Colder Then A Witch’s………..

Ok, this is a family blog so I’ll stop that title there but I think you know where I’m going with that one….it’s cold folks…really cold…but with the cold comes an amazing beauty…

I was thinking it kind of reminded me of the icy paradise the Ice Queen in the Narnia Chronicles had created in the first movie…what do you think? (sorry for the poor quality in the photos- we were driving over icy scraped roads which were very bumpy)

This is the bridge to our island- but the lake is freezing- so you don’t see our island- it’s like driving into a dream…

Stig said I should call this photo- “Brrrrrrr”

Yes- those are icicles hanging from that puppy’s face…hahahaha..

We went to a dog show earlier today and my female who is living with some friends won the puppy class and was best in breed puppy- YES- I’m sooooo proud…below is a photo of the winning princess but not a very good one sorry-

When we got home I had recieved a very exciting package from my mother in law- check these out..

I had asked her if she could knit these for me and I’d pay her…she jumped right on it and when I asked her how much I owed her she told me nothing and that she was knitting for the kids now!!! Yeah- I’m speechless over her kindness…and speechless for me is big…really big!

Until next time my friends…

Enough Is Enough…

A quick hello from the woods of Norway- don’t I look like a stuffed turkey? I know..I FEEL like a stuffed turkey- I’ve been overfed, way too lazy, and totally off schedule for days now and I am feeling the effect. Never have I looked forward to the new year more then now….

Today our friends who have Shakira (our female pup from our litter this past summer) will be coming and spending the night, tomorrow at the crack of or actually before any cracking begins…dawn, we will head toward Oslo for a dog show. Our three pups will be shown and Nanna. I don’t hold any high hopes because the pups have never been to a show before and it’s been a long while since Nanna was there, but they will look their best and we’ll have a good time- what more can we ask?

So today will be crazy- we’ll have eight dogs here and with this many dogs going out isn’t just something we should do it, it’s something we HAVE to do….we’ve gotten tons of snow so we’ll have a great time. Pizza tonight for the gang and hopefully early to bed…

It’s gorgeous outside so I’ll try and take some photos today while we’re out and share them with you but it might be a couple days before I blog again- sorry I’ve just been so busy- I know you are all busy too and I admire that you are able to blog- I’m not that good and I admit that freely ;-)

I see I’ve gotten a couple more followers and this time without a contest- COOL…welcome to my blog!! I hope you’ll like it here!

If I don’t see another gingerbread cookie or piece of chocolate for another 12 months it’s completely ok with me…I just can’t get over how for 2-4 weeks every year people (myself included) lose total control over their senses and just start gorging themselves with food and to top that off they become ever so lazy during this time- what’s up with that?

At the moment we have two females in heat here and two 6 month old horny male pups in the house- so our laziness is having to be put on hold for awhile while we coordinate where all the dogs are kept during this time…I can’t imagine how these boys would act if they had BOTH testicles…Redman is missing both and Bently has one…and they are this horny…ugh…I thought they wouldn’t care about females in heat for at least a year or so….silly me…men are men…right? ;-)

But hey, it’s never dull around here with this many dogs so I can’t complain…but enough of all this blabbing…I’m off to find breakfast, a shower, and some warm clothing and then out into the winter wonderland…enjoy the last few days of laziness and over indulgence and HURRA for the new year at our footsteps…I hope it will be a great one for all of us!! If I don’t see you before the new year I wish you all a wonderful celebration!!

Until next time my friends…

Peace On Earth

The following video is a loud and clear message- hatred is not something you’re born with, it’s something learned…

Three natural enemies in the wild, grew up together knowing nothing else then that they needed each other, they grew up respecting each other, loving each other, and appreciating each other- if only mankind could also do the same thing…then it wouldn’t matter what colour skin you had, what religion you had, who your family was, where you lived. There would finally be love, friendship, and Peace On Earth…

Until next time my friends….warm holiday greetings and peace on earth…

The Gold Wrapping Paper

I searched the internet for inspirational Christmas stories and this one appeared many times…I read it and was so moved I wanted to share it with you all. I was in tears reading it and hope it’s message touches your heart as well.

I’d like to take this moment and wish you all a beautiful holiday together with family and friends and if you are alone this year please know my thoughts will be with you.

And to my mother who is the most beautiful and special angel in the heavens this year…you are forever in my heart and I miss you so much..

