Our 2015 Christmas Letter is here… http://www.thelahnfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Xmas2014.pdf.
Archive for December, 2014
Merry Christmas from The Lahn’s
Thursday, December 25th, 2014Snowy Mint Bark “Heaven in My Mouth”
Wednesday, December 17th, 2014
[I have to admit, this was not my original recipe, but over the years I’ve ‘perfected’ it and made it my own.]
Snowy Mint Bark is one of our family favourites around Christmas. It’s so easy to sneak a little bit of this delectable chocolate and it’s a wonderful thing to add to the Christmas Cookie Plate that goes to the neighbours. One family recently described it as “like heaven in my mouth” 🙂 (I’m not sure what that implies theologically, mind you.) Besides that, it’s just plain easy!!!
Of course with a recipe this simple there’s room for lots of variation.
One warning, however… we did try using the green chocolate wafers one year to add some colour, but they didn’t melt properly. Not sure why, but they never came out liquidy. It was more like a PlayDough consistency :P.
We have added red and green food colouring to the white chocolate in the past, especially when making three different batches — white, red and green. That worked well. (Come to think of it, I forgot to do that this year!).
So here it is. My version of Snowy Mint Bark.
Recipe for Snowy Mint Bark (Murray’s Version)
NOTE: Nothing about my recipes are exact. These are guidelines only!
Ingredients:
- 6 cups of white chocolate wafers melted (1kg)
- 1 cup, or so, of dark chocolate wafers melted
- 1 cup, or so, of crushed candy cane
Directions:
- White Chocolate / Candy mixture:
- Melt the white chocolate wafers in a large Pyrex measuring bowl, in the microwave on high for two minutes on high
- Remove from microwave and stir
- Melt for approximately another 2 minutes, but be careful not to burn the chocolate!
- Remove from microwave and stir to eliminate the lumps
- Add approximately 1/2 cup of crushed candy cane to the melted white chocolate
- Melt 1 cup of the dark chocolate in a separate measuring cup in a similar method to the white chocolate above
- Line a baking sheet with foil (preferably one with a small side to it)
- Pour the dark and white chocolates on the foil in a marbleized pattern and swirl gently with a fork or spoon
- Sprinkle the remaining crushed candy cane over the top
- “Jiggle” the pan to allow the candy to settle in, and the chocolate to spread out more evenly
- Allow to cool in a cool environment (cold room, garage, etc)
- Break up into small pieces
- Pig Out!
Quantities for Multiple Recipes and Easy Buying:
- Single Recipe: 6 cups white chocolate (1kg); 1 cup of dark chocolate wafers; 1 cup of crushed candy cane
- Double Recipe: 12 cups white chocolate (2kg); 2 cups of dark chocolate wafers; 2 cups of crushed candy cane
- Triple Recipe: 18 cups white chocolate (3kg); 3 cups of dark chocolate wafers; 3 cups of crushed candy cane
That’s it!!!
The original called for Andes mints and crushing your own candies. Much more work and a lit messier (and also now harder to find), but here it is. The original version of Snowy Mint Bark.
Recipe for Snowy Mint Bark (Original)
- 6 cups of white chocolate melted (1kg)
- 36 red and green mints crushed
- one box of Andes Creme de Menthe wafer coarsely chopped (28 pieces)
- pour first two onto a foil lined cookie sheet and sprinkle on the wafers
- allow to cool
- break up
- pig out!
That’s it!!!
The Wonders of a Christmas Parade
Saturday, December 6th, 2014
I’ve been watching Facebook and I know some of you are stressing out about Christmas and noting that it’s their least favourite time of the year.
For some of you, I get it — grieving losses, disillusionment, disgust at the consumerism, the expectations of having to shop, etc — but for me Christmas is a wonderful time of the year! The music, the smiles on people’s faces, the get togethers with family and friends, the scheming of buying and hiding gifts, the GIVING of gifts (sometimes anonymously), etc, etc, etc.
I went into town this morning to go to the Post Office and got “stuck” in the “traffic jam” of the Mount Albert Santa Claus Parade. Watching the kids line the streets waiting and watching brought back so many memories. I couldn’t help but get a little teary as the crude floats passed and I remembered doing the same as a kid with my parents growing up in London. It wasn’t about Santa. It was about seeing their friends in the parade, drinking hot chocolate, sucking on a candy cane that a clown had given you, and meeting and greeting your neighbours.
It could have been a huge annoyance as I was trying to run errands, but it created a wonderful pause in my day.
Christmas is definitely about the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, but it’s also about family, friends and sharing the things we have been abundantly blessed with. May this Christmas NOT be a time you dread. May it reopen your eyes to the wonders and blessings you have been given and may it inspire you to ‘pay it forward’ and to enjoy the faces of those around you.
TTFN
Monty Python Understands Government Bureaucracy
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014
So I just got off the phone… for the third time… with Service Ontario, that wonderful branch of the Ontario Government responsible for mucking things up. Back in the Spring/Summer we had fun with them in the renewal of our drivers licenses and health cards, but this time the episode revolves around the renewal of my wife’s Master Business License.
