17 days left...

[wiseheart]

... and I had a really exhausting day - even though a fairly productive one.

After morning mass, Mum and I went to a somewhat larger shopping mall nearby that we haven't visited for years. We didn't need anything in particular, we just wanted to see it once again and eat in one of the places that serves very good gyros. I ended up buying a bunch of baking ingredients at Tesco's there because they always sell them cheaper before Christmas and Easter than other supermarkets.

Alas, that wasn't true for pecan nuts. I never used them but I thought I'd give this recipe a try. To my surprise, Tesco's actually did have pecan nuts - for a price I could have bought diamonds for. So, it seems that I'll have to replace pecan nuts with walnuts or hazelnuts, which are also shockingly expensive over here, but at least I can afford to buy small amounts of them. It won't taste the same, I'm sure, but I'll pretend. Since I never ate pecan nuts, it won't be very difficult. *g*

On the other hand, I made a cheesecake with dried apricots, dried plums and candied lemon peels. I hope it will turn out well enough - this recipe is practically always a success, no matter what kind of fruit you use: fresh, dried, frozen, it doesn't matter. And it is very easy to make, thank God.

My Christmas candy is finished, iced and decorated. Now they need to rest on the balcony until tomorrow, when I'll gift-wrap them and take photos. *fingers crossed*

I've also finished the naming day pocket letters.









Again, apologies for the poor quality of the pictures. I am and will always remain a rubbish photographer, I fear.

Comments

[artemis10002000]

Lovely lovely cards! And wow, you're down to 17 days! Life really rushed past me these last week or two, feels like it was still 30-something when we last talked!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It's because you are a busy girl and rarely here. ;))

[artemis10002000]

Yeah, I've been missing Pico too :(

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

And we've been missing you. Pico is very quiet this year. People are busy like whoa, I guess. :(

[artemis10002000]

Ah, damn, that sucks. I hope things will get calmer for me in the 2nd half of the month.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I can't believe how ahead of the ball you are. I'm impressed

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what you mean, but thank you nonetheless. *g*

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

You are just really proactive and are getting lots of things done. I've only been thinking about it.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see! Well, there's less than a month left to the Christmas fair, so I had to work in advance, or else I wouldn't have got a thing done.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

As I said before, you are a better person than me. I used to not procrastinate, but that was years ago...

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Cool cards.

Too bad about the pecans. I'm not a huge fan of them, but they are good smashed up into cookies like that. Wonder how it'll taste with walnuts.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I guess we'll never know the difference.

[meathiel]

Pecans are awfully expensive - and I don't even like them that much. I'd just try to substitute them with different nuts (walnuts?) and see how it turns out.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I think I'll go for the walnuts - they are the easiest to get and the least expensive - comparatively. And I'll use red currant jam, since I haven't got the faintest what sugar plum jam might be. The recipe says I can use any red jam I want. Also, I'll have to substitute the sparkling white sugar, since we don't have that over here, either.

I think the cookies will be somewhat... different from the original. *g*

[elwenlj.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the 'Rubbish Photographers Club', although I must say that if yours are rubbish, mine must be truly crap. :D

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Worse than mine? That's hard to believe!