Today is supposed to be a silent day in honour of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school incident last Friday in Connecticut. However, as a student becoming a Teacher I felt I needed to say something. I cannot begin to imagine the grief the small town of Newtown is feeling in the aftermath. As a practicing teacher I have come to care for each and every one of my grade two students and I could not imagine anything happening to them. My heart goes out to the families affected, and to the heroic teachers who gave their own lives to save those of their students. As I flew home from Prince George last night I watch the Presidents speech, many of the topics he spoke of can resonate around the world. 

“I am very mindful that mere words cannot match the depths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts. I can only hope that it helps for you to know, that you’re not alone in your grief. That our world, too, has been torn apart.” Obama

I hope everyone takes a moment to remember those teachers who lost their lives, and to appreciate and thank those teachers in their lives today. 

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This weekend I went to Prince George to visit  family with my brother Nick. It was especially nice to be able to spend the weekend with my brother, and made me treasure it even more after learning about the loss other families endured that day.

My brother and I were like any other typical brother/sister combo growing up. We had days we loved each other, and days we fought. Over the years as we grew up we developed a more mature relationship as siblings.However since I’ve moved on and out from the house and he has began his career we don’t see each other as much. Adam actually works with my brother (both Electricians) as well as Adam’s brother in law (his sister’s husband) so Adam probably, if not definitely, sees my brother more often than I do. Our family is a very close family and we try to get together as often as possible but it gets hard to figure out everyone’s schedule.Nick is pretty busy at work organizing, developing and planning for his company so it was nice to get away together for the first time in a long time. It was probably only the second time we had ever been on a plane together. We took a family vacation, which turned out to be our last family vacation just before our dad passed away, flying to San Francisco and a cruise in 2004. We were a camping family, not a flying around family. Our summer vacations would always be a week long camping trip to Cultas Lake each year. My brother and I probably haven’t really gone away together just the two of us for a while so it was a really great weekend with him.

It was a weekend in the winter wonderland that is Prince George at this time of year. I love a white Christmas, and I’m not sure we will get one here in Vancouver this year, although on the way home last night we actually had some snow and it was sticking to the ground. But of course it is all rained away this morning.

I made these Almond Butter blossoms/thumbprints before we left so I could bring some baking up with me. I love these cookies at Christmas but with my peanut allergy I don’t make them often. So I though why not make them with Almond butter instead, and then I can still enjoy them. They are just as delicious as the peanut butter version.

I bought these mini kisses from chipits -they are perfect for making smaller blossoms for your dessert tray, plus you don’t have to unwrap them and there are tons in a bag. I made 5-6 dozen cookies and still have half a bag left.

Almond Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:

Directions:

I made these about a tsp. size so I can add them to my dessert tray. I love cookies but I can’t eat too many full size ones. This way guests can try a bit of everything and the mini kisses are perfect.

Press a mini kiss into them once out of the oven.

Allow to cool completely before storing.

Share with those you love this Christmas.

{Etta James Style}

This has been a long time coming.

A Very. Very. Very. Long time coming.

I have wanted a new camera probably since I started this blog in 2008. Not just any camera, but a Canon.

I have had my eye on a Canon Rebel for quite some time. A couple things held me back from getting one right away, but mostly the cost. As a ‘starving student’ (Hah) I just couldn’t bring myself to spend upwards of 500-600$ on a camera when I wasn’t exactly working, and in school full time. So, I made do with what I had. Adam and I bought a Panasonic Lumix camera back when we went to Mexico the first time. This was a major upgrade to my old point and shoot Nikon. However, that was about 300$ on sale at the time we purchased it, and we split it 50/50. It was also a point and shoot, but a huge step up, and only a few steps down from a DSLR. It was a pretty good camera, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for in a camera.

Bloggers will know, especially food bloggers, that the pictures are everything. A very appetizing dish can quickly become un-appetizing with a bad photograph. So many times I have made wonderful, delicious recipes that I wanted to share with you, but the photo’s just weren’t great. It’s hard to sell a recipe when the photograph looks so unappealing. I can go on and on about how amazing good it was, but if the photo isn’t great you may not be up to trying it out. Somewhat like my cookbook theory; if there’s no pictures in the book I don’t buy it. I need a photograph! Otherwise, how else am I going to know if it turned out right? Or, if it looks like something I might want to try. I need at least 80% of the recipes to have photographs accompanying them! If I ever made a cookbook, or maybe When, I make my own cookbook I would make sure Every Single Recipe has a picture. Cooking is very visual.

People, the photographs are the food relationship deal breaker.

I had been trying to use the point-and shoot Lumix, but it just wasn’t capturing the photographs right. It’s sad to say that my iPhone camera worked better for me, and about 70% of the photo’s on the blog recently were probably from my iPhone.

