winter 2013
Family Traditions Winter Adventures Recipes, DIY, and More 1
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16 winter 2013/contents 4_ Contributors 7_ Editor’s Note 10_ Winter wandering 16_ Besties 26_ Ginger the poet 30_ Wanderlust 40_ Family traditions
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48_ Mountain Days 56_ Aviator 67_ Friendship is 68_ Bound for Freedom 74_ Recipes by Organic Sisters 76_ Holiday DIY
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Photography by Lila Purdy
Photography by Sam I am Photography
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Besties Pho t o gr a p h yy++ S t yl i n g by S a m I A m P h o t o g r a p h y
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Bow: American Apparel Fur Shawl, Coat & Pants: Lamantine Paris Sunglasses: Very French Gangsters 33
Bow blouse: Lamantine Paris Fur Vest: Pale Cloud Pants: Lamantine Paris
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Coat: Lamantine Paris Dress: Tutu Du Monde Crown: Oeuf Model: Zuzanna 36
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Interview Lila Purdy Photography Jaclyn Shepard
Family Traditions As the holidays approach, many of us start to implement family traditions that have been passed down from our parents or traditions that we have created with our children. Whether you are passing down old traditions or new ones, the hope is to build memories with your loved ones.These traditions bring smiles to our faces and a joy in our heart when we think of all the memories that have been created throughout the years.Chuck and Fiona Coleman have been creating new traditions along with traditions that they have incorporated from their different backgrounds. Jaclyn from Jaclyn Shepard Photography spent a day photographing the Colemans as they decorated train shaped cakes, which is one of their family traditions. In the interview, we learn how this tradition began.
When and how did this tradition of decorating cakes begin? While both our families loved to cook and bake during the holidays, we started the tradition of decorating the train cake about 5 years ago when we bought the cake trays on a whim. We traveled up to Central NY to visit my husband’s family and there we tried making the cakes. My mother-in-law loves baking and we thought this would be something different. She had all the cake decorating tools so we were all set. We ended up having so much fun decorating the cakes with our older son, Jeremy, so we made it a Coleman Christmas tradition. As you can see, my youngest son, Aidan, was having a lot of fun tasting and decorating the train cake this year! In addition to baking the cakes, we usually bake various types of sugar cookies and put it in the middle of the plate with the train cake surrounding it
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What aspect of it do your boys enjoy the most? My husband and I both have full-time jobs with many responsibilities, so we don’t get as much time to spend with the kids as we would like. By creating little traditions like baking the train cakes, baking cookies, making lists for Santa, putting up the Christmas tree and decorations, we get to spend a lot of time together talking and laughing. My youngest son enjoys the actual devouring of the cake.
How does it make you feel as a family when you are done with the project? Tired but fulfilled. We love just spending time with our two favorite little boys.
What are some of your fondest memories of Christmas? Running down to the Christmas tree with my brother and opening up presents while my mother prepared a special breakfast for us. The best part of Christmas was spending time with my family. For my husband, his immediate and extended family all lived within a few miles of each other in Central NY always congregated for a large family breakfast and opening up gifts.
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What family traditions from your childhood have you incorporated with the kids now? 1. My family always enjoyed preparing a large meal with a turkey for Christmas and sharing the special day with family and friends. My husband’s mother and 4 brothers would prepare and bake S Cookies for all the family and neighbors. 2. We would travel to a tree farm and select and cut down the yearly Christmas tree. Once arriving home we would decorate the tree with the decorations we collected over the years, whether they were store-bought or handmade. 3. As kids, we always had an advent calendar for the 30 days prior to Christmas. We now do that with our boys every year and the love it! 4. We attend church on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. 5. We would watch Christmas movies and TV specials together as a family. The boys love some of our favorites - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and Charlie Brown’s Christmas! 6. When my husband was little, his grandmother would hide a singing bird ornament inside the Christmas tree and all the grandkids would have to find it. Now we hide a pickle ornament (a German tradition) and whoever finds it in the tree first gets to open the first present. Each year gets more and more competitive! 7. We grew up baking holiday treats and constructing and decorating gingerbread houses. We do that with the boys, and they seem to be more into eating them then decorating them!
Describe the holidays for your family. Do you travel ? Are holidays split between visting family members and staying home? My mother was born and raised in Ireland as a Christian and then my father in India as a Hindu, so as a young girl our traditions were different in my family than my predominantly Jewish community in Long Island. Although we would head to church we also headed to the Hindu temple each year at Christmas. We did not have any other family in the New York area while growing up, so I celebrated Christmas with my father, mother, brother, and friends. My husband had numerous relatives within about 10 miles in Central NY so it’s always been a great family gathering for them at Christmas time. My children are lucky in that they get to know and spend time with grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins during the holidays. We always split the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays each year between my husband’s family in Central NY and my parents who moved down to Virginia from Long Island about 6 years ago. This year we will travel to Central NY for Christmas and will visit my family members in England for Thanksgiving. As the kids get older we will likely remain at home so Santa doesn’t get confused with the different present drop offs!
