Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Wendy, Alex, Mel, & Lulu. We hope your holidays are bright and your new year is full of possibility.
Photo Credit: Lindsay Wood (Apartment Therapy home tour).
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Friday, December 23, 2011
With this coming weekend's Christmas holiday, I'm sure the vast majority of folks are readying their last minute items. From buying and wrapping gifts to packing for upcoming travel or preparing for the arrival of your guests, there's so much to take care of that we all could use a little extra time.
If one of the items on your to do list includes making a dessert or snack to bring to a gathering, we've got a great and super quick recipe for a bit of homemade peanut brittle...with a spicy kick.
I actually first read about this recipe in People magazine a little while ago. The recipe is a favorite of chef Gesine Bullock-Prado and her sister, Sandra Bullock (yes, that Sandra Bullock). It actually comes from Gesine's cookbook, Sugar Baby. If this recipe is any indication, the whole book is absolutely worth a look. So without further adue, here's the recipe.
Kitchen Tools:
- Large pot
- Wooden spoon
- Baking sheet
- Spatula
- Candy thermometer (but I even used a meat thermometer once)
Ingredients:
- Non-stick cooking spray
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 cups salted dry-roasted peanuts
Preparation:
Spray your spatula and a large baking sheet with the non-stick spray and set aside for later.
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Anyone notice anything a little bit different about the photo below?
If you thought "the doorknob looks different" you'd be correct! If you've been keeping up with our vestibule project, you might remember that something about the doorknob felt a little off to us after we installed the french doors. We weren't thrilled with the height of the knob, nor were we in love with the bright white porcelain knob against the backdrop of the shiny new black paint. We were feeling so uneasy about the finished result that we actually threw it out there to you, our readers, to give us your completely honest no-holds-barred feedback on the look, seen here.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2011
You may not have been able the tell over the past few week's posts, but Wendy and I enjoy our holidays. We try to go all out while maintaining some semblance of moderation. So while you may not see thousands of strands of Christmas lights set to music (trust me, Wendy won't let me, I've tried), we make every attempt to display our love of Christmas through more traditional means, like a tree or mantel, and go all out on those.
Last weekend we took a handful of photos of our various decorations that we want to share with you. I think they do a good job of showing our home's holiday spirit.
The first photo is of our living room. It's a bright and comfortable place during the day...
...and is even more enjoyable during the evening. This is where Wendy and I have our stockings hung since it is our only working fireplace. Gotta give Santa easy access to leave us our goodies.
No decoration wrap up is complete without a little focus on the actual wrapped presents. We have quite a few friends and family to buy for and we spend a lot of time wrapping all of the gifts to make sure they know we care. Once we're done wrapping we set them all under the tree so we can appreciate them before we actually hand them out. Here's an example of our typical wrapping job (the bows are 100% Wendy's handiwork).
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Wednesday, December 21, 2011
'Tis the season...but for what? Festive Christmas Llamas, that's what! Yes, that's right folks, after a somewhat lengthy hiatus from their large front window perch, the llamas have returned just in time for Christmas! But these aren't just any old holiday caroling llamas or anything, these guys are dressed as the jolly old elf himself and his #1 reindeer rein-llama guiding the festively decorated sleigh.
We had to take this photo at night to be sure to get the full effect of lights around the window. We weren't sure we would see them this Christmas since they hadn't been out since Halloween, so we're quite happy they made an appearance. I think they stayed away for a bit to build a little excitement and anticipation.
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