Thursday, December 30, 2010

Was Your Kitchen Naughty or Nice This Year?

I don't know about you, but apparently my kitchen was VERY good this year based on how kind Santa was in adding to the mayhem. From books to bakeware, I'm heading into 2011 with some great new toys. Thanks, friends and family, for being incredible enablers of this baking addiction!


What fun, new additions are you playing with post-holidays?


Professional Mini Loaf Pan, Eight-Count
from Sur La Table




Kuhn Rikon Frosting Decorating Pen
available at Sur La Table





Collapsible Cupcake and Cake Carrier

available on Amazon

Preserve® BPA Free Mixing Bowls
available from BB&B



Wilton Icing Colors, Set of 12
available on Amazon





Very Merry Cookie Party: How to Plan and Host a Christmas Cookie Exchange

available on Amazon





Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Bear Down! Chi-ca-go Bears!


Bears v. Jets
Soldier Field
Dec. 26, 2010


Who cares if it's 10 degrees with lake effect snow?! 

Sign of a great game: removing your gloves to find your hands
covered in the black powder of the hand warmers that exploded
with so many high-fives.

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday!
Back tomorrow with Pie Bird deliciousness :)


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Compliments of the Season 2010

Whew! I finally finished all of my little goodie bags of homemade gifts for my coworkers. As you know, I look for any excuse to try something new or cross a project off my list, so this holiday season was no exception. 


Not everything was new, however. You might remember the cookie dough tubes from last year - click here for that post - they also made an encore appearance this year after many requests! And I did resort to an oldie-but-goodie recipe when the thought of rolling out dough for gingerbread cookies made my head want to explode - who doesn't love a spiced molasses cookie?!


So here's most of what was in the goodie bags this year - minus the addition of a small box of peppermint fudge and the cutest clean paint can container of homemade caramels that I inexplicably forgot to take pictures of! Dang! Here's the recipe for the caramels and the recipe for the fudge (add 1 tsp peppermint extract and top with Andes mint pieces to make my version).


 
Cookie Dough Tubes:
Citrus Christmas Shortbread Cookies
& Holiday Cheer Chocolate Chip Cookies



Personalized Mug Candles**
Made with Water Slide Decal Paper


Spiced Molasses Cookies
with Homemade Peppermint Patties! 


Hot Stuff! Coffee/Tea Sleeve Cozies 


Flight Light Firestarters
...little nest and all!


Select Goat Milk Soaps:
Chai Tea, Tea & Ginger, Farmhouse Cider, Orange Clove, Honey Oat



Key Fob Wristlets 
a fun and useful way to attach gift tags!


I'm headed to Chicago for the holidays tomorrow - fingers crossed for good travel - so I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. See you next week :)


Saturday, December 18, 2010

Sweetie Pie Deal: Your New Favorite [and FREE!] Christmas Music for Download

Head on over to the downplayer today to get a bunch of FREE downloads of Christmas music that will literally rock your socks off (and not in a Kenny G or Alvin and the Chipmunks way):

Carol of the Bells - The Bird and the Bee
It's Christmas - Coconut Records
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - David Bazan
Christmas Song - Denison Witmer
Lo How a Rose Ever Blooming - Feist
Frosty the Snowman - Fiona Apple
Christmas in Harlem - Kayne West
Christmas Time is Here - Mayer Hawthorne
Winter Wonderland - Radiohead
Winter Song - Sara Bareilles/Ingrid Michaelson



Monday, December 13, 2010

A Bird Can Dream: Back to Basic Toys

I went with a friend on a little shopping excursion this weekend - she did her holiday shopping for her two sons and I stocked up on all of the butter, sugar, flour, and chocolate chips I needed for my Christmas baking and a work event on Wednesday (more on that later). 

Having no children of my own (and more than completely OK with that), I was totally blown away by the toy sections we bravely crawled through amidst other holiday shoppers. Who are these TV cartoon characters? What does this mechanical looking bug do exactly? Why are there so many weapons? Is EVERYTHING animated?

As someone who grew up watching Shirley Temple movies on VHS and playing with Lincoln Logs, I was overwhelmed by plastic and action figures and "batteries not included" and dolls that don't look even remotely soft and cuddly. How sad! In response, this edition of A Bird Can Dream is turning back time - and not that far! - to take a look at the toys that I remember being the bee's knees, courtesy of Back To Basic Toys.















Sunday, December 12, 2010

Lofty Thought: Carl Sagan

“In order to make an apple pie from scratch, 
you must first create the universe.”


Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Bird Feed: Iced Lemon Sour Cream Mini Cakes


Fine, so these little babies aren't exactly in season, but I tend to think that doesn't matter when you take into account the deliciousness factor. After I picked up these mini bundt pans at World Market, I couldn't resist taking them for a test drive and decided to go with my gut on the recipe choice... citrus! 

These iced sour cream lemon cakes originally come from the glazed lemon cake recipe in The Silver Palate cookbook (one of my favorites!), found here on nigella.com, and were absolutely yummy. Add a little lime zest to the batter and glaze for an extra tangy kick! Mini bundts are great gifts for teachers, neighbors, and coworkers, as if you needed any more motivation to give these a whirl...

You'll Need:
1/2 pound sweet butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
2 tightly packed tablespoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice


Glaze/Icing:
  • 1 lb confectioners sugar
  • 8 tbsp butter
  • 3 tbsp lemon zest
  • 1/2 c lemon juice

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour your mini pans or a 10-inch tube or Bundt pan
  • Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

  • Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk or sour cream, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Add lemon zest and juice.
  • Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes (or an hour and 10 minutes for a regular pan), or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

  • Cool cake in the pan, set on a rack, for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and spread on icing at once, while cake is still hot. 

  • To make the icing: Cream sugar and butter thoroughly. Mix in lemon zest and juice; spread on warm cake.

My mini bundt pans from World Market


Sour cream


A mix of mini pans!


Prepping the glaze/icing


Hot out of the oven


Cooling on wire racks


Iced perfection


This is a breakfast food, right?

Monday, December 6, 2010

Sweetie Pie Deals: Bacon Resurgence?


OK, I know my last post indicated that Pie is on the rise (watch out!) but it seems as though Bacon is still uber popular on the clothing front. Check out these 2 deals on bacon-related tees - perfect for that pesky little brother who is hard to shop for... or just because bacon is delicious:


$6.99 + $2.50 shipping
(originally $14.99)

$4.99 + $3.50 shipping
(originally $16.99)



Saturday, December 4, 2010

Pie is Winning the Web!


Via Eater

Look out Cupcakes and Bacon, Pie is the new internet superstar. 
According to Google trends, nothing compares to the almighty Pie:
"...while charts suggest that cupcakes' increased popularity signals the slow decline of the cult of bacon, neither of those come even close to the unending and infinite popularity of pie." (Eater)
 Very sweet indeed. 



Thursday, December 2, 2010

A Bird Can Dream: Museum of Useful Things

With categories like Carry, Affix, Clean, Read & Write, Hold, Measure, Organize, and Assist, the Museum of Useful Things is bound to be, you guessed it, useful. If you're having a difficult time shopping for the practical person on your holiday shopping list, head on over there!
The Museum of Useful Things byline has always been “the beauty of function” the satisfaction of a well-designed product that is economical (not just in price, but in usage) made of appropriate materials, and one that does the job well, intuitively if possible.