Baker's Corner: Christmas Cookies 2014

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It's Christmas Eve and my cookies are ready just in time to set out for Santa tonight. And I tell you, he's got a lot of cookies to eat! Funny since at the beginning of December I was extremely worried I wouldn't have time to make barely any cookies. But somehow I managed to squeeze in several. Yay for cookies!

Gingerbread Macarons

Of course, I wanted to make macarons, my current favorite. Making macarons takes a quite a bit of time, but I divided it out between days. I made the shells on a Sunday (letting them dry before baking while grocery shopping), and then the filling later. The shells freeze nicely, in fact, the cookies freeze well which makes advanced baking a breeze.

Although I made gingerbread macarons last year, I tried a different recipe out this year. I think I liked these even better. I was more than ecstatic to see I had zero cracks in the shells. No joke, this fact made my day. Better yet, these were absolutely delicious. Huzzah!

Get the Recipe from It's Just Chicken

Peppermint Crinkles

I coordinated a cookie exchange at work this year, which I still hope to write about. I called it the Great Oracle Christmas Cookie Swap. For the swap, I made these peppermint crinkles. I hadn't made them before, but they turned out great (whew!). The batter seems super runny, but after refrigerating them, it works. Trust me. Another interesting thing with these cookies is that they only have 1/3 cup flour and include nutella. Beware, these are crazy chocolately.

Get the Recipe from Baker's Royale

Gingerbread Biscotti

This was the year of gingerbread I guess since I made the gingerbread macarons, pepparkakor which are gingerbread-like, and then these gingerbread biscottis. What's great about biscotti, is it's pretty easy. You make a log with the dough, bake it, slice it, and bake it again. Yes, biscotti is a twice baked cookie which makes them great for dipping in coffee or tea. I dipped mine in Trader Joe's Peppermint tea. Yum!

Get the Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Pepparkakor

No Christmas passes without making Pepparkakor. I have to carry on the tradition from my Grandma Norma who always made these. They are a Swedish cookie, and have lots of delicious spices like cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. This time I added a tad of cardamon and allspice. These are similar to gingerbread cookies, but thinner and crispier.

Recipe is a secret! (If you're nice, maybe I'll share someday!)

Krum Kager

This is another Grandma Norma cookie. For the longest time my family said these were Swedish cookies only to learn that they are actually Norwegian. Still they are Scandinavian, so we're covered. These are like a wafer-thin butter cookie that is made with a cookie iron and then rolled - sort of like a waffle cookie! They are pesky cookies since they are delicate and break easily, but they are so pretty. I didn't make the dough, my mom did that, but I did the cookie creation - pressing, rolling, and sugar sprinkles.

Another Handed down recipe, but this one is pretty similar from Recipes from Grandma.

Spritz

This is a John O'Neill favorite. He literally took the tin after dinner and started eating them. I'm not going to lie, but it was quite the battle with the cookie press. My mom had two cookie presses, and I killed the first part. Then the other one was battery operated and just worked poorly. But I conquered and managed to make these gems. Normally, I like to use green sprinkles, but we only had the colorful ones so just imagine they are ornaments on the trees.

Get the recipe below! You're welcome.

Spritz Recipe

From the Kitchen of Grandma Norma, Jan O'Neill, and now Heather Brown.

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Colored Sprinkles - Red & Green for Christmas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees/

Cream butter, add sugar and cream thoroughly. Add extract, egg, and then flour. We recommend refrigerating this for 2-3 hours.

Push dough into cookie press, and then press onto a greased baking sheet. Shake on sprinkles before baking. Bake 7-10 minutes in 350 degree oven (Note: watch the temperate, the original recipe called for 400 but we found that too hot and burning the edges).

Let cool 1-2 minutes, and then remove from pan. Let cool and enjoy!

Weekend Visitors

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Back in September, my in-laws visited for the weekend. It was an awesome weekend and ended with a beautiful sunset. We had a great time sharing Seattle and the surrounding areas with them. 

For starters, we took them over to West Seattle's Alki Beach. There was a blustery wind, but the sun was shining. We enjoyed a walk on the beach, breathing in the salty air. Nada, my mother in-law, loved Alki - it reminded her of Surfside where she grew up. 

