Silver and white wreath

This is the last of the three artificial base wreaths I did this year. I thought I would break down the processes I used to make it a bit.  Silver and gold are the main metallic colours and I had been thinking about using some of the beautiful antique silver pieces we have to decorate at least one of the wreaths. The ones I ended up using are a group of over-sized serving pieces. I wanted to be able to have them appear to “float” on the wreath and still control where and how they sat without visible wire.

fork with wire attachment

To achieve this, I glued florists wire along the backs. (you can see the back of the fork in the photo) Due to their size, I ran a fairly long stretch along the back of each piece and left long pieces of wire on the ends for attaching to the wreath base. It worked perfectly. I was able to get them to sit in the exact positions I wanted and the wires are totally invisible. The feather accents were simple to make, they are just a small group of feathers that were again wrapped in a bit of florists wire. The sheer silver ribbon garland dresses up the wreath without making it too busy or adding another colour. The last piece, which ties it all together,

wreath detail

is the little mercury glass bird (with white feather tail) that sits in the cup of the almost-ladle spoon. It’s the most whimsical and different of my wreaths this year, but I have to admit that it’s also my favorite.

Tangerine/lime penuche

I hate to let anything go to waste and this still applies when dealing with food as well. When we candied the citrus peels there was a batch of wonderfully

citrus penuche

scented sugar that was a by-product of the process. (I also had a bit of the plain, undipped candied peel, mostly small pieces, left over) I decided to try using them both in a making a batch of the penuche. The citrus sugar replaced most of the brown that the recipe calls for. I still used the same amounts of butter and milk and added a touch of lemon liqueur as well as the vanilla extract. All of the left-over peel bits were added at the end. It produced a rough surfaced penuche but the flavor is incredible and nothing like anything I’ve had before. It has a light caramel flavor with a cast of tangy tangerine/lime and you get little bursts of the fruity flavor with each chunk of peel. We had to bag it up as soon as it cooled or we would have eaten it all ourselves! I’m so happy with it I think I’m likely to make more of the peel just so we can have another batch of the citrus fudge.

Classic penuche recipe from Edna Staebler’s “More Food that Really Schmecks”: (she offers it as an icing option!)

2 ¾ cup brown sugar

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Heat it all, except the vanilla, in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. She says heat to 220 on a candy thermometer but I’ll usually cook it a bit longer. Add the vanilla and then stir vigorously while it cools a bit then pour onto a parchment paper covered jelly roll pan. Let set and cut.

Country angel

This the second style of angel that Mother makes for Christmas decoration. Each one has a different patterned dress and trims, but they are all

fabric angel decoration

holiday themed. They all hold a little bouquet, be it mini pine cones or red berries. Their pillowy wings have a clear filament loop at the top so they can hang. The skirt is open so they can be put on the top of a tree as well, but won’t sit stiffly, unless you put a paper support in. (and that is easily done, if you want it as tree-topper, but I like the softer look without the cone) They look great on a tree, but I’ve also used them as a doorknob accent. All of the ones we have are blond but they can be done with other hair colours. They’re a sweet, more casual style that looks great in a country or traditional style holiday decor. I also think they are well suited for a childs tree, especially if they are going to be helping with putting on the decorations since they are so cute and soft. You don’t have to worry if they drop her while trying to hang her on the tree!

White chocolate bark

I’ve been calling it “holiday baking” but, so far, it’s mostly been holiday candy making! A couple of weeks ago Mother visited her sisters and they

cran-raisin and pistachio bark

were also on track for getting the Christmas goodies made. She got drafted to help out and was able to find out how make this treat. The white chocolate bark is something my aunt has been making every year and it’s always popular. Mother decided to do a batch for us to give as well. It’s very simple: you melt white chocolate and mix it with cran-raisins and toasted pistachios. The whole thing is then spread on parchment paper to harden and then broken into pieces. We went with a very high proportion of nuts and fruit to chocolate, (almost even amounts of each) but you can use less stuff and more chocolate and end up with a thinner bark. She also went with the regular cran-raisins, but they do come in other flavors now. I think it could be fun to try a few other variations, but I don’t think we’ll get to it this year. It’s highly addictive as well as being pretty. (I’m having a little too much fun with taking the photos. We just have such a lovely assortment of glassware and china in the store I can’t resist using some of it when shooting the food porn!;)

Paper decorations

I can’t resist working with paper so I made a few simple ornaments this year in addition to the mask ones. This one of them. It’s a pretty basic

paper ornament

paper ornament style but I dressed them up a bit. It’s glued, not stapled together and I used strips cut the pages of a vintage Shakespeare play. The outer pieces have been stamped with “Hope” and a pretty silver and gold dangle hangs from the bottom. I also made some using sheet music and a few have miniature apples hanging from them making them a perfect gift for a teacher. I even stamped a few with “Bel Canto” (Italian for “beautiful voice”) so they are especially suited to a voice coach or choir leader. I think teachers tend to end up always getting the same sorts of gifts so it was fun to make something different, just for them! The ornaments have a wonderfully old-fashioned feel to them, which shouldn’t be surprising because this is the sort of thing that people have been making ever since holiday trees came into fashion.

