The Birthday/Christmas recap.

Now that I'm settled back into my house in Windsor... the copious amounts of shit I brought home is put away, there's fresh groceries in the fridge, I've showered and went to the gym already, I'm feeling pretty good. But I cant help to reminisce a little about the amazing time I spent at home during the Christmas break. Truth be told I was working with Ronald McDonald most days, but I still managed to get out and do things. Best of all, I paid off all my Christmas presents and got to work with some people I haven't seen in a while, it was grand. So working the break was really a win-win. Other than working my family and I went through the usual Christmas schedule, Christmas at meme and pepe's (with poutines!!!) nice and early, my birthday and Christmas eve dinner with the cousins followed my Jeff's family Christmas and cookie baking, Christmas breakfast at our place and finally Christmas day with my Dad's extended family... Well that was a mouthful, or really just a run-on sentence. The best part? I loved every minute of it. Christmas time always reminds me that I've really got a great family that I was born into as well as having "chose" a great family through Jeff. Nothing beats getting together and eating food, nothing. 

Both families got Apples to Apples for Christmas so obviously we had to play it! AWESOME GIFT.

The family picture. 

Mémé and Pépé... before he morphed into Santa. 

SANTA! I know him 

Eating leftovers the next day, I really needed a lot of room...

My two favourites, too bad only one is smiling!

Love them. 

Cupcake carrier Mémé & Pépé gave me, super cute. As for me, super cheesy. 

Putting my gift to good use with some Chocolate cupcakes topped with peanut butter cookie dough frosting!

Sleepy Koda with Dad. 

Aw, sisters. 

Sisters and the bfs! 

Me and Roxy wanted to catch a snooze. 

Birthday/Christmas Eve dinner with a Strawberry Daiquiri. 

And the Christmas dinner,  did you know I really like ham?

 And finally I really wanted to share what I made Jeff for his birthday. I bought him a couple things as well but I really wanted to do something more personal this year so after browsing Pinterest (what else is new...) I remembered the "52 things I love about you" on a deck of cards, and that was it. Some cards were just words, others had pictures. I was surprised how easily I came up with 52 things, at first I was worried I might have a hard time! Anywho, here's some of my favourite (and prettier) cards that we're included. 

 If you made it to the end of this, congrats! And I also hope you and your family had a great Christmas and an amazing New Year!

Christmas dessert baskets... Mmmm

This year for christmas I decided to channel the grandmother in me and make dessert baskets for friends and family. I remember as a kid always getting desserts from my Aunt Charlene and loving them, so I decided it was my turn to try. At first I was ecstatic, to bake, to use my new gear, and well to create these beautiful plate things. Let me tell you friends, that excitement quickly wore down after two days straight in the kitchen. The final day I was up till 3 am wrapping these puppies, which included a 2am trip to wal-mart to get more cellophane. It was hard to bake this much! I give all you bakers out there bonus points. After the work was done I did go back to enjoying it though when I got to see how excited people were to receive them and how much they liked my desserts. My meme and pepe have even "hired" me to make desserts for the 50th wedding anniversary open house, so alas I'll be slaving in the kitchen.... I say slaving, but we all know I'll enjoy it in the end. 

After a good month of Pinterest browsing I put together a board of possible desserts to include on these wonderful plates, this board right here. In the end I picked 7 recipes I thought I could handle, and I was right about 6 of them! Click on the pictures below to go to the site where the recipe is posted, I've included my notes about how the recipes went for me too of course. 

Hot Chocolate on a Stick 

I used these to add some height to the middle of the plates. Also, a trick I used was to set the chocolate in ice cube trays so you don't have to worry about cutting them, it worked great! just run the trays (don't hit the chocolate!) under hot water and they slide right out.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Balls 

[via Marisa at Make Happy]

This recipe was great, easy and tasted delicious. The only thing I changed is after they're cooled in "rough balls" I rolled them in my palm to smooth them out before dipping them in chocolate.

Peppermint Crunch Pudding Cookies 

[via Nikki at Chef in Training]

These cookies were my favorite part of of the basket! The recipe was simple and I thought they tasted the best. The only problem I ran into was I couldn't find the Andes peppermint crunch chips the recipe called for. Instead, I crushed up a couple boxes of candy canes and they worked great! Definitely a recipe I want to make again. 

Butter Tart Squares 

[via Intimate Weddings]

This was the only recipe I wasn't entirely thrilled about, I think I missed something in the crust, other than that they still tasted great!

Peanut Butter Toffee Bark 

[via Kate at Grin and Bake It]

This recipe I modified for two reason, 1) My boyfriends loves the regular toffee (skor bars) I make so he begged me to make them the same, and 2) I forgot to get festive peanut butter M&Ms. Otherwise, I used the recipe without adding the peanut butter and the M&M topping. Still a boyfriend favorite, he had an extra bag for himself and he's still begging for more! I'd say that's a successful recipe. 