Then we enjoyed lunch at Luna Park. We all split an Oreo shake (yes that was one shake split between the four of us). It was quite delicious. Fun fact: Cookies 'n Cream is my favorite ice cream. 

We also got to celebrate Nada's birthday with family friends Vince and Jonita. I picked out the restaurant, Tanglewood Supreme, which was a big hit. It's a hidden, little bistro in Magnolia. Oh yea, and then we enjoyed decant molten chocolate cakes at Hot Cakes later in the evening. BAM, that's how you celebrate.

Sunday we went northward and hit up Edmonds and then over to Snohomish. We ended the day with dinner on the patio of Little Water Cantina watching planes land on South Lake Union. BAM, that's how you have an awesome weekend with your in-laws. 

Some Cali Time & Parental Digs

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In September, Josh and I headed to SoCal to visit my parents. The visit was to see my parents and sister, but also to check our their new home in San Marcos. Last year my parents rented as they transitioned from my childhood home to a smaller, no-kids-at-home home. It was nice to finally see their new home. Silly me forgot to take photos, but I can try to paint a quick picture: it's a great one story home with a pleasant atrium and a nice location near a golf course. Most importantly, they seem happy. 

Funny, most of the interior was familiar. The furniture, decorations, and photos were all the same - just in different arrangements. It was that aspect that made me feel at home. Not to mention, home is where my family is (bleh, corny...but true). Like these photos on the wall, they used to be on the stairs at my childhood home.

We had a pretty chill time, which was great. Saturday we found a great dog park called Buena Visita Park, for my mom to take Keely, their golden retriever. Here's a selfie from our walk:

We had a lovely family dinner at Bleu Boheme in an area called Kensington. This is my parent's current favorite restaurant. It was really quite good. I still remember my flakey and delicious fish. We enjoyed our time together on the patio the most...

We also convinced the waitress to take our family picture. What a beautiful family! Striking I must say.

Sunday we venture out to La Jolla and enjoyed a beautiful day with the sunshine and ocean. Of course, we ate breakfast at The Cottage. 

La Jolla is such a beautiful place. It's not wonder the rich and famous chose to live there. We soaked in the sun while meandering along the water. We even spied some seals hanging out on the rocks. 

See what I mean? Beautiful. 

And then we had to fly home and back to reality. But I'm glad I got to see my parent's new digs and enjoy some Cali time with the fam. 

Summer's End Sunset

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They are saying that this weekend was the last hurrah of summer (boo). But if there was a way to end it, it would be with tonight's fabulous sunset sitting next to ones you love.

To set the scene: My in-laws were in town this weekend and we had a great time wandering Seattle & the surrounding areas (more on that later). Sunday night, to wrap up an already great weekend, we had dinner at Little Water Cantina. This is one of my favorite summer restaurants because it has a great patio on Lake Union....and it didn't disappoint today. We watched a fabulous sunset as we enjoyed each other's company, a cocktail, and delicious tacos. Can't beat that. 

And here's another. I couldn't stop taking photos!

We also saw the sea planes taking off and landing. Too cool for school.

Oh and here's us. I tried with two waiters to get us with the sunset...no luck. I desperately wanted to be a control freak and tell them exactly where to stand, how to angle the camera, etc. I thought they might spit in my food, so I ended up letting it go (queue the song).

Great end to the weekend. Thanks sunset. And goodbye summer.

Georgia on my Mind

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Georgia, oh Georgia...sing it for me Ray...

Now, that I've got you singing about Georgia, let me tell you about it. I can because I as just there. Yup, I did a last minute trip to Georgia for work last week. It was for a meeting with my client out in Alpharetta (in the 'burbs of Atlanta). Then I managed to tack on a extra two days in order to see some family. 

I few out on Wednesday, which took all freakin' day. We left at 10am and arrived at 6pm. Such a shame to spend your whole day on the plane (luckily I made up that lost time on the way home. Anyway, my first taste of Georgia was dinner. My co-worker that joined me had been to Alpharetta before, so he suggested the restaurant. We landed at a charming restaurant called Table & Main in Roswell. This place knocked my socks off it was so good. No offense, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It was delicious "farm to table" Southern food. Dang! 

