Merry Christmas!

Talk about neglect.  Months without a single post.  I thought I should at least post a picture of the holiday ornaments I made this year.  I only made the gnomes.  The mushrooms were given to me from a friend who had no idea she was receiving a gnome on that same day.  Serendipity.    The holiday season around here has not seemed like the holiday season at all.  It has been strangely warm and we have no snow at all.  In fact, we have had one of the cloudiest Decembers ever recorded.  Hardly any sunshine at all.  Not a recipe for a cheery holiday.  Sorry to bring the room down.  Let's get back to wishing you a very Merry Christmas!  Here is hoping it is snowy and cheery wherever you may be.   There are going to be some changes in the new year and  I will be sharing them in a couple of days.  (Clutch the pearls!)  Yes, I am going to have another post within the week!

Happy Chicago-ween

Add some snow to this video and you'll see what Halloween 2014 was like in Chicagoland.  The first snow on Halloween in 20 years.  Nobody will be seeing your costume because your Mom is going to make you wear a winter coat over it.

ornaments...again

 

This is what happens when you are indecisive about which handmade ornament you are going to make for the ornament swap.   You end up with a lot of different ornaments and no progress.  There are yet a few other prototypes that did not make the cut.  Of course, I did not make just one of them.  No, I made ten and then decided that I did not like them.  So, right now we have (from l to r) the felted acorn that I made last year, two versions of the clothespin reindeer and a pom pom acorn.

 

 

I have to say that those pom pom acorns are so much easier to make than the felted wool.  If I decide to participate in another swap next year I need to plan further ahead like I used to do.

Ornament Swap

These are the ornaments I received the first time I participated in the Holiday Ornament Swap.  It has had many iterations.  It began as a swap organized by two bloggers, but the numbers exploded and they found it too hard to manage.  It then moved to Swapbot for a year and then it seemed to disappear.  Recently I noticed that another person who participated in this swap several years ago is trying to revive the swap.  Only a few people have signed up.  The deadline for signing up is next week.  I think that you should go here and sign up!  It is a lot of fun.  You get to create your ornaments and then be all happy when you go to the post office to ship them off.  Then all you do is wait for a little holiday surprise to arrive in your mailbox everyday.  You can't beat that.  If you are at all considering signing up, do it now.

Peeps

I think that in the past I have mentioned that my Mom can be talked into anything.  I found this peeps shirt and gave it to her to wear on Easter.  Here we are on our way into Mitsuwa.  You can hardly read the black lettering, but the shirt reads "Kickin' It With my Peeps".  Happy Easter.

Happy Girls' Day!

Happy Paczki Day!

Today is Paczki day!  I do not know if you are aware that Chicago has a VERY large Polish population.  It is the city with the largest population of Pols outside of Warsaw.  That used to be true when I was little, I think it still holds true.  Anyway, thanks to this wonderful part of the population, we are able to indulge in paczki on Fat Tuesday.  For those of you who are not able to enjoy this delectable treat, I am so, so sorry. 

Let's start at the bakery.  I should have taken a shot of the long line I was standing in, but I thought people would get annoyed.  If you look closely  at the tops of the cases you can see the beginning of the trays filled with the many different paczki for your pleasure.  I think they start with raspberry, prune, apricot, custard...

Here are two trays of strawberry.  That is the fresh strawberry with cream cheese on the left and the same with whipped cream on the right.  Here is what we walked out with:

Fresh strawberry with whipped cream.

Clockwise from upper right: Rose petal, raspberry, custard and an advocat (eggnog) in the middle.

Here is what the center of the raspberry looked like before being devoured.  I guess there is a reason they call it Fat Tuesday.

Happy 2013

Holiday prep

Have you started to get into the thick of your holiday crafting and gifting?  I have.  Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to successfully shoot the results.  Above is a detail of the globe I made for a friend.  One of her dogs is a Boston terrier so I made this little snow scene in a globe for her.  Too bad none of the shots showing the entire globe were in focus. 

This year I decided to try out some new variations using those clear glass ornaments.  This is the mini tree and snow version.

I also tried out these painted glass ornaments.  There was a lot of trial and error due to the viscosity of various paints.  Also, one should take heed to the cautionary information provided by  the person who wrote the tutorial.  When they mention that it takes FOREVER for the paint to dry, they are not kidding.  It has been about three day and these are still wet on the inside.

     So much more to do before next week.  Why don't they keep enough employees at the post office so that they can have all of the windows open during the middle of the day at the busiest time of year?

Renegade Holiday

This weekend was the Renegade Holiday Craft Fair. I got there right after it opened on Saturday because the building is not very large and it gets very crowded very fast.  So, I could have shown you really bad photos of craft booths due to the fact that it was jammed with people and there was no way to get a clear shot of anything, or I could show what I thought was the best display at the show.  This is it.  These beautiful jellyfish made out of fabric.  It was squandered away down a small corridor.  I wish it had a more highlighted location, but the space is not very accommodating for that. 

