Happy New Year!

We've had a fun New Year's Eve! We drove down to Tavares, FL. to ride on a 105 year old train, The Orange Blossom Cannonball. The trip was organized by the Central Florida Steampunk Association, so it was a costume event. Our costumes attracted a lot of attention from the train employees, who all turned out to be big fans of steampunk.

I brought a basket full of little bags of coal shaped chocolates and Blaze passed them out to everyone in our group, as well as the conductor and one of the other employees. I even surprised some kids who were waving at the train as it passed by, by throwing them a bag of chocolates.

This is what our trip was like:



We are now back home, eating snack foods, and watching the New Year's Eve celebrations on t.v.
We talked about going downtown for the countdown at midnight, but decided to just relax at home.

Have a wonderful 2012!

Easy, Child Friendly New Years Party Food

Brie en Croute

1 wheel of Brie cheese

2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, defrosted in the refrigerator over night

1/4 cup of your favorite jam (I used some guava jam)

1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon of water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place Brie in the center of one pastry sheet. Spread the top of the cheese with jam.



Fold the pastry over the cheese, making sure it is sealed. Smooth the pastry with your fingers. You may use the second pastry sheet to cut out decorative pieces, using cookie cutters, to stick to the top of the Brie en Croute. The pastry is sticky enough that no water is needed to stick the dough together. Brush entire thing with egg wash. Bake 20 minutes or until golden. Let rest for 30 minutes before serving. Serve with apple slices and crackers.


Homemade Chex Mix

Fresh grapes, baby carrots, and celery sticks

Sandwich roll-ups, sliced, and screwed with stick pretzels



Place tortilla with cheese in the microwave for about 45 seconds, before adding the other sandwich fillings. This will made the tortilla easier to roll. Use a toothpick to poke a hole through the slice of roll-up, to make it easier to add the pretzel.

Grasshopper: A Festive Holiday Cocktail

DH gave me a bottle of Creme de Menthe and a bottle of Creme de Cocoa for Christmas, so I could make my favorite after-dinner cocktails, grasshoppers.



1 oz. Creme de Menthe

1 oz. Creme de Cocoa

1 Cup half and half

Just to make this more festive, I topped my drink with light whipped cream and a sprinkle of green sugar.

Scenes From Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

My mother sent Blaze a set of Star Wars pancake mold, so we had to try them out:

Merry Steampunk Christmas

I made of slide show that covers all the preparation that when into this year's steampunk themed Christmas:



I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Solstice!

It doesn't really feel like winter solstice here, it's supposed to reach 80 degrees today, but we are celebrating anyway.

DH made Alton Brown's Free Range Fruitcake Recipe. For the past two weeks, he has lovingly cared for the cake, spritzing it with brandy every couple days.



This morning, the fruitcake was sliced and served.



DH isn't normally a big fan of fruitcake, because he doesn't like the brightly colored candied cherries. The Edward Gorey Holiday card that Ula sent us, sums up his feelings pretty well.



This fruitcake, though, has only natural dried fruit and he really likes it. He said it was like a homemade Cliff Bar.


One of my contributions to today's festivities was Steam Piggy.

For more than a year, Blaze has been saving all monetary gifts, because he wants to buy a Victrola. Last Summer, while DH and I were both out of work, I borrowed most of that money and it has taken me until now to pay him back. The idea behind Steam Piggy, was the thought that by this time, Blaze probably thought he'd be paid back "when pigs fly", so Steam Piggy is the newest member of Blaze's airship crew.

He is really a chalkboard piggy bank from Target. The goggles were made from two of the plastic compasses left over from Blaze's 10th birthday party. I used the Dremel to cut the back out of each compass. The goggle strap is a leather belt from a resale store. Everything is put together and attached to the piggy bank with Super Glue Gel.





Since it is such a beautiful day, we had lunch out at the picnic table. Steamed buns filled with teriyaki chicken and ginger ale with star shaped ice cubes made from orange juice and cranberry juice.

Legoland Florida

We spent today at Florida's newest theme park, Legoland.



The $12 parking fee was a bit of a shock, but after we got inside the gate we had a lot of fun. Blaze loved it!















The Legoland park is built on the site of the old Cypress Gardens Park, which was one of those "old school" Florida attractions, a garden full of lush tropical plants and a waterskiing show. Legoland has maintained some of the historic aspects of the old park, such as this carousel:



The gardens are still gorgeous, and strolling through them is a nice break from all the colorful plastic blocks.











The 80 year old Banyan tree:


There's even some wildlife.




Then back to the Legos and the rides.



























There are also shows.





This one was taught young children about fire safety:







Snowing soap suds:








I think that Legoland would be a great "starter" theme park for a young child who has never been to a theme park before. Everything at the park is geared towards children who are under 12 years old.