tBlog - The Ink Blotter

Blessings

Hope everyone has a great year in 2008.
Happiness and good health to you!

12.31.07 (1:27 pm) [edit]

Peppermint Bark

Well it is a nice time to organize a bit after so much cooking. I found this recipe while organizing and thought I would post it since many people have lots of candy canes. We are no exception as my son went on a Candy Cane Hunt a few weeks ago and brought home a few dozen.

I scribbled this five minute recipe off a FoodNetWork Paula Deen Show (Retro Recipes).
It makes about 2 lbs of "bark".
If you go to winter pot lucks, this is nice to bring and very easy to make.
Also makes a nice gift.

1 cup of crushed candy canes
2 pounds white chocolate (the good kind)
Peppermint flavoring (optional but recommended)

Crush candy canes in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or meat hammer into 1/4-inch chunks or smaller.
I put a clean terry towel around the plastic bag so that the candy does not rip the bag as much.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. (Add a bit at a time.)
Combine candy cane chunks with the white chocolate (add peppermint flavoring at this point if desired.) Pour mixture onto a cookie sheet layered with parchment or waxed paper, spread it out with a spatula if you have to.
You may want to score the bark to make it easier to break later.

Place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or until firm.
Remove from cookie sheet and break into pieces (like peanut brittle.)

I have also used semi-sweet chocolate instead of white to make it like a peppermint patty.
Green or blue candy canes look nice with the white chocolate.

Melt semi-sweet chocolate and drizzle on the top.
OR make a layer of white chocolate and put a layer of dark chocolate over the white.

Sprinkle some more crushed candy on top of the bark before putting it in the frig.
You can also sprinkle some red and green sprinkles on the top too.

12.25.07 (4:52 pm) [edit]

Christmas Wishes 4U

Happy Holidays to all!

12.24.07 (10:17 pm) [edit]

Consumer News: Important Credit Card Info

Did you know that merchants are not suppose to have minimum limits on credit card purchases?
Also they are not to ask you for an additional ID.

Read more: The Consumerist

12.20.07 (6:19 pm) [edit]

15 Simple Ways to Give This Season

I just wrote out this to-do list and am posting it to remind me of my commitments during this holiday season.

1. Have a make and take craft party with your child and a few of their friends. While baking cookies make something special for someone and wrap it up then have a small feast.
2. Teach a simple craft to a class, after school group, or senior citizens.
Oriental Traders has some crafty kits you can get for an entire class for under $10.
3. Take extra Christmas cards to a nursing home or hospital and sign them "With Blessings from Santa or Santa's Elves".
The staff usually know who gets things from people and who don't, they will put the proper names on the envelopes and deliver them.
4. Volunteer to ring a Salvation Army Bell for a few hours.
5. Donate to the local Food Pantry.
6. Donate food or money to the SPCA or Humane Society.
7. Help a neighbor out by shovelling or plowing.
8. Pay a utility bill for someone who is out of work or sick and money is tight.
9. Donate to your town's community chest, money, time, or toys, to help other town folk out.
10. Donate your books (in good condition) to the library (book sale) or school (ask if they take them). Hospitals may take current magazines for the lobby area.
11. Volunteer to read a story or poem to your child's classroom.
12. Volunteer to read a story to a group of senior citizens who suffer from Alzheimer's. This helps out the nursing home staff tremendously!

13. Call or write to someone you have not contacted in ages.

14. Give a gift certificate to the grocery store or local department store to a family who needs a bit of help due to unfortunate circumstances.

15. Make a batch of cookies and deliver them to the neighbors with your Christmas card.

12.16.07 (5:28 pm) [edit]

Sneezles by A.A. Milne

Here is one of my favorite poems. I have a touch of sneezles, wheezles, and phtheezles as I type this!

Sneezles

Christopher Robin
Had wheezles
And sneezles,
They bundled him
Into
His bed.
They gave him what goes
With a cold in the nose,
And some more for a cold
In the head.
They wondered
If wheezles
Could turn
Into measles
If sneezles
Would turn
Into mumps;
They examind his chest
For a rash,
And the rest
Of his body for swellings and lumps.

They sent for some doctors
In sneezles
And wheezles
To tell them what ought
To be done.

All sorts and conditions
Of famous physicians
Came hurrying round
At a run.
They all made a note
Of the state of his throat,
They asked if he suffered from thirst;
They asked if the sneezles
Came after the wheezles,
Or if the first sneezle
Came first.
They said, "If you teazle
A sneezle
Or wheezle,
A measle
May easily grow.
But humour or pleazle
The wheezle
Or sneezle,
The measle
Will certainly go."

They expounded the teazle
For sneezles
And wheezles,
The manner of measles
When new.
They said, "If he freezles
In draughts and in breezles,
Then PHTHEEZLES
May even ensue."

Christopher Robin
Got up in the morning,
The sneezles had vanished away.
And the look in his eye
Seemed to say to the sky,
"Now, how to amuse them today?"

From "The Christopher Robin Book of Verse" - A.A. Milne