Black Friday has always bothered me. When I was younger I could never figure out why people would want to wake up at 3 am to camp out in front of a store, two things I hate combined camping and lack of sleep. As I got older I noticed a huge shift, stores opening earlier and earlier. It's become almost this "Apocalypse Now" style mission to go out and buy a television.
Why not do something different this year? Support a local business, more specifically support your local record shop. The 28th will be Record Store Day throughout the United States. It's a day to celebrate the magical places known as record stores, the places where you can bond with someone over music. There will be exclusive releases that you can only buy that day and of course you can spend the day browsing through the crates.
I am extremely excited about some of the exclusives and I am counting down the days until Friday. I am the most excited for "From Genesis to Revelation" by Genesis
"From Genesis to Revelation" was released in 1969 and when it was first released it didn't sell well and was usually placed in the religious section of the record shop, I'm sure there were some surprised listeners.
The Beatles, The Kinks, Joey Ramone, and David Bowie are also some of the artists that will have albums for sale you can see the complete list here http://www.recordstoreday.com/SpecialReleases
I was never a fan of Valentine's day really. I'm not one of those bitter single types that wishes the worst for every loving couple they see nor have I ever been a saucer eyed romantic type. Really, I'm just excited for the candy. I do enjoy celebrating love on Valentine's day, Jeremy proposed to me in 2010 on February 14th, but I've never bought in to the whole idea that Valentine's day has to be over the top.
As Frank Sinatra once sang, "Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage". Your valentine might already be your spouse or your soon to be spouse. Why not read this informative article from Collectors Weekly (http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/how-romance-wrecked-traditional-marriage/) all about "traditional" marriage. The history of marriage is very fascinating , it wasn't always about marrying the person you loved it was a business transaction and the entire institution was extremely misogynistic. I'm not trying to bring anyone down, I'm just realistic.
I am a homebody and while I like to go out to a nice restaurant to celebrate Valentine's Day, I also like to celebrate at home. Another article from Collectors Weekly (http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/vintage-romance-valentine’s-day-at-home/) gives some great ideas for couples to have a blast in their own home. One of my favorite things to do while spending a special occasion at home is dress up. Dressing up really does make all the difference on a special day at home, sweat pants do not a special occasion make. We're opting to have a Valentine's party at home on the 15th so Mommom can be with us. Every great party must have food and music, so here are some snack and music ideas for your valentines celebration, however you like to celebrate the holiday. Let's start with music.
I like songs that celebrate the entire spectrum of love, not just the highs. I will always be this way even though I'm satisfied with my love life now. That being said, none of these songs are overly shmaltzy.
For those of you that have been scorned one too many times here is a great Bobby Darin tune. For being so cynical it has such a jazzy beat.
Down with Love-Bobby Darin
For the odd couple, this Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove cover of "She Loves You" is the perfect thing to play for your valentine.
Who can resist the charms of Peter Sellers.
For the loving couple, why not listen to "Lovers Rock" by The Clash from their fantastic album London Calling.
The last and most beautiful love song from the 20th century is "Something" by The Beatles
For our little celebration, we have decided to have a popcorn bar. It was an idea that I found on Pinterest. You can have a big bowl of air popped popcorn and little bowls of add ins like m&m's, parmesan cheese, peanuts, rasins or whatever else you could think up.
So, what do you all have planned for Valentine's day? Do you have any special traditions?
Jeremy and I are still celebrating Christmas! We enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year's day celebrating and the celebration culminates on New Year's day when we have our annual polenta and cod dinner at Mommom's house.
This afternoon we visited my in-laws since we didn't see them on Christmas. I decided to wear my new dress that Jeremy got me for Christmas.
My Mommom got me this great felt cloche hat for Christmas. I have a couple clips that can go with it so I'm going to experiment. I figured I would wear it with my red dress to be Christmasy.
When I got there I got to meet Dudley! Jeremy's parents got this adorable Jack Russell/Pug mix. He is so full of energy that I couldn't snap a good photo of him. He is so precious.
We spent a couple hours visiting at his parent's house and then we went to the Hallmark store to buy our 2013 ornament. We are a little late this year but we ended up getting a good deal so it all worked out.
