Happy New Year! Just like in November we had quite the snowstorm in December followed by rising temperatures and rain. I’m sure most of you can say the same! I hope you all stayed safe and were able to enjoy the holidays with friends and family.
Read
Unfortunately, 2022 was not a good reading year for me. But here’s a cute board book!
Eat
First up, my Smitten Kitchen Keepers update. Here are the recipes I tried this month (I even made the quiche and fettucine twice!).
- Challah Cheesecake Buns
- Caramelized Cinnamon Sugar French Toast
- Green Angel Hair with Garlic Butter
- Deepest Dish Broccoli Cheddar Quiche
- Cauliflower Cheese Baked Potato
- The Angry Grandma (Pizza)
- Weeknight Lemon Chicken Wings
- Fettucine with White Ragu
- Oatmeal Date Shortbread
The pizza got a little burnt even though I took it out early, but I may try her method again with a shorter cook time (20-30 minutes at 450 degrees?!). I’m most excited to make the Challah Cheesecake Buns again.
The kids I had fun baking Christmas cookies and fruit cake. For our annual New Year’s cheesecake I made a dark chocolate caramel cheesecake from this book and topped it with cranberry curd from this book. And I might as well include a picture of this birthday cake from earlier in the month.
So much good eating in December, but my favourite meal was an Indian buffet in Potsdam, New York. From fresh naan to several types of chicken and vegetarian curries to cardamom rice pudding, I couldn’t ask for a better treat.
Do
I’ll do my best to sum up the fun things that kept us busy in December.
- Christmas cookie making with the Sunday School class
- Georgian Bay Symphony family Christmas concert
- Moreston by Candlelight at the historical village
- Advent Walk at the Four Church Corners
- Hosting a ladies’ Christmas tea party
- Visiting Andrew’s family in Ogdensburg, New York
- Staying overnight at the Sherman Inn
- Having my sister and her family (from Virginia) over this past weekend
- Free kid activities at the YMCA on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve
- Completing 365 days of Yoga with Adriene!
Play
One of the perks of visiting Andrew’s family for a week over Christmas was lots of time to play board games and card games. I especially loved:
- Outfoxed (“Gather clues with your detective pals to catch that crafty fox before it skips town!”)
- The Game (“Can you discard all the cards in ascending & descending order without getting stuck?”)
- Illusion (“Put your color perception to the test and call the group’s bluff at the right moment.”)
- Poetry for Neanderthals (“A single-syllable word game in which you must speak good or get hit with stick!”)
- Blokus Trigon (“Fit all your tiles onto the board while blocking your neighbor into a corner.”)
Meditate
“The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:8-12
It sounds like a very delicious month!
One favourite thing: my family introduced us to Dominion, a deck building game that has a different setup every round.
Sounds fun!
My daughter has the Dorie Greenspan cookbooks, makes delicious things from them. Fortunately, our libraries here have them, too, so I have made some of her wonderful recipes, especially the mushroom galette.
I don’t own any of her books and have just borrowed one from the library so far. The galette sounds good to me… too bad mushrooms aren’t popular at my house!