Cozy Cuddles Baby Products has been in business for 20 years and the bank has decided that NOW it wants to see her Master Business License. Fortunately, I think, it was coming up for renewal in January, so I decided to renew the license for 5 years and request a copy of the MBL. Since I was doing this online, I assumed I would be able to request a copy of the MBL via email (like any sane modern organization). After all, this is what they said you could do.
So back on Nov 4th I did the online renewal, paid my $60 and when the process was all done I realized that there had been no option to enter an email address or spot to download the MBL. So I called. 
A nice lady on the phone explained to me that you can only receive the Master Business License if you are starting a NEW business. For those of us who were renewing, it was only possible to receive the MBL via Snail Mail and that it should arrive in 2 to 3 weeks. I thanked her for supporting Canada Post and rural mail delivery 😛 and waited…. and waited….
Twenty four days went by before I called again to enquire as to the whereabouts of the hardcopy MBL. Another nice young lady informed me that the renewal had been approved on Nov 5th and that the paperwork must be in the mail. Now I can order electronic parts from China and have them delivered halfway around the world in 3 weeks or less, so I felt that maybe something might be amiss. She assured me it had been sent and to give it little while longer and that if it didn’t arrive in the next week, to call back and they would email me a copy.
WAIT! You can email me a copy? You couldn’t do that on Nov 4th, you will be able to on Dec 2nd? Yes they could, but only if we’ve waited long enough for the mail to deliver the hard copy. Please call back next week.
Today I called, sat on hold, and got another nice lady on the phone who assured me the hard copy had been mailed to the correct address and as much as implied it must be MY fault it hadn’t arrived. *duh* “Well, can it be resent via email?” “Oh that’s a good idea” and she proceeded to take down my Cedar Valley address. When she was all through she said, “So we will mail this out to … Oh wait! You asked for that via email, didn’t you?” (another *duh*). After taking my email address (and having to spell it out to her three times) she told me it would arrive within 2 days and to call back if it didn’t.
So we’ll see if this one arrives.
UPDATE: The Master Business License arrived via email the next day!!!
But this whole episode reminded both my wife and I *SO* much of the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the Father is trying to get the two guards to keep the Prince locked up in his room.
According to this site (where you can read the script) it is listed as Scene 26, or you can watch the scene here (or below) with the specific part starting at about the 1:00 mark.
[tube]eVWH01E2weA[/tube]
You have to love the government bureaucracy!!
TTFN
Transcript…
FATHER: Cut that out, cut that out. Look, you’re marryin’ Princess Lucky, so you’d better get used to the idea. [smack] Guards! Make sure the Prince doesn’t leave this room until I come and get ‘im.
GUARD #1: Not to leave the room even if you come and get him.
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: No, no. Until I come and get ‘im.
GUARD #1: Until you come and get him, we’re not to enter the room.
FATHER: No, no, no. You stay in the room and make sure ‘e doesn’t leave.
GUARD #1: And you’ll come and get him.
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Right.
GUARD #1: We don’t need to do anything, apart from just stop him entering the room.
FATHER: No, no. Leaving the room.
GUARD #1: Leaving the room, yes.
FATHER: All right?
GUARD #1: Right. Oh, if-if-if, uh, if-if-if, uh, if-if-if we…
FATHER: Yes, what is it?
GUARD #1: Oh, if-if, oh–
FATHER: Look, it’s quite simple.
GUARD #1: Uh…
FATHER: You just stay here, and make sure ‘e doesn’t leave the room. All right?
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Right.
GUARD #1: Oh, I remember. Uh, can he leave the room with us?
FATHER: N- No no no. You just keep him in here, and make sure–
GUARD #1: Oh, yes, we’ll keep him in here, obviously. But if he had to leave and we were–
FATHER: No, no, just keep him in here–
GUARD #1: Until you, or anyone else,–
FATHER: No, not anyone else, just me–
GUARD #1: Just you.
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Get back.
GUARD #1: Get back.
FATHER: Right?
GUARD #1: Right, we’ll stay here until you get back.
FATHER: And, uh, make sure he doesn’t leave.
GUARD #1: What?
FATHER: Make sure ‘e doesn’t leave.
GUARD #1: The Prince?
FATHER: Yes, make sure ‘e doesn’t leave.
GUARD #1: Oh, yes, of course. I thought you meant him. Y’know, it seemed a bit daft, me havin’ to guard him when he’s a guard.
FATHER: Is that clear?
GUARD #2: Hic!
GUARD #1: Oh, quite clear, no problems.
FATHER: Right. [starts to leave] Where are you going?
GUARD #1: We’re coming with you.
FATHER: No no, I want you to stay ‘ere and make sure ‘e doesn’t leave.
GUARD #1: Oh, I see. Right. HERBERT: But, Father!
FATHER: Shut your noise, you! And get that suit on! And no singing!
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Oh, go get a glass of water.
TTFN … Again…