Christmas Candy

I think making Christmas candy is one of the best traditions our family has. It has passed from generation to generation, picking up new recipes along the way. Some of my favorites include:

Bessie Thorpe’s Fudge
Double Decker Fudge
Peanut Butter Cups
English Toffee
Caramels
But today, I needed to come up with something really fast. I needed something with color to fill in a space next to the fudge, so I whipped up Cinnamon Hard Tack Clear Candy. It’s the easiest of all the candies to make. Here’s a tutorial, if you care to try it.

Mix all together in a heavy pan: 3 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup Karo Syrup, 1 cup water, stir to mix and then don't stir it again.  Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches the hard crack stage (300 degrees).  Use a candy thermometer.

While waiting for this to happen, spread tin foil on a cookie tin.

When the mixture reaches the hard crack stage, remove from heat and gently stir in 1 tsp. cinnamin oil and several drops of red food coloring--more or less depending on the color of red you want.

Pour the entire mixture evenly onto the cookie tin and let cool completely.

 Then sprinkle powdered sugar over it with a sieve.

Now take the heavy end of a table knife or a hammer and crack the cooled candy into pieces.



I love this nativity set my sister, Kathy, gave me years ago.

 Other ideas for flavors and colors: green, licorice; blue, anise

Thanksgiving 2011 Remembered -- a Pictorial

Here are some random pictures of our 2011 Thanksgiving.  I think the only picture I didn't get was one of our annual talent show, but trust me, it was great with singing, violin, piano, and summersaults--to name a few of the talents. Of course, there was the feast and the traditional free-throw basketball contest.  I love Thanksgiving and this year was extra special as our grandson, Trey, made a quick trip home  from BYU to be part of the tradition. 

The gang's all here



Claire and Lydia enjoy eating at their own little table



Fruit salad--a favorite of cousins Emma and Sydney



The kids' table

 

The women.....and girls

 

Trey takes his turn to try to win the free-throw contest



The men's free-throw challengers - - It's tradition



Grandma Thorpe's Recipe for rolls - yum!

Lori's Etsy Shop Give Away and November Roses

Lori has a great give away from her Etsy Shop, and I’m trying to enter every way I can for a better chance at winning, but you can do the same.  Click here or below to enter and see what a great selection the winner gets to choose from.

http://ammeandneb.blogspot.com/ 

I meant to post these pictures while it was still November, but somehow November slipped away from me. Don’t you just love having roses in November? Mine bloomed right up to the very end of the month and still have a bloom or two---even with freezing temps in the night and snow right around the corner.

Tennessee November Roses - Picture taken the end of November, 2011

Give away pie winner............

Sharlene's Cranberry-Apple Pie

Our winner in the Pie Give Away is Lisa. Congratulations and may you enjoy every last crumb.

After reading the comments, it struck me that none of my own children mentioned the Cranberry-Apple Pie being their favorite. Hmmmmm. I’ve been making that pie for 43 years. I guess it’s just me and my hubby that love it. As promised, however, I’m giving you the recipe. Try it, you might just love it.

Also, I found it very interesting that most people liked “homemade” pies. Lisa, if you’d prefer a homemade pie, I’m glad to do that or you can choose your favorite pie store and choose from their wonderful selection.

Sharlene’s Cranberry-Apple Pie

Makes one 9” pie

First: make pie crust of your choice

Next: prepare the filling:

Cook: 4 cups (1 pound) fresh cranberries in 1/3 cup water over low heat until berries burst (about 7-10 minutes) Stir several times

Combine: 2 ½ cups Sugar and 1/3 flour; blend into cranberries

Add: 2 cups chopped apples (about 2 medium to large apples)

Heat: to boiling stirring and mixing

Turn: hot filling into pie shell; sprinkle ½ cup blanched almonds, if desired; then criss-cross strips of pie dough for a lattice on top

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes

Enjoy!

Pies----give away!

Did anyone see the “Parade” article (Nov. 13) on pies?!  My mouth has been watering ever since.  I can hardly wait for Thanksgiving pies.  I love pies---all kinds.  My mind went floating back to eating Blackberry –White Nectarine pie from Three Babes Bakeshop in San Francisco.  I wonder if they'd deliver one of those to TN? Traditionally I make a Cranberry-Apple Pie and Pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.  But pies of all sorts and flavors arrive to our house on Thanksgiving Day.  It seems one of the daughters always makes a chocolate pie.  In celebration of pies, today’s giveaway is a gift certificate to be used to buy your favorite pie.  And if you don’t like pie, why not buy one for someone else? Or, hey, you could even buy a cake.  Go here and here and here to wet your appetite.