Thursday I spent the day with my client, and our meeting went well (whew!). Then I joined a few of my clients for dinner at another great restaurant called Miltons. Combined these two restaurants challenged all my preconceived notions of Southern food. Well done, Georgia.

With my client visit behind me, I drove out to Burford to visit my Aunt Pat and Uncle Ron. They have a lovely home and I got a true taste of Southern hospitality. They treated me like a queen (or should I say Southern Belle?). 

Aunt Pat & Uncle Ron's Home

I lucked out and got to meet their cat, Mr. Ford. He was a rescue cat and I think I made a breakthrough since Mr. Ford came out from behind the boxes and looked at me, which apparently he never does. I guess I am the new cat whisper. Okay, maybe not, but let's pretend. Sorry, no photos since Mr. Ford is camera shy.

Not to bring up food again (heck we do eat at least three times a day, so why not!), but of course we ate at the Cracker Barrel. What good is a trip to the South without it? Cracker Barrel is more than food, it's an experience. As a kid, I loved the jumbo checker board, the wooden peg game (oh man, if only I had this video as a kid), and the candy sticks from the stop after the meal. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. Oh, and you can't forget those rocking chairs out front...classic. 

I actually have a cute story about Cracker Barrel. When I was a kid, and we visited the East Coast, and I found out I loved Cracker Barrel. I loved them so much I wrote a letter to headquarters and told them to open shop in San Diego. Well, no such luck for little Heather, but it was worth a try.

Cracker Barrel experience

Saturday we enjoyed some R&R at home, but by noon we headed out to the town. I was introduced to Von Maur, a department store from Iowa, which hasn't made it's way to the West Coast (yet). I also got a tour of Dillards, a Southern department store. My favorite thing in the mall was the fact that Starbucks had sweet tea. 

Perimeter Mall

The day ended at my cousin Debbie's house. Another lovely Georgia home. So big! And I met their sweet pooch, Sammy. Sammy was a cutie and cuddled on my lap. It was great to catch up with my cousin and her husband, Dave. No joke, it has been twelve years since I last saw Debbie. Craziness. 

Family & Sammy, the dog

Sunday I flew back home. I did make up that lost time on Wednesday after all. 

And that was my quick, but sweet trip to Georgia. That's it, y'all.

Pre-Christmas Look Back

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I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Dang, Christmas came quickly! I barely got everything done. Somehow I managed to get most of the pre-Christmas activities and decorating done. I did miss a few things, but given the short time we accomplished a lot. Let me give you a peek at our Christmas preparations.

Let me share some of what you're seeing in the collage. (Note: My counting starts in top-left and goes across & then down)

  • Buying our Christmas tree (pics 1, 3, 5): We stopped at three lots this year, and we ended up at the same lot as last year. Figures. We got a Douglas fir at about 5 feet tall. We got it all decorated and it just glowed. We always use a little fresh babys breath (Brown family thing) and some good-looking, but fake poinsettias (O'Neill family thing). Then you add ornaments and lights. It's magical. And it's a great scent for the house.
  • Shopping (pic 2): Got to get those gifts! We did some shopping at local shops, Seattle's Urban Craft Uprising, and the Bellevue Square mall (shown). I love seeing the stores all decorated. 
  • Gingerbread Village (pic 3): Every year the Sheraton hosts a Gingerbread village. I heard about it before, but this was our first year going. I imaged it being a large gingerbread house, but it was actually about five gingerbread creations all following a theme. This year's theme was There's a Rhythm and a Reason this Holiday Season. All the gingerbread was in nursery rhymes like London Bridge is Falling Down. The one I have pictured is Hey Diddle Diddle. It was cute, and better yet free.
  • Swanson's Nursery (pic 6): Yep, I saw Dasher! The nursery up in Ballard gets all decked out for the holidays. They have reindeer and a camel. We needed a new tree stand, so we swung by. It was a fun little Christmas visit.
  • Responsys Holiday Party (pic 7): My office holiday party was on 12/19 this year. It was at a trendy place called Fred's Wildlife Refuge. No, it wasn't a zoo or have any animals roaming around - it is just an event space, They did up all cool with a video wall, which basically projected different scenes onto the walls like snow falling & doves. We all had a great time.
  • Snow! (pic 8): It snowed the day before Josh and I headed to SoCal. I totally didn't expect it, but it was there in the morning. It only stuck around until the afternoon, and then melted away. Fun but it totally messes up commutes.
  • Baking (pic 9): Ahh yes, my baking, I can't let Christmas pass without some cookies. I made some gingerbread macarons, chocolate peppermint cake balls, and peppakakor. All I can say is...YUM.

