.What Are You Doing New Years Eve?.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve and I thought that instead of sharing a cocktail recipe as I usually do on Fridays {we all know that you're just gonna have champagne anyway} I would share this sweet treat from two of my favorite people in Hollywood - Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon Levitt {indecently if you haven't seen 500 Days of Summer then you are missing out}.
Happy 2012 {almost} everyone!

The new year.

It's resolution time already and this year I've chosen one thing {so as not to overwhelm} but for me, it's a doozy.
I'm determined to cut waaaaaay down on the sugar. I have a major sweet tooth and I love to bake which is a deadly combo for the ole waistline. Almost every night after Amelia goes to bed {because however little willpower I have with my own sugar intake I am a total tighta** when it comes to making sure that Amelia doesn't eat sweets} I make dessert for Cheyenne and I which is always tasty but over the holiday season, when those sweets feature less fruit and more white flour and white sugar, we start to get a bit doughy around the middle if ya know what I mean.
So, to celebrate the new year I'm cutting out the delicious sugars and replacing them with fruits and the occasional sugar-free snack {and once in a while - like valentines day - cheating with a piece of chocolate cake}.
How about you? What are some of the things that you hope to work on in the new year?

.Christmas.

Christmas was a success {not that I thought it wouldn't be} and we had a wonderful time. On Christmas morning Cheyenne set up our video camera on a tripod to capture our quiet family time with Santa gifts and calmness before cooking began and guests arrived. Then we kind of forgot that the camera was on and ended up recording nearly a half an hour of what I feel is mostly boring {to the outside world} stuff. I've edited it down to a 2-3 minute montage found here. I wanted to also add the full length version for those that were interested {grandparents and the like} so I spent 7 HOURS uploading the dang thing to youtube only to have it removed for being to long. I can't express to you how annoying that is to me.
Here are some of the {very few} photos that I remembered to take - we were having such a great time that I was a total spaz and forgot to get more/better photos. Grr. I promise to do better next month with her birthday!

.T'was the night before Christmas.

Merry Christmas eve everyone! Here at Clark Manor the cherry pie is made {with it's snowflake crust} as well as the cranberry relish - and look at that, Santa already came when no one was looking..

.Well if that's not a "sign of readiness" then I don't know what is.

For a few months now Cheyenne & I have been talking up the awesomeness of going potty on a potty chair like a big girl while trying not to put any pressure on Little Miss {so we don't stress her out and cause the whole process to take longer}. Our plan has always been to start either on her birthday or when she's ready...whichever comes first.
Today {as in 30 minutes ago} while we were in the family room she pulled down her pants and stepped out of them {nothing unusual - the kid likes to be naked} then pulled down her diaper and stepped out of it and brought it to me saying "potty" {also not terribly unusual since she's aware that she currently goes potty in her diaper}. Then she walked to the middle of the room and peed.
Aside from the not so awesome act of my having to clean human urine off of my floor, it was actually fantastic. Clearly that's about the most glaring sign of "potty training readiness" if ever there was one.
Potty training goes into full affect on Monday and of course I'll keep you updated on progress {you're reading a blog devoted to all things mom & kid so I assume that you aren't horrified by that}.

.Little things that I'll forget if I don't write them down.

One of my very favorite things about this blog is how I've been able to capture the little details that I know I would otherwise forget. I actually go back and read really old posts all of the time and think "thank goodness I wrote that down". So here are the little things Amelia is doing these days that make me smile...

* At dinner time when I give her her plate of food I say "careful it's hot" then she and I blow on it. It's actually really cute. Well, saying "it's hot" so often has caused her to believe that the word for "food" is actually "hot" and she now requests a plate of "hot" whenever she's hungry.

* She's like a word sponge in general these days and wants to know the word for everything and will try to say it just like me. Often this ends up with her knowing words that seem funny coming out of an {almost} 2 year old...like "rash".

* She's always really loved animals but as of late she's totally obsessed. She loves loves loves them and wants to know their names and touch them and make their sounds. When she she's a sheep in books she makes this really funny and quite accurate baaing sound.

* Her very favorite foods on the earth are: fresh tangerines {she loves peeling them and then eating the segments}, braised red cabbage, spaetzel, pasta {any kind}, and raisin bran {blame her dad for that one}.

* She's super sweet and snuggly - when she is holding a stuffed animal, baby doll, or is reading a book with an animal in it then she bends to put her head on it and gives it sweet little snuggles. When we hold her up on us she puts her head on our shoulders and pats on us our backs.

* She's LOVES her shoes and boots and always wants to be in them. She's also always trying to dress herself...this includes trying to pull her pants on when we're changing her!

*She's fascinated by letters and knows about half of them by sight and always points them out in books or on signs. We got her a set of foam letter bath toys that she LOVES. She floats around in the bath and "spells" things out with her letters.

* Cheyenne & I have called her "Mimi" since she was maybe an hour old so now if you ask her where Mimi is she's point to her chest and proclaim "MIMI".

.Happy Chanukah.

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah and I hope that all of my Jewish friends and readers have a wonderful holiday. We usually celebrate with the Streed Sisters {my bestie and her sis} but both gals were busy so it's just the Clarks tonight but you can be assured that Amelia will be dancing to this...

.Oh hells bells and a change gonna come.

I can't remember if I told you guys {since I've tried to block the knowledge from my own brain} but with me looking down the barrel of 30 {just 115 days left in my twenties} I've been paying ultra close attention to my head looking for grey hair....genetics says that any hour it'll pop up.
And wouldn't you know it, I got like 4ish of them seemingly overnight. SHOCK AND HORROR, y'all. I will not be one of those gals that rocks the salt & pepper {though I am more than fine rockin' out to Salt & Pepa}, I admire those ladies but tis not for moi.
So this has me thinking a lot lately about hair color and I'm not sure what direction I want to take. I've spent the last decade making sure to pamper my hair in preparation for the days when I would be forced by the vengeful greys to damage my precious follicles and have made sure that hair color has not touched my head in that time. So basically, I have virgin hair again and I'm suddenly feeling very bored with my dark brown locks and looking a bit forward to a color change.
At first I was thinking a soft black would be a pretty change with my coloring and not so drastic as to make my heart stop {my hair is only about 2 shades, at most, lighter than soft black anyway}. When I asked Cheyenne he got that "you gonna go chill out in a cemetery and smoke cloves while listening to The Cure and writing shite poetry?" look in his eye that told me that he wasn't quite as jazzed on the black as I was. His idea? Red. I've actually always leaned towards reds and think it's just about the prettiest hair color on a lady but I've always been too scared of the brassiness and/or the upkeep. I do know that blond isn't something that I am in any way interested in so really my options are in the red, brown, & black category. I'm doing my research and I'll talk to my stylist about it when I go in for a cut in January.
I'll keep you posted {as always}.

.Recipe of the week.

With less than a week left before Christmas I'm sure that everyone has done their holiday baking for friends and family already, however, did you remember to save some for yourself? I never do. So as a treat to myself and to indulge just a bit more before the better eating habits that come with the end of the holidays I think I'll pop into the kitchen this afternoon and make these fabulous cookies from Better Homes & Gardens. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

 

    1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped
    2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2  cup sugar
1  cup cold butter
    12 ounces white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped  
1/2  teaspoon almond extract     
    2 drops red food coloring (optional)
    2 teaspoons shortening    
    White nonpareils and/or red edible glitter (optional)

 

Directions

 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead mixture until it forms a smooth ball.

3. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

5. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on waxed paper until chocolate is set. 

.Christmas Dinner.

Through a series of events it would seem that we are set to have a small intimate Christmas day & dinner which would be the first time in something like 5 or so years since we have had less than 10 people in our house on Christmas day. This year we're a party of 5 plus Amelia. At first I was a bit sad that the usual crowd couldn't make it but the more I think about it the more I'm getting excited about the whole thing. It'll be less work which will allow me more time to hang out with people outside of the kitchen. With the scale back in guests I've had to scale back the menu as well, here's what we got goin' on at Clark Manor this year:

Dinner:
Old fashioned ham with honey, mustard, & brown sugar glaze
Yukon Gold mashed potatoes
Broccoli & cauliflower gratin
Green salad with candied walnuts, dried cranberries, & bleu cheese with raspberry vinaigrette
Cranberry relish

Dessert:
Cherry Pie
Hot cocoa & marshmallows & peppermint Schnapps
Sugar plums

How about you? What are you doing on Christmas day? Do you pack up and head out to dine with friends and/or family? Do you travel? Do you spend the day with a large group or just a few people?

No matter how you spend the day I hope it's a great one for all of you!

.Santa, I hate you!.

We took Amelia to go see Santa today and as you can tell it didn't go quite as smoothly as it did last year. I had the feeling that she might be less than agreeable to the whole thing so we have spent the last week trying to get her jazzed up about the big guy...to no avail it would seem. She was totally cool with him until she had to be on his lap - then she lost her mind. I bought the photo anyway because it's hilarious.

Afterward we changed her into warmer clothes and puttered around and played by the big Christmas tree.

.Like a kid in a...book store?.

Some people bribe their kids with candy and the like. We are not those people. And Amelia? She's not the kind of kid that would care anyway. What's the "big gun" that we use? The library. Homegirl goes totally ape for books {when was the last time you heard that sentence? Oh, only never.} and the library is sort of her version of Nirvana.
After a harrowing naptime fiasco yesterday I decided that a walk was needed for both of us to cool off and I found myself steering us toward the library. We left 20 minutes later with 16 books and 2 smiles.

"Christmas In My Heart" by Nichole Cooper

My amazingly talented friend Nichole is at it again. Please check out her latest video - perfect for the season and so beautiful. Through December 25th all purchases of "Christmas In My Heart" on iTunes will be donated to 15-year-old Natalie Hill who is battling cancer. Visit www.teamnatalie.weebly.com to hear her story.

.TGIF.

Why hello there Friday, so nice to see you! Cheyenne is taking Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday off so even though I am working Saturday & Sunday we actually get a nice {long} weekend together.
We have quite the list of things that we plan on doing: grocery shopping {this includes Christmas menu}, a visit to see Santa at Bridgeport Village, a visit to see Santa at Alpenrose Dairy {because with a toddler im guessing that the man in red might need a second chance}, a Christmas party at Tom & Meegan's home, and a trip to get the very last thing on our Christmas shopping list. Tis the season folks!
However, tonight im making a nice warm soup and crusty bread for dinner with gorilla bread for dessert...and maybe this adorable holiday-inspired cocktail from Entre Nous will make an appearance. Cheers!

Santa Hat

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon water
3 tablespoons coconut flakes
3 oz. Cranberry juice
1 oz. Coconut Rum
1/2 oz. Grenadine (1 tablespoon)
Candy cane stick for garnish

Directions:

Mix powdered sugar and water together on a plate until smooth. Spread the coconut on another plate. Dip the rim of a Martini glass in the sugar until the rim is coated. Then, dip the sugared rim into the coconut.

Add cranberry juice, coconut rum, and grenadine into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into the coconut rimmed Martini glass and serve. Garnish with a candy cane.

.Christmas pajamas.

Every Christmas for as long as I can remember and then some I always got a new set of festive jammies to wear on Christmas eve and into Christmas morning - the same tradition was held my my cousins {Derek & Brynn} so I assume that it was something that my grandparents started but im not totally sure and since I love pajamas I never questioned it much.
Of course this is a tradition that I want to share with my own children. Last year Amelia wore this cute little footie pajama from Janie & Jack. This year I'm going with this adorable organic cotton ensemble from Hanna Andersson who makes my very favorite kids pajamas.

I think Little Miss will look super cute, and more importantly she'll be warm and cozy in them. Yay for fun traditions getting passed down to a new generation!

.Happy {belated} anniversary.

A couple of weeks back marked my 23rd year in Oregon and thanks to the holiday, working, and toddler I totally missed my post about it. D'oh. Needless to say I spent much of the day reflecting and generally being so thankful that my parents blindly packed up their lives and moved our brand new family of three out here. I'm always so happy and proud to say that I am a Portlander. Here are some clips from one of my favorite shows that I think perfectly encapsulate much of what I love about this town above all others

.Recipe of the week.

Hey there! I've missed you guys. With me working on the weekends this holiday season I have had little time or energy to give my blog the lovin' that it deserves - just a few more weeks and we'll be back to my more frequent musings, I promise!
Today's recipe comes from Bakers Royale and looks so perfect for this time of year that I believe no introduction is necessary. Happy baking!

Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes | Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line wells of cupcake pan with paper liners. 

Gingerbread Cupcake

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 large egg, beaten lightly
• 1/2 cup strong, very hot coffee
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced crystallized ginger

To make the cupcakes:

1. Add flour, the ground ginger, the cinnamon, the cloves, the allspice, and the salt in a bowl and sift.
2. Add 1/2 stick of the butter and granulated sugar in bowl and beat until mixture is pale and fluffy. Add molasses and egg beat until the mixture is smooth. In a measuring cup combine the baking soda with 1/2 cup very hot strong coffee water and stir until baking soda is dissolved. Stir the baking soda mixture into the molasses mixture (the mixture will appear curdled) and the combined molasses and baking soda mixture into the flour mixture, stir until ingredients are well combined.
3. Fill cupcake liners halfway. Bake the cupcakes on the middle rack of a 350 degree °F. oven for about 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. (Cupcakes will be flat on top.) Transfer the cupcakes to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

To make the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Add cream cheese, the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla into a bowl and beat until fluffy and smooth. Add in the zest and lemon juice and beat to combine. Chill frosting for 30 minutes before using.

.The Tree.

.Finding the perfect tree.

.Both Amelia & Josie ran their tooshies off at the tree farm.

 

 

.The holiday season begins.