Do something beautiful every day. Do something that makes you feel alive.

These are some words I have been living my life by as of late.  See below for some 'living' I've been doing lately.  I've been inspired by so many incredible people, hopefully I can pass on a little beauty with this blog post and help keep the energy flowing.
A fridge visual of my progress to keep me inspired.

My bread challenge -one a week until Christmas.  Bagels are so much easier than you would expect!
The most beautiful week: the Tuscan loaf.

Christmas creations.  My family decided to put less into the universe this Christmas and committed to gifts you could 'use up'.  I tried to use as much from our garden harvest as possible.  I made: chimayo chili popcorn, pepper strands, canned salsa, tortillia mix, spiced pear liquer, sundried basil.

Christmas cheer.  I wanted to gather our friends together and treat them to nibbles before everyone dispersed for the holidays.  Usually not following recipes and getting extremely creative with ingredients works out for me -this time, I had my doubts!  Not wanting to waste anything, I used the vodka soaked fruit from the pear liquer I made I made to create a dark chocolate cake.  So disgusting.  I let the cake cool and dosed it with a rich chocolate honey icing and it was a hit!  I also tried to make my own tart shells for green tomato mincemeat tarts (I can't find any without lard in them) and used yogurt in place of the wet ingredient the recipe called for.  They popped out of the tins and burned.  I scraped them off and Loic promised me he would eat one off the plate at the party to save me embarrassement.  Of course, wouldn't you know it, various people at the party commented on how great the tarts were! 

Taio.  Enough said.