Friday Foodie ~ Christmas Breakfast

 

We had a wonderful Christmas at home this year, just the two of us.  Don't feel sorry for us - we love having the day to ourselves!  It's mellow and always begins with an amazing breakfast.  This year, I reached way back to my childhood and decided I wanted to make Chocolate Rolls.  This was Mom's take on cinnamon rolls, but since it was Mom, chocolate had to be involved!  I'm pretty sure she used Bisquick, because it was a quick and easy way to make something special for our family of six.

There is a recipe for cinnamon rolls on the back of the Bisquick box, but I wanted to make yeast based rolls.  I looked at dozens of recipes and decided on Easy Cinnamon Rolls from Scratch from Sally's Baking Addiction.  She has a "do not republish" policy on her blog, so I won't put the recipe here.  But go to her site because the recipe is simple and SO good!

 

I followed the recipe until it was time to make the filling, then I used cocoa powder instead of cinnamon.  That's the only thing I changed!  I did the first four steps on Christmas Eve, then put the rolls in the refrigerator.  When I got up on Christmas morning, I pulled them out and let them rise for about an hour.  At that time, I decided to move them to a larger baking pan and I'm so glad I did.

 

I didn't make the frosting in the original recipe.  I had a little bit of Pillsbury cream cheese frosting and just added some chocolate syrup to it.

I sent pictures to my siblings and nieces and they all wanted some!  My brother said it brought back a lot of childhood memories of one of his favorite sweet treats.  Mom set a high bar, but I think I might have reached it with these!

Our Christmas Date

For many years now, Les and I have gone on a special Christmas date.  This includes a very nice meal and live music.  Last night we went to the Alex Theatre in Glendale and saw the Angeles Chorale with the Burbank Philharmonic.  I'll get back to that, but first our dinner!

 

After booking our concert tickets, I started looking for two things.  Places to park and places to eat!  The Orange Street parking structure was one block from the theater and parking was $1 for four hours with validation.  We ended up parked there for about five hours, but were only charged $1.  That is a steal!  

 

There are restaurants of every cuisine imaginable within walking distance, so it was just a matter of choosing.  We decided on Raffi's Place for Persian food and it was fantastic!  We ordered two different kinds of beef kabobs.  The dinners came with basmati rice, but we chose to upgrade to Persian rices. We ordered half and half - mine were Albaloo Polo (with cherries) and Sabzee Polo (with fresh herbs.) Les got the Albaloo and Zereshk Polo (mixed with barberries.)  As you can see, the portions were HUGE!  But that's okay, we have plenty of leftovers to tide us over until Christmas!

After dinner, we walked back to the car to store our leftovers, then on to the theater.  Actually, it's spelled "theatre" which I guess makes it a little fancier!  While we waited for the doors to open, we explored the lobby and found lots of history on the Alex.  It was built in 1925 during the days of silent films.  They had a resident organist who was known to expertly improvise on films he had never seen.

The concert was "Holiday in Harmony - Handel's Messiah and More!"  The first half was all music from Handel's Messiah.  I have heard about Handel's Messiah but never sat down and listened to the entire composition.  Hearing it live was extremely moving.  The singers and musicians were flawless, but the words touched my soul.  As one who has studied the Bible, I recognized numerous passages.  (This page lists each act and what scriptures it is based upon.)

The entire Messiah is over two hours with three distinct parts.  Part I focuses on the Old Testament prophecies of Christ and the rejoicing of angels as told in the Book of Luke. Part II centers around Christ’s passion, crucifixion, and resurrection, culminating with the Hallelujah Chorus (books of Isaiah, Psalm, Hebrews, Romans, and Revelation). And Part III is a reflective commentary with text coming largely from First Corinthians.  Most Christmas performances use pieces from Part I and conclude with the Hallelujah Chorus, which is what we experienced last night.  "For Unto Us a Child Is Born" was both beautiful and powerful.  

After intermission we were treated to more singing and music.  This included a bell choir, something else I had never seen live.  Because the choir and orchestra were both local, many in the audience had friends or family members performing.  We were out way past our bedtime, but it was worth it.  It was a fantastic night!

