Happy New Year

Ring in the New Year! Expect 2011 to be even better than 2010! Cherish your family and friends, they will outlast the latest...new thing! The best New Years resolution is to live life to the fullest every day, lead with integrity, care about the less fortunate, make a difference in someone's life. About yourself, take care of you. Make sure you walk or jog or work out or cycle...just move. Do you prepare the day-to-day meals you and your family eat with good health in mind, or by taste? Or both? Do you look at life with the glass half full or half empty? Have you read a good book lately? Do you feed your mind with good material? Have you gone to visit that relative that is in a nursing home? Have you learned anything new lately? Have you passed on your knowledge to your children? Have you written or journaled the story of your life? Is every day open to new growth? Have you asked God to increase your creativity? Do you tell those you are close to, how you feel about them? We are capable of endless possibilities...it's just a matter of the road we choose. Our choices should not be determined by our ecomonics or restrictions. Lead by your "gut".  Grow in this coming New Year, stretch, reach, expand, let yourself move forward...

The King's Speech

There's a reason feature film, "The King's Speech", is garnering accolades. It is brilliantly acted, the sets are amazing and the tone of the movie is perfection! A must, must see film!

Colin Firth as "Bertie" King George VI

After seeing this film~Mr. Darcy who???

This character based on a true story and was his best performance yet.

Helena Bonham Carter "nailed it" as the Queen Mother. A job well done!

A fine, fine performance, every detail a delicious bit of genius!
Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue

Remember Jennifer Ehle (Lizzy Bennett)?? At first you can't seem to place where you've seen her before...a thousand times before...of course, Pride and Prejudice and a romance with Colin Firth. She plays Mrs. Logue.

Our hat's off to director Tom Hooper, a wonderful cast, perfectly acted-not over acted, sets that are a a delight for the eye and costuming ...well~amazing...bravo!

Storing Holiday Decorations

The day after~December 26, soon it will be time to store all our precious holiday decor. Memories collected over time deserve to be preserved carefully. Here are our thoughts....

Greige photo

1. As you remove the ornaments from your tree, place them in original containers if possible. Use bubble wrap and tissue to protect fragile pieces.

2. Place the heaviest pieces in the bottom of your storage containers. We like the clear plastic containers you can see through.

3.Clearly label each box so you know what it's contents are. We store our decor in similar groups. Fragile, wreaths and garlands, lights, etc. We even keep the additional elements together such as hangers for ornaments, hooks, electric socket adapters or extension cords.

4. Wrap holiday candles with bubble wrap and place flat. When summer heat arrives, the candles will not become misshapen.

5. Clearly mark FRAGILE on containers that are highly breakable. Place those containers on top and make sure nothing heavy gets placed upon them.

6. Use the core from paper towels, to wrap your holiday lights around. This will prevent them from becoming tangled.

7. Wrap beaded garlands individually with tissue or bubble wrap to make sure they don't become damaged.

8. Table decor should be stored in it's own boxes. We like to roll our freshly laundered holiday linens. We stack the napkins on one another and roll them up.

As we are putting away years of collected objects, it makes sense to clearly label, wrap and store them so that when next holiday season rolls around, it is a joy to pull them out and rediscover our collections.

Christmas Breakfast

Misshapen, rustic, heavenly, Christmas Breakfast Cinnamon Rolls. These are worth the little bit of time it takes to make them. We only make these once a year at Christmas. It's just too hard to work off the extra pounds, it will be lots of veggies and clean eating beginning tomorrow! Beware these cinnamon rolls are really delicious with their light ethereal texture and cream cheese frosting. Just luscious!

Here's the recipe: (makes 2 round cake pans~ each pan serves 6-8)

The Dough Ingredients

2 packets active dry yeast (1/4 ounce each packet)

1/4 cup warm water (between 110 and 115 degrees)

1 1/2 cups warm evaporated milk

1 stick butter-or 1/2 cup, softened (you will need butter to grease the pans too)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

6 cups all purpose unbleached flour

To begin~

1. In a small bowl, place the warm water and 2 packets yeast. It will get foamy in a few minutes, meanwhile go on to the next step.

2. Put a 2 cup measuring full of water in the microwave and heat for 5 minutes. This is where your dough will rise.

3. In the work bowl of a stand mixer, add the 3 eggs, warm evaporated milk, butter, sugar, and salt. Mix until the ingredients are combined.

