Showing posts with label Holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holiday. Show all posts

Sunday, January 9, 2011

bread pudding

This is the amazing recipe for the dessert, Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce, we had on Christmas night. It is one of my mom's amazing desserts and anytime you need something sweet to share that is not difficult to make you will not be disappointed with this one! This was just too good to not share but I promise to share some of my newly discovered healthy recipes real soon!


Pictured minus the sauce
Pudding

¾ C Raisins
2 TBS Dark Rum
1 lb. French bread, cut into 1” cubes
3 C Whole Milk
1 C Half & Half
3 Eggs, Beaten to blend
2 C Sugar
2 TBS Unsalted Butter, melted
2 TBS Vanilla
½ tsp Cinnamon

Sauce

½ C (1 Stick) Unsalted butter
½ C Firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 TBS Whiskey

1. Place raisins in small bowl. Pour rum over. Let soak 20 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Generously butter 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.

3. Place bread in large bowl. Pour milk and half & half over the bread. Let soak for 5 minutes.

4. Whisk egg with sugar, butter, vanilla, & cinnamon in a medium bowl. Pour over bread. Add rum soaked raisins and toss to coat.

5. Transfer bread mixture to prepared pan. Bake until top is deep golden brown (may puff above rim of pan) about 1 hour.

6. Spoon warm bread pudding onto plates. Spoon sauce over the bread pudding. Top with dollops of whipped cream and serve.

ENJOY!

a fiebiger christmas

This year Christmas (as most are for our family) was laid back, relaxing, and enjoyable. Christmas morning was just us 5; we opened gifts, had my mom's Eggs Benedict (my favorite), had naps, watched the crazy rain storm outside and Molly and I even went hot tubing in the rain!

Our beautiful Christmas tree that we cut down, seen in an earlier post.

Molly and I

Molly and Dad, we were waiting for Corie to wake up!
 Christmas evening was spend with our good family friends the Goheens. My dear friend Libby, her husband, parents and cousin Sarah came to have Christmas dinner and a fun gift exchange at our house! We all picked numbers and picked a gift from the pile or stole an opened gift we like from someone else, it was all fun and I think everyone went home with something they liked! We had a fun time playing with the gift that I bought, and Sarah picked...Table Topics, 'Not Your Mother's Dinner Party'. We went around the dinner table picking out and answering questions from the pile until we were stuffed from the most amazingly delicious dinner and dessert my mom made and tipsy from bottles of wine! It was a wonderful Christmas!

Corie, Molly, Libby and Sarah during the gift exchange

Marc, Mom, and Kent

Marc's 1st gift, he was happy when his wife stole it from him.

Cheers!


Sarah, Libby, and Mary cuddling!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

family get-togethers

Over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays I was lucky enough to get to see my extended family on my mom's side. Unfortunately living far away from one another we do not get to see one another often and the holidays makes for a good "excuse" to get together. The first group of pictures is from the Friday after Thanksgiving getting together with my Aunt Kate and cousins Libby & Emily who live on the east coast. It is always fun to see them and catch up over a yummy lunch; it was also a great way to start off the Christmas season by picking out ornaments at Macy's.

Cousin Libby, Dad, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Cappy, Cousin Mike

Mama Sue, Sister Corie, Mom, Aunt Kate, Me, Cousin Emily

Cousin Love!

The Grand kids (missing 4) with Mama Sue
Our Christmas Eve tradition has always been to go to my Mama Sue's house for dinner. The past 3 years since she has been in assisted living we have gotten together on Christmas Eve at Scott's (a yummy seafood restaurant) in Walnut Creek, we even get seated at the same table. Not having my grandparents house to go to anymore definitely makes things different but overall it is good to just get the family together and celebrate Christmas over a delicious meal! Here are some pictures from this years festivities.

Mom, Uncle Kevin, Sister Molly, Cousin Mike, Dad

Mike, Dad, Cousin Tim, Tim's son Sean, Sister Corie

Sean, Corie, Tim's wife Michelle, Tim's  daughter Haley, Aunt Cappy

Haley, Cappy, Me, Mom, Kevin, Molly

Family

Sister Love

Saturday, January 1, 2011

happy new year!


I have always wondered the history behind New Year's Resolutions, here is what I found from a website:
The history of New Year's resolutions spans more than two millennia. Historians report that the mythical Roman King Janus, from whom we get the name of our first calendar month, was a two faced symbol, not because he was a hypocrite, but because he had the ability to look back on the past and look forward to the future. He also became known as the guardian of entrances and doors.
Romans began the celebration of the New Year by seeking forgiveness from their enemies and giving one another gifts. This is where a vague line between Christmas and New Year's traditions becomes blurred. Christians changed New Year's Day to Dec. 25 in the Middle Ages, so gift-giving became a Christian tradition.

New Year Traditions:

Gift-giving is only one of the ancient traditions that marked the beginning of the New Year. Traditions ranged from:
eating black-eyed peas in America
eating lasagna in Sicily
eating 12 grapes at midnight in Spain
giving the front door a fresh coat of red paint in China.

The start of the New Year moved around a bit as various people changed the calendar to mark different events: the winter solstice, phases of the moon, the beginning of spring or a time of planting and sowing. In any case, the New Year is a time of new beginnings for people around the world.
About 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon, the Babylonian New Year was celebrated on the night of the first new moon after the vernal equinox, which was the first day of spring. Babylonians also made New Year's resolutions, though the most popular Babylonian resolution usually had something to do with returning borrowed farm equipment.

History of New Year's Resolutions:

Making a resolution on New Year's Day is a time-honored tradition. Earlier celebrants of the holiday went through elaborate rituals to chase away the ghosts of the past. While the Chinese used cymbals and fireworks, others used rites such as exorcisms and purifications. Ceremonies, involving bonfires, processions or parades, often had masks that symbolized the dead.
The logic behind these traditions is that the demons of the past were eventually exorcised by denouncing past sins, bad habits and frailties. A clean slate would provide a release from the bonds of ill health or oppression.
While making New Year's resolutions is consistent with the history of closing the door on the past year and looking ahead to peace and prosperity, many people make New Year's resolutions that are promptly broken, abandoned or forgotten.
...............................................................................................

In years past I have been reluctant to make New Year's resolutions because of the fact that days or weeks later they are quickly forgotten or put to the way side. This year my resolution is to be easy on myself throughout the ups and downs of my training and weight loss goals as well as be proud of myself in my successes! I welcome 2011 with open arms and I look forward to what I will accomplish, experience and strive for this year! Hope you all had a happy new years and a wonderful start to 2011!

Friday, December 24, 2010

polar express

Reading the Polar Express is a Fiebiger Christmas Eve tradition. The story is heart warming and the illustrations are beautiful. I look forward to reading this book every Christmas season!


"On Christmas Eve, many years ago..."


"All aboard,' the conductor cried out."


"Outside, the lights of towns and villages flickered in the distance as the Polar Express raced northward."


"We climbed mountain so high it seemed as if we would scrape the moon."


"The first gift of Christmas!"


"Santa circled once above us, then disappeared in the cold, dark polar sky."


"I shook the bell. It made the most beautiful sound my sister and I had ever heard."


"Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe."



Merry Christmas to you and all those you love!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

cake pops


Cake pops are the hottest fashion for serving your favorite cake. Between cupcakes, cake pops and whoopie pies; cake is sure taking the center stage on many websites, blogs, shops, and even TV shows! For my work Christmas party I wanted to contribute something fun and festive and of course have the opportunity to bake so I decided to make cake pops. Let me just tell you that that cake pop making experience may be my first and last! Those puppies are not easy to make. Luckily I did not try to cram it the steps into one day or even two. Please forgive the lack of pictures throughout the steps, I was too focused on trying to get the steps down that I gave up taking pictures after the first step.

Step 1: The first day I made 2 different types of cake red velvet (I thought the red would be fun for Christmas) and chocolate (cause lets face it, who doesn't like chocolate). I could have just made one and it would have been enough, but I learned from my mom and always make too much food for parties, so 2 cakes I had. After they cooled I stored them to use later for step 2.

Step 2: I crumbled each of the cakes into their own bowl using a fork. For the red velvet cake I mixed a jar of cream cheese frosting. (This made a really soft mixture and I would recommend using 2/3 -3/4 of the jar of frosting rather than the whole thing.) The frosting mixes in completely so eventually you don't see the frosting and it is about the consistency of cookie dough. For the chocolate cake I mixed in 2/3 jar of milk chocolate frosting. This yielded a much better consistency for step 3.

Step 3: Step 3 is done on the same day as step 2. You can use a spoon or a small ice cream or cookie dough scoop would be helpful to take a piece of the cake mixture and roll it into a ball (Mine where about the size of a ping pong ball but they could definitely be smaller.) Place on a lined cookie sheet or cake pan. Once the pan is full place in the refrigerator or freezer (I had read that the freezer makes them too hard but my fridge didn't get them cold enough to do step 4, so I had to put them in the freezer). Leave them chilled.

