Cat Milk Trifle

It's pretty simple. We've been milking our cats. By Christmas we hope to have enough milk to make the pudding for the Trifle using "cat milk." The end.

Just kidding.

Some of you will find this strange, but here in the U.S. all raw milk I have ever purchased has been labeled with "for cats & dogs only." When we lived in Germany, the kids would go to the farmer to get our milk in a lil' milk pail. Raw milk. Fresh from the cow. When we lived in Chicago-suburbia, we encountered the "for cats & dogs only" for the first time. I remember just putting the milk in the fridge. I knew why it was labeled as such. Noah didn't read the label until he went for the 2nd glass & exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! Mom!!! I just drank the wrong milk!" So funny! Even my kids thought it was weird that such labeling needs to take place. The government lets us smoke cigarettes, but we can't drink raw milk? Yeah. They are really concerned about our health, huh? Anyhoo.

Last autumn a family had gifted me with a CSA from Farm to Family - raw milk included. Brent thought it was the oddest thing that the milk had to be labeled in that way & we jokingly started calling it "cat milk." "A bit more 'cat milk' with my coffee, please?!" "Yummy. Cookies & 'cat milk.'" When Brent & I went to my Mom's house for Christmas, we took ingredients to make a Trifle - organic & from scratch. Of course we weren't going to let that "cat milk" go to waste. I remember Brent saying, "New Zealand Trifle must be made with 'cat milk'" when we prepared it in my Mom's kitchen. My family was bewildered, but they ate it. They probably thought the liberal use of Sherry outdid the potential traces of "cat milk" they might consume...

So, as I was just thinking about Christmas in one of my sentimental moments, I thought of "Cat Milk Trifle." We must have "Cat Milk Trifle" with Christmas dinner!

Signed,

A Naked, Depressed Fish Drinking "Cat Milk"

Christmas At Mom's

What a weather change from the snow in Richmond. There's actually stuff blooming down here in Savannah, Georgia. It was a very warm Christmas Day. The boys spend Christmas with their Dad every other year. Christmas morning without children was a bit strange, but it was still a lovely day. Brent gave me two beautiful books, New Zealand Landscapes by Andris Apse - gorgeous, gorgeous potography & The World Of Wearable Art by World of Wearable Art (2009) - creativity at its best! I framed a black & white picture I had taken of his daughter when I visited him a few months ago. He loved it.

My brother holding the turkey that my Dad deep-fried on the porch. Very yummy. We had stuffing, German Kloesse, veggies & gravy with it. The sherry-soaked trifle Brent made was so good, too.

Downtown Savannah. Just so pretty. I love the old houses and the tiny city gardens hiding behind iron gates.

River Street there on the left & a pretty ole house in one of the downtown squares.

It seems I have an affinity for taking pictures with wreaths in them.

Our Lil' Tree

Before gingerbread men (ehmmm... boys) & mistletoe. Without a cloth at the bottom. I'm thinking I'll just get some Christmas-y printed yardage at the fabric store to wrap around the base. It's the first year we have electric lights. The boys requested them. We've traditionally had candles. Brent brought some of his ornaments, too. Now, I have this antique bird that is actually an ornament from my grandmother & Brent just happened to bring one just like it! What were the chances of that?

After decorating it, we watched Chevy's Chase's "Christmas Vacation." So funny.

Christmas Crazies & Goodies

On Friday we drove around town to see Christmas lights. There are a few places where people go way crazy - crazy in an awesome kind of way. I like this picture I snapped. Could be a Christmas card, huh? It's on Wendhurst Drive here in Richmond. Illumination extraordinaire! :-)

The boys spent some time baking this morning for the bonfire cookie exchange we're invited to this afternoon. Yummy cookies. I decided on this recipe. We used some homemade peach jam.

So...

... the amazing kiwi-dude traveled 34 hours just to come see me. Awww, huh? ♥ Here I am eating chocolate fish & reading Cuisine ("The Perfect Kiwi Christmas") & NZ House & Garden (Christmas Special) while he recovers from the trip halfway around the world (including a "detour" via Australia). Never thought that would still happen, but here I am. - And those magazines. I've always loved the Christmas editions of home & cooking type magazines. I have a stash of them. Nostalgia. Idyllic Christmas. Snow & sleighs. Cookies. Okay, I'll stop now.

We were lucky to have an invite to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving, so I got to be lazy on Turkey Day. They just moved to Virginia from Tennessee & I feel so blessed to have family not-quite-an-hour-drive away. The boys enjoyed hanging out with the "cousins", playing football, being boys.

We're not vegetarians, although we do eat very little meat. Anyhoo. Today I'm preparing a nice Sunday dinner for us - in the spirit of Thanksgiving so to speak. We'll have a petite baked ham with a simple maple & orange glaze, Sausage, Apple & Cranberry Stuffing, homemade mashed potatoes & gravy, and a salad of winter greens. For dessert, we'll have some baked apples & fresh whipped cream or something like that.

