The Ghost Of Christmas Future

Stardate 49750.12:

Dancing Through the Holidays

I hadn’t intended to get to this one quite yet but since I started us down the belly dancing rabbit hole last week, I’ve decided to keep going.

When I first started taking belly dance classes, my teacher followed the American Tribal Style. ATS is different from classical belly dancing, more a fusion of various folk dance techniques. My instructor always said that it was a very female dance, women dancing for women, not for men. It was group-oriented and improvisational and tons of fun… but never really quite hit the sweet spot for me.

However, after that whole unfortunate skull fracture incident, when I needed to find a way to exercise indoors without triggering my vertigo, I started to explore belly dance again. There are a lot of beautifully fluid dancers out there, with mad muscle control skillz, (many of whom I admire) but it wasn’t until I discovered Rachel Brice that I found a belly dancer whose style made me whimper with the longing to Dance Just. Like. Her.  (And the funky steampunk costumes don’t hurt either.)

It will never happen, of course. 

But an aging zaftig woman can dream, no?

So here you go - a quick intro to my belly dance idol, Rachel Brice:
(the light improves at about 50 seconds)

Look for her again at future Friday Night Dance Parties!

December 24th...

Merry Christmas to All!

and to all:

Love, Happiness, and Peace on Earth.

Altho' It's Been Said Many Time, Many Ways...

Holiday Dance Party

She’s not my favorite bellydancer but she moves well and she certainly hits the beat!

(Plus, just the fact that she’s dancing to TransSiberian Orchestra earns her a Christmas thumbs up in my book. :-D)

Enjoy!

(And Tom, if you’re out there - this one’s for you!)

Hallmark Invades The Enterprise

This was actually my Christmas card one year:

I’m waiting for enough time to pass that I can send it again!

We Take The Dance Party To India

Bharatanatyam is one of the classical Indian dance forms, begun in the Hindu temples of Tamil Nadu. It is a dance that expresses emotion, melody, and rhythm; an “illustrative anecdote of Hindu religious themes and spiritual ideas emoted by dancer with excellent footwork and impressive gestures”

It’s also just plain captivating to watch…

In Which I Interrupt My Decorating to Vent

So, I got this wild hair of an idea for a Christmas decoration, which I have been frantically working on for days now… to the point that I’m in danger of becoming one of those people who can’t stop showing off the 86 million pictures of their latest pet project. (Don’t worry… you all are safe. It’s quirky enough that it would be identifiable if I were to post pictures here so I won’t be doing that.) 

I only mention the fact to explain that pictures are being shown around… 

        and just about every person I’ve shown them to has reacted with genuine surprise. 

                  “I had no idea you were creative!”

…

… …

… … …

How does one respond to that??

And more importantly, What the heck kind of impression am I projecting???

(I asked this of SP, who responded with, “What kind of obtuse weirdos do you hang with when I’m not around?” … An answer which cheered me immensely. :-D)

Festive Beauty

While I like having time to enjoy my Christmas decorations, I’m more of a “two weeks before” kind of gal. So I pretty much waited for this weekend to do my decorating. Of course, I didn’t think to get the cleaning done ahead of time, so "decorating" has gone something like this:

“What shall I put up next? … Okay, that goes *there*...”; I then vacuum and dust the bejeepers out of *there*; put up the decoration; and start the whole process all over with the next spot.

I have to admit, it’s not my favorite approach to decorating but we work with what we have… and this year, what I have is woeful ill-preparedness. But not to worry, I’m getting there in spite of myself. The poinsettias are out, the candles are in the windows, Christmas mugs are washed and on the shelf, and my tree is up and decorated.

Possibly not optimized but "up and decorated" is good enough for me!

(thank you, selkie!)

To The Bakers

and everyone else who enjoyed the day:

It would never happen without All of You.

(And I'm very grateful that it does!)

Let Us Eat Cookies...

Welcome to The Ninth Annual 

Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza!

You have to have figured out by now that I really love doing this every year. I also really love the fact that so many of my faithful bakers keep coming back - yet each new exchange also sees one or two new people joining in the fun, as well. That makes me smile, to see that you all seem to enjoy this as much as I do. Thank you for making it so much fun.

Now, on to the cookies ('n' stuff)!

The original plan this year had been to present one short and simple recipe (an eggnog riff on the classic Oreo truffle) and one slightly more involved recipe that is dairy and gluten free. (I have a new family member who’s both lactose and gluten intolerant, and Tiny Woman has recently developed lactose intolerance, as well... not to mention the recent influx of vegetarians and vegans into my social circle. All of which means that increased vigilance is now A Thing for me… because, you know, the holidays weren’t already challenging enough.)

