Second Leaf

A family holiday tradition that I’d like to take some credit for starting, or at least popularizing, is baking my favorite cookies of all time—Peanut Butter Blossoms. These are the peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kiss pressed into the middle. Ahhh… peanut butter and chocolate… a match truly made in heaven.

Although I’ve been making these cookies for the Christmas holiday for as long as I can remember, perhaps the greatest joy I receive now from Peanut Butter Blossoms is seeing my own children pick up the tradition. What follows is a pictorial view of last night’s baking session.

It all begins with the dough, rolled into a small ball.

The dough gets rolled in sugar before being placed on a cookie sheet. A daughter for every step in the assembly line. Perhaps having 3 kids was all part of the plan.

Perhaps a little lumpy in places but isn’t everything made by children perfect?

The girls couldn’t wait to dig into the bag of chocolate kisses and start unwrapping them. 

Finally, the cookies are out of the oven and are ready to receive their crown. They’re best when warm. The chocolate melts ever so slightly.

There you have it. We now have our cookies for Santa.

So what are your family baking traditions?

I must admit that I was a little embarrassed when I learned that Lenn over at Lenndevours wanted to see my rack. In fact, he even had the nerve to ask all wine bloggers to post photos of their racks on Flickr!

How would my rack stack up against the heavy weights of the wine blogosphere, I wondered. Sure I’ve had big plans for my rack over the years and wanted to make it a showpiece in my home but it still remains hidden and locked away to this day. Really, though, what would I have to lose? Certainly my unimpressive rack would quickly be forgotten when compared to the flashier models. Why not!?

So, I guess it’s time to bare all and show you some pictures of my wine rack.

Most of my wine is stored in our hall closet, under the stairs, in the center of the house. Although the temperature and humidity are far from ideal in this location, it’s the most consistently cool and dark place in our house.

I keep my most prized wines on the lowest shelves. Here’s a shot of some Brunello di Montalcino wines I brought back from a trip to Italy a few years ago.

I also store some of the wines that I make myself in the same closet. Since technically it’s wine and it’s stored in glass, I’m exposing them here too! How are these for some big guns?!

Pictured above are my ‘07 Barbera, Grenache, Cabernet, and Syrah. My ‘07 Zinfandel and Mourvedre wines are still finishing their secondary fermentation in the garage.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also show where I store my white, pink, and sparkling wines. Those go in a small wine refrigerator located in our kitchen. Since I just received my fall shipment from one of our favorite producers, Navarro Vineyards, you can see that my fridge is well stocked with some of Navarro’s outstanding whites.

So there you have it. I feel better now that I’ve gotten that off my chest!