Christmas Baking 2015

Hello all-

Some years I do very little baking at the holidays, and sometimes I do a fair amount. It just kind of depends on how I’m feeling that year, or what I see that looks cute and I want to try (in addition to standard, family favorites).
This year, as you can see below, I was a bit out of control! 🙂
I found all kinds of cute cupcake decorations and other clever, cute recipes that I just had to try this year!

 

I tried Divinity (a delicious Southern Christmas treat) by myself this year! It went well!

Melting Snowman cookies. Love how these turned out!

A family favorite. Sour cream Christmas cookies.

Dark chocolate dipped marshmallows with various sprinkles.

I love, love, love these Santa cupcake wrappers and the Dr. Seuss-esque candy canes!

Cream cheese mints. Another family favorite. So very time consuming but, to me, SO worth it.

Santa hat pretzel bites. So easy and so stinkin’ adorable!

Another photo of the chocolate dipped marshmallows.

I was so proud of how the divinity turned out, I had to include a 2nd photo!

Chocolate cupcakes with green buttercream and the most adorable edible tree toppers.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Carol

Amazing Experience in Washington DC

With Memorial Day right around the corner, I wanted to share an experience  I had during a recent trip to Washington D.C. for a work meeting.

On the last morning when I was there getting ready to head downstairs for breakfast and the morning meetings, I happened to turn the local news on (which I had not done any of the other days). I saw about that day being the 70th anniversary of V-E Day, that it was going to be at the WWII Memorial starting around 10:30am, and that Madelyn Albright was supposed to speak. I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to find out about that! I had just enough time between the end of the meeting and when we needed to leave for the airport to go to the memorial and see some of the events.

Unfortunately, Albright apparently had something come up, so she couldn’t be there (I was bummed-really wanted to see her) but she had her sister give her speech, and she did a really nice job.   Listening to her and looking around at all the old veterans, I got choked up many times.

After the speeches and the wreath ceremony, they did the “Arsenal of Democracy” Flyover, and it was amazing. There were over 50 vintage WWII planes that came down the Potomac, came around by the Lincoln Memorial, over us, by the Washington Monument, and down the rest of the Mall. To see them coming around Lincoln and hear the sounds of planes from so long ago was something I will not soon forget.

The part that got me most of all (and got me to full on streams of tears running down my face) was the last group of planes. The announcer said they were going to do the “Missing Man” formation which is an honor to those that have been lost in the war(s). It is still done today in airshows and dates back to WWII. Before they came by, the band played “Taps” and then they came by. There was not a dry eye there as that was playing. How can you NOT get choked up during Taps?  There were 4 planes together and just as they were over me, 3 kept going forward and one turned up towards the sky/the heavens. I think you could have heard a pin drop in the entire Mall at that point. It was a spectacular and special sight to see.

I’m thankful for being able to have the opportunity to see an important event like that. Thank you to all veterans.

C

 

 

 

Spring Training and Sister Time

Wow- I’m waaay behind on blog posts for Sugar Sand! I have been focused this past year on getting the word out about a cookbook I recently co-wrote, but I am back now to, hopefully, a more even balance of main employment, cookbooks, and photography. I’m going to try anyway!

Last month, my sisters and I all met back up (after a hiatus last year) in Phoenix for our long weekend of fun, sister time, and Seattle Mariners Spring Training. We stay at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort (I love to say “tapatio”) which has great landscaping and colorful architecture on the grounds, and also has a variety of great pools to get in as much sun as possible! And these white Seattle legs needed it that’s for sure! In addition, the resort is located right next to the North Phoenix Mountain Preserve, so we can go on our morning hikes before we hit the sun and baseball. The beautiful hiking trails and the proximity of them to the resort make it one of my most favorite parts of the vacation. Within a few minutes you feel like you’re really out in the middle of nowhere and able to really relax and enjoy the beauty that is Arizona.

Here are some photos taken of the hotel grounds, on our hikes, and at the baseball games and practices. I’m already looking forward to the next trip!

