Sunday was a slushy, snowy day.  The perfect kind of day for being in the kitchen.  I felt like baking but I also felt like eating so I decided to try a somewhat ‘healthy’ recipe I found on one of my favourite blogs, Joy The Baker.   Among the delicious looking pictures and recipes I saw one for Honey Chai Roasted Almonds.  I just happened to have a lot of hazelnuts from my fall gathering and some other mixed nuts so I decided to give the recipes a try, substituting a variety of nuts instead of just using almonds.

 The recipe was simple and filled the house with an exotic aroma; cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  The whole process took about a half an hour and was well worth it.  I have stored the nuts away in little jars for a treat now and then.

I also used the hazelnuts to make nut bark.  I have some Belgian Chocolate left in the pantry from my truffle making at Christmas.  I melted some milk chocolate, tempered it and then mixed in some roasted hazelnuts.  It made a mighty fine sweet treat after dinner.

Today is another rainy day and so as well as puttering in the kitchen I am going to try to focus on creating with the fibre I am trying to use up from my ‘stash.’