Happy New Year - Bonne Année!!

Bonne année à tous - Happy new year to all!

Carre St-Louis

Carré St-Louis - close to downtown - surrounded by beautiful old houses. If I had the money, would love to live around there!

I Want to Ride my Bicycle (Queen)

This song popped in my head when I saw all these bikes in the snow while on our walk on St-Denis street the day after Christmas!!

Why did I eat so much chocolate... oh why??

This is how I feel after going back to the gym... and weighing myself!! ;)

Hope you are enjoying your holidays as much as I am!! :)

Old Pointe-Claire

A couple of days before Christmas, we went for a short walk in the old village of Pointe-Claire. It was cold, so we didn't stay too long... but I managed to take a few shots.

The view from the church

The old church

and an old barbershop!

and just because ... here are some muffins I made for my family on christmas

Orange-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins-29577 - I have got to ask them if they were any good... didn't get to have one!! ;)

Feliz navidad de Diego...

On Christmas' eve, spent the evening with my family at my step-sister's home. A wonderful time was had by all!! We ate, we had a few drinks, talked, laughed, danced, played with the kids, ate some more, laughed some more and of course exchanged gifts! It was a fun evening for all!!

Let me introduce you now to the star of the evening... Diego, my step-sister's cat - he is soooo sweet and just loves to sleep under the Christmas tree... here are a few shots I took during the evening... :)

Merry Christmas - Joyeux Noël!!!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! I am going to spend it with family and friends.

For the occasion, I am bringing this Brownie-Fudge-Layer-Cake-Light-182840 - and some cupcakes and treats!!! See ya all later!! xoxo

Baking for friends

I am officially on vacation! Yeahhhhhhhh!!! I baked some more as I wanted to give some little breads as Christmas gifts to my coworkers!!

I made

White-Chocolate-Cranberry-Loaf-Light-159505

and chocolate-chip-banana-bread-399435

and Maraschino-Cherry-Quick-Bread-30143

Snow

Snow can be beautiful - especially when the sun is out!!

Vanilla Cupcakes

Since I thought one Toblerone cheesecake wouldn't be enough for my family - decided to try out some vanilla cupcakes - mmmm good!

Magnolia-Bakery-Vanilla-Cupcakes-133767 with Vanilla-Buttercream-Frosting-From-Sprinkles-Cupcakes-222188

Got to use my cupcake tower - to cute!! :)

Toblerone Cheesecake

Was glad I took the day off Friday... had so much to do - was having 10 people over for my brother's birthday Saturday at lunch!!  The lunch was a hit! Everybody enjoyed themselves and the food (if I do say so myself!!) was great!

I had asked my brother what dessert he wanted... chocolate cake, carrot cake, cheesecake... He asked for cheesecake - so I baked him toblerone-topped-caramel-cheesecake-392989!!  Oh my is that good cheesecake!!! The only change I made was to use Dulce de Leche instead of caramel sauce.  No cake left... my brother and his girlfriend left with the last few pieces...

I also baked some cupcakes - which I will probably post tomorrow... unless you are tired of my baking??!! ;)

Who doesn't like Rice Krispies Squares??!!

Made these squares to bring to the office - and since I don't really like baking after a long day at the office - decided to try these Marshmallow-Crisp-Microwave-Rice-Krispies-Squares-129168 - they are made in the microwave - so superfast to make!! ;) Also added some small m&ms to sweeten the squares!! I think they were enjoyed... I hope so anyway!! ;)

I was off today - I'm having 10 people over tomorrow for my brother's birthday. I prepared two lasagnas, baked two breads (in the bread machine), made some vanilla cupcakes, some vanilla icing, another batch of caramel in a can, three loads of wash - oh also made a cheesecake... I am dead tired now!! ;)

More baking....

This time, baked some strawberry bars...  Added more jam than the recipe suggested - so they were quite sweet - but soooo tasty!!! Here's the recipe:  Razzle-Raspberry-Oatmeal-Cookie-Bars-88383

Caramel in a Can - Mmmmmmmmmm

This deserves a blog post on its own... My mom used to make this when we were kids and we kids LOVED it!!  And it's sooooo easy!!!  All you do is buy a can of sweetened condensed milk, rip off the label and boil for about 3 hours, depending on the consistency you are looking for (less if you want more of a sauce, and more if you want a spread).  You have to make sure the can is always covered by water (so you add some from time to time) and then you have to wait for the can to cool before you open it...  My mom used to boil it for almost 4 hours as we used this caramel to spread on cookies - mmmmmmmmm!! :)