i had a baby!

Little leftie is here at last!

She was born on January 14 at 4:24 pm. We've been home recovering and getting acquainted with one another.

She is made of awesome.

I've sort of missed this blog. I think of all sorts of interesting (to me) stuff to post about, but when it comes down to it, it's all about the baby. And I'm not sure how much I want this to be a baby-oriented blog. I feel a little weird even posting this but I can't just jump back into posts about graphic design and cooking without some acknowledgement to the little wonder that is now the center of our life, now can I? Maybe I just feel weird about it because of the hormones. How long do I get to blame stuff on the hormones? Because I am getting a lot of mileage out of that one.

Let's hear it for the hormones!

I'm making diapers... on my soapbox

Isn't this the cutest little diaper you ever did see?

I've been pricing cloth diapers and boy are they expensive! I know that the up-front costs are higher than going the disposable diaper route, and that overall disposables cost more than cloth diapers, but sheesh!

Disposable diapers really aren't an option as far as I'm concerned anyways. I do have a few on hand just in case (thanks, jenn!). And it's not just the cost that I'm concerned with, but the impact they have on the environment and I get creeped out thinking about how all that plastic and chemically treated petroleum product is so close to the tenderest parts of my baby. Just not gonna happen.

So cloth diapers it is.

The cloth diapering world has come a long way since when I was a baby. Not that I remember much about my cloth diapers, but you know, I've seen them on tv. There are so many options too! You can get folded diapers, pre-folded diapers, fitted diapers, all-in-ones (AIOs), etc. It's a little dizzying to get through all that information. I did a lot of research and finally decided on fitted diapers with wool covers. This option covers all of my parameters (I'm going to use bullet points, and I'm going to use them incorrectly):

• There are no polyester parts (I know that Polyurethane Laminate (PUL) is supposed to be BPA-free, but I still try to keep the petroleum products to a minimum in my life). I need the area around baby's bum to be able to breathe. Less chance of diaper rash that way. An all-in-one diaper would have been so much easier because it works like a disposable diaper but instead of throwing it out once it's soiled, you throw it in the wash. But that means I'd have to use some sort of PUL material in the diaper and I really didn't want that.
• So I decided to go with a fitted diaper and thought about making them with a layer of wool for soak-control.
• Incidentally, did you know that wool is an awesome material for this? Most people think wool and they think scratchy sweaters, but as a knitter I know that there are Lots of different kinds of wool - some can be scratchy, yes - but there are also some that are dreamy soft and some in-between. 
• Wool is a great material to work with because it's environmentally sustainable and no sheep get harmed in the production of wool, 
• Wool can be thrown in with the wash (yes! it's true! You CAN machine-wash wool!), 
• it has naturally low flame-retardant properties unlike petroleum based products - I'm talking about YOU polyester!, 
• it's self-extinguishing, 
• it's hypoallergenic, 
• it will keep you warm even when it gets wet, 
• and it's a great material for things like mattress pads and diaper covers because it can absorb almost one-third of its own weight. No wonder it was the fibre of choice for celtic fisherman who knit their own sweaters. No wonder it's used in fire-fighters' and soldiers' garments.

Fitted diapers are a lot like disposable diapers but without the plastic covering. I made mine out of 100% birdseye cotton. I needed the diaper to be as easy as possible for M and grandparents and other babysitter types. So nothing with diaper pins or snappi's or any other type of fastening accessories. They fasten with velcro tabs (I just learned that the generic word for this is "hook and loop." You know, like "bandages" instead of band-aids or "cotton swabs" instead of Q-tips, etc.) which makes it easy.

So fitted diapers it is. But without the plastic cover, pee will just leak out (not to mention what happens when there's a #2 going on). That's where the wool covers come in. I originally thought to make an all-in-one diaper with a wool cover, but let's face it. I'm going to want to wash dirty diapers in hot water. And as miraculous and wonderful as wool can be, it does have a few small drawbacks (it shrinks in hot water - sometimes not a bad thing if you're a crafter, and it's not moth-repellent). So I decided to sew fitted cloth diapers and knit wool covers out of my surplus of yarn.

I sewed a test diaper last night from a pattern I bought on-line. (I'm too much of a wimp to link to the source. Because to be honest, I don't think the pattern is very good so I can't recommend it. Email me if you want to know. I'm a little annoyed at how poorly the pattern is written (so confusing!) and there's errata that hasn't been corrected (the pattern is dated from 2004). The website is confusing to navigate and after lots of searching I finally found the errata page and was annoyed again to find commenters noting the errata from back in 2007 and the pattern is still being printed without any indication of the errors.) It wasn't too hard to sew and not too time consuming either. Now that I've got one made, I'm going to make the rest assembly-line style and crank these puppies out.

And now enough of my blah, blah, blah. Here's a photo of the newborn size diaper with the Och for scale. Hee hee. Newborn stuff is so teeny!

best of 2009 - book cover design Part III

(I skipped over part II because none of the covers featured there jumped out at me. You should go over and take a look though.)

Here are my favorites from the post at The Book Design Review.

Cool compositions and collage-y style:

(both designed by Gregg Kulick)

This one too:

(no designer credit listed on my source site)

This book is called: The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? Don't you just love it??

(design by Alison Forner)

Love the type treatment and illustration of this one:

(design by Jaya Miceli)

So much to love about this one, the limited color palette, the use of negative space, the hand-lettering in the title. Mmm...

(no designer credit listed on my source site)

And of course this one caught my eye with its Russian Constructivist type treatment. I love how the designer used the staircase for the angles and also the overhead framing of the image.

(no designer credit listed on my source site)

Here is the full post from The Book Design Review. Check it out.

about those cookies

In my last post I mentioned something about being susceptible. And cookies. Yeah, these cookies.

I heard words "peanut butter" and "chocolate chip" and immediately fixated on cookies. Problem with cookies (much like my problem with chocolate cake and an entire pie) is that with just the two of us, it's too easy to end up eating all the cookies between the two of us. Incidentally, why don't I fixate on going to the gym when I hear the words "treadmill" or "stationary bike?"

So I needed to make cookies. And I wanted to find a recipe that wouldn't yield something crazy like 4 dozen. And then there were some other personal considerations to fulfill. The cookie itself had to have a peanut butter flavor studded with chocolate chips. The cookie had to be just slightly crispy on the outside and soft and just a little chewy on the inside. Sort of like my ideal chocolate chip cookie. But instead of regular cookie dough, it would be pb-flavored cookie dough. This proved to be a harder task than I'd imagined.

I finally settled on a recipe I found on Martha Stewart's website. It yielded 14 cookies and the ingredients looked pretty similar to my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. A few changes would need to be made but I felt like I could get them to work.

I increased the vanilla to 1 teaspoon (instead of the 1/2 tsp it called for) and added 1 tsp of coarse salt (it really adds something to the sweet flavor, believe me). And instead of coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate, I used Guittards semi-sweet chocolate chips (fair trade AND organic, Shazam!).

I usually can't wait for cookies to cool completely before I've got my glass of milk ready. I like the chocolate chips to be a little melty when I bite into the cookie. And oh my! Peanut-buttery, melty little chocolate chips, tender cookie with just the right amount of crisp on the outside edges. Yummers!

I do like to make my cookies a little small-ish (that way you don't feel so bad about having two or three~ hee hee!), so the yield was more like 26 cookies. Well, I never hit the yield in my baking endeavors anyways.

I baked nine cookies and rolled up the rest of the dough into balls which I set on a baking sheet and chilled in the freezer. Once they set I put the cookie balls in a plastic tub for future use. Once the nine cookies were et, I could just bake one or two cookies at a time in the toaster oven (about 20 minutes at 400 degrees). This way I don't feel compelled to eat all 26 cookies all by myself. I mean with M.

Yes folks, this one's a keeper.

I should add that once the cookies cooled, I tried one cool instead of warmed and it was more of a crumbly, sandy consistency. Hm.. not so fantastic. But I stuck those in the toaster oven and hit "light toast" and they went back to being soft and chewy with the melty chocolate chips. Perfect-o!

did I mention there was a dessert too?

Not the best photo...oh wells....

This is sliver #3 in case you were wondering.

This pregnancy is killing me with the sweet tooth. See, I was never a sweets eater. That's M's department. I'm more of a savory kind of girl. Tart, salty, savory, garlicky, yum!

But during the pregnancy even the mere mention of something sweet will get me going. If I see someone eating cake on tv, I suddenly have to have cake. M said something about peanut butter last week and so I had to bake peanut butter cookies. See how that works?

So during Thanksgiving this year (only the second one that I've spent with my in-laws), I learned that chocolate pudding pie is one of their dessert traditions. It gets made once a year and that's at Thanksgiving. And M loves chocolate pudding pie. And once you say pie enough times I really need to eat a pie.

So I found a nice looking chocolate pudding pie recipe, gathered all the ingredients and made myself a chocolate pudding pie the other night.

Wow. Homemade pudding is so awesome! I don't think m will ever go back to the jello pudding packs (the ones that don't need to be refridgerated?? Hello??) after this.

I used this recipe with some minor changes. I didn't have a fine mesh strainer (note to self: buy a fine mesh strainer!) but used a regular strainer instead. I was worried about lumpiness but it turned out okay taste/texture-wise. I think the fine mesh strainer would make it look smoother which I'd prefer. I thought the chocolate pudding+chocolate cookie crust was a bit too much chocolate so I substituted with a graham cracker crust instead. Of course I should have looked up a graham cracker crust recipe. Say like the one used for this recipe? But instead I substituted graham crackers for chocolate crackers and used the pudding pie measurements. Not one of my smarter moments. Also, I didn't have unsweetened chocolate on hand so I measured out just under 2 ounces of Green+Black's chocolate powder (which I use for making hot chocolates) and added a splash more of the milk.

And lastly, when we were done with dinner M was ready for dessert. But the chocolate pudding hadn't cooled yet. He argued that it wouldn't matter. The man has no patience when it comes to his chocolate. So I spooned the just chilled pudding into the pie crust and tried to cut it up into neat triangular wedges. Not so pretty. But damn, that's a fine tasting chocolate pudding pie! We ate our mounds of chocolate pudding sprinkled with graham crackers in that quiet sort of way one does when one is wholly absorbed in an activity.

I put the rest of the pie in the fridge to let it chill to its proper potential (at least 6 hours) and it's held up its shape for cutting a lot better. I had just enough heavy cream to make whipped cream for each pie slice mound. But as pretty as the whipped cream looks in the photo (see the recipe link) I don't think the pie needed it. It's already so creamy, dreamy delicious the addition of another creamy layer is unnecessary. Unless of course you love whipped cream. It's your call.

I'm thinking the pudding portion of this recipe could be revisited as just plain chocolate pudding (what an understatement) or the pudding portion of Death By Chocolate. M and I agreed that I should not go down the road of making a Death By Chocolate. Not for just the two of us. We agreed to save that kind of decadence for a day when a crowd was present to save us from our own weaknesses and impending folly. You heard it here first folks. Now I will stop saying Death By Chocolate so I won't feel compelled to break this pact.

dinner: it looks better than it tasted. mostly.

Yesterday afternoon I had the culinary revelation that chicken parm is not that far from chicken katsu. I've never made chicken parmigiana (I can't even spell it according to my web browser's spell check) but I've made chicken katsu plenty of times. Pound some chicken breasts, bread it, fry it and you've got chicken katsu. Add sauce and cheese and broil it and you've got chicken parmigiana, right?

Well, maybe (I'm too lazy to look it up right now). But last night's efforts didn't turn out so great (don't let the flashy photography fool you).

What's up with that wooden spoon handle right in the middle of the photo? Let's call it an arty composition and go with that.

I think the error of my chicken parm came from the fact that I did not have any sauce in the house, just a large can of crushed tomatoes which I didn't doctor in any way before I spooned it atop the lovely little fried chicken fillets (by the way, pounded, breaded, fried chicken breasts cut up into thinner strips = chicken tenders when served with bbq and honey mustard sauce. Ta-dah!). Back to the chicken parm snafu...

Then after I spooned my lame excuse for sauce on my chicken breasts and covered them with cheese, I stuck them in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes. Instead of hitting them with the broiler. So the sauce made the fried chicken breasts all soggy. Sigh. It was getting late, I was tired and distracted.

I served this with some store bought gnocchi and the sauce. By the time the chicken was in the oven, I was able to remember to do something to the sauce so that it wasn't just crushed tomatoes heated up and spooned over gnocchi. Still meh, but better.

