As Holmes would say: Take It All Down!

Here's a storage idea for xmas garlands: Cut a gift wrap tube in two. Cut a slit up the end to secure one end of the garland.

Wrap until it's full and secure the other end.

The dish towel is by one of my favorite illustrators in Minnesota, Faye Passow. You can find her dishtowels at many gift shops throughout the state or you can order online.

The Off-Season, Part II: Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Surprised to find a half bag of kisses left in the cupboard in February, I whipped up a batch of cookies ususally only seen during the holidays. Too lazy to go to the basement to fill up the flour jar, I used one cup regular flour and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour. Tasters were none the wiser.

When I ran out of kisses, I used Swedish Pearl Sugar that I got from my mom for Xmas. Here is a tip from my mom: Hint for pearl sugar:  Put a ball of cookie dough in pearl sugar that is in a small bowl. Flatten slightly. Coat only one side. Sugar will be evenly spaced as cookie spreads while baking. -MOM 

You can make really cook marks in the cookies with this crazy fork.

It's from my "Meaball Magic" set. But that's another story...

Equipment Tip

What do you do with your corn-on-the-cob dishes in the off-season?

Makes a great butter dish:

Or a nice spatula rest:

Had the greatest lunch the other day.

No, I didn't have to drive 331 miles to Pasty's in upper Michigan.

Just cranked my oven to 350˚ for an hour.

Popped in a frozen Pasty (past-ee) from Byerly's and few taters.

Made some beef broth gravy.

Voila! Home-made goodness.

mmmmmmmm.

As Seen on TV

I have a fondness for AS SEEN ON TV products.  Maybe it's because I used to work for K-tel. So every XMAS, I glom on to one of them and buy them everyone, CUZ kids LUV as seen on tv stuff! This year it was the BIG TOP CUPCAKE!

First you bake the cake. Normal cakes take about a half hour to bake. Towards the end of baking, the cake batter bubbled up and spilled over the top like a volano. Really cool effect for kids.

I thought the lava flow would ensure a fully-baked cake. You can see here that at 45 minutes, it still wasn't cooked completely:

When it's baking, it rises up to into a big cone, which needs to be sawed off to flatten it out.

Here is the aftermath (with plenty of scraps to snack on):

At this point the meltdown and whining started: "This is horrible, it doesn't look like the picture! Mommy you do it...(fuss fuss mess mess)."

So I smoothed it out and topped with with some sprinkles.

Make Your Own Cocoa Crispix

What to do with a plate of leftover graham crackery xmas cookies?

Put them in the food processor and grid them up.

I like to put a scoop of it on my breakfast cereal.

Score with Personalized Cards!

Every year we get a holiday card from a realtor friend that is personally illustrated for him. It stands out amid all of the others I get.

Susanne's Cards doesn't have a website -- sometimes you just don't need one. Here is her info: