how to make peppermint bark

Cheers to a brilliant, easy, Christmassy gift idea that doubles as a dessert!    I've never tried making (or  eating) peppermint bark before, but I've recently become acquainted with it and I reckon it's a common holiday treat.  I learned this recipe from a girl named Allie, whom I've had the privilege of meeting during my short stay in Vegas.  

You Will Need:

8 oz semisweet chocolate
8 oz white chocolate
Candy canes or peppermint candy


How To Make Peppermint Bark:

STEP 1: Crush the candy canes (or peppermint candy).  Make about 1/3 cup of crushed candy, then set this aside.

Note:  The finer the candy bits are, the less they will stick to the chocolate later on, so you'd want to make the pieces rather coarse, not pulverized.  About the size of rice grains.  We used a kitchen knife today, but I think using a mortar-and-pestle is a smarter option.


STEP 2:  Melt the brown chocolate using a double boiler.  If you don't have a double boiler, improvise with two saucepans:  boil water in one saucepan, and put another pan on top of that one.  Place the chocolate in the top pan.  The steam from the bottom pan will rise to the top pan, melting the chocolate nicely.

It's important to use this double-boiling method so as not to scald the chocolate.  Burnt chocolate = gross = not good.

(Uh ...  I'm really no good at photo-documentation because I get distracted so easi... oh look, a teddy bear!  I'm so sorry I wasn't able to take shots of the other steps. *sheepish grin*  )


STEP 3:  Pour the melted chocolate in a cake pan. Spread with a spatula to make a nice, even first layer.

The size of the pan you use would depend on how thick you want your peppermint bark to be.  We wanted ours to be real thin, so we used a 10x12 pan to make quarter-inch-thick pieces.  A smaller pan of course will yield thicker layers.  A rectangular or square pan is ideal, but I suppose a round one will do if you're not the type of person to obsess over even-sized pieces.


STEP 4:  Stick the pan into the freezer until the chocolate hardens.

STEP 5:  Melt the white chocolate this time.  Pour the molten white chocolate over the hardened brown chocolate layer - and similarly, spread to make it even.  Let cool.

STEP 6:  Before the white chocolate hardens, sprinkle the crushed candy canes over it.  Let this sit in the freezer awhile to let it solidify completely.

STEP 7:  Slice into neat, even-sized 2-inch squares.

Okay, fine.  It isn't so easy to slice them neatly.  Irregular, uneven pieces are an excellent idea too.  You can tell your friends later that this adds character.  :)


Yields:6 to 8 regular servings, or
2 candy-lover servings


Prep time:1 hour (it depends on your freezer's capabilities, actually)

Serving Suggestions:

I think peppermint bark is pretty straightforward, but I imagine it would look good with green jellybean garnish and / or those edible sparkly thingies.
Several pieces in a clear candy bag tied with Christmassy ribbons would make nice giveaways.

* All photos in this entry are mine.
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a clever christmas tree idea

Photos mine.

I put together this "tree" for my Ma at her house.  It's a fun holiday craft idea inspired by something we saw on Pinterest. It's a brilliant space-saving idea if you live in a teeny apartment.  It's also something you can do with all your mismatched ornaments.  

The "branches" are actual branches sawed off a dead tree, held up by the powers of push-pins, thread, and a bit of imagination.  Nylon wire or hemp twine would be ideal, but I used beading floss in this one.

As with most of my craft projects, I chose to challenge myself by not buying anything, but using only what I had available.

You don't even need to hang actual Christmas ornaments.  You can use odds and ends you have around the house, then holiday-ify them with red (or gold, or green) ribbons.  If you  look closely, you'd notice I put a key chain in there  :)  I also used a glass pebble, a pine cone I picked up, a gift tag and a plastic something that I found on a cake.

Clever, huh?

tita haydee's kare-kare recipe

I'm so glad I learned something new yesterday. My wonderful new friend Tita Haydee taught me how to make kare-kare . She's not really my tita.  She's just a few years older than I am, but I call her "tita" because she's a friend of my mom's.

I always thought of kare-kare as an ultra-challenging dish to prepare, but Mrs. H showed me how to do it the easy way.  Since she's quite health conscious too, she gave me a few tips to make it "safer" for human consumption.


Ingredients: 

Beef, cut into cubes
Oxtail
String beans
Pechay
Eggplant
Kalabasa
One large onion
Garlic, 4 cloves
Achuete powder, 3-4 tbsps or one packet
Reduced fat peanut butter, 2 cups or 1 jar


You'll also need:
At least 2 large cooking pots
Strainer
Slotted soon


Procedure:

1.  Wash beef and oxtail  thoroughly under running water.

2. Place the beef in a pot, with enough water to cover it completely.  When it comes to a boil, remove from heat, drain and wash off the excess fat.  Repeat once more.

3.  Boil beef again until soft.  This may take 2-4 hours on the stovetop, or 30 minutes in a pressure cooker.

4.  Meanwhile, chop vegetables into bite-sized chunks.  Set aside.

5.  Take pot #2 and boil water.  Dunk vegetables briefly in boiling water to rinse out any impurities.  Set veggies aside and throw away the water.

6.  Boil the eggplant until tender.  Do the same with the kalabasa.  Set aside.

7.  Boil about 2 cups of water.  Stir in 2 cups of reduced fat peanut butter (or one whole jar) until melted.  It has to be reduced  fat peanut butter because  most other kinds tend to produce globs of oil. Pour this into a bowl and set aside.

8.  Sautee onions and garlic in oil in pot #2.  Stir in the achuete.  Pour in the molten peanut butter and stir until smooth.

9.  Check the meat pot now.  When the meat is completely tender, gradually stir in the peanut butter sauce, about a cupful at a time.

10.  Add the vegetables, put heat on low and let simmer for 2 minutes.  No too long because you want the veggies to be crunchy.

sharpie art

Visiting my Mama in in Las Vegas,  NV - been staying in the lovely lovely guest room in her lovely lovely house (This arrangement is more practical and way better than staying at a hotel, me thinks).

I couldn't help but notice that one of the closet doors had a bit of adhesive-and-paper residue surrounded by chipped paint.  Apparently a poster was previously glued on and later peeled off (My kid sister attempted to hide the damage by plastering a Yoda sticker over it but that only made it more obvious, considering that the sticker didn't match the overall aesthetic and that there were no Star Wars fans in that household).  That unsightly scar on the closet door nagged me day and night, egging the obsessive freak in me.  I finally decided to do something about it.

I grabbed the available materials - a bunch of multicolored Sharpies - and with my Ma's permission, drew freehand on the door in an attempt to camouflage the damage.  On the other door were existing letter decals spelling out a love proverb, so I decided to draw something complementary.

Love proverb = heart visual.  A heart is too cliche, I know.  But it works

Yes, Sharpies - a.k.a., felt-tipped pens.  Good thing there happened to be a lot of them lying around; I didn't feel like making a trip to the the nearest art supplies store (which isn't exactly that near) for paints and stuff I'd only be using once.  It pays to be frugal and resourceful.  :p

And voici, the end product.  I'm  not too happy with how some of the parts turned out (I didn't pencil everything in), but I'm generally pleased with it as a whole.

1 Peter 3:8 (MSG)

Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
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