Tag: cooking (page 1 of 9)

Christmas Preparations

The cookies are baked and stored in tins, a “Pimped out Pumpkin Pie”, recipe courtesy of The American Pie Company is cooling on the counter. The turkey has been picked up from the butcher shop and a loaf of bread is on its second rise before being baked, cooled and cut up for stuffing.

There is a pecan cinnamon-sugar star bread in the freezer, that I made a few weeks ago, that will be pulled out on Christmas Eve to defrost and rise again and then be baked on Christmas morning and smothered in icing for breakfast.

Christmas music is playing, all the lights are twinkling. There is an excitement in the air, but a calmness to our pace. Tomorrow we shall work on final preparations for Christmas day and then Mr. Michie said he had a surprise up his sleeve for me. We’re going to see one of my favourite Christmas movies, “White Christmas” on the big screen. I can’t wait!

It always feels as Christmas will never come and then suddenly it’s here in a rush and a blur of lights and noise and torn Christmas paper and I don’t want to miss a thing! I’m going to savour every moment.

{Image FOUND // Pinned HERE}

Thanksgiving Eve

There is a pumpkin pie cooling on the counter. I made a fresh loaf of bread earlier in the week and that loaf is now prepped to be used for the stuffing. Celery and onions have been diced and sautéed, in readiness to be thrown into the stuffing mixture tomorrow morning. A turkey breast is chilling in the fridge and the last grocery store run before the weekend was made this morning. I think we’re ready. At least my checklist makes it appear that we are.

I’m so excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I’m even more excited about my leftover turkey sandwich and a cold slice of pumpkin pie the following day! Come on, Thanksgiving! I’m ready for you!

{Image HERE // Pinned HERE}

Egg On A Spoon

Many, many moons ago, in an interview with Lesley Stahl in her California kitchen, I saw Alice Waters make “egg on a spoon” over an open fire. I have long been an admirer of Alice Waters. I grew up in a large Irish/Italian family and on a farm, so eating with the seasons and growing your own food always made perfect sense to me.

There is something so very distinctive about her voice, it’s like listening to Julia Child. Even without looking up, you know it is her voice, there is a particular pacing to the way she speaks. In reading an article on Food & Wine yesterday, I came across this updated video of her cooking her famous “egg on a spoon”. All I can say is, that I want to go to Alice’s house and sit in her cozy kitchen and watch her cook this over an open fire and break bread with her at the table by the french doors!

Click the link to watch the video on the Food & Wine site: Alice Waters’ Secret for preparing “Egg on a Spoon”

{Image of the egg spoon was found in a wonderful Remodelista article I had saved, where Alice and her daughter take us on a tour of her home kitchen}

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Hello Friday!

We’re in the midst of a mini heatwave in our neck of the woods. The sun is shining, even brighter I think, since all the weekend grocery shopping is done.

There is homemade butterscotch pudding cooling down in the fridge, nestled next to a fresh batch of whipped cream to be dolloped on top of it for dessert. There is chicken soaking in buttermilk to be oven fried for dinner later and served alongside a big salad with homemade ranch dressing and hot rolls smothered in cinnamon honey butter.

There are fresh sheets on the bed, the curtains are blowing in the breeze that is trickling over the windowsill, beach music is playing and the one day we have been waiting for since Monday has finally arrived!

Hello Friday! You look beautiful! Here’s to the weekend, long may it last!

Hello Friday!

Hello? Hello, Friday! It’s good to see you! We’ve been waiting for you since Monday.

I have been back from my little adventure for a week now. Spring looked as if it was truly “springing”, but Lady Winter is not ready to give up yet. We are supposed to have a weekend FULL of SNOW and that suits me just fine! I don’t mind once last hurrah of winter.

I’m hoping it means a blissfully long weekend with no school on Monday. With snow in the forecast, I’ve been busy this morning. We finished planning our weekly menu last night and I went grocery shopping after my morning run today.

Our fridge is well stocked. There is an array of vegetables on the counter, soon to be turned into refrigerator pickles. Butter is slowly softening on the stovetop and will be beaten into a St. Patrick’s Day decorated pound cake. The dryer is humming away, music is playing and I’m eating a slice of my Nana’s Irish Soda Bread. So, all is well in my world.