The first picture collage was more activities, and this one is more about decorations. I didn't nearly get as many decorations up as I'd like, but I still got some Christmas spirit in the house.

  • Christmas Card ribbon: I really wanted to hang the Christmas cards on the ribbon horizontally, but our tiny apartment didn't have enough space. So I took it vertical! Then overflow when over to our cabinet thing in our living room. I love getting Christmas cards in the mail and hearing from all our friends and family. 
  • A Christmas Story Lamp: FRAGILE (FRA-GEE_LAY) it must be Italian! // Do you know what this is? This is... A lamp! // This is a major award! // Yes, Josh and I have the “Soft Glow of Electric Sex” in our apartment. Please watch the movie, then you'll understand.
  • Table Centerpiece: I tried to get creative this year. I got some winterberry while at Swanson's Nursery and put it in a vase with babys breath. Then I added some pine cones, a candy cane swirl candy, and my little owl (I just love owls!).
  • Lights around the door: Not pictured! But yes, we got some lights up, too.

That was our pre-Christmas. Christmas is the best time of year! Love it! I hope you had a nice holiday season as well.

Top 10: The In-Laws Visit

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Goodness, it's almost Christmas, and I've hardly told you anything about Thanksgiving. I was totally focused on Thanksgiving that I didn't realize how soon Christmas was as well. When Thanksgiving ended Christmas came out of nowhere and smacked me in the face. Snapped to reality. I need to get moving. Now I'm cramming in Christmas - gift hunting, shopping, decorating, music, lights, baking...ahh! 

Deep breath. I feel better now. 

So Thanksgiving. It was really quite nice. My in-laws flew up to celebrate with us. It was the first time I had to organize, prep, and cook a Thanksgiving feast for more than just Josh and me (hence why I was focused on Thanksgiving). It went swimmingly. I'll tell you more about the food later. The more important stuff first: the in-laws visit. 

Here's the top 10 highlights from their visit: 

1. Don's 70th Birthday

We celebrated with dinner with Vince & Jonita (good friends).

Don's 70th Birthday

2. Cooking & Baking with Nada

I was the chef and Nada was my sous chef - we were quite the team.

Nada & Heather cooking the Thanksgiving feast

3. Thanksgiving Feast

More to come on the food. For now you just get to see the table with food. Yum!

The Thanksgiving Table

4. Helix Bridge

I've shared this bridge with you before, but I think it's just too cool. This team it gets bonus points for the fog.

Helix Bridge in the fog

5. Walk in the Fog

The fog while we walked at Myrtle Edwards Park was so cool. I will try to share a post with you soon with more photos. 

Walk at Myrtle Edwards Park in the fog

6. CB Nuts

We drove over to the Olympic Peninsula and came upon CB Nuts. Another awesome, local company. Washington rocks. 

7. Meandering Pike Place Market

Breakfast at Lowells. Coffee at Storyville. Gum wall. And a cool Pike Place Market truck.

Pike Place Market Truck

8. Port Townsend

We also stopped by Port Ludlow. Drove by Port Gamble. Lots of ports.

Adventures in Port Townsend

9. Boats

Don, my father in-law, loves boats. Shh, we trespassed to the boatyard - we're wild & crazy. He made me do it.

Boats at Lake Union

10. Being with family

Great to see the family. Nada seems to bring the sun with her, too. (Thanks for that)

Brown Family

Brown Family

Thankful on Thanksgiving

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You know what I'm thankful for...Thanksgiving. It's frustrating how lots of retailers just skip right over Thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving should not be skipped over. It's a time to remember what's important in life - family and friends (and food, you need it for survival, duh). It's a day to step back and put things in perceptive and remember these important things in your life.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm going to share some of the things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving.

