I've been craving my Memaw's hot tea/cider drink for a while now. This recipe from "A Spicy Perspective" blog was good, but it wasn't the same. It was close, but still missing something. I keep forgetting to ask my grandmother for the recipe, but my dad recently told me her secret ingredient!
But it's a secret. Ha! Don't you hate it when people won't tell you a secret ingredient? To be honest, I don't think it's secret, but I think that's fun so now it IS a secret.
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Did you have a good Christmas? This one was particularly nice for our family. My girls are at a great age to really enjoy the holiday.
Oh, my sweet, sweet daughters. See that green dress? My mom crocheted that for me when I was little. I wore it on my first day of kindergarten with cowboy boots.
They're bundled up for school, so excited for Christmas break to begin. So many holiday parties, then finally home!
This was Piper's first year to really help with ornaments.
This has to be one of the best days of the year. Violet is really good at decorating. I'm glad she likes to help!
Adam puts his train from when he was a little boy around the base of the tree. The girls set up the snow village this year...they did a good job!
I love those German Christmas pyramids. We add extra candles around the base so it zooms around fast.
Nom! Our traditional Christmas breakfast....salmon and bagels with fruit and mimosas (for grownups)
Violet made our guinea pigs a "Feeding Station" from legos. This is Margaret.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve...
We have an owl! I get so excited when an owl moves into one of our boxes. I always have my fingers crossed for an owl. One year, a rude duck moved in. What was he thinking??? I don't even know how that duck squeezed itself into the box. It seemed way too small for him.
The soft hooting of an owl mixed with wind blowing through the leaves sounds like home.
The girls worked on gingerbread houses for HOURS.
The gingerbread houses were a big hit. We'll definitely do this again next year.
Making sausage! It's such a chore, but Adam is good at it. The pork is from wild hogs from our place. I like them with extra garlic and jalapenos.
Pigs 'n blankets....homemade beef & wild hog sausage and homemade yeast dough.
We make them every year. Next year we may try making mustard, too.
Adam thought one of the pigs in blankets looked like a baby Ewok.
I don't know what Adam was doing, but this is our celebratory Swiss cheese! We get a little wheel of it every year to eat on Christmas Day.
Cat jammies! We always get matching pajamas for Christmas.
Stringing popcorn and cranberries. I gave my youngest daughter a real needle and she only stuck herself once.
'
We also used apple jacks to make garlands.
They both ate a bunch of the cranberries. So tart.
It's our Nature Tree! We decorate a small tree for the animals. We even made a star out of toast for the top. By the next morning, almost everything had been eaten.
Our friend Marcia sent us this pretty hand embroidered tablecloth. It's so intricate...it must have taken weeks to make, if not months.
Paintings wrapped up and ready to go to their new homes for Christmas. It's so satisfying to paint for people....I feel like an elf!
Our Girl Scouts troop won 3rd place in our local Christmas parade. We had a Night Before Christmas theme. It was brrrrrr cold-thank goodness we all wore warm jammies. I like any event where the costume is pajamas.
Not really reindeer in the meadow, but we like to pretend. Now I need to put away the last few decorations. I'll think I have everything done, then I find some random Santa or tiny tree. Does that happen to you, to0?
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Halloween's blowing in, and it finally feels like autumn is here! Which, in Texas, means that it's finally in the 80s.
We have butterflies all around the pumpkins, and it's finally getting cool enough to open the windows at night. Is there anything better than a soft breeze and the sound of crickets, coyotes, and owls while you sleep?
I'm spending a lot of time in the studio painting and drawing for a children's book illustration class. The Halloween Room is one of my favorite places in October. All those stripes make me happy.
When I start for the day, I'll go in, look up where all the stripes meet, and turn in a circle. It makes me dizzy, and that always makes me giggle a little. Sometimes I'll give the butterly/owl/bat mobile a gentle push and watch it sway. It's like the little creatures are saying hello and swishing some nice ideas towards my brain with their wings.
I usually decorate slowly for seasons...a thing here or there every few days.
Take something down, put something else up. It's a slow progression...kind of a quiet meditation on the seasons.
Trucks show up to pick up load after load of hay. The trees are starting to turn, but it's slow and subtle. I watch the leaves like a hawk, so I notice. It's not the fireworks you get in New England, but I'll take it.
I let the girls choose our costumes. We're the "Amazing Irrgang Bat Circus". They even have a little circus routine where they fly through the hoop and everything! Those kids.
