That was the week that was. . .Monday

Do you get my drift here? Red and green? Feeling the holiday spirit a bit early, I am because we've been having cold, crisp days with snow flurries. And I've been picking up the olives, et al., for Turkey Day and priding myself on my advance planning. . .well, its n.e.x.t. week! Audrey will be joining us but alas, Erica can't get away as she only has Thanksgiving off. Besides, she hates the day: 'All we do is sit around smelling the turkey cooking all day. Then when we finally eat, you know I don't like the meal, and will only eat my usual black olives, mashes potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs and rolls.' So speaks Starch-Face on every Thanksgiving Day since about 1985. Sigh.

Saturday I spent the afternoon at a couple of holiday bazaars. Besides the usual church basement delicacies, I bought the last lemon poppy seed cake because it was an adorable heart!
Speaking of yum, this is a Cupcake Hat I made for Maria, a little girl in Romania. I love this pattern recommended by my dear pal, [the other] Marianne. A quick knit. In fact, it probably took me longer to repair a purl stitch bitten through by 'Bad Cat' when I turned my back to get the tape to wrap the package, than it did to make the hat!! Bad Cat having a self-imposed time-out after flossing her teeth with the above hat.

And a recipe. . .since I now have to revamp sweets to suit my blood sugar, I gave this a try and found it to be quite yummy and not so very 'diet' like:

Orange Mocha

1 sm. pkg. sugar-free orange gelatin

1 c. hot coffee

1 c. cold coffee

2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

4 T Splenda (I used one packet & it was sweet enough)

3/4 c. Cool Whip (recipe calls for Free but I use extra-creamy)

Combine gelatin, cocoa and Splenda in a bowl. Add hot coffee, stirring until dissolved. Add cold coffee. Refrigerate until thick-- it will look like a shiny chocolate pudding.

Stir in Cool Whip Free until blended. Refrigerate until set.

note: may use decaf coffee, or increase/decrease coffee strength as desired.