Holiday Party Food

For last Saturday's party, I made a few easy dishes.  I hope you'll try them!

Sugared Cranberries

My specialty - fruitcake!

Spiced mixed nuts

Mulled wine

Candy cane bark

4 bars 60% Ghirardelli dark chocolate

1 bar Ghirardelli white chocolate

4 candy canes, crushed

red decorating sugar

Line a cookie sheet with sides with parchment paper. Sprinkle red sugar then candy cane crumbs on the paper. In a microwavable bowl, place 2/3 of the white chocolate, broken into small pieces. Microwave in short intervals at half power until melted, stirring after each interval. Add the remaining chocolate one piece at a time, stirring until smooth. Drizzle melted chocolate over the candy canes. Use the same method to melt the dark chocolate, then pour over the white chocolate. Let chocolate set in the refrigerator. Once set, break into bite size pieces. Store in an airtight bag.

Holiday Party

On Saturday I hosted a holiday housewarming party.  It was nice to have my coworkers and neighbors over to my place.  It was the first of many great parties I'm sure!

   

Just a few pictures of my place decked out for the holidays!

Furnishing My Home

This weekend I worked on my townhouse.  Next weekend I'm hosting a housewarming party, so I'm trying to get the first floor ready.  I am halfway done with my dining room.  I have a new rug and my buffet. Over Thanksgiving weekend my parents took me to a furniture store, European Antique Pine, and told me that they're getting me a dining room table for Christmas.  I ordered a custom designed solid pine table!  In addition, I went to Ikea this weekend and picked up a new couch slipcover.

Verona Buffet from Cost Plus World Market

Similar to the table I designed from European Antique Pine

New slipcover from Ikea

I also put up my Christmas tree (with a new star topper)!

Dining Room

This is my dining room.  It's big and open to the kitchen and sunroom.  It's part of a great entertaining space.  However, I don't have furniture for a big fantastic dining room.  I plan on buying a new rug, table, drapes, and a buffet.  (And I have a lot of shelves and art to choose from for the walls.  The mirror is just hanging out in the corner because there was already a nail there, so it probably won't stay.)  Eventually I will have hardwood floors as well.  Maybe one day I'll even replace the light fixture!

Current

Table that I want from Ikea - it has 2 leaves so it can sit 6-10!

Buffet from Cost Plus World Market that stores wine. So perfect for me!

My dream chandelier that I cannot justify buying right now with so many other expenses.

For chairs I plan on painting 4 chairs from my parents.  They're pretty standard round back traditional kitchen chairs, but I think they'll work if I paint them in 4 different colors - yellow, white, red, and aqua.  I also want to buy 2 fancy end chairs.

For the floor, I need an 8'x10' rug (the current one is 5'x7').  I want to bring some color to the floor, so I'm looking for something with aqua in it. A pattern like damask or floral will look good.  Any advice on wear to buy a good rug for cheap?

Pumpkin Revisited

Today was dedicated to pumpkin.  After brunch and shopping at Earth Fare, I started cooking.  I started out with a pot of pumpkin white hot chocolate.  It's basically my pumpkin coffee drink with coffee replaced with white chocolate.  For dinner, I cooked Rachael Ray's Penne-wise pasta and Green Gobble-'Ems garlic bread.  Following dinner, I baked pumpkin butterscotch cookies.  Whew, that's a lot of pumpkin (& dishes)!!  However, I didn't stop to take photos today, so these are from the web.

 

From Food Network

From Joy the Baker

Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate

2 cups vanilla soy milk

1 Tbsp maple syrup

3 Tbsp pumpkin puree

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

vanilla extract, if needed

Whisk together soy milk, syrup, and pumpkin then heat over low heat until hot.  Place chips in a bowl, add a small amount of hot milk mixture and stir until chips melt.  Add melted chips to the pot of hot milk and whisk to combine.  Add in pie spice, taste and adjust sweetness or vanilla if needed.  Whisk vigorously or blend briefly to create foam.

Pumpkin Spice

I was thrilled to find the recipe on the Kitchn for a pumpkin spice latte since I really don't like paying for it at Starbucks. Despite the price, they're amazing.  So I found some canned pumpkin and made it...YUM!  I modified the recipe a little, so here's my take on it.

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Drink

(makes about 2 very large mugs)

2 cups vanilla soy milk (I used 8th Continent Complete Vanilla)

2 Tbsp canned pumpkin

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Coffee to taste

Whisk together soy milk, pumpkin and maple syrup in a small saucepan over low heat until hot.  Off the heat, add in pie spice and vanilla.  Blend or whisk until frothy.  Serve in big mugs with coffee to taste (I used a 1:1 ratio) and an extra sprinkle of pie spice.

The soy milk I used was very sweet and had a strong vanilla flavor, so if you use something else, you can double the syrup and vanilla.

Small Town, NC

Just a few miles from where I live is an adorable little town, Waxhaw.  It has a main street with train tracks running down the middle, a bike shop, antique stores, ice cream parlor, and more.  During one of my Mom's visits, we explored.  I bought an antique cake stand, we ate ice cream, and we walked around.