A Brand New Year

Hello!  Happy New Year!  I hope that you are happy and healthy - that you've spent the last 30 days eating pie, hugging your family and getting glitter on your clothes.  I personally feel wonderful.  But my blog has had some real gaps in the last few weeks and I'm sorry.

This was the first year that I couldn't "live the life" and document it in real time.  Those of you that follow my on Facebook and Twitter knew that my holidays were packed with fun.

So today I am actually going to go backwards a bit.  I have photos from the holidays that you must see.  Pictures of how projects turned out and decorations that I made and want to show you.  So, I have retro-blogging to do to make this holiday season make sense.  Come back tomorrow and scroll through December.  You'll see a much better picture of a glorious holiday season.

Happy New Year! xo Anne

Anne's Holiday Coffee

I have been experimenting with different ingredients to make the perfect hot coffee drink and I have formulated a winner!  This coffee drink has a touch of alcohol for flavor, not kick.  You can easily have a cup and feel like you are indulging in a holiday treat, without the negatives of many of the high octane and whipping cream-filled holiday drinks.

Holiday Coffee

Brew 4 cups of decaf coffee.  While the coffee is brewing, mix together 1/2 cup of Fat Free Half & Half, 1/2 cup of 2% milk, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1 block of unsweetened Bakers chocolate.  Microwave this milk mixture a minute or two until the liquid is hot and the chocolate melts when stirred.  Add 2 Tablespoons of Jim Beam Bourbon and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.  Pour the hot decaf coffee into the milk mixture and serve in pretty coffee cups.  Top with a puff of real cream Reddi-whip, if you wish.

This hot coffee drink is perfect to share with friends and family gathered for the holidays.  

(Note: The photo above is a coffee from a restaurant in Paris.  I drank my Holiday Coffee last night before I had a chance to get a good picture!) 

Adorable Holiday Candy

I was going for "cute" and got delicious too!  I was at the cake and candy supply store, happily spinning the rack of chocolate candy molds, when I saw this!  A plastic mold that makes 10 "house" chocolates per batch - adorable!

I wanted to try making some simple chocolates to serve with coffee and cookies over the holidays.  I knew that Wilton made favored/colored chocolate wafers (or discs) that could be put in clear piping bags and melted in the microwave.  I wanted to make the house look "Colonial" so when I saw peanut butter discs at a Michaels Craft Store, my mind said "khaki!" - the perfect color of "siding" for my house.



I used some dark chocolate discs that I had from another project and Voila! I have a super cute candy that tastes like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup.

The candy you see here is from my first batch - there is not much of a learning curve, I'm happy to say.  The only change I need to make is to pipe less peanut butter into the house cavity so that it doesn't seep outside the lines of the house.

Tips:

• Use disposable plastic bags - you can microwave in them and toss them when you're finished
• After the peanut butter is piped in, lightly "drop" or tap the mold to let any bubbles escape the chocolate.  Do the same after you pipe in the dark chocolate.
• Allow chocolate to set before trying to unmold.  I put mine in the refrigerator for 5 minutes.  Gently twist the mold to release (similar to what you would do with an ice cube tray) and then tap and push on the back of the mold (face mold down onto wax paper-covered counter top) to encourage the chocolates to release.

The United States of Jell-O

Do you love it? The 4th of July is not complete without The United States of Jell-O. My Mom bought this mold years ago through the Jell-O website, and I am sad to say that they don't offer it anymore. Perhaps if they hear from enough people they will bring it back. Although the USA isn't available anymore, you can celebrate with a darling flag mold.

I love this mold because it is so funny to see the family going through the line and picking "the Dakotas" or "California" for their serving. This year I chose the coastal area near Washington, D.C. - yum!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

Honey Lavender Cupcake

Holidays are a strong magnet pulling my friends home to see their parents. The bonus is that I get to see them too!

Last year, my friend Barb moved to a neighboring state. When I heard she was coming home for Easter (and was free to visit on Good Friday), we arranged our schedules so that we could see each other.

It was her genius idea to go to "The Cupcake Station." Barb (and her darling 6-year-old) arrived before me and when I walked in, I was greeted with "I've already ordered. You're having the Honey Lavender cupcake...it's so you."

How great is that? When a friend knows you well enough to order your cupcake. And she was right, of course. It was delicious and of all the glorious choices, I would have picked that one for sure.

We talked and laughed and ate our frosting masterpieces (yes, those are dried lavender buds sprinkled on top!). She gave me ideas for our upcoming trip to London and we were smiling the whole time. Thank you, Barb.

I love the holidays.

Paczki Party

My parents and I had our own little "Paczki Party" when our friend brought us some authentic paczki from a local Polish bakery.

A traditional pastry eaten on Fat Tuesday (or Fat Thursday in Poland) - it is a custard or jam-filled bit of fried dough heaven. Yum.

I inhaled a custard paczki with my tea and we laughed about how the remnants of powdered sugar on my face and sweater would surely give me away.

A million calories later, I say it was all worth it.

H.N.Y.

This is a reproduction of a vintage snowflake decoration (love of the past) that was created and sold recently (living in the present) shown to you via the most modern method of all...the internet (surely our future).

So I in honor of these modern times, I am texting you my wishes for a bright and prosperous new year.

HNY!

4th of July

A small town, promises of ice cream and my 3 nephews watching the parade. I couldn't have planned a more perfect 4th of July photo. I especially love the red, white & blue t-shirts. I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend.