During this festive period, I would like to send a heartfelt message of joy, peace and goodwill to all the readers of my blog, and all the members of my PLN. Thank you very much for your support and kind comments throughout 2011. It's been a fun-filled year.
Here's an Animoto message from The Motley Crew below:
If you would like more ideas for creative Christmas messages using apps and other fun sites, look no further than Shelly Terrell's amazing post "30+ Holiday Apps for Creativity and Learning". It is packed full of great ideas to keep you busy over the coming days.
Below are some festive mince pies that were made today by K and I. For me they represent a typical Christmas tradition from England. We followed Delia Smith's recipe.
A few of my Christmas tree decorations to get into the festive spirit! One of my lovely angels...
..and a peacock!
Father Christmas on the fir tree outside the house, waiting to come in from the cold!!
A personal message from Fluffy:
Best wishes to you all.
To finish off, here's a fun, easy to create e-card message from Jib Jab!
Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!
Following recipes has never been my forte, but seeing one for the traditional Abbruzzo Christmas "Calgionetti", in Life in Abruzzo blog, spurred me to have a go, and the results are truly delicious!! These special treats were made by my mother every Christmas time, and she used to make hundreds of them for us to eat, and also to share with friends and family. Sadly I wasn't at all interested in cooking in my youth, so I did not pay attention to how these were made. Imagine my delight when I came across the recipe! Without hesitating, I knew I had to make them and hopefully you will be inspired to make them, too.
Please note that this recipe contains quite a few nuts, so will not be to everyone's taste.
I noted today that homemade calgionetti were on sale in the special Christmas food section of SISA, the local supermarket. They were selling them for 18.50 Euros a kilo, which makes them quite a delicacy!!
Here is a link to the post"Caggionetti, Calggionetti, Cagiunitt" where you too can make your own Abruzzo special Christmas treats, if you follow the instructions carefully!
The ingredients required for "calgionetti" can be found in the Wordle below!
Below you can see images I took of some of the stages.
Boiling the chestnuts, an important part of the process!
Rolling out the dough made from flour, olive oil and wine! A copy of the Life in Abruzzo recipe which I used can be seen next to the rolling pin and dough.
The pastries waiting to be fried!
Angel Delight The angel you can see in the photos certainly helped me to create these yummy sweets which are a traditional part of the Christmas festivities! She was able to oversee the delicate process while I made two batches.
The finished pastries, sprinkled with icing sugar, waiting to be devoured!
To make these Calgionetti, please read and follow the recipe instructions in Life in Abruzzo.
I have just submitted an article for the series on "A Few of My Favourite Abruzzo Things", so please watch this space for further details coming soon!
What better way to celebrate my blog's 3rd Anniversary than to join in another exciting blog challenge "11 from '11" inspired by Adam Simpson's A Year in the Life of an English Teacher blog? The aim of the challenge is to reflect on a year of blogging and highlight 11 posts with explanations for their choice.
I have just created a short FlixTime slideshow of some of the 2011 highlights. I first learned about this lively and exciting video slideshow tool from The Consultants-ETool of the Month page. It's my first attempt, and it looks cool and very easy to use!
Reflections, Reflections Writing my blog for the third year has given me a new outlook on life, broadened my horizons, connected me to educators world-wide, challenged me to the full, encouraged me to share what I have learned, given me a confidence I didn't know I possessed, and given me much joy and pleasure. A life-changing experience indeed! I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for helping me on this fabulous and amazing journey.
Below in no particular order, 11 of my favourite posts from 2011.
Homage to Nicaragua This post was written in homage to my visit to Nicaragua. My poem was added to Bookr, one of my favourite web 2.0 tools.
IATEFL Brighton - An Exclusive Interview with Janet This interview laid bare my techniques for preparing for a global presentation such as IATEFL Brighton. Luckily, I managed to get everything done in time!
The King and I at IATEFL Brighton 2011 The title says it all, really. IATEFL Brighton was the most wonderful experience I could have wished for - my dream come true!!
OBI, RSS and QR Codes! This post was a factual one and I enjoyed doing the research and adding some comics as a test item at the end. QR codes seem to be everywhere in Italy and I have yet to embrace them fully.
Janet's Top Scoop.its! A list of top Scoop.it curation sites that I particularly like following.
Learning is Sharing This post explains how sharing has become the way forward in terms of personal fulfillment.
SEETA: Humanism and Modern Technology I learned so much from this fabulous course and my feedback reflects my feelings. Playing with Bubblr! I really enjoy writing about my experiments with new web 2.0 tools, and this post is all about a fun tool called Bubblr. Santo Stefano di Sessanio - A Veritable Feast This post is on one of my favourite places in the Abruzzo region. I hope you will be tempted to visit this relatively unknown area of Italy.
Many thanks once again to Adam for creating this lovely blog challenge!! I have enjoyed reading other bloggers' reflections of their 11 from '11. In addition, it's been fun for me to go down memory lane....
When everyone is outstanding, it is always difficult to choose excellence. The yearly nominations phase for the Edublogs Awards 2011 has come round again, and here are my choices below:
I wish I could have nominated everyone I follow and admire, but of course it is not possible. Best of luck to everybody mentioned above!
A huge thanks to all the members of my PLN, who are a constant source of encouragement, enlightenment and engaging interaction:-)
Update on Award Winners! The Edublog Awards winners can be viewed here. Many congratulations to everyone involved! Vicky Loras has just written a lovely post called Educators Everywhere, Congratulations!
Thank you Vicky for this heartfelt and wonderfully uplifting post! You have expressed the true ethos and benefits of such events in a very eloquent manner indeed.
Here is my selection of the Top 10 Tools for Learning I am submitting for Jane Hart's 2011 edition of Top 100 Tools for Learning. I have chosen the following tools and sites because I like using them for either teaching, or my professional development.
In no uncertain order, here are my choices for 2011:
Twitter - I wouldn't be able to keep up with current trends and technology without it
Posterous - a new blogging platform for me
Slideshare - useful for keeping my presentations in one place
Jing - a great tool for screen captures and making videos
Powerpoint - I enjoy creating presentations with this easy to use tool
Storybird - a beautiful storytelling creation site
Scoop.it - an easy to use web curation site
Diigo - great to keep all my bookmarks in one place
Animoto - fabulous slideshows can be easily created
Moodle - a versatile virtual learning platform
If you would like to vote for your Top 10 Tools of 2011, you can add yours here:
During this festive period, I would like to send a heartfelt message of joy, peace and goodwill to all the readers of my blog, and all the members of my PLN. Thank you very much for your support and kind comments throughout 2011. It's been a fun-filled year.
A few of my Christmas tree decorations to get into the festive spirit! One of my lovely angels...
..and a peacock!
Father Christmas on the fir tree outside the house, waiting to come in from the cold!!
A personal message from Fluffy:
Best wishes to you all.
Posts