Sugar Cookies 

[via Country Living] 

And there she is, the recipe that nearly drove me insane. There's video from my sister to prove it, I was yelling at the dough.. like it could hear me or something. But anyway, other than questioning my sanity they tasted alright, nothing special so not worth the work. I wanted to make the beautiful candy cane cookies you see above because I remember them being my favorite as a kid. My aunt Charlene used to make dessert baskets every year, and I loved the candy cane cookies. She forgot to mention that they're REALLY hard to make! The dough wouldn't twist properly it was sticking and it was awful. This dough is very temperamental, if it gets too hot it give you a great big "F you" and stick to everything. After making a few candy canes I gave up on that and bought some cookie cutters, easier but the dough was still out to get me. In the end, I'm on the hunt for a different sugar cookie recipe. 

Chocolate Pretzel Bites & Turtle Bites 

[via Six Sister's Stuff]

These were simple and delicious! If you need a quick treat this is your recipe, I made a ton of these and used them as fillers. For the chocolate Pretzels bites I used the same heat and timing as the recipe calls for but I used hershey hugs and red and green smarties on pretzels. 

And that's it! Here's some pictures of my final products, the first few where taken at 3am after I finished wrapping. 

Almost done...

All the finished plates!! 

Larger plates for families 

Smaller single plates for friends 

My Christmas & winter must haves

Halloween is over, Remembrance day has passed, so that means the next holiday is... exams! Okay, that's true, but I'm not excited for that. Tis the season, to prepare for the most wonderful time of the year, CHRISTMAS!!

Hands down, Christmas is my favorite time of the year. All year I look forward to the snow, the evergreens, hot apple cider and meals among family. Oh, and my birthday of course on the 24th! In preparation for the Christmas season I've put together a little list of things that I need to get through the winter season.

1. Christmas smells 

I'm absolutely obsessed with Bath & Body Works! I'm like a kid in a candy store when I go there. I've even had to enlist the help of friends (thanks Katie!) to stop me from going in and buying half the store every time I'm at the mall. In light of the season, and because I finished both my fall 3 wick candles, I allowed myself a trip to the mall specifically to hit up BBW. I am being completely honest when I tell you that I smelled every candle in that store before picking two of my all time favourite smells, one that is only available at Christmas. My first favourite smell is Frosted Cupcake. I bought a large 3 wick candle AND a wallflower refill in this scent, I told you I loved it. It isn't a Christmas smell, but I love the smell of vanilla and from what I hear guys like food smells best... So I hope Jeff notices my whole room smells delicious. The second smell is Holiday Wreath/Tis the Season. Last year, and in the online US store the scent is called Tis the Season, but when I bought it yesterday it was called Holiday wreath, but as we know a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet... and it does. The other christmas smells I chose was a new PocketBac for my car in Winter Candy Apple. Fun Fact: Did you know that gas pumps are the dirtiest things we touch? That's why I always have sanitizer in my car... Well, and because I eat in my car a lot. Because my car can never smell sweet enough I got a Frosted Cranberry Scent portable refill, I have a sea turtle one. You'll also find some Frosted Cranberry soap in mine and Katie's bathroom.

2. A good pair of mittens 

I bought some TNA mittens last winter on a trip to Ottawa to take part in Contact Ontarois (a french music festival, if you're in the area check it out: http://www.reseauontario.ca/fr/contact-ontarois/). I don't have an Aritizia store near me so I went a little TNA crazy on this trip, but I don't regret it one bit because these mittens have lasted me and are my favourite! They're warm and cute, what more could you ask for? I go for mittens over gloves because I enjoy the style and because they keep your hands warmer. How's that? Well in mittens, your 4 fingers are in the same "pouch" which means more body heat can be kept together. Not as practical as gloves, mittens are great for walking to class or driving with a cold steering wheel. 

3. Chapstick

Okay people, the worst part about winter has to be the chapped lips. They're painful, they look funny, and no one wants to kiss chapped lips. Over the years I've tried tons of different kinds of lip moisturizers and sticks but none of them compare to my all time favorite, Tahitian Noni Chapstick in Original. When the snows falling you can pucker your lips and take a wiff and feel like you're on the beach, because the scent is oh so tropical. Not only that but it works after the first application! I've found that most chapstick's require you to constantly reapply, and of course they would... then you buy more! 