I had said I wasn’t going to partake in the Black Friday madness, but I was sucked in. I was browsing the flyers and sales and noticed a Canon Rebel T3 on sale at Black’s Photography (no pun intended.) The deal was $399 for the Rebel T3, including a lens. Now, I have been hunting and drooling over, and stalking Canon cameras for probably the last year or two religiously. Adam can confirm my lamenting about wanting a new camera forever. So, when I saw one on sale for LESS than 400$ I was shocked! Then, I also saw Shoppers Drug Mart had one on for $379! As well, WalMart had it on for $398, plus they Ad-Match, so you could bring in the Shopper’s Ad and price match it. So, I asked Adam to kindly stop on his way home from work to pick me one up! What a great boyfriend =)

Now, I’m still a starving well fed student, but I had recently sold a few new/recently won un-needed items on Craigslist, and had been saving up my money specifically for a new camera, stored in my great-aunts teacup on my dresser. Thankfully the amount I had saved in my antique teacup was the exact amount needed. Therefore, not money out of pocket for me!

{Adam’s dog, Chubby. One of my first photographs}

It’s nice to know that after saving up, and waiting I finally have what I’ve wanted. It also makes you appreciate it more knowing that you’ve been wanting it for so long.

Good things come to those who wait.

Now, of course to celebrate I had to break in the new camera with a recipe. I needed something to take pictures of clearly.

I brought these to a Cousins get together last night, the first holiday party of the season! They were a hit, and definitely going to be making them again this season. They reminded me of my Blackberry Crumb bars, but the base and topping were a little more firm.

Cranberry Lemon Squares
Adapted from: Kitchen Culinaire  

For the dough:

3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 lemon, zested and juiced (juice reserved for filling)
1 cup,  cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg
2-3 tbs. water
2 tsp. vanilla

For the filling:

1 bag frozen cranberries, plus a little more depending on your baking dish size.
1/2 cup sugar
reserved juice from 1 medium lemon
2 tablespoons corn starch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. Mix the cranberries, sugar and the lemon juice in a medium bowl. Add the 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and mix well. I always have lemon juice on hand, so I added a bit more to the mixture.
2. For the dough combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and lemon zest in mixer with paddle attachment. Mix on low to combine dry ingredients.
3. Slowly add chilled cubed butter and mix on low until dough forms pea sized crumbs, don’t over mix. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again. Add a couple tsp. of water if needed, more or less, until dough just comes together but still slightly crumbly. You can also use a food processor if you like.
4. Press a little more than half of the dough into the bottom of a  9 x 13 inch baking dish with your fingers. Set remaining dough aside for topping.
5. Next add the cranberry filling, in a single layer so that the top is evenly covered, you don’t want any gaps.
6. Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the top in small/pea sized clusters using your fingers to crumble it.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or so until the top starts to brown.
8. Cool on countertop, you can also move it to the fridge to cool completely. Let sit at room temp for a few minutes before cutting.

These would also freeze nicely for the holiday season!

Man. I cannot believe it’s October. I mentioned this earlier. But I tell you, I won’t believe it. I can hardly grasp that it will be Thanksgiving (Canadian) this weekend!! The time has flown by.

I also cannot believe I have yet to purchase a single can of pumpkin puree. I know right?? What is this girl doing! Oh right, getting over a cold and trying to study for tests. Boy, school sure gets in the way of all the fun stuff. Like baking.

I absolutely love fall. Everything about it, from the first of September until Christmas day, just makes me feel so happy. Everything is crisp, leaves are turning that orangey-brown-y-yellow-y-red colour. Pumpkins have begun to make an appearance on grocery store shelves, and soon enough we’ll be making our way to the pumpkin patch. I honestly do not think one can ever out grow the love of going to the pumpkin patch, trotting around in the mud, and picking out that one, perfect, pumpkin.

Heck, I’m 23 and Adam’s 27 and I’m definitely going to be making a trip to the patch! And then we’ll come home, strategically plan our pumpkin carving, and then get excited when you place a candle inside and wait until it gets just dark enough so you can see how they look. Halloween is an all ages holiday.

Seeing as how I’ve been so busy with a cold, and school, I’ve had little time in planning this weekends dessert! I usually make the standard, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie or pecan pie. However, after perusing the internet I found some interesting non-traditional recipes that include pumpkin. I’ve collected a few that caught my eye, and hopefully I’ll be trying some out this weekend:

Raw Pumpkin Seed Cakes from Green Kitchen Stories, found here

Roasted Pumpkin Cupcakes with Mexican Chocolate Buttercream, from The Little Red House, found here

Pumpkin Souffles with Maple Pumpkin Ice-cream from Healthy Green Kitchen, found here

Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies from Recipe Girl, found here

Pumpkin Muffins from Sarahbeth’s Bakery by Sarabeth Levin, found here

Pumpkin Spice Pull Apart Bread with Butter Rum Glaze, by Willow Bird Baking, found here

Question:

Are you baking for Thanksgiving this weekend?
If you don’t live in Canada, what’s your favourite go-to pumpkin recipe? Any new or different recipe’s you’ve come across this year?
Do you still visit the pumpkin patch?!!?!