How to get a good cut & color, part I

Tonight I got the kids into bed after our ward Christmas party (advent activity this evening), and the flour flew. This countertop full of goodness has been waiting all week for me to dig in. I'm going to get my hair done tomorrow morning and couldn't show up at Annette's empty-handed. It's only logical that if I come bearing Season's Sugary Greetings, I will bribe my way to a sublime cut.

Do you see the gleam of Holiday Baking in my eye?

How sad is it that a good portion of my food storage is devoted to chocolate chips? I figure if a natural disaster hits, I will derive comfort in stirring my pot of melted chocolate and frosting a cake.

This photo was supposed to show the rather telling stockpile of chocolate chips and nuts. (Whatever will get a girl through food shortage, I tell you.) But I just think it's funny that my Diet Coke ended up in the photo. Next to a bottle of corn syrup. Basically, they are both the same thing. Except that one is delicious and is the nectar of life. (Also, it is a necessity for late-night baking.)

Ha! An entire pound.

I turned on a great movie for company. Notice Mimi's stars on the the post-it note. She's obsessed with practicing her stars--in permanent marker. I'll be lucky if I don't see one on the baby's forehead, in black permanent marker.


Essential for successful toffee-making: 1 magic spoon, which ONLY stirs toffee and has been seasoned with years of use.

After a long time of stirring, a sore wrist, half the movie of "Miracle on 34th Street," and possible onset of carpal-tunnel syndrome, this is what I ended up with. Then this.

I've been saving these formula canisters for A YEAR, waiting to pile Christmas treats into them.

I've been threatened with death sworn to secrecy if I reveal the toffee recipe, but if you email me your address, I'll send you some.

Get on the treadmill, in preparation. Remember that all that butter? (totally worth it.)