Leave a comment and tell me your favorite kind of pie.  The winner will be announced on Thanksgiving Day—in celebration of pies. Oh, when I announce the winner, I’ll also include my recipe for Cranberry-Apple Pie.

Hiding

In our 23 year old home, we have many favorite spots that the grandchildren enjoy when they visit.  We have a secret passage—fully finished with carpet and lighting going from a bedroom to the bonus room. I’ll blog about that another time. We also have what we call a cubby hole in Joel’s old bedroom, and then when we built some bookshelves and cupboards in the family room, we accidently created another hiding/play place. We had to leave one cupboard space totally empty because of the furnace air return there. The younger grandchildren will crawl inside and we pretend we don’t know where they are.  We call out for them, and then finally, they burst out and say, “Here we are!”  It’s just a nice place to chill when one wants to get away from it all.  While most our grandchildren have hidden from us in this favorite spot, I don’t have a picture of all of them.  But here are a few. 

Let's start with the cubby hole in Joel's old bedroom:



Lydia readies the cubby hole - 2010



Almost ready for company

All set - Cousins Lydia and Hale - 2010

Now let's move downstairs to the favorite hiding space in the family room:

Cousins Koen and Josh enjoy playing - 2005



And why not push plastic cards into the hiding spot?

Cousins Claire and Josh approach the hiding spot - 2005

Cousins Claire and Josh are set - 2007

This pix of Afton and Lydia shows the hiding spot as found in the family room - 2010

Girls just wanna have fun - 2010

Cousins Lydia and Lincoln - 2011

And finally:  Lydia and Afton just a few days ago - 2011

**Coming soon: The secret passage from bedroom to bonus room.

Heartland Film Festival

To the best of my memory we have never attended a real Film Festival until this month. We were free and the festival was within reasonable driving distance from Knoxville, so we took advantage of being able to see our son Brad in action at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis. We were only there two days, but it was a great, educational experience, and we got to see some wonderful films---feature length and shorts. Brad’s film that made it into the festival was “Drum Beats.”

OK, Brad is our son, but hey! He is one fantastic film guy, and he very aptly fielded questions during Q&A as well as participated in the Q&A discussion of the film-makers panel of three which was held Monday evening. Thanks for the memory, Brad. Here’s to all film-makers. Thanks for enriching our lives.

Feature Films we saw:
1) Much Ado About Nothing, by Brandon Arnold (friend of Brad’s)
2) Mulberry Child by Susan Morgan Cooper

Shorts we saw:
1) The Country Club, by Jace Freeman
2) Drum Beats, by Brad Barber (our hero)
3) Gild, by David Yarovesky
4) The Girls and the Fox, by Tyler Kupferer
5) Dreamgiver, by Tyler Carter
6) Two Life, by Paul Symons
7) Le Jeu Des Soldats, by Lorne Hitser

Ready to go see some good films!

Brad and fellow panel members receive their instructions.

Q&A after "Drum Beats" was shown.

Time for one more film

Hospitality Center for filmmakers (and their parents) at the Canterbury Hotel

Check out other films Brad has made and shown at film festivals here.

The Dahlquists visit Knoxville



Lincoln with cousins Emma, Ben, & Sydney



Lydia and Lincoln in FR hiding place

Two little boys from Utah came to visit us this month, and they brought along their parents, Cara and Will.  It was so much fun to pull out the bouncy seat for Spencer (age 4 weeks), and even borrow an infant seat for car rides.  We had a tiny baby in the house who slept in the same crib I slept in when I was a baby. Oh my, we love babies. We’re beginning to see what being great-grandparents will feel like in not too many more years.  Spencer’s brother, Lincoln, had the energy every two-year old has and every parent wishes they had.  Both were delightful, and we enjoyed their parents, too.  Here are pictures of some of the stuff we did.  We miss them already; can’t wait until we find occasion to visit them across the country so many miles away.  We wish they lived right here in the heart of Knoxville, TN.

Emma takes her turn to hold Spencer

My turn!

Spencer (in stroller), Will, Cara, Sharlene, Lincoln (other stroller) enjoying Market Square

 

Lincoln and Afton
Hooray for someone younger
than Afton



The Great Smokie Mountains



Russ and Lincoln



Will, Lincoln, Spencer, and Cara



Spencer, Cara, Will, and Lincoln in the Sunsphere



Lincoln joins the cousins singing group









Russ, Sharlene, Cara holding Spencer,  Will holding Lincoln - State Line in the Smokies

Spencer sleeps in the same crib I slept in as a baby

Lincoln greets us each morning at breakfast



Everyone's here except for Trey, Allie, and Afton -- Good times!