I Heart The Mudflats

From Moderator Pacos Gal:

Brian enjoyed a laid back Valentine’s Day this year. The snow and cold kept him inside, dreaming of warmer days and sunny road trips with his travel buddy Irishgirl. There was a particularly funny bumper sticker incident, which caused laughter after an initial brief recoil of horror.

(The Escape just makes it so much better, and as Boodog is quoted as saying “Glad it wasn’t a Triumph”!)

Not to say that Brian isn’t a romantic soul. No indeed. In fact, being inside gave him plenty of time to plan out a romantic evening with his lady love Pacos Gal. He went all out this year, with candles, candies, and of course, himself just bursting with romantic happiness.

Being a moose who loves to spread the warmth of a Valentine hug to all of his nearest and dearest, Brian made his way to Kentucky to spend some special time with Justafarmer. His visit included sharing a drink and admiring some lovely tulips. Because he wanted so badly to nibble on the tulips, he tried very hard not to do so and thought it was only a testament to his true loving nature that when he left, the tulips were still looking lovely. What a guy, huh?

And finally, Brian decided to just stop and smell the roses at Erin’s house up in Alaska.

(Some day we’ll have to learn the secret of how he is able to be here, there, and everywhere all at once. Santa has nothing on this moose!)

Brian’s adventures can be found along with photos on The Mudflats Forum.

I wonder where Brian will turn up on St. Patrick’s Day?

I drink hot chai with honey almost every afternoon, it stops me from snacking and stops me from craving sweet things that are bad for me.  I have been thinking for sometime that I really wanted to make a chai ice cream (yes this defeats the purpose of drinking the chai to avoid sweet bad for me things but it sounded so good anyway).  So yesterday I finally made it and its wonderful. I made this in an electric ice cream maker,  you can use whatever you have but the results and times may vary.

Char’s Honey Spiced Chai Ice Cream

(This recipe was created by me. Please do not repost or publish it without written consent from me or another admin on I Heart The Mudflats blog.  You can contact us by clicking here)

3 Twining’s of London Indian Chai Spice Tea bags (This is my favorite chai tea because it is well spiced)
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup Sugar
1/8 cup Honey
1/2 tsp Vanilla Paste (you could substitute half a vanilla bean with the seeds scraped, but you need to remove the bean before churning)
1/8 tsp ground Cardamom
1 cup heavy cream

In a small non-reactive saucepan heat milk to simmering. Add the tea bags and let steep for a few minutes, stir in sugar honey, vanilla paste and cardamom. let sit on the counter till cooled to room temperature. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until really cold.

Set up ice cream maker. Remove the tea bags from the tea and milk mixture and discard them. Poor in the cup of heavy cream and the tea mixture into the ice cream maker and churn per the ice cream makers instructions. [My ice cream maker is kept in a chest freezer with a temperature of -20f, churning the ice cream to the correct constancy took about 15 minutes, but I would imagine if your ice cream maker is at zero degrees f (which is what most freezers attached to refrigerators are set at) it may take a bit longer.] You can serve it at this consistency right away, which is just slightly thicker than soft serve, or pack it in a plastic or glass airtight container and freeze until hard.  Makes 1 Pint.

This ice cream has a very mellow chai and honey flavor, it would go very well with ginger snaps, brandy snaps or candied pecans or almonds.

Enjoy

I realize its only October and it might not sit well to think about winter holidays quite yet, I am anyway.

Every year from the beginning of November until just after the new year, I bake hundreds of batches of cookies, as well as cakes and other breakfast breads, snacks, pies, deserts and appetizers. I give boxes of cookies to friends, family and other people we work with or have frequent contact with during the year. My husband and I also often cater or at least help with several holiday parties as well as a Thanksgiving dinner in our own home.

So as I am thinking forward to what I am going to bake, how many pounds of flour, sugar, butter and nuts, how many dozen eggs, how much time I will need, who are we gifting to and what should we package them in I am thinking of my joy. It can take a lot of planning to bake this much, but I don’t mind, I don’t mind spending the money or the time and I don’t mind that the gifts often aren’t reciprocated, the whole thing is so warm and wonderful.

Holiday season baking is my favorite part of the late fall early winter. It brings me so much happiness when I bake the cookies and when I give them away, the smells and the smiles. As the days get darker and the temperatures are plummeting anything that brings some joy is a good thing.

Where does your end of the year (late fall early winter) joy come from?

(if you want to contribute a winter Joy piece for the blog click here)

From Mudflats Moderator futurexpat?:
I just wanted to share part of my collection of all things moose with you. I have been collecting moose since our first trip to Alaska in 2000. To be honest, many of these hide until the holidays, but many of them are scattered all around the house. I search them out everywhere, and even found something moose in Hawaii! I think my new granddaughter is going to have a lot of little furry friends, and, with InJuneau’s kind help, she also has one of her own!