What I Did Over Christmas Break

Grandma got these horrible glasses in a pink elephant exchange. She was not amused.


Vacation's over, but we had a wonderful trip back to Ft. Wayne while Phil was off. I spent a lot of my time over the holidays cooking with family and friends... here are some highlights.

Mom let us entertain old friends (and their children) at her house, so we set up a quick spread of kid-friendly munchies. Phil was very proud of his cheese plate, on which each different cheese was cut into a different shape, and I was very proud of the first cheeseball I've ever made. It was really fun to see old friends from back home, but even more fun to meet their children.




A fun Christmas present was a book and various supplies for making macaroons, so Sunday afternoon while the family was away and it snowed all day, I made another batch of macaroons. This recipe was somewhat different than the first recipe I used, and the butter cream recipe was very different than any buttercream recipe I've ever seen, but the results were terrific! Used black tea to flavor the cookies and orange blossom water and honey to flavor the filling. This book is filled with flavor ideas and great pictures of these delicate little treats. It even has ideas for using the egg yolks that are separated out when making the meringue. If you want to make macaroons, this is the book to read.