One of the Kids' Christmas Presents

Malin and Kai will be able to help Karl next year.

In other bee news, the month of December was unseasonably cold this year. As it's our first winter beekeeping, we're hopeful that our bees will make it, but we're just not sure. Two days ago, the temperature finally got up past 40 degrees and, surprisingly, a few bees were out an about. Today it's supposed to get past 50 so I maybe we'll see a few more flying around.

Pre-Christmas Baking

Wheat bread, hamburger rolls from the Professional Pastry Chef cookbook (they're really good, but it makes way too much dough for us to use without freezing half of them), peppermint coconut macaroons and toffee bars.

Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti

Continuing on my baking binge...

Christmas Honey

Isn't it pretty?

Krumkake

I made two giant batches of Krumkake last weekend for a Christmas cookie exchange. Krumkake's a Norwegian butter cookie that's baked on a flat iron and then rolled on a wooden cone.

Another Article on Urban Beekeeping

Urban beekeeping really does seem to be a popular topic for mainstream media these days. Last week, the New York Times ran a story on the movement to legalize city beekeeping. Denver, Salt Lake City and Milwaukee are the latest cities to endorse backyard bees. Here's a link...

Thanksgiving Dinner

I made Parker House Rolls to go with Thanksgiving dinner. Following the recipe in Cook's Illustrated Baking cookbook, I made them earlier in the day, about 3 hours before dinner was ready. The rolls were absolutely delicious warm, but once they cooled, they seemed a bit dry. It's nearly impossible to bake something while a turkey is in the oven along with side dishes. Lesson learned.



Pies included pumpkin, chocolate pecan and sour cherry-peach. While alone in the kitchen with cooling pies, Aksel decided to help me "decorate" the pumpkin one by dragging sharp objects across the top. Another lesson learned: don't leave a two year old alone with pie. I should have known that one already.