Promises kept

I'm proud of myself. My New Years resolution last year was that I was going to read more 'classic books'. I did well, I got through ELEVEN (!) That's almost one a month. Not bad considering most of them were pretty hefty tomes AND I read other more modern stuff in between them. Here's this year's accomplishment, I plan on doing the same next year as well.

Gingerbread

It's not Christmastime unless you make some holiday cookies, preferably gingerbread in fun seasonal shapes. I have a set of cookie cutters I love, all the classics: reindeer, snowman, star, angel, snowflake, candy cane, and, of course, a gingerbread man. I found a recipe that I like several years ago. The dough is very easy to work with, it doesn't stick to the cutting board or rolling pin (my biggest frustration with difficult doughs). It's a Paula Dean recipe that I got from her holiday cookbook years back. I feel a little guilty using it given what a racist she turned out to be, but when you find a good thing you have to stick with it.
Here's how this year's batch came out of the oven:

I decided the next day that they really needed some icing details...but I just couldn't bring myself to get into multiple batches of icing in different colors. One classic color would do, white! The recipe I use calls for corn syrup and vanilla so the icing comes out a nice off-white and it's a nice counterpoint flavor to the ginger in the cookie. Here's how they turned out. Who's going to eat all these cookies now? I only allow myself ONE on my new diet. Oh, well. It's a good thing they last a long time in the fridge.

Candy canes...or "J's"?

It was my birthday this week. My good friends Marcia and Robert invited me to a Christmas cabaret concert featuring a friend of theirs who's a Broadway veteran and club performer. It was a lovely evening of holiday songs. As a gift to the audience we were all given little candy cane lapel pins. I had a "scathingly brilliant" idea to turn mine into a little ornament for my little Christmas 'trinket tree' in the dining room. I attached the pin to a piece of cardboard and added a candy cane themed piece of twine...voila! Intstant ornament!

The whole thing reminded me of this year's "War on Christmas" story: an elementary school teacher in Nebraska banned the students from having candy canes because they are a symbol of Jesus...who knew? They are upside down "J's" which stand for his initial. Additionally, she stated,  "The red is for the blood of Christ, and the white is a symbol of his resurrection." Silly me, I just liked the peppermint taste!!

Sag cookies

I saw this charming post on Instagram. A bakery out East has created a cookie that looks like the facade of the old Sag Harbor Cinema. Delicious!

Progress

It's so exciting to see the construction on the fire damaged Sag Harbor Cinema is well underway. I heard that they're aiming for finishing date of Fall 2019. Here's a current picture of how things are looking (there's a scrim photo drop cloth on the facade).

Doggone Christmas gifts

I like to give handmade Christmas gifts, I think they're so much more personal (not to mention affordable!). I've found that people appreciate them more...and they tend to keep them for years after they've received them.
So this year I made two fun things.
My friend Doris loves anything dog related. So I decided to make her a dog shaped cutting board. Last year I gave her a dachshund. When I googled "dog cutting board" I found this adorable shape of a cairn terrier, like Roosevelt's pet "Fala". It came out so cute I was tempted to keep it for myself!

My friends Robert and Marcia are going to treat me to an evening at a Christmas cabaret for my birthday. I wanted to do something nice for them so I made a little cheese board in the shape of their little dog, Jezebel. I added little 'feet' to this one for a little more oomph, they're made out of the wooden caps from Cholula hot sauce! They work perfectly.
Here's the real Jezzie...

And here's her likeness in wood...

Here's a side view...