To say December had been a busy month would be an understatement. At the outset of the month it seemed that this was going to be a quiet, slow holiday season. But as the month progressed my activity increased & my sleep decreased. The month started out with a whirlwind weekend trip back to the Big Apple for the Lingos film festival. I took the red-eye arriving at a very early 6:30am. I was supposed to leave Sunday evening, but due to a snow storm the flight was canceled & I got an extra day in the city (shucks!).
My friend, Brook, traveled back to Arizona with me Monday night & we threw a Haul Out the Holly Party on Tuesday to decorate my house for the holidays. We left Wednesday afternoon to road trip up to St. George, UT via Chandler, Sedona, the Grand Canyon & Las Vegas. Brook stayed with her sisters in Utah & I returned home on Sunday, December 9th.
Then it was all systems go for parties, get-togethers, shopping, visits & other holiday preparations (not to mention day-to-day activities like work & laundry). There was a week which I never got more than 4 hours of sleep a night for 7 days in a row. I left again on Friday, December 21st to go to Salt Lake to visit my parents for Christmas. I returned to my sister's house in Chandler on Christmas afternoon. That's when I finally had time to create my yule log. Since she & I are both Daring Bakers we decided to make the cake together.
We had made the meringue mushrooms the previous Friday before I flew up to Salt Lake, but waited until Christmas Day to make the Genoise, raspberry filling & chocolate buttercream. It ended up rather spectacularly & got many comments by Stephanie's husband about the realistic mushrooms. It also tasted spectacular. So it was a win-win all around (except for the fact that it was a couple days late). I am also having problems uploading pictures, so I'll post them separately with play-by-play action of the making, assembly & production of the yule log.
January is looking less hectic, so the posting will be on time this month.
