To Ring In The New Year With A Little Humor

My favorite lolcats over the past year:

Happy New Year!

My Favorite Posts over the Past Year

Okay, I've posted a list of the top 5 most visited pages on my blog over the past year (which can be found here) and said that I would put up a list of my top 5 favorite posts. I looked them over and I came up with 11 posts which are my favorite. I like them best either for their pictures or for what they say, or both. Here they are in order from oldest to newest:

Weeping Camels

Magical Gardens

Nelson-Kennedy Ledges

Bog Walking

Our Spider Walk, or, Finding Wolf Spiders at Night

"Well-behaved women seldom make history."

How To Make A Mummy

Crab Apple Adventure

Colorful Crab Apple Jelly

In which I get lots of quality help with my leaf raking efforts

Choosing a Yule Log from the Forest

In Defense Of Food and Tomb Raider Underworld

While waiting for Tomb Raider Underworld (a Christmas gift) to load on my computer, I have been reading In Defense Of Food (another gift).











The result is that, while anticipating all of the wonderful adventures I'll be involved in as Lara Croft, I suddenly feel the need to go out and buy a bunch of fresh broccoli.

End of year stats: My Top 5 Most Visited Posts

I started this blog back in April ('08), so the list doesn't represent a full year, but here are the top 5 most visited pages on my blog for '08, counting down from #5:

#5 - Graceling

#4 - Heart-touching video clip - Christian the Lion

#3 - Why We Need Darkness

#2 - The Pink Sari Gang

And the #1 most viewed page on my blog in '08:

#1 - Back from the battle at the end of the world - Ragnarok XXIII - with pictures

Soon I'll put up my top 5 favorite posts.

Jayne Cobb hat

Posts will be scarce . Busy knitting this hat:

Firefly fans will understand.

It was a gift request from my son. When Jayne pulled that hat out of the box sent by his mother and uttered the words, "A man walks down the street in a hat like that, you know he's not afraid of anything," my son said, "Mom, I can you make me that hat?"

I took the picture to the yarn shop to match colors. The girl behind the counter said that lots of people make that hat, known in knitting circles as the Jayne Cobb Hat. Visit the Smariek Knits blog for patterns and links to patterns and more pics.

And I still have to knit a scarf and another non-Jayne Cobb hat by Christmas. What am I still doing on the computer??

Vietnamese (Saigon) Cinnamon

This image from joanneweir.com

When I was little, I would often plunk a cinnamon stick in a cup of tea and when the tea was gone, I'd eat the cinnamon stick, relishing it slowly. The sweet-hot flavor was strong and intoxicating. It was my favorite.

It had been many, many years since I had last eaten a cinnamon stick when I tried it again last year. I had made some spiced cider for a gathering by heating a pot of cider with a handful of cinnamon sticks. When the gathering was over and I was cleaning up, I came upon the cider-infused sticks in the pot. Oooh, I thought, this will be yummy!

I grabbed a stick and took a nibble. Hardly worth writing home about. I tried all of the sticks, and none of them had much oomf. Since then, I've occasionally tried a stick or two, but the experience has never been what I remembered as a child. All of the sticks have tasted almost dusty, with only an inkling of flavor - nothing like the intense burst that thrilled my tongue when I was younger. And these were McCormick cinnamon sticks, the same brand my mom used when I was little.

And then a few days ago I was reading about vanilla extract on the McCormick Spice website when I came across this Cinnamon Field Report. It describes the two sources of cinnamon McCormick uses:

Indonesian cinnamon, also known as Korintji, has a delicate flavor — warm and sweet with a touch of spicy.

and:

Vietnamese cinnamon is from a large, older tree and yields a stronger, bolder taste profile similar to cinnamon red-hot candies. ... Vietnamese cinnamon, also known as Saigon, is the most coveted and exotic cinnamon available. Though, in America, we’ve only been able to enjoy its premium taste during the past decade, Saigon is well worth a try. The word for cinnamon in Vietnamese is que (pronounced “kway”). Saigon cinnamon has double the amount of volatile oil of Korintji. The volatile oil is what delivers the flavor and aroma — higher content means greater intensity.

Other sources say that the Vietnam war disrupted the supply of Vietnamese cinnamon to the U.S and that it has only been available again for about a decade.

I was little during and just after the Vietnamese war - in fact my cinnamon stick eating days were in the 70's. So either McCormick had a huge stock of Vietnamese cinammon and sold it throughout the 70's, or the cinnamon in my mom's spice cupboard dated from before the Vietnam war, because the cinnamon that I ate back then was definitely the Vietnamese, or Saigon, cinnamon.

How do I know? Because McCormick now sells the higher quality Vietnamese cinnamon under their Gourmet label. It's pricier than their other cinnamon. But luckily, during the holiday season, lots of spices are on sale - including McCormick's Gourmet label cinnamon sticks. I bought some today. When I opened the jar and inhaled, I smelled heaven. I nibbled a stick ... flavor exploded in my mouth. My taste buds haven't been this happy for decades! Mmmm. This is definitely the same cinnamon that intoxicated me when I was a girl.

If you like cinnamon, try the Vietnamese stuff. You'll be oh so glad that you did.

Do Reindeer Really Fly?

This picture from EQUITOURS website,

a travel agency offering horseback riding tours worldwide

Above is a picture of one of the deer stones which can be found in Mongolia. These stones date from the bronze age (2500-3000 years ago) and are decorated with reindeer, some of which seem to fly over the sun and moon.

You can see more photos and read more about the the deer stones on Don Croner’s World Wide Wanders blog.

The meaning of these stones is still a mystery to all who encounter them - except, perhaps, Santa.

Anticiparcelation

Anticiparcelation (n.) The state of being in anticipation of a parcel.

I didn't make make the word up, though I wish I had because it's awfully clever. To put it poetically:

I could never

be that clever

The word actually comes from a piece in Reader's Digest Magazine that I read many years ago. It was written by a woman who played a game with her daughter over the years of making words up. One day as they waited on their front step for a parcel to arrive from the postman, they came up with anticiparcelation.

I think it's a good word to use at this time of year. I just sent off all of my holiday parcels to friends and family, and now I await theirs in a happy state of anticiparcelation. Some will be a card with news and well wishes for the season, some will be actual parcels with gifts for the family, and some may even be just an email wishing us a joyous season.

So maybe I'm even awaiting all of these things with anticijoyillation - the state of being in anticipation of a joyous season!

In any event, I wish you a wonderful season of anticiparcelation.

Teas to help ease colds and flu

I found this tea at a local health food store, but now I've also noticed it in the grocery store:

This is what's in it (click on the image to see it closer):

My husband came down with a nasty cold about a month and a half ago. He is not a tea drinker and tends to look upon my attempts at herbal remedies with disdain. I convinced him to try a cup of this tea one evening because he was so miserable with his cold. The next morning he said, "Oh, um, if you have any more of that tea, I'd like a cup." Which meant that it helped him feel better.

But I added a little something to it. I chopped up one little piece of elecampane root and added it to the brew. I had ordered the elecampane from Mountain Rose Herbs a few months ago:

When my daughter came down with the same cold, I gave her the same stuff and she happily drank it three times a day, which meant it worked for her too because it's not the tastiest tea (although the licorice root helps loads).

They had both complained of a sore throat first, before the cold hit. So when that "off" feeling hit me a few days later - you know the feeling, your insides feel like something's coming on - and my throat had an inkling of hurt, I wanted to take preventative measures.

I remembered a bush tea that I had bought on a trip to the Virgin Islands. It was supposed to ease a sore throat. I dug that out of the back of my cupboard:

I had some lemon balm which I'd harvested from a wild stand I found in the woodsy part of my back yard earlier in the year. I had dried it and put it away for later. Lemon balm is supposed to have mild antiviral properties. I have no doubts that my wild stand escaped from someone's garden round abouts.:

And I had my trusty elecampane - good for respiration, and it has antiviral properties too.

So I made my own brew with the bay rum, the lemon balm, and a small piece of dried elecampane root, chopped. I drank it three times a day for two days and came down with nary a sniffle.

Did I really fend off a nasty cold? Or did I just feel "off" for a day and nothing more. I don't know, but when I feel as though something is coming on again, I'll be drinking my tea.

The bay rum bush tea will have to be replenished. They do have a website, but their web-store doesn't seem to work. It does have contact information on the site so that you can call to order, or mail an order to them. Click here to go to their site. I would highly recommend bay rum bush tea. It's yummy smelling with a spicy, almost clovey scent and taste, and it does wonders on a sore throat.

And, as you can tell from the photo above, my lemon balm is running low. I did save a great many seeds, though, which I'm hoping to sew in the garden come springtime.

