Thanksgiving Skillet Cornbread.

Lately is seems as if every time I write a blog post it is a change of season. The last time I wrote it had just changed from summer to fall . Suddenly fall is here and it is Thanksgiving. But what a fall it has been. I have had some great adventures the last few weeks. I started school, I’ve winterized the garden and I went to the Yukon for my sisters birthday where my sister and Mom took me on my first helicopter ride! Needless to say with all this activity this poor little blog has been sadly neglected. But, with a long weekend upon me and only one exam looming I decided that needed to change.

The magical view from the helicopter!

Cook (those) books. Spring edition.

Social media is a funny thing. It’s a superficial entity filled with soundbites and pictures of the perfect moments of our lives. (Lets not even talk about all the pouty lipped “selfies” out there) Arguments could be made that it both brings societies and people closer together and yet somehow manages to isolate us even further. After all, we’ve all seen the table filled with people using their smart phones rather than having an actual conversation. I like to think though that used the right way social media is a great way to make new friends and keep up with old ones.

And that’s just what happened. A couple of weeks ago I had the great fortune of meeting an online twitter and blog friend Jeanette Ordas from the delicious website Everybody Likes Sandwiches. In our brief (in person!) chat we, not surprisingly, talked about blogging and cookbooks. It got me thinking that it had been awhile since I had written a Cook(those)books post about the recipes I’ve been trying from my cookbook collection. So, with thanks to Jeanette, a blog post was born.

Holiday Happiness

I’ve got to be honest, I love the holidays.  I’m not a big fan of winter, but I look forward to the beginning of December because it means I can legitimately start getting out the decorations, baking and planning festivities.

I understand that many people have a serious love/hate with this time of year, but not me.  Yes, it can be stressful, busy and overpriced.  But it doesn’t have to be.  Every year I realize that if I take the time to make my holiday file it makes it so much easier and twice as much fun.  Okay, calm down all of you who just mentally mocked me for my slightly over the top penchant for list making.  It’s true, I do have a file folder for Christmas.  It’s bright red and includes pictures, recipes and gift ideas that I’ve found throughout the year that I want to try.  It could be worse.  I could keep every single magazine, book and article the pictures and ideas come from!

List making aside (Unless it’s to Santa.  Obviously.)  Are you a scrooge?  If you are, here are some of the things that make me happy getting ready for the holidays.  Maybe they’ll help.  If you’re already in Christmas elf mode please share with me what helps make this season fun and special for you.  I’ll probably add it to my little red folder for next year!