Clay Painting in Boston

I love crafty things and I was so excited when all the NNAF ladies decided to go clay painting one day after work (thanks Lindsey!).

We went to the Clay Room, a great small studio with a nice selection and lots of perks.  Like free pizza on Tuesdays!  Wine and cheese nights on Wednesdays!  Flat studio fees and group discounts!  And BYOB every day!  That last one was my favorite.

After agonizing over what item to choose, the design came to me quickly and I turned it into my own unique Christmas present for Pam.

I can't wait to go back again with a couple girlfriends and a bottle of wine!

The Christmas of Unique Gifts

I have so many thoughtful, wonderful people in my life.  This year they bowled me over with unique Christmas gifts that I know I'll have for a lifetime.

Jake got me this beautiful stained glass window.  It's special to me for so many reasons.  It's a New York City skyline to remember the city we fell in love with and where we made our first home together.  He also commissioned it from my brother who made it by hand.

And Pam made me this amazing quilt out of all my old running shirts!  It reminds me of the off-track relay we ran together and came in last, the horrible race in the mud and rain in the Bronx, and our first ever invitational at Windham as freshmen mere days after 9/11.  She had to scheme with my mom to get all these shirts and then she turned them into this warm, sweatshirty quilt that I've had over my lap every day since I got back to Boston.

I love my gifts, and my boyfriend and best friend, dearly but now the pressure is on for each of their upcoming birthdays!

All that Glitters Isn't Gold

Sometimes it's black...

like this sequin dress I got from the J.Crew outlets

Sometimes it's silver...

like these glitter flats I got on Christmas Eve at Old Navy

And sometimes it's red...

like these adorable sequin scarves someone put on the ducks in the Boston Public Gardens

But it's always SPARKLY!

Amy's Beautiful Gingerbread House

We've already seen my sister's beautiful cakes and this Christmas she didn't disappoint with a beautiful gingerbread house.  It even includes snow dusted trees, a stone chimney, and candles in the windows.

But the best surprises were inside.  There was a licorice rug, a decorated Christmas tree, and even presents!

She also made beautiful sugar cookies: Swedish horses, golden sleighs, and embellished rocking horses. Her trick?  Patience and a tweezer.

Holiday Party Sweet Treats

I made a different treat each day leading up to the party.  In total, I made 233 cookies, enough for everyone at the party and Santa.

Sunday: Hugs pretzels 
Just lay out square pretzels on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and top each with a Hershey's Hug.  Put them in the oven at 170 degrees for about four minutes and then top with an M&M.  Salty and sweet and so easy. 

Monday: Chocolate Dreidels
More time-consuming than the pretzels, but not much harder - Attach a Hershey's Kiss to a marshmallow with chocolate, then insert a thin pretzel rod into the other side of the marshmallow.  Coat the entire "top" in chocolate, chill and then pipe on the Hebrew letters

Tuesday: Linzer Cookies
These cookies require a special cookie cutter that does the bottom cookie and the top cookie with the shape cut out of the middle.  You'll need to make equal numbers of each type, but I never end up counting correctly.  Make the cookies according to the recipe below and then fill them with blackberry preserves.

Ingedients:
Zest of 1 lemon
3/4 C. ground alnuts
1 C. sugar
3 1/2 C. Flour
3 sticks of butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

Blend together ingredients, roll dough and cut cookies, bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown, fill with delicious jam.

Wednesday: Iced Sugar Cookies
I love playing with colorful sugars, so I did the star of David cookies in blue, gave my snowmen black hats and did red stockings and green trees.  I also did striped candy canes and used peppermint frosting instead of vanilla to imitate the real thing!

Thursday: Italian Rainbow/7-Layer Cookies
These little squares, the colors of the Italian flag, come from making three very thin cakes and stacking them with layers of apricot jelly and topping it with a layer of melted chocolate.  

Friday: Cherry Walnut White Chocolate Chip Cookies
The best thing about this recipe is the touch of salt you can taste in the cookies, plus the fabulous chewy texture.  You can add whatever mix-ins you like.  Originally this was a recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 C. Flour
2 large eggs
2 sticks of butter, softened
1/2 C. sugar
1 C. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Blend ingredients.  Add desired mix-ins.  Drop tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown on the edges.  Mine took about 14 minutes, but some people's ovens take only 8-10 so I'd watch them carefully. 

Holiday Party Decor

I promised you more about my holiday party decor and here it is!  You already saw the centerpiece of it all, my tree, but I added lots of other festive details to get our place party-ready. 

I tied red satin ribbons to these adorable wreaths with pine cones and hung them on either side of my sliding glass doors. 

My grandfather sent me this needlepoint piece of the 12 days of Christmas that my grandmother made many years ago.  Christmas is all about family and traditions, so it was nice to have this handmade piece as a reminder of those things. 

I bought these fabulously glittery ornaments at the dollar store and Target and then one day when I came home Jake had artfully displayed them in our martini glasses alongside our lit garland.  They're so pretty and festive and sparkly, I'll keep them until New Year's Eve!

Holiday Party Feast

Happy holidays!  You already saw the invitations, and now here are the fruits of my holiday party labor!  In this picture you can see the prosciutto wrapped asparagus, the salmon mouse filled cucumber boats, hummus, and my beautiful copper chaffing dish filled with kielbasa in an apricot mustard sauce.  

The salmon boats were a big hit so I'm posting the recipe for you to try.  It's great in the cucumbers, but also tasty spread on, you guessed it, a bagel!

Ingredients: 

4 oz. Smoked salmon, chopped

1/2 C. Greek yogurt

1/4 C. Red onion, chopped

2 English cucumbers

Fresh dill

Combine the salmon, yogurt and onion in a food processor and pulse into just blended. Peel, halve and seed the cucumbers.  Cut cucumber halves into 1.5 inch pieces and fill with your salmon mousse.  Top with sprigs of dill.  

Above, you can see most of the rest of the spread including spinach dip with crackers and veggies, chicken satay with peanut and duck sauce, and a basket of biscuits - some have fig jam and gorgonzola inside while others have garlic and mozzarella.  

There were also mozzarella ball and grape tomato skewers, artichoke dip, and a selection of cheeses that didn't make the photos.  I made the table more festive with red candles, my lantern, two poinsettias and a tulle and ribbon table runner.  But more on the decor to come!