Weekend recap

Hello all you fine people! It feels so good to get back into the swing of things, back into a routine! That, and Stephan comes home tomorrow...and I'm trying 2 new recipes. I love cooking :) Especially when one is a slow-cooker recipe, YUMMY!

Also, we're at the beginning of a VERY cold spell. It was -28 degrees Celcius today. I feel bad for Stephan, it was -39 degrees celcius 8 hours up north where he was working. These cold days are supposed to continue all week.

Back to the weekend recap. My weekend was pretty quiet. I ran a few errands after work, and then came home and had some dinner. I rented a movie on TV, The Help, which I loved! I thought it was a great movie, and I enjoyed it with a nice glass of wine.

Saturday morning I got up, slept in a little later than planned. But I got ready, and went off to church to do flower altar decorations. It was the first time I got to do them since I moved out here from Ontario, and I really missed it. I just didn't have the opportunity in my old congregation, but here in my new congregation I do :) My first time that I was supposed to do flowers was actually back in November, but that was right at my worst days of the laryngitis I had.

This is how they turned out:

sacristy flowers

altar flowers - left side

altar flowers - right side

altar flower - both sides together :)

The rest of Saturday was spent doing a bit of shopping. I didn't really buy anything for myself, but I checked out a Home Sense store since they are supposed to be cheaper then Bed Bath & Beyond. And they were! They also had a lot more decorative stuff for the house, so I'll have to keep them in mind. The only thing is is the closest one is about 25 minutes from my house. So its a bit of a hike, those trips will have to be planned. I spent the rest of the day being lazy, relaxing and avoiding house chores.

Sunday was church, and I grabbed some groceries on the way home from work. I've planned a nice new slow-cooker recipe to make tomorrow for when Stephan gets home from work, as well as a German cake he's been wanting me to make (its one of his favourites). I did a few chores, planned some things for work and watched my Sunday evening shows :)

How was your weekend?

Holiday recap #1 - christmas baking results!

When I disappeared (hey, Stephan was home for 3 solid weeks and I was feeling lazy), I left off with getting ready to bake cookies on the weekend. Just to warn you, this post is a lot of pictures...and you might be hungry and craving cookies by the end.

I made 3 different kind of cookies.

1.) Rumballs
My mom's rumball recipe is not baked, and does not contain cake in it. It is pure chocolatey goodness, and since its not cooked off (and we double the rum) the alcohol is still in it. YUMMY. This recipe needs to be made the night before and refrigerated overnight until its solid. It will look like this when you take it out the next morning:


Next, you pick your toppings...I do the same as my mom: red sprinkles, green sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, ground walnuts and sweetened shredded coconuts.


Then you take a spoon, scoop out a little of the chocolate mix and roll a small ball in your hands, and then roll it in the topping of your choice. Place on wax paper in a container and continue on until done! Oh, and make sure you eat a few as you go. That's a must. Product control, right? They look like this when they are done:


2.) Nussgipfel
These are little croissant cookies dipped in icing sugar and vanilla sugar, and filled with a sweet walnut filling. They change from region to region in Germany, you can also use hazelnuts for filling. My family has always used walnuts. And we make them smaller than they usually are. I didn't take pictures of rolling out the dough and placing the filling in the center of the squares (I should have, I'm sorry!), so I'll have to start with how they look after you roll them. Mind you, I'm not the greatest at rolling them into pretty little crescents like my mom can, how she does this I have no idea!


You bake them, and then when they are still warm you dip them in the icing/vanilla sugar. They are incredibly delicious, so much so that I had to hide them from Stephan or I would have none left for anyone else.


3.) Pfefferneusse cookies
These are a spicier cookie, and again the recipies vary throughout Germany. Everyone has their own slightly different recipes. My family's is made with nutmeg and Cinnamon, cardamon, annise seeds, pepper and candied orange and citrus peels. They are coated with an icing sugar glaze, and a few rainbow sprinkles on top. I love these cookies, Stephan is not so much a fan. These are a cookie that you either like or don't like. They are not sweet, and they are a very old-fashioned German cookie. No offense is taken if you don't like them, as I know they are quite different than what people are used to.

These cookies take quite a lot more work. You need to make the batter ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge for an hour (by the way, the ingredients are obscure. Have fun trying to find them! haha!). Then you have to roll them into these little balls, and let them sit at room temperature overnight (or in the fridge for 6-8 hours or so) so that they set. This is what they will look like:


Then you bake them, and let cool. Put on the icing sugar glaze and decorate with the sprinkles. It is also best if you let these sit a few days before serving them, so they set more. Lots of setting with these cookies!


The end result of my kitchen after 3 different cookies:

I'm back!!

Yes, I totally disappeared for a couple weeks with no word. Sorry! Stephan's work was closed for 3 weeks over the holidays, and so I had him all to myself for 3 whole weeks!! Since it was the holidays, I took some holidays from here too! (In actuality, I was too lazy to come on and post). I plan to do a few recaps from my holidays. I know holidays were actually over awhile ago, but last week I was busy finishing the final assignment for my course, and registering for the exam (which is in 2 weeks from today!)

So, course work is done, holiday laziness is over, and I'm back in action!

Can't wait to catch up with your blogs!

