New Year's Party

We will be ringing in the New Year at a very casual party with friends. We've decided it will be a family affair with seven kids five and under. These looked like the perfect party fare for our little party people:
Another great recipe from my favorite bakers.

Christmas Card 2009

Every year I design our Christmas card {usually last minute} and, true to form, I only had about an hour to get this one designed and off to my printer. We had so many great pictures that we wanted to use this year that I decided to do a collage of the some of our favs. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, considering the time crunch.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Our annual Christmas Eve dinner was a huge success this year. The Wild Mushroom Soup, a last minute addition, was a crowd favorite. We ended up with the following artisan breads:
Roasted Garlic
Kalamata Olive
Whole Wheat
Limpa (my version of a traditional Swedish bread made with honey, cardamom & orange zest)

All of the bread was made using recipes from my favorite cook book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes. (Yesterday, I bought the next installment of the book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes).

We're already thinking about how we can top this next year...

Pretty Packages

Are one of my favorite parts of the holidays. And I can't get enough of baker's twine these days. I use it on EVERYTHING. You can get here {or in lots of other places}. I'm also in love with this Italian cotton ribbon... which I also use everywhere.

Annual Christmas Eve Dinner {Planning}

Menu
~Cocktails ~
ChristmaPAMApolitan {Pomegranate Cosmos}
“Twas the Nog before Christmas” {Egg Nog with Burbon}

~Appetizer~
Wild Mushroom Soup

~Salad~
Frisee and Fennel Salad with Dried Apricots & Roquefort

~Entrée~
Braised Short Ribs
Whipped Carrots & Sweet Potatos with Goat Cheese
Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts

~Dessert~
Fruits of the Forest Pie
Assorted Homemade Christmas Cookies

Homemade Artisan Bread

Short post. Gotta run. We've got some cooking {and baking} to do!
Photo from Christmas Eve 2008

Our first snow day

Last week we had our first official snow day. The first of the season, as well as the first ever... at least technically - since JB just started school this year. I started out with the intention of trying to make it into the office, but it became clear quickly that I wasn't going to really get anywhere, anytime soon. So we spent the morning playing in the snow and clearing the walks and then went inside for bagel sandwiches and hot chocolate. I got to spend the rest of the day working in my pajamas.
I love how snow days make us slow down. Life should be more like snow days.

Lightshow

The other night we grabbed an extra box of glow sticks {leftover from Halloween} and our digital camera and had some fun in the dark {while playing with shutter speeds}.
Here are the results:

Pretty, huh?
Here is what it looked like behind the scenes: