Ice Ice Baby

Christmas cookie baking for holiday gifts is an annual tradition in my mother’s kitchen and hopefully next year will be in mine too. But for now, being 7.5 month pregnant with twins tends to get in the way of those types of standing-required activities, so I was content to be doing the sitting-friendly tasks this time around on her behalf, such as icing and cutting out shapes from her pre-rolled dough.

Having taken the pastry courses at George Brown, my mom just LOVES her culinary gear and I laughed at her when she first wheeled in a commercial rack into the kitchen for her baking exploits. The joke’s on me though as it totally does come in super handy when baking and icing for a crowd.

Having a plethora of both sugar and gingerbread cookies already baked up from a previous kitchen session, I organized my tools for the icing and decorating so I could move quickly between designs without letting the royal icing get too stiff.

I had the most fun with the gingerbread snowflakes but  went a little crazy on the sanding sugar for the sugar cookie versions due to my insistence that it looks like real snow (well it does!)

I also made some mittens (not of the kitten variety) using crushed peppermint candy shards for the cuffs- cute and minty fresh!

What’s your favourite holiday cookie recipe?

What Would Be Under My Christmas Tree (if I had a tree…)

Do you still have some holiday shopping to do? Well there’s just about a week left to snap up your gifts so here are some of my own picks that I’ve seen in stores over the past few days for some inspiration to get you going…

I love gold. I love stripes. I love soft boiled eggs (even though I can’t have anything undercooked right now- boo), so it’s not shocking that I have a crush on these adorable egg cups at Putti. At $15 a piece, they’d make any old egg and toast breakfast a more classy affair.

This luxe cashmere and wool blend throw by Yves Delorme at ELTE is so luxuriously soft and not totally out of control price-wise for a special gift at $225. I’m partial to it because this pinky-lavender hue appears a couple of times in my new digs, not to mention that it’s pretty much the exact shade that Pantone has selected as the colour of the year for 2014. The folks at Pantone call it radiant orchid- I’ll stick with  “warm lavender” as what the hell does radiant orchid even mean?

I know we’ve already covered the fact that I love gold, but did I mention in the past five minutes that I am a cheese freak? (Thankfully all cheese by law needs to be pasteurized in Canada so that hasn’t been off limits!) I love these cheese knives from West Elm because they’re a nice scale and add a touch of glamour to my favourite rustic cheese board.

I fell for this beautiful box set of assorted gourmet salts at the HomeSense holiday preview in the summer and was pleased to see a couple at the eglinton and laird location this week. Considering it’s cool to put sea salt on everything these days whether it be sweet or savoury, at $120, it’s a great gift for your favourite gourmand to savour.

Most creative types have some form of inspiration board in their offices and I’m no exception, so I think these gold (shock!) bow push pins by Kate Spade New York are just too cute for words! At $24 at Indigo, they won’t break the bank either.

Happy Shopping!

Picking Up Where We Left Off…

It’s been a few months but I swear I have a good reason for ditching: we moved into the house in late June the same week Dave and I discovered we were expecting- double whammy!

Instead of unpacking and getting back into blogging, I proceeded to sleep more in 12 weeks than I think I have ever the past 3 years combined. Extreme fatigue, horrible chronic headaches and general ickiness took over my life, but little did we know then that it was because there is not just one, but in fact two babies hanging out in my belly!

Once we recovered from the shock of finding out that twins were on the way (identical boys no less), I finally got a bit of my energy back and was able to get my act together and get the house ready for the shoot for the magazine in mid-October.

Now here we are in December and I’ve said a sad bye bye to my daily desk duties at Style At Home so I can concentrate on growing my babes safely until they make their debut in the new year.

The bright side is being at home has given me some time to prepare a whole series of posts that you’ll see on the Style At Home Blog (as well as here) about the reno, specifically on the kitchen and family room which will be published in the February issue.

Stay tuned for an in-depth look at my reno, and be sure to check out what my colleagues have been up to on the SAH Blog as well.

Cottage Spread Is Here!

The July issue of Style At Home has finally arrived to subscribers, and with it the photo shoot from the cottage project I slaved away on last year!

Photographed by the amazing Donna Griffith, it is a lovely way to immortalize my intense months of craziness transforming this summer home into a Hamptons-worthy getaway in Simcoe.

You need to pick up the July issue when it hits stands this week to see the full spread, but stay tuned for some great before and after posts here and on the Style At Home blog to get some summer decorating inspiration of your own and for all the sources and vendors I worked with to create this .

(images by Donna Griffith via Style At Home)

Weekend Cocktail #37: Chambly Collins

I always look forward to browsing the LCBO’s Food and Drink magazine for their tasty recipes entertaining ideas, and especially loved the latest issue’s beer-based cocktail story from Bier Markt’s - perfect for this May 24 long weekend!

Here is one bursting with summer freshness that uses one of my fave brews Blanche de Chambly :

CHAMBLY COLLINS

• 1/2 tangerine, cubed
• 4 fresh raspberries
• 1 oz *Hibiscus Pink Peppercorn syrup
• 1/2 oz Tanqueray Dry Gin
• 4 oz Blanche de Chambly

1. Muddle fresh tangerine and raspberries in a Collins glass.
2. Fill with ice, then add Hibiscus Pink Peppercorn syrup and gin.
3. Top with Blanche de Chambly, stir well and garnish with fresh tangerine.

* For Hibiscus Pink Peppercorn Syrup, combine 1 cup sugar and 1 hibiscus tea bag (Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger or Yellow Zinger) with 1 cup hot water and 2 tsp. pink peppercorns. Stir to dissolve sugar and steep the tea. Remove the bag. Chill & store

(image and recipe via LCBO Food and Drink)