{ Finger licking inducing }

That day had to happen ... the very last day of our { Activity Advent Calendar } ...

This month of daily activities was so much fun ! Thrilling both for the boys and for me. It motivated me to make more with them, more often, and many different things ... cooking, crafting, creating in all kinds of way. If you think that was a big task (if you add this to : illnesses, Christmas present making, holiday general busy-ness, creating for the shop -for me- and daily life), well, you're both right and wrong. It was a bit tough the very last day before it started, and it was quite a task to juggle with the days I was on my own, and the days I had extra pairs of hands. Sometimes activities had to be "switched" with another activity from the next days, because of bad weather (in case of outdoor activity) or illness or any other reason. The right thing to do is to balance easy activities (for you) with more interesting (therefore messier or heavier) activities. I'd advice you as well to really think about it seriously in the middle of November. This will leave you enough time to find the right/best ideas of activities, and to gather the materials. I tried to use as many materials I had on hand as I could.

So ... today's activity was making chocolate truffles ... mmmmm .... oh yes; totally finger licking inducing ! I used a very simple recipe I had found in one of my MIL's magazines. All ingredients we used were organic. If you want to make your own, this is the recipe. We made 38 truffles, measureing around 02.50cm accross. But we used HALF the ingredients, so you'll get twice as many if you use the ingredients below !!

{ CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES }

- 450 g chocolate (dark, baking kind), broken into pieces (the smaller the better)
- 25 cl (liquid) cream (I used crème Fleurette)
- cocoa powder, icing sugar, sesame seeds

Break your chocolate in a big bowl.
Pour the cream in a pan & bring the cream to boil.
Take out of the heat, and pour over the chocolate pieces.
Stir with a spoon.
Leave in a cool room for 2 hours if your room is chill, for 3 or 4 if it isn't really chill. (like for us !)
Pour a bit of cocoa powder, icing sugar & sesame seeds in three different plates.
Grab a bit of chocolate mixture with a spoon, make quickly a small ball & roll it in one of the three "covering" ingredients.
Place on a plate. (we prefered to lay a length of parchment paper, just in case of sticking)
Ta da, that's done !
Well, now you can lick your hands (yes, your hands, because you'll have chocolate all over your hands !) ... and then wash the bowl (or lick the bowl !! LOL)

Well, friends, I wish you all the most festive, cozy, joyful Christmas celebration. Tomorrow we'll have our parents (the 4 of them), my BIL & my niece (woohoo) for lunch. If you really want to know what we'll be eating, we decided to make the meal easier to prepare & each family will make something. (the best solution we have ever found !)

*
Butternut squash sprinkled with bacon bits & homegrown onion sprouted seeds
(we make this part)
- see photo at the bottom -
*
Moussaka
(MIL makes this part)
*
Tarte Tatin
(my mom makes this part)
*
Champagne
*

Not the most traditional Christmas meal, but no doubt the yummiest !

I'm going to force myself (yes !) to take a break from the blog & from Flickr (as much as I'll be able to !), and to enjoy the very simple everyday life of ours ... On the other side, I'm going to delect myself with my most favorite blogs' & websites' archives ... I think it's going to be much fun ! I'm going to miss you all awfully, but I think it'll be ressourcing for me.

Before leaving, I wanted to tell you how grateful I am to have read your comments & how I appreciated the time you took to stop by my blog during 2009. It means the world to me !

{ See you in 2010 * Stay safe, happy, healthy & cozy, dear friends }
Much love
oxox

Sonia