Hoar frost

Not the prettiest name, especially for something that is so very pretty, but we had some hoar frost a few weeks back. Of course this meant that the husband and I had to try to take some photos. Here is one that I took with my point and shoot.

Hoar frost happens on cold clear nights, and comes from old English where the word hoar is related to old age. The term comes about because the frost can make bare trees look like they have gray hair like an old man. Isn’t that funny?

Anyway, it’s gorgeous, and waking up to find everything covered in it is pretty amazing.

German Pancakes

My husband and I have New Year’s Eve traditions, but we never really had a tradition for New Years morning (aside from sleeping in of course). This year we tried making German pancakes, which I have found out have a lot of other names too. Yummy! I think that we have found a new tradition. Of course, since we had never made them before I turned to my friends on Facebook to find their favorite recipe, and my friend Jeanne (who is always posting about fabulous food she makes) came through with this recipe.

6 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cube butter (1/4 cup)
lemon juice
powdered sugar
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine & blend eggs, flour, and milk in blender. Melt 1 cube butter in 13X9 dish. Pour batter directly into hot dish, bake 18 minutes (we did go to 21 minutes, so adjust for your oven as needed). Sprinkle with lemon & powdered sugar.

We didn’t have lemon on hand, so we topped ours with powdered sugar and maple syrup. So yummy! If you haven’t had them before and wonder what they taste like, they remind me a little of French toast, and we both thought they were really tasty. It’s also fun to watch them puff up while they are cooking in the oven.

Do you have New Year’s morning traditions?

Build a Robot 2012 Calendar

One of my favorite things about the new year is getting new calendars. Yes, calendars plural. I love organizing stuff, and this year we got an awesome selection of calendars. My husband got Angry Birds, I was given the Farmer’s Almanac calendar, and I am waiting for a Totoro book from Japan as well. Together we are very excited about the Build-a-Robot calendar we got! If you love paper craft, this is the calendar for you, and it’s on sale right now for just $5.99, so go get one while you can.

It’s not January yet, but I spent a bit of time tonight building January’s robot. It was really fun to put together, and helped me beat away a bit of the winter blahs. Every month has a robot ready to put together with a little folding and some glue. The robots come ready to punch out of their papers, so you don’t have to cut anything, and they have all the folds marked for easy putting together.

I can’t wait to put together a new robot each month! It was really fun to put this one together. If you want to have a little fun each month, the Build-a-Robot calendar is sure to be your new favorite calendar.