Christmas Flashbacks 2013

Good thing one of these didn't come to our house.

Party!

Opening Santa's present.

Our tree

Holiday Cookie Decorating

Today was very productive and festive day for me & the girls. I used IKEA's frozen gingerbread dough  for the first time & pre-baked the cookies a day before with some help from Kiliko. The flavor is pretty good.

My mom always hosted a holiday cookie decorating playdate (almost a party) for me, my three siblings, and our friends before Christmas, and with Kiliko in a good age to enjoy things like this,  I planned to do a smaller version of it this year.

Little pastry chefs.

I looked up icing recipe online & here I'm using a basic icing with powder sugar & egg white. Some recipe calls for some lemon juice, but I did fine without since I didn't have any. It's probably for hiding some eggy taste and maybe the acid preserves it a little? Before I crack open the egg, I washed it in soap and hot water to avoid any salmonella poisoning.

My mom used to use just powdered sugar & water, but the egg white seemed to thicken & stabilize the icing a bit. It hardens nicer and looks more opaque when dry.

Lots of cookies, lots of personalities.

I enjoyed it as much as... well, maybe more than the girls. More I did it, I got more ideas, but cookies ran out before I could try everything. Kind of understood why there are people out there who go really far with iced cookies or even become pros! Need to bake more cookies next year. Wait, there's the Valentine's Day!

Little Break before the Holidays

Last week, I took a little break after vending at the lovely 6th Borough Market. It was not quite the perfect day to stand outside for 6 hours when the temperature is hovering around 31F. It was great to talk to my customers & other nice vendors and feel the holiday spirits in the air with better sales, but the bitter-cold really does it when you are not 25 anymore.

Still went to work, took a yoga class, sent out some orders - when you are tired, I think the best remedy is to stick to your basic & minimal routine and not add anything that doesn't have to get done.

And now, time to produce some again!
Well, I guess I have to straighten my desk first...

今日の献立：

カリフラワーのグラタン（昨日の残りを温めた）
チキン・ナゲット（Trader Joe's）
ポテトサラダ（ヴィネグレットとマヨネーズ少々で和えたもの／パセリとゆで卵入り）
ブロッコリとグリーンのサラダ

先週は胃風邪で家族全滅していたので、冷蔵庫でずっと出番を待っていた野菜を総動員させてみた。大皿にどんどんどんと。野菜が多いとやっぱりいいなぁ。母がたまに作っていたグラタンも上手くできた。子供に人気のホワイトソース、娘ももれなく好きでよく食べてくれた。

一週間くらいお粥や何も塗らないトースト、スープ、バナナ等でしのいでいたので、普通に食事ができることのありがたさよ。胃が変で食べたくないと料理する気も一気に失せ、先週はほとんど台所に立たなかったからその反動かも。

そういえば、昨日の夜シャワーを浴び始めて数分でお湯が赤茶色になったので慌てて止めた。どこかでメインパイプの掃除をしたのか、工事をしているのか。数分流し続けてみたが一向に元通りにならないので、シャンプーも流しかけだったけどあきらめた。せめて体をきれいな水で拭きたいと思ったけど家中全ての蛇口から汚い水しか出ない。夫が同情して１ガロンの水ボトルを夜中のドラッグストアまで走って買って来てくれた。サンキュー夫。それを沸かしておしぼりで体を拭いて寝た。

水が汚くなるだけで、飲めないしお風呂にも入れないし、手も洗えない。寝る前のたった一時間くらいのことだったけど、本当に不便だった。栓をひねると蛇口から透明な水が出ることなんて普段は当たり前と思っているけど、ありがたいことなんだと改めて思う。

今週の教訓：

当たり前がありがたい。


みなさまも良いクリスマス・祝日をお過ごし下さい。

Getting in the mood for Christmas...

We started to decorate a bit...

Working on my bunNYs day + night...

(and planning my holiday baking in between...)

Then we all got stomach bug. Ugh.

And got better!