Our 2013 ornament to celebrate our union.
We're still having a blast enjoying our holiday! Now, here are some photos of my great 1950s red dress. I am about to order crinoline for it and I can't wait to have a full skirt when I wear it next.
My Mommom gave me this coat, it belonged to her mother and it is one of the warmest coats I've ever worn. There is a beautiful button that holds the fur collar together and I took a close up photo of it.
I wasn't looking at the camera but I posted this since I had a furry friend with me. We have a lot of outside cats at home.
I can not wait until I get my crinoline. This dress fits like a dream and I'm so happy Jeremy got it for me for Christmas. It's so versatile, I'll be able to dress it up if I want or wear it to run errands.
How is everyone enjoying their holiday week between Christmas and the new year?
Did you know that tomorrow is National Homemade Cookie Day? I found this out while I was reading Woman's Day magazine at my Mommom's house this September and I was so excited I marked it on my calender! I was kicking around a couple ideas for what type of cookie to make. At first I was going to make Earl Grey or chai cookies. I loved the Earl Grey cake that I made for my birthday so I figured a cookie would be good too.
Then I remembered I had a great recipe for French Maple Syrup cookies. I had gotten the recipe in 10th grade, each French student had to make a dish each year they were enrolled in a language course for showcase night. Showcase night was nothing special, it was just a night that parents could come and see what their children were working on all year. I was in French all four years and my Senior year I was in a theater class. I found a partner and we did the Monty Python Cheese shop sketch, I was slightly drunk since I had made chocolate mousse for my French dish and went overboard on the rum. I know how to make proper chocolate mousse now but when I was 17 I figured you could never have too much booze in a dish. By the way, if you put too much rum in the moose it will not become, well moose. I ended up serving a chocolate soup, it looked like sewer back up and it was the least popular dish of the night!
The dough needs to be chilled in the refrigerator overnight but I only have time to bake today so I put them in the freezer.
I always cook like this if you were wondering.
I want to share this fantastic recipe with all of you. I have made these cookies a lot over the years and everyone who has tasted them loves them. Plus they are a good reason to break out your fun cookie cutters. This batch of cookies is going to be bats for Halloween.
Maple Syrup Cookies
Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar (plus extra for dusting)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
The day before you plan to bake the cookies, make the dough
1: Beat together the sugar and butter with an electric beater on high speed for about 3 minutes.
2: Add the maple syrup,vanilla and egg yolk and mix for 1 minute.
3: Sift the flour and salt directly into the butter/sugar mixture. Beat at medium speed until combined- about 2 minutes.
4:Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic (or put in a tupperware) and refrigerate overnight.
To make the cookies
1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2: Butter two baking sheets
3: Divide the dough into two equal portions. Working with a 1 inch portion at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8-inch thick
4: Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and place on prepared cookie sheets, about 1 inch apart.
5: Gather scraps, reroll and cut out as many additional cookies as possible. Repeat until there is nothing left.
6:Sprinkle cookies with granulated sugar
7: Bake for 9-12 minutes, until they are lightly golden. Remove and cool on racks.
The dough before I put it in the freezer
Jeremy is a big help to me in the kitchen and with my blog. Not only does he take most of the photos he also cleans the dishes while I dry. I really like how we always do things as a team. He really likes to lick the beaters whenever I bake something.
I waited for the dough to be ready for a couple of hours, it took up my entire afternoon. I got some homework done and Jeremy and I watched some interesting documentaries on Netfilx.
Around 4 in the afternoon the dough was ready to be rolled out. If you let it chill for awhile it's very easy to work with. It may leave a sticky residue on your hands but the dough itself doesn't stick to your hands. I do recommend that you sprinkle the counter before rolling the dough out since maple syrup is sticky.
My little bat cookie cutter. Since tomorrow is going to be October 1st. I figured a bat would be fitting.
The first batch, complete!
Well, there you have it, maple syrup cookies. I can't believe that tomorrow is going to be October first already! I have absolutely no idea what I want to be for Halloween yet, and if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.
Will you be making cookies for 'National Homemade Cookie Day' tomorrow? Have you already started preparing or are you going to mooch off someone else (always a good idea)? I hope you try out my recipe and if you do let me know what you think.
