One Month Later

It has been a month since my last post, and I finally figured out that starting a blog during the holidays wasn't the brightest idea. Between working, shopping, baking, decorating, attending parties, and creating--it left little time to blog the recipes I've tried!

I started in late November making homemade liquors---I brewed up a holiday cranberry liquor and homemade kahlua. I finally bottled them on December 24th, and they turned out beautifully. I really wish I would have taken a picture of the final product, but alas, I did not. I ended up buying all my bottles at the Andersons. They originally contained mineral water, but it was much cheaper to buy the bottles full, than empty-go figure. I then decorated each bottle with ribbon, faux berries, and a homemade tag. Each family member got one for Christmas...hope they are enjoyed.

I also made sea-salted turtles, pralines, frost-bite cookies, buckeyes, haystacks, smores cheesecake, toffee banana cream pie, and smoked macaroni and cheese. The candies were all boxed and given as gifts. The cheesecake, pie, and macaroni taken to Christmas parties. I also made my old standby---bacon/spinach/smoked gouda stuffed mushrooms for two parties. You absolutely cannot go wrong with those.

My main reason for not blogging is not a cooking endeavor (believe it or not) but a sewing one! I spend many countless hours with my mother and grandmother quilting a crown royal bag blanket for my husband for Christmas. I actually decided to do this the second weekend of December, so that didn't leave much time to complete such a large project. Most of the time when my mother quilts it takes six months. She about died when I told her the task at hand!

But for many evenings, while my husband thought I was out "shopping" I was actually buying fabrics, cutting, pinning, basting, and sewing. Actually I did most of pinning and cutting, while my mother operated the sewing machine. Now, I must admit the finished product is not perfect by any means, but I don't think anyone would even realize it. On my next post I will definitely have a picture to put up.

The next few days though will be spent preparing for our Cheers for the New Years Blowout we are having on the 31st. We will just have to wait and see how that goes!