Teacup candle

Wow, I can’t believe that a week from today will be Christmas Eve! The holiday prep is continuing. We’ve decided to mostly go with gift basket type

teacup candle

things for friends and family this year so I’ve been working on getting all the components together since we want to start dropping them off by this weekend. (I just think that, if you are going to give holiday edibles, then you should try to make sure people have them on hand before the holiday visiting really gets going!) We wanted to have a few things, in the group, that will be of use after the season and this is one of the little things I’m making to include. It’s a teacup candle. We have many teacups and this is a pretty one that I’ve set a very lightly scented white wax into. The instructions are something I saw in one of Martha’s magazines a few years ago (I’m pretty sure it was Martha..) and I thought it was a fun idea. The teacup can still be used, after the candle has been burned and it’s a great and different way to repurpose a vintage item that not so many people use anymore. Not everyone on the list will be getting one, but I think I’ll make at least a couple more since we have a number of tea fans we’ll be gifting to this year.

In other news, my “Diana” pin was featured as part of “Twilight of the Gods” on I Dreamed I Saw and the photo I put up a couple of days ago of the candied peel has appeared on Foodgawker. (but last time I checked we were already on the fourth page…)

Red stocking

This is the other type of stocking that mother has been making. These ones are a slightly different shape as well as being a bit smaller and more narrow. The

stocking and "Dresden Plate"

red fabric is heavy and a little stiff. You can see the weave so it has a much more rustic feel to it. Each one is still decorated individually so they are all coordinated but still different. Most have the white fur tops with an assortment of different trims in a bunch of different patterns. The simpler design and lack of lining (it’s not needed because the fabric is much heavier) mean that these take less time and effort to make so the cost runs close to half the price of the dressier stockings. They have a more traditional look and are still large enough to hold a good-sized haul from the big guy!

The patchwork circles she calles “Dresden plates” and they are a nice way to add a bit of seasonal decoration to your table displays. (I used one under the bottom of my mini tree, when I was living in an apartment and it gave the same effect as a tree skirt but in an appropriate scale) I really like the soft fabric decorations because they pack away, for the rest of the year, so easily. It’s just nice to have things to make the holiday festive without having to tie up a ton of storage space!

Lace stocking

This is another of piece of Mother’s holiday themed work. She got started making the stockings for her sister. (who, between the children and

lace decorated stocking

grandchildren would often have 20+ people for Christmas!) What she wanted were stockings that were strong and solid and would hold a good volume of stuff. This style is fully lined and the hanger is a piece of a very thick cotton lace and triple sewn so it can hang even when stuffed full! (another family member ended up making my aunt a custom wooden rack to hang all the stockings on) Each one was different and, due to the number of requests, she started making more for sale. This style is one of the more feminine ones and has a soft green background that she’s covered in pieces of assorted lace and ribbons. Some are new and some are vintage and/or antique. The gold ruffle at the top gives it a bit of holiday glamour. Some of the other ones had brown velvet for the guys and few used more colourful holiday fabrics for the younger crowd. It’s a great way to have a set of personalized stockings that still look good together and work, if you’re into actually filling the stockings for Christmas morning.

Candied tangerine and lime peel

I’m a bit behind on getting the holiday baking done but a few things are ready to be given. It’s been hard to decide what to make since there are so

chocolate dipped citrus peel

many options that I’ve been thinking about for a while. These are something that’s been on my “to try” list for a long time. It’s home-made candied peel, dipped in chocolate. Knowing that I was going to be using the peel, we picked up a group of beautiful organic tangerines. The peel was cut (as well as a couple of limes) and then candied. The pieces are assorted lengths and a fairly rough cut, since we wanted them for eating, not necessarily for cooking. (also why I went with tangerines and limes, since they have the more interesting flavors among the citrus) It took a few hours (and a post-cooking overnight rest period) to get the peel dry. Once it was ready I melted a few bars of the Scharffen-Berger 70% cocao bars and dipped the pieces. I’m pretty happy with the results and they are really tasty but very similar in flavor to a Terry’s Chocolate Orange. (not that that is a bad thing, but it was a lot of work to end up with a product that tastes like something you can just pick up at the store. At least the texture is more interesting)

Snow falls on Shakespeare

While I have lived in Kitchener-Waterloo for the last four years or so I’ve been surprised by how different the weather patterns can be out here in  the country. We had our first real snow fall of the season (and I’m NOT complaining about how late it is that the real snow has started!) and it was pretty severe. More about the winds and reduced visibility than the actual volume. The highway was actually closed for a while on Thursday between Stratford and New Hamburg. (it widens to the four lanes at that point) This sort of thing is the biggest argument for widening the highway but I’m not really sure how much better they will be about keep four lanes open if they can’t clear two! (the main cause seems to be all the open fields and the snow that blows across them) Considering that the highway was closed and the weather was so bad we, like the rest of the town, didn’t open on Thursday. We were also supposed to have another dinner at the Screaming Avocado and that was canceled as well so it was a day of staying home and staying warm.