4. Add the foamy yeast scraping out all the bits that cling to the bowl.

5. Add the 6 cups flour. Mix for 3-4 minutes or until the dough is smooth.

6. Scrape the very soft dough into a pre-oiled large bowl (use canola). Cover with plastic wrap and place in the pre-warmed microwave. Note: Do not turn the microwave on with the dough in it, this is just a warm place to allow the dough to rise.

**It will take 1 1/2 hours for the dough to rise.

7. Prep for next step. Make a cinnamon filling:

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 packed tablespoons brown sugar

1 stick softened butter

5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

canola oil

1. Spread 3 tablespoons canola oil over the inside surface of a jelly roll/cookie sheet with edges.

2. Punch down the risen dough, and place 1/2 of the dough on the oiled cookie sheet.

3. Using your finger tips, press the dough over the surface of the pan, like you would pizza dough. It will relax and hold it's shape as you go. (the very edges may pull in, that's okay)

4. When the dough is pressed over the surface of the pan, then spread the surface with 2-3 tablespoons very soft butter.

5. Sprinkle the buttered dough with cinnamon sugar.

6. Beginning at the bottom corner of the dough lengthwise, gently roll the dough~go from one side across and continue moving up until you have a long roll.

7. Gently cut into 2 inch pieces with a sharp knife.

8. Place in buttered cake pans, I use high sided 9 inch cake pans.

9. Cover with plastic and begin the rising process same as before in the microwave.

In one hour, pre-heat your over to 350 degrees. Your cinnamon rolls will be ready to bake, remove the plastic and bake for 35 minutes.

Remove from oven to cool!

Cream Cheese Frosting.

6 tablespoons butter, softened room temperature butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 small 3 ounce cream cheese, softened to room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk ~ you may need more or less

To begin:

Place all the above ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or mixer. Combine until creamy. Spread over the top of the warm cinnamon rolls.

Serve

Merry Christmas

We at Beckwith Road want to extend a warm heartfelt Merry Christmas. We cherish this holiday for it holds so much meaning for our family. We hold our friends and family in our hearts as the dearest of treasures. May you and your family have a wonderful day of celebrations and traditions. xoxo

Holiday Craftiness

Scroll down and see the amazing creativity that gushes from Debbie Dusenbery's imagination. She is featured in many crafting and decorating magazines.

A tree was painstakingly wrapped with this very organic, natural yarn. How cool!

I love the carefully chosen written words found throughout her work.

These trees were handcrafted.




Debbie says it best, "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night."

Pops of Red

This tree is packed and really packed with ornaments. It was overkill, we just couldn't stop.

Whimsy in the form of snowmen capture a nostalgic feeling.

Tons and tons of icicles play well against deep, intense red.

Letting ribbon unfurl as it will creates a more interesting texture on the tree.

The colors on this tree play out with an old English feel. Ivy is tucked here and there. French reindeer and Santa's intermingle.

This is our first Christmas without Pippi. He will be missed and we just wanted to remember him and the fabulous little man that he was~he brought so much joy into our lives.

Plaid, Plaid, Plaid for Christmas

There is something comfortable and familiar with plaid. Plaid is a bit agey and old, but it can surface as fresh and modern

Plaid can be done in fresh and new ways. It fits perfectly into the holiday season. Torn strips of plaid fabric can wrap a package covered in brown butcher wrap or go to the ball as a gown or maybe a kilt????

Don't you agree~plaid, whether subtle or all encompassing~an old friend done in a new way.

pictures from various sources found when searching under the title: plaid.

Dude the Boston Terrier

We love, love, love this guy! Dude is dressed in Santa's finest!

This guy is always at the front door to greet us, sensitive, sweet, good-natured, loves to do flips when the water hose is on, loves frisbees and squeeky toys. This is a man's-man's dog and a woman's best friend all rolled into one.

Christmas Tree Inspiration

Our tree is trimmed, but I love, love, love all the creativity that comes with Christmas. The Christmas tree has infinite possibilities....

Asian Inspired

The combination of silver, white and silvery blue ribbon is irresistible.

Feather trees are a great accent piece.

This is so delicate! Very pretty!

Richly colored. Elegant!

Utilitarian pieces mixed with discerning pieces of decor.

