We finished the last of the shopping yesterday. Picked up the last minute gifts, groceries, wines, bevies, and fresh flowers. We are ready for the holidays!
I have my token white poinsettia this year, which adds a bit of the yuletide feeling, but what I really love is fresh flowers for the holidays. Tulips or roses are my go-to’s, was hoping to find either one in pure white this year, but was not meant to be. Lots of lovely white mums, but they were in mixed bouquets, so I went with these gorgeous pale pink roses with purple-red alstroemeria instead. So gorgeous.
Our Sobey’s always has the best, most loveliest roses you ever did see. They even have Eden roses, which are (in my most humble opinion) the most beautiful roses ever. Sadly, I missed out on the last bundle by less than a minute, watched them being walked to the wrapping counter.
Well, this is just the greatest idea! How to make your own cut flower food. with normal, everyday ingredients that you have in the home.
My helpful hint… I learned a couple of things when I worked for a florist, a great many moons ago. The first thing they do when they get their shipment of flowers in is to give them a good chop and pop them in fresh water with plant food, let them sit anywhere from a few hours to overnight.
Therefore, to keep my roses fresh for a good 10 or more days (or other flowers), when I bring them home from the local grocery store (yep, that is where I get mine from), I do the same tricks I learned from the florists. Fill your vase with fresh, cold tap water.
Next, give the bottoms of the flowers a good chop, anywhere from a half to full inch off the ends, or more. If you want shorter stems, chop off more. The key is to give them that really good chop right away. Stick the flowers in the fresh water and let them sit for a while. Can be 20 minutes, can be several hours. Then get your actual flower vase ready with the flower food and fresh cold water. Cut the flower stems to your desired length, cutting the ends on an angle to allow more surface for them to take in the water, pop them into the vase. They will last you a long, long time!
Gardening Bits of Inspiration
Gaillardia aka Blanket Flowers. Hardy, perennial, colourful, bee magnets. How to use them in the garden.
Backyard landscaping ideas – 7 ways to reshape your yard.
I got an email from TomatoFest saying that their seed sale is on now and ends January 3rd. They have an amazing selection of tomato seeds, I buy from them annually.
They also have a smattering of herb and flower seeds, including Strawberry Blonde Calendula (my all time favourite).
Homey Bits of Inspiration
This house and the simple Swedish Christmas decor. Stunning.
How to hide acoustic tiles and other ugly ceilings with planks. Love this look. So cottagey.
Monopoly Vintage Bookshelf Edition
There are more! All the games you can imagine! Check out all the Vintage Board Games in Bookshelf format. These are awesome. Keep your games nicely standing on a bookshelf.
Last Minute Gift Ideas
5 Unique Gift Ideas for Your Grandmother. These are all nice ideas. I love the Reading Grandma idea. Being both an avid reader myself and a grandmother, I can say that it is a good one.
How to wrap a gift card. I went searching for unique ways, as I have several that I need to wrap up.
These free Christmas gift tags with pretty bows.
These free printable pretty gift tags. More ideas with links at the bottom of the post, too.
Recipes
I baked 7 loaves of Margot Sourdough Boules . One for us, hubby absolutely loves this bread, said is one of the best tasting loaves yet. Therefore, I made 6 more….one for each of my coffee klatch ladies. I know, I know, call me crazy.
The ones that I did not have a banneton for were pretty ugly, hah! I gave them anyway as I had no backup plan. If you want good looking loaves of bread, you really, really want a banneton! Trust me on this one.
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I am making one loaf of this bread tonight for another coffee friend. The Margot takes 48 hours while this sourdough loaf only takes 24 hours to make. I have just enough time to present here with a fresh, piping hot loaf of bread for our get together.
My cookie tray is pretty much done, but I also want to make this biscotti (everyone loved it last year), and then I am done! Last week’s no-roll sugar cookies turned out super well, as did the sourdough crackers (I added manchego, parmesan, and nutritional yeast). Tried and true recipes that taste amazing.
We made these chocolate chunk ginger crinkles last year and they were so super yummy! The chocolate makes a regular ginger cookie into something special! Even my hubby loves them and he generally stays away from all things gingerbread!
Christmas Stollen. This looks like a yummy addition to the cookie box.
Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cake
OR… even better, check out this Gingerbread Yule Log. Looks so festive and delicious.
From House & Garden... Our Favourite Christmas Desserts (desserts from around the world)
The rice ‘pudding’ (we call it porridge) in this picture is tradition in most all of the northern countries.
In Finland, we make this for the dessert after our big Christmas dinner (held on Christmas Eve). Our recipe does not call for the almonds or vanilla, but is otherwise mostly the same. We put in one peeled whole almond just before serving. Whoever finds the almond in their bowl gets good luck for the upcoming year.
The Marigold Potager - A Zone 3 Prairie Garden 
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