Movie Madness

This weekend was a movie weekend at our house. The hubby and I rented 10 movies from a local RedBox and watched them over a 60 hour time period. What we watched:

1. The Wrestler
2. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
3. Gran Torino
4. Year One
5. Taken
6. Four Christmases
7. Land of the Lost
8. Angels and Demons
9. The Hangover
10. Extract

There was only one that we thought was too stupid to even finish. That was Land of the Lost. In my ever so humble opinion, Year One was nearly as bad.

I was very surprised by The Wrestler and Gran Torino. Neither one was quite what I expected. Both were excellent films and now on the ever growing list of DVDs to purchase.

Taken was a pretty decent flick, but considering we watched it between The Wrestler and Gran Torino, I wasn’t overly impressed with it. I thought the plot and ending were too predictable.

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging was a movie I picked to watch because it is based on a British teen book series that I have mostly enjoyed. The movie was a typical teen movie and about what I expected. There were a few changes from the series, but overall a decent rendition.

We had seen previews for Extract and thought it looked good. The hubby forgot about it, but it stuck in my mind. It is a great movie. We both laughed a lot while watching it. Another movie I wouldn’t mind owning.

Four Christmases is a holiday movie that we hadn’t yet seen. It’s an OK movie but not nearly comparable to such great holiday movies as A Christmas Story, Elf and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

When I first heard of The Hangover, I thought it would be just another campy stereotypical guys’ night out type of film. Then I started hearing people talk about how great it was. I was intrigued. It. Was. Hilarious. Yet another movie to add to the collection!

Angels and Demons is a movie that was enjoyable. Unlike the hubby, I haven’t read the series of books, so I didn’t know the story. Overall it was pretty good (even if there was at least one inaccuracy about Catholicism). Not sure if we will buy it.

So, there you have it. Ten movies in just over 2 days. It was a great way to spend a wintry weekend with the hubby and puppyboy.

Bah. Humbug.

My vacation is almost over. That, however, is not the reason for this post’s title. While I do return to work in the morning, I only work three days this week and then have a lovely three day weekend. Yay!

Alas, as it seems to happen often over the past few years, I have caught what I like to call a Christmas Cold. Luckily, this year’s cold doesn’t seem to be too bad. Yes, I am knocking on wood that it doesn’t knock me down and out. I’ve too much going on over the next few weeks to be sick!

This is one holiday tradition that I could do without. While I’ve enjoyed lounging around the house and letting the hubby baby me a little more than usual, I’d rather not finish off a few boxes of tissues in just a few days.

For those who say that vitamin C keeps you healthy, I would like to point out that it is Clementine season. In the Schmurphy household, that means I’ve been enjoying an average of a box a week. This is in addition to the orange juice that we have with breakfast. Therefore, I can’t help but wonder what truth there is in that bit of advice. If upping the vitamin C consumption keeps you healthy, why the hell and I feeling so ick. Bah. Humbug.

Traditions

It’s the holiday season. For many, this means family traditions will be completed yet again. One holiday tradition that my family had when I was growing up was attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Not every family member went each year, and there may have been years that we missed the late service. If so, I don’t recall. As an adult, there have been years that I have missed Midnight Mass (and a few times that I was disappointed in the service enough to wish I missed it).

Last year the hubby surprised me by taking me to the service at a church near our house. I loved the small size of the parish and the welcoming atmosphere. Over the last year I have often said that I wanted to attend mass at that church again. A year has gone by and tonight will be the first time we’ve been back. While I wish that I had made more of an effort to go on Sunday mornings, I’m happy that my husband is supporting the continuation of the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass tradition.

We’ve started a few traditions of our own over the years. Notably would be opening at least one (if not all) of our Christmas gifts late on Christmas Eve (usually after Mass, so it would technically be Christmas Day). Some years this is extended by staying up most of the night watching movies.

My ILs have a tradition of hiding a glass pickle ornament on one of their Christmas trees. Whichever grandchild finds it receives a small amount of money (A dollar? Five? I can’t recall exactly how much).

So tell me…What holiday traditions do you have?

Baby, it’s 1 a.m. and I am baking…

Yes, last night I was wide awake at 1 a.m. and decided that it was the perfect time to bake.

I promised the hubby that I would make him some peanut butter cookies. Since he is on the road a lot, and since we will have lots of other sweets over the next week or so, I decided to split the dough and use some of it for Peanut Butter Blossoms (or Hugs and Kisses cookies, as I usually call them).

