#1 Son and Santa - 1993

Word of the Day

Einstoned - Imbibing to the point where one thinks they have figured out the theory of relativity.

I opened Christmas Calendar Door #17 after breakfast. I discovered that I had just enough chopped pecans and chocolate chips to make one batch of English Toffee. I've never actually made English Toffee before. This is another of the recipes that GI Joe's Mom directed me toward in her e-mail. Since I had so much luck with the Pecan Roll recipe (I'm having problems saving these for Christmas), I thought I'd try my hand with English Toffee. The jury is still out. I'll post the recipe if it turns out.

OK...It's good. My pecans were chopped really fine. I think this may have helped when it comes to breaking up the toffee. I ended up with a lot of spare crumbs of toffee when I broke up the toffee but I may save these to use in baking at a later date.

English Toffee

From the kitchen of Dora Grimm

2 sticks butter (1/2 pound)
1 cup sugar
6 ounce package chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans


Line a 13x9x2" pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with 1/3 of the pecans. Cook butter and sugar in heavy pan over medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook until it reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Pour over the pecans then layer the chocolate chips over the cooked layer and spread evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the pecans over the chocolate and press into candy. Cool 1 to 1-1/2 hours in refrigerator then break into irregular pieces.

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After I put the pan with the English Toffee is in the refrigerator to cool, I started my first batch of Meringues. #1 Son loves meringues. Each batch takes about two hours to make. I'm going to experiment with some mint meringues but....I'm holding off on those until after Batch #2 is done. We'll see.

I still need more eggs and butter so I can make Italian Pizzelle. I hate going to the store every single day but I didn't go to the store yesterday so maybe I won't feel too guilty about going to the store today. If I get the Pizzelle done today, I'm done with all my baking. Woohoo! OK...I still need to make a couple more batches of brownies but essentially, I'll be done with the baking and I can start wrapping a few things. Wrapping isn't going to be too hard this year. I already sent out the out-of-town/country presents. I'll have special tins for the cookies and candy so those won't need to be wrapped. If I get the pizzelle done tonight...with HTP's help...I can get the rest of the wrapping done tomorrow and then all I'll have to do is clean the house before #1 Son comes home and enjoy some time sitting on the couch with Gypsy.

Murphyism of the Day

First Law of Business Meetings

The lead in a pencil will break in direct proportion to the importance of the notes being taken.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

What music is more enchanting than the voices of young people, when you can't hear what they say?

- Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 - 1946)