Sorted with Style

Blessed is the Season who engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!
                                                                                                   H Mibi

                                                         
                                                       
                                   The Three Stages of Santa Claus


                                   1. You believe in Santa Claus
                                   2. You don't believe in Santa Claus
                                   3. You are Santa Claus!

Reindeer food from Mychicken scratch

Our task for the day is to make some of this cute Reindeer Food to spread outside our house on Christmas eve. We just have to hope that our pesky possums don't get it first!!!!

My candle nest

My Candle Obsession

Peace at my home!

Mandarin Kiss

Ex Libris Jane Austin

Have a look at what others are loving this Christmas!

My mini mince pies

Not Martha's assorted houses

Bespoke Letterpress Boutique

Twine from Creature Comforts

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas Tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other" 
                    Burton Hill

Our Christmas Tree 2010

The Ballerina that my daughter loves.

The snowflake I bought in Europe

The Vintage Ribbons given to me by my friend I wanted to share my Christmas tree, as I have really enjoyed looking at all the varied trees and Traditions and linking here. 

Wreath by "A dozen Eggs"

Delish Sugar and Spice Snowflakes

By Artist Sue Blackwell

Madeleine Bea has  provided an interesting prompt for The Sunday Creative this week.

My Paper Butterflies

Bromeliad Living

I also love the idea of making the butterflies just out of newspaper, as I think they would make quite a nice , inexpensive decoration for gift wrapping presents.




                                           Have a look at some other "frozen images"

                      Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!


I have been watching on enviously all week as people have been posting the most stunning snowy winter photographs. Of course living in 'Sunny Sydney' the closest thing we have to snow is a Summer Hailstorm.I therefore decided that it was time to put my imagination to the test and create my own snow scene!

Being infatuated by snowflakes and constantly craving a White Christmas I have managed to become quite a collector of them. I managed to unearth several of my favourites and suspended them from my upper balcony, creating an instant snowstorm!!! Now I guess all I need is an artificial fireplace on which to hang the Christmas Stockings!!!!

Designed by Delphine

We are a family of list makers! Whether it is a shopping list, book list, goal list or things to do list, we have it. In fact we are so addicted to lists that I have even been known to make lists of my lists!!! It is therefore no surprise that an important family tradition is to make a Christmas List each year. These are started in November and undergo significant alterations and additions in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Interestingly I notice that quite often the final list bears little, if any resemblance to the original list. ( Not exactly easy for Santa!) I love this pad of lists created by Delphine and would love it for my collection!

When Christmas is finished our lists are placed in our special "Christmas Journal" which records all the details of our Christmas planning, our year's colour scheme, gifts received, photos with Santa etc)

This is my son's list this year. It appears to have had many additions, but very few alterations!!!

Mackenzie's Christmas List

How Exciting! I am attending my first Virtual Party. The girls at A Common Thread are celebrating their new blog with a beautiful gathering. It looks like such a elegant affair, and of course I couldn't attend empty handed, so I thought I would just pop over to Paris and pick up my favourite Laduree macarons!


Nothing is as beautiful as these delicate french treasures. I think I enjoy looking at them nearly as much as I enjoy eating them,and to me they are more colourful than a bouquet of flowers! I am planning a trip to Paris in six months time and can't wait to eat a real one.I have tried somewhat unsuccessfully over the years to make my own, with little success, but the following receipe has been recommended to me if you want to give it a try!

Thank you girls for hosting such a lovely party, I look forward to many interesting trips to A Common Thread!


Chocolate Macarons Recipe ( 50 sandwiched macarons)




Ingredients



150g Almond Powder (finely ground)

150g Confectioner’s Sugar

60g Egg Whites


50g Unsweetened Chocolate (The more bitter the better!)

6g Cocoa Powder


60g Egg Whites

150g Granulated Sugar

30g Water



3g Carmine Red Food Coloring (will provide a nice reddish brown color.)



Instructions



1. Preheat convection oven to 160 degrees Celsius or 170 degrees Celsius in a conventional oven



Almond Powder/Confectioner’s Sugar Paste.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the almond powder, confectioner’s sugar and 60g egg whites together until you form a wet paste. Set aside.



Chocolate Mixture

3. In a separate bowl, melt chocolate in a bain marie or microwave and mix cocoa powder into the warm melted chocolate. Set aside.



Italian Meringue

4. In a small pot, add water and granulated sugar. Put pot on stove over a medium fire and cook the sugar mixture. With a digital thermometer, measure the temperature of the mixture. When the temperature reaches 115 degrees Celsius, immediately start mixing the egg whites with the mixer at medium speed. Continue to cook and monitor the sugar mixture and when it reaches a temperature of 121 degrees Celsius, turn off the fire, immediately pull the pot from the stove and pour the sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl. Ensure you do not pour the mixture onto the whisk in the mixture. The sugar syrup should slide down the side of the mixing bowl into the whipped egg whites.

5. You will see the volume of the whipped egg whites visibly increase. Continue to mix at medium speed until the mixing bowl is slight warm or cool to the touch. The Italian meringue will thicken as it cools down.



Final Mixture

6. While the Italian meringue has cooled, add the chocolate mixture to the Italian meringue. Ensure the chocolate is fully mixed with the Italian meringue. Add red food coloring (optional) and mix thoroughly.

7. Stop the mixer and fold in the Italian meringue/chocolate mixture into the Almond powder/confectioner’s sugar paste. Once folded, you should obtain a thick flowing batter similar to “magma”. The batter is now ready for piping.



Piping

8. Put two baking sheets together (both baking sheets should touch without a gap in between and should be one top of one another). Lay a piece of parchment or silpat on the doubled baking sheet.

9. Put batter into a piping bag with a 1cm round piping tip.

10. Pipe batter into 2.5cm rounds across the silpat or parchment paper. The rounds will spread somewhat. That’s normal.

11. When completed piping, bang the baking sheets twice against the table to remove any residual air bubbles in the piped rounds. Let the piped batter rest for 15-30 minutes.



Baking

12. Bake macarons for approximately 14min – 17min depending on oven type (Convection oven = less time / Conventional oven = more time). Every oven is different so it’s important to keep watch of the baking progress during the tail end of the prescribed time. Adjust timing where necessary.

13. Once done, pull tray from oven and leave macarons to cool down before peeling off.



Filling

14. Fill macaron with filling of your choice. Typical choices include dark chocolate ganache or salted caramel ganache

"What are friends, books, or health, the interests of travel or the delights of home if we have not time?"

Prompted by my Serendipity Experience I have decided to challenge myself and join Ali Edwards' December Daily 2010 Project. This is quite a mammoth undertaking as the task requires the keeping of a daily diary throughout the month of December to document in photographs, journaling and general memorabilia the 24 days leading up to Christmas.

My December Daily Journal

Day 5 Day 8