Baking is a cozy way to keep the house warm :-)

When I woke this morning it was really cold in the house. Thomas and his friend Magnus were already up and watching cartoons and snacking on leftover cheese pops from the night before. I asked them kindly to go out and get me a couple bags of woods from the wood shed and I started up a fire with the wood that we had leftover from the last time we burned. We made a lovely warm toasty fire in the fireplace and right after breakfast I decided to get busy baking. Next week I will start baking a little on my free days for a sweet little country cafe here on Helgøya called The Skafferiet. The Skafferiet was opened this past summer and did such amazing business that the owner decided to build on to her little cottage to make more room to sit inside and eat and she will be opening for the holiday season in the beginning of November. Here is a link to the Skafferiet's homepage if you'd like to know more about this charming little cafe and shabby chic store: http://www.hovinsholm.no/

So I decided I was going to bake three things this weekend and take samples over to Charlotte to see if they meet the standard for her cafe. I thought I'd make cinnamon rolls, red velvet cupcakes and orange and almond biscotti dipped in white chocolate. The house not only was warmed by the baking (as well as the fireplace) but it smelled so delightful in here all day. I'm not going to lie....I taste tested everything I baked, I mean it's the least I can do to assure the quality of what I'm baking!!!! hahahaha!!!

I didn't finish everything, I got tired of baking after making cinnamon rolls and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. So I will make the biscotti tomorrow and take everything over to Charlotte. After all the baking we had to get outside in the frisk fall weather and take a walk with the dogs in the woods around our house. I've added photos of the baking and the walk above. I love walking in the woods, I find so much peace in there. On our way up a big hill we actually came upon a deer. Thankfully I noticed it but the dogs only HEARD it. The deer had made it to the top of the hill we were going up but was over to the side a bit of where we were and as we stopped to take photos and get hold of our 10 month old pup who was off leash, the deer began running back in our direction but then thankfully ran off to the right of us. Heidi our 12 year old lab was still making it down the path we had already been on and the deer was running toward...but she seemed unaware of the deer thankfully. I don't think at her age she could have done more then just look at it anyhow but still, she might have alerted the others to what she saw. It was enough that they could hear it, they were so attentive to the trees hoping to get a glimpse of what they heard!!!

Now we are home and darkness has fallen upon us, typical of Norwegian autums, it gets dark so early in the evening (like 3:30-4PM) and stays dark late in the mornings. I know how a grizzly bear feels like when they go into hibernation....with all this darkness you feel so sleepy.

I promised the kids homemade pizza tonight, they love it when I seperate the dough so they can make their own individual pizzas. So everyone is getting a mini homemade pizza. Is there anything better for kids 15 and under on a Saturday night???