Scrabble Scramble

Hullo blogger pals. This past weekend I helped with a craft project. Mama had bought several second-hand scrabble board games at various points and... there is a plan to make something cool with them!

We bought some magnets and glue to put on the back of the scrabble tiles but... it turned out that the magnets were just a shade to wide... so we went with plan B which was a roll of magnet tape with one sticky side.

 Guess we didn't need to cover the table with an old placemat and shower curtain!

Soooo... there are a lot of tiles in one scrabble game...

Let's see... looking for an "S"... and an "A"....

Now I just need a "Y"...

Heh-heh!!! That's my name!!!!

So Mama cut off little pieces of the magnet tape and stuck them on the backs of the tiles and then... kept them under a stack of heavy books to make sure they stick good...

They are under there somewhere...

We made a bunch more words but after a while... well... you end up with a heck of a lot of vowels, a few Z's and X's and... not a lot else! Did you know there is only one "J" in each scrabble set???

But... we have two more boxes!!! Maybe we could open them up too???

That's more like it!!! Have you ever made anything out of scrabble tiles?

Happy New Year!! and MORE Mail!!

I got another piece of mail on Monday and... it was a parcel from Ajdin!!

Oh boy... I wonder what it could be?

He-heh... a card from Ajdin and his pals!

And there were two presents in there! They must both be for me because Ajdin used bear wrapping paper!

Ohhhh.... Burt's Bees lip balm (I think I will share that with Mama) and Smoked Salmon (definitely NOT shared with Mama!).

More mail

I forgot to mention... I got a postcard from Ajdin! I think it got misplaced in the pre-Christmas excitement. Thanks Ajdin!

Happy Holidays!

Hullo! Life got kind of busy before Christmas and so I didn't have a chance to post too much! We had an Advent calendar up... every little elf had a sack with... chocolate! Yummm

The tree did get put up eventually... whew!

And we had lots of wood stock-piled to cozy up in front of the fireplace. In case you're wondering... the fireplace surround is... yes... that 1970s lava-rock stuff. Ugh! It is even worse than the brass chandelier!

Of course, all my Christmas stuffie friends came out of hiding. They all have such fetching sweaters!

And... on December 24, I got three letters in the mail from my pals!!

This one was from Little Fox - he did up a super creative card with pictures of his 2014 adventures. Thanks!

And then there was a card from Bob T. Bear - Thanks!

And finally... a card from Jerry & Ben -with a super pretty red bird in snowy branches. We don't have any snow... at least not so far.

Now... on Christmas Day, I noticed this bear hanging out under the tree... all wrapped up with a pretty bow on his head. He says he's a gift for Grampa. But he looks awfully familiar to me?? Does anyone recognize him? Is he related to anyone we know?

And there were two presents under the tree for me!!

Ohhh... a book... This sounds like a sad story - the Little Teddy Left Behind!! Oooohhhh... but Mama says I'll have to read it to figure out what happens. I wonder if she'll ever write stories about me that will get published?

And then... of course...

The Sherlock Holmes outfit!! I am such a lucky bear!

A Christmas Present

Oooohhhhh....

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing all my blogger pals a Merry Christmas!

Vancouver - Baking 101 or How my Marathon Baking Session got Photobombed by Rose!

Hello bears and not-a-bears. Today we are going to do some baking! We are baking two types of cookies... traditional German Spritzgebäck and... Ben's World Famous Beary Yummy Cookies!! So, let's get started... First off... we measured the ingredients for the Spritzgebäck - basically, sugar, butter, flour (and then an egg, some vanilla extract, a smidge of baking powder and salt). Apparently Spritzgebäck recipes vary slightly all across Germany and get passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter... (to little bear!)

We used the "purist" method and pulled out the old weigh scale to measure the dry ingredients.

And then hauled out the extension cord (really??).

In order to make the cookies, you also need a meat grinder. Uh-huh... stay tuned and you'll see how it's used!

And then you... put... everything... sigh.. I got photobombed by Rose!!!

Anyhow... whip up the butter, add sugar and egg... then vanilla and flour... and watch it whirl around...

There... that looks good...

Now, you take apart the meatgrinder (leave the spiral thingie inside) and add a special do-dah to the front... see how it has 4 different patterns? It is for extruding the dough!

Then you get your trusty assistant to man the handle...

And the dough goes through the meat grinder and comes out the other end.... it gets cut off into short sections...

Which then get placed on parchment paper and baked in the oven at 375F for 10 minutes... more on them later.

You can also just roll out the dough...

And make cookie cutter cookies!! I wanted to use the one that Jerry and Ben sent me!

There we go... And I have to warn you... the raw cookie dough is super yummy!!! Gramma could never figure out where all the dough disappeared to so quickly when Mama and her sister were growing up... and why they always ended up with tummy aches after making these cookies!

And then you bake them... and... ummm... another photobomb!!

 Sigh... if you can't beat 'em... join em!!

Then... after the cookies have cooled... you can paint the ends with melted chocolate!!! And do funny bear outfits on the bear cookies!

Next up... Ben's World Famous Beary Yummy Cookies (see his link for the recipe!) You need peanut butter and icing sugar...

We sieved the icing sugar just because we always heard that's what you're supposed to do...

And there you have it... sieved... oh heck... another photo bomb!

Then you put it in the mixer and... sorry you can't see much... too many heads in the way!

Now... once the dough is ready, you need to have melted chocolate ready to coat them...

Whew!!! That was hard work!!! But there we go... it is all done!! I have to admit, baking is not my part of my natural skill set... but... I think we did an OK job! And Mama's sister had already baked some Berliner Brot (Berlin Bread... don't ask), marzipan and a few other things. I am set for Christmas!!