Getting ready for Christmas

I'm almost ready! Well, lack of decorations aside (because of my psychotic and crazy kitten), I'm. almost ready.

Tomorrow I go to grab my last presents, for Stephan. Everyone else is bought for. But I know what I'm getting him, so that makes things a lot easier. I'm also going out to get all my baking supplies, so I can spend all day Saturday baking! I'm trying another of my Mom's recipes this year, Pfeffernuesse cookies (pepper nut cookies). They are an older style German cookie with a bit of a spice. I didn't try it the last 2 years because I was unsure of some of the ingredients, but this year I'm excited to try it. I love these cookies, Stephan doesn't. They are not for everyone, as its a different taste. I'm going to get Stephan to try my family recipe though, as there are a quite a few varieties out there. I'm also making Nussgipfel (little croissant cookies dipped in icing sugar with a walnut filling), and rum balls. All these are family recipes (yay for family recipes!), and its worth noting that my Mom's rum balls are NOT made out of cake, NOR are they BAKED...which means its actual complete chocolatey goodness with the rum content still in because they don't get baked. Mom watched us like a hawk when we were kids to make sure we didn't eat to many!

I checked with Mom to see if I baked the cookies this weekend, that they would still last until next weekend for Christmas. She said they would, so perfect! I want to bring some cookies on my new Christmas cookie tray to church for fellowship on Sunday, and I also want to make some goodie-bags for my co-workers (one leaves early next week for holidays), and I also wanted to bring some for Christmas dinner.

I'm so excited to start my baking, I can't wait until tomorrow! Some I have to get for Saturday by tomorrow night already, as the rumballs need to refrigerate overnight and the Pfeffernusse need to sit for 12 hours before I bake them.

I will update you on the finished products, complete with pictures in case any of you are wondering what Pfeffernusse and Nussgipfel actually look like :D

Happy Shopping Days

One of my favourite stores (Ricki's) had a huge sale today, 50-70% off of sweaters. So I took a look! And I ended up buying (surprise surprise). I got 3 sweaters for $55. Considering each sweater was originally $50 on its own, I got quite a good deal and scored over $100 in savings!

I have pictures for two of the sweaters from their website. The third sweater I bought I couldn't find an exact pic of, but I found a sweater that is similar.

This last sweater is similar to the one I bought, except its gray and the detailing on the front is a bit different. But the style is very similar, so it gives you an idea.

I was looking for longer sweaters and things I could put with my leggings. I'm not the greatest at co-ordinating things sometimes, it doesn't come as naturally to me as other girls. I think the first one may still be a bit too short for leggings, but I just loved it. If if is too short, it will still go great with jeans and my pants for work so no loss there :)

weekend recap

Friday was my night to cook a big dinner. Stephan had been wanting stuffed peppers, which is a big meal to make and takes awhile (especially on weeknights when I don't get home until 6pm). But, I had an excuse to cook. The gift I picked up from my parents at The Bay was a Henckel pot and pan set! Really, REALLY nice. So I was excited to put it into action!


We watched our Friday night TV shows, and then ordered a movie on TV. It was late when we started the movie, but Stephan spoiled me and let me choose Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (I'm a HUGE Johnny Depp fan!!). Luckily the movie was rented for 48 hours because I was SO tired that I fell asleep 20 minutes into the movie (and if you know me, to fall asleep during a Johnny Depp movie means extremely tired!). Stephan had to wake me up when the movie was over.

Saturday I slept in extremely late. We both woke up around 10am, but Stephan I guess thought that I was quite tired from the week more so than usual, and ordered me to sleep in longer and rest. Which I have to admit, I took full advantage of. I kept my lazy, tired butt in bed until about 11:30am. Stephan wouldn't even let me make him pancakes for breakfast, he wanted me to take it easy (I don't mind being spoiled every once in awhile). We spent Saturday afternoon doing the rest of our Christmas shopping (I only have Stephan's left to get, but I know what I'm getting), and we bought a little Christmas tree!! However, as Stephan suspected it was a disaster with Anna. I tried with my glass ornaments, BIG MISTAKE...she broke one before I finished decorating...and of course, it had to be one of my favourites that broke :( She's been going after the tree CONSTANTLY, nothing keeps her away. I spent the evening at home quietly watching a movie while Stephan went out with the boys. I enjoyed my lazy time on the couch :)





Sunday was a church, followed after by a long, glorious and lazy nap! We grabbed fast food for dinner, and watched our Sunday shows. Nothing exciting.

How was your weekend? Are you ready for Christmas?

Thursday morning musings

I was just sitting watching the morning news and all of a sudden it just hit me how little time there is left before Christmas! Time is flying, and its just around the corner!

We still have some shopping left to do this weekend. We have to buy the gifts for my family in Ontario and mail it. We also forgot one Christmas present for Germany (the rest are already in the mail) for Stephan's god -son. And then I have to get my present for Stephan, and Christmas baking done. Luckily, I know what we are getting for everyone so shopping will be easy.

Tonight after work I am heading back to The Bay, with Stephan this time, to finally pick up the Christmas present my Mom sent us! I can't wait to see what it is, I've been dieing of curiosity!

The temperature dropped last night, and its a chillly -20 degrees C! We also got more snow, so we'll see how the roads are today.

Everyone, have a great day and be safe!