Monday, December 12, 2016

Silent night

Thursday afternoon, about the time my friend Kate left, my throat started hurting. By bedtime, I was avoiding swallowing at all costs, it hurt so much. The cold Rick had been battling all week had struck. Arghhhhh! Say what you will; I was NOT going to miss two-thirds of my Christmas parties. I started popping zinc and vitamin C, gave sugar a wide berth, and slogged through my Friday to-do list – no easy task because my brain was in a fog and I had no energy, but at least my throat felt better. Fortunately I had made most of the food for the three potluck meals of the weekend earlier on Thursday, including these,

a festive cranberry/orange/pumpkin seed variation of my standard biscotti recipe.

I was functional at church (a good thing, because I had to introduce the quartet that was presenting our service that day), but pretty hoarse by the time we got to our Saturday evening event.

Sunday morning I spent a few hours doing these:

I jokingly call these chocolate-dipped fresh cranberries my annual "price of admission" to our dressage club's Christmas party, because I'm not sure the other members would let me attend without them; ha. Anyway, by the end of that party last night, I could barely whisper, and haven't regained my voice yet. It is impossible to communicate via telephone so I just avoid it; thank goodness for texting and email!

When I shared a photo of my first batch of holiday party biscotti on Instagram and Facebook, there were some readers eager to take some off my hands. I told my FB friends they gave me an idea for a giveaway that would be announced on my blog – so here it is. If you would like some homemade biscotti, leave a comment on this post saying so, specifying your preference of regular (almond), regular with chocolate-dipped tops, or cranberry/orange/pumpkin seed. They will be made fresh for you; note that they contain gluten and eggs, and dairy if you opt for the chocolate-dipped version. Make sure to leave your email addy (you can use "at" and "dot" so bots can't use it) so I can get your mailing address!

In order to get these out before Christmas, I will use a random number generator to choose a name on Thursday morning, and you will have until Thursday afternoon to email me your address. Short notice, I know, but that's the way this cookie crumbles. ;-)

That's it for now from . . .

12 comments:

Jean said...

So sorry you caught the cold and hope your voice returns soon!

I would love to win a batch of your home baked goodies -- for me, almond chocolate dipped tops!

My email is vesta8xstitchatgmaildotcom

Thank you for the giveaway - I hope you are feeling better soon.

Theresa said...

Aw, give a woman a biscotti and she will relish it for a day, but give her the recipe and she shall feed on them forever! ;-) Same goes for those chocolate cranberries

Emmy said...

Last time I had a sore throat that bad it was tonsillitis! So sorry for you! But if you're really going to share your biscotti, I vote for the cranberry orange! anotherredhead2*at*gmail*dot*com

Susan said...

Oh, man, would I love some of those cranberry/orange/pumpkin seed biscotti! Alas, gluten free is all I can tolerate. Should you decide to offer those amazing chocolate covered cranberries, however..... :) Hope your laryngitis is better - doesn't it always seem that the phone rings non-stop when you can't answer it?

sylkan said...

I'd LOVE the chocolate ones, but even more, I'd REALLY love being able to share the gluten free ones with several of my gluten free friends. If I don't win the drawing, can I still have the recipe? syldotkanatfrontierdotcom

Mama Pea said...

Michelle, at this busy time of year, with all you've got going on in your life, you are totally magnificent, wonderful, kind, generous and a smidge bit crazy to offer the biscotti giveaway. I'd LOVE to sample some of the plain almond ones. (I'm just a basic, simple, [boring] kinda gal.) gonetopiecesatborealdotorg.

Please take care of yourself and get rid of your cold quickly! Keep up with the zinc and Vit C.m Lots of water to flush the germies all the way out of your system.

Michelle said...

I'll post the biscotti recipe soon, Theresa – for the cranberries, see below!

Susan, the phone hasn't been ringing much at home, fortunately. At work I was worthless in that department.... I don't know how well the cranberries would ship, but making them is easy-peasy. Just melt your favorite semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can add a bit of coconut oil but it's not necessary), drop in fresh, firm cranberries, and fish them out to harden on waxed paper!

I'll post the biscotti recipe Sylvia, but it's not gluten-free; sorry.

Jean, Mary, Sylvia, and Mama Pea, you're all entered!

Retired Knitter said...

Gosh, hope you are well soon. I am terrible at winning things. My mom was the lucky soul who seemed to easily win. But no matter. If it is not too late, I am throwing "my hat in the ring." shanksdotelaineatgmaildotcom

weavinmom said...

I really look forward to your blog posts, and your lovely photos. Please put me in the 'regular' biscotti fan club entry!

Mokihana said...

Sounds like we caught the same thing; I had laryngitis for 4 days and am still feeling icky. And I got sick on our yearly ladies retreat, too. How unfair.

Your chocolate topped biscotti sounds fabulous...thanks for the opportunity to enter. I sure hope you feel better soon! This thing is the pits.

Anonymous said...

Would love a sample. One of these times I'll get some of my own made. Maybe I'll use your recipe (Which by the way you don't have to post until you get to feeling better).

Michelle said...

Oops, I forgot to draw a number this morning so I just asked my co-worker to pick a number between one and nine. She picked #5 -- that's you, Mama Pea! (I counted Theresa 'cause I would have sent her some AND the recipe had her number been picked.) Send me your address, woman! (Email linky at right.)