Oh and in case you think that I served this meal with no vegetables in sight, there's some steamed broccoli under that plate on the right of above photo. And I served Cheryl's zucchini squares (pictured again below) which really can't count as a vegetable because it's more like a savory cake or tart or something (4 eggs! and really zucchini is a squash and squashes are a starch and not a green vegetable despite the color of their skins, right?). But oh, I do love Cheryl's zucchini squares and finally got the recipe from her so I had to make it last night. Of course, tired and distracted as I was I managed to fudge this dish as well. Not that you can tell from the photo, right?



It was supposed to be baked in a 9"x13" pan instead of this 8" (8"? or maybe 9") square dish I used. So the squares aren't as flat as they're supposed to be and so the middle didn't cook as thoroughly as it should have done. Nothing that a quick trip through mr. microwave can't fix. But still.

Also, the recipe calls for 1cup of bisquick which is something that I don't ever carry in the house. I think I did okay figuring out a substitute for it though.

Also, the recipe calls for 4 eggs and I didn't realize until it was too late that I only had 3 eggs in the house and no time to run (waddle) out for more eggs. I tried to fix it by adding about 1/4 cup of whole milk to the batter. That's a wild guess. I didn't even measure it out but just poured until the batter reached a consistency that I guessed was right. What the hell was I thinking? I'd never made this dish before. How was I supposed to know what "correct consistency" meant?? Might have been too much milk. I would know this if I had used the proper pan that I was too lazy to dig out because maybe the slightly undercooked middle had to do with too much milk and not the size/aspect ratio of the pan. Are you still with me?

Also, the recipe calls for grated parmesan and I used pecorino romano (yum!). That wasn't an f-up. I liked the flavor with the different cheese. Same with my omission of seasoned salt, snipped parsley and additional pepper to taste - whoops! Seems I forgot to read the recipe carefully.

Also, and this is a personal thing: the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of finely chopped onion which I thought gave the dish a fine flavour. I ate like 4 squares last night at dinner. I had two for breakfast. M had one. He's not a huge fan of onion. I'm thinking next time around I'll just use 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion or thereabouts. I think it'll still taste good.

The thing about this recipe is that it's very forgiving. So even if you use different herbs or omit some of the seasoning, it still turns out great.

Cheryl’s Zucchini Squares

3 C of thinly sliced unpeeled zucchini (about 4 small ones)
1 C of Bisquick

(or sub with 1 Cup of flour
2 1/3 tsp of baking powder
2/3 tsp of salt
2/3 TBSP of sugar)

1/2 C of finely chopped onion (dried can be used)
1/2 C of grated parmesan
2 TBSP snipped parsley (or dried equivalent)
1/2 – 1 tsp seasoned salt (regular salt is fine)
1/2 tsp dried marjoram or oregano (can use some of each) or dried rosemary (which is what Cheryl used)
pepper to taste
1 clove garlic finely chopped (dried can be used)
1/2 C olive oil
4 eggs lightly beaten

Heat oven to 350. Grease 13”x9” pan. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Lightly whisk eggs and oil together in a small bowl and then add egg mixture to the bigger bowl. Add zucchini and onions. Mix to combine. Spread in pan and sprinkle the top with more parmesan cheese and rosemary. Bake until golden brown about 25-30 minutes. Cut into squares of any size you desire. Can be made ahead, stored in refrigerator and warmed in oven, microwave or served at room temperature.

xmas duck

I forgot to wish my readers (all 12 or so of you - according to google analytics) a Happy New Year.

Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed a pleasant holiday and that 2010 is filled with great many things for all of you.

M and I aren't big into Christmas being neither terribly religious or gifty. We do give each other gifts but just not on days that card and candy companies suggest that we do. (I like to think that M gives me presents all the time whether it's a great new place he's found to go for a hike that he wants to surprise me, or fun dvd he's been saving up for the perfect evening that he knows I'll enjoy.) We like to keep things simple and Christmas is no exception.

Then again, the one thing that I've been consistent with for Christmas nearly every year is cooking an elegant meal for the two of us. Ahem. Yes. I like to cook something complicated on the day we dedicate to keeping it simple. That's me.

This year I had grandiose plans to cook a herb-rubbed tuck with a tart cherry sauce. I've only cooked duck once before. It came out pretty good I thought. But the recipe I had in mind to make for Christmas was pretty fussy and involved (3 hours to make a stock anyone?) and at the end of the day, I was too tired and pregnant to take on said duck. But there it was sitting in my fridge. It had to get made. So I looked for a simpler recipe and cooked it for our Christmas meal. The sides are also sort of hodge-podgey. A medley of things that I had left in the fridge that needed to be cooked up or thrown out. Somehow, it resulted in a pretty decent meal.