 

(Warning: Grab a Tissue. This one will get you.)

THE GOLD WRAPPING PAPER - An Inspiring Christmas Story

Author Unknown

Once upon a time, a man punished his five-year-old daughter for using up the family’s only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper before Christmas.
Money was tight, so he became even more upset when on Christmas Eve, he saw that the child had used the expensive gold paper to decorate a large shoebox she had put under the Christmas tree.
Nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, "This is for you, Daddy!"
As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, now regretting how he had punished her.
But when he opened the shoebox, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. "Don't you know, young lady,” he said harshly, “when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package!"
The little girl looked up at him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered: "Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full."
The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.
An accident took the life of the child only a short time later. It is told that the father kept this little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there.

Until next time my friends….

A Warming Light..

Yesterday was the darkest day in the Northern hemisphere, from now the sun will begin to stay up longer and longer in the sky. It’s expected by the end of this year we will get an extra seven minutes of daylight- and it just gets better from there folks!!!

I have to admit the darkness is the worst about winter- not the snow or the coldness but the darkness…it makes you so sleepy. I completely understand why a bear would hibernate in the winter, especially if he or she lived in the north. By three- three thirty in the afternoon it’s dark here, which means if you go to work around seven or seven thirty in the morning when it’s still dark, then you come home around three or three thirty it’s dark again and your day is pretty much shot unless you have extra lights and reflexs vests and other neccessary equipment for night time wanderings….

However, I prefer to stay inside where it’s warm…

Appreciating the beauty from the warmth of my living room…

There is something extremely cozy about lighting candles and a nice toasty fire and sitting under a cozy wool blanket..

Then again….there is something cozy about this also….

And this….maybe the darkness isn’t so bad after all??

May your heart be filled with a warm light in the darkness of the winter months…

Until next time my friends…….

Christmas Goodies…

Just a quick post today, I’ve been in the kitchen all day making these Christmas goodies and now I’m ready to go back outside and walk in the snow with my buddies..

PECAN SNOWBALLS

1Cup Margarine

1/2C Powdered Sugar

2C Sifted Flour (although I didn’t sift mine and they’re still good)

1/8tsp Salt

2C Chopped Pecan Nuts

2tsp Vanilla

More powdered sugar for rolling the baked cookies.. Makes about 80 snowballs

Preheat oven to 350F (180C)

Cream Margarine and powdered sugar until smooth, add flour, salt, and pecans. Add vanilla.

Shape into small balls and bake 15 minutes or until golden brown on greased baking sheet. Remove and roll in powdered sugar…once cooled roll them once again in the powdered sugar….it’s messy yeah….but worth it!

BAILEY BALLS

I messed up on these BUT…they were still good and probably better then the original….this is going to be difficult to explain to my English speaking readers but I’m going to try, the original recipie was as follows:

200gram Marsipan

2-3SS Bailey’s Liquor

Knead the Bailey’s into the marispan. Roll small balls of this mixture and lay on a cookie sheet and let cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

OR if you mess up like me and use 200grams Mandelmasse (Almond paste which can be baked as cookies with an almond taste) bake the balls for about 15-20 minutes…check them regularly- wasn’t expecting to bake these so don’t really have anything to go by…so check them..they will be a little soft…

Let them cool and while they cool, melt 100 grams milk chocolate. Dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate and then roll them in Nesquick (or OBoy for we in Europe) chocolate powder- voila….if you use marsipan you will not bake these- chill them in the fridge 30 minutes…

After dipping and rolling in chocolate- set them in the fridge to chill. YUMMY…

GINGER COOKIES

These little babies are Christmas in a cookie…the taste of ginger and molasses…clover, cinnamon….it’s all YUM YUM Christmas!!!!

1/2C Butter

1/4C Shortening (I Used 3/4 Cup Margarine and skipped the butter and shortening)

1C Sugar plus 2TBSP Sugar (Divided)

1EGG

1/4C Molasses (ugh…for my Norwegian readers..this one is hard, I use to think that thick dark syrup you give babies with constipation- totally at a loss for words right now…was Molasses- but it’s not..but it MIGHT work)

1tsp Vanilla

2C Flour

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

2tsp Ginger

1tsp Baking Soda

1/2tsp Salt

1tsp Cloves

Cream butter/shortening (or margarine) together with sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and vanilla- mix well. Add dry ingredients. Roll into small balls and roll in sugar…place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375F(180C) for about 10 minutes…check them..I love them soft and gooey so I take them out a LITTLE early..

