Moss

Over the last few years I have gained a true love for the world of flora. I discovered that with the right knowledge, anyone can have a greenthumb or at least appreciate the complexities of the plant world. With the help of my Biology lab partner and his love for plants, I started to collect and care for various houseplants. Bryophytes, or mosses are among my favorite classifications of plants. Mosses are unique because they do not have a vascular system as other plants do. This means they cannot "drink" water as they have no internal vessels, or veins. They must instead absorb water from the environment through their leaves. The moist temperate rainforests of my environment in the Pacific Northwest are the perfect place for many species of moss to thrive.  

Weird...maybe, but I happen to love moss...it grew on me...

The first time I looked at moss in a microscope during my Majors Biology course in college I fell for it. It was absolutely beautiful. Surprisingly it is made up of thousands of microscopic leaves, each one perfectly formed. What's not to be appreciated?  The many shades of mossy green, yellow, chartreuse, puse and even black. These are some of my favorite colors hands down. Various mosses decorate my local ecosystem by covering the surface of nearly everything. Different species find their homes on live trees, fallen logs, river rocks, and forest floors.

                                        

Here are some photos I have taken:

Irish Moss with tiny flowers

These species I do not know, but they are still really cool. I had never seen this black and green one.

'Tis the Season, Part II

After picking Marcus up from his short deployment about a week and a half ago, life started to get somewhat back to normal for us (whatever that means). We spent a few days just being together (this is what is normal... yes, just being together). We went downtown, explored some new restaurants (honing in on our chopsticking skills) and enjoyed the Holiday festivites in Fairhaven (a neighborhood in Bellingham), with a free ride in a horse carriage. We tried to get Ben's picture taken with the grinch at the local bookstore, but he wouldn't go near the guy!

Nice, France

I've been living vicariously through Marcus' trip to the Cote de' Azur in France (Marseilles, Cannes and Nice) and Monaco...it's gorgeous! He said it was by far the best port he had ever been to...and he took some great pictures...here are just a few!

Cannes

Beer...of course

Monaco

                                         Oh, that's just a Bentley...

                                                                            

This week has been rather low-key, as life seems to be these days. Our pace of life has been so slow since September that it's ridiculous. I'm finding myself spending more and more time surfing the net and am now completely addicted to pinterest.com (you can pin any photos you find online to different "pin boards" with the simple click of a button) It's a personal collection of things one finds aesthetically pleasing....We did have a nice family outing out along the Mount Baker Highway just outside of Bellingham. It's absolutely beautiful, and the surprisingly warm weather even allowed a little hike along the crystal clear Nooksack River. Aside from that the usual daily activites of running errands, prepping for the holidays and our move are keeping us rather busy...with plenty of time to procrastinate in between.

Our intention was to find snow so Benjamin could as he put it "throw snowballs at mommy", but since we left the house a bit late we started to run out of daylight at around 3:30 p.m. and headed back towards home. Since we didn't make it up to the summit, we saw none. We'll just have to try again another day.

I have been continuing in my baking endeavors. I have made 3 batches of Oreo truffles (recipe follows)...these things are so good they're wrong. My husband can not control himself around them. I think I have to refuse to make any more...

Ridiculous Oreo Truffles (both ridiculously easy, and delicious!)

1 Package Oreo's (any flavor)

I 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

Almond bark, or chocolate of choice

1. Split all oreos in half, you will use the cookie and cream. In a food processor, process oreo's until they are a fine crumb.

2. In a bowl mix cream cheese with Oreo crumbs, can use a hard wooden spoon to press together- but I am impatient so I used the best tools I own, my hands.

3. Roll mixture into 1' balls and place on wax paper lined cookie sheet. Place in fridge while you melt the almond bark, or choclate according to the package.

4. Dip oreo balls into the melted chocolate and place in fridge until shell is hardened. Store in airtight container in fridge.

I have also made shortbread cookies, gingerbread men, lemon ricotta meltaways, cashew candies and fully decorated sugar cookies...and last night I made meringues....I think I'm done... I'm just tired of looking at, smelling and tasting sugary treats at this point. It just feels too gluttonous at this point...done.

So pretty!

Now that I'm done with baking, I'm just going to get through the next week...and then I guess I really have to start prepping for this move. Yay! We should have our first of three pack-outs sometime in January. Time to yet again purge the apartment of furniture and other un-necessaries...

We will not be sending out Holiday cards this year...it's just too late at this point. I'll let this blog serve as our Holiday greeting to fmily and friends.

                                Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays... Our Love To You All!

'Tis the Season for Holiday Baking

        In my state of voluntary denial (regarding the enormous life changes looming in the background), I have been trying to get in the mood for this holiday season. So I have decided to bake until I can bake no more (and make some christmas ornaments). Although, I still don't quite know who's going to be eating all this stuff I'm making quite an abundant assortment. One strategy I have engaged is to make things that I cannot eat. In fact, I thoroughly contaminated my kitchen with peanut butter cookie dough this morning! I made a batch of my husband's very favorite Peanut butter kisses. I had to write a new recipe for this however, because despite the plethora of available recipes online, I just wasn't satisfied with anything I could find. Even mom's trusty peanut butter cookie recipe wasn't doing it for me. Sorry Mom! Though I did take a few cues from it, the cinnamon being the main one. Here it is the new and improved, and higher-fiber version:

Holiday Peanut Butter Kisses

In a small bowl goes:
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. All Purpose flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
- set this aside

In another small bowl:
unwrap about 60 Hershey's kisses( I just do the whole bag and leave the rest for snacking).

In mixer or mixing bowl:
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. peanut butter (I used chunky)
- cream together until well blended
Then add in:
 1 cup of light brown sugar and 2 tsp. vanilla, and stir to combine.
Then add in 2 eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Whip on medium-high speed until fluffy.
-Now, add the dry ingredients slowly, about 1/2c. or so at a time and remember to scrape the sides of the bowl when necessary.

* Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. For the best looking cookies roll 1-1 1/2 inch balls of dough and place on a lightly grease cookie sheet. Bake until the bottoms are golden brown and cookies look firm and matte (about 10 minutes).
Once you pull the cookies out of the oven, press a kiss into the center of each cookie. The kisses will melt into the cookie, once they are cooled and the kisses harden up again you can store for future enjoyment!

mmm....they sure look good, I wish I could taste them...

Here are the ornaments I've managed to finish so far. They're pretty cute, and it keep my hands busy. There's something slightly therapeutic about punching needles into beads and sequins and styrofoam balls...and I now hate hot glue...with a passion.

We also made Coconut Cranberry Macaroons as well, recipe courtesy Ina Garten from food network.com. Though we skipped out on the orange zest (didn't think grapefruit would taste very good). They are really crunchy, toasty and yummy! Dare I dip a few in chocolate?

Such a good helper!



         

Time to clean up the kitchen...  :(