I gotta say that I'm still not a huge fan of duck. I always thought it was because whenever we order it at a restaurant, we go for the budget-foodie version. Meaning we don't order duck from some fancy french restaurant (we rarely eat out at fancy french restaurants). We order it from the divey chinese joint in our neighborhood. Some people will argue with me but I can tell the difference in taste when I eat an organic free-range hormone and antibiotic-free locally farmed chicken versus a Big Poultry company bird.

I'm a firm believer in eating the best quality foods that you can afford. Sometimes I go a little over budget with my food budget because I want the best quality food item, budget be damned. So I always figured that the duck we ordered at restaurants weren't always the best quality (wild, freshly harvested, heritage duck anyone?) and that this might contribute to the taste.

But the bird I got for Christmas was a pretty good quality bird. And I think I did a decent job of cooking it. And I'm still not won over. The sauce I could get behind. And so a sliver of duck meat with lots and lots of sauce is the only way I was able to enjoy my duck. Regardless, it was still a nice meal. And my Christmas gift to M. He loves duck. He loved Christmas dinner. We had a good time.

Random: Looking at this photo I'm thinking that I should look for cream colored dishes with less graphics on them. When I plated the duck, I lamented how the pattern on the plate took away from the presentation.

The recipe for the duck I made is here. I made a few changes like I didn't have prunes so I used the dried tart cherries I'd bought for the other recipe instead. Also, I've always heard that the best thing about a roast duck is the crispy skin. I had a beautiful crisp skin going on with my bird but the directions told me to flip it over and let it sit breast (crispy) side down for 20 minutes. Of course once the 20 minutes were up the beautiful crispy skin was all soggy. Bummer!

Here's the duck I was gonna make if I had more time and wasn't so tired.

our sort of coup

I realise that this isn't going to be as significant if you don't live in my home and know these two as intimately as M and I do.

But anytime these two are caught snuggling is a rare-ish event (admittedly less so these days in their first experience of a New England winter). And this is only the second time maybe that I've ever seen them in the basket together. The basket is sometimes a coveted, fought after spot.

Case in point (photo circa two years ago):

the battlecats

But the significance of today's photo is that Pekoe (the orange tabby) was already in the basket. And the Och (chubby white tabby) is the one who approached him and squeezed her ample rump in beside him. Unheard of! I don't think the Och ever got over being usurped as the only cat. She never took too kindly to the arrival of the smaller younger kitten who eats her food and tries to play with her at any ole time of day. It just lacks dignity, I tell you.

I think she's pissed that she has to get body heat from him, of all people. Er, cats.

see how I grow

Or: I am freaking huge.

me + leftie at 39 weeks

My progress:

me + leftie at 30 weeks


me + leftie at 23 weeks


me + leftie (and the och) at 18 weeks

any day now...

sunday night supper

Sort of without meaning to, I whipped up a supper last night that was really cozy.



I baked a whole chicken. I wanted to make roasted potatoes in this new way that I learned from my mum-in-law, but I decided at the last minute to combine the potatoes with the chicken.


It was a good move.

While the chicken was cooking, I made up a batch of baking powder biscuits (the recipe is all the way at the bottom). Served piping hot with three different kinds of fruit spread (blueberry, strawberry and some of the cranberry jelly leftover from the last time I made a batch). And put together the ingredients for a build-your-own salad.

The build-your-own salad featured baby lettuce, goat cheese (with pasteurized milk, yeah!), toasted walnuts, steamed broccoli, dried cranberries and a raspberry vinaigrette. I made the raspberry vinaigrette the other day and can't stop eating it. I like it best in a simple salad of greens+goat cheese+toasted walnuts and the dressing drizzled over it. Love, I tell you. Pure love. That hunk of peccorino romano is there just for show. I forgot to remove it from the table.



Man do we eat good around here.

