English Toffee

English Toffee

2 ½ cups sugar

½ cup water

¼ cup light corn syrup

¼ teaspoon salt

1 lb. butter (4 sticks)

3 cups nuts, toasted and finely chopped

(pecans, walnuts, or almonds)

1 large (6-7oz) milk chocolate bar,

Chopped into small pieces

Spread chopped nuts on large cookie sheet, keeping one cup aside for topping.  Combine sugar, water, corn syrup, salt and butter in medium heat to hard crack stage, or 300 degrees on candy thermometer.

Remove pan from heat, stir well and pour in thin stream over nuts, covering pan and nuts evenly.  Place chopped chocolate over toffee, allow to men l and then spread evenly to cover.  Sprinkle with remaining nuts, pressing nuts lightly into chocolate with wax paper.  Allow to cool completely (several hours).  When cool, break into pieces with knife and store in airtight container. 

Variations: 

Grate chocolate and sprinkle half on bottom of pan with half of chopped nuts.  Place remaining halves of each on top of hot toffee

Increase nut quantity to four cups.

Nuts may be chopped more coarsely for bigger nut pieces.  Take special care to press these into chocolate while cooling.

Better late than never.....

Here they are, people. My Friday five....on Saturday.

 

1. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you?

 

I want to say have a baby...because that hurts like a hammer to the head (not that I know how that hurts, but I can imagine.) but we all know birthing hurts.

 

Throwing up is pretty painful. First there is the build up to the thing. You know, the whole stomach/head nausea. Ugh! Then the mouth starts to saltwater....ick! Then the heaving, and hawing. Then again. And again. And once you see your stomach hit the toilet, you do it one more time.

 

But the worst pain is throwing up while giving birth. Yeah. That!

2. How much sleep do you get at night?

 

Are we talking continuous sleep...like 4 hours straight? Because I haven't had continuous sleep in 11 years. But I usually get to sleep for 3 hours in a row. That's usually when the "I had a bad dream."..."I peed my bed, can I sleep with you?"..."Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" ... "I can't breath out of the right side of my nose. Help me!!!" starts.

 

But on average, in spurts I get about 5 hours of sleep. If I'm lucky. If I hide in the Harry Potter room under the stairs.

3. How long did you believe in Santa Claus? How did you find out that he does not exist?

What!!! Who told you that! He IS real.

 

Well, I started to suspect when I saw my mom making a doll and then later saw that doll was near my stocking with a tag saying "From Santa". That was my first clue.

 

I was a little sad. But the great thing about the knowing is the becoming. Becoming the Santa for everyone who still believes. Because Christmas is in the giving.

4. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

 

Despicable Me. Very cute. And funny. It was a hit with my boys. Why? Farting, farting fumes, burping. Yup, it had it all. But it wasn't too much. I cried. A little. In the dark. No-one saw.

 

Before that was Toy Story III. I cried in that one too.

 

And before that it was Eclipse. I cried on that one, only because I know how long I am going to have to wait for the next one. I still get choked up when I think about it......

5. What do you wear to bed?

 

Umm... I am a little uncomfortable with this line of questioning.

 

Actually, I sleep in sweats and t-shirt. Sometimes I have on socks, sometimes not. I can't sleep without pants...(read about that here from my other blog.)

 

And I have to have something covering me...only not my feet. At least one of my feet has to be out of the covers.  Lame, I know

 

And there you have it! See ya next week!

 

Good to meet ya!

I saw this little meme (Meet Me On Monday) on one of my peeps blogs and thought I would join the fun! Are you ready to Meet me??

Questions:

1.  What is your favorite kind of pie?

Definitely not humble pie. That one never tastes good. But I would say of all the pies, my favorite is Dutch Apple pie. I think a big part of the reason for liking is that the top crust is so easy. You don't have to make it look cutsy. I don't do cutsy. I just do yummy. And yummy it is.

2.  Have you ever ran out of gas in the car you were driving?

Only a few times and that's only if no-one else is in the car with me. Wait, I think I read that wrong. Oh, no, I have never ran out of gas. But there was the one time when we were driving between Barstow and Kingman and it was dark, with all our kids and the gas light came on. I was freaking out. We barely made it to the station. I was freaking out a little. Okay, a lot.

3.  How many languages do you speak?

Well, I speak English, obviously. I also speak ASL (Sign Language) because Hubs is Deaf. But I also speak toddler speak. And emotional 8 year old girl speak. Oh, and I have gotten really good at reading rolling-my-eyes-at-you tween speak. So I speak several languages; official ones and not so official but oh so necessary.

4.  Do you take daily vitamins?

What? I am lucky to get breakfast in the mornings and a shower. If you try and throw something in like a vitamin routine I will more than likely implode. Although, maybe a vitamin would help out a little. Humph...it's a thought.

5.  What is your worst eating habit?
Sweets. Well, it's not so much the sweets as it is the amount of sweets. I would say eating everything in sight is overdoing it, what do you think? Yeah, I would say that.

Blog Tag

Keri over at The Pleasures of My Life is doing Blog Tag. I thought I would join in.

 

1.  What's something your parents used to say to you as a child that you promised yourself you'd never say...but now catch yourself saying it?

 

When we would ask my mom and dad where they were going, they would answer, "We are going to see a man about a horse." I hated it when they would say that. But now I understand why they did it. It is so obviously not true, and yet so silly you can't help but laugh.

2.  What's your favorite room in your house?

 

Not the laundry room, though I spend a lot of time in there. I would say the kitchen because it is where we hang out for eating, homework, games, coloring, talking. It is the hangout room of our house.

 

3.  If you could change places with someone for a day...who would it be?

 

It's a toss up. I would maybe be a maid and come clean my house. I do that everyday, only I don't get paid for it. The other option is a toddler because you are waited on, hand and foot, you get to take a nap or two each day and everyone thinks your puggy belly is cute. It doesn't get any better than that.

4.  How many hours do you spend on your computer each day?

 

On my computer, about 30 minutes. The computer at work is about 6hours. Hence my ability to blog.

5.  What's your dream job?

 

Number one choice would be to stay at home with my kids. But if we are talking outside the home, I already have it. I like interpreting. It can be fulfilling at many different levels.

6.  What movie can you watch over and over?

 

Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea... Oh, and  How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

7.  Do you save old greeting cards and letters, or throw them away?

Oh, I chuck em. These are usually from people I see often and so I keep them for the month, but then throw them out. Such a waste.

8.  What's your favorite thing to cook?

 

Sticky popcorn...the easy way. With butter, marshmellows and brown sugar. Quick, easy and it will stay with you...all night and into the hips.

 

Here are my questions to you...

 

1. What is something you would never be caught dead doing?

 

2. How do you feel about facial hair? On men.

 

3. What is your favorite board game?

 

4. Do you sleep with socks on or barefoot? Why?

 

5. What is your favorite Christmas candy/goodie? (I will need the recipes!)

Love Notes

Having a dog sounded like such a great idea at first. The kids were excited, Hubs was excited, she was excited.

"Great idea my foot," she thought after she saw what he had left upstairs on her white bedroom carpet.

"Of course it would be on my side of the bed," she pouted out loud for no-one to hear.

 “This is never going to come out,” she thought as she scrubbed at the spot on the worn carpet.

Just then, Rufus, sheepishly walked into the room and watched as she cleaned up his love note.

She looked up at his sorry eyes and said, "You're in the doghouse tonight."

"How about that for a great idea?"

(Participating in Jenny Matlock’s Saturday Centus. It's fun. You should try it. It's a great idea!)