Homemade Sorbets...

Got a new attachment from Santa for Christmas so we made homemade sorbet for new-years eve.

I am using a kitchen aide ice-cream maker attachment to make these.  The recipes are my own to make these and are listed below in the read more section.

Basic syrup recipe

• 2 cups water 
• 2 cups sugar

prep

1. Place in a large pot to boil or it may boil over. Heat the water/sugar over medium heat to make a basic syrup.
2. After the sugar is dissolved  and mixture is thoroughly heated remove from heat. (boil for about 10 mins then cool) makes 3 cups of syrup

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 Citrus sorbet...
Lemon Sorbet

serves 8: 1 small  scoop each  as it is strong as lemon  use a small cookie scoop is the best size.  If you do the modifications below will still serve 8 but normal ice-cream scoop size.

ingredients

• 1 basic syrup recipe  (next time I will double or triple  just this part so 2 or 3  basic syrup recipes this is for for the lime/ lemon/ limon  the others are fine with 1 basic recipe) as it  was just too much of a pucker power for my kids( but me and the husband liked it the way it was but since the kids eat most of it I will make it fit them better.
• 2 cups freshly squeezed Citrus Juice freshly squeezed (we used Lisbon lemons from my grandmother's tree) but any citrus: lemon, limon, lime, orange, tangarine... will work

• 3 teaspoons  Zest from the same fruit as you juiced (I used zest from the above mentioned lemons)

Prep

1. Add both the lemon juice and the  lemon zest to finished basic syrup recipe (1 batch)and chill.
2. After mixture is chilled add to ice-cream maker set speed to stir and pour in sorbet mixture. (about 15 mins in mixer)
3. Freeze for 2 hours before eating.

I could not find my zester so I just put the peels in the blender with the water for the syrup and hit puree  then I just cooked it as for the basic syrup recipe.  But this way is a much stronger flavor so if you want it more mild through it in with the juice not boil with syrup.   But either way will work my was an improvisation from necessity not how I would normally do it. 

The lemon is very tart strong pucker power so if you want it sweeter double or triple  the syrup recipe and do not boil zest.   I will do it that way next time and leave the rest the same.
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Basic fruit sorbet...

Strawberry Blueberry Sorbet  

serves 8: 1 scoop each


ingredients

• 1 basic syrup recipe
• 8 cups  fruit ( I used 4 cups blueberries and 4 cups strawberries since I am out of season I just used frozen berries that I mostly thawed untill soft enough to mash) but fresh would be better and pretty much any fruit can be used the juicier the fruit the better ie. berries, plums, nectarines and so on over such fruits as apples

prep

1. Chop strawberries into small pieces either by using a food processor or a blender (or smash by hand) until pureed
2. Strain juice into a bowl through wire sieve. This will help get rid of the seeds and some of the pulp skins from the blueberries  Chill.  I ended up with about 4 1/2 cups of puree in a glass measuring cup amazing how much it reduced I had about 1 1/2 cups pulp that  can use for jam or some other fruit items like smoothies and such. 
3. Add the mashed fruit mixture to 1 basic syrup recipe and chill.
4. After mixture is chilled add to Ice Cream Maker. Set speed to stir and pour in sorbet mixture. (about 15 - 20 mins in mixer)
5. Freeze for 2 hours before eating.

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both of these are nice to serve with a few fresh mint leaves as decoration and added flavor

Approximately 3 to 4 cups of fruit will make about 2 cups of sorbet.

Store sorbet in a separate freezer ready bowl in the freezer do not store  in the mixing bowl as scooping out of the mixing bowl can damage it.

Merry Christmas...

Afrikaans: Geseënde Kersfees
Afrikander: Een Plesierige Kerfees
African/ Eritrean/ Tigrinja: Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
Albanian:Gezur Krislinjden
Arabic: Milad Majid
Argentine: Feliz Navidad
Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Azeri: Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun
Bahasa Malaysia: Selamat Hari Natal
Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!
Bengali: Shuvo Naba Barsha
Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce
Bosnian: (BOSANSKI) Cestit Bozic i Sretna Nova godina
Brazilian: Feliz Natal
Breton: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat
Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo
Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!
Chile: Feliz Navidad
Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin) Sheng Dan Kuai Le
Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito
Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Corsian: Pace e salute
Crazanian: Rot Yikji Dol La Roo
Cree: Mitho Makosi Kesikansi
Croatian: Sretan Bozic
Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish: Glædelig Jul
Duri: Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast
English: Merry Christmas
Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon
Estonian: Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi
Ethiopian: (Amharic) Melkin Yelidet Beaal
Faeroese: Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!
Farsi: Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Finnish: Hyvaa joulua
Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French: Joyeux Noel
Frisian: Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
Galician: Bo Nada
Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
German: Fröhliche Weihnachten
Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
Haiti: (Creole) Jwaye Nowel or to Jesus Edo Bri'cho o Rish D'Shato Brichto
Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hindi: Shub Naya Baras (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Hungarian: Boldog Karácsonyt
Icelandic: Gledileg Jol
Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal
Iraqi: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat
Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay.
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Jiberish: Mithag Crithagsigathmithags
Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Kurdish: Serî sallî nwê pîroz
Lao: souksan van Christmas
Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Latvian: Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!
Lausitzian:Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto
Lettish: Priecigus Ziemassvetkus
Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu
Low Saxon: Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar
Luxembourgish: Schèine Chreschtdaag an e gudde Rutsch
Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik
Maltese: IL-Milied It-tajjeb
Manx: Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa
Maori: Meri Kirihimete
Marathi: Shub Naya Varsh (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Navajo: Merry Keshmish
Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul
Occitan: Pulit nadal e bona annado
Papiamento: Bon Pasco
Papua New Guinea: Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu
Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!
Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Philippines: Maligayang Pasko!
Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie
Portuguese:Feliz Natal
Pushto: Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha
Rapa-Nui (Easter Island): Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua
Rhetian: Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn
Romanche: (sursilvan dialect): Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!
Rumanian: Sarbatori vesele or Craciun fericit
Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Sami: Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Sardinian: Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou
Scots Gaelic: Nollaig Chridheil dhuibh
Serbian: Hristos se rodi.
Singhalese: Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Slovak: Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovene: Vesele Bozicne Praznike Srecno Novo Leto or Vesel Bozic in srecno Novo leto
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Tagalog: Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon
Tamil: (Tamizh) Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Trukeese: (Micronesian) Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!
Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai or souksan wan Christmas
Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Z Rizdvom Khrystovym or S rozhdestvom Kristovym
Urdu: Naya Saal Mubarak Ho (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Vietnamese: Chuc Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen
Yoruba: E ku odun, e ku iye'dun!

