NaBloPoMo Report card and a recipe for Rum Balls....

a.k.a All this writing has driven me to drink...

So I ended up with 24/30 days of posts. Not bad, some days were harder than others. I have come to the conclusion that whoever thought up this NaBloPoMo idea does not have a life. Some times I was just to tired or brain dead to come up with a post. It definitely got me thinking again though. So there is that. I'm hoping to keep up my momentum.

Ok, now for the good stuff.

My Christmas baking itinerary always includes these delectible little alcohol-imbibed treats (except for the past couple of years where I was too queasy/spent to even think about baking)

Rum Balls (makes about 3-4 dozen depending on the size of your balls...hey oh!)

6oz (185 ml) of chocolate chips
1/2 cup of sugar
3 tbsp corn syrup
1/2 cup dark rum
2 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1 cup of fine chopped walnuts
a small bowl of sugar for coating

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Take it off the heat and mix in the sugar and the corn syrup. Then add the rum. Add this mixture to the graham crackers and walnuts in a bowl. Roll into small balls. Coat the ball in the sugar.

Tips

• You'll need to compress the ball before you roll them in your palm otherwise they fall apart.
• It's easy to make but the balls take some time to roll (a batch and a half took an hour to roll)
• Your palms with get very sticky, it's actually easier to continue rolling if you don't wash your hands in between
• You will want to eat some as you make them. DON'T. Seriously. You'll taste it and say this was totally not worth the effort. They need to ripen at least overnight in the fridge.
• They keep well in the fridge or freezer.
• They are not for kids, obviously. (A friend once left them out on the counter with all the other Christmas cookies she had made and didn't warn her 14 year old. The girl popped it into her mouth, thinking it was a Timbit*. She bit into it and thought it was rancid. Snort.)

*donut hole for you Americans

Oh and it takes about 18 of them to equal one ounce of rum so go easy on them and so don't ball and drive.

Hello, my Precious.

Rockstar!

Alex had his first professional photo shoot on Friday. It was a charity event where you get a 20 minute photo session and one professional photo (or more if you pay for each photo) and they donate the proceeds to the new children's hospital they're building (a couple of blocks away from my house, constant dump trucks on parade for Boy's enjoyment). It was in a shopping mall but it was a really slick setup. Two studios, a viewing area with a few computers and a lounge area. It had leather couches, red walls and even a couple of black chandeliers. I had booked the first appointment on the first day, not intentionally, so it was pretty quiet when I got there.

The photographer was very sweet. She said she was a little nervous because it was her first time (uh oh I thought) but then explained she did it last year. Some of her poses were great while some seemed a little forced. She kept telling me to kiss Alex on the cheek but he wanted none of it. Those photos were, um, awkward with me making a big kissy face while Alex avoided and made a stink face. Nice. There were also a lot of Alex pointing photos that got nixed right away because I can only handle so many of those. The twenty minutes went by very quickly. I asked for a couple more shots because I wanted Stanley the sock monkey in some too.

We went back to the lounge and were given cookies and juice while we waited! The photographer chose the best photos and then I got to choose from there. My intention was to get one or two photos but there were so many I liked. It's a bit of a splurge but I've wanted some nice professional photos forever so I caved, and well the money does go to a good cause. I'm really happy with the results. A bit more expensive but way better than some stilted Sears portraits. Oh and there was no Photoshopping done. Pretty cool.

He's got that rockstar swagger.

Blue Steel

Mama hugs!

Who me? It was the monkey!

NaBloPoMo: Day 18. Buzzing around like a busy bee

What a day! I went to a fabric store (on the other side of the planet) with a friend. Then had lunch and took Alex to the park. We then took the bus downtown for the one day Boby Shop sale (hello? Got a free candle AND a free shampoo), took the bus home. Then I made supper, didn't eat it because I was going out to dinner with my old playground friends. A lovely time was had at dinner. I had a great spinach, chicken breast and goat cheese pizza and drank too much wine. My potty mouth got worse, the more wine I had. We then went across the street to the pie shop and ate ridiculously rich dessert. I got a lift home, and I am blogging before bed to meet my imaginary deadline. And yes, I am still drunk. Well a good buzz anyways.

Oh and really noisy neighbour upstairs? If you wake Alex up again, I will go upstairs and LOSE MY SHIT on you because, well, because the alcohol has lowered my inhibitions just enough.

 Uh really? 2$ for indoor bike parking? When there's free bike parking everywhere? What? Don't feel like having to brush the snow off your bike in the winter?Worried about getting your bike stolen? Seriously.

(See not so drink since I was able to get a photo off my damn MicroSD card from my cellphone)

NaBloPoMo: Day 7. Crickets.

I have this post swimming around in my head that's snowballing into something bigger than I thought it would be. I want to give it time to simmer though so it will have to wait for now. I've challenged myself to participate in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) to give me the kick in the pants I need. The trouble is finding something to discuss. Every. Single. Day. My life doesn't seem interesting enough to talk about it every day. Today I went to the grocery store, Alex and I had lunch, he went down easily for a nap, I did some laundry, googled Hazelnut Chocolate Biscotti recipes and made a cop-out dinner. Really? What am I supposed to do with that? I'm usually a person of few words (even more so IRL). I guess I should start my next crafty project, a quiet book for Alex for Christmas. Maybe that will give me more content. Or skydiving. Yeah. I'll take up skydiving. Good for photos, great for traffic, maybe I'll even get a human interest bit on the local news about it.

Or I could show you how cute my son is with his monkey Stanley.