My first croquembouche

Pin It Now!

 

Every Christmas I make my snowflake cookies (pictured below). They have become a ritual during the holiday season but this year I decided to make a Croquembouche instead which is something I've always wanted to make ever since Martha Stewart's first book "Entertaining" came out in 1982.  I think that was the very first time I had seen or heard of Croquembouche! 

I made this one to take to a family Christmas Eve party and I tried to time it so I could finish it just before we left.  Each cream puff is filled with a vanilla custardy goodness and I didn't have room in my refrigerator to store this.  Well, it ended up taking me a little longer than I expected so I was rushing at the end and didn't have time to add the spun sugar that gets draped around it. That's the part I was really excited to do too...oh well!  I had to still get showered and ready to go so I told my daughter to just make a star with the sugar syrup on parchment paper so we could attach it to the top.  This was a group effort here. 

I had envisioned taking a beautiful photo of this on my dining room table with the lights from my Christmas tree in the background. We had no time for that we were already late so we snapped this iPhone photo after we arrived at the family gathering.

I was happy with how it came out for our first try but I was especially happy with how great it tasted!  The creamy filling and the crunchy caramelized sugar reminded me a lot of creme brulee.  I would definitely make this again.  There are lots of recipes and even tutorial videos out there but I used this Food Network Croquembouche Recipe

Now that I've tackled this, next year I plan to make something else I've always wanted to make. A Buche de Noel! I can't wait!

My snowflake cookies that I make every year!

Happy New Year! ...and yes! I'm back!

Pin It Now!

 Hi again! Remember me?  It's been almost a year since I posted anything here!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

I never intended to take this long of a break, I guess life just got busy!  That, and after 10 years of blogging I really didn't have much to share. After years of buying stuff for my home I realized it was bursting at the seams and when you aren't constantly buying new stuff there isn't much to share.

 I'm still living in the same place, not by choice but the rent prices continue to climb here and as much as I would like to move I haven't been able to find anything better for a price that is affordable. So I'm making the best of it for now.  I still miss my old place so much but I'm not going to live in the past but make the best with what I have.

 So, this is my mantle for the New Year.  I took my Christmas decor down and stumbled upon these glittered letters in my closet and they inspired me to decorate for the New Year which is something I've never done in the past.  I've since added a white feather wreath to the mirror that I found on 80% clearance at Michaels. 

The martini glass was part of a set I gave to my daughter for Christmas.  For those of you that have been around a long time you may be shocked to hear my daughter is now 24 years old!  And my son, who is now working on his PhD is 30!  Time flies! I'm still not a grandmother though. My son has been in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend and my daughter is still trying to find a good guy. As for me, I'm still single and happy.  

I would like to thank all of you that emailed me out of concern. I think I told everyone that emailed me over the last year that I would post soon.... I finally did it!  I don't think I will be posting as often as I used to but I don't think I will be gone as long in the future! I promise!!!

 

January Mantel - Show and Tell Friday

Pin It Now!

 Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!  I can't believe we are already getting towards the end of January!  Soon I will be decorating my mantel for Valentine's Day, which probably won't be too much different than I did last year.

 

It seems in January I always use silver, crystal and white to decorate and that's what I did again this year...with lots of candles!

I'm loving this time of year now that I have a fireplace! It doesn't get that cold in California so I have been pretty much using the fireplace for heat in the evening. I think I've only turned my heater on a couple times.  

It's so cozy to sit here with the fire and the candles and a glass of wine...except I decided to do a dry January this year so no wine for me... no alcohol at all this month.  I haven't been perfect though...I had some wine a couple times but since I was drinking wine almost every evening it's a huge improvement. I've decided I'm going to continue it like this from now on...even past January! I find I get more done when I don't pour myself a glass of wine when I get home from work! I've replaced the wine with sparkling flavored water in a wine glass!

 

 

***********

Thanks to all of you that join in on Show and Tell Friday every week and thanks to all of you who leave such nice comments!  

 If you are joining in on Show and Tell Friday, please remember that your Show and Tell needs to be something from your home or garden. If you would like to join in, please enter your name and leave your exact Show and Tell blog post link, not just your blog link and as a common courtesy link back to my blog.

Reminiscing - Show and Tell Friday

Pin It Now!

Hi and Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!  

I have nothing new to share this week but I've been very much reminiscing about my old apartment.  My lease just came up at the apartment my daughter and I have been living at for the past two years (I cannot believe it's been two years already) and I would love to move but the rent prices in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area have just skyrocketed over the last 2 years.  That was the reason I had to leave the last place because my landlord knew she could get a lot more $$ for it! 

I looked for another place but I can't afford anything out there now! I can barely afford what I have.  To make ends meet I've started driving for Uber as a second job. It's great because I can set my own schedule and drive when I want to!  I've only been doing it less than a week but I can see that extra income is going to help!

...anyway, I came across some old photos of my old place so I thought I would share some of my favorites this week (as I shed a tear)....

The sad part is when lived here I really didn't appreciate it as much as I should have. I thought it was old (in a 1960s old way, not a nice vintage old way)! Now I look back and realize what I had is sooo much better than what we have now! sigh...

******

 I was sooo happy when my landlord finally put in laminate floors after talking about doing it for years...

Oh and my little patio...how I miss you so! 

Thanks for allowing me to reminisce!  At least because of blogging I have so many photos of this place and I can reminisce any time I want!  I know someday I'll be back in a cute little place, probably even better than this one!

 **********

Thanks to all of you that join in on Show and Tell Friday every week and thanks to all of you who leave such nice comments! 

 If you are joining in on Show and Tell Friday, please remember that your Show and Tell needs to be something from your home or garden. If you would like to join in, please enter your name and leave your exact Show and Tell blog post link, not just your blog link and as a common courtesy link back to my blog.

NOTE:  There is still time to enter to win a $100 Visa Gift Card on my Marie Callender's pie post! Click here to enter if you haven't already done so!

Snowflake Cookies - Show and Tell Friday

Pin It Now!

Hi all! Welecome to Show and Tell Friday!  

I didn't know what to share this week and then I found these photos on my iPhone from Christmas.

I made these snowflake cookies during the holidays but since they are more "wintery" than "Christmasy" I thought I would share them.  I make these same cookies about every-other year.

 I think this year I will even make some heart cookies with this recipe for Valentines Day.  I made heart cookies way back in 2007 and shared them here.

Here is the recipe I use for the cookies: No Fail Sugar Cookies and for the icing I use the third recipe (Lesley's Royal Icing) here: Three Recipes for Royal Icing.  I found that website for the recipes years ago when I was looking for some cookie cutters. They have a huge selection.

After I decorated some of them I gently dipped them in some coarse crystal sugar that I bought at a cake decorating store.  It really gave them the finishing touch!

I also made some Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies to look like snowballs! 

 

 **********

Thanks to all of you that join in on Show and Tell Friday every week and thanks to all of you who leave such nice comments!  

 If you are joining in on Show and Tell Friday, please remember that your Show and Tell needs to be something from your home or garden. If you would like to join in, please enter your name and leave your exact Show and Tell blog post link, not just your blog link and as a common courtesy link back to my blog.

NOTE:  There is still time to enter to win a $100 Visa Gift Card on my Marie Callender's pie post! Click here to enter if you haven't already done so!