Gingerbread houses

kids made thses with their dad, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

The kids made these with their dad. My children had fun right before thanksgiving making gingerbread houses with their dad. I some how misplaced this photo.

As you can see there are five Christmas and one Halloween.  The two the least decorated are mine and my husbands ( but he decorated both of them).  He left most of the candy for the children  to do their homes. We had purchased some ginger bread people at the same tine so each house had a family to go with it.  Since it was already past Halloween and we never got around to doing the haunted house one before Halloween they tried to make it look less Halloween and more Christmas hard to do with black icing. 

Guardian Angel ...cross stitch

Been busy trying to get a cross stitch done for a customer.   She always starts a cross stitch but then get behind on it so I end up doing them.   This one was not the norm as usually she makes one mistake and Ii find it and it is easy to fix and go forward. 
This one had so many mistakes before it got to me I had to frog what she had and start from scratch.  So all the work you see in this is mine although it did come to me originally with a 1 inch by about 1 1/2 inch area done.  But since I removed all that and started again... well you get the idea.  Those that follow my blog know I am not fond of doing cross stitch for contract work but this lady usually gives me tips and since I have done stuff for her in the past kind of hard to say no.  So  I just do it these days.  Of course when she picked this up she had another one for me to do.  The new one has more stitching than most so it will be twice the price of the usual ones she brings me.  Below you see the progress of the work I did none of hers is in these photos misplaced my camera for a bit so I missed that part of the process.

The angel in the original pattern had short hair and wings.  She did not want the angel with wings so I did not do that part.  Also since it was a baby girl I gave the angel long hair to fill in the area that should have had wings.

This is what it looked like when all finished

Happy Santa Lucia Day

My grandmother did this when we were little girls my older sister and myself.  We (my older sister and myself) would put on a crown of candles and walk through the house bearing treats.  Now that my grandmother has passed I guess it is time for me to pick of the light again and pass it on to my own children to do.  Above is one of two crowns we wore as children that my grandmother ( Vova had on display in 2009).

In the very early morning a young girl dresses in a flowing white gown and a bright red sash. Her head is adorned with a crown of twigs and lit candles. In Sweden, the young lady would travel on foot from farm to farm. She brought baked goods to each home she visited and her journey was always complete by dawn. 
Every town and village in Sweden has its own Lucia, and of course, it was always quite an honor to be chosen.  The baked goods the Lucia (or Lucia Bride as she is also called) brings with her is Lussekattoror (Saffron buns).
Symbolically, the candles are meant to represent light (good) overcoming dark (evil). Historically Santa Lucia was said to be condemned to death, by fire. The flame did not harm Lucia, sparing her life - though briefly. She was later beheaded.

Happy Sinterklaas

 

Hope your day was full of toys and treats.  Not switches and coal.  Many happy holidays to you all.
My grandmother started the tradition of putting out shoes in our family for Sinterklass.  This is the first year without her for the holidays so I am trying to pick up all the old traditions she did when I was a little girl I have missed a few already but better late than never.  We had ceramic shoes when I was a kid a boot,a tennis shoe and a little dutch shoe.  I have them all but they are in storage and will have to pull them out at a future Christmas for my children to use.

I have been making presents for Christmas and spending time with my family I hope you are all having a joyous holiday season.  I also started another advent scarf yeah I know you have not seen the other one completed yet .   Well that is because it is not done.  I hope to get back to it soon  but for now I am working on this one.  Yellow with blue beads same blue beads as the other one.  Hope I have enough of them.  As you can see thus far I have 6 different patterns have been able to keep up but only because I was terribly sick  the last few days and had nothing to do in bed.  But I am better know which means I will probably fall behind.