Monday, December 16, 2013

25 Days of Christmas ~ A Corner of the Holiday Kitchen

No post yesterday, we were too busy getting ready to have friends over for our Christmas party.  It was perfect, snow softly falling and candle lit lanterns to greet them on the front porch. Everyone brought something yummy to pass and we served hot soup, Pasta E Fagioli in a crockpot and fresh bread, and our friends brought lots of delicious appetizers and desserts.  It was so much fun, nothing fancy, just friends spending time together :>)
This morning the sun was blindingly bright on the new snow and the sunny kitchen is calling me to make some treats to give to friends and family.  Sometimes the best gift is something you take the time to bake or put together that the recipient just doesn't have time to do themselves.  We usually give fresh bread, cookies, home made jams, pies and candies that are a once a year treat to someone who doesn't cook everything from scratch like we do.
When we moved into this house 30+ years ago, this was a door on the built in cupboard that was in the kitchen. We tore that cupboard out to use the space for the refrigerator, and Earl has been trying to sneak them into the trash for years to no avail. I always catch sight of them and haul them back in before the trash man can take my doors! One of them hangs in the hallway painted with hollyhocks, and this one got some chalkboard paint and BAKERY printed on it for the spot near the back door that was just the right size.  It seems fitting since we spend so much time baking and cooking for others and it's a fun piece of our home's history so I'm glad I rescued it!
What is your favorite thing to give (or receive!) in a gift basket?

10 comments:

  1. Love that bakery sign. Very fitting for your kitchen. No, don't you dare let Earl get rid of them doors. Foods I like to give are cookies (my all time favorite) because I have so many recipes that I'm always wanting to try. I also like to give homemade granola because it's a healthy snack and good too. This year I discovered a recipe for putting white chocolate on those corn puffs and sprinkle with a little colored sugar. Sooo easy to make and tastes very good too.

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  2. Love your bakery sign! I am not a big sweets eater, so I would love getting fresh bread and homemade jam.

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  3. Wow! That was a great rescue...so cute and with a connection to the house and all. After I returned from fetching my grands, I found plates of cookies on the bbq grill in the garage. My sis had stopped by. They were a real spirit lifter!

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  4. Keep Earl AWAY from the cupboard doors!!! You are so clever - LOVE the sign. Cookies always grab my sweet teeth!

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  5. Hi Kathy
    Good friends and good food is the perfect combination for a wonderful party! Your sign is just the right thing for your kitchen. The folks who get your homemade food are very lucky.
    Rhondi xo

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  6. Oh, I love to give cookies that grands have helped me bake...
    Love your bakery sign. :)

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  7. Earl sounds like my husband, always putting things in the trash! Love the bakery sign...good save! Merry Christmas!

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  8. Hello, hello, hello! I have so missed visiting my bloggy friends and here I find so much delightful inspiration! Your bedroom and chalkboard are so stinkin' adorable and I love the bakery sign in your kitchen and just everywhere I look I am completely charmed! Sad to say we do not have a lick of Christmas set up and hardly any Christmas shopping done, but our family is enjoying our time together and still looking forward to the holidays. It will all get done somehow. It always does. Hugs to you! And, of course, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas!

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  9. Love your sign! We have lived in this house for 6 years now, our previous house we lived in for close to 30 years. The funny thing is that we renovated the kitchen in our old home and hubs had kept the cupboard doors from the old, old cupboards and they got moved with everything else. He built a wood working shop this last summer and I found him using a couple of those old cupboard doors to close off an area under a work bench he built.

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