gingerbread houses

December 22, 2017 in holiday, family

i can’t remember when i started making gingerbread houses… it’s probably an extension of my love of my childhood dollhouse. i do know that making them with my children is one of my favorite christmas traditions. they are messy and sticky and my kitchen gets a thorough dusting of powdered sugar every year, but the extra mopping and wiping is worth it. we eat way too much candy, lick loads of frosting off our fingers (i always tell our recipients not to eat them, just use them as decoration!) and we usually feel a bit sick afterward. some years are more structurally successful than others - more than one house has had to make due with a cardboard wall as a result of a “kitchen earthquake.” the candy roof design has evolved as well. in the early days they were a kaleidoscope of random candies and today there is careful thought put into the layout of licorice squares, lifesavers, gumdrops and mike and ikes. the recipe is the same as the modern one we did last year… just a more traditional pattern.

turkeys in the attic

November 23, 2017 in holiday

when my grandmother died, my parents packed up all of her dishes, trinkets, costume jewelry, linens, letters and photos and put the boxes up in their attic where they sat for many years. one summer when i was home and my kids were in camp, my mother asked me to go through it all. i call it my “v.c. andrews summer” as i sat up there like a flower in the attic (minus the incestuous sibling relationships and arsenic laced cookies) sorting and organizing and labeling everything for weeks. i was allowed out each evening to join everyone for dinner, but after i dropped the kids at camp each day, i climbed the skinny wooden ladder and crawled through the small opening at the top (bonking my head most days) and continued my work. it was easy to focus because there was no cell reception and it was such a pain in the popper to come down that i just didn’t.

raisin-free cranberry sauce

November 22, 2017 in holiday, family

there are few things in this world as disgusting as raisins. they look like droppings, get stuck in your teeth (marring your smile and causing cavities) and are notorious for popping up in all kinds of baked goods (scones, muffins, cookies) that should only have chocolate chips. and unfortunately, because of their size and color, raisins sometimes appear to be chocolate, which is a terrible surprise for the unsuspecting consumer.