christmas gifts: night one

last weekend i had it all laid out: a flurry of activity resulting in all of my christmas presents done in one fail swoop.

friday night was the first night of my adventure. as the evening progressed, i decided to stick to the items that would be simple to set up. i began first with the rosemary salt. i had seen several recipes, initially interested after it was mentioned on Food in Jars, but in the end i decided to go with this recipe on about.com.

it is as simple as it sounds and smells twice as wonderful.

once it was laid out to dry i began the nutmeg infused simple syrup. also simple, also amazing (there is a theme tonight). i had originally intended to make lavender simple syrup but in looking at my list i found the people i would be gifting were more likely to prefer nutmeg. so i'll play to the crowd.

and by then, it was time to relax and snuggle into something warm. there is something so satisfying about a warm steamy kitchen that smells like goodness on a chilly winter night.

the one fail swoop thing didn't pan out, i woke up on saturday to a town blanketed in snow and threw all my plans out the window. instead, christmas trees were hunted, cocktails were had, candy was made and my youth was enjoyed

now i am staring down the upcoming weekend and i know i have to get the hard stuff done: strawberry jam, applesauce and red wine onion jam. there is something to be said against putting all the hard stuff off for last.