It's December 1st! Time to start the countdown to Christmas on your advent calendar.
I am completely taken with my new tin advent calendar. I found it at Michaels Craft store on sale for 50% off the $15 price tag - how could I resist? The only drawback is that the teeny-tiny tin pockets have been challenging to fill. You can see that only the Ghirardelli chocolates are a good fit. Since there are no kids in the house, I am comfortable tucking things in the pockets as I find them. My goal is to finish by Christmas Eve!
I found the darling Swedish clothespin doll girls at my new favorite garden store, Molbak's. One of my other favorite finds is the chocolate "Swiss Army knife." It was for sale in the candy section at Cost Plus World Market.
Are you counting down to Santa on a calendar that is special?
When it comes to shopping for kitchen items, I am weak. I absolutely love measuring spoons and dishtowels and cherry pitters and thermometers and...
You get the idea. Well when I was living in a hotel for a few weeks in Seattle, I had a little kitchen where I was able to cook dinner for us. I even had a convection toaster oven shipped to the hotel (thank you Amazon Prime) so that I would be able to roast and bake in the room, which was equipped with only a microwave and 2 burners.
Before I left for Seattle, I had fun at home planning my culinary adventure (cooking in a hotel room with limited supplies) and I packed up key spices in little ziploc bags and flew my favorite nonstick pan (a cross between a wok and a small stock pot) out in my suitcase. But I forgot measuring cups. The room comes stocked with a liquid measuring cup, measuring spoons, a spatula and that's about it.
Oh darn, I "have to go shopping" for some measuring cups. And boy did Cost Plus World Market exceed my expectations! I have been finding more and more things that I like there. Items that are cute and fun.
Look at the teeny-tiny "mixing bowl" measuring cups I found! They were about $5 and I absolutely love them. They look so cute sitting on the countertop that I have yet to put them away. So far I have made my blueberry gateau twice!
