Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Awww...

Today's awww moment comes courtesy of Lillibird.

New baby friends meet each other

Kitten being given some oxygen

How cute is this baby owl?

As big as a grape...

A shy walrus

This cat has a permanent top hat

A special bubble bath

Finally, here's a proud new mom

Thank you, Lillibird.

Monday, 19 December 2011

"Carefully" placed stickers

View_From_Here sent me these very funny examples of carelessly placed stickers:













Thank you, View, they're hilarious.

Sunday, 18 December 2011

Lebkuchen


These lovely cookies were mentioned in the last thread, so I searched for a relatively simple recipe to share with you. You may vary the icing, using chocolate or almond instead. This recipe yields 72 cookies.

Ingredients

Cookies
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup diced candied citron peel
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

Icing
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Preparation

In a medium saucepan, stir together the honey and molasses. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the brown sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lastly the egg.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Add the molasses mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in the citron and hazelnuts. Cover dough and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Using a small amount of dough at a time, roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into small rectangles and place them 1 inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until no imprint remains when touched lightly.

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F (soft ball stage). Remove from heat and stir in the confectioners' sugar.

Quickly brush the icing over the cookies while they are still hot (Important!) and remove them to wire cooling racks. If icing becomes sugary while brushing cookies, re-heat slightly- adding a little water until crystals dissolve.

Store in an airtight container with a few pieces of apple peel for a few days to mellow.

Alternative glazing ideas

Chocolate glace:
200g (7 oz) powder (icing) sugar, sifted
30 g cocoa, sifted
enough hot water to make thick runny mixture to brush on

Almond glace:
200 g (7 oz) powder (icing) sugar, sifted
1 or 2 drops of almond extract
enough hot water to make a thick runny mixture to brush on

Saturday, 17 December 2011

Getting into the Christmas spirit

Tumbleweed sent me this touching Christmas story:

A couple was Christmas shopping at the mall on Christmas Eve and the mall was packed. Walking through the mall the surprised wife looked up and noticed her husband was nowhere around and she was very upset because they had a lot to do. She used her cell phone to call her husband because she was so upset, to ask him where he was. The husband in a calm voice said:

"Honey, remember the jewelry store we went into 5 years ago where you fell in love with that diamond necklace that we could not afford and I told you that I would get it for you one day?"



His wife said crying:

"Yes! I remember that jewelry store."

He said, "Well, I'm in the bar next to it."

*****

Mrsgunka sent me some seasonal cartoons:









And a video of some very fancy Christmas lights:



Thank you, Tumbleweed and Mrsgunka.

Friday, 16 December 2011

Some old news

Today we're taking a trip back to 1933, courtesy on Grasshopper. Among the items he secured at a recent auction were some large books of clippings from old newspapers. Please click on the images for a larger view.









Thank you, Grasshopper.