A dwindling box of saffron.
A small gathering of bread bears.
A remnant of a delicious Cobb salad.
A slice from our caramel apple BIG cake- spice cake, chocolate-gluten-free frangipane,
French apple cake, and caramel cake topped with cake pop enhancement and covered with
a caramel coating!
It was great!
And on the deck outside my kitchen- pumpkin tin cans being crafted.
And wreaths being made.
So- that is my kitchen this November- what is in your kitchen?
See more offerings at Celia’s blog – It’s a great month to share what you have going in your kitchen !
Heidi, it’s so festive at your place! Are the wreaths for Christmas, or do you make them for Thanksgiving? Either way, they’re stunning! As you know, I’m a big fan of your bread bears, and that caramel cake looks amazing – I don’t know how you managed to slice it! 🙂
Hi Celia! They are holiday wreaths- because we pruned back the boxwood bushes at Meredith’s place before we left and cut some low hanging magnolia branches from over the driveway. They were still fresh and pliable so we decided to make the wreaths early and hope for the best. We will probably make some more closer to Christmas- but this was good for using our resources. 🙂
We had two people slicing- one holding the cake together and the other carefully going through the layers. This our fourth big cake and we are getting pretty good at the mechanics behind them!
Gosh there’s a lot of creativity going in your kitchen. Your wreaths look fantastic – and they would cost a bomb to buy in the shops and wouldn’t be half as nice.
Hi Nancy- thanks! We used the greens from our yards and made them really for free since I had purchased the wreath frames and wire many years ago. I love making up my own every year- and giving them away as gifts to family and friends!
G’day Heidiannie! First of all, I LOVE you enthusiasm for life! True!
So invigorating! So contagious! Thank you!
Love the bear breads and have not had a Cobb salad (don’t know why) since I left the States, true!
I also got a peek of your Apple Cake on your other post and am now heading over there to view!
Lovely meeting you thanks to IMK! 🙂 Look forward to reading all about your holiday spirit and LOVE LOVE LOVE the wreath! Cheers! Joanne
Thanks Joanne- I feel the same way about you! Your blog always makes me happy. And we were supposed to be bringing a salad to a big cake thing my family has- only the hostess and I actually brought salad- everyone else brought chicken! So the Cobb salad was a definite hit!
Thanks Heidiannie! I am glad we can all inspire each other in unique ways worldwide and your comments have once again made my day today! Thank you! 🙂
Cheers! Joanne
Such beautiful wreaths, Heidi, they must be such pleasure to look at and I so love your bears. There must be a collective noun for a gathering of bread-bears – a bump of bears, a giggle of bears, party of bears…..?
HEy Jan- maybe they should be called a den of bears.
The wreaths were so much fun to put together- and they were FREE! Everything came from our yards or from years past!
Heidi, I love your little bears – they are so cute. What is a Cobb salad?
Cobb salads are a creation from the Brown Derby chain of eateries in the US- they include lettuce, chopped boiled eggs,chopped bacon grilled chicken, blue cheese,tomatoes,avocados,chopped chives with a vinagrette dressing. Really good.
Love the wreaths. Ally really reminds me of Aunt R in those pictures. Love your bread bears. The big ones are so great to put a dip in the tummy for a party. Working on getting some more saffron.
I know you are trying to connect on the saffron- I just can’t pay retail price for it here. I miss making the big bears- maybe I’ll make some for Thanksgiving!
And you are right- she gets more like her mom every year!
Love you- hope you get safely back to Canberra soon!
Those bread bears are so cute. I’ve never seen them before.
Thank you- I have been making them since my sons were little boys. Children love them- and they are honey whole wheat so they are delicious. Here is a link to the tutorial I made for making them. http://www.heidiannie.com/a-bread-shaping-tutorialbread-bears-for-celia-and-all-my-bread-friends/
So much happening Heidiannie. It all looks very exciting. love the pumpkin tin cans and the wreaths.
Thank you Tanya! I really enjoyed making up these cans with children! We added some goodies and they were just right.
The wreaths are great to put together with a friend- and it adds to the whole season when you make your own. 🙂
Squee! Those bears are totally adorable, I’ll definitely have to check out that tutorial! Love the saffron too, my kitchen is not my kitchen without saffron 🙂
I feel the same way, Jas. I love saffron in chicken stock and in bread and well – it has such a satisfying scent and flavor and color that I use it where ever I can!
Heidi, your bread bears always make me smile. Have a lovely week!
