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You realize I am going way easy on you with these photos, right?
Remember that in 9 years when it's my turn!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thanksgiving 2009
We went to my sister's house in Iowa for Thanksgiving this year. She was brave enough to host it, again! On top of that, she graciously hosted my parents and my family from Wednesday through Saturday. Jen, do you have enough on your plate? : )
Well, she did an amazing job and was a wonderful hostess, as always. We are so appreciative to her, Tony, Taylor and Kaylee for having us. Jackson LOVES his Aunt, Uncle and Cousins; he doesn't stop asking about them for weeks (seriously... it's non-stop, every day).
For Thanksgiving we had: my parents, my family, Tony's parents and his brother; it was the perfect size for dinner. We had great conversation and an amazing dinner. After dinner we headed to the basement to play Rock Band after we ate. Then we all headed out to the Festival of Trees in downtown Davenport. It was good to get out of the house and move a bit.
Photos from Thanksgiving and the Festival of Trees
Jackson loves music. Here's a snippet of videos from the Thanksgiving Holiday and the weekend.
Well, she did an amazing job and was a wonderful hostess, as always. We are so appreciative to her, Tony, Taylor and Kaylee for having us. Jackson LOVES his Aunt, Uncle and Cousins; he doesn't stop asking about them for weeks (seriously... it's non-stop, every day).
For Thanksgiving we had: my parents, my family, Tony's parents and his brother; it was the perfect size for dinner. We had great conversation and an amazing dinner. After dinner we headed to the basement to play Rock Band after we ate. Then we all headed out to the Festival of Trees in downtown Davenport. It was good to get out of the house and move a bit.
Photos from Thanksgiving and the Festival of Trees
Jackson loves music. Here's a snippet of videos from the Thanksgiving Holiday and the weekend.
Pfeffernüsse (aka Pepper Nuts)
A German tradition in my family is to make pfeffernüsse during the Holidays (note: link doesn't bring you to our family's recipe, that's a secret!). This was a feat usually tackled by my Grandparents as a team. My Grandma made the dough and my Grandpa helped roll and cut the dime-sized cookies. Since they have both now passed on, my Sister, my Mom and myself have taken on some of the traditional recipes, I chose to do the pfeffernüsse and homemade whole wheat 'coffee can' bread. I haven't yet attempted the bread but I will soon (wish me luck).
The pfeffernüsse process took me from Sunday through Tuesday. The dough has more flour in it than all the other ingredients combined, and took over an hour to incorporate to make, as the recipe says, "as stiff as possible" (it resembled the consistency of concrete). Then the dough is hand rolled into long, skinny logs and left to chill for a couple days. The painstaking part is really the cutting of the tiny, hard cookies and then baking them. By the end I was seeing little round pfeffernüsse when I closed my eyes...it was time for a little help so Chris joined in to help cut and bake the last of the cookies!
I'm happy to say the pfeffernüsse turned out just as I remembered them. I brought them to our Family Christmas this past Saturday and received high marks for their resemblance to my Grandparent's batches.
Most of you know I don't partake in many sweets, but on Saturday I enjoyed some pfeffernüsse. As I dunked the little cookies into my coffee I smiled as I reminisced about the times I shared that ritual with my Grandpa.
He wouldn't taste the dough but he'll stick a whole spoon full of flour in his mouth!
'Helping' with the rolling out of the dough
One batch made 1000 of these dime-sized cookies - seriously, ONE THOUSAND!
The pfeffernüsse process took me from Sunday through Tuesday. The dough has more flour in it than all the other ingredients combined, and took over an hour to incorporate to make, as the recipe says, "as stiff as possible" (it resembled the consistency of concrete). Then the dough is hand rolled into long, skinny logs and left to chill for a couple days. The painstaking part is really the cutting of the tiny, hard cookies and then baking them. By the end I was seeing little round pfeffernüsse when I closed my eyes...it was time for a little help so Chris joined in to help cut and bake the last of the cookies!
I'm happy to say the pfeffernüsse turned out just as I remembered them. I brought them to our Family Christmas this past Saturday and received high marks for their resemblance to my Grandparent's batches.
Most of you know I don't partake in many sweets, but on Saturday I enjoyed some pfeffernüsse. As I dunked the little cookies into my coffee I smiled as I reminisced about the times I shared that ritual with my Grandpa.
He wouldn't taste the dough but he'll stick a whole spoon full of flour in his mouth!
'Helping' with the rolling out of the dough
One batch made 1000 of these dime-sized cookies - seriously, ONE THOUSAND!
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