Month: December 2021

Christmas Cookies

I made these red velvet cookies with cream cheese frosting from my favorite Cooks Illustrated Christmas Cookie book.

I also made some coffee stars, but I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of them.

We did a cookie exchange at work, and half of this batch went to my person. The other half got eaten at Christmas Eve Eve. She also got half of the batch of coffee stars.

Hot Chocolate Bomb

While I was getting my Covid-19 booster shot, I also picked up this little bit of Christmas schlock that I hadn’t ever seen before. I was super excited by the idea of a ball of chocolate melting away and releasing marshmallows.

Sadly, the bomb was already open when I unwrapped it, so I didn’t get that exciting effect. It was also much too sweet.

Overall, a disappointment.

From the future I can report that later in December I noticed that New Seasons had silicon molds so I could make my own hot chocolate bombs. It was very hard to leave the store without buying one, but I did it. Though if I ever see one at Goodwill, I will bring it home for some fun experimenting.

I-5 Closed All Day

It’s not unusual for traffic to back up on Interstate Ave outside our house. During the evening or morning commute there can be a line at lights for an hour or so. But it’s not usually much more than an hour. And it is never on both sides.

It turned out that this situation was caused by a carjacker who was shot by police. His crime spree started in another neighborhood and traveled, so it was a very complex situation that meant that neither side of I-5 was free flowing for most of the day.

Alas, this was also the day the plumber came to fix our dripping faucet. He had to go and purchase a new one, and I suspect our bill took a big jump due to how much longer it took to get to Lowe’s.

But the drip is fixed!

Turkey Leftovers

I’ve not been in much of a mood to cook lately, but I really wanted to make this turkey cheddar pie (with bacon topper, not bacon lattice as the recipe called for. I know my limits.)

I did a great job on the crust, a thing that is touch and go with me, and the pie was delicious as were the brussels sprouts. Even the mashed cauliflower wasn’t terrible.