Peppermint Roses

All dressed up with some place to go, these peppermint roses accompanied me to my first party of the holiday season. Tenderly crisp outside and melt-in-your mouth yummy on the inside, these easy-to-make meringues are likely to become a yuletide standard in our home. Prep time is short, and the resulting treats are like pretty little puffs of minty heaven.

The recipe is adapted from the Meringue Candy Canes recipe in this year's "Pillsbury Holiday Cookies" booklet. While whipping up the meringue was simple, piping out delicate candy canes from a decorating bag, as directed, proved to be exceedingly delicate work. Roses seemed a refreshing idea, and they were much easier to create.

To make these roses, simply dip the tip of the decorating bag in red food color rather than painting stripes on the inside of the bag. Then, beginning at the center of the rose, spiral outward, allowing meringue to overlap here and there, to imitate the natural imperfections of the flower.

Fresh Holiday Art, Get It While It's Hot

Nature's holiday is captured in clean lines in these idyllic Charley Harper prints featured at Kitsune Noire. A sparrow, a cardinal and at least five raccoons join in the fun.

Read about the artist, Charley Harper, here.

Does Santa Fly With An All Girl Crew?

Could it be all Santa's reindeer are girls? Male reindeer usually drop their antlers before Christmas. Some pictures that have been captured, featuring antlers on each reindeer, could indicate it's an all gal sled crew. It's another Santa mystery to be solved.

Get the rest of the story on reindeer here.

Just When You Think It's Safe To Go Back In The Water, There's Another Rainbow

Following last night's Dora and Diego marathon, bath time with my two two-year-olds was inspirational. There was much singing and dancing and imitating.

Baby Z chanted, "Sube! Sube!" (Spanish for climb) as she climbed out of the tub and up to the top of Mommy Mountain.

Swaddling her in a big yellow duck towel, I coached, "Amarillo. Yellow. Amarillo is yellow in Spanish."

"Yellow!" said Baby Z.

Her sister, Baby K, stood still in the tub and smiled, enthralled.

"Amarillo, yellow," I repeated.

Still, she stood and smiled.

I thought I must be doing such a good job to hold a toddler's attention so well.

Then, proudly she turned and pointed near the drain, "Rainbow!"

There it floated, curved like a rainbow, a little brown stinky rainbow. Ah yes, the world looks so different through a child's eyes.

Holiday Forecast

The blog holiday forecast -- fewer posts and a moratorium on political punditry this holiday season, possibly increased silliness.