But anyhow, my plan didn’t work out so well. The eggnog truffle recipe turned out to be an absolute flop. Tasty, to be sure, but thoroughly miserable to work with - far too wet, droopy, and unmanageable… even an excess of freezing couldn’t salvage the process. I think the recipe proportions need massaging but unless or until I figure the problem out, there’s no way I’m disseminating this particular recipe. (Altho’ I *will* snack on the resultant misshapen blobs now stored in my freezer- let us not kid ourselves.)

The DF GF Magic Cookie Bars, however, made up for the disappointment - they are super!

The recipe comes from Food, Faith, Fitness

Her recipe, but I’ve been fairly unrestrained about adding my own notes to the directions.

Gingersnap Chocolate Magic Cookie Bars 

     (Paleo, GF, DF) - from Food, Faith, Fitness

Ingredients 

For the topping: 

1 Can Full-fat coconut milk (14 oz) 

1/4 C Honey (or agave for vegan) 

1/4 C Molasses
2 tsp Ground ginger 

1 tsp Cinnamon 

For the bars:

    

2/3 C Pecans
1/3 C Coconut oil, at room temperature (should be like softened butter) 

3 Tbsp Honey (or agave)
3/4 C Coconut flour, sifted
1/2 T Instant coffee
Pinch of salt
1/4 C dairy-free mini chocolate chips (or regular, if DF isn't a concern)

Instructions 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spread the pecans on a small cookie sheet. Toast until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. (Watch them! Nuts go from toasty to burned very quickly.) Roughly chop and set aside.

2. Whisk together all of the “topping” ingredients in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Then, turn the heat down to medium and simmer until the sauce reduced by about half. 

(Jz note: Taylor (FFF lady) estimated this would take 10-15 minutes. That was decidedly not my experience - mine took WAY longer than 15 minutes. The time is not important, however, what matters is that you get the sauce reduced to about about 1.25 cups of liquid. 
Taylor suggests that you keep pouring the sauce out into a large measuring cup to check, then returning to the saucepan until it’s cooked down sufficiently. This struck me as much-too-much of a nuisance, so I made a little measuring device. I put 1 1/4 C of liquid in the saucepan, took a short length of florist’s wire and fitted it so that it just touched the liquid when clipped over the side of the pan. 

the device

But you do you… just cook it down to the right amount, however you measure it.)

3. Take the sauce off the heat and let cool, stirring occasionally. (Helps the cooling and prevents a skin forming, so really… please stir.)

4. Line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang up the sides to use as a handle when you de-pan the bars. (Note: It helps to spray the bottom of the pan with spray before putting in the parchment paper, to keep it in place.)

5. In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the coconut oil and honey until smooth and creamy. Stir in the flour, coffee and pinch of salt until a wet dough forms. (By the way, if you're worried about being overwhelmed by the taste of coconut, I've found that refined coconut oil has a much more neutral flavor than the unrefined kind.)

 

6. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. This is one of those doughs that you really need to press with your palms and fingers, so toss all thoughts of dainty out the window. Get right in there with your (well-washed) hands!

7. Bake the crust just until lightly golden brown, about 6-7 mins. (Taylor says 7-8 but mine was just starting to scorch at 7, so I’m dropping it down a bit.)

8. As soon as the crust comes out of the oven, sprinkle the chopped nuts on top, and lightly press them into the crust. Then sprinkle on the chocolate chips.

9. Pour the slightly cooled coconut milk mixture EVENLY over the top of the surface and gently shake the pan to encourage co-mingling. (Or use the “push with the back of a spoon” method I had to adopt - I hadn’t grabbed my potholders and the pan was too hot to hang onto… whoopsie!) 

Just agitate the coconut milk mixture in some manner until it begins to sink between the layers, ok? 

10. Bake until the sides are lightly golden brown, about 25-28 minutes. (The original recipe says 27-28 minutes but again, mine didn’t need that much time. Just check ‘em earlier and add time if need be.)

11. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Then cover with tinfoil and refrigerate overnight. (Don’t skip the refrigerating overnight - the coconut milk mixture really needs the time to chill and thicken.)

12. After the appropriate chilling time, run a sharp knife around the edges of the pan, and pull the bars out with the parchment paper handles. Cut into bars. (Taylor suggests 16, I tend to cut smaller bars when it’s for holiday cookie plates. Again - your call.)

the cookies
(eggnog blobs included)

Now, please join me in visiting the rest of the Exchange Crew.

Just remember that there are significant time differences around the world. 

If someone hasn’t posted yet, be patient and check back later.

Baker

Bogey and Bacall

Cat

DelFonte

Fondles

greengirl

Hermione

Katie

Kelly

Lindy

messymimi

Mrs. Fever

Olivia

ronnie

Ryan

Sassy

the bakers

It's Time!

Good Luck!

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