It Puts Itself Away

I love this system for keeping ornaments safe and secure. The really fragile ones get wrapped in tissue paper, but most are pretty safe ensconced in cardboard. Cheap, easy and perfect!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours.  This is our traditional European Christmas Breakfast: cheeses, meats, smoked salmon, yogurt and museli, fruit, breads, jams and spreads, coffee and juice and mom's famous homemade eggnog.

Even Mistakes can Taste Good

I have so many flops with things that I make, I thought I'd share one, because I do take photos of the flops too. This was a beautiful cake recipe from Martha Stewart for a Chocolate Cake with Snowy Meringue that I thought I'd make for my family's Christmas Eve celebration. My version...not so beautiful.

The cake was rich and over the top chocolate, but apparently I did not wait for the ganache to cool to the correct temperature because it just flowed right off.  Then I didn't get the meringue to set correctly, so it just slid off too!  Ugghhh.  It was ugly, but at least it tasted wonderful and the decorations were super cute.  I just melted green candles on wax paper and then cut the trees out with a warm sharp knife.