First Week of December 2011

     Two days after we came home from Salt Lake, Alan and I headed to Coeur d'Alene Idaho for the yearly Idaho State Farm Bureau meetings.  We got there on Monday just as it was getting dark.  In Northern Idaho it gets dark really early.  Four thirty early.  We were staying at the Coeur d'Alene resort which was right on the lake.  We had a beautiful view from our room but had failed to bring our camera.  Alan took these pictures with his cell phone right after we got to our room. This was the view from our room.  It really was beautiful. 

 There was this large boat dock that went out from the resort hotel.  On the dock they had put up a lot of Christmas lights which came on shortly after we arrived.  So pretty.

 The resort is also the sight of the world's longest floating boardwalk.  The pictures below were taken one day when we decided to take a walk on it.  Looking back across the boat docks to the hotel.

                               

                                   Here you can see about one third of the floating boardwalk.

                                              

                                                 Looking back where we came from.

 Then we got off the boardwallk and hiked up and around this large hill.  It was beautiful.  The weather was pretty good and the water was smooth as glass.  While we were hiking, we saw a water plane take off from the resort. 

 On December 1 we said good bye to Coeur d'Alene and got home to Ashton that night.  Zack had put up the Christmas tree and half the lights were on.  I decided I would have to tackle the whole Christmas tgree project the next day. 

This week I'm trying to get a little Christmas cheer here in Ashton, but since we don't have much snow, it just doesn't feel like the Chistmas Season yet.  Our outside lights are all up, our tree has been decorated for a week, I've made gingerbread cookies and a little gingerbread house, I shopped all day yesterday and limped out of the mall at 6:30 p.m. last night.  You would think that the snow shouldn't matter so much, but it does.  I look out my kitchen window and I see patches of grass and gravel with just a skiff of snow.  We're wondering who has all our snow!
Today Leah and Lily got to come over and spend time with me because their mom and dad needed them to be out of the house (something about wrapping presents and Santa projects).  So I watched for them out my window and soon they came running through the little bit of snow between their house and mine.  Lily had to stop a couple of times to make snow angels.  She sure is funny.  Leah kept waiting for Lily and so they got pretty cold before they got to my house.  They were all bundled up with those cute little blue and white hats that Lizzy knitted for them, pink gloves,boots and scarves.  They made it without any frostbite (it's been below zero here a couple of nights).  We read some books first and they played with the nativity puzzle, and then after a snack of pears and gingerbread cookies, Lily wrapped herself up in my Christmas blanket and fell asleep staring at the Christmas tree and sucking on her arm.
Leah and I got out my Christmas sucker molds and started to make Christmas suckers. As the syrup was bubbling away I looked up in my cupboard for red food coloring (we were doing Santas, poinsettias, and candy canes) and found No Red Food Coloring!  I found several bottles of yellow, blue and green, but no red.  So I poured in some yellow and told Leah we would have to go to the store before we could make more suckers.  I needed to go to town anyway to make a hair appointment and to buy vodka to make vanilla extract.  We poured  amaretto flavoring in the yellow syrup and then poured the syrup into the molds and then we got our coats on and hustled out into the cold.  As we were driving into town Leah asked me if we were going to the grocery store and I said yes, but we had to go to the liquor store first and then we would go to the grocery store.  I didn't feel like I had to explain the liquor store to Leah.  When we got into town I stopped in front of the liquor store, a place I have not been into for years, because the owner started selling liquor in his video rental store.  So Leah and I went in and I asked for cheap vodka, a fifth of cheap Brandy and some R-rated videos cause I was going on a bender.  I just threw in that part about the R rated videos for your enjoyment.   However, I did get Brandy for my Christmas pudding I made on Tuesday.  I paid and the owner and he put my bottles of spirits into a brown paper bag and we left.  I had to pause at the door and see if anyone was coming down the street or on the sidewalks who would see me coming out of the liquor store with a brown paper bag.  Luckily I saw no one and so Leah and I hurried out and jumped in the pick-up and were on our way to the grocery store.  I purchased the red food coloring and then we were once again out in the pick-up and on our way home.  We got out of town and were driving through Marysville when Leah asked in a sweet little voice, "Grandma are we going home?"   I said, "Yes, we're going home to my house. Is that OK?"  And she said, "But Grandma, you didn't go to the Licorice store, you didn't get any licorice."   I just laughed at how cute she was.  All that time in her little head she thought she was going to get to go to the licorice store.  What a sweetie-pie. 
I told her that we had gone to the liquor store and bought some bottles of stuff to make yummy vanilla extract and that we were going home to finish the suckers. It was all good.
Morgan was at my house when we got home.  I made three more batches of suckers.  So I have red amaretto flavored suckers, yellow pina colada and butter rum suckers, green licorice and mint suckers and some dark orange suckers that are cherry flavored.

  As I was making the last batch of suckers, which was the green mint and licorice flavored suckers, I was also simmering broccoli for some soup.  As we poured in the mint and licorice flavoring it got very stinky in my kitchen.  All I can say is the combination of mint, broccoli, and licorice burned my throat and made Leah start to gag.  However, the suckers by themselves, taste great.  They are lovely to look at and I think they will be fun to eat and share with others.  Leah had three suckers before she went and was planning on taking quite a few home with her before her mother told her the suckers had to stay at my house. 
I said that I made a Christmas pudding.  Yes, I did!   I bought a pudding mold when I was in SLC at Thanksgiving time.   I had got eight persimmons in my bountiful basket on Saturday so I looked up recipes for persimmons and behold, there was a steamed pudding recipe.   I made it on Tuesday and I had a fun time doing it.  I had to simmer the pudding in a pot on a rack for three hours.  It came out perfect and Alan took pictures of it.

  I bought the cheap Brandy to put a little on top of it and light it on fire.  I made some delicious sauce to pour over the pudding and Alan and Zack gathered around as I poured on the liquer and lit the match and touched it to the pudding.  And Voila!  Nothing!  I tried it again and Voila, Nothing!

 What?  That pudding wouldn't light for anything.  I think the cheap Brandy doesn't have enough alcohol.  We were all disappointed, what a let down.  There I was being all Mrs.  Bob Cratchett-y, and everything and we didn't get any bang for our buck.  Alan was determined to light it so he went downstairs and got a blowtorch and it still wouldn't light, although he did crisp up the inside parts.  Zack wanted to pour a little lighter fluid on it and see if that would get some fire going.  I was afraid that the lighter fluid would ruin the delicious taste of my pudding so I vetoed that idea.

                                                      In this picture I'm just irritated.

                                             Cheap Brandy does not a good pudding make.

                                 The brown bag that the Brandy and Vodka came home in. 

  We finally settled on just slicing it, spooning the brandy sauce on top and enjoying the very rich, sweet taste of raisins, walnuts, persimmons, and of course, brandy.   My advice is; IF you're going to go to the trouble of being seen buying liquors for your upcoming holiday events, don't go cheap!  Buy the good stuff!  Not only will your puddings taste sensational, when you light them they will flame with good holiday spirit, and you won't go to bed that night with the  faint sweet aroma of cheap brandy on your breath.
 Burp....   Finally, starting to feel a little more cheery.