Post x-mas catch-up
Happy new year everyone! I had planned quite a few posts in December, with how-tos and recipes and... and... and then kazooooom! Xmas was there, it came and went - as did the whole of December, really. Or even the whole of 2012. 2013 has started in much the same way. Where is the "pause" button?! Anyways, we did manage to fit in some fun and festive activities too, and here's a bit of a re-cap.
R and I made x-mas decorations - some to be pressies for friends and family, others to keep for ourselves. We made glitter-filled snow globes by glueing ornaments to the bottom of jam jars and adding water, glycerine and glitter:
...and we made clay ornaments following a cornstarch clay recipe I found here. Simple and so decorative!
We also made various other creatures. I love R's idea of letting the hole in the bead become a mouth!
A candy-laden gingerbread house is a must, of course! It was demolished and devoured by eager little hands and mouths on new years eve.
These toffees were a huge hit too. Since the recipe is in Norwegian, I have taken the liberty of translating it – just scroll to below the photo.
Vanilla toffee
500 g sugar
200 g butter
200 g double cream
1 vanilla pod (or use vanilla extract)
50 g coconut oil
Melt the sugar slowly in a cast iron pan, until golden brown. Be careful not to burn it at this stage! Meanwhile, place the vanilla pod and cream in a pan and bring to a boil. Remove the vanilla pod, and pour the boiling cream into the caramelised sugar. Watch out, this will bubble like crazy! Stir well, add butter and boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Pull the pan off the heat and add the coconut oil. Stir well, and pour into a lined baking tray. Leave to cool completely, place in the fridge for a little while, and then use a sharp knife to cut the toffee into chunks. Enjoy!
Phew, so that was a glimpse into our x-mas preparations. After a hectic few weeks we went off to my parents to spend x-mas with my family. R was poorly for a few days, but we did still find time to go for a nice wintery hike.
R forgot about his post-illness-grumpiness for a little while and had fun with my sister's boyfriend (I guess it's about time we upgraded his status to being R's uncle now, or what say you sis?) on the ice.
We went back home for new years eve, and spent it with good friends and good food. Can't beat that combo!
Decorated the table simply, using a scrunched up linen table runner, birch bark stars and squirrel motif paper napkins from Kremmerhuset, pink washi tape and dymo labels. I also went and chopped down a whole tiny little baby spruce, placed it in a vase and used the remaining stars to decorate it.
That vase used to be a brown and orange 70s bonanza, by the way. Just goes to show what can be achieved with a can of spray paint... I'm a sucker for quick and easy DIY projects like that!
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