1. A Loving Husband & Happy Marriage

2. Family - Parents, Sister, & In-Laws - that are always there for you

3. Friends that make you Laugh

4. A Beautiful City

5. Good Job with Fun Co-workers

This list could go on and on, but I need to get back in the kitchen to continue the Thanksgiving feast. My in-laws are in town, and we're planning a awesome dinner. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo, Heather

Top 10: Parents Visit

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The weekend before last, Josh and I enjoyed a visit from my parents. We really lucked out and had some awesome Seattle fall weather. We ate at some great restaurants, and did some fun activities. So I'm happy to report we all had a pretty fantastic weekend. Here's the top 10 from the weekend ... in photos! (so you don't have to listen to be babble so much). 

 

 

 

1.  Ferry to Bainbridge (and back)

 

Ferry Ride to Bainbridge & Back

3. Beautiful fall colors (Nothing you'd see in San Diego)

Fall leaves

4. Standing around a BIG-ass pumpkin

 

Standing around a BIG-ass pumpkin

5. Celebrating Josh's Birthday! 

Celebrating Josh's Birthday

6. Round and Round in the Great Wheel

(with a scared mom)

Seattle's Great Wheel (aka Ferris Wheel)

7. Roaming the Ballard Farmer's Market

 

Ballard Farmer's Market

8. Touring the Chihuly Glass Museum

Chihuly Glass Museum

9. Drinking Coffee

(except for Dad, he drank tea) 

10. Wearing funky flip flops

(a gift from the nail salon) 

Jan & Heather's funky flip flops & pretty nails

For more photos - go here.

Weddings & Family in Chicago

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Wedding + Grandma + Family = Trip to Chicago

That's the formula for a visit! And so between August 23rd and 26th, I was in the Mid-west. 

1. Wedding

One of the main reasons was to see my cousin Jeremy wed. The wedding took place in Milwaukee at the Pabst Brewing Company factory. I have to say, the venue was pretty cool. Pabst has been around since about 1884, and I think the factory building since 1880 (I figured it's 1880, since that's the year on the building. I'm so clever).

 

But this visit wasn't about the building or the factory, it was about my awesome cousin Jeremy marrying Nikki. The ceremony was short and sweet and was in a courtyard. The reception was on of the larger rooms in the building. In a nutshell, they were very happy and everyone had a lovely time. {More Photos in the album here}

2. Grandma Ruth

My Grandma Ruth is 92 years old and still chugging along. I am so glad to see her every year as she is very special to me. We visited her for lunch on two days during my visit. She was so happy to see us, and even mentioned how we'd traveled all the way from California (I'll give her the California thing, 3 of the 4 of were from Cali; Seattle would be hard to remember). 

We took her to Hackney's for burgers (Hackney's is a favorite of the family. It's one of the places we visit on every trip). She still has a hardy appetite, which always amazes me. (In the picture, she is waving to the camera!)

 

Grandma and Family at Hackney's for Lunch

3. Family

Did you know that the majority of my relatives are from Chicago? Both my parents were born and raised there. We were the runaways of the family that moved to California, but the rest remained in the general Chicago area. I have many good memories of summers in Chicago. So it's always great to visit and catch up with the family. 

Being that my parents were raised in Chicago, there are a lot of memories there. On Sunday night on our visit, we visited on such memories. We went to Ravinia, the site of my parent's first date. Ravinia is a concert venue where people can picnic and watch the band/artist from their picnic site on the grass. They saw Dionne Warwick (you'll recognize her songs), and when it started to rain she sang Rain Drops Keeping Falling on my Head. 

But we didn't see Dionne. Instead, we saw another favorite band of my parents, Chicago.  Yes, we saw Chicago in Chicago (you'll recognize their songs, too). We had a nice picnic and enjoyed the music.

John & Jan at Ravinia

Chicago

And that was my visit to Chicago. Good time with the family.  

For more pictures, go to my Summer Photos album on my blog! (I'm going to move away from Flickr albums, FYI).