Recipes for the potatoes and the salad dressing below. Is it really worth it since they are so easy? Oh, what the heck...

my mum-in-law's roasted potatoes
half pound of potatoes (I used mini yukons so I didn't need to cut them up) cut up into big chunks. leave the skins on 'em
1 small onion quartered
6 cloves of garlic or more depending on how garlicky you like things. don't be afraid, you really can't over do it with the garlic in this recipe
salt+pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.
In a big baking dish combine all the ingredients and toss to coat evenly with the olive oil. Cover with lid (my mum-in-law uses a aluminum tray and covers it tightly with aluminum foil) and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Don't touch the suckas during this time. Your house will smell nice and garlicky and roasted oniony. After the 45 minutes/1 hour has passed, open up the dish and check on the potatoes. They should be fairly cooked through. Give them a good stir and remove the lid/foil and let cook for another half hour till they get nice and brown and caramelized.

Raspberry Vinaigrette
2 tbsp raspberry preserve
1/4 cup toasted walnut oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Try to use the best quality ingredients you can afford. It will really make a difference. Combine all ingredients into a blender or a tall container and blend. I used my immersion blender and gave it a good whirl. The dressing got nice and creamy/emulsified. Store in a sealed container. Keeps for 1 week (or longer, depending on how anal you are about such things).

can I get an "amen?"

Yesterday for lunch M and I went to Wilson's BBQ. It was awesome.

We heard about it from that show on the Food Network Diners Drive-Ins and Dives (I could watch this show all day). And how convenient that it's just a few towns over from where we live. Convenient? Or dangerous??

This was our third trip to Wilson's. The first time we got there at 6pm on a Saturday night and there was a line out the door. Granted the place is tiny. Just a handful of places to sit. I'm guessing that the outdoor patio gets better use when it's not 35 degrees outside with a refreshing wintry breeze to boot. When M and I finally made it into the joint we overheard the cashier mention that they were all out of beef and pork. What? What's the point? Sadly M and I turned around and went back to our car to figure out what to do about dinner.

The second time we went to Wilson's we got there at 4:40 or 5pm (they're only open Thursdays through Sundays from 11:30am to close - whatever that means) and managed to squeeze in and secure two stools at the bar. We ordered pulled pork sandwiches and fell in love with eastern Carolina bbq.

I mean, damn.

Can I get an "amen?"

The pork is tender and juicy.

They include this awesome slaw in the sandwich which acts as the perfect crunchy, tart counterpoint (NB: the slaw doesn't have the traditional creamy dressing.)

And it comes with a side of potato salad and pickles. The pickles were also awesome.

Sorry for the blurry photos, but I wanted to get a shot of this. It was meant to be focused on the bottle of sauce. Not the local soda. This sauce is boss.




When we went back yesterday, we ordered the pulled pork sandwiches again. I mean why mess with a good thing, right?

first snow in Stamford, for reals

It snowed here in Stamford over the weekend!

I can't help but get excited. I thought it was beautiful. Here's what it looked like out our living room window.

Compare to what it looked like a few months ago:


I'd heard we'd just be getting a few inches, but at the end it turned out to be closer to 6. Maybe even a foot??



The och didn't seem to notice. Or I couldn't tell if she noticed a difference. She's got quite the poker face. She must notice how different her world looks.

Another comparison shot from a few months back:

Who knows what goes on in the mind of this one?


M and I went for a walk in the falling snow around our neighborhood. We live across the street from a park and it was cool to walk around it deserted for once. It was just a mite too windy so that there were flurries in your face when we walked into the wind. But it felt refreshing.

And totally unrelated: a beautiful sunset from last night.

my teeth hurt and sort of unrelated: I feel lame

Lots to catch up on. Here we go...

I feel like I spent most of last week baking. That's probably not entirely accurate. But that's what it felt like. Two Sundays ago, I did my holiday baking. I usually make something edible to give as gifts. Which works out handily for people like my father-in-law who is notoriously difficult to shop for.

This year's edible gifts were supposed to be two different kinds of biscotti and something I've been calling Christmas Crack(ers). Well, I have a confession to make. Three Sundays ago, I realized that I was running short on time. Somehow I was behind schedule and the holiday cards (which I like to handmake every year) were not coming out the way I'd sketched them out. I was on the brink of a crafting meltdown and very very grumpy. It ended up being a very unproductive weekend which only made me grumpier.