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“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” -J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
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h s ip is... d n e i r F When you are happy with your friends and have sleepovers. – Kayla, 7 To help others and respect them. – Elise, 6 Being Kind, helpful, and respectful. – Peyton, 7 Friendship is to be somebody ’s friend, stick up for them, be nice to them and be next to them. –Amanda, 5 Friendship is when people look out for each other and don’t let each other down. They are always there for one another. Being kind and playing with each other. – Jason, 10 If you meet somebody and you say “ Hi ” and if the person says, “ Do you want to play with me” and you say yes and have fun playing with them, you have friendship. – Cole, 7 Friendship is when you get gifts from your friends, and go to their birthday parties. - Kayden, 5 Friendship means she’ll never let you down and she will be with you ever y step of the way. - Ziah 8
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Bound for Freedom photography Kelsey Bock
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C ra n b e r r y a n d P i s ta c h i o S li c e IN G R E D IE N TS BASE 1 cup of Raw Almonds 1 cup of Dried Dates 1/4 cup of Cacao Powder 2 tablespoons of Coconut Oil (melted) FILLING 1 cup of Dried Cranb erries 3/4 cup of D esiccated Coconut 2 tables poons of Coconut Oil (m elted) 1/2 cup of Raw Pis tachio Nuts 1/4 cup of Coconut Cream 1 tables poon of Maca Powder (optional) CHOCOLATE TOPPING 1/4 cup of Coconut Oil (melted) 1/4 cup of Pure Maple Syrup
INSTRUCTIONS
1/4 cup of Cacao Powder
BASE 1. Pulse the almonds and cacao powder in a food processor until it resembles a fine crumb. 2.While the food processor is running add in the dates one at a time and the coconut oil until it is well combined. 3. Pour the mixture into a small slice tin lined with non-toxic baking paper and press it down to form the base. Place it in the freezer to set. FILLING 1. Pulse the cranberries, coconut, pistachios and Maca powder in the food processor until finely chopped (ensure you don’t over process). 2. Add the coconut oil and coconut cream and pulse again until the mixture is combined. 3. Pour the mixture on top of the base and return it to the freezer to set. TOP CHOCOLATE LAYER 1. Add the coconut oil, maple syrup and cacao to a small mixing bowl and stir until it is combined and resembles chocolate sauce. 2. Spread the chocolate sauce on top of the filling. Make sure the filling is set before you do this step! 3. Pop it back into the freezer for an hour and then remove it from the tin, slice it up and store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
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Potato, Leek, Zucchini (Courgette) & Roast Cauliflower Soup INGREDIENTS 1/2 head cauliflower 3 garlic cloves 1 brown onion chopped 2 zucchinis diced 1 leek sliced 1 tbsp oil (or butter) 8 small potatoes diced (skin on) Salt & Pepper Vegetable stock
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 180 de grees C. Plac e cauliflower florets and garlic cloves onto a lined baking tray and roas t in oven until cooked through and golden. Plac e the oil in a large pot over a m edium heat and s autĂŠ the onion, zucchini and leek until it is cooked through and a bit caram elized. Add the potato es, s alt & p epp er and enough ve getable s tock to cover the potato es. Cover and cook until the potato es are s of t. Then add the roas ted cauliflower and garlic. Remove from the heat and let it cool b efore blending. **You may also need to add a little water depending on whether you prefer your soup runny or thick** We love to serve this soup with some steamed broccoli or some roasted cauliflower florets and a good dose of cayenne pepper.
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Cinnamon apple ornaments Ingredients 1 cup of applesauce 1.5 cup ground cinnamon optional (Ginger, Cloves, Nutmeg)
Materials Mixing bowl Cookie cutters Cookie Sheet Rolling pin Parchment paper Twine toothpick
Instructions Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl combine the applesauce and cinnamon, With the spatula start to mix together. You want the dough to form a ball without being too sticky or too runny. Add additional applesauce or cinnamon if needed. sprinkle the surface with cinnamon. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Using cookie cutters cut the dough into the shapes that you desire. With a toothpick poke a hole where you want the twine to go through. to make an ornament only make one hole. to create a garland make 2 hole to put the twine through. bake for 2 hours. Take out of oven and let them sit till they are cool and firm. String them with the twine and decorate.
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DIY Simple Holiday Cards Materials Scrapbook papers scissors / paper trimmer gluestick embellishments blank cards with envelopes
It’s that time of year where Holiday cards are being bought at every store possible. So many are being bought, signed and mailed with no personal touch to them. I encourage you to start a tradition where you make Holiday cards with your child. Give the cards a personal touch.
Instructions Cut the scrapbook paper to fit the blank card. Glue the scrapbook paper to the blank card. Add embellishment. Write a nice note inside.
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