Last week, a few days before Spring’s official arrival, the massive piles of Ohio snow melted completely and we were treated with a glimpse of sunshine and warmth. Lucy and I gratefully took a long walk around our neighborhood, spying huge piles of branches laying in neighborhood yards along the way. Some people had their trees trimmed recently, while others just hadn’t gotten around to picking up the collateral damage from the winter winds. (Uh, yeah… that would be our yard!) The surplus fallen branches in my neighborhood inspired me to finally try out a table centerpiece idea I’d been wanting to do for a while, and had seen so beautifully done before. But by the time I drove around the neighborhood with my car to rescue the fallen branches, an entire crew of big orange trucks were just finishing chipping every single one of them. Such efficiency has never come at a worse time! Why couldn’t the city apply such initiative when it comes to filling potholes, huh? Well, I was thankfully able find a few nicely shaped branches while taking a walk in the park, so I snatched them up right away and brought them home to be spray painted.

At first I regretted painting them white. Would the centerpiece look too wintery now? Should I paint them a color instead? Nah, that would just be too much for my taste. Now going back now. All the good branches were gone now, thanks to those industrious orange trucks. But after I loosely arranged the painted branches in this white ceramic pitcher and attached the birds, I thought the look was perfectly crisp and lovely. I’m not sure if leaving them unpainted would have maybe made it look too rustic? There’s a fine line between simple and rustic, and I like to err on the side of simple. I really love how it turned out!

So, there ya have it— After indulging in this dramatic telling of how our dining room’s new Spring centerpiece came to be, I thought I might as well share some shots of the whole room.

I haven’t historically done a lot of decorating for Easter, mainly because I’ve never been too into pastels and bunnies, and as perfectly topical as it might be, decorating with crucifixes just really isn’t my jam. But I think I’ll allow myself to start accumulating some cute Spring decorations because it turns out that seeing the decorations was absolutely thrilling for Lucy! Which, in turn, was absolutely thrilling for me. I had to glue some of the birds in place on the branches, because after Lucy was through with them (doing her “nice” touches, even), most of the birds were hanging upside-down on the branches, as if to say, “I give up!” Poor little things.

What kind of decorating do you do for Spring? Would you ever use these feathered birds to make Spring decorations in your home? One of my best friends is incredibly freaked out by them (she has a thing about birds, and these feathered foam bodies at too creepily realistic for her), but I love the cheery bright vibe they give our home. I’m thinking about doing a bird wreath too, because I’ll tell you a secret— I still have our Christmas wreath up on our door! Oops! I should probably go take care of that while I’m thinking about it…

One really blessed night a few years ago, one of my best friends invented a creamy chocolate drink we so eloquently dubbed The Lovely Awesome. There really was no other name for it. Nothing else described the lovely awesomeness of the creamy chocolate drink. Occasionally since then, I’ve worked on tweaking the recipe to include ingredients I can actually keep on hand, since the original called for things like dark chocolate almond milk and creamy liqueurs that have a short shelf life. My mission ended in this project- making my own chocolate liqueur.  I made some to keep, some to give, and a little creamy version to keep around for sweet cocktails during the next week.

I’ll share with you my updated version of The Lovely Awesome soon, but for now, I thought I’d share this great gift idea to give to friends, coworkers, or hostesses this holiday season. I found these great liqueur bottles here, and designed a label that I printed, cut out, and spray mounted to the finished chocolate liqueur bottles. The recipe I used is from Creative Culinary, and it is scrumptious! I only slightly adapted it to make for a quicker and easier process.

P.S. This recipe is not for créme de cacao, but you will see a bottle labeled that way in these photos.

Chocolate Liqueur

2013-12-07 22:55:30

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1187 calories

149 g

107 g

31 g

29 g

19 g

602 g

398 g

137 g

0 g

11 g

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

602g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 1187

Calories from Fat 270

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 31g

47%

Saturated Fat 19g

93%

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 10g

Cholesterol 107mg

36%

Sodium 398mg

17%

Total Carbohydrates 149g

50%

Dietary Fiber 7g

29%

Sugars 137g

Protein 29g

Vitamin A

17%

Vitamin C

12%

Calcium

99%

Iron

21%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Does this look wrong?

Ingredients

1. 2 Cups water- divided
2. 1/2 Cup 141 proof vodka
3. 1/2 Cup sugar
4. 1/4 Cup cocoa

Optional for creamy version

1. 1 small can evaporated milk

Instructions

1. In a small sauce pan, boil 1 cup of water with the sugar to create a simple syrup. Remove from heat and add cocoa powder, stir to dissolve, then add remaining 1 cup of water. Once cool cooled, add vodka to the mixture. Using a funnel, pour mixture into bottle. Original author recommends leaving it refrigerated for 1 week before using. Shake well before pouring.

Notes

1. I had excess liqueur that did not fit into the large bottle, so I combined it with one small can of evaporated milk and bottled it for creamy cocktails. This mixture will only last for a week, so it's not ideal for gift giving.

Adapted from Creative Culinary

beta

calories

1187

fat

31g

protein

29g

carbs

149g

more

Adapted from Creative Culinary

Making Nice in the Midwest https://makingniceinthemidwest.com/

If you want to make a creamy liqueur with any leftovers like I did, but you’re dairy intolerant, you can probably find evaporated goat’s milk at the grocery store which might work wonders for you! If you are vegan, I would try coconut milk in place of the evaporated milk.

If you double this recipe, it should split nicely between four of these bottles. You can print out one sheet of these labels I made onto sticker paper, then peel and mount them to the bottle. I didn’t have sticker paper, so I used nice presentation paper, but out the labels, and sprayed the back with permanent spray mount to adhere them to the bottles.

For some immediate post-cooking satisfaction, I poured some of the chocolate liqueur over ice and topped it with the evaporated milk. It hit the spot! In between sips, I cut some ribbon and tied a bow on the bottles so they’ll be all ready to give as gifts to my family! Finally- a homemade gift that people will actually want to receive- no doubt about it!

Maybe it just got lost amongst college planning, dates with my boyfriend, and the pursuit of coolness. But somewhere in my late teens, the holidays lost their magic. Sure, I would still get excited about the season of family gatherings, cookie baking, and Christmas music, but it just wasn’t the same. I don’t think I even carved a pumpkin from the years 2004-2008. I think I was just going through a shift that happens with a person becomes independent and tries to navigate adulthood. But when Phil and I decided to start our own family, one of the things I was most looking forward to was having the real chance to get excited again for the holidays. Decorating our home for the seasons could finally bring joy to someone besides myself. Traditions would become important once again, and we could experience the excitement of the holiday season through the sparkling eyes of our children.

This Fall, the Phil and I took Lucy to Maize Valley, a local farm that bustles with family friendly activities this time of year. They have a huge corn maze, a pumpkin patch, hot air balloons, hay rides, animals, games, and even a pumpkin cannon! Lucy was amazed at everything, and we were amazed at her amazement. It occurred to me that I was finally, genuinely enjoying seasonal traditions again, and that maybe this trip to the pumpkin patch was a bit more for me than for it was for Lucy. I mean, she probably won’t remember it, anyway. But it’s my hope that while she might not remember the specific moments when she first experienced the magic of Fall and the joy of Christmas, the lingering feelings of excitement and comfort will leave a deep impression in her tiny heart. These early experiences is how nostalgia is born, and I’m hoping we’re getting her off to a good start with plenty of warm fuzzies for the years to come!