The vision of an old fashioned tree in a simple galvanized bucket. Simple, retro, still a favorite.

(all trees from Martha Stewart)

Building a Snowman

Wintery~Snowy~Glittery~Snowman

We built this snowman for a client. It consists of a chicken wire base built over a sturdy wooden base, layers and layers of batting topped with crafting snow, lightly sprayed with glue and sprinkled with fake snow from Pottery Barn, followed by a layer of mica we found at Roger's Gardens, and then a sugery layer of snow glitter we found at Michaels. We decorated it with a scarf made from an old sweater, a stove-pipe hat made from felt, and a snowman face kit found at Restoration Hardware. We gave him some rosey cheeks by using a pinky-red blush. He is a charmer!

Christmas decor brings out the child in us.

A forest of snow covered trees with pops of red Cardinals here and there.

~Whimsy and joyous holiday decorating to you and all your household~

Sugar Cookies

Every single Christmas for all of our life, we have had a batch of these cookies. They go back generations and generations, rooted in our German ancestry. Grandma Mathilda made them for me, and her mother made them for her and my mom made them for our children and so on. My Grandma was an amazing cook, a real Renaissance woman~she made just about everything whether to eat or wear or adorn a home. Every year at Christmas time a big box would arrive from the post office. All of the contents would be packed in popped popcorn. There were these sugar cookies, fudge, penuche, divinity, something gingery, etc. A real eye-popping assortment. Now mind you I struggled to do 2 batches over the weekend and I was exhausted. How did grandma do it??? I was in a hurry to get these off to siblings who live a distance, otherwise it works best to cut out and bake these cookies over a weekend, freeze them, and frost the following weekend.

~The finished product~

~The Sugar Fairy would surely approve~

~Some of the items you will need~

~German Sugar Cookies~

1/2 Cup vegetable shortening (we found some trans fat free at Whole Foods)

1 stick butter (1/2 cup) room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups all purpose unbleached flour

1 teaspoon real vanilla

{we don't add this, but Grandma Mathilda did~ 1 1/2 teaspoons anise seed}

To Begin:

In a large mixer bowl, add the vegetable shortening, butter, and sugar- beat until creamy. Add the eggs and continue beating until well combined. Add the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix just until it comes together~and is fully mixed. Don't overdo it. Cut in half and form into a disk. This is a soft dough. It is meant to be rolled out with lots of flour. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to get cold. (1/2 to 1 hour)

To roll out:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You will need 2 cookie sheets, something to line the sheets with,i.e. parchment, silpat, etc., a flat surface to roll cookies out on, flour, cookie cutters, rolling pin spatula, bench scraper and pot holders.

Add some flour to the surface you are rolling your cookies out on. Cut 1/2 of the disk off. Lay the dough on the floured surface and flip it over so that both sides are floured. Flour your rolling pin. Roll the dough out 3/16 inch thick. Dip cookie cutters in flour and cut out shapes and transfer them to your prepared cookie sheets. Leave about one inch space between cookies. Place in preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Make sure your rack is centered in your oven.

Remove baked cookies from oven and place aside to cool. Meanwhile, have your next batch ready to go into the oven.

How did Grandma do this with a wood burning stove??

Have all your baked cookies ready, a spreader spatula, cookie sprinkles and bits and goodies, food coloring. We collect all sorts of sugars, sprinkles, non pariels, silver and pearl balls, etc., not to mention all the cookie cutters we have collected old and new. This year we found some gorg silver and gold sprinkles at Williams Sonoma. They really dress up the cookies.

To Frost:

(Grandma used 7 minute icing) Mine is a lot easier!

1 box powdered sugar (1 pound)

3 tablespoons meringue powder (See pictured above. Purchase at Joann's or Michael's in the bakery section)

6 tablespoons warm water

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed). Working quickly, place some of the frosting in small bowls to color or keep white. Frost and sprinkle each cookie as you go. Teamwork is best, grab some extra hands. Let the cookies dry a couple of hours and then package them up.

A few of our tree cookie cutters were used here.

~pearl sprinkles and snowy sprinkles~

Silver sprinkles and agey blue frosting, Tiffany blue with matching sugar and peachy-pink stars.

The packages of cookies are in the mail, going to some special homes. These cookies are even better after a few days, they taste like Christmas to us.