Monday, December 22, 2008

Happy HOL-i-days!

I confess - I have been a very bad blogger as of late. Somehow, you start with a blog, then you taper off. I had a million and one pictures I wanted to upload and show you all over the last few months, but I have lapsed in keeping on top of this.

Several little things have been a hindrance, preventing me from blogging. Yes, excuses, excuses...I know. But Biscuit and I have been in the process of applying to graduate school. We have been doing a great deal of wedding planning, and of course, we have been getting ready for the holidays. Here is an update from the last few months.

October:
To start off this fantastic month, we celebrated Mommy Foosela's birthday. One of my gifts was a cake I saw Paula Deen make. It had a lot of butter in it, so it must be delicious, right? Well, butter, yes... delicious? Well, that was debatable. Here are some pictures from that disaster.
The cake was quite easy to bake - all three layers of it. The drippy caramel goo was also quite tasty and stayed (pretty much) in place between the layers.



The frosting is where things got tricky. If you happen to think that the frosting has a consistency a bit like concrete, well, you are correct. It was very difficult to spread. It was more a matter of spackaling it to the cake. But it worked ... and it sure looked better after it was decorated.



We all ate it - demolished it, actually. One of the best parts of the entire cake was the caramel center that developed. So tasty!



The other "thing" that came from this recipe was my creation of maple walnut fudge. Yeah, by any stretch, it is not really fudge. In fact, it is just the recipe for this frosting, but when you add some walnuts to it and pour it into a well-greased 9x9 glass dish and chill it, it becomes a most wonderful rich and luscious fudge. So good!

November:
November brought us Thanksgiving, a true food festivus. Both my family and Biscuit's Mom made fabulous meals that satisfied many people. My addition to the special day were baked goods, of course. I made scrumptious pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese frosting, maple snickerdoodles, and a German Chocolate Pecan Pie. So tasty. Pictures of these creations will follow soon.

December:
This is the month of decadence. The first weekend of December is the kickoff to the holiday season. My family throws their annual Christmas tree party. Amazing food is in abundance. This year was even more special because we topped off the evening with a trip to Worcester to see Neil Diamond in concert. We had Grammy and Biscuit's parents in tow. It made for a great night.

December also saw one of the worst ice storms to hit our area ever. Biscuit and I have been out of school for over a week now and have had time to master our ping pong skills and create delicious Christmas treats. We have made lace cookies, chocolate chip cookies, caramel shortbread, and even SUGAR PLUMS! Have you ever sampled the bliss of a sugar plum? Well, these things are magic... the stuff that dreams are made of!

I will update again soon with all the pictures from the gingerbread festivus that will occur tomorrow. Until then, seasons greetings and EATINGS!