Lazy Sunday Days… and Homemade Christmas presents

While I have a quiet moment I thought I would do some catch up with my blog. I don’t know about anyone else, but this time of year can be busy for me. I have a graphic client, I am doing some volunteer activities in my bdsm community and I am trying not to work ten hour days on top of keeping the house clean (I still have Christmas decorations up!).

This week I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should because I have been reading some good books so today I slept in for the first time in a while. I decided that today was going to be a lazy Sunday which for me means a pot of tea and my fancy tea cups while catching up on some of my cooking shows. It also means that I will spend the day in my comfy clothes and puttering around the house (it’s time to take the Christmas decorations down).

One of the things my mother made me was a tea cozy (see picture), which is a wonderful addition to my tea collection. What I did this year for Christmas was give my friends and family homemade gifts. Two of which were the pickles that I made in the summer (and blogged about). Another item that I did was homemade vanilla extract.

One of the things I kept in the break up was all of the alcohol from our bar. Most of which I do not drink, so I have been trying to think of ways to include it in my cooking or thinking of new ways to use it. One of the items I had is bourbon and one of of the cooking shows they talked about how to make homemade vanilla extract and how easy it was. All you need is a container, bourbon and some vanilla beans.

I was shocked to see how easy it was to get vanilla beans. You could order it online or if you are lucky enough to have a spice shop near by you should be able to pick up some vanilla beans for 15 dollars (which for me made two bottles of vanilla and a few beans extra so I can make some for myself). On a day trip to the city (NYC) I was able to pick up vanilla beans from a spice vendor.

The only thing I was unable to do for my vanilla was to make labels but I attached cards to the bottles that let my friends know when the vanilla would be ready to use. I have a feeling making vanilla might become a standard gift for me.