Pretty Tricolored Heron

Today, I am grateful for being able to capture beautiful wildlife with my camera.

Box Identification

 I was in a thrift store looking for something to "display" the various teas I had for a tea party I was going to have for my Aunts. This is what I ended up using, because it was lined with felt and the bags stayed up.

However, along with the above item, I had purchased the wooden box below for the same purpose.  I didn't know what it was, nor did any of the employees or customers.
Any guesses as to what this is or what it might have been used for?

(It's a cutting board for bread with a "crumb catcher.")

Struffoli- Italian Christmas Tradition

Old memories came flooding back after recently seeing a picture of  this Italian Christmas Treat.  I decided to try the recipe.  It wasn't as difficult as I imagined! And not as sweet as I expected, but certainly looked exactly like I remembered, many years ago as a child at an old Italian relative's house in Bloomfield, NJ!  I am looking forward to mixing up a big batch to bring to our Christmas Eve dinner at my Uncle's house to see if he remembers this too!

Little Blue Heron

Pretty Little Blue Heron

Ongoing Cookie Adventures...

I do love making cookies! I bake up several kinds at this time of year, usually staying with the old reliable favorites that my family enjoys.  However, this year I wanted to try some new ones.
I cleared a spot on the coffee table and proceeded to collect all of my cookie magazines, cookie cookbooks, and piles of loose recipes torn out of magazines or on packages of baking products.  I sat down and sorted out piles, looked through just a few of the many books and magazines and finally picked out several interesting recipes.  I wanted to get a jump start on the process so I mixed up a few batches of different kinds of dough and halved them, putting half in the fridge (for trying out now), and half in the freezer (for Christmas).
I couldn't wait to get something in the oven to try, so I decided on a small batch of Pecan Florentines.  I had made these many years ago, and remembered how fragile and delicious they were. 
Off we go.....

There are very few ingredients in them and you can only cook five or so at a time because the teaspoon full you place on the tray, bubbles and expands into a lacy, flat circle.  (PS- don't try this recipe without a silpat! Been there, done that!)

After they cool for a few minutes, you carefully curl them over the end of a wooden spoon....

They were great!

The next morning, I went in the fridge to pull out a one of the other kinds of cookie doughs and I was completely mystified.  I looked at the dough, and looked at it, and for the life of me I could not remember what cookie it was supposed to be... was it a shortbread, biscotti, drop cookie, cutout cookie....?  It was as if I made the dough in my sleep!  I had no idea how to cook it, not having labeled the darn thing! I looked around for the recipe and couldn't find it because I had cleaned up all the loose papers and books before I went to bed!

(It took me hours before I was able to figure out what it was- I realized it had mini chips in it and I remembered that I used mini's for a reason.  Looking though the recipes, I finally found one that said to use the mini chips.  As it turned out, it was a chocolate chip shortbread

.........and they were great too!)

Where's the Limpkin?

This limpkin thought he could escape my lens, as he hid away in one of the "floating islands" in the pond in our back yard....

There you are..!

Attack Frogs! Public Service Announcement

These frogs camped out in our entry way, often hitch-hiking in on the dog or waiting to jump on me at night when I walk her. They collected in a watering can by the front door.  It looked like a lot were in there, so I tried to film them one at a time coming out of the watering can.......