 

 

4th of July in Edmonds

Some photos taken at last weekend’s 4th of July parade (and kids’ parade just before) in downtown Edmonds, Washington. It’s always fun and patriotic and such great Americana!

 

Our Recent Visit to Iceland

My apologies for the long post this time. They normally aren’t this bad, but I had a lot to share from our recent trip to Iceland!

 

Even as far back as the Fall of 2013, I began wondering “WHAT would be a cool thing to do for my 40th birthday?” (which wasn’t until that next March). Nothing really came to mind until I came across a deal on Living Social entitled “Reykjavik Nights: A 4-day, 3-night stay in Iceland.”

“That’s IT” I thought! How cool would Iceland be?! A quick whipping out of a credit card, a few clicks of the mouse later, and next thing you knew it; we were headed to Iceland. And we would be going just a week before my birthday. Perfect timing!

Andy and I were International travel newbies for sure. I had been to the Bahamas, but being a Floridian, that barely counts, so, needless to say, we were a little nervous when the travel day actually got here. We landed at Keyflavik International Airport on a Thursday morning and got on a couple of different buses, taking us to downtown Reykjavik and onto our hotel. After we checked in and dropped off our bags (the room wasn’t ready yet. It was, after all, only 9:00 in the morning and the people were still in their rooms!), we headed to the City Centre and did some sightseeing. The city sits right on the water, so it’s quite stunning. I also noticed a lot of murals and artistic drawings and graffiti (as you’ll see in the photo gallery). One thing I had heard about Iceland is that often times, and experienced it firsthand as we were sightseeing, is that Iceland can have all 4 seasons of the weather in one day. Man, that was definitely true! One minute the weather was quite pleasant and I could take some pictures, and then it was a full on, wind blowing sideways blizzard! After we did some more sightseeing and got some lunch, we headed back to the hotel; completely exhausted.

While we didn’t get to see the Northern Lights due to cloudiness (the only bummer of the trip), we did go on two very interesting tours over the next couple of days. One was the Reykjavik City tour and the other was called the “Golden Circle” tour.

The city tour was a nice way to learn about the history of Reykjavik and just to see the downtown and other nearby sites. We saw the President’s house, the “Pearl” (the highest point in the city- where the warm water from underground is pumped to, for distribution throughout the area), and the house where the 1986 Reagan/Gorbachev summit was held. It was a really nice tour.

The “Golden Circle” tour was billed as a “must see”, wonderful thing to do on your first visit to Iceland and wonderful it was. The tour consisted of seeing the following sites: Thingvellir National Park, the Geysir geothermal area, and the Gullfoss (“Golden Falls”) waterfall.

Thingvellir is where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart at a rate of a few centimeters/year. That spot is the only place in the world where this separation happens above sea level. Having a minor degree in geology, Andy thought this was particularly cool (as did I). And I believe the tour guide had said that some of the HBO show “Game of Thrones” was filmed there as well. Thingvellir is also important historically, because it is where the parliament would meet during the long summer days. Their parliament is the oldest in the world; dating back to 930 AD.

The Gullfoss waterfall was socked in with fog when we first got there, but as I mentioned earlier, the weather changes very quickly there, and soon the fog lifted! The Geysir geothermal area was also quite lovely, and very similar to another favorite of mine: Yellowstone National Park.

One thing that I found so interesting, is that Icelanders pay almost nothing for heat. There is so much warm water from the geothermal activity below the surface of the whole island, that they just pump it into all buildings and houses (the Pearl mentioned above). Paying nothing for heat?! That’s just crazy to me! And it’s a great heating system. Many time we would have to open the window in our room it was so warm (a not uncommon thing to do there).

I have to say though, that my favorite part of the trip (and, unfortunately, what we spent the least amount of time at due to the schedule), was the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa located in a lava field in Grindavik, west of Reykjavik. Listed by National Geographic as one of the 25 “wonders of the world”, it was truly spectacular. The water was a beautiful turquoise and it was so warm and re-energizing. It felt so amazing; like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. What was funny was that my hair felt so weird afterwards! Like pure straw! The mineral-rich water completely stripped everything out of my hair. It was so cool, and when we do go back there, Blue Lagoon is getting its own day for sure.

