december 23rd,

last night (for christmas), karen gave me a "wreck this journal"...
first thing this morning, i set it on fire.


perhaps with a tad too much enthusiasm.

december 22nd.

holiday cookies for zoe's old pre-school teacher.

december 21st.

december 20th.

december 19th.

marshmallows!
i used this recipe, with a tad extra vanilla.

december 18th.

december 17th.

december 16th.

december 15th.

sure to be one of my new all-time-favorite things...
i first made this bread for thanksgiving. due to an apparent run on every type of flour the store carried, i was left with whole wheat graham flour instead of regular whole wheat flour...but i think the change (and the addition of cheese and herbs) makes this beyond savory.

here is the recipe, adapted from this post on blue yonder's blog:

• 2 tbsp. warm water

• 1 ½ tsp. yeast

• ½ tsp. sugar
  

• 1 1/2 cups bread flour

• 2 cups organic whole wheat graham flour

• ¼ cup spectrum organic shortening

• 1/4 cup honey
  

• 1 tsp. coarse ground garlic salt

• 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

• 1 tsp. chopped parsley
  

• 1 tsp. chopped basil

• 1 tsp. chopped oregano

• 1 cup warm water

in a small cup or bowl, combine warm water with yeast and sugar. let that sit for about 10-15 minutes. then, in a large bowl, pour yeast mixture, water, flours, shortening, honey and garlic salt. using an electric mixer or food processor, blend until all ingredients are incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

you can keep mixing for 3 or 4 minutes, then add cheese and other herbs. knead the dough by hand for about 3 more minutes--it should no longer be sticky, but smooth and elastic. if you push your fingers in, the hole should refill itself quickly.

remove the dough and place in a clean bowl that has been greased lightly with oil. turn dough over in bowl. cover the bowl with a damp clean cloth and place in a warm spot to allow dough to double in size. this took about an hour, but my kitchen was really warm from having my dryer running..heh.

after dough rises, punch down to eliminate bubbles. grease and flour 9x5 inch loaf pan. shape dough into a loaf and place in pan. in warm spot let rise again, uncovered until it doubles in size. this took about another hour.

preheat oven to 350 degrees. bake loaf for 30 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped lightly on top. makes 1 loaf.

december 14th.

my view of the back of my table at atomic holiday bazaar.

i am thirty-one now.
sheesh.

december 13th.

it gets so awfully
quiet.

december 12th.

i need a moment to wallow.

happy birthday, javier and tikibalko!

etsy bloggers' featured blog: spotted cow soaps.

hooray and congratulations to this month's featured blog over at etsy bloggers: spotted cow soaps. the lovely ms. moo has a shop bursting with yummy bath treats like this candy cane soap:


which would pair quite nicely with this candy cane whipped sugar scrub:

all of her items are manufactured with fragrance and essential oils that are phthalate free...yay!

...AND, if you shop today, everything in her shop is 10% off!! get to it!

december 11th.

happy birthday, ted!!

december 10th.

i can't argue
with you
anymore.

december 9th.

december 8th.

self portrait challenge.

december 7th.

december 6th.

one of zoe's favorite things about winter is this:

december 5th.

i fear
i have nothing to give.

december 4th.

december 3rd.

pintarse.

december 2nd.

self portrait challenge.

also...i was interviewed over here last week, and didn't find out it was posted until earlier today.

december 1st.

today is the twentieth anniversary of world aids day.
check out ways to get involved with the world aids campaign here.

november 30th.

zoe made this for me...
the "m" is for "mommy".

november 29th.

november 28th.

chocolate chip pancakes for the world's greatest four-year-old.

november 27th.

this year, all i had to make was bread....always indecisive, i did an herb bread, along with my own version of this pumpkin-cranberry bread. there was enough batter to fill my mini-pans twice.. here is the recipe i used, adapted from lena corwin:

• 1- 3 / 4 cup canned pumpkin (one small can)
• 2/3 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3-1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 3 / 4 tsp cloves
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 / 2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 / 3 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 1 cup dried cranberries

preheat oven to 350F degrees. combine the eggs, pumpkin, butter, and water in a large bowl. in another bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, plus the nuts and cranberries. add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix with a wooden spoon by hand. mix until the batter is combined, but don’t over mix. grease the pans, and distribute the batter equally in the pans (should fill each about half way up). bake for 1 hour.let cool for ten minutes before removing to wire racks.

happy (pre-) thanksgiving!

i am grateful for a daughter who wakes me with kisses every morning, and brings me beautiful treasures (like this one!) every afternoon..she has taught me what it means to truly love someone, and my life will never be the same...

i am going to take a break from the internet for a while, so i wish you all a wonderful holiday and a rest-filled weekend!....i will be back on monday, and will post five days worth of photos then.

november 26th.

since i didn't have to be at work until 9am today (and zoe still gets up before dawn), i decided to make some pre-thanksgiving muffins for the folks at the office..yesterday, the wonderful heather smith jones posted this recipe on her blog, and it sounded almost -perfect-...i decided to substitute dried cranberries for the raisins and/or pecans, and to top them off with a sprinkle of almond brickle before baking.
so, here is the modified version of heather's wonderful recipe:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (you can be fancy and use whole pumpkin and a food processor..but it was 6am, and i don't do fancy at 6am.)
  
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  
• 1/4 cup almond brickle
  

combine brown sugar, butter, and molasses; beat well. add egg & pumpkin, beating until smooth. stir together the dry ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture. stir just until moistened. fill lightly greased muffin pans, a little over half-full. (this made exactly twenty-one muffins...if i had only filled the cups half-full, i could have probably made a full two dozen.) sprinkle almond brickle over the top of the batter before baking in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean). remove from oven, let cool for one minute before removing muffins from pan.

once i got to the office, i warmed them up in our little convection oven for about two minutes, with a spot of butter....sooooooo good.

(and, on a side note---next time i plan on taking a bunch of pictures of my hands, i will try to not have ugly chipped nail polish..heh.)

november 25th.

should i make this..or these..?

etsy bloggers' featured blog: storybeader.

this month's featured blog in the land of etsy bloggers is storybeader. deb (the face behind the name), creates super-pretty treasures like this jade necklace:each piece is lovingly made, and comes with an original haiku!
take a second to see what else is in her wonderful shop, and check out the blog, too!

november 24th.

november 23rd.

november 22nd.

november 21st.

s t i l l:body.

november 20th.

"dwell not upon thy weariness, thy strength shall be according to the measure of thy desire."
--arab proverb.

self portrait challenge."there are two kinds of light--the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures."
--james thurber.

s t i l l:body.

november 19th.

...not double bergamot, though...

s t i l l:body