Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas 2009

Here are the pics. I think you know the story :-)


































































Friday, December 25, 2009

Home by Owen

Possibly my favorite christmas gift.....

Monday, December 21, 2009

Welcome Winter Solstice

Well, the longest night is past, we are moving on towards those longer days. We celebrated this day by (finally) attending Drumming up the Sun at Red Rocks. It was beautiful.
"The sun shines not on us but in us." --John Muir

Red Rocks. We need to spend more time there.

This evening, we made a solstice tradition, Sun Bread.
We always read the book, and enjoy some yummy bread with dinner.







Mmmmmmm.....

Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven

Sun Bread Recipe

This recipe is from my new book Sun Bread. I hope you enjoy it!

1. Mix Well: 3 eggs 3 tablespoons sugar

2. Combine: 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour1 stick butter, softened.

3. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat well.

4. In a small bowl combine: 2 packages active dry yeast3 tablespoons lukewarm milk. Let stand until mixture is foamy, at least 5 minutes.

5. Add the yeast mixture to the batter and stir. Knead dough on greased, floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes.

6. Place dough in greased bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place for about an hour.

7. Punch down dough, knead for a few minutes, then separate into two portions.

8. To form the sun's face, shape one portion of dough into a round, somewhat flattened ball, then place on a large greased baking sheet. With the greased end of a wooden spoon, or with your finger, punch two "eyes" in the sun; draw a mouth for your sun in the same way. (Make sure you make deep lines and holes in the dough so they won't close up while the bread bakes.) Make a nose for your sun by securely attaching a small ball of dough to its face.

9. To make a corona for your sun, roll one half of the remainder of the dough into four or five long "snakes." Then curl the snakes into puffy "snail" shapes. Shape the rest of the dough into puffy triangles. Firmly attach the snails and triangles to your sun's face. (Use a little water if the dough is too dry.)

10. Cover the sun and let it rise again in a warm place for about an hour.

11. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To make your sun shiny, brush it with an egg wash (a beaten egg with a few drops of water added), right before baking. Bake the sun bread for about twenty minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into center of bread . (It should come out clean.)

12. Enjoy! Your sun bread is delicious plain or with butter, honey, or jam.






Friday, December 18, 2009

Holiday Ballet 2009

Elise's ballet class has been working on their own version of the Nutcracker. This is a great group of girls, the 6 and 7 year old have been together for a few sessions now, there are a few older girls in here now who just started, and all togther, this group is really good.
These classes are pretty casual, although Miss Holly has been emphasizing to the girls how she wants them to wear "real" ballet attire, pink leotards (black is okay) and tights, pink shoes. Elise has been doing pretty well, but she is bound to be a rebel (if you can't tell, Elise is the child with the striped tights ;-p)

Also got some pics of their barre work.