Tag: holidays

in the kitchen, Seasons

Valentine’s Leftovers

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Turns out, when confronted with petite homemade cookies topped with cherry jam and Safeway bakery cupcakes with 1.5 inches of frosting, most second graders will choose the frosting. I can’t say they’d choose the cupcakes since many of them licked the frosting off and disposed of the unwanted cake. Too bad I can’t bring myself to just bring cheap frosting and a bunch of plastic spoons to classroom parties. I now have a large quantity of jam-topped sugar cookies. They go really nicely with tea. Does 4pm work for you? Save

Caitlyn, Seasons

It’s Ice Cream for Breakfast Day!

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Or, it was. And, yes, it’s a thing. Our local ice cream place has hosted an event for International Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day for the last three years. It’s seems to still be a small thing, though, so if you missed it, I won’t tell if you have a slightly delayed celebration. The story is that it’s cold and dark and dull in the Northern Hemisphere, post-Christmas and pre-daffodils. So, someone declared a fun holiday right in the middle of it. There’s a long tradition of marking this point in the year: Imbolc, the pagan Gaelic festival celebrating …

Caitlyn, Seasons

Now with 3 pounds of candy

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This year’s costume started out as one of our projects from Craftsy’s Costume Box class. The colors were partly determined by a small box of beads, partly by what colors of tulle were available the day we went shopping. After seeing what we had, Caitlyn and I agreed that this was a Fire Fairy costume. I don’t think we were thinking of Halloween at all when we got started, but then that was months ago. Caitlyn, of course, wants everything that’s in the Costume Box. So far, we’ve got this skirt and crown pair and her sword. There are more …

Caitlyn, in the kitchen, Seasons

Easter Treats

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Last week, I found Betz White’s photo tutorial for some super-cute, adorably tiny Easter baskets made from 3 oz. Dixie cups. Naturally, I decided that I needed to make these for Easter. And put homemade candy in them. Never mind that I came up with this plan about a week before Easter. Clearly, it’s a very sensible plan. We painted our cups (instead of using markers like Betz) and I glittered some of them. Someday I’d like to upgrade the paint in our craft supplies from the washable Crayola stuff to something that doesn’t feel like chalk when it’s dry. …

in the kitchen, Seasons, sewing

Making the Tradition Mine

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I sort of fell off the Internet there for the second part of December. Wanna know why? After last year’s first attempt was deemed a success by my candy-making grandfather, and with his candy-making tools in hand (omg! marble slab ftw!), I picked up the family Christmas candy tradition. I’ve always thought that someone should carry on Grandpa’s candy making; if it’s me, I get to claim the extras. I guess there’s an ulterior motive for everything. Grandpa made caramels for years. I remember there were a few years when I was a teenager (I think) when he made all …

in the kitchen, Seasons

On with the Sugar Rush

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English toffee. It’s the reason for the season. Or is it the traditional Christmas morning coffee cake ring? Family gatherings, carols, large meals and gift exchanges are all very nice, and I’d miss them if they weren’t part of our rituals, but take out the candy or the coffee cake and I think my world might stop spinning. Even if it didn’t, it would definitely develop a bad wobble. I’m thinking of you, Grandpa! Save Save