Here’s to the weekend, long may it last! xx

{Image found HERE}

Sunday Morning

There is a different pace to Sunday mornings. We are usually up early and out the door, rain or shine. There is a different feel to Sundays. You know the weekend is wrapping up, there are things to prep for Monday, there are last minute chores to be done. It has a flow all its own.

This morning, we opted for a quiet Sunday morning. Mr. Michie made coffee; I made smashed avocado toast. We lit the candles, listened to music, worked on the crossword. The Sunday before going back to work after a school break, to me, is always filled with a tinge of sadness. For I am selfish with my time with him. I like moving to our own pace, I like not having rules to our days.

Tomorrow is back to work for him and a mini adventure for me. Here’s to Sunday, may we pack it full of life before the sun sets.

The Last Batch

The cottage is turning into a regular ol’ cookie factory. I baked my last batch of Christmas cookies this morning. They’re all cooled now and waiting to be boxed up and delivered. This last batch of spritz cookies will be packaged up with snowballs and iced sugar cookies.

I made an extra batch this go round so there will be cookies for Mr. Michie to enjoy with a cup of tea. The vanilla, almond and hint of lemon flavour of this buttery flaky cookie goes perfectly with a hot cup of tea or a bowl of vanilla ice cream!

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The First Batch

I’ve spent my day baking my first Christmas batches of spritz cookies and sugar cookies. I think it took me longer to decide which cookie cutters to use than to actually make the sugar cookies. I love cookie cutters! This year I’ve used my pretty little lady and there are stars, hearts, reindeer, trees, mittens, a cute little bear and a log cabin. Tomorrow, I’ll ice the sugar cookies and start working on making snowballs.

I got the prettiest little pot of glacé cherries at the grocery store this week and I placed them in the middle of pink coloured spritz flowers. They reminded me of cookies on the tray of Italian Christmas sweets that always filled both of my grandmother’s homes during the holidays.

The cottage smells of sugar and lemons and vanilla and almonds and I think that everything might be covered in glitter dust now. But, that’s okay! Who doesn’t need a little sparkle in their life?

Have a wonderful weekend wherever you may be! 

Mr. Moon

I see the moon and the moon sees me!

I’m spending this cloudy, windy, chilly Thursday afternoon, listening to a spooky podcast and decorating Halloween cookies for school tomorrow.

I’ve made chocolate and vanilla moons, pumpkins, bats, witches and ghosts. I used Baking A Moment’s chocolate sugar cookie dough recipe and it tastes like a brownie in cookie form! Happiness is…

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The Ending of the Week

This has felt like a week where there has not been a chance to catch your breath. The news is inundated with sadness, from all over the world. I’m very much looking forward to this weekend, as chance to catch our breaths and to hide away in the cottage; baking, cooking, listening to music with candles lit and restoring our beings from the week that has been and the week that is to come.

Inspired by a recent blog post from the lovely Alexandra Stafford, I made her pickled vegetable recipe yesterday morning, to sprinkle over homemade pizza tonight. I don’t know why I haven’t thought about this combination before, as one of our favourite pizza joints in Copenhagen, Neighbourhood, has a pizza that is topped with pickled veggies and we simply adore it. I normally try and recreate things at home, but this one has slipped my mind to attempt. So, I am very excited about dinner tonight, followed by our movie date to see Blade Runner 2049.

On a side note, I have long been a reader and fan of Alex’s and have been making her mother’s peasant bread ever since she originally posted the recipe. It is a staple around these parts. It is super easy to make and incredibly delectable to eat. I make it not only for us, but also for my family when we visit them and quite often to give away to friends. I would highly recommend making a loaf for yourself or someone you love. It is great toasted, slathered with salted butter. It makes a divine grilled cheese, a perfect pair of book ends for a roast beef sandwich and we normally save the ends to make croutons with as toppings for soups or salads.

I hope that wherever you are, you find peace in this weekend and are able to find the beauty in the everyday, because it’s still there, even in this messy, messy world.