Relaxing Sunday

I deliberately took some pictures today so I could post them here. Seems we're so into the routine that nothing seems terribly news worthy.

So, Otto had the guitar out this afternoon because he found another version of Guantanamera that he's trying to learn. Andy had coincidentally made a stringed instrument a few minutes earlier out of rubber bands and a box, so he joined in.


Then Sam decided that he wanted in on the pictures.


Later in the day the boys decided to sip on some black currant cider that I bought at the art&craft show yesterday. Most of what I bought was consumable - fruit cake, toffee, ghost-shaped sugar cookies, some other candy, the cider.... This show is a popular place to start your Christmas shopping, and many of the vendors would ask if what I was buying was a gift. Nope, all for me! (Pretty much.) I bought this cider figuring that we would need some warm drinks in the near future. Like today - very cold - high of 1 degree C. But it's supposed to be 20 degrees C again later this week. Crazy weather.


Some time after cider-sipping, and in the ongoing process of trying to stay warm, I decided make caramel apples. I had bought the ingredients earlier in the week, but hadn't made them yet. My initial plan was to make them while Andy was at school and Sam was down for a nap, since most of the time is spent stirring HOT HOT HOT sticky caramel over the stove; a process they couldn't really help with. But, it worked out fine with them around - they were good about keeping their distance.

I had never made caramel before. It was a lot like making a roux, but took longer. This recipe used honey instead of sugar, so the caramel tasted, well, honeyish. And I couldn't find popsicle sticks at the grocery store, so we got creative with bamboo skewers. The first two were picture-perfect, but as the caramel cooled they started looking not so pretty.


Eating them after dinner was... tiring. They took longer to eat than any other dessert we've ever had.


Trying to get the caramel unstuck from behind the teeth.

There was a lot of trying to get the caramel unstuck....



They were fun, and tasty; something different for sure!