Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Top-of-the-waves Tuesday...

...I know blogging has been a little sparse lately. Chalk it up to being busy and trying to wind things up so I can go on Christmas vacation on the 22nd.

I've been taking vacation between Christmas and New Year's since at least 1980. I've had different employers along the way and there were a couple of years where it wasn't possible, but I need this time to recover recharge after the Christmas baking madness.

Anyway, here's the weekend recap.

Saturday:
  • Got our Christmas tree from Summerwinds Nursery. It is an 8-foot Nordman Fir. The nursery is very good about trimming the trunk and any extra branches at the bottom of the tree, and they are very close to home. We got it into water as soon as we got home. The plan was to move it into the house when we had a chance....that was not going to be during the weekend because of baking, though.
  • Baked a double batch of the Faux-bucks Lemon bread. After taste-testing the first batch, we decided it needed more lemon flavor. I added more microplaned lemon zest to the batter.
    Yield: 6 mini-loaves
  • Baked a batch of Faux-bucks Gingerbread. This recipe uses applesauce instead of oil and contains no molasses. I added chopped crystallized ginger to the batter before baking. This was a very thick batter and did not make as many mini-loaves as I wanted. I might go back to my previous recipe...I haven't decided yet.
    Yield: 6 mini-loaves
  • Went to Spin-In, taking one mini-loaf each of the Lemon bread, Gingerbread, and a Pumpkin bread that I defrosted that morning. Everyone seemed to like the bread, especially the lemon.

    I did some spindle-spinning, which was a nice change.  Two of the spinners put together fiber bags for those who attended. The bags contain white wool samples from 6 breeds of sheep plus a little kit for taking notes so we can explore and document how these fibers spin. Very cool idea and gift! Thanks, Mary and Margot!
  • After Spin-In, I started prepping the kitchen for two people to work in there. I invited Linda, a family friend, to come over and bake with me on Sunday and I needed to make enough work space for both of us. Also made sure the house was somewhat orderly and clean. :)
  • Made a batch of Cherry Kisses cookies.
    Yield: 48

    Cherry Kisses
Sunday:
  • Did the final clean-up and vacuumed.
  • Did my weekly grocery store run. After putting the groceries away, I put some chicken in a marinade for Sunday's dinner and cleared the decks in the kitchen. Linda was due at 1pm.
  • Made a batch of Coconut-Cranberry Chews.
    Yield: 77

    Coconut-Cranberry Chews
     
  • Started a batch of a new cookie: Matcha Green Tea Christmas Trees. I'd read all of the comments about the recipe and was aware that some people had problems. I made sure to mold the trees the right height and to chill them before baking...shaping these trees was a very time-intensive process. As for the trees themselves (collapsed and sad-looking), let's just say it was a Fail and move on. 
  • In the middle of molding the tree cookies, Linda arrived. I put her to work on slicing Pistachio Pinwheels while I fussed with the trees. Linda ended up slicing all 3 cookie doughs that needed slicing--the pinwheels, Spumoni Slices, Chocolate-Espresso Slices.
  • I hadn't used all the green tea dough for the trees, so I rolled out the rest and cut them into diamonds. After baking, we tasted them. They were OK, just not a Win.
    Yield: 17
  • Pistachio Pinwheels, yield: 69

    Pistachio Pinwheels
     
  • Spumoni Slices, yield: 77

    Spumoni Slices
     
  • Chocolate-Espresso Slices, yield: 77

    Chocolate-Espresso Slices

  • We tasted the failed Christmas trees and agreed that they just didn't taste that much like green tea and were not worth the trouble. Linda took home the failed trees to her husband as a consolation prize.
  • I started the sugar cut-out cookies while Linda was there and finished them after she left.
    Yield: 89
  • Cut-out and baked the chocolate sugar cookies. This was the first time for this dough and I love it. It is dark chocolate and very easy to work with. I haven't tasted it yet as none of the cookies broke during the process (this is a good thing).
    Yield: 50
  • Dinner and clean up pretty much used up the rest of the evening.  There are still the Mexican Wedding Cookies and Spritz to make. Guess I'll do that during the week.
Monday night:
We moved the living room furniture around in preparation for bringing in the Christmas tree. I cleaned the floor and then pretty much vegged for the rest of the night.

This morning:
We moved the Christmas tree into the house, got it in its stand, and released it from the netting. I gave it a good dose of water before I left for work. Tonight, we'll check the stand for leaks and see how the tree has expanded during the day. If all looks good, we can start decorating it!

Progress!
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