I'm also gearing up for a cookie exchange next weekend. We'll be baking Thumbprint Cookies, or Thumbprint Cookies, or maybe Thumbprint Cookies? I can't decide on a recipe.

Enjoy the first Sunday of Advent!

WIP Wednesday & Trade Treasures

I'm in need for some phunky Christmas tree ornaments in the rainbow spirit, so I've been working on some felted acorn ornaments. I just poke a hole into the acorn cap using a thumb-tag, pull embroidery floss through using a small yarn-darner, and then add a few drops of hot wax to "glue" a previously wet-felted or needle-felted "egg" into them. So simple. ♥

On another note, the beautiful creations from Softearthart - The Enchanted World Of Needlefelting have arrived on my porch all the way from beautiful New Zealand. Can't wait to put the birdies in the Christmas tree & can't wait for spring now when the root children will find a place on our nature table. Another favorite of mine in the shop are the koru princesses. Thank you so much! ♥

It's not too late to sign up for the blog giveaway!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blog Giveaway

It's been over a year since I had a blog giveaway. Too long. Tryin' to keep myself busy. ~ This is just a small, simple kinda thing, though...

Leave a comment in the comment section below by Friday, November 27th. I will have my children draw seven "lucky people" who will receive a wool roving angel (similar to the ones pictured) via snail mail - anywhere in the world.

I just like the number seven. I'll post the "lucky people" on Saturday, November 28th, in the comment section below. Sizes will vary. Since there will be seven, you can also tell your friends about it rather than keeping it a secret.

Namaste! ♥

Let It Snow!

The first snowman of the season. I had a bit of a hard time with him. Anyhoo. I'm sure he'll have more "sophisticated" friends joining him eventually. Three wet-felted balls. Hat & scarf knit from sock yarn leftovers on size 1 needles. Millefiori beads. Needle-felted twig arms, carrot nose, and "coal" eyes & mouth. The broom was in my crafty stash - not made from scratch.

Star Boys

The other day, when posting about the felted Lucia crowns, I mentioned the star wands the boys will be carrying. The stars are all still in raw form. The parent of a student kindly cut them out from 3/4" wood. They are 8" in diameter. I had left the choice of 5-pointed or 6-pointed up to him. They have a 3/8" hole drilled in the bottom where a 3-foot dowel will be glued into. - I suppose that makes them more like a star staff. The parents of the boys will now sand the edges & then paint the stars golden.

In our Santa Lucia procession the boys will have the star wands in one hand and a jug of (a non-alcoholic version of) Gloegg in the other. The girls will carry the Lucia bread. Oh, I should mention that the girls will also be wearing a red sash tied around the waist. It will simply be a 6x48" silk scarf dyed red.

I will invite the parents of students to gather in the library in the morning so they will be the first ones to enjoy the beautiful Lucia singing & their children will serve them Lucia bread and Gloegg. Then the students will journey from class to class. They will leave a Lucia crown in each class and the boys will serve Gloegg to the teacher. Of course we will also visit all the lovely people in the administrative offices.

I've had a Lucia I felted for the nature table for years. I'm going to make a star boy to go along with her. In a traditional Swedish procession there's also a Tomten (gnome). I will share the pictures as soon as I'm done creating. I should probably also post the recipe for the baked Santa Lucia crown & the non-alcoholic Gloegg. Don't get me wrong. I'd prefer the alcoholic version, but that's not the thing to serve at school to teachers!

Stay tuned.

In Darkest Winter Night...

Instead of choosing the oldest or youngest child in the class to be Santa Lucia and instead of rotating a Lucia crown with burning candles among the students before we enter the various classrooms, I decided that the nine girls in my class should all be Lucia this year & I'm asking parents to come felt Lucia crowns at my house. The first get-together was last night & look how beautiful they all are! The boys will have stars, cut from wood, painted golden & attached to a long dowel. I'm looking forward to Santa Lucia's Day!

Twas...

... the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there.

Clement Clarke Moore

Okay, it's a bit early for that, but the sheer beauty of these colors brightened my day this morning. I had been working on these off an on since June! We've never had Christmas stockings before, so I had this idea of a rainbow of Christmas stockings. I finished the orange one last night, so they are all done now. They have an eyelet row in the top & I'm still hoping to add silk ribbons for an extra touch. Santa better not put coal in these beauties! Aren't the colors just so amazing? Yeap, it's that lovely Malabrigo kettle dyed stuff! I finished each one of them with only yards of yarn to spare. I have one more skein & I can't decide what to make with it. Another stocking, mittens or a hat to gift someone with? Hmmm.