Finding the Positives.....

I know my recent posts have been pretty down.... and I made my weekend sound desperately sad........ 

BUT it wasn't all debbie downer... on Sunday I wanted to make an Apple Fritter Bread... Sir Steve offered to help....... YAY!!  cause I needed 2 apples peeled and grated and I HATE finicky work like that..... so Sir Steve's job was to get the apples ready.  We worked side by side and I was so happy!!  It was the first time in my life that I have had a male who wanted to bake... wanted to work in the kitchen with me!!  Sir Steve even cleaned up after me .. and washed up all the baking dishes.   WOW!!  I love baking BUT hate cleaning up.......... it was a win win baking session.   

The apple fritter bread was delicious!!!  Definitely a keeper........ but as I told Sir Steve it's a two person recipe (grinning) 


OH and (I almost forgot) I do believe Facebook may have intervened with my hacker.  I don't know for sure cause they haven't contacted me...... but I was told yesterday afternoon by eldest daughter that the hacked account had 'disappeared'.  YAY!!!  for some reason I felt so violated by the hacking......... it was an awful feeling!!  But after checking for myself ... the account is GONE!!!  

Life is good when you can find a positive in all the negatives.........

Rare Treasure

For years I have had 'themed' Christmases... cause ya know Christmas isn't busy enough or stressful enough -- I like to add a new twist to the stress levels.

This year we are having a 'Scandinavian' Christmas (combining Denmark, Germany, Sweden - and yeah I know Scandinavian might be a bit of reach) I wrote about the tree decorations for our Christmas - - straw ornaments, the Danish woven baskets, and candy cones.  

I have been hunting down easy recipes for Danish/German/Swedish Christmas foods especially sweets.  I remember an almond tart ....... from years ago.  I love almond and decided I would make these Danish (dutch??) treats this year.  Easy peasy right??  
Except for the fact I needed almond paste.  NOT marzipan which one of the grocers tried to convince me was the same thing - NO - pure almond paste.

Being down for the count with this bloody bronchitis has limited my ability to run around hunting for this almond paste.  On Saturday Sir Steve agreed to drive me around and if I pooped out he could finish the shopping ( we needed groceries as well as almond paste) After hitting every grocery store imaginable in this small town one sales clerk kindly suggested a wee small shop called Sharon's Pantry.  She didn't know if they would have any -- but she said 'if anyone has it they will'.  So off we went.  

It was the most amazing shop...... filled with treasures... memories from my grandmother's well stocked kitchen!  After roaming around for a bit .......and not seeing any almond paste I asked the owner......... and to my surprise she had it!!  And she added she carries it year round (like I am gonna make almond tarts year round!)  She took us over to the spot where the almond paste was -- and as we approached she said 'you might want to sit down when you see the price'.  I thought she was kidding - after all how much could almond paste cost?!

When I saw the price tag I blinked -- and blinked again.......... 

$61.82 per kg

Yes that's right almost $62 for 2.2 pounds of pure almond paste!!

I took a big breath -- did some quick math in my head (I needed 1/2 pound) and swallowed hard and said "I'll take 1/2 pound".  It cost almost $15 -- I just had to have almond tarts!

Here's to themed Christmases and expensive treasures in the form of almond paste!  
Here's what they should look like when I do finally make them..........