christmas on paper

The time had come for our first Christmas tree and in this new city, with few familiar faces, it's a sweet and welcome sight. Last Christmas, my mom and I went through our family's ornament collection and I got to pick out some of my favorites. With the addition of a few homemade ones, we have a surprisingly full tree. I first created these book page ornaments for my friend Kelly's winter wedding shower last year. They are so easy to make, here is a quick tutorial.

You'll need...

-brads

-string

-old book pages or whatever paper you'd like to use

-something to cut your strips; scissors, a paper cutter, an exacto knife or maybe your office paper shredder.

Cut 25 strips of paper per ornament. You can make them big or small depending on the length of your paper, but you'll want more than 25 strips if you go longer than about 10 inches. I made my strips for this demo around 7 inches long. After your pieces are cut, stack them and punch a hole at each end of the bundle. Then, loosely insert brads at both ends and swing the strips around to create a sphere. Lastly, tie a string around one of the brads for hanging.

breakfast cookies

Seconds away from pouring myself a bowl of quaker oats this morning I spied a familiar recipe on the box. I then thought that there was perhaps no better way to continue my pattern of holiday overindulgence than cookies for breakfast. I'm not under the delusion that there is an acceptable "breakfast cookie," (I'm sure today's act of nutritional defiance would make my mother squirm) I simply think that if there were a moderately appropriate a.m. cookie it would be the oatmeal raisin. Am I on to something here?

Let me share with you my twist on this very simple recipe.

1 stick of butter

3/4 cup of sugar- brown,white, or a mix

1 egg

1/2 t. vanilla

3/4 cup flour

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt (I like to taste the salt in a cookie, I put a bit more and use Kosher)

1 1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 pecan halves

Combine and stir wet and dry ingredients in two separate bowls (save the oats, nuts and raisins aside). Slowly stir the contents of the dry bowl into the wet one, then fold in your oats, pecans and raisins. I've made these cookies with walnuts too, but since I had some left over pecans I used them. I think given the choice I'd go for the pecans again.

After refrigerating for about an hour, place spoonfuls of dough on greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 mins. at 350.

These treats are definitely some of my favorites, and I'm only mildly ashamed to admit that this batch might not see tomorrow.

one year of marriage

I think it's pretty funny that so near D's and my one year anniversary I found myself turning wedding table runners into curtains for our new house. My mom made a ton of these for my fall wedding last year using Ikea fabric and cotton backing. I simply cropped them and picked up some curtain clips. It's interesting the way things evolve around you as your life changes. I love being surrounded by things that have memories, even if they might also have a little fajita stain or two.

new city necessities : farmers market

There is no better excuse to tour your own city than having an out of town guest. This weekend, my sweet friend, Katheryne, came to visit and it gave us a reason to explore a couple of new places. Saturday morning, we made our way to the City Market in downtown KC. I was amazed at the selection and immediately recognized the limits of my produce knowledge. There were so many fruits, vegetables, and spices I'd never even seen, much less cooked or consumed. With this great resource I hope to become a more adventurous eater. Does anyone have a recipe or resource that might assist me in my new pursuit?