Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Hedgehog and the Highlander

 The top two stand-out ornaments on our tree this year have to be the hedgehog and the Highlander.
 I bought the Highlander in Scotland this past October, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse gift shop, or as we always refer to gift shops "la boutique".
 That was a particularly good "la boutique".

Elephants are always a theme on our tree, I can appreciate the gold and glitz of this little fellow:
 You can't go wrong with the classic red rocking horse in wood.
 The Rascals have their stockings laid out, ready for Santa.
 I spent yesterday afternoon chopping and stirring nuts and fruit for the Christmas pudding cake.  I had to make some substitutions to keep it plant based (like using flax eggs instead of real eggs, basically it's just ground flax soaked in water until it reaches a strange, egg-like consistency).  I also used Earth Balance plant-based "butter" instead of coconut oil, only because I don't care for the taste of coconut oil.
 It smelled wonderful while it was cooking but we'll have to see how it tastes... though if I pour brandy all over it and light it on fire (not part of the recipe by the way) I think it will be a spectacle and any odd texture will be forgiven.

Last evening was an ideal pre-Christmas time at home in front of the fire with the candles lit.  First of all I was feeling very lazy so I made a green salad and then I ordered pizza, one with vegan cheese for us and mozzarella for the Rascals.
 Then we watched a Christmas movie with James Stewart: The Shop Around The Corner.
Have you seen this movie?  It was so good!  I highly recommend.
I'll be all over town today, everywhere from the Orthodontist office (Lil Rascal) to the shoe repair place, the post office, bank and the one grocery store in town where I can source roasted chestnuts... hoping there hasn't been a run on them.
I hope you get everything done today,
xoxDani