Pre-blog dance fest: I GOT A KITCHENAID HANDMIXER!!! THIS ONE!!! I WANT TO BAKE EVERY DAY.

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The glory days are upon us.

After much anticipation, I am now officially home for the holidays, and with welcome arms greet my family and my mother’s endless supply of grocery products.

I got home on December 24. In a weather twist that can only be described as a Christmas miracle, it started snowing exactly 10 minutes before I landed. As I stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac of the Sudbury airport (no, we do not have those fancy tunnels that connect the plane and the terminal), snowflakes came falling onto my nose, eyelashes and scarf. Each individual flake seemed to be grasping onto 10 of its closest friends, creating huge clumps of snow that I tried to catch on my tongue. I was home and it was finally snowing. Christmas in ever sense of the word.

It didn’t stop snowing until midway through Christmas day. The temperature hovered around zero for most of the morning, meaning that it was perfect snowman-making weather. My brother and I took advantage of this, rolling giant boulders of snow through our front yard and down the hill towards our backyard cliff. The finished snowmen ended up being taller than my skyscraper height brother.

After that, we did this. I taught my parents how to hook words and showed them that a Scrabble Dictionary was actually a thing. There was some tension over my use of the word “ar,” which is, in fact, the phonetic spelling of the letter “R.” The Scrabble Bible says so.

Later in the day, we settled into the dining room for the traditional family supper. Unlike some who have their whole extended family over on Christmas day, it has always been just the four of us. We pop Christmas crackers, tell lame jokes and eventually succumb to the tryptophan overload caused by a too-big turkey.

Since stores in Sudbury are closed on Boxing Day, I slept in this morning (in my double bed no less, bliss) and made this for breakfast. This random, not-that-impressive English muffin meal. I was inspired by my favourite new cookbook, What To Cook & How to Cook It. Gord and I first saw it in a kitchen boutique in Amsterdam and fell in love.

Everything in the book is organized neatly, something that appeals to my sickening need for OCD order.

And so, this happened. It was delicious. I never buy salted butter at home, so this was a treat. Recreate in your own household. It’s easy-peasy. OCD not required.

Recipe: English muffins with Swiss cheese, salami prosciutto and avocado
– 1 English muffin, sliced in half
– 2 slices of Swiss cheese
– 2 slices of salami prosciutto
– Half an avocado, sliced thinly
– 2 tbsp salted butter

Preheat oven to broil.

Put half a tablespoon of butter on each side of the sliced English muffin. Put them sliced side up on a broil-proof pan and put in the oven until butter is melted and edges of English muffin are golden. Remove from oven.

Place a slice of cheese and salami prosciutto on each side. Put to remaining half tablespoon of butter on top of each half. Broil until cheese is melted and the edges of the prosciutto start to curl. About 3-5 minutes. Remove from oven and arrange slices of avocado on top. Eat remaining avocado, about half of the half. Enjoy.

Makes 1 serving. Eat with raspberries and English breakfast tea.