Eat, Grow, Love Tuesday, Feb 28 2012

Our little girl officially turned two on Friday, so it was only appropriate that we celebrate her second trip around the sun with a proper birthday party.  The Hurts love a theme and this year we selected one of Mattie Windsor’s favorite books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

The decorations consisted of a giant caterpillar composed of homemade tissue paper pom poms, place cards with illustrations and quotes from the book (that later doubled for thank you notes), and of course Mattie Windsor’s masterpiece that she painted herself  (Four More Days . . .).  Staying true to our inspiration, we served apples, pears, plums, strawberries and oranges to incorporate all of the fruits on which the caterpillar dined throughout the week.  We also served pickles, Swiss cheese (in the form of a ham and cheese biscuits), and cupcakes to represent the  caterpillar’s eating extravaganza on Saturday.

And of course there was a craft project (this is project hurt … duh?!).  We gave the children green paper leaves and cotton pom poms to make their own caterpillars to take home.

Mattie Windsor thoroughly enjoyed the spotlight and a good time was had by all.  We even managed to raise a little dough for SECCA (Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art) here in Winston-Salem.  Gifts are fun but experiences are even better, so we asked our friends and loved ones to make donations  to support a local museum in an effort to further encourage and inspire our little artist.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTIE WINDSOR!!

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Our Little Sous Chef Tuesday, Dec 13 2011

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This year our sous chef, Mattie Windsor, helped Jed and I make a few confections for her teachers and other local friends.  We made raspberry thumbprint cookies, chocolate covered graham crackers sprinkled with peppermints, and chocolate covered pretzels.  Mattie Windsor already shares her mother’s love for cookie dough and was an excellent assistant in the kitchen.

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Cookie Monster Monday, Oct 24 2011

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Jed recently bought  Mattie Windsor and I a pair of Halloween cookie cutters.   I took his not-so-subtle hint and decided to take the opportunity to try out a new sugar cookie recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.   I used food coloring to dye half of the dough orange for pumpkins and left the other half white for ghosts.  Then I rolled out the dough and allowed Mattie Windsor to take over.  She had a blast cutting out the shapes and placing them on the cookie sheets, but her favorite part was gobbling up her freshly baked confections.  She truly is my little cookie monster.

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Snow Day Sunday, Dec 20 2009

Our family has had a holiday party on the Saturday before Christmas as long as I can remember.  In fact, I am quite certain that this annual event is B.D. (Before Dorothy).  My grandmother originated the tradition and in recent years my sister, Kelly, and my cousin, Allison, have taken the reigns and alternated years hosting the party.  This year happened to be Kelly’s turn, but as her and her husband are planning to spend their holiday in Belgium and Holland, Jed and I were more than happy to substitute as hosts.  In fact, I was thrilled.  I love hosting parties and this one is a fairly easy one to master.  It is all potluck (everyone is assigned to bring either an appetizer or dessert) so all we had to do was to make a couple of dishes to include in the buffet and decorate our house for Christmas (like I do not go completely overboard and do that every year anyway.)

Jed made granny smith apple and butternut squash soup.  I cannot remember where this recipe originated from but it is tried and true and even won him first prize at our friend Marguerite’s Annual Soup Off a couple of years ago.

I decided to keep it simple and only make six desserts.  If you have not figured it out by now, I get a wee bit excited about Christmas.  In no particular order this is my list of goodies that are sure to put you in a diabetic coma:

1.  Peanut Butter Fudge (a recipe from Jed’s family that has been around for at least three generations)

2. Chocolate Truffles spiked with Grand Marnier (Martha Stewart Living February 2005) – This particular recipe made for some excellent bowl licking!

3.  Thumbprint Cookies with Strawberry Jam (Real Simple December 2009)

4. Sugar Cookies dipped in Dark Chocolate and Sprinkled with Crushed Candycanes (Real Simple December 2009)

5. Cranberry, Ginger and Almond Biscotti (adapted from recipe in Martha Stewart Living December 2009 – I subbed orange zest for lemon zest and added cranberries and candied ginger)

6. Figgy Bars (a personal favorite of mine from Complete Baking by Martha Day )

Please note the “three tier tidbit tray.”  This was passed down to me by my mom and has always been a staple on our family’s holiday buffet.

We were all ready for the party but there was one tiny glitch that arrived in the form of several inches of snow.  Most of my family lives to the west of Richmond (Charlottesville, Roanoke and Blacksburg) and were unable to even escape their driveways making the trek to Richmond an impossibility.

Never fear!  Both of my sisters and their spouses as well as my niece, Piper, were still up for the occasion.  To add to the Christmas cheer and to assist in eating all of the food that we had prepared, Jed and I started calling all of our friends who lived in close proximity to break them free from their cabin fever and to join us for the day. The resulting “makeshift” party was a blast and the perfect way to celebrate a snow day.

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Respect the Turkey! Wednesday, Nov 25 2009

The holiday season is officially upon us.  Even though the malls have already grown Christmas trees and have been plastered with lights and tinsel, let us not overlook Thanksgiving.  I truly have a lot to be thankful for this year but at the risk of getting too sappy, I will move on to what we have planned for the day.

For the second year in a row, Jed and I will be volunteering as table hosts at the Thanksgiving Feast sponsored by the Giving Heart.  This is a large event held at the Richmond Convention Center and is open to the public for anyone to attend.  Last year, Jed and I had a blast as we hosted two single moms, five rambuncious girls, and one gentleman at our table.   We are looking forward to repeating the experience this year.

Then we will travel from one giant meal to another.  We are headed to Victoria to give thanks and share a meal with Jed’s family.  For an appetizer,  we have made pistaschio biscuits and homemade buttermilk cheese that will be accompanied by apricot cumin jam.  I also made candied espresso walnuts to snack on throughout the day and to give as gifts.

I ask you to please try to forget about fighting the masses for Christmas bargains on black Friday and focus on Thanksgiving instead.  Give thanks, celebrate dining with your family and friends, and Respect the Turkey!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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