Choosing a Yule Log from the Forest

Here is a lovely guest post on the Cottage Smallholder blog about choosing a Yule Log and Yuletide.

Grooming - a guest post by Strider

Hi, I'm Strider and I'm guest blogging today.

A handsome russet and white border collie by the name of Basil, way over in the UK, was wondering how to keep his equally handsome russet and white coat looking good. Hey, we russet and whites have to stick together - solidarity in the face of all of those black and whites!

Anyway, here's what my humans use on me:

My guest post is finished. I will now fix my stare on the sliding glass door until I am let outside.

Treacle Crunch, a.k.a. Chocolatey covered candy honeycomb

My last post dealt with making the center part for my chocolatey covered Treacle Crunch. In the picture below you can see what the aftermath of dipping, letting dry, and bagging the candies looks like:


I now have 13 bags of Treacle Crunch to send away with gifts:


Some gifts I made earlier are herbal salves - goldenrod and calendula. I packaged them up with a little pamphlet I made about the herbs in the salves:

Here are the herbal salves with the caramels I made earlier in the week:

I wish I had enough to share with everyone who comes to visit my blog! But I do have a holiday gift for you so that you don't go away empty handed. It's a little Christmas story I wrote. You can download it for free - it's my holiday gift to you!

Just click on the book cover in the upper right corner of my blog page, then select "Download for free."

Happy Holidays!

Making Candy Honeycomb

I've documented my candy honeycomb making. It's not real honeycomb, the candy is light and has a lot of air holes in it, so it's called candy honeycomb. If you've ever eaten a Crunchie bar or a Violet Crumble bar, then you've eaten candy honeycomb. Those bars are covered with chocolate. Mine will be too when it's all said and done. But first, the honeycomb.

It's really very easy to make. I double the recipe that I have, so I put 1/2 cup water, 3 cups sugar, and 1/2 cup golden syrup in the pan:


The recipe really calls for corn syrup, not golden syrup, but I use golden syrup and then I can call my concoction Treacle Crunch:


Stir ingredients together just to mix, and then bring to a boil without stirring:

Continue boiling until candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees F. Wipe down any sugar crystals that accumulate on side of pan with a damp pastry brush:

When 300 degrees is reached, remove from heat and whisk in 2 Tablespoons sifted baking soda. Here is a video clip of the process, I don't say anything so you don't have to turn your volume up (nothing happens in the middle of the clip for about a minute while I'm pouring, but then I show the candy after it's been poured in the pans):

Then pour out on parchment lined pans and let cool without disturbing for at least 20 minutes:

When the honeycomb is cool, break it up into pieces and enjoy as is, crumble over ice cream, or dip in chocolate to make your own homemade Crunchie bars.

Use undipped honeycomb right away, or you can keep it in airtight containers for a few days at most. Dipped honeycomb must also be stored in airtight containers or ziplock bags. It will stay good for a little bit longer than the undipped.

You can cut the above recipe in half with no problems.

I wish I could share some candy with you during this month of celebration, but since I can't, please don't forget to leave with the gift I can share with you - a short little Christmas story I wrote that you can download for free.

To get it, click on the book cover in the upper right of my blog page and then select "Download for free."

Happy Holidays!

Bagged in the nick of time!

Whew! The caramels are cut, wrapped and bagged with 1/2 hour to spare before I have to go pick our growing and newly spayed kitten up from the vet.

The process below ~

Cutting the caramels:

Wrapping:

All wrapped and waiting to be bagged:

Fifteen 8 0z. bags ready for gift giving. The labels are what I came up with for my farmer's market experience when I sold candies under the "Castle Door Candies" name:

Now a quick clean-up and then off to rescue Freki from the horrible clutches of the vet.

Wrapping caramels, spaying cats

Freki, our 6 month old kitten, went into the vet this morning to be spayed. While she's away I have to try to cut and wrap all of the caramel I made yesterday, otherwise she'll be in the middle of the whole process wreaking havoc.

This is her about a month ago or so, asleep. We've learned not to wake her when she's asleep. Best to enjoy the reprieve from all of the running and ricocheting and climbing up your back:


Here's a peek at a pan of caramel:

I made a triple batch yesterday and poured it out to cool overnight, knowing that I would have a precious few hours today without Freki in which to get my two pans of caramel cut and wrapped:

These two pans will produce about fifteen 8 oz. bags.

Okay, the dog is walked, the driveway is shoveled, the cat is at the vet. Time to wrap caramels.