Today is a special day. It marks my 15-year union with Chris. And I say union because we were together for 11 years before we got married. He’s the most loving, understanding, caring and giving man I know. And I feel so lucky to have him as my partner.
We are big eggnog people here. Drinking it straight with some brandy, not so much. But we use it for everything else, especially in our morning lattes. I personally love to bake with eggnog and Chris loves to eat it. We ♥ eggnog.
Can you tell I’m a huge fan of crumbs? I can’t help it. I just want to add crumbs to all my muffins, bread and cakes! I’m finally starting my holiday baking. So for my first baking recipe, I thought I’d kick it off with something eggnog and something Kahlua! Yes, it’s a FANTASTIC combination if you haven’t tried it already. This is definitely a muffin you’ll want to have coffee with. It’s like peas and carrots, they go hand-in-hand. And a little dark chocolate can never hurt in a combination like this.
I know everyone is baking up a storm in their kitchen for the holiday festivities and I’m running behind! I wanted to post one last Thanksgiving related recipe before moving on to the Christmas holidays. Yes, I’m totally irrelevant. Please don’t mock me.
In this household, we’re big coffee/crumb/streusel cake eaters. Actually, we love anything with crumb toppings. Muffins, bread, cakes. You name it, we love it. The more crumb the better! Cakes with layers and thick frosting, not so much. I love looking at them but eating them is another story, unless they’re *really* good and it has to be chocolate.
Oxtail soup has always been a favorite of mine. I didn’t grow up on it but I eat it often enough, as if I did. My sister made this dish for me years ago and ever since I always make it a point to cook it whenever Chris or I are sick with a cold/flu or when it’s cold out. It’s not a heavy or chunky soup, it’s a brothy soup with a ton of flavors. I always make a big pot of it but having it day after day can get boring and tedious.
A few weeks ago, Chris and I splurged and bought ourselves a one-touch espresso machine. We’ve had our Starbucks Barista machine for over 10 years and thought it was time to retire it. It was a great machine but it was manual and cumbersome. Technology has come a long way. Now you can make a great espresso drink with a touch of a button! What used to be a 20-minute process to make a latte now only takes a couple minutes!
I can’t remember the last time I baked with apples. It must have been about a year ago. So today’s recipe is an apple recipe (duh!) with Biscoff. Who doesn’t love Biscoff? If you haven’t tried Biscoff, I urge you to hurry up and get yourself a jar. You can get it on Amazon, Target or Cost Plus World Market, to name a few. It’s fantastic in baking, on toast, or you can just eat it straight from the jar. I currently have 5 jars in my pantry, that’s how much I love it.
My mother-in-law is engaged! This is her third marriage and I hope it’ll be a happily ever after for her. Chris and I have been together for almost 15 years and it has been a wonderful and blissful union. I hope she finds the same with her new fiancé. She sounded really happy over the phone about being engaged to a man she has known for 20 years. I’m happy that she’s happy. She deserves it. She’ll be visiting us with her new fiancé next Tuesday. I know, odd day but they’re only in town for a day. This means I’ll be cleaning the house this weekend.
Last week, I got bitten by a spider. I don’t even know how it happened. A section of my arm swelled up like a silver dollar. It was nasty! It itched and throbbed all at the same time. I had to constantly wash the punctured area before applying my ointment. It was just unpleasant. The swelling finally went down a couple of days ago but there’s a bruise-like discoloration. Eeeeeew! That was my excitement for last week.
uni homemaker 