I made that orange pillow last year and still get a little thrill when I see all those orange ruffles. It was the first time I'd tried singe-hemming...you can see how I did it here in this video.
Black Swallowtail
Gulf Fritillary, or Passion Butterfly
This is a cute litte guy. Anyone know what it is?
Some recent gnoshing...mussels with garlic, autumn beans over farro, and butternut squash soup with chives and sour cream.
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We made healthy oatmeal packs for breakfast. My family loves instant oatmeal, but they have a ton of sugar in them, so we tried a homemade version instead.
I used snack sized zip-lock bags, and added 1/2 cup of quick cook oats, 2 tsp stevia, and then a mix of dried fruits, spices, and nuts. Add 1 cup milk or water, microwave 1 1/2 minutes, then eat!
They took me forever to make---look at that mess---but I bet it goes faster next time.
Aaaand some not-as-healthy breakfast choices. :) My youngest daughter asked for "Pancakes that look like the three little bears." So there you go!
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Day 20-I started making a collection of my favorite children's lullabies. When I'm done, I'm going to burn a CD for my girls.
What were your favorite lullabies as a child? Would you share them with me? I'm trying to put together a CD collection for my girls, and wondered what you guys grew up hearing. They seem to be really regional-even the lyrics are different for friends who lived in different parts of the country. I'd love to hear what your family sang to you!
Here's a sweet one:
I mentioned this friends on Facebook, but wanted to tell you guys, too. Piper's favorite song is "Jolene" by Dolly Parton (she calls her Dolly Barbie), but she totally gets the lyrics wrong. "Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleeeeeen...I tell you please don't take my macaroni."
Make it in May, Day 21-I made more mermaid baskets for teacher gifts. We have the best teachers at Wesley Pdo N Prek...we'll miss you guys this summer!
And I made chocolate shells. I'm usually happy with milk/dark chocolates, but I find it harder to melt the white chocolates consistently. I mixed in some fresh strawberries to give them a pinkish shell color. I thought they were fun on brown sugar...looks sort of like sand.
Day 22-Not much today, but I straightened up the fairies hanging above the reading nook. This is the view if you're lying on your back looking up. I hung them from clear filament and they'd gotten tangled up a little. It was rainy...we were lazy...it was nice.
Day 23-We made a day of it in the studio. Piper learned to make "tracks" with her toys in Playdoh, also playing with my Pee Wee Herman doll with the super sped-up voice box (that's not creepy or anything!). It cracks me up when she calls it Daddy Doll.
Violet learned to parry a little more efficiently in her fencing lesson with Adam.
I made breakfast for dinner, and I hope we won't be "making" a trip to the storm cellar tonight since a front is blowing in and the sky is kind of green. I'm also working on a decoupage suitcase, and I'm starting by clipping images from a vintage children's book.
Day 27-I made a start on my mailings to people I admire. This is the project where I'm asking people for advice on happiness and creativity in their forties.
Day 28-I'm taking a look at the grisaille technique again. That's where you do an underpainting in neutrals (usually black & white), then you paint the colored layers in with translucent glazes. I made a stab at learning how to do it a few years back, but never entirely finished my painting. I'm not crazy about the photos I worked from, but it was more of an exercise in technique than anything. I don't do a lot of self-portraits, but I use myself since it's hard to find models out here. I'm glad I tried it, but I'm not entirely pleased with it. It's okay in details, but the overall painting is a little stiff.
Day 30-It was just me and the girls for the past 3 days, so we made it a "Woodland Weekend". Violet loves to pretend we're deer from the forest...she calls me "Mother Deer" and she is my young fawn, Honeysuckle. Piper is, as Violet says, "A plump rabbit we bring around with us."
They wanted me to have "Mother Deer's Restaurant", and we decorated the table with forest stuff and had waffles with berries. We pretend the field mice are in charge of picking berries early in the morning, and the fairies bring the whipped cream.
Day 31-I made Mermaid Accessories!
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Make it in May, Day #1-I wrote a quick song on xylophone to get started.
I'm a big fan of Mister Rogers, and I wrote a song that sounded like something cheerful you might hear in Trolley Land.
Day 3- Honeysuckle smells GREAT! I wear this in the spring and summer. Well, I switch perfumes a lot, but this stays in the rotation.
Day 6-Over forty ladies, many of you are on my list! Share them pearls of wisdom, yee haw!
Day #7-We made soap "scrimshaw" carvings with my daughter's group in kindergarten. We carved the soap with toothpicks, then ground up burned wood to make charcoal dust, then smushed it in the carved areas. Mine above, Violet's below-I love Mama Daughter projects!
Day 8-It may be too small by the time fall rolls around, but I'm glad to be close to done. And that yarn makes me look forward to autumn.
Day 10-I added some summery, bright butterflies and feathers in a globe to the studio. You can't tell, but there's a petrified egg resting in the feathers. I found it in the woods.
Day 11-I made another storytime video to add to my YouTube series. This is Piper's favorite story lately.
Day 12-We made photos at Violet's school's Spring Fling.
They had an open house and set up photo booths outside every class. Great job, LOISD teachers!
Make it in May, Day 16...I finished the poster for my daughter's kindergarten class. It's not perfect because I'm far from a Photoshop expert, but I did the best I could.
I think it's fun, and I hope they like it. I got a big refrigerator box, and had everyone pose inside it.
Then I cropped all the photos in Photoshop and stacked them together, Brady Bunch-style.
Day 17-Violet and I made cards and small treat bags for her kindergarten's end-of-the-year picnic.
Day 18-I wrote a song to sing and play on harp to accompany Edward Lear's poem "The Owl and the Pussycat". (I'll record it one of these days and share it.) I visited my daughter's kindergarten, and their lovely teacher turned the pages of Jan Brett's book while I played. I came at snack time, so I made blueberry muffins and brought clementines. It was fun to sing some songs, and teach the kids a few that they could sing along with. They're such a happy group!
Day 19-We made supply boxes for some of the victims of the tornado in Van, Texas. It felt disrespectful to take photos while we were there, so I'll share some images of the destruction and clean-up effort I found on Van Texas Tornado Recovery. The community still needs aid and volunteers.
Day 21-Didn't make much, but it was my daughter's kindergarten graduation, then she got out of school all day and we had a Mama-Daughter Day. It was Date Night, so Adam and I are picking blackberries on our country road. I could eat ALL the blackberries...blackberry ice cream, blackberry cobbler, blackberry port, blackberry jam, blackberry smoothies, blackberry EVERYTHING!
I'll share the rest the rest soon!
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Not like anyone cares about my Halloween shenanigans halfway through November, but I'm going to get these dang photos posted so it's not hanging over my head.
Beautiful Medusa descending the stairs. In the reading nook underneath, there are oodles of fairies and butterflies floating overhead. The girls love to nap and dream in there. More photos soon.
Much revelry.
I really like this deep purple variety of morning glories...they're called "Grandpa Ott".
See the pretty purplish candy cane pucker they make when they close?
Bowling for Barbie. Or Bratz. Those dolls aren't good for much else. It's satisfying to knock them over with a bowling ball.
Good old fashioned "bite the apple on a string".
That game is harder than it looks.
After years of starting seedlings, I finally got a moonflower to bloom.
The spinner board is covered with vintage beauties in costumes. This is from a game I made called "Halloween Hullabaloo".
It's hard to explain this when people aren't playing, but you stand on either side of the pumpkins facing your partner. You have a butterfly net, and toss 3 rubber bats to each other, trying to catch them.
My sloppy scoreboard. Let's see, we played all sorts of stuff...darts, tic tac toe, mini golf, bowling, archery, vile vials, bat catch, ring toss, costume contest (my friend Laura the well-loved-doll won!), Halloween pictionary, movie guessing game, spider sumo wrestling (don't ask), broom races, and the rest is a blur.
My pogo stick. What? You don't have a Halloween pogo stick? Why not?
Hear all the ladypeople cackling?
I'm going to eat that pie pumpkin soon. Mmmmmmm.
See all the paper bags on the table? Those were my Tricks or Treats. Throughout the evening, everyone got one trick and one treat. If you were good, you got things like pumpkin scented lotion, or a small painting. If not, well then.....a rock, a broken calculator, or a scorpion in a jar for you!
I set up a not-so-ambitious mini golf game.
I'll have to put more thought into that next year.
But hey...can I get points for the empty pumpkin can buried in the ground for the hole?
The Arabian Nights room, waiting for guests. We finally hung all those lanterns! More photos of that later, too.
Food. Because hey...it tastes good.
Adam was a love to grill chicken and shrimp and veggies and whip up margaritas.