4. Hand Moisturizer

This whole dry skin (hands) thing is new to me. At first I thought the cats were just getting more vicious, but it turns out my skin was just dry in general thanks to the cool winter air. Having no idea how to deal with this new joy in my life I asked my mom if she knew of any good moisturizers, she suggested Hemp Hand Protecter for the Body Shop and I loove it! It's super smooth and nourishes your hands within minutes. Be warned though, don't use too much or you won't be able to open doorknobs or deal with anything plastic for a while! 

4. A Taste of Christmas  

I'm a huge tea lover, I get really excited when it's loose leaf. I went into Teavana and found a delicious, and somewhat festive tea... ON SALE! So obviously I had to get it and make it my winter flavour. It's called White Ayurvedic Chai Tea, as described by the Teavana website, 

 Journey to India and take in all its exotic pleasures with this modern twist on a sweet and spicy classic. High quality white tea combines with cinnamon, coconut, pineapple, ginger, cardamom and cloves giving this tea a complex, sweet, full-bodied flavor. This proud chai's aroma and spicy flavors deliver a melange of deliciousness sip after heavenly sip. Naturally sweet cinnamon with spicy pepper and robust clove.

I like to add a little vanilla soy milk and some honey and call it a day. 

If you've got some variation of all these items I'd say you're ready for a holly jolly Christmas, Frightful weather, and to rock around the Christmas tree! 

Monday night ramblings

It's official, 2013 will be my year of travel! It may not seem like much to some, but for me it's a big deal to be taking two large trips next year. Not to mention my very first trip overseas!! I'm more excited than a cat with catnip.

My first trip is back to my homeland, London, ENGLAND!! I say my homeland because my grandma literally came over in a boat as a child, my family has the chest she brought with her in our living room. It's legit, not antiques roadshow approved, but legitimate none the less. My school and department is amazing and is offering a trip to England during reading week that counts for a credit. Yep, I get to go on a trip AND get an academic credit for it, unfreakingreal. I mean, I do have to write a paper... but, I'll worry about that on the hungover plane ride home. 

My second trip is our yearly family trip to Florida, BUT there's an added bonus this year... Jeffrey is coming! For the first time in our lives we will be vacationing together. FINALLY. My excitement for this goes beyond cats and catnip, maybe like the way my goldfish feel about any food I put in their tanks.

Mondays suck, but this monday wasn't too bad considering it was the last day of first semester classes!

Other than that, this Monday also made me happy because I had time to think about all the things I want to do/make this week...

Food I want to make: Whenever I get groceries I try to pick 2 or 3 recipes I want to make so I buy stuff especially for that. As you can imagine, I pick from my "I like to eat" Pinterest board. Click the pictures below for the recipes.

1. Cheesy Broccoli and Rice I have some leftover ham from a Christmas dinner this weekend that I want to try adding to this recipe as well!
2. Asparagus, Mushroom & Wild Rice Asparagus & Mushrooms are two of my favourite veggies. Actually, I like almost all veggies.
3. Spinach & Strawberry Salad No official recipe for this one, just a massive craving for it. Basically it will be a mix of Spinach, Strawberries, Pecans, goat cheese and Balsamic dressing. Mmm... my mouth is watering.

1.   2.  3.

BONUS: I have some "gone bad" bananas which can only mean one thing... 

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS (aka the perfect study snack)

I use my aunt liz's recipe to make these delicious treats, I'll post it for you later in the week! Fun fact about this recipe, it was given to by my aunt over an xbox headset, classic recipe sharing.

FUN FACT FOR STUDENTS: If you show your student card at the Superstore on Tuesdays, you get 10% off! Save your money so you can buy more than Kraft Dinner. 

Pinterest thing I want to make: DIY wall flower refills. I absolutely love my Bath and Body Works wallflowers, all 4 of them. The only problem is, the chemicals used to create the smells aren't so lovely. I sometimes try to be green, so I'm going to try to make my own homemade refills. I bought some lavender essential oil to try. Click on the images to check out the tutorial!

 

Place I want to go: My Little Tea Shop. Ever since a lady I worked with gave me this card I've been dying to check out this tea shop in Windsor. I love tea and could really use a good winter/christmas flavour. But I also want to go to do some Christmas shopping! I'll fill you in on that one later..

How I want to paint my nails: Frosty Glitter Gradient. If you noticed in my last picture, my nails look like garbage, that will be fixed this week. Now that December is finally here, it's time for some snow. I know I can't expect much being in Southwestern Ontario, but I'll settle for snow-like frosty nails. It's time for a glitter gradient nail, one of my favorite looks... as seen here on Packzi day last year. I could really go for a Packzi now, only 70 days until Fat Tuesday 2013.

And finally, here's some motivation for exam times, which can also be found on our fridge:

I hope your monday went well and that the rest of your week is even better... Can you tell I'm in a good mood?