Tonight's event was a weeknight version of the 5 project stamp night I did on Friday. So many friends had office parties and other things going on that night, so this was the mini-version, to give them a little bit of fun, on a limited time budget. I call it an "express" workshop. 60 minutes, one make-and-take project, and a little treat.
The make-and-take project was this cute ghiradelli chocolate holder. It's hard to see, but under the snowman there's "dazzling diamonds" glitter for the snow. I simply adore this sweet little "Frosty" stamp. I just keep coming back to it over and over again.
Here's what it looks like inside.
I wanted this event to be truly 60 minutes for the sake of my sweet friends who have little kids that need to get to bed, and who work full-time and don't have a lot of extra time in their lives to spare. I was totally done with talking, demo and make-and-take; and treats were served in 60 minutes, but they were chatting and ended up staying 2 hours instead! I was thrilled because I love having people here and wanted them to stay and have fun, but I was surprised that they did, with their time constraints. I guess they need creative fun and sweet fellowship as much as I do.
I think hot drinks are very nice for these cold evening parties, so I decided to try something different and do a dairy-free chai tea latte.
One word to the wise on adding hot items to a crock pot: do make sure the crock pot is already warm. You don't want to add hot liquids to a cold crock because you runt he risk of shocking and cracking the stoneware. The solution is to put some liquid into the crock and get it heating up beforehand. Don't heat it with nothing inside though, that is also not good for your stoneware. For instance, on Thanksgiving...remember all that hot food that went into my crocks to keep warm? I had heated them up for a little while beforehand, with a few inches of water inside. When I went to add the hot food I just used pot holders, picked up the stoneware and dumped the water out, then added in the hot food.
So for this chai latte I used my 4 qt black crock pot. Into the crock went:
- 32 oz carton unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 TBSP honey
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 "tea bags" of ground mulling spices
Along with:
- 6 cups water
- 6 Oregon Chai tea bags
I boiled the water on the stovetop, then steeped the 6 tea bags in it for 4 minutes, then added that tea to the other ingredients in the crock pot and put it on low for a couple of hours, but even with the addition of the cinnamon sticks and the mulling spices, it ended up still being a bit diluted, and not spicy enough for me.
Next time I would just follow the instructions on the box, and double it. It says to use 4 1/2 c water and 1 1/2 c. milk--bring to a boil and steep tea bags 2 to 4 minutes, add honey. Much simpler, and I think it would be better to have steeped the tea in the coconut milk as well as the water.
However if you really want to go simple, just buy the chai in the box, add milk of choice, combine in the pot to warm it, and you're good to go! I did not do that because it has too much sugar for me. I wanted to control the amount of sweetener and use honey instead of cane sugar.
Leave a ladle alongside the pot with a note to warn guests that the chai is very HOT! That's the main problem I am having with crock pot beverages is that they really are too hot of a serving temperature so I'm always worried someone will get burned, so I end up nagging: "be careful, it's really hot"...but the "warm" setting is not quite hot enough after a while, so. Whadayado? I guess the only other alternative is to make your hot drinks and keep them the proper temp in big thermoses for easy serving.
Switching gears on you...does anyone else battle with the uncontrollable urge to hibernate this time of year? I mean truly hibernate? As in a full-system shut down til spring? All my life, right about this very week in December I get mentally slow and foggy, tired, do not want to eat (nothing looks or sounds very good), or think, or move, but just be still. Not sad or depressed, just s-l-o-o-o-w, and apathetic. Something about the day length and the cold just flips a switch in me.
In like fashion, when the days start to lengthen out, early March, it's like I start waking up again. Food looks vibrant and smells fragrant again, and interest and vigor returns to me. Summer is like being young again. Free and unfettered. I love bare feet and intense heat. Winter, on the other hand, is like carrying a heavy burden a long distance, weighed down by several pounds of clunky awkward clothing, and cement boots.
There's no "syndrome", and nothing "disordered" about this phenomenon in my opinion, just the natural state of the natural world...and friends, as much as we love our iphones and high-speed internet, in reality, we are creatures of the natural world too, responding to cues in the weather and the seasons. What could be more natural than to tuck in tight, sleep, conserve energy, and wait it out til spring?
Mama bears just innately know they need to settle into the cave, curl up with their little ones, and simply survive the cold dead of winter. They were made this way, with instincts given to them by their Creator, which is how they have continued to live on, season to season, throughout the years since the earth was made. I know for sure that experiencing this same urge for "down time" each winter is how I was created. The cyclical nature of this state each and every year is as sure and as powerful as the tides, and as constant as the steady coming and going of the sun and the moon and the seasons. It's yet another fingerprint of our orderly, consistent, and faithful God. There are vibrant, green, youthful, wakeful times, and then there are quiet, still, almost dead times. But without fail, spring always comes back, and out of death new life emerges. Now is hibernating time, but I can rest in this state, knowing that in March, this hibernation instinct in me will go away. It always does. It never fails. As sure as the sun and the moon rise and set in the proper time, this desire to hibernate will leave me, only to return next December in the proper time.
But we are humans, not bears, and life goes on. Staying home and being still until spring just can not happen. The family still needs to be fed, and there are events and weekly routines to maintain. As much as I love being outside, (and my body still really needs the exercise and fresh air, now that it's so cold), getting out to exercise is something I have to really force each day. Some days it's so cold I'm just giving in and staying home, but somehow that has to change.
Now that I'm done with stamp parties for this month (which were very fun to do, a great diversion from the usual routines...and have helped me step out of the daily grind of cooking, cleaning, errands and responsibilities for a few days! ;) it's time now to buckle down, kick myself with some spurs, force myself awake, and do what I need to do. The old Nike theme: Just Do It. Cooking, exercise...just. do. it.
Next week: freezer cooking. If I can get in two good days of prep work life can be a lot nicer for a few weeks. I'll keep you in the loop.
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