We got all our chocolates made this weekend! In a rare feat, the fillings and the chocolate ran out at the same time. Amazing! Actually the real amazing thing was how much we got done, and how much more quickly it went with Nathan helping. We blew right through 6 pounds of chocolate! He is past the "I'm helping by stirring" stage and could actually DO stuff that helped. On Sunday we were using both light and dark chocolate, so he could paint one flat of molds with one kind of chocolate while I did another with the other kind. It was great! And it was so much more fun to have someone right there to talk with the whole time. By the end of the day, the other boys had drifted into the kitchen and were doing various things to help too (a lot of stirring, LOL), so it was a real family activity. Maybe we'll do this more often now that I realize it's fun and goes pretty quickly! We do have to make more for our neighbors and friends here, so we are planning another trip to the store for more chocolate (got to get the good "Merckens" wafers!). Nathan is ready to do that today, or even yesterday, LOL. I'm thinking maybe next week. And for those who were curious about the new filling recipe--I liked it alright. I really liked the maple flavored filling, but the peppermint was just okay. I prefer the other filling recipe for that, I think. I had to sample several chocolates to make sure though, LOL! We have been eating the "irregulars" after dinner each night--it adds a touch of class to this eating establishment to end with a chocolate!
In the middle of our chocolate frenzy on Sunday, we went to our next door neighbor's house for a neighborhood children's Christmas party. Dr. Joe and his wife Stella are older, with 11 grandchildren. He loves to tell stories, using lots of different voices and expression. For Christmas he has made up a ton of stories about Christmas trees of various colors, kind of like fairy tales, with morals in them. They're good! The boys really love the party and look forward to it. It's a fun neighborhood tradition. I enjoy the time afterward to visit with our neighbors! This year the family from whom we bought our house also were able to come. They are a Mormon family with 5 kids, and they are about the nicest people you could meet. It was fun to catch up with them. They moved farther out west into a house with more land and a HUGE kitchen. Yes, the kitchen is the only part of this house that I don't really like either, so I can totally see why they moved. Well, that and the fact that they made $500,000 profit on this house since they were the original owners. Wow. I, um, don't think we'll be making that kind of profit when we move, LOL. Too bad!
2 comments:
Sounds like your Nathan might have a future in food preparation. I know he has other culinary skills and now confectionary. The kitchen is one of my most favorite "learning centers" in the home, second to the couch. By the way, Maddie did love Cinderella and even got an autograph. She was completely taken in by the stage effects exclaiming, "mommy her clothes turned from rags to her gown, magically."
Wow, the chocolates look and sound scrumptious! I think we'll do most of our holiday baking when we're in Florida so Ted can help consume the calories!! Well, that and I just have too much on my plate right now...and none of it includes Christmas goodies! :-)
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