Thanks Lizzy- they make me smile, too!
When I put them in the oven they are just dough- but they become real in the oven- ready to jump out and put on their costumes!
Holy Cow! What a kitchen and aren’t you clever!! I’m from Maine and all I ever want at Christmas is a balsam fir wreath but since Christmas is in the summer in Australia, it’s highly unlikely that will ever happen. 🙂 Your wreaths are lovely!
Your “gathering” of bread bears made me laugh – how cute!
Hi Maureen- your comment got lost in the spam department and I just rescued it from Spam Oblivion!
Thanks for your kind words. Wreaths and flowers and arrangements are so important for my holidays- I love having them around and even more love making them.
And the bears- ah well- they are a part of my everyday!
Never heard of a Cobb salad before, it looks so colourful and yum! Love your wreaths too, you’ve very crafty!
Thank you, Lisa- I grew up in the greenhouse/florist business- so putting wreaths and flowers together is a joy.
And Cobb salad is so very good. Much better than a chef salad.
Heidi, there are always so many wonderful tasty treats on offer in your kitchen and your wreaths are exquisite!
Have a beautiful week ahead.
🙂 Mandy xo
Mandy- thanks for stopping by!
Tasty treats are what the kitchen is about, in my opinion.
🙂
I love those bread bears! Absolutely gorgeous, and so are the wreaths and that cake!
Thanks, Kari- I love this time of year!
Getting a holiday sense of activities and crafts. And it is finally cool enough that baking helps warm the kitchen. 🙂
I always love your sweet little bears Heidi…I’d like to nibble an ear or two right now.
Beautiful wreaths too. Halloween down, now getting ready for Thanksgiving? 🙂
Actually I’m getting ready for a trip to Long Island, NY to see my grandchildren and their parents! And tomorrow I am making some cardamom and cinnamon buns! So Thanksgiving is soon- but not quite next (although I’ve already made Frank pumpkin pies twice since September!).
Glad you dropped by,Brydie! Are you thinking of doing a post? One month I want to do just a bread IMK.
Wow, those wreaths looking amazing! I can’t believe Christmas is just around the corner and those bears are adorable! I love saffron to and have been using so much of it in Greece – there is a native red saffron from Greece which is just fantastic to use.
A native red saffron from Greece? I am intrigued- does it smell and taste like saffron?
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Heidi. LOVE the creativity you have!!! I had to do a double-take on the pictures because Allyson looks so much like Aunt Robin. I’m sure you had such a good, laughter filled, satisfying time with her!
I have a big question/favor. Could you please email me how to get a starter going for sour dough bread? I’m thinking I’d like to smell some fermentation and then eat the good stuff, lol.
Thanks much.
Love,
Rebekah
Heidi, thanks for the reminder about how good Cobb Salad is… haven’t had one for ages and I agree with you, they’re better than Chef Salad! Your bread bears are the cutest things — I bet “big kids” enjoy them as much as the lil’ ones. 🙂 Loved your craft projects, too — you’ve inspired me to poke around the yard for potential wreaths!
Hi Kim- So glad you stopped by!
I love backyard wreaths- they are so much fresher and really more enjoyable because they are personal to you!
I’ve been making the bears for so many years that my son’s friends used to call me the bear lady- and yes, adults like them as well! 🙂
Cobb salads are my favorite- they are a meal that I never turn down!
Loving the re-purposed pumpkin tins – great idea! I shall steal that for next year. That apple cake is very clever too. Thanks for the tour!
Hi Fiona and WElcome!
I love those pumpkin tins- please do borrow the idea and make some! I think they would also look great with a red spray and a hammered hole design with a candle inside. Like a Christmas lantern tin?
My family likes to make multi layered cakes -everyone bringing a layer and then put together with ganache or some sort of theme.
Hence the giant caramel apple cake!
I hadn’t heard of Cobb salad before but it looks good. I’m in awe of your wreaths – I try to make them but they would look pathetic next to your wonderful creations.
Hi Anne- Cobb salad is definitely an American salad I think- but it is a great mixture of ingredients to go over salad greens. Try it sometime- you could change up the bleu cheese for other very rich cheese- Stilton would go well or a strong Cheddar, I think. And the secret to the wreaths is to use more greens than you think you need and to wire them in smaller bunches before you attach them to your wreath form. I make my husband put off pruning the bushes and trees until this time of year so I can have plenty of greens!
I love the look of your sloe gin,Anne. Do you send it overseas?