spiCes

i am in deep deep trouble..haha! my boy is celebrating his birthday tomorrow and i promised to send in some goodies for the class… guess what, i planned on baking some of those walnut cups in another variation..a chocolat-ey one…but i’m still here in front of the lappy! waaah! and it’s almost dinner time! i need an iron chef make over…fast! otherwise, i will be left with store bought muffins or donuts perhaps. not good. tsk, tsk…

I am so excited about this! Did you know that if you have a DS or DS lite you can actually listen to your favorite music with it? Yes! I didn’t know this either until today. All you need is this R4 DS and your little toy is automatically converted into an ipod! How cool is that? I am definitely getting one for the little boy as he only has an ipod shuffle now and his DS Lite is what he always carry along with him everywhere he goes. Won’t that be neat especially when we’re on a road trip? It will save me from inventing ways on how to entertain him during these long hours of traveling. Wait, there’s more! Not only can you listen to music through this innovative idea, you can even watch videos as well! For how much you might ask?  It’s priced at $19 only with free shipping!  Ain’t that amazing?

the weekend went by so fast. and it was a very productive one i must say! starting it off with the boy’s play date with a birthday cake [photos will be posted soon], which went well. crazy but fun that’s what it was and i’m glad C was very happy with his friends around for some pasta, pizza, brownies and ice cream. sunday started off early with our 9 am mass. then we went straight to walmart to get our tree. unfortunately the one i like is out of stock in the branch here in the area, so we decided to drive farther and tried another store, which didn’t have it either. finally, i checked out the nearest walmart in Weymouth and there it was! all dolled up and again no more boxed stock. so i asked customer service if i could take the one on display. and yes, they gave it to us…and for $35 we dragged the tree complete with lights! and that is an awesome deal! all that was left for us to do was hang the trimmings and voila! tree is finally up with barely 10 days until Christmas day!

…for the very first time in our five years here in the United States, we bought our very first ever tree…one that is taller than a 2 ft. pine that is:]

…and last night, my daughter S was so excited giving me a hand with putting it up , cleaning, opening trim boxes, hanging trims and finally setting the star on top and lighting it up! this was really her request. a ‘taller’ tree now that we had enough space for it…and i know she is really happy.

and so i am also happy that with the remaining 10 days til christmas, we’ve finally set up our Christmas Tree! yay! i just think it still needs more reds and silvers…which is the color scheme i chose for this year. actually it’s reds and shades of whites with silver, clear and opaque white, but i love the glass ones most of all.
a few more decor shopping to snazz up the house and some more for presents plus some baking for give-aways, and we’re up for some tuxedo part-aying!!!
…an entry for

…to those who are asking for the recipe of these delicious walnut cups or walnut petites as Stel mentioned on her website, here is the recipe…

1 stick (1/2 cup)unsalted butter, room temperature
3 ozs. cream cheese, room temp.
1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg
1 tbsp. melted & cooled butter
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts [cashews or any other nut of your preference will do i assume], roasted unsalted

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream 1 stick of butter with the cream cheese until the mixture is light and fluffy, add the flour and the salt, and beat the mixture until it forms a dough. Form the dough into 2 logs and chill it, wrapped in plastic wrap, for 30 minutes. Slice into disks and press into 36 1/8 cup muffin tins and work the dough evenly onto the bottoms and up the sides of the tins to form 1/8-in. shells.
Preheat the oven to 375F. In a bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla until the mixture is combined well. Divide the filling among the shells, sprinkle it with the cashews, and bake the cashew cups in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crusts are golden. Let the cookies cool in the tins on racks for 10 minutes, remove them from the tins carefully (using the sharp tip of a knife), and let them cool completely in the racks. The cashew cups may be made 2 months in advance and kept frozen in airtight containers.
Makes 36 cookies. Easily doubled.

There you go! thanks again to me neighbor for the recipe and the tutoring;]… I hope you enjoy making and eating these cups as much as I did! do not blame me if ever after indulging you might be asking me for the best diet pill next! heehee!