Friday, December 24, 2010

Home for the Holidaze

For the last few weeks of the semester, I was ready and aching to get home. Upon arriving home, I was thankful for so many things: space, a kitchen table to sit at, hot water, heat, my electric toothbrush, a full-size fridge, and, not so banally, family and time together and time to recharge.

It's been a busy time and an ambitious time in the kitchen. In England I learned that Elizabeth I was credited with making the first gingerbread men, impressing visiting dignitaries by presenting confections in their likeness. It became common practice that gingerbread tied with ribbon became a token of love.

So, I had the idea to bake gingerbread for every member of my family. Following a Martha Stewart recipe, I soon found out that it was A LOT more labour intensive than I thought. The dough was super tough and needed to be chilled and frozen twice before baking. The icing was also a bit of a fiasco. But with tenacity and perseverance I made it through.

The same goes for the mincemeat pie I am baking (whose scents are now wafting from the oven). I screwed up the first two batches of dough because a. I used bread flour and b. I used vegetable oil instead of shortening aka margarine. But finally, on the third batch (after much yelling and frustration), I had a workable dough and a beautiful latticed pie baking in the oven.

The daze of the season continues... hopefully with less mishaps.

Joy. ***

Sunday, December 05, 2010

I have been wanting to transcribe this moment for quite a while now.



The day after the first snow, as I was walking to class, a little girl hoisted up in her father's arms herself had her arms flung upwards towards the sky.

Clasping her hands open and closed, wiggling her fingers, she decried and divined in her minuscule voice: SNOW!, as if her words and gestures could make the magical moment happen again.



The magic of the season.