Toffee Time

In the tradition of giving every year around Christmas "Chris' Kitchen" goes into full time toffee production mode producing tins of delicious Peppermint Toffee. This year I have gone back to my roots and I am making a few tins of the more traditional Almond Toffee in addition to the Peppermint Toffee. It's a nice change as Lenore really likes the slightly burnt flavor of the Almond Toffee. Which one do you think you would prefer the Almond or the Peppermint? the Peppermint is on left and the Almond is on the right. God bless and have a merry week, chris

Camera Equipment Used-- Canon 7D, Canon 28-105 at 48 mm, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a 3055 Ballhead. Camera Setting- ISO 400, AV Mode, F16.0, 4/10ths of a sec.

Toffee Time

The Hansen toffee factory has been in full swing putting out delicious squares of Peppermint Toffee this past week.It has been a lot fun chopping walnuts, crushing peppermints, stirring pots, spreading dark chocolate and sprinkling nuts and peppermint over the whole creation. It's become an annual tradition where I take over the kitchen for a few days of making toffee to give away to friends in celebration of Christmas.The recipe varies from year to year but the basic peppermint flavor with dark chocolate remains the same. If you want the recipe take a look here where I give step by step directions on how to make it. http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2009/12/take-break.html God's love and blessings to all. Merry Christmas! chris

Stuck in Candyland

Today I slept in long after the family trooped out the doors. When I got up I tinned the peppermint toffee for give aways. Later on I made what hopefully will be the batch of Toffee for this year. This one will be for our family. So it has a little extra chocolate.

I made two images today. I was having trouble with the color temperature.
God's love and blessings to all,

chris

A Tradition: Peppermint Toffee

This morning I made three batches of Peppermint Toffee. It's my Christmas speciality. If you are interested in making it yourself the step by step directions are here.

http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2009/12/take-break.html


Have a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year,

chris

Time for a Creativity Break

Around Christmas time it's good to stop and take a good look around yourself at all the things to be thankful for. God has given us many things and now it's time to give thanks and praise for the gift of his son Jesus Christ. In honor of this we celebrate Christmas by giving gifts to others. For me it's a good time to take some breaks from photography and apply myself into creating some of these gifts for others. My neighbors and close friends love it because I'm really good at making delicious Peppermint Toffeee. Several batches have already gone out of my kitchen this year.

Today I took a break and got creative and made four gallons of Christoph's Sizzling Hard Cider. It's been awhile since I have made wine or brewed any alcohol but an old teaching friend of mine Tobias Gautschi inspired me into trying something different. This morning I started fermenting the hard cider that will be ready for bottling for gifts around New Years. A perfect way to give out some gifts to start the New Year. I missed giving it out for Christmas but I'm sure God doesn't mind.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

chris

It Tastes Soooo Good!

It's that time of year when many of us celebrate the birth of Christ. One of the ways I love to do this is to show some appreciation to my good neighbors up here on the ridge top where I live. I give the simple gift of home made Peppermint Toffee. This is the third year I have done it now and I'm finding it to be rather addictive. Also Lenore always steals a few tins from my hoard 'er stack to give to friends at work.
There are lots of requests for the recipe so I can direct you to my instructional tutorial on how to make it step by step. If you are a photographer you can also look around at some of my older photography tutorials.

http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2009/12/take-break.html

God's blessings to all,

chris