Holiday Toast

As we dine tonight,

As the food surrounds us,

The smells envelope us . . .

As we sit before the tree,

With packages aplenty,

And the trimmings, too . . .

Let us forever remember,

We are the fortunate few

But, not the fortunate forever.

As we define our past,

As we define our future,

Let us not define our fortune

In our food and presents . . .

But, let us define our fortune

In each other.

Andy LePere

12/25/94

Fresh snow

We had such a pretty dusting of snow overnight, that I just couldn't resist a short walk to enjoy the beauty.

The days are short and the sun is low .... I look like clown on stilts!

Back inside where it's warm and back to work on more wrapping....

~Michele

Spritz Cookies

At this point in the season, time is at quite a premium. I like this recipe because it is so simple and makes a lot of cookies. If time allows, I divide the dough and use a different flavorings and food colorings in each half.

Spritz Cookies

2 C butter; softened

2 C sugar

3 eggs

1 T vanilla

6 C flour

2 t baking powder

colored sugar for decorating

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Dough will be quite stiff; I have found it's easiest to stir in the last couple cups of flour by hand.

Use a "cookie press" to drop cookies onto an ungreased shiny cookie sheet. I like "Doughmakers" when I need a shiny cookie sheet. (for a dark sheet I have found "Chicago Metallic" works great) Decorate cookies as desired. Bake at 350 for 9 - 12 minutes or until edges are just just to lightly brown.

Yield: 18 - 19 dozen one inch cookies. Stored in a tightly sealed container, in a dark cool area, these cookies will keep 2 - 3 weeks or much longer in the freezer.

If you are looking for more holiday cookie recipes, this web site is great "Christmas-Cookies."

~Michele

Poppy Seed Cookies

I don't know why, but I love poppy seeds and I love these cookies. You've got lots of flexibility for colors and you can choose different nuts.


We made two batches. One with the ground walnuts and one with almonds. On the latter we replaced the 1 tsp vanilla with 1/2 tsp almond extract.


Eating a serving of walnuts each day actually lowers your cholesterol--really! You can then trick yourself and say that instead of eating cookies you're taking . . . supplements. ;->

• 1 cup soft butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup finely ground walnuts
• 1/2 cup poppy seeds
• 1 tsp salt
• Colored sugar

Cream the butter with the sugar, egg, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, almonds, poppy seeds, and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture and beat well. Divide the dough in half and roll into logs. Roll the logs in colored sugar. Wrap in waxed paper and chill for a few hours. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Slice the logs about 1/4 inch think and bake for about 12 minutes or until the edges start to brown.

  

Enjoy!
Andy

And More Shopping

Yes . . . shopping the Saturday before Christmas. Somewhat dreaded, but in actuality--we had fun! To our credit we didn't have a lot to do. 

We just took a deep breath, shopped and took in all of the wonderful decorations. One of our local and nationally well known resorts, Grand Traverse Resort, not only had decorated, but held a gingerbread house contest. In pretty much any of the pix you see of these delectable domiciles everything is edible including the life size cottage with the train tracks curving out the front door! Within 20 feet of the display we could smell the ginger!

They had thousands of lights both inside and out. And, both Suttons Bay (our home town) and Traverse City did much the same. The Traverse City tree at the very end of this post was lit the first week in December. 

Well, we're happy to report that we're done! 
Andy

Last minute Holiday Shopping

I feel so fortunate to live in our small village, where last minute Holiday shopping is fun!

~Michele

Christmas Revelry

Before the blizzard hit us on Sunday, Michele and I had a great time taking in the holiday season on Saturday, the day before. A re-zoned, wonderfully re-developed area (Building 50 or The Village) had a Christmas walk earlier that day. 

We did some shopping, took in the trimmings, had a wonderful dinner (at Trattoria Stella or simply Stella's), and finished up with a music concert. (Luckily, Michele was able to rest a great deal in prep for this day--her immune system disorder severely limits her activity.) 

The concert included a friend of ours, Jim Hawley, who helped found "Peter, Paul and Mary Remembered". A very fun time was had by all!

Andy