Friday Foodie ~ 2024 Christmas Baking Edition

 

I pulled out my Christmas recipes this week and got busy.  Leksi was suppose to come see us on Tuesday or Wednesday, so I wanted to have some for her to take home with her.  Unfortunately, her plans changed.  She flies home to Tennessee on Sunday, so we won't see her until after the holidays.  I ended up making less than I planned and I still have some cookie dough and bonbon filling in the refrigerator that I will pull out at the end of next week.  I only made two kinds of cookies and three kinds of candy:

My cookies were frosted sugar cookies and Snickerdoodles. These both start with a sugar cookie mix.  Add three tablespoons of flour to the mix for frosted cookies.  Roll cookies in cinnamon-sugar mix for the Snickerdoodles.  I had a little melted chocolate left over after making my bonbons, so I dipped some of the Snickerdoodles in the chocolate.

 

Peppermint Bon Bons - this is an old family recipe that I never share.  

 

Butterscotch Haystacks

• 2/3 cups (12-oz. pkg.)  Butterscotch chips
• 1 can (8.5 oz.) or 2 cans (5 oz. each) chow mein noodles
• 3 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Place morsels in top of double boiler over hot (not boiling) water. Do not cover. When most of the morsels are shiny, stir just until melted. (Prevent water from coming in contact with morsels.)  Remove from heat.
Place chow mein noodles in large bowl.  Pour melted chips and mix well.  Add in marshmallows and stir until coated.
Drop by rounded tablespoon onto wax paper.

 

Cracker Toffee

I've made peppermint cracker toffee before, but since I was making peppermint bonbons, I decided I wanted milk chocolate instead.  This was really good!

Ingredients:
40 saltine crackers
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1 package (12 oz) chocolate chips

Directions:
Line a 15x10x1-inch baking sheet with the saltine crackers. (My pan was a little smaller so my crackers overlapped a little.) Set aside. Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add in sugar and bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Once it begins to boil, remove from heat.
Pour over saltine crackers and sprinkle with pecans. Place in a 375°F oven for about 10-12 minutes, until crackers are browned and caramelized.  

Sprinkle with chocolate chips and allow to sit for several minutes (until they melt).  Spread with a spatula evenly over crackers.

Chill for at least 30 minutes.  Break into bite size pieces.

A Mellow Merry Christmas

 

We enjoyed our Christmas at home this year.  It's become more of a tradition.  The Fall is super busy, Les travels almost non-stop, so by the time Christmas rolls around we are ready to be at home.  Most of our gifts were on our Amazon wish lists, but they still felt like surprises!

 

 

Mine included shoes, a sweater, a coffee mug, a purse and a new coffee maker.  

 

Les got some new shoes, a jacket, a mug and a few other surprises.

 

This is a two sided "Food Decision Coin."  One side is Wife's choice and the other is Husband's choice.  If you're like us, you spend way too much time saying, "What do you want to eat?  I don't know, what do you want to eat?"  Hopefully this will help us with our decision making!

 

It was a beautiful, sunny day!

Merry Christmas!

 

Family Time

 

Sandwiched between two very busy church weekends, we made a quick trip to Fresno.  I got to see my entire immediate family with the exception of just one, my nephew Ryan.  The rest of us gathered at Kim and Rodney's for dinner.  The main attraction, of course, is our little darling ~ Bo!

Three generations ~ "great" Aunt Kathy, Bo, and Auntie Krysten

 

I didn't get a single picture of my brother, Rick, and his wife, Diana.  We enjoyed catching up.  They went to Ireland and Scotland in October, so we had a lot of traveling to talk about!  We stayed up way past all of our bedtimes, but enjoyed the time so much.

On Friday, Kim, Les and I went over to Lauren and Jordan's for some more time together.  These two were having quite the conversation:

It's so fun having a little one around again!

December at Victory Tabernacle

It has been a whirlwind month at church and I have very few pictures to show for it!  We kicked it off with our end of the year banquet on December 9th:

Our Sunday school department had their program on Sunday, December 10th and I didn't take a single picture.  We had our Toys for Tots service on Sunday, December 17th and I again didn't take any pictures.   Our music department had our recital that night.  Our youngest musician, at only two years old, was Zach Martinez.  He drummed along to "The Little Drummer Boy" and it was adorable!

 

Les and Jeremiah played a beautiful trumpet duet of "Down from His Glory:"

The flu has been making the rounds, so on Thursday I was asked to join the Youth Choir.  One of these days I'm going to be too old, but as long as I'm able I can't say no to singing!