We made rice bowls with black beans and a bunch of veggies. And a sage-y pumpkin sausage soup that I could eat every day if someone else made it.
"Vile Vials" game...I filled a dozen beakers with a variety of smells, and you had to guess what was in them. This one was hard, apparently! The best score was 6 out of 12, by our resident soap maker, so she's used to sniffing stuff. I had things like wintergreen, patchouli, lavender....I should have used vinegar, nail polish remover, motor oil, and nasty stuff. Maybe next year.
I spray painted some tall candle holders black to make "pumpkin stands". I need to repaint those red drums. I just dread using industrial paint stripper to get the stuff off. It smells terrible, and will take your skin off if you're not careful.
Boy, that was fun. Sniff! Only three hundred and forty eight more days until next Halloween.
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And always, always...caramel apples!
I like apples on the smaller side.
I like them with real sticks. Seems more...haunted poison witch apple. Ish.
Sprinkle with sea salt...mmmmm.
I will totally lick a plate if there is caramel on it. Sorry, Adam.
Those might not be bad with some chocolate drizzled on them, too.
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Our apples are ready! The girls helped us pick them this year. At least the ones on the lowest branches.
More videos of: Violet & Piper picking, Violet helping Piper pick one that's too high up, and Daddy slicing the first bite of the first peach of the season.
It makes me happy to see them in baskets. I know a plastic bag would work just as well, but I want baskets.
A quick video of Mooskies' hiding spot under the pear tree.
I made an apple crumble. Mmmm...I love crumbles. If you swap out brown sugar for white, the sides cook up into a nice caramel candy gooey crunchiness on the sides.
Doesn't this look good? Fresh apple ice cream from Parsley Sage Sweet. (recipe here)
Tomatoes and turnips. I didn't grow them, but someone did.
We found a toad! There are dozens of teeny frogs and toads around the house and studio this summer. They make the best croaking noises. Do you guys have more frogs than usual? Our friend has a huge crop of tarantulas. Glad we missed that.
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More travel tips!
(Find Traveling With Kids Part 1 here.)
Pack flat books.
Pack several flat, small books. You don't have to buy brand new ones...I hit the local Goodwill and found several for a quarter each. Babies and toddlers really like to open flap books. Older kids like complicated images they can look at for long periods of time like the I Spy and Where's Waldo books.
Use them as rewards. Let the kids cash in their Good Behavior Bucks for a new book.
Individual drink mixes for post-airport security.
You know how they don't let you have any liquids in your carry-on stuff? Well, that can make for thirsty kids and/or an expensive airport stop for drinks. I don't like paying $5.00 for a bottle of juice, do you? Bring an empty water bottle and refill it from the water fountains past security. If your family doesn't like plain water, bring along some individual drink mixes. They're very small and packable, and come in a wide variety of flavors. I like lemonade, but they have all the Crystal Light flavors, Wyler's mixes, and Kool-Aid choices, too.
Snacks-pack 'em.
I pack an individual ziplock bag of snacks for every family member. Don't forget Daddy. Ours prefers beef jerky, Jolly Ranchers, and more beef jerky.
My girls love those crazy-flavored jelly beans. I cut the identification guide off the package and taped it to the ziplock so they could play "which flavor did I get".
Keep the unhealthy bits to a minimum.
Although I do let them have the occasional bit of candy, I prefer to pack healthier choices like fruit, whole wheat goldfish crackers, whole grain pretzels, string cheese, and the like. However, who doesn't love a bite of candy?
To keep the teeth-rotting to a minimum, I pack only a small candy stash. I cobbled these together from leftover Halloween/Christmas candy languishing in the pantry. Try an oversized vitamin box to store one type of candy in each compartment.
Since my kids don't get candy very often, they think it's a big deal when the Candy Box comes out. You'd be amazed at how much adults perk up at the sight, too.
Prize pouches
You know how kids always want what the other one has? I found identical zippered pouches to distribute their "prizes" in. Although I do give them different items, something about the visual of "exactly the same bags" being handed over the back seat seems to make them happy. Perhaps they're assured that it will be fair that way? Kids are weird.
Are you wondering where I'm getting all this crap? A lot of my treasures came from those Jars I found several years ago.
Short version: I found about 50 huge pickle jars filled with crazy stuff at an estate sale. Long version: read here.
Prize stash
I kept one quart sized ziplock bag of toys for each girl.
Toddler: tiny board books, soft animals (that are *cough* totally disposable upon arrival, in my opinion), toys that rattle or move
5 year old: small jewelry, party favor-type games, cards
Just so you know, I probably spent less than $10 on kid entertainments for the whole trip. I always keep little Happy Meal toys and favors from parties. They come in handy, I swear, and your kids think it's a brand now toy. Mine do, anyway.
Don't forget stuff you have lying around the house, too. Your baby will be just as happy with a few rubber bands and bright key chains as they will a purchased toy.
GAMES-print out lots of car games!
I place these games in the Travel Binder inside clear protector sheets. Use dry erase markers and you can use them for years.
By the way...
Make the Travel Binder and use it OVER AND OVER.
Leave all that stuff in there and next time you're ready to grab-and-go.
Here's a Car Scavenger Hunt from Living Intentionally blog.
Tip-print these out on two different pages. I forgot and they had to play side by side. We also enjoyed the Airplane Scavenger Hunt.
Car Brand Check Off game and Find Something in this Color game.
Violet's favorite part of flying is when the flight attendants come around with the drink cart. She ordered very politely. Apple juice. She loved putting her tiny glass of ice in the indented circle on the fold-down tray. I swear...airplane seats are kid-sized, not adult-sized.
Dry Erase EVERYTHING
I'm a firm supporter of dry erase markers when traveling. You can use anything to clean them up and they don't stain. In a pinch, use the inside of a skirt or sleeve.
Print outs- Find your kids' favorite characters online. There are many sites that offer free coloring page downloads. Violet particularly likes complicated patterns like the owl above.
Magic Paint and Bead Kit
Magic paint kits are a hit with my 5 year old. You can "paint" without making a mess. Simply use a q-tip dip it in a tiny amount of water, then smear the color on the black and white picture. It's a good way to use your left-over ice and apple juice on the plane. When you're done, roll it up and dispose of it in the can.
Make a simple bead kit before you leave home. I threw a handful of beads in a ziplock bag, along with a few feet of dental floss wrapped around a scrap of cardboard. Kids love making necklace. Let tiny kids do it with cheerios or fruit loops to make an edible necklace.
I wouldn't recommend this on the plane or in the car. This is better for the hotel or other time when kids are confined and want something to do.
Coloring coloring.
Highlights Magazine Online has fun Hidden Picture puzzles available to print out from their website. Use a dry-erase marker, wipe clean, then hand off to another kid.
Older kids might enjoy making a "passport" and documenting flight statistics. My kid wasn't interested in this, but yours might be.
Hangman with age appropriate word list.
(From Living Intentionally Blog. That blog rocks on travel suggestions.)
Alphabet search game
State Facts pages make the trip educational as well as fun. Quiz kids on state flowers/animals/trees and learn to identify flags.
Scrapbook for kids. Use a blank page for every destination or point of interest. Let older kids write a description and younger kids paste in brochure photos. Kids love collecting those travel tri-folds you see along the way.
Okay...that should give you some ideas.
Let me know what works for you and your family!
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I got sunburned on Saturday, and snow on Sunday. Texas weather!
We're home for a snow day today, how about you?
Violet begged and begged to go outside. She got all bundled up, then stayed out all of five minutes. She and Piper wanted to stick their hands out the door and touch the snow.
Piper loves to sneak up next to me and stick her hand inside my shirt with her cold little hands. It makes me shriek, which she thinks is funny.
Saturday was in the eighties. I had on shorts, for the love of Pete. Sorry honey-the photo doesn't do you justice-but I wanted to show you how warm it was. Violet kept saying, "My back is hot."
In case you were wondering, Adam was teaching Violet how to survey. Or at least do the part where she holds the measuring stick. I'm sure that thing has a more official sounding name.
Notice the owl hat and the owl in the background? Violet pretended to be "Owla" all day.
Eighty-two degrees Saturday, fifteen degrees Sunday. Plus sleet and snow.
Poor snow cactus.
Back inside for cocoa by the fire.
We spent a bit of time talking about Flora & Ulysses today. (It won this year's Newberry Medal.) We've been reading a bit every day and finished it last night. We kind of hated for it to end.
What a fun, silly book! Squirrel gets sucked into a vacuum, gets turned into a super hero, hijinks ensue.
Here's a yummy recipe for crockpot oatmeal from Mavis. I call it porridge. Because...hmm, well-I guess because it sounds more like something out of a fairy tale. Something bears would eat.