EASY CHOCOLATE FUDGE

Now I really winged this one…the original recipie was for peppermint chocolate fudge…the only variable I omitted was the peppermint candy and the peppermint extract. So if you want to make the peppermint chocolate version of this, just exchange the 1/2tsp vanilla extract for peppermint and crush some peppermint candy and have it over the top here…

The measurements were tricky here also because we don’t have packages of milk chocolate chips here, so I used chocolate bars and they are 100 grams a piece..

1 pkg (350 grams) milk chocolate chips

1 Cup (250ml) Semi sweet chocolate chips (I used Dronningsjokolade)

1 Can (300 ml) regular sweetened condensed milk. (I used the little can I bought here that was 397ml but just didn’t put it all in)

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or peppermint)

1/4 C Crushed peppermint candy.

For the next recipie I followed this exact recipie above only I used white chocolate and since I can’t find peppermint extract here I used vanilla- and I made white chocolate peppermint “bark” or fudge…

WHITE CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT FUDGE

I put both of these fudge candies in a paper lined square pan (tiny one) and will cut them into pieces after they are cooled…

HOMEMADE REESES PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

I admit, I got tired of being in the kitchen about the time I made these, so I only made a few in tiny muffin cups and then decided to pour the rest of the peanut butter mixture in a little pan and smooth it out to about a 1/2 inch thick and then poured the chocolate over and smoothed it out…will cut this into small pieces later once it’s completely cooled..but if you want to take the time and put them in tiny muffin cups- go for it!

Recipie is as follows:

50 grams (20 ounces) dark brown sugar

200 grams (70 ounces) powdered sugar

50 grams butter (softened) (I used margarine)

200 grams Peanut Butter (smooth is what the original recipie calls for but I only have access to chunky- so chunky it was!!)

Topping: 200 grams milk chocolate and 100 grams dark chocolate.

Blend all the ingredients into a sandy texture- fill muffin cups or small pan with peanut butter mixture.

Melt chocolate over a pot of boiling water…top over the peanut butter mixture.

Cool completely in fridge…serve..

This recipie is from Nigella Lawson’s food program on the BBC Food channel…To be honest, I had to add a little more powdered sugar, but I’m not sure I measured correctly…but to get the sandy texture I had to add more powdered sugar- didn’t measure this..just added until I got a texture I liked..

Now the best thing I made according to the family….

OATMEAL CHOCOLATE PECAN COOKIES…

1Cup Butter (I used Margarine)

1Cup Sugar

1Cup Brown Sugar

2Eggs

2C Flour

1tsp baking soda

1tsp salt

2 C Quick cook rolled oats

2tsp vanilla

A dash of cinnamon ( maybe 1 tsp if I have to say a measurement)

I used 200 grams dronningsjokolade (semi sweet chocolate) cut in chunks

200 grams white chocolate cut in chunks..

1/2 Cup crushed pecan nuts..

Cream Butter/margarine with sugars- add the rest of the ingredients- bake at 350F (180C) for about 8-10 minutes…again I take mine out a little early because I like them chewy…so keep an eye on the first batch and take them out then accordingly…

OK my friends I am out of here…the daylight is leaving in record speed and it’s snowing so it’s extra dark..need to get out and make a round in the snow before it gets pitch black…

Be well my friends…..Until Next time…

Snowfall and Baking

Today we had a verrrrrry lazy morning and no one did anything until around noon- I love days like this!!! When we finally mobilized we gathered the four legged gang and headed out into the snow..it’s been snowing all day long, sometimes tiny flakes coming down hard and other times big fat flakes gently drifting down…it’s so lovely!! Below are some photos of two and four legged kids..

Guess which one was recently in Brazil in the photo above….

The dogs had a sit up (sitt bamse- in Norwegian) contest..Bently started, then Birdy, Nanna, and finally Jenny showed them how it’s done…

Then Stig and the kids were on a quest to find the tree that would release the most amount of snow on the “unsuspecting” kids and mom’s job was to film it..

This afternoon I’ve been in the kitchen making some goodies for the holidays which I’ll share with you tomorrow…I made a mistake on one of them but actually the mistake was a good one and turned out just as yummy if not more yummy then the original!!!

Until then my friends…