What do you do when you have a few days off in 

December???    If you're me you bake!!!    Lots!!!

Everything that I've made so far sits on the old car in 

the (cold) garage.    I baked on Thursday and on Friday

with the tally so far being as follows:

Shortbread cookies  60

Ginger-Butterscotch cookies 50

mini pumpkin loaves   8

Hootycreek cookies - about 70

Peanut butter temptations  48

Creamy chocolate fudge - not pictured

Fudge cakes     2

Hootycreek cookies have white chocolate chips,

dried cranberries and chopped pecans in them.

And no, I haven't a clue why they are called that.

The peanut butter temptations are a peanut butter

dough, cooked, which then has a mini Reeses

Peanut Butter cup shoved into the centre.

To Die For!!!!

Last year I made maple flavoured fudge which

for some reason never set.    I ended up with

maple flavoured sauce instead.   It didn't go

to waste as we used it on ice cream and to dip

goodies in but it wasn't quite what I'd had in 

mind.

This year I tried a different recipe which used,

among other things, marshmallow fluff as

an ingredient and it turned out perfectly.

Some of the baking will be given as 

Christmas gifts to neighbours and the

rest will be served to anyone who drops

in to visit during the holidays.

You're all more then welcome to come

and partake if you're in the area.

Oh, I still have raspberry tarts, mince meat

tarts and perhaps Marzipan Squares to 

make .... all of which require at least

two batches of home made pastry.  And

I'll also make Cream Scones but I'll do those

closer to Christmas.

In the mail this week I received a sweet

surprise from Paula in Portugal (no blog).

This dainty little Christmas tree.   Paula

has stitched in gold thread neatly all around

the outside of the tree with perfect stitches.

Since we don't have a tree in the kitchen

that is where this evergreen treasure has

taken up residence for the holidays .... where

I can admire and enjoy it often.

Thank you Paula.

       
                                      

We've had some snow here today.  Probably not as

much as other areas, but enough to cover the grass

and give us hope for a white Christmas.

It's the first major snow storm of the season.   It's

been bitterly cold here this week which is funny

because a few months ago the weather service

was telling us that we were going to have a milder

then normal December and January and a green 

Christmas.

Or not?

On Tuesday I took the Go Train into

Toronto and met my friends Darlene

and Elaine for a day of fun and Christmas

cheer.      

The picture (above) was taken in the Eaton Centre

mall before the stores opened.   This tree

dominates the centre of the mall.  Those

reindeer seen to the right of the tree in the 

above picture are made up of steel bands 

and ornaments and lights and are to be 

found all over the mall.

Looking up, into the centre of the tree.

Pretty cool, the ornaments are inside

the tree instead of on the outside.

And this is me posing with the head of

one of those reindeer behind me.

We had lunch at Swiss Chalet with all three of

us ordering the Festive Special.    Quarter

chicken, stuffing, fries, cranberries and a crusty

roll.   And hot chocolate!!   Delicious!!

Our next destination was the Distillery District

a half hours walk from the centre of downtown

Toronto where there was a Christmas market going.

The Distillery District is the site of the Gooderham

and Worts whiskey distillery.   The buildings are

of the Victorian era and have been beautifully

restored and turned into shops, restaurants, 

art galleries and theatres.

It has a definite Dickensian feel to it as you can

see in the pictures.

One of the Christmas market stalls.   

I don't know if these people had heaters or 

something in those stalls with them, although

I suppose that might have been a fire hazard

since the stalls are all made of wood, but it

would have been pretty darn cold without

something of the sort.

Carollers performing on the stage.   

We walked around the cobbled streets,

popping into the stores both to check out

their wares and to warm up a bit.   It was 

a windy, bitter cold day to be outside.

I loved the old buildings .... so full of 

character.

And here are Darlene and I freezing along

with a deer friend of ours. 

Ahem.    Sorry.

We walked back to the centre of Toronto

afterwards with one more stop at a Tim

Hortons for more hot chocolate and

cookies before heading our separate

ways home.

I've got most of my Christmas shopping

done so now it's time to begin the

wrapping and decorating and making

sure the cat (Rupert) doesn't end up as

a part of someone's gift ... given how

much he loves getting into boxes.

Cheers!!!!