Tuesday Art Day: Caption This

I have to really resist not adding my own text in here, but I thought this would be kind of funny. I’ve been feeling sketchy lately, and going to visit Malfurion for Childrens’ Week sparked this idea. I obviously have some notions as to what they might be saying, now I want to hear what YOU think. It’s a contest of sorts but I don’t know if there will be prizes, apart from the delight of putting words in Malfurion and Tyrande’s mouths. Click the image to see a larger version!

The Well-Dressed Paladin Redux

Transmogrification! I’m a little late to remark on this news, but I don’t think you have to have known me long to know that I am over the moon about these changes. Finally, all the space I’ve been devoting to gear storage is going to pay off! If you’re newish to my blog you may not have read before I moved here from Pugging Pally. I’d like to call your attention to a fashion contest that I hosted last year around this time: The Well-Dressed Paladin. If you go here to the entry where I announced the winners, you can see a gallery of all the creative entries I received.

This seems like as good a time as any to revisit some of the unusual and awesome interpretations of paladin fashion – it doesn’t have to be a complete tier set to look great!

I’ve had a post about mage clothes in the works for ages, so watch for that soon. Meantime, if you’re anything like me, I’d better let you get back to doing old raid content to help get those last few pieces in your closet. I can’t wait to see the choices people make about their gear when they aren’t obligated to display the latest tier because it’s the best raid gear. I actually have a feeling that a good number of folks will still display T12, or whatever the latest tier is – because it’s a symbol of prestige and it does suit the content we’re doing. As for me, I intend to change the look of my gear probably around once a week or so. The cost of redoing it is a drop in the bucket compared to the enjoyment I expect to derive from hosting my own ongoing fashion show.

Ritual of Refreshment – Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered and sent a recipe or a story! I put your names into a hat (no, really, the program was called The Hat) and drew one out…

(drumroll)

A winner is...

Arinne, who sent me her family’s 50 year old cookie recipe! (The recipe, not the cookies). I received a number of recipes I’ll probably be posting over the next little while here. Thanks again for entering, and enjoy the moonkin, Arinne!

Christmas Cookies

These are Martha Logan’s “Can’t Fail” Christmas Cookies which we have
been making for a good 50 years or so now! The original cookie cutters
have become too frail to use anymore, but luckily we recently found a
site where you can order cookie cutters just like the old ones. For
Christmas Cookies you want the Merry Christmas Set and the Happy Day
Set (contains the snowman cookie cutter) . You can use this recipe
with non-Christmas cutters too of course. The Happy Day Set has a nice
pumpkin cutter for Halloween, etc.

• 1 cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup eggs (1 to 2 eggs, depending on size)
• 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Combine butter, sugar, salt, flavoring and eggs
Beat until smooth and light
Stir in flour
Chill dough for at least 2 hours

Because it is so important to work only with chilled dough for these
cookies, we found it best to pat the dough to about 1″ thick, and wrap
in waxed paper for chilling. This makes it easy to divide into small
portions, also to roll to desired thickness with the least amount of
handling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Use a pastry canvas and covered rolling pin. Flour both lightly. Now,
take out 1/4 or less of the dough. Always keep remaining dough
chilled. Roll dough to 1/4″ thickness. Flour inside of cookie
completely, but lightly. Tap cutter against hand or table to remove
every bit of excess flour, leaving stippled surface with lightest
coating of flour possible. Place cutter on dough and press down firmly
with fingers all around edges to make sure the entire edge is cut.
Slap cutter down on table or cookie sheet and dough will come right
out. Wipe inside of cutter with a towel to keep it clean. Flour it
each time before cutting. Do not allow small holes in cutter to become
plugged.

Bake cookies on cookie sheet 12 to 15 minutes. Do not allow to brown.
Remove from cookie sheet and cool thoroughly on cake racks before
decorating.

Decorating

Then comes the decorating! You will need:

• egg whites
• red, yellow, green food coloring (other colors optional)
• red, yellow, green colored sugar (other colors optional)
• small decorating items (raisins, silver balls, etc)
• 1 bag of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• small, inexpensive paint brushes

Slightly beat egg whites. Divide into 3 cups or small containers. Mix
a few drops of food coloring into each – red, yellow, and green. If
you can’t buy colored sugar, make your own. Own a piece of waxed
paper, add about 1 teaspoon food coloring to 1/4 cup granulated sugar.
As it dries, stir with a fork or crumble with fingers. For decorating
icing, mix confectioner’s sugar with milk, vanilla extract and butter
to desired consistency: a thick paste. Add more milk or sugar to get
the right consistency. Dip a paint brush in colored egg yolk and paint
the area of the cookie you want to color. Then sprinkle the colored
sugar on top of it. Shake off any excess. Use the icing for Santa
cookies (beard, eyebrows, rim of hat), Snowman cookies, etc.

And even with a picture of in-progress cookies. I love it!

Ritual of Refreshment (Contest)

This + Comment = Profit?

You may have noticed that I like cooking things. I also love new recipes.

Through a strange turn of events involving a generous friend and a generous husband, I find myself with… one more moonkin hatchling than I actually need. (It’s too much cuteness for one person to contain. I don’t have a screenshot because durr I forgot to take one last night and the servers are down presently).

Regardless, I have a moonkin, and I’d like to give him to someone who will love him and squeeze him and call him George (or anything else, that’s fine too).

Where do you come into this? It’s a contest! It requires much less work than my previous contest.

If, like me, you enjoy baking – I’d love to have folks share a favourite holiday recipe. If you aren’t much of a baker, you can share instead your favourite memory of a holiday recipe or food, whatever that might be. So here’s what you do:

1) Leave a comment on this entry saying you’ll send a recipe.

(WoW-ified or not, it’s up to you), and then you can send an e-mail to puggingpally AT gmail DOT com with your recipe. Make sure your e-mail is clearly labeled with the name you commented under – if I’m confused about what recipe belongs to who I might not be able to match them up.

OR

1b) Leave a comment on this entry telling us a memory/story/etc. about your favourite recipe.

Please note that by sharing the story or recipe you’re acknowledging that I have your permission to use it in an entry compiling them all.

I look forward to reading – I think it’s a grand time for some holiday cheer. You have just one whole day to enter; I’ll close entries at 10 AM Mountain time tomorrow, December 1st. (You can comment on the entry and you’ve “entered,” if it takes a bit more time to send me a recipe that’s fine too). I think that keeping it short and sweet is very thematic!

Moonkin!