While relatively short, we packed a lot into those days, and were happy because we had a great time (and we felt it would be mostly a “reconnaissance” trip to kind of check things out and “get our toes wet” so to speak!). Iceland is a beautiful place, and one that we would definitely go back to. I have to see my Northern Lights after all and need my spa day at the Blue Lagoon! We felt so good to have had a successful first international trip, and we look forward to many more.

We’re on our way!

Our very nice hotel.

The very famous, and extremely popular hot dog stand!

President’s home

The “Pearl”: the highest point in the city.

view of Reykjavik from the Pearl

Statues outside the Pearl

House where the 1986 Reagan/

at Geysir

Gullfoss Waterfall

Thingvellir Nat’l Park

At Thingvellir Nat’l Park

Church at Thingvellir Nat’l Park

The Son of Iceland.

Just outside the Blue Lagoon

Artwork at Keflavik Int’l Airport

H2A: Percy’s & Co.

1st H2A blog of the year!

My first H2A takes us to Percy’s & Co in Ballard. It is on Ballard Ave, and is in the building that was once the Old Town Alehouse; next door to Hattie’s Hat (whose signature “chicken fried chicken” is absolutely TO. DIE. FOR. But I digress…).

Percy’s has been recently listed by Seattle magazine as one of the best new bars in the city. So of course I had to try it! Boasting an “apothecary” type atmosphere, in terms of both the decor and the cocktails, it definitely delivered. The place still has the lovely hardwood floors from Old Town, and has both tall, bar-type tables for big groups, as well as some pale green hued half-moon booths. The color and the booths themselves were a nice touch to the decor. The feeling of the herbaceous/apothecary theme is evident: from the lovely booth color, to the ferns hanging in the ceiling, to the herbs seen in a chemistry-type flask/distillery at the bar.

For dinner, we shared the potted pork rillettes and the pork dip sandwich; both of which were good. The real stars of the show though (and hence why they’re one of the best new bars in the city), were the cocktails. We both started with a Sankey Sour; a bourbon-based cocktail with aperol, fresh orange juice, egg whites, angostura bitters and sour mix. It was beautifully presented and dee-lic-ious!

Sankey Sour

We were then ready for round 2, but were a little hesitant to get one of the cocktails containing a stronger herb (they have cilantro infused gin, and star anise infused bourbon, among others), but we wanted to see what they had to offer, and it IS an apothecary bar, so we tried a “Sweetest Taboo” (cue Sade…). The cocktail consisted of lemon thyme infused bourbon, vanilla bean liqueur, aperol, relaxation tea, and fresh lemon. I have to say, it was quite good. Not overpowering, but had a lovely, refreshing taste to it.

I had only one irritation with Percy’s. And, unfortunately, it’s a problem found in many bars and restaurants nowadays. It apparently seems to be a common theme that they all insist on playing music loudly.  Granted, we were initially sitting near a speaker, but we ended up moving because we couldn’t even hear each other talk. Even when we moved, I had to scoot closer to her to be able to hear her clearly. It was quite distracting and made it difficult to even carry on a conversation. We had asked them to turn it down a little, but after initially turning it down some, someone else decided to turn it back up. It was so distracting, we ended up going ahead and getting the check; when, if it had not been so distracting, we would have stayed and enjoyed another cocktail or two. It’s a shame, because the place is quite nice, has tasty cocktails, and has a great overall feel to it. I know I sound like a crotchety old lady, but I just felt I needed to share so you’re aware.

Note to bars and restaurants: if it’s happy hour and not later in the evening when things get a little more loud and crazy, please keep the music down. It’s supposed to be setting mood as background. Let people enjoy each other’s company and your delicious food and spirits.

Onward and upward to H2A #2!

New Year. New Adventures.

Happy New Year everyone!

