Life on the farm

I knew that I was going to be close with the amount of chocolate that I had and the amount that I was going to need for my Christmas candy, but I found out that I did need to go and get some more. No problem. I would just zip over there after work tonight and pick some up. Well you can about guess that this just wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounds.

I worked a little later than I was planning on, but no big deal I can still get to the Amish store before they close at 5:00. So after work I hurried up and headed south to the Amish store that I like to buy the chocolate from. I can buy this chocolate in bulk and in 10 pound pieces. And with going through quite a few in a year, it’s the best option for making candy.

OK, here I go. So I as I’m heading to my favorite store I’ve got Christmas songs playing and thinking of how we’re going to have such a great Christmas this year. And just as I’m rounding the corner on the gravel road to the Miller Bulk store that I want to go to, I know that I’ve got only 20 minutes until they close and as I’m pulling up to the store I notice that it’s pretty darn dark in the store. But even though these stores are always dark because there are no electricity used, I still was hoping that there was someone inside that could help me. Well no such luck. They were closed. OHHHH NOOOO!!! OK, I’ve got about 18 minutes now to find a store that sells this type of chocolate. Here I go. I jump back into my car and head back to the highway, next stop is the Yoder store. I pull into their driveway and head into the store. As I’m asking them if they have the chocolate they are trying to have a conversation with me and all I’m thinking is literally tick tock tick tock.. the time is just going by. They suggest going to a Breightsbach (no idea on how to spell this name) store and if I head to the next 4 way stop and take a right, and then I kind of quit listening. I’m sure that I’ll be able to find it right? So back into my car I go and head to the highway. Now I’m driving and see a 4 corner but no stop signs – do you think she meant this one? Oh man how I wish I would have paid more attention to her now. So I keep driving and see a sign for Deitweiler store (spelling ?) and I hit the brakes and take a sharp left hand turn. I go about 1/4 mile and see the store. When I ask if they have any bulk chocolate they tell me no but Breighsbach’s do. Yea, I got the memo. So this time I listen closer to the directions and I’m supposed to take a right when I get to the paved road and then take the first left on the gravel road. I’ll need to drive by the cemetery and then take the next right. I should see the store after that. OK, I better get going because I’ve only got about 8 minutes left before they close. Now of course I won’t die or anything if I don’t get there in time, but it’s about a 45 minute drive from home and giving 1 1/2 hours up this week for coming back for the chocolate is not my first choice. So I get back into the car and head to the highway. And for Christmas music? No way – I needed to focus. Finally I find the turn that I’m supposed to take and see the store. It was 4:57 and I apologized to the young girl behind the cash register  when I walk in the door. When I ask if they have chocolate they said ‘Of course’. Yippeee!!! When I said that it was hard for me to find it tonight with Miller’s closed and everything, the very nice person helping me said really? She said that pretty much everyone in the area sells it. 🙂

What a great and productive day I had today. But first things first. Because our towns around our area are smaller, we have to wait until some of the stores open to shop on the weekends.  Well I hover around the house for awhile earlier in the morning and then I head to town. When I got to town and went to the one dollar type store they weren’t open yet (what?) and some people were literally standing outside the front door. Not a good sign to get the brown sugar that I needed. So I tried the second store that was in town and saw that they were open. I immediately went back to the grocery part of the store and saw that they only had 2 bags of brown sugar. Now I have no idea how much I will actually need, so I grabbed both of these and headed back to the car. I wanted to drop by the other store that wasn’t open earlier and saw that they were finally open. Yea for me! So inside I go and I did buy a couple of packages more. I for sure don’t want to run out brown sugar this time! And when I got home and put them with the rest of my baking things, I realized that I had 12 pounds. Too funny!! I guess with the 12 pounds of brown sugar and 12 pounds of powdered sugar – I’m going to be set for awhile.

But it really was a good productive day and with all the candy ready to be packaged up it didn’t take long until the first batches of baskets were ready for a pickup. 

I’m kinda pleased with myself with staying on my Christmas candy schedule for so long. OK maybe it’s only been day two of the schedule, but I’m still taking the credit for it. I mean you have to take it when you can right?

So tonight was making peanut clusters. They are so easy to make and the only bad part of them is being a little messy. So I made a triple batch and we’ll see if it’ll be enough for what I need this year. Take a look, they do look good! 

And the photo of the day is one that I took of my Rice Krispie treats. I do make good Rice Krispie bars and honestly these were Awesome! They were the best that I’ve made for a very long time. I made them for William when he’s home this weekend. The good news is that they turned out so well and the bad news.. well that William won’t be home until this weekend! 

Yes it is that time of the year again when your bland and boring kitchen turns into this magical room in your house that smells like chocolate and butter. Now honestly how can you get much better than that?

So tonight I started to make the homemade caramels for the Christmas turtle candy that I want to put into candy baskets. The recipe starts out with a lot of butter and sugar and then like magic it’s all done! Yea, not so much. It does take about 1 1/2 hrs to get it from the melting butter stage to the finished caramel, but the kitchen smells just plain awesome! So here is the finished caramel resting on the counter before it gets covered and into the fridge for the night. I’ll make two more batches and then it’ll be time to coat them with chocolate. Yum 🙂