merry christmas

i wrapped my presents in black tissue paper and vintage wallpaper this year. stuff i already had in the house.  shopping, making and wrapping are all done except for a few stocking stuffers.  i've made 5 billion cookies.  the house is relatively clean (unless you count the kids' rooms which i do not.)  i'm making a big pot of spagetti for christmas dinner because i have excess ground beef from my local 1/4 cow beef purchase.  i also have the tomato sauce which i canned this summer and fall. 

i've had a couple questions in my blog comments which i want to answer.  one was regarding the granola recipe i use.  basically, i do have a recipe in front of me when i make this but i follow it loosely.  i add or subtract whatever i don't have in the house or whatever i have which i want to use up.   one tip i do have is if you use a glass baking dish the longer baking time is right here.  if you have a dark metal cooking sheet you should check the granola often as it bakes and go with the shorter baking time. 

homemade granola

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup sliced almonds (or other nuts)

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup green pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

pinch sea salt

2-3 cups dried fruit (any kind you like and a variety is good)

1 cup chocolate chips (if desired)

mix all ingredients except the fruit and chocolate together and spread onto a baking sheet or any large baking dish.  i use two baking sheets for this quantity.  bake 15-30 minutes  ant 375 degrees checking and stirring every 5 minutes.  when cool add the fruit and nuts.

another recipe i want to share is for baked oatmeal.  this stuff is good and makes a perfect christmas morning breakfast.

baked oatmeal

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 to 1 cup brown sugar depending on your sweet tooth

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 beaten eggs

1 cup olive oil

1 cup milk

mix together and put in a baking dish.  bake approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

and last i had a question about how to do the jade plant cuttings.  i'm no expert but i'm getting really into houseplants lately and here's what i do: i just cut off any unruly branches from my giant jade.  i think most of them were about 6 inches or so long.  i trimmed any bottom leaves off so that i could fit the stems in a bunch into a large mason jar of water.  i let them soak there on a windowsill, replenishing the water as needed, for a few weeks.  you can do it for longer.  i ran out of time and potted them up at this point.  they had a bit of short hairy roots growing from the stems.  i used regular potting soil for houseplants from the garden store and made sure the soil was nice and wet to begin with.  just fill up the pot(s) with wet soil and place a stem or two per pot in the soil packing the dirt gently around the stem.  place the pots in a sunny spot indoors and water as needed making sure the soil doesn't dry out too much when the plant is just starting out. jades seem hardy though so they should be just fine unless you totally forget about them.

...

ok, well that's that!  i'm signing off till after christmas but i want to say thank you so much for reading my blog!  thank you all who take the time to comment.  reading your comments is truly one of my favorite things.  they mean a lot to me.

most sincerely,

liane

pressies? for me??

here's the back story:

this morning i was really grumpy. i kept rushing around like a crazy lady.  on multiple occasions i miscalculated the doorway and ran into the edge of it.  you know, so it bounced me back.  don't try to tell me that doesn't ever happen to you.  and it's not cuz i'm too wide so let's just nip that joke in the bud. 

also, i tripped a few times and yelled at the floor.  not like, oh stupid silly floor but more like "i hate you floor, you're a dumb *itch-face."  those were my exact words.  it's funny now.  i'm laughing as i type.  but if you were with me when it happened and you laughed a little i may just have poked you in the eyeball. 

zoom to the present:

i have a smear of chocolate across my face and some lovely vintage textiles in my lap.  i received not one but TWO unexpected packages in the mail recently.  last week katherine of making chicken salad fame sent me some vintage textiles out of the total and clear blue.  aw, honey!  thank you so much.  times like that when i sincerely wish my internet friends could be next door neighbor friends.  katherine, you are too kind! xo

and then this afternoon i received a box of way good much better than around here chocolates and other sweets (i'm eating the lollypop in the pics above) from the manbroiderer himself, the hysterically funny and totally good looking laurent of lambert nyc.  thanks L!

so the moral of the story is...call the floor a bitch-face and you will receive presents in the mail.  naw.  just joking.  the moral of the story is that even when you act like a total lunatic your friends will be around to make you feel better. 

xo

to infinity

liane