect zing the the airy, buttery dough, and the scattered bite of white chocolate was a sweet, melty surprise. And who says you need a traditional Kugelhopf pan? I made half the dough in my Brooche molds, and the other half in a tube pan, and they worked perfectly. I can't wait to make this recipe again, but try different additions!

Light as Air

This has to be one of my favorite times of the year. Here in Albuquerque, if you look out your window just as the sun is rising, you'll notice jewel tones filling the sky. You'll hear roaring noises that are floating up above. You'll see people gathering on their porches, in their backyards, and in the street, all staring up at the sky. And for what? This...



The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This world renowned event brings balloonists from all over the world, with balloons of all shapes and sizes to this great city to participate in the World's Largest Balloon Fiesta. The event is a week and a half long and hosts regular Mass Ascentions, Balloon Glows, Special Shapes Rodeos and Glowdeos (Shaped Balloons that fly in the morning and glow at night), and Balloon Races (hundreds of balloon race into the park to grab envelopes off poles that are 15 ft in the air).



If you ever needed an excuse to travel to Albuquerque, this is it. People begin arriving at the park at 5 am and stay all day to see the over 800 balloons take flight. Of course, to get up that early, it requires a lot of coffee, well for me anyway. We woke up at 4:15 to get ready, and by 5:30 I had already had three cups of coffee. And what goes best with coffee?



Cranberry Pecan Biscotti of course! Which was this weeks TWD pick by Gretchen of Canela & Comino. Gretchen actually picked Lenox Almond Biscotti by Dorie, but I wanted to change out the nut and add some cranberries. I just think cranberries have such a "fall" feeling and I adore them in any type of cookie. These were so lite and crisp, and a perfect mate for my little coffee mug :)

No Time to Post

I am so sorry that I don't have time to post about TWD this week. It's is Balloon Fiesta time in Albuquerque, and that means we're up at 4:30 am, out to the balloon field by 5:15 and watching over 700 balloons take off until about 10:30 am. Then it's back home, sleep for a few hours and get back out to the field around 5:00 pm to watch the balloon glows.



I did have time to complete the Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake, and was ecstatic that for the first time...Ever...I was able to successfully make caramel. I have had many failed attempts, and this was finally my break through moment!



I actually switched to pecans, because that was the only thing that I had on hand, and it turned out wonderfully. I took this lovely little cake to work and everybody about died. Which is always my goal when I bring something to work :)



Check out other TWD members and get the recipe from this week's recipe chooser Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy, and make it at home, you'll die with one bit! (But of course you'll go to heaven!!)

Life's Riches

Doesn't it seem that too often we don't reward ourselves? I know, for myself, that I always feel a sense of guilt if I splurge on something special, or buy something that I know I shouldn't, or even eat something that isn't necessarily healthy. I beat myself up over these things and even am to the point where I sometimes feel that I don't deserve my splurges. I scold myself for "rewarding" myself.



It wasn't until recently that I realized how unhealthy not splurging is. If I tell myself that I can't have a hamburger or a donut, I'll end up binging out on ice cream. If I tell myself that I'm not worth a pedicure twice a month then I feel like I can't spend my hard earned money on two days a month of pampering myself. If I don't allow myself to buy things for my new apartment, then I always come to home to an empty house, which makes me feel depressed.

Now don't get me wrong, I"m not saying that I'm gonna run out and buy a brand new car just because I've been wanting one for a few years and fell like I deserve it. I think there are smart ways to splurge on yourself to keep you from getting stuck in a rut. I also think that the occasional smart splurge can take you to a higher place, mentally.



For example, when I'm able to eat the finest food in my little one bedroom, 812 sq ft apartment, it takes me somewhere else mentally. I can picture myself sitting at a fine dinning restaurant, surrounded by first class people. It's incredible to be able to bring that sense of "high class" home with you. That's exactly the feeling I got with this week's TWD recipe.

I have always thought of Creme Brulee as something very fancy, hard time make and only worthy to touch the lips of people who have a lot of money. I don't know where this impression came from, but I'm sure My Best Friend's Wedding didn't help my thoughts of Creme Brulee. And I had my doubts when Mari of Mevrouw Cupcakes chose Dorie's Creme Brulee. But I was amazed to find out how easy the recipe actually is.



I wanted to kick my Creme Brulee up a notch, since plain Creme Brulee just wasn't fancy enough, so I steeped some Chai Tea bags into my milk, and added cinnamon to my egg mixture. Within five minutes I had completed my Creme Brulee batter! It was just that simple. The result was amazing! Very creamy and exotic tasting, yet comforting to the soul. Which taught me one thing. I don't have to be high class or non-splurgant to enjoy in life's riches!

It's Alive!!!

It's Alive! It's Alive! Buhhaaaaha!!!


My camera that is! As many of you know, new puppy Chloe tore my USB cord to shred, so I've been using my cell phone to upload my pictures (which has been a real pain in my ass). But, yesterday Andy and I went to WalMart to buy some groceries. We were kind of wandering around and happened up the Electronics department. "Do you think they'll have my cord?" "Doesn't hurt to get check..." So off I went to the counter to ask the almighty question.



"Well no we don't carry those those cords here," Mr. Man with a big Santa beard said. "But, if you're only looking to upload your pictures on to the computer we have a memory stick for it." He guides me over to the large rack of camera accessories and picks up this tiny plastic package. "This here device lets you take your memory card out of the camera, and upload the pictures to the computer." BRILLIANT!!

I was so excited to get home and try it out. But, I have to admit, I was a little skeptical. I just had a bad feeling that this new toy just wasn't going to work. I took it out of the package (fingers crossed) and stuck it into my USB port. Then, with a hope and a prayer, I took out my memory card and inserted in to the little device.




Next thing I knew I hard a "ba-ding" from my computer letting me know that it had reckognized a new device. And suddenly, to my heart's amazement the screen for my picture download came up!!!! WOO-HOO!

So I give you my TWD Chocolate Chunkers!! Thanks WalMart!