So the following day I made a decision that I was not going to let this ruin Christmas (the irony of the situation was not lost on me). I was going to cut myself some slack. So the cards weren't started on time. So the baking was delayed. So I'm pregnant. Like 35 weeks pregnant (that's almost 9 months pregnant for those of you who follow this sort of stuff in the traditional way of counting). So I'm going to cut myself some slack. I decided to do just enough baking to get presents out the door that go to family. The ones where you know that if you don't have a present for them, it would be just so wrong that you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself (I'm not a complete, total and utter slacker after all.). This consists of just a few family members so the holiday baking that it would entail wasn't going to kill me. And I'd figure something out for the cards to go along with those presents.

And the rest of the world? The folks who are on my holiday card list and the folks who are on my edible gifts list? I was going to assume that they would understand that this is not a normal Christmas. And that I am 35 weeks pregnant. And that if I skipped a year of sending them a card or edible gifts, they would understand and not remove me from their holiday card list. I felt a little lame about this (it just feels so un-Christmas-y!!) but I resolved to live with this decision.

So sorry friends who would normally get edible gifts from me. Am I making it worse by posting photos of what you would have gotten had I got my act together sooner? Not that I think all these friends read my blog anyways...

Let's move on.

This year's Christmas baking consisted of cranberry+pistachio cornmeal biscotti. The recipe came from that Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies mag. I was a little doubtful about the cornmeal. But it ended up being wonderful! The cornmeal adds a nice extra crunch at the end that makes this biscotti special. And aren't the red+green of the cranberry+biscotti pretty? So colorful! So seasonal!


I hit a few glitches with the first batch (pictured above are photos from my second batch). I did a little research and found that someone else in blogland made these (quick, go over to her blog and check it out. Gorgeous photos, reviews of recipes and a personal goal to bake very last cookie in the Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook-which seems to have a lot of the same recipes as the Holiday Cookies mag). She seemed to have run into different issues with her batch. But it gave me some ideas as to how I might improve upon my methods. I have more notes here (in the comments) if you are interested in learning about the trials and tribulations of this recipe. In a nutshell, the center of the cookie loaf is slightly undercooked-that's okay. Let the loaf cool completely (takes longer than the recommended 15 minutes) and then use a really really sharp knife to cut the loaf into biscotti slices (I have tips on the cutting method in my notes) before the second baking.

Next up in my holiday baking was Christmas Crack(ers). They're really called Chocolate Caramel Crackers. I found the recipe on Sally's blog (of Shim and Sons) who got it from Smitten Kitchen. (Recipe and method in the Smitten Kitchen blog.)

Holy crack! These are dangerously easy to make and easy to eat. I used matzoh crackers and added a little sea salt. I don't understand how anyone can eat more than one little square of these. My teeth hurt. I'd been on a major sugar binge lately (I blame the pregnancy hormones). But I do believe that these little shots of candy crack have cured me of my sweet tooth. Seriously. I just don't want dessert anymore. M had a piece and he called them unholy. Nuff said.


Last up in the holiday baking are the chocolate biscotti. I used this recipe. I made a few modifications like omitting the white chocolate chips (not a fan here) and then dipping them in melted dark chocolate (Green & Black's 70%). So they are still triple chocolate biscotti but in a different sort of way. The batter was pretty incredible. It looked more like cake frosting than cookie batter. I learned in the early years of being with M that I'd better save a nice bit of raw batter for him to eat or there'd be hell to pay.

One tip I want to remember is that it helped to moisten my fingers with a bit of water and then smoothing the logs of biscotti batter before sitting them in the fridge for a chill.

I had a taste test of the biscotti before I dipped them in the dark chocolate. Heavenly! I can only imagine how wonderful they'd be with a cup of coffee.

M is surprisingly not a fan of chocolate biscotti and passed. But it's chocolate, I kept saying. In the end, when he saw that the finished product included a dip in melted chocolate, he decided it was worth a try and then gobbled up the last few pieces that were leftover. Heh heh heh.

also in knitting news

I made this for my niece. (Again, I'm going to assume that I am safe posting this here because none of the concerned parties will read this.) For Christmas.

Why is it that when you slap a Hello Kitty image on anything you get instant cute? I think kitty is powerful in that way. You just can't resist her.

This was pretty quick and easy to make. I especially enjoyed making the pom-poms. More on my ravelry page.

And I lined the inside with some pink fabric. Maybe a bit of pink overkill? Well, I was really trying to work with what I already had in my fabric stash instead of going out and buying a bunch of new materials.

Actually I think my niece will love it. I'm probably over-thinking the pink thing.

poor pekoe

snicker, snicker...