Fat Friday and Birds After the Snow

Each Friday at work becomes "Fat Friday".  It's not a particularly endearing term but what it means is that treats are shared.  Two or three people sign up for a certain Friday and if you sign up for any Friday you can take part in the feast.  Friday it was our turn in the office.

Cardinal

Friday also was a single session day because of the impending blizzard warnings we were getting here in New Jersey.  Unfortunately, we did not know this on Thursday night.  On Thursday night it was a toss up whether we were going to have school at all, so it was a little hard to be fully prepared with the treats that I was bringing.  I didn't want to have a lot of "stuff" here at home should we not have school because it's only HWNSNBP and I.   But I did manage to pre-prepare some of it so I didn't have to wake up too early on Friday.

Junco

I had chosen one recipe that I had tried and two that I hadn't and one fun stand-by do-it-yourself treat.

Goldfinches in Winter Color

The recipe I had tried was for "Pink Fluff".  A simple concoction of Cool Whip, a box of Sugar Free Fat Free White Chocolate Pudding mix, a 20 oz. can of Lite Cherry Pie Filling, and an 8 oz. can of crushed pineapple.    I had been making this at home since I found the recipe about a month ago.  I even made it once with Sugar Free Cherry Pie Filling and it was just as good.   I made one batch on Thursday night figuring that I would just keep that for us should school be cancelled.   In the morning Friday I mixed up another batch and put them both in my trifle bowl.   If it seems like a lot, keep in mind that there are about 30 people that take part in this.  

Junco In Flight

The other two recipes I found on the internet while perusing Pinterest.  And, let me say that I learned a lesson with one of them.  I had decided to make Salted Caramel Shortbreads and I should have read the comments before I began because as some of the commenters noted, the caramel was much too soft and when I cut them into squares they completely lost their shape.  I did have papers to put them in, but even still, they were not very neat looking.  Tasted delicious, but a fail on presentation.  I had made them on Wednesday night and if I had had enough unsalted butter, I would have tossed the batch and made another, but I didn't.  Believe it or not, I still had a couple of ladies ask me for the recipe.  I did note on it that I would let the temp rise to 234º though.  

Tufted Titmouse

The other Pinterest recipe is Sausage Stars and these were a big hit.  But again, pre-prep was the key here.  I was able to bake the wontons the night before and the filling the morning of.  I actually had more filling than I had cups prepared so I left the excess home thinking I would make them for us and I'm glad that I did because I didn't even get a chance to taste them at work.  I was also lucky in that HWNSNBP had decided to work from home on Friday and he was able to drive me to work to help me bring all this stuff in.  Thankfully I only live about 5 mins. from the school so the hot stuff stayed relatively hot.

Cardinal Pair

The stand-by was Smores.  I purchased Smores Makers for some friends and family for Christmas a couple of years ago and decided to bring that along with the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate.  You make your smore sandwich and put it in the maker and pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds - no campfire necessary.  This was a real hit with some of the teachers who said they were going online to find the Smores Maker for themselves.   

White-Throated Sparrow (with yellow eye patches)

I also had brought a large container of mixed nuts and some candies left over from the holidays.  There were bagels and donuts, chips and salsa, fresh fruit, and candy brought in by my co-workers.  

White-Throated Sparrow (without the yellow eye patches)

The birds have been hanging out at the feeders since it snowed.  I threw some seed onto the driveway a little closer to the house to try to get some closer pictures.   Some of them were interested and some were not.  The cardinal pictures were actually taken on Sunday.  They were still hiding out on Saturday.  

Getting ready for Valentine's Day this weekend also.  Made two batches of marshmallows today - Cinnamon and Vanilla.  I also tried another Pinterest recipe today - Microwave Potato Chips.  I finally used my mandolin.  That was an extravagance I had allowed myself over a year ago when someone at work was having one of those home party catalog get-togethers.  They turned out great but they're a little time consuming.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we only got about 4-5" of snow.  Still, it looked quite pretty.