Gingerbread House

Check out this cute after-Christmas gingerbread house I put together the other day. The kit included everything so all I had to do was assemble, now that's my kind of building. Plus I got the whole thing on sale for $5, and it was delicious when demolished.

Cabled Scarf

My mom is modeling her new cabled scarf that I made her. Lately I have loved using Lion Brand's Wool Ease Thick & Quick yarn, especially in the Fig color. It's relatively cheap at $4 - $6.50 per skein depending on which sale you can catch at Michael's or Hobby Lobby and it does knit up quickly and is warm. It's 80% acrylic and 20% wool so it's not the best mix, but at least there's some wool in it. This pattern was also from the Lion Brand Yarn website. I made it about half as long as it called for, I used two skeins and it called for 2 each of two different colors, one color on each end. I thought that was a bit odd, so I modified it.

Christmas Pecan Pie

This year I made my first pecan pie with a homemade crust. It turned out to be delicious if not a little rustic in it's finished look (because we did not have shortening for the pie crust it came out super flaky). Everything from the famed New Orleans' Commander's Palace restaurant cookbook is fantastic (The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook, Clarkson N. Potter publishers, copyright 1984).

Here is the recipe for one 8" pie:

Pie Crust:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tablespoon salt
Dash of sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup shortening (Crisco - this part is extremely important, do not substitute with butter)
3 - 4 tablespoons ice water

Preheat oven to 375F. Sift flour salt and sugar into mixing bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender or two knives in scissor action, until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Add water one tablespoon at a time and mix with a fork until dough holds together. Shape into rough ball and chill for 30 minutes. Note that dough can be wrapped and refrigerated or frozen for several days before using. Roll out on a floured surface into a circle two inches larger in diameter than the pie plate and 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to pan by rolling dough onto rolling pin and unrolling over pan. ease gently into pan, trim edge, and flue edges. Prick bottom and sides with a fork and bake for 8 - 10 minutes until golden brown. Do not turn oven off. Some hints that my gandmother taught me, via my mom, about making a pie crust: roll the crust dough on a sheet of wax paper so it's easy to lift and turn into the pie plate upside down; butter the pie plate before turning the crust into it.

Filling:
1/3 cut butter softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

While crust is baking, cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in corn syrup, pecans, vanilla and salt. Fill baked pie shell and decorate top with pecan halves in concentric circles. Cover with aluminum foil for first half of baking time so as not to over-brown the edges and the pecan halves. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until the center of the filing is not wiggly when it's shaken a little on the oven shelf, a toothpick should come out clean, be careful not to over cook.

Customizing Fire Place Matches

I must have seen this idea somewhere, and my best friend from middle school, Brynne, who incidently designs beautiful rooms at Bedrooms by Brynne, did this project for a TV spot at some point. I looked far and wide for fireplace matches, which would be easy to find this time of year, one would think, but no. Finally I found a square box, even though I was looking for a cylindrical box, at a hardware store in the suburbs.

I folded a piece of pretty scrapbooking paper around the box and made some creases. Next I sprayed the back side of the paper with spray adhesive and carefully placed it around the box of matches. For the folded lid I placed a small square of stickified paper on it and pressed firmly. Another inexpensive holiday gift, this one for one of my best friends from high school.

Handmade Beaded Oranaments

I found this project on Better Homes and Gardens and decided that I had to make some for Christmas presents, since I am out of a job this year. I used about four or five different kinds of beads and corsage pins found at Hobby Lobby in the suburbs. I painted a small cork with white irridescent paint from a paint pen, and then beaded each of ten pearl tipped corsage pins and inserted in the cork, and tied a transulcent length of fishing wire on one of the pins. I placed each one in a cellophane bag and voila - an inexpensive small gift. However, it took about 30 minutes to complete each one and a few pricked fingers.