We're winding down now, with only one service on Sunday, followed by "Family Week," a much needed time to rest and relax with our loved ones.

Still Here!

It's been over three weeks since my last post ~ we have been BUSY!!  We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving, came home and I decorated for Christmas, attended our end of the year banquet, enjoyed our Sunday School Christmas program, did a bunch of baking, went to Fresno for a visit with family, and participated in our music recital!  So not only have I been busy, I'm exhausted!! I plan to post about many of those events in the next few days.

Can you believe we are only two weeks away from 2024??

2022 in Review

Here we are at the end of another year!  I will say that 2022 felt more normal than the previous two years with one exception - we only took one trip to Hawaii.  We definitely miss our Hawaiian church family and friends.  I thought I'd take a look back at 2022, the year goes quickly, but January still seems like a long time ago.

 

January

I didn't blog until January 21st!  We started revival at church, then Les and I (along with a large majority of our church) got sick with the flu (or COVID for some.)  I started the year almost 35 pounds lighter than I started 2021.  I also kicked off another year of reading my Bible through and am on track to finish tomorrow.  I made my first trip of the year to Fresno for my niece Lauren's baby shower (which I did not blog about.)

 

February

Two very fun things happened in February.  First, we went on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera with Lance and Monica.  We had such a great time and really enjoyed a cruise ship that was only at 30% capacity.  The day we got home from Mexico, our family welcomed Robert Michael!  Little Bo has captured all our hearts.

March

Our dear family friend, Irene Wilkinson, passed away.  I was able to attend her funeral in Fresno and finally got to meet Bo.

April

My pictures from April are a mix of trail running and Bo!  I am so thankful for digital photos.  Multiple texts each week has helped me stay connected and watch our baby grow.  I did celebrate my birthday with breakfast at Black Bear Diner.  We also had a short visit from Pastor and Sis. McGriffin who were on their way to a cruise.  We enjoyed a day at the Ronald Reagan Library and didn't take a single picture!

 

May

Les and I traveled to Tennessee for Mother's Day.  It was a short visit but we enjoyed it very much (and again didn't take any pictures!)  We also had visitors here at home - Lance, Monica and Hannah came for a week of cycling and shopping.  I'm sure you can figure out who did what.

June

We stayed home and didn't have any company in the month of June.  This would be the calm before the storm - July kicked off traveling and more traveling that took us through the end of the year.  I started running a new trail and have turned into a bit of trail junkie.  I love the quiet of the trails and the only traffic I have to look for is other adventurers.

July

We took our long anticipated cruise to Alaska with our dear friends, Doug and Lori Long, and had a fantastic time!  The week before our cruise Les had a crazy business trip - he flew in to Boston and was in 5 states in 5 days.

August

We celebrated Les' birthday.  Les had another trip - this time to Philadelphia at the end of the month.

September

We spent 10 days in Hawaii to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Decision Research (Les' employer.)  

 

 

 

Les had another trip - this time to Las Vegas for a conference. I made another trip to Fresno and Les flew from Las Vegas to Fresno so he got to meet Bo for the first time.

 

October

October took a stressful turn when Les' mom had a fall at the end of September and was in the hospital.  Les decided to make a trip to Tennessee before continuing on to Orlando, FL for a work conference.  We then returned to Tennessee at the end of October to celebrate Pop's 90th birthday.

 

 

November

Our visit to Tennessee continued and we celebrated Dolly's 85th birthday.  We got home on Sunday, November 6th, and Les went to San Diego on Tuesday, November 8th.  We were home the rest of the month and enjoyed a Thanksgiving for Two.

December

Les had one more trip - another work meeting in Las Vegas.  We repeated our September routine, with me driving to Fresno on Thursday, Les flying to Fresno from Las Vegas on Friday, and the two of us driving home together.  That was my fourth trip to Fresno this year - what a difference a baby makes!  Our little guy is crawling everywhere and we expect he'll be walking before too much longer.  He reached out for me to hold him several times and melted my heart!

 

We had our Christmas recital at church on December 18th.  Christmas morning found us at church.  Shouldn't that be the case?  If we're truly celebrating the birth of Christ, being at His house is the place to be! Les and I enjoyed another quiet holiday at home.  We spoiled each other with a variety of gifts.  We both got new trail shoes and coffee mugs among other things!