When I researched online I found that there was a larger display at Portland airport.  Here is a video to give you a better idea.

 

 

Underwater Flight // Sayuri's World from Quimby on Vimeo.

 

 

There were a couple if vendors that stand out in my memory.  Here are the links - McBitterson's is right up my alley. I also enjoy Slightly Offensive Chicago Posters, but I think you have to live here to get most of the jokes.

After perusing the show and breathing the open air again we went to Hoosier Mama for some pie.  It was a good start to the holiday season.

 

 

Happy Halloween!

I saw these here and decided to make a few.  I guess I could have made the mouths bigger so that the fangs opened slightly.  Trick or treat!

Is it too early to invoke the "C" word?

  I went walking in the woods yesterday.  I realized that I have not been walking in the woods in a very long time.  I grew up near a large forest preserve so I used to be much closer to nature than I am currently.  Anyway, I went in to this other forest and noticed all of the fallen trees.  I don't think they did any clearing after some of the big storms we had in the spring and early summer.

It was my lucky day.  I have been looking for a tree stump for several months.  For what?  A side table?  a woodland tableaux?  Actually, I need one to use with metal punching tools as a sort of anvil.  The wood works great and does not damage the sharp edges of the metal tools and it looks nice, too.  This was the only tree that was actually cut down and had not fallen naturally.  This was just the right size because tree trunks can get to be pretty heavy.

Back to the subject at hand.  I normally do not like to think of Christmas this early on.  I have already noticed the Target Christmas commercial, but for some reason it does not annoy me like I thought it would.  I like to Christmas shop year round in order to get the right gift for each person, but I do not like to have any of the decorations, music, or commercials until Thanksgiving.  I do, however like to plan ahead.  I realize that there are certain things you have to think of before this time period or you find yourself cursing every year because you forgot to plan ahead.

I spotted these branches laying on the ground as I wandered in that forest.  Normally, I am not sharp enough to remember things like this, but this year I was!

They may not look like much right now, but they will be my Christmas tree.  I have not put up an actual tree for years.  In the recent past I have noticed people using branches such as these with the white twinkle lights for their Christmas tree display.  I am going to try it out this year.  Hey, i8f it doesn't work out, it didn' cost me anything and no trees were killed in the process.

Happy Girl's Day!

Really? How cute is this Hello Kitty custard pan? They were selling them especially for Girl's Day. I bought this in absentia for Mariko. Since I could not mail it to you, I bought it in your honor. It was delish. I will also watch it go straight to my thighs in your honor as well.

Sweetheart Baking

Have you finished your Valentine's Day baking? You are behind schedule if you need to do any shipping. I am not shipping these, but I am giving them to people I will see tomorrow and not again for an entire week. I thought that these looked so good I had to try them for Valentine's Day. I found the recipe via Marcus Samuelsson here. I was a bit worried after making the dough because it states that you should roll the dough into balls and my dough was not firm enough to roll into balls. I kept re-reading the recipe to see if I had messed up the ingredients or measurements, and I had not. I used to spoons to fill the muffin cups. They turned out just fine.


Since the oven was already on I decided to try out the bread machine to make some cinnamon rolls. I have never used the dough cycle. They turned out pretty nicely and I did not even have to work the dough myself.

Happy New Year!

Sorry. This is all I have for you image-wise today. The cold snowstorm pushed me toward making some wonton soup. Since I am trying to make them with a healthier slant, they were not as tasty as my regular recipe which means I will have to tweak them again.


At least I did not fry them, which, would have been sooo good.

New Year

I am lagging behind with the posts in the new year. I received this too cute 2012 postcard from a friend in Japan. The cute stamp just sent it way over the top.

New Years Eve eve

I want the year to go out on a positive note so here is some major cuteness for you.

Christmas Duck

This year there was a break in tradition. There is absolutely no snow to be found and I have yet to even wear a pair of gloves to date. It was sunny and in the 50's today. It is just so wrong. I decided that I felt like creating a new tradition to go along with the weather. Peking duck for Christmas dinner. I cannot believe that we are Chinese and we have never had Peking duck for Christmas. I will never make that mistake again. The snow should be back next Christmas and I will make sure that the duck is as well.

Merry Christmas!

I did not participate in any holiday ornament swaps this year. I made these mini dolls for a few people around the globe. These are the extent of my holiday tree bling. Merry Christmas!

Dusting

This morning we have out first real measurable snowfall and it has not stopped yet. This is very late in December for Chicago to have its first snowfall. It will all be gone by tomorrow because we are back in warmer temps again. It doesn't really feel like Christmas around here.