These pictures were taken at the living planet aquarium. I saw otters, an octopus and sharks

Fishes in a tank

these are really beautiful

Carmel Apples

I got this from Orson Gigi's Blog
Wash and scrub apples with warm water and a bit of mild soap. Then rinse and dry very well so that the Carmel will stick to the apples. Insert the skewers into the core of the apple. Refrigerate apples for at least an hour. Cut off about 1/4 of the carmel loaf and melt in a microwave safe bowl or in a saucepan on the stove. Dip apples in the carmel slowely turning them Allow to set up for an hour or more. Apples can be refrigerated after dipping in carmel to speed up the process.

Things I did different

• I started with cold apples so I didn't refriderate for one hour
• I used a glass messuring cup because the sides were narrow and easy for dipping
• When melting the carmel I had the power on the microwave set to 50% instead of 100%
• After dipping I held the carmel apple upside down so the carmel dripped towards the stick
• Once the apples were set up I dipped them in chocolate and decorated them with nuts and crushed candy canes.

• They turned out really good and I enjoyed doing it

Cream Puffs Our Best Bites

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1/6 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1 recipe easy chocolate Mouse see page 234 for recipe
1. Preheat oven to 4000 degrees F.
2. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, and salt and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add flour all at once. Stir quickly with a spoon until dough forms a ball.
3. Add one egg at a time combining completely after each edition. The mixture will be very smooth and velvety.
4. Either drop the dough by scant teaspoons or spoon dough into a pastry bag and pipe it directly onto an ungreased baking sheet. Teaspoons seem small but the pastry will puff up and still be bite-sized.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6, While the pastry is baking prepare the lemon pudding.
7. When the lemon pudding has chilled and the puffs have cool fill a bag with the lemon pudding
8. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or dip the top in lemon pudding and refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes about 40 bite sized cream puffs.

Rocky Road Ice Cream

2 boxes  Instant chocolate pudding

2 cups whip cream

3 cups milk

1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup toasted walnuts

2 cups marshmellows

Mix the pudding, whipped cream, the milk, brown sugar and white sugar together put it in the ice cream maker and freeze it fold in the marshmellows and the walnuts and place in freezer for 14 hours. It was very creamy and the brown sugar added a nice touch to the icecream.

Gingerbread Cake America's Test Kitchen

Cake
21/2 cups 121/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons ground cinamon
1 teaspoon ground alspice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 large eggs (room temperature
4 tablespoons grated or minced fresh ginger
3/4 cup robust or dark molasses
3/4 cup liquid (The recepie calls for Gusiness Beer) but we would use water next time. the first time we used ginger ale this didn't work because the cake sank while it was in the bundt pan.
Glaze
13/4 cups (7 ounces) confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons ginger ale
1 teaspoon ground ginger
For the cake
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees Grease and flour 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat until bubbling. Stir in ground ginger cinamon allspice and pepper and cook until fregrant, about 30 seconds, Remove saucepan from heat and let cool just slightly
2. Whisk eggs, sugar and fresh ginger in large bowl until light and frothy Stir in melted butter mixture mollasses until incoperated Whisk flour mixture into egg mixture until no lumps form
3. Pour batter into prepared pan and gently tap pan on counter to release any air bubbles Bake until skewer inserted into center comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes then turn out onto wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet;let cool compltely.
4. For the glaze whisk all ingredents in bowl until smooth Pour glaze over cooled cake. Let glaze set 15 minutes Serve

Liz's Gingerbread Cookies Gwen Wiliams

1 cup molasses
1 cup sugar
1 cup margarine
1 tespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup boiling water
5 cups flour
Cream molasses, sugar, and margarine. Add hot water and mix well. Sift dry ingredents.
Add to sugar mixture. roll out 1/4 inch thick. Cut in desired shapes. Bake at 350 until botoms are barely brown.

Betty Crocker Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

1 package of cookie mix
1/2 cup banana or applesauce

Mix together well.  place on cookie sheet in small tablespoon size drops. bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

the cookies were very crunchy.