A Holiday Fair with a Flare of Hail

Yesterday my daughter-in-law and I went to the Christmas Bazaar, an annual tradition for us.  Three hours of wandering, greeting people, looking at handicrafts.  My daughter-in-law and grandgirl kept moving through the booths twice as fast as me, so I would attach myself to another family and ask if I could adopt them, since my own left me.  They all agreed :)

This bazaar takes up two buildings at the Expo Center.  It used to have only handmade crafts and goods for sale in the larger-first building and then commercial and larger things in the smaller second.  But over the past couple years, we have noticed a major change.  This year there was probably more commercial vendors than handcraft artists and they and they were blended in with one another throughout the building.  It did make it more difficult to find and focus on the small verdors.  And although I did find a few unique items for my nephews and nieces, not nearly as many as in previous years.  I think this is because the cost of materials that has hurt the price of the item.  The artist needs to ask for more for each item in order to make a profit on the item.   I would pick up something gorgeous and put it down; couldn't pay the price no matter how deserving of that cost.

So today we decided to go to a Holiday Market in Vancouver, WA (right across the river from me) that had only handcrafted items.  It was very small and there were so many beautiful things, but nothing we wanted to take home.  And the prices!  Oye!  :)

As we stepped out of the hotel where it was housed, we were greeted with a hail storm!  It wasn't that cold (neither of us had on a coat), but by the time I arrived to my car, I looked like I had styrofoam all over my hair :)

One more recipe for delightful pumpkin!  This is a Weight Watchers recipe that is awesome and only 3 power plus value points each (I don't remember where I found it):

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes (3 points plus value)
servings: 12  Prep time: 10 minutes  Cook time: (they say 30 minutes but I say 50)

1 C graham cracker crumbs
3 tbs melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 C canned pumpkin
1 C Weight Watcher Whipped Cream Cheese Spread
1/4 C brown sugar
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

preheat oven 325.  Place cupcake holders in muffin tins.  Melt butter.  Combine the crackers and salt with the melted butter.  Evenly put the crumbs into the cupcake holders and lightly press own with finger tips.  Bake for 5 minutes or until brown.

Mix together the pumpkin, cream cheese, brown sugar, egg whites, and spices until smooth.  Spoon the mixture evenly into the cupcake holders.  Bake for another 45 minutes or so (they said to back for 25 minutes but we found the middle soft like pudding rather than firm like cheesecake, so I kept adding in increments of 10 minutes and using a knife to test the middles until they were firm and yet light).

Let cool and serve at room temp or chill and serve cold.  Yummy!

Enjoy the day and smile unexpectedly at people out there in the world!
peace~~~