True Love!

We got to take care of our dear friends' dog...

*Izzy*

 for a few days.

It was seriously true love from the moment she came to us..

We adored her and we are pretty sure she loved us back!

Lots of love...

Perfect timing for Valentine's Day!

And speaking of Valentine's Day, 

Luca's kindergarten class was encouraged 

to make/bring a card for everyone on Thursday.

In the spirit of more love (this time of chocolate!), 

the kids and I wanted to try and make ganache-filled heart shaped truffles...

I followed this recipe (minus the gold dusting)

and it wasn't very hard to do...just a little messy...

I poured tempered melted chocolate into my mold--

making sure it coated the whole of the inside of the heart-shaped mold.

I let that cool and then spooned in a large teaspoon of ganache...I let that cool and then poured more of the melted chocolate over the top of each heart to seal the deal...and with a bench scraper, I tried to clean things up a bit...

Messy.

My tempering technique obviously needs some perfecting--as you can see..

Those white-ish markings below are what happens 

when melted chocolate solidifies and it hasn't been tempered properly.

Looks funny and is definitely not perfect, but still tastes good!

And my wrapping technique needs some work, too...but who cares about that!

They tasted AMAZING!!

Meanwhile, while everything was either melting or cooling...

The kids got busy with their home-made cards.

The supplies: awesome clip art printed from here.

An amazing collection of everything vintage you could ever want...

Luca did a great job with his cards!!

He made one for each of the kids in his class.

These are some of my favorites.

And, not bad--after all was done:
there even managed to be a few truffles left over for his parents!

LOVE!

Yes, so, lots of love all around!  

We hope Izzy will miss us as much as we miss her..

But I am pretty sure she is happy to be back home.

Lot's of love to you and yours...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Magda turns 8! Let's ice skate!!

Magda wanted to take her friends ice skating for her 8th birthday party this year.  

Our town has a great little outdoor rink--

so we bundled up, laced up our skates and hit the ice!

There is nothing as fun as skating 'round and 'round
with your best buds to fun pop music
outside on a cold winter's day

...


with your Dad!! 

We put out a little spread...

warm chicken noodle soup and butternut squash soup for lunch.

(Greg's idea...SUCH a good idea!)

And hot cocoa for the Zamboni break.  

The outdoor outlets came in very handy, as did the crock pots!

For party favors, each girl got a little gift bag with a mug, 

filled with a serving of hot cocoa mix

and a home-made marshmallow--with how-to instructions.

(That now that I read them, the instructions aren't really that great..

but the card is cute!)

For each girl, I also made for their gift bag: a little hand-embroidered felt mitten--

because I am insane.

Luca was a total pro; 

he has never ice skated before but after a few tries, 

you would never know it!  

He was so good and now he is obsessed with wanting to play hockey.

(great..)

Hot Cocoa/Warming Station--those tissues came in handy, so did my coffee!

Home-made marshmallows; So so good and easy. Recipe here.

Paper bags filled with popcorn...for a quick snack!

Coconut cupcakes, that I think, were my best yet!

Recipe from Ina...Kind of hard to go wrong with Ina.

Happy Birthday My Precious Girl!!
We love you and are so proud of you...can't believe you are 8 years old!!

To see what we did when Magda turned 7...click here!
And when she turned 6...here!

A Winter's Day

This weekend, I made a raspberry-almond tart...

At this very moment in time,
I need a raspberry-almond tart like a I need a hole in the head.

But I had some left over cookie dough from Christmas that I thought would make a lovely tart crust--

and I really can't stand to throw good food away...

So, while the baked crust was cooling on the rack--the kids and I took the dogs for a

nice Sunday afternoon walk thru the nearby woods...

You know,

to walk off some of the impending tart.

Perfect day for a walk and a tart!

Chestnuts Roasting

On of my favorite things about this time of year--and there are many!

is the very special treat of roasting chestnuts with the kids.  

Sadly, we don't do roast them over an open fire, (just in the oven)

But they are so good and we love them.

They are this kind of warm, buttery, nutty, chewy 

experience that you don't really get anywhere else.  

I like them  especially--because

family, long ago, tended to chestnut groves in Italy.

And then there is that song...they just really are a nice little emblem of the holiday season to me.

They can be intimidating if you have never had them before, but its

really a cinch to whip up a batch.

Typically, instructions call for you to make an "x" 

with a small sharp knife on the round part of the shell.

That sounds dangerous to me.

I prefer to use a bread knife--holding the chestnut (the pointy part and the flatter part) between

thumb and forefinger..rocking bread knife just until I am able to make a nice straight line cut piercing the shell but not going too deep.  Cut should be almost as long as the side width of the shell.

Then, sometimes, I place them in a saute pan, cover with cold water and a pinch of salt and bring to a simmer...

Sometimes--I skip that step and  I just throw them straight on the baking sheet with out the mild par-boil. Either way, I then roast them at 425 degrees for 15-20 mins.  Be sure to rotate pan half way thru.

When they come out, the cut splits open just a little bit and that is how you are able to peel off the shell. But if you put them, right out of the oven, into a bowl and over with a dish towel for another 10-15 min...this helps to make them even more easier to peel...which is nice...

They should just pop right out of the shell, but they may not all be so agreeable...

But no matter...how ever you get them out, you will enjoy their rich, buttery flavor.

I love eating chestnuts because there is something very old fashioned about the whole process and I just love that we only eat them this time of year.

They sell them at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's by the bag.

If you are having friends over for dinner, they are wonderful to pull out of the oven for

a fun little appetizer....with a seasonal cocktail, of course!

Canning on Labor Day

For a third year in a row, Magdalena and I have canned with Grandmom.  

This year, we processed 40 lbs of tomatoes which 

yielded about 18 quarts of raw-packed tomatoes.

The boys were a big help!  

And 20 lbs of peaches, which made about 12 pints of sliced peaches in a light, sweet syrup.

Hard working ladies...

Our kitchen was like a hot, humid swamp...fun!

But so worth it.

Peeling & slicing up tomatoes..

Then filling up jars--

Doesn't Magda look like one tough girl?!  : )

The peaches are sweet and bright and great over vanilla ice cream.

And nothing is as great as pulling a jar of tomatoes
off the shelf in the middle of January that you canned in the summer...

Thanks Magda and Grandmom for all your help & hard work!