My favorite peanut butter cookie recipe comes from the 1001 Cookie Recipes cookbook. You can tell that I love this recipe just by looking at it in the book.



The dough:

Coating the dough with sugar before baking:


Ready for the oven!


Hershey kisses just waiting for the cookies to finish baking.
Fresh from the oven and waiting to be kissed:
Yum! Must wait until they cool to eat. Right?
Peanut butter cookies ready for the oven:
...and freshly baked!
Yum!

I ended up with about 2 dozen peanut butter blossoms and at least 3 dozen peanut butter cookies.

Good for the soul.

A friend of mine has been blogging about doing mitzvahs (good deeds).

As I was running errands this afternoon, I earned a hug from a stranger for such a small thing, but I think that it really made both of our days.

What was the small thing? Actually, it was two. 1. She dropped her receipt as she was leaving the store. I was behind her and noticed it and gave it back to her. 2. It ended up that she was parked beside me. After I unloaded my cart, I waited another minute and then offered to take her cart to the buggy return.

The other mitzvah for today…I had a bunch of stuff that I was purchasing and nearly all of it was on the belt. Then I noticed that the girl behind me only had two items. I offered to let her go before me, saving her at least 10 minutes of waiting in line.

Again, it was a little thing. But those little things can make all the difference to someone.

Have you been the receiver of a mitzvah?

On Sale!

The year is almost over, and Gold Canyon is having a fantastic sale. From now until December 31, you can purchase a large selection of Gold Canyon products at 20-75% off! Click here to check out the sale.

how to thank a knitter

Check out the KnitPicks knitting community by clicking here.

Season for Sharing

I haven't put out a lot of Christmas decorations this year, but this is one of my new favorites.

Season for Sharing with an 8 ounce Apple Orchard Pear'adise Bella candle.

It's so very pretty when the candle shines through the sides.

more food pics

Dark Chocolate Truffles

• coated in cocoa
• coated in crushed candy canes
• dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in hazelnuts
• dipped in dark chocolate and topped with crushed candy canes

These were coated in cocoa. I didn't put them in the fridge, which is why I think think they absorbed the coating. :/


Frosted Gingerbread Cookies

Two out of three people who tried the gingerbread cookies said that the frosting was too lemony. So, I played with the frosting and attempted to fix the problem. I added more butter, milk and vanilla. I also added some powdered ginger.

Gingerbread cookies frosted with Lemon-Ginger Buttercream.
The smaller hearts have the Lemon-Ginger buttercream frosting.


Lemon-Ginger buttercream frosting

Dark Chocolate Truffles

This was the recipe I used for the truffles. Rather, it was the recipe that I sort of used for the truffles, since I added a few things:

Dark Chocolate Truffles
Recipe courtesy of Marcel Desaulniers
Prep Time: 1 hr 45 min
Level: Easy

Ingredients

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, sifted
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

Place 8 ounces semisweet chocolate and the unsweetened chocolate in a 4-quart bowl.

Heat the heavy cream in a 1 1/2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth (now you have ganache). Refrigerate the ganache for 1 hour until firm but not hard.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a tablespoon of ganache for each truffle (approximately 3/4 ounce), portion 24 truffles, evenly space onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate the ganache portions for 15 minutes (so the ganache will be firm enough to roll into truffles). When the ganache is firm enough to handle, remove from the refrigerator and individually roll each portion of ganache in your palms, in a gentle circular motion, using just enough pressure to form smooth rounds. Roll 16 of the rounds in 2 tablespoons cocoa and separately roll 8 in the confectioners sugar until completely covered. Store the truffles in a tightly sealed plastic container, in the refrigerator. Remove about 1 hour before serving.

My Changes/Additions

• I used 8 ounces of Nestlé dark chocolate, broken into pieces, and 12 ounces of Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate chips.
• I added about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the chocolate before pouring the hot cream on it. I
• used one full pint of heavy cream.
• I let the ganache set, tightly covered with press and seal plastic wrap, in the fridge for about 24 hours.
• I used my smallest cookie scoop for the truffles. It was perfect sized.
  
• I dipped some truffles in Baker’s semi-sweet dark dipping chocolate, then coated with crushed hazelnuts or candy canes. Most I coated with Hershey’s cocoa powder.
  

Photos to come...once I take them.