Wow- I just realized (by looking at the date of my last post) just how out if pocket I have been, in terms of Sugar Sand blog posts. Sorry about that!

As with the start of every new year, I look back on the past year, and think about what’s to come in the next. This year with be full of great things. Exciting new travel, a published cookbook, and more photography opportunities. I am so excited and look forward to sharing the year with you!

In the past, I have posted about a restaurant or bar I’ve been to, but this year, I wanted to distinguish those blog posts from others by giving them a clever, catchy title. The result? H2A! H2A stands for “Happy Hour Adventure” and combines the food/cocktail aspect with my nerdy science background. There are two H’s in “Happy Hour Adventure”; much like the two Hydrogen atoms in water (H2O). And, as a bonus, it’s kind of fun to say! Pretty sweet don’t you think?! Keep your eyes peeled for the 1st installment of H2A: coming soon!

I am looking forward to a great 2014; with love, optimism, excitement and success. I leave you with this wonderful quote I saw at the beginning of the year, from the country singer, Brad Paisley. In regards to the New Year, he said: “Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”

I intend to!

much love-
C

Pike Place Market, Seattle.

Recent Horse Show Weekend at Little Bit

I was back at my favorite place last month: Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center! They were having their annual horse and dressage shows, and I was honored to be a part of these special events. The riders were adorable (as always), the staff was wonderful, and the horses and facilities just sparkled in their first shows at the new Dunmire Stables.

My most favorite moment of this years’ shows happened after one riding group received their ribbons. As they were exiting the arena, one rider came up to me and, without saying anything, grabbed my forearm and held up their ribbon for me to see. It was such a pure, sweet, and very special moment for me. Saying nothing at all said so much to me.  I even get a little choked up typing this now. It’s moments like these that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world and why I feel so lucky to be a part of Little Bit. Can’t wait till next year!

http://www.littlebit.org

Mistral Kitchen 9-Course Dinner

In late May, Karen, Jeri, Jen, and I were able to get our schedules coordinated and enjoy a special deal we had gotten to enjoy a 9-course meal at Mistral Kitchen in downtown Seattle. We have all been there before, and they have wonderful food and fantastic cocktails. So we were very excited to have a whole evening there!

We had the most amazing servers and were having such a great time, that we ended up having the manager and pastry chef sit down and chat with us! We were there 5 hours and it just went by like that! Apparently, since they loved us so much, we ended up with more of like a 12-course meal! By the last of the 3 desserts, we were so stuffed, we had it home with us. We were just maxed out!

I ended up taking some notes (I know I know- nerd alert!) on what each course was, just to remember all the details and how amazing everything was (I tried to include the wine pairings when I’m remembering them, but that didn’t really go so well. Particularly after the “cocktail course”!

Intro/”Welcome” Snack: Champagne with chili oil
and lime popcorn:

Amuse-bouche: Grav lox with creme fresh:

Big eye tuna with shaved asparagus and radish,
grapefruit segments, and radish sprout basil oil:

Maine diver scallop, corn, basil oil, and hon
shemiji mushrooms:

Alaskan halibut, Egyptian farro mustard greens, baby
turnips, heirloom carrots, radish sprouts, and pea foam:

Lamb, black beans, ramp oyster mushrooms, in
a port reduction:

Pierre Robert cheese with apricot
marmalade and radish sprouts:

Dessert:
Coconut pudding with rum foam, shaved coconut,
compressed pineapple, and cilantro syrup:

Chocolate bombe (peanut butter filling) with port
soaked cherries:

Some of the other items we had (that I was too wrapped up in to get a picture of):

Foie Gras with thinly sliced apple and candied orange peel (who would have thought I would like Foie Gras?! But I do!)
The “Cocktail Course”: “Point of No Return” was the name. It involved fire. Very cool.

What a great, fun experience. Sometimes I don’t mind paying extra for a special experience. And that’s what this was. Not just good food and wine. But a whole experience, and one I won’t forget anytime soon.  Can’t wait for our next culinary adventure…