Step 4: This step can be done the day before you wish to serve them or even the day of. Using a double boiler, melt chocolate (I used colored chocolate from Micheal's Craft Store). Not until the chocolate is melted should you take the cake balls out of their chilled location. Place the cake ball on a stick to make it a cake pop or leave alone to have just a cake ball. Cover the ball or pop in the melted chocolate then if desired immediately sprinkle with some decorative sugar sprinkles, or candy, or whatever! I allowed mine to harder while stuck in a Styrofoam block; if you decided to have them cool while lying on wax paper you will have a flat side to your ball. Once they cooled and the chocolate hardened I gently layed them flat on a cookie sheet and covered in plastic wrap.

Step 5: This step should be done the day you plan to serve them. This step was the most fun part for me, it's all about the display! I decided to make a cake pop bouquet with mine. I placed Styrofoam into a Christmas-y container and then covered the foam with shredded paper and red tinsel-y strips. The cake pops where placed into the foam and stayed pretty well (that is until I had to put the arrangement into my car and drive to the party and it fell over : (, luckily not too much damage was done and they still tasted great! I have also seen people place the cake pops upside down or the cake balls themselves in cupcake wrappers. You can get creative with how you display your cake pops/balls and regardless of how they are displayed everyone will be excited to eat them!

Cake Pop Bouquet!

Here you can see the moist cake inside with the sprinkle covered white chocolate outside!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

one week left

7 little flaps left to fold back til it's Christmas!

This is the advent calender I made to count down for Christmas this year, as you can see there is so little chocolates waiting for me each morning, just a little tab. I originally planned to put an activity behind each flap or a quote but that did not get done yet, I can always add it for next year as this Advent calender can be used year after year!


I embellished the Advent Calender with die cut reindeer, and snow flakes as well as some glidder glue for the snow on the roof and the snow flakes. After the flap is folded back each day, a Christmas pattern is revealed on the paper behind.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

deck the halls

My apartment is all decorated for Christmas and I love it! I wish it could be Christmas year round and I could enjoy the smell of pine, the lighted Christmas tree, and Christmas movies and music every day! Everyday events such as watching tv or having dinner seem that much more special with a beautifully decorated and lighted Christmas tree illuminating the room. To celebrate the start of the Christmas season I had the States Family, Pati, Leith, and Isaiah, over for dinner; here are some pictures from the night!

Table set for dinner with my Spode dishes

My Apartment all decorated!

Father and Son

Happy Family


Isaish wants some brownie & ice cream too!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

rockin' around the Christmas tree

Thank goodness to Home Depot my 2010 Christmas tree was found! Last year I found a great tree at Target and for some reason Target (at least in San Diego) is not selling live Christmas trees this year. What was even better for the Christmas tree search is that Home Depot is right next to Target. They had a HUGE selection of both Noble and Douglas Fir trees. Our family has typically always gotten Douglas fir trees, as did I last year, but this year a cute little 5 ft. Noble was calling my name. I have to say it was much lighter than my tree last year which made carrying it into my apartment alone much easier!


Once in the apartment it was base, water, lights, topper, skirt, and then the ornaments!



All my ornaments, I have collected over the years from childhood, including my 'Baby's First Christmas' ornament, which makes for a special tree. Each year my parents and grandparents gave me an ornament, so I have quite the collection. As I got into middle school my mom would try to pick out an ornament that symbolized that year or a major event in that year. It is always very special to unwrap the ornaments from their tissue paper each year at Christmas time and recall special memories that certain ornaments bring up!

Monday, November 29, 2010

giving thanks

This Thanksgiving I was able to get off work and fly home to the bay area and spend a long weekend with family and friends! I am so thankful for the family and friends in my life not to mention my health, job, life in San Diego, future opportunities, my car, apartment, my creative outlets, and overall life in general! Here is a recap of the weekends festivities. 

Relaxing at home...

The Men of the House, Dad and Mr. Biggs

Maddie "Mad Dog"
~
Wednesday night Pre-Thanksgiving Festivities...

Me, Kate, and Libby

The Gang

Sisters!
~
Quiet Thanksgiving at home...

Mom and Mama Sue

Future Half-Marathon Runners

Dad and Mom

Thanksgiving Feast

Corie entertaining us!
~
Lunch with extended family...



Me with Cousins Emily and Libby
Mama Sue with her grand kids
~
Christmas tree cutting....


The "One"


Timmmmm...

berrrrrrrrrrrr.....


Warrior Women!

Locked and Loaded
I already cannot wait to head home for Christmas and spend time with friends and family!