A good use for garland

I bought this garland at a huge discount after Christmas last year, not remembering at the time that I never know what to do with it since I don't like it on the tree. Anyway, I needed something to decorate the stairwell (it is drab and can be seen from the dining room), already had the star hanging on the wall, add some garland and bows and voila! To my surprise, the cats haven't messed with the bows. I thought those suckers would be irresistable!

A Trip to THE Mall

Took my life in my hands and made a trip to the Mall of America last weekend. That's right - America's largest mall, on the weekend, in DECEMBER. Actually, it wasn't too crazy except that parking was a little wack. Anyway, I really love the wreath "nests" they have up this year! It seems like something I could easily do at home - on a much smaller scale, of course!

Here's a picture of one of the ginormous Christmas trees in the rotunda. Below is a detail that shows the instrument ornaments decorating the tree.

And, hey, surprise! Nigella Lawson was there, signing her new cookbook. I didn't have a cookbook or time to stand in line so only got this blurry pic from the next floor up. Good thing I didn't happen to go the next day instead - Sarah Palin was there signing her new book :(

A very Merry photo shoot

Here is the first picture - look how cute Mr. Boots is............

...........Second one - still cute, a little blurry...............

.......Oh-oh, starting to get antsy...............

..........and finally, full on escape mode!

Ribbon Wreath

I needed something to hang above our "mantel" - really several bookcases that we hang our stockings on - and didn't want to buy anything (having already gone over my holiday budget!). I started looking for round things around the apartment and came across this old plastic serving tray. I also have tons of ribbon (the paper kind) from a box that I got at a thrift store. I used double sided tape to attach the ribbon and just folded the ribbon like ribbon candy. What do you think?

Thanksgiving

Frankly, Thanksgiving is not one of my favorite holidays. This is especially true now that I am trying to eat fewer carbs! Here are some pics from this Thanksgiving, though. I made the pumpkin soup above with chicken stock, some sauteed garlic and onions,pumpkin puree, chinese five spice powder and smoked paprika. I was hoping it would be smoother but it tasted good - especially with real bacon and toasted pumpkin seeds as a garnish.

Our centerpiece! Yes, this tree probably looks familiar from Halloween. We didn't have a cornucopia handy and had a leaf theme going on with the other serving pieces so decided to go with it.

Last, here's a pic of the pumpkin spice cupcakes I made for my friend's birthday. I used a different recipe but you could use the quick bread recipe from my previous post. They taste about the same. The cream cheese frosting is what makes these cupcakes extra awesome, of course.

Paper Source Event

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in stores and on-line, anyway. I'm starting to plan my Christmas projects and have been looking around for ideas and inspiration. Luckily, one my favorite stores, Paper Source, is having free holiday demos and "make and take" projects this weekend! Check out the schedule on their blog: http://www.blog.paper-source.com/

If you're in the area, I recommend the one on Hennepin in Minneapolis because there is a Penzey's Spices store and an Urban Outfitters on the same block! Penzey's can get expensive if you have no willpower like me but smelling the spices is free :) If you aren't near a Penzey's, no worries - you can shop online: http://www.penzeys.com/ Urban Outfitters has a lot of overpriced crap but you can find some cute little gifts or decorations, too. They also have a website, of course, and they have a lot of things that are only sold on the web: www.urbanoutfitters.com

FYI - I have no affiliation with these companies but like their products enough to spread the word :)

Pumpkin Quick Bread

I made a delicious pumpkin bread that I adapted from this recipe: www.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Bread-2

The changes I made are that I cut down on the amount of sugar (it's still plenty sweet) and replaced the cloves with ginger (didn't have any cloves and don't love them). I also sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on the top of each loaf to create a crispy sugary crust. The bread is very light for a pumpkin bread and not too moist. Next time I'll try to make some substitutions for some of the butter and sugar to make it a little healthier but didn't want to change the recipe too much this time.


Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (two sticks), softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (use less if using fresh ginger)
• 1 15 oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• Additional cinnamon and sugar for sprinklin on top (optional but delicious)
• Nuts to sprinkle on top (again, optional but delicious)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in large bowl. Add eggs, mix well. Add the dry ingredients and stir until batter is just moistened (make sure to get all the dry stuff from the bottom incorporated, though). Stir in pumpkin but make sure not to overmix. Pour into two greased loaf pans, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top (optional) and cook for about 45 minutes to an hour.