Christmas Angels

I'm not sure how this got started, but some how, over the years, I acquired quite a collection of angels.  I think the terra cotta pair near the middle are the oldest...maybe 30 years old now.  I bought them at a gift shop in the neighborhood.  My latest acquisition is the little guy sitting down behind them.  He's just a handmade ceramic thing that I found at the antique & craft market in Blackstone, VA.  I few were gifts...and almost all of them are packed up after Christmas.

I found the metal one at the Really Really Free Market in Greensboro a few years ago.

This trio is made of beeswax.

The four on the left are all bells.

I made the two felt angels on the right last year.

They even hang from the door knobs and the windows.

And a few double as napkin rings.

It all makes for easy holiday decorating...especially for one who is really bad at arrangements and things like that.

December in Richmond

Today is December 18....one week until Christmas...
.the first day of winter is in 4 days. 
And this is on my front porch.

Yes, we have had frost, but it probably has not been below 30 or 31 degrees and the plants on the porch are somewhat protected.  But this is pretty unusual.  I can remember them hanging around through Thanksgiving but this was on December 16...and they look just like that today.  If they can survive tonight it looks like they may make it until Christmas.

And just in case you think I'm pulling your leg....the date imprint is on this one.

Song for the Season

Christmas in St. Paul by Eric Brace, performed by his band Last Train Home.

Brownie & Cookie Success

A couple of weeks ago I offered to make cookies...or cupcakes or muffins or something....for a friend who was hosting a college women's rugby team for dinner.  After I offered I found out that several members of the team ate vegan and/or gluten-free.  Challenge!!!!!

 I remembered the black bean brownies from 101 Cookbooks that I had attempted a year or so ago.  I didn't have enough sweetener (agave nectar) to make the recipe properly....but I just made it.  Of course, they weren't sweet enough but I thought then that they did have potential.  So I tried them again.  And I am so glad that I did.  They are definitely amazing (gluten-free but not vegan)!

But then I wanted to make something that was vegan...or maybe gluten-free AND vegan.  At  101 Cookbooks I found these peanut butter cookies.  If made with spelt flout...and I did...they are both....a very good peanut butter cookie.

So sometime soon...probably after the holidays (any baking plans I had for the holidays are fast falling apart...although I am kind of anxious to make the rum raisin shortbread cookies that I made years ago)....I will experiment a little more with this vegan/gluten-free baking...it couldn't be a bad idea.

Another Tuesday Tune

BJ Barham of American Aquarium...the song is Reidsville, about the town he grew up in.  I lived in that town the first 5 years of my life and it is a lot like the other small towns I grew up in.  By the way, this song is on the CD, Small Town Hymns.