When you suddenly find yourself single just in time for Valentine's Day, what do you do?
Adapted from a bunch of recipes to suit what I had on hand...
Peach Mango Bread Pudding
8-10 slices somewhat stale bread
butter or margarine
E.D Smith Peach Mango fruit spread a la Costco
Eggs (or in this case, Egg Beaters)
Milk
Sugar
Brown sugar
vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter one side of enough pieces of stale bread to fit butter side down into casserole dish. Spread with Peach Mango fruit spread. Tear remaining bread into enough pieces to cover bottom layer. Melt about 1/4 cup of margarine and pour over. In mixer, mix together about 3-4 eggs worth and 1.5 - 1.75 cups milk with 1/3 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of brown sugar and a tsp or 2 of vanilla. You could add cinnamon at this point too - I didn't. Mix together egg mixture until frothy. Pour over bread in casserole and make sure to dunk any pieces sticking up. Let sit for a few minutes before putting in oven.
Bake for 45 mins to an hour until puffed up and set.
(about 40 mins in I sprinkled it with more white sugar so it would be crispy on top)
Probably best served with ice cream or whipped cream but I even ate it warm...yum!
The kitchen as we last saw it:
The now purchased "kitchen jewelery" awaiting installation: 
Grout color?
I haven't felt like I have been making tracks on the reno palace in a while. Today was bitterly cold I didn't feel inclined to head out and about but also didn't want to start a huge project.
The pantry in its chaotic state had been bugging me for a while so I thought I'd re-organize it. I emptied it and was shocked how much stuff I'd managed to cram in there (and yes, wish I had a better before pic with it all in the pantry!):
Of course once I had all the "stuff" out I realized how grimy the shelves were and how dingy the paint was and remembered how many crayon drawings there were inside the doors.
Which led to this:
And finally the satisfying end in sight:
Followed by realizing that even with one very jam packed jumbo bag of garbage purged out it's still a pretty full pantry!
I learned from my mom.
The joy of baking and the smell of butter, nuts, chocolate and cinnamon filling the house. That's still the smell of warmth and home-iness for me today.
The pleasure in giving those treats away in pretty packages. And trying to have some on hand by Christmas day!
And the old classics on TV; Frosty, Rudolph, Charlie Brown and The Grinch...guess they weren't "classics" then.
And learning to play carols on the piano and singing badly along.
That adding sparkle and twinkle and color to a house is partly lights and tinsel and partly the same decorations that go up year after year...many homemade and given by others and not about matching or color schemes or themes.
That wishlists are starting points and no guarantee. And they're really just a way to dream and imagine and maybe even realize how little you need.
That the hustle and bustle should be less about shopping and more about stopping in. My mom was not generally a fan of stopping in - that's my dad's domain but at Christmas there was no end of friends stopping by and Christmas Eve was about us going to friends' homes all over the place.
That Santa is more about magic than anything else. And a great motivator for an early bedtime.
And grownups still love cookies and milk.
And stockings are the best part of the gifts.
That Christmas morning is about chaos and mess and unhealthy breakfast and that's absolutely ok once a year.
And that the whole thing should be capped off by family gathered together with hospitality, laughter and thankfulness.
Merry Christmas!