What color is your Santa?

Tags

Christmas, Christmas baking, Christmas craft, cupcakes, DIY, how-tos, Santa, Santa hat cupcakes, seashell Santa, strawberry, strawberry Santa

Unlike Megyn Kelly, I really don’t care much about the color of your Santa. Or for that matter, whether your Santa is a penguin or a polar bear. Heck, I’m making seashell Santa and strawberry Santa! You think I’m qualified to be judging other people’s Santa?

Besides, I’ve got more important issues to think about. First, I have a daughter to console. Someone stole her purse when we were in the mall. No, she didn’t lose it. It was stolen, as in swiped off her shoulder. Her entire life was pretty much in it, her cell phone, Nintendo DS, wallet, notebook, and other knickknacks that tweeners must have with them at all times.

Does that sound like a trivial problem to you? Ok, how about my other problem? I have to decide which cologne I should buy as a Christmas present for hubby. He’s always worn this certain cologne, and generally he smells pretty nice. But recently I came across a men’s cologne I really like and would love for him to wear.

Here’s the dilemma. What if he doesn’t like it, since it’s quite different from the one he’s used to wearing? The more important question is, who is a cologne for, anyway, the wearer or the smeller?

***

Last year I worked with a wonderful teacher and friend. She must be the teacher that defenders of teachers union speak about. Willing to spend personal time and money out of her own pocket so that her students get the most out of their education.

The humor she brought into her classroom made her teaching effective. She frequently enhanced her lessons with meaningful and appropriate craft projects. The seashell Santa was one of those crafts, and she wisely provided both light and dark flesh color paints.

Seashell Santa

• Difficulty: Moderate
• Print

Supplies needed:
Oyster shells
A drill with a small bit
Acrylic or craft paints (red, white, black and flesh tone)
Paint brushes
Nylon thread or ribbon

1. Clean the shells and drill a small hole on the top part of the shells (the pointy part) before painting. Mine came cleaned and drilled, courtesy of Miss B, the teacher I referenced above. Thank you, Miss B!

2. Paint the top/pointy part of the shells in red to make Santa’s hat. Let it dry completely.

3. Paint the rest of the shells white and add a small white ball on top of Santa’s hat. Let paint dry completely.

4. Paint an oval-shaped face in the middle of the white paint, using either light or dark flesh-colored paint.

5. Using a fine-tipped brush, paint the details of Santa’s face.

6. Add a hanger by looping a piece of ribbon or nylon thread through the small hole on top of the shells.

***

If you stay on pinterest long enough, you’re bound to find these. I can’t tell where the original recipe came from, it’s been repeated so many times. Whoever thought of these, you are a genius! So simple, easy, and yet so cute! Of course, you can tint your whipped cream with any color of your choice.

Strawberry Santa

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Ingredients:
Strawberries
Whipped cream
Chocolate sprinkles or mini morsels

1. Slice the bottom part of strawberries (the leafy part) evenly, so that they will be able to stand up. These will be Santa’s bodies.

2. Slice the pointy part of strawberries to make Santa’s hats.

3. Add a dollop of whipped cream on top of the bodies. Put the little hat on top of the cream. Add a small ball on top of the hats, two chocolate sprinkles/morsels for Santa’s eyes, and two small buttons down the front of the bodies.

By the way, my daughter took a look at all the Santas and started laughing hysterically. Somehow she found them highly amusing, even though she also said they looked creepy. Looks like I no longer have problem #1. If she can laugh like that, she must have forgotten about her stolen purse. Thank goodness!

We decided that Santa hat cupcakes were less creepy. These are just mini cupcakes with whipped cream frosting and topped with strawberries. Don’t they look adorable?

Harvest Monday and Alpine Strawberries

Tags

Alpine strawberry, strawberry, white strawberry

The harvest tray looks pretty good this week, doesn’t it? I have to say that garlic scapes, chive and scallion blossoms, spinach, lettuce, pea shoots, radicchio & escarole leaves, green plums, herbs, and flowers, are pretty satisfying to harvest and look at.

But did you see what else is in that tray? Only the most exciting part of the entire harvest. The first strawberries have ripened! These are alpine strawberries. Tiny, soft, sweet, and so aromatic! 

There is only a handful and they are very small compared to the regular strawberries. The biggest in the bunch is less than 1 inch in diameter, and it was partially eaten by slugs. Why do they always find the best one?

Still, I’m very proud of them, especially the single red one. I grew it from seeds given to me by TG last year, as a Valentine’s Day gift.

The seeds came in a small packet inside a tiny terra-cotta pot that held a single peat pellet. Out of that packet, several tiny seedlings emerged. Now there are 2 big clumps of them out in the garden, and 1 small one in a pot. As you can see, more fruits are forming.

That’s why I didn’t mind when TG decided to swipe all of the ones we found this week. Moms always sacrifice, don’t they?

Too bad they don’t sell these alpine strawberries in the grocery stores. I wonder why? I don’t even find them in farmers’ markets. I would have bought them by the pounds! Maybe they’re too tender to transport; they’re so soft.

That’s the more reason why everybody should grow them. So easy, pretty much foolproof. Scatter seeds, wait about a year or so, and suddenly you’ve got the perfect topping for your pancakes! If you’re not convinced, ask TG. Poor thing asked for more, and I had no more to give. Next week, my dear, next week.

I’m planning to divide the bigger clumps to breed more plants. Unlike regular strawberries, these alpines don’t send out runners. I’m guessing you need to propagate by either dividing or sowing more seeds. A long row of them, edging the perennial bed, would turn the latter into what I’ve envisioned for it all along, an edible landscape. Plus, it would provide more than a handful strawberries at a time. I’m pretty sure TB and Sabo would also like them on their pancakes, too.

Hopefully they don’t have to wait too long. Besides the alpines, the regular strawberries are also currently loaded with ripening fruits, and it’s only their second season! I’m practically giddy with the prospect of future harvests.

More exciting harvests are going on right now, everywhere. Your safest bet is to go to Daphne’s Dandelions to check them out.