Please, Let Me Explain...

In July of 2011 I posted a blog about why the Lord of the Rings is such a passion of mine. I mentioned an essay I was once given that compared the burden of grief from loosing a child to the burden Frodo carries with the ring he must destroy. I always knew I loved the story, but this hit home. Today I found the essay & want to share it here. This is the original post as well... so now I relish the fact that my sweet 6 yr old boy wants to be Frodo for Halloween, & he is loving his new LOTR Legos. December 14th is a whole new journey when The Hobbit opens in theaters around the world!

I sincerely hope you take the time to read the essay & maybe even my old post. I'm sure you will find inspiration & understanding.

Love & Blessing to all my readers each day.

Not Your Ordinary Candied Apple...

My favorite apple treats are made by The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I first discovered them in Seattle at Pike's Place Market, but then discovered there are locations right here in my own beloved Houston! Galveston too! Go figure. A few years ago, before I knew they were here, I decided to try to make some of my own & it was a fair success. My friends loved receiving them as holiday gifts. I recently found the inspiration to try it again, this time with less success, but success none the less. There is no recipe, just your personal preference. I like the chocolate & the pecans. What do you like best? Anything can be used; try ground up candy bars, or different nuts, etc... I usually heat the chocolate in a double boiler on the stove, but this time I messed up the consistency. It still tasted good! The carmel foundation is layered over a clean, dry apple, then everything else should stick to that in layers of your choosing. For these I chose to add powdered sugar & drip fudge topping. Add a pretty wrapping & you have a wonderful homemade gift!

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear about your own attempts at this wonderful treat! Did I tell you it feeds several people? It makes a great desert at parties, just slice it up & serve!

This one went to my theatre student who had her performance ready first in my Shakespeare class. Later, at her house, she posted a picture of her eating it. It came to me on Facebook as a sweet thank you.

Apple Dips!

OK, here is another dessert or snack. It's not from Pinterest, just from my head, so I'm sure there will be variations...

Cut an apple in squares & give each apple square a toothpick or stick of some type.

Dip them in carmel, then melted chocolate. I used candy I wanted eaten in a hurry. I melted it in a mini crock pot, but true bakers chocolate would have been far smoother. You might want to let each layer cool first, or let them mix together when dipping while the layers are still warm. I added almonds in the melted carmel & chocolate.

Eat warm or chill & eat later. Cute wrapping would make for great treats!

And as long as I'm sharing kitchen ideas, try this:
Make some extra dough when you make a pie & use cookie cutters to decorate the top of the pie. I like to glaze the pie crust with a little egg white, plus it helps the cutouts stick in place.

1st Day of School

My son is in 1st grade now. After 2 yrs of preschool, followed by Kindergarten, I was sure he was ready. As a teacher myself, I struggle with the fact that I can't participate in the schooling of my own son. Instead I am educating other peoples children. I can't complain, I have great students! I also understand, as a teacher, what kind of student I want my son to be. The dilemma is HOW do I make my son THAT student when I can't be there to help. Every year I see other parents taking their kids to their first day of school & they post their first day pictures all over the internet to share with family & friends. I can't do that. I am gone when he wakes up every morning. This year I decided I just need to archive & share what I CAN do. My mornings involve kissing his sweet sleeping face goodbye & whispering in his ear that I love him & he should be a good boy at school. Taking pictures of that is a bit tricky. I had to do this in the dark so he would not wake,  & I had to use the timer since it's essentially a self-portrait. Not the best photography, I was running late, but at least it captures what our family's first day of school is like.

 An hour later, my husband woke to take our son to school. He is NOT a photographer, but he had my old camera & did a good job.

 Clearly D2 did not want to go to school. Don't let his angry face fool you, when his dad picked him up after school he said to him "You should have stayed daddy. We had fun!"

Yummy Hats???

I'm not addicted, but I sure do love Pinterest. I'm not a cook, but I sure do love baking yummy things. I am a costume designer, but I don't wear hats... ok, on rare occasion. I found a pin that tells how to make bowls with cookie dough! Like I said, I'm not a cook... I didn't want to bother making the dough from scratch, so I used a box-dough & followed the instructions in the pin to place the dough on an upside down muffin pan.

In the oven the dough began melting & separating from the top section, but when it baked it fluffed up & filled in the gaps for the most part. However, rather than making bowl shaped cookies, it created a brim when melting down, and when baked it resulted in a cookie with a hat shape! My son loved that.

So the only thing to do next was to fill the cookie hat with ice-cream & eat! Yummy hats!