We had ours with walnuts, dried cherries, and lotsa butter and brown sugar.
The problem is...I don't want to clean that pot. I coated the crock pot with butter last night, but it still left a crusty mess around the edges. Bleh. Don't wanna.
If you live north of, say-Oklahoma, you probably roll your eyes every time some Texan posts snow photos. But to us...this is lots of snow. It seems like an event.
Clyde is going to get petted a lot today. Whether he likes it or not.
Piper and Mooskies are buddies.
She's putting bracelets on his nose.
See the silly doll? One of Piper's favorite toys is a beaver piggy bank named Meep.
Chilly evening, warm food:
Crock pot chicken thighs, mushroom thyme soup over rice, mexicorn
Homemade chicken noodle soup, crackers cheese and pickles. That's such a "little kid lunch", huh? I always loved Campbell's Chicken 'N Stars soup...did any of you eat that growing up?
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A friend of mine just went on a meat and greens ONLY diet. That made me hungry. So I'm going to eat a little extra for her.
Mmmm...home ground burgers. Adam mixes bacon into the beef and grinds it all together. That makes my mouth happy.
I have a serious caramel problem. As in, an addiction. I made this batch with fine grey sea salt in the caramel, and topped them with coarse grains of pink Himalayan salt.
(image by Rostislav Popsky)
And here's a short winter poem, if you're into that sort of thing.
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Oh, my. This looks delicious.
Recipe here from 365 Days of Crockpot. I have a feeling I'm going to be visiting that site again.
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Well, it's over for another year, isn't it? I feel a bit dazed...do you guys? I am still sick, and all I can think about it trying to get well again. Sorry to be whiny, but dang-I don't think I've ever been sick for this long in my whole life.
Here are my little loves peeking through the doggie door. Mooskies is so tiny we just installed a cat door.
Violet "helpfully" lifts the flap and yells, "Mama-Piper's crying!"
Poor Piper. She's at that age where separation anxiety has kicked in. If I leave to take out the trash, get wood for the fire, unload groceries...whatever, she cries. If I run to the bathroom, she cries and shoves her chubby little arm under the door, sobbing, "Mama..mama..mama!". If I go into another room to put away laundry, she cries. If I go outside to sign for a UPS package, she wails.
It's sort of flattering. Sort of.
And poor baby is teething. She is usually so happy...it's heartbreaking to see those tears. If I rub her gums where the teeth are breaking through, it seems to help. She toddles up, grabs my hand, and tries to push my hand into her mouth so I'll rub her teeth. Isn't that the most pathetic thing?
I wish she would chew on those teething toys, frozen rags, etc., but she doesn't seem interesting in anything I give her. We have some organic teething tablets that seem to help a little, but she seems miserable.
It's the time of year we make and repair our birdhouses. Actually, Adam does it all, and I follow him with a chart and a camera. We check the state of every box, clean out old nests, spiders, wasps, whatever was in there, add new hay, then document it all for the tax folks.
I love getting out this German pyramid every year. When you light the candles, the heat propels the whirly thing on top.
I like the Princess Leia angels on top. See their cinnamon bun hairstyles?
Around and around and around they go.
Tasty pots of food on the stove. You can never go wrong with a classic cassoulet and fresh bread. In the cassoulet, I never use duck fat. Who has duck fat lying around? Not us. I skip all the duck ingredients, actually. I'm just not a fan of duck...so greasy. I substitute bacon grease instead.
Wait...I just complained about duck greasiness and then said I use bacon grease. Okay, I'm a cooking hypocrite, but you'll just have to forgive me.
I'll miss that little tower watching over our meals. The girls watch it, Piper pointing happily and said, "Hyeh!" and Violet just smiling and smiling.
Food tastes better in the winter, doesn't it? There's something so comforting about being inside on a cold day and eating something yummy. Candles make it even better.
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At a white elephant party the week before Christmas, Adam received 30 POUNDS of bananas as a gift.
Yes. I said 30 POUNDS.
As I'm sure you can imagine, we ate a lot of bananas that week.
Fortunately, Piper practically lives on bananas. And blueberries. Those are responsible for the grody mouth stains, in case you thought she had morphed into a zombie.
We still had bananas coming out of our ears, so I made "banana buddies". I took scraps of ribbon and wrapping paper to make hats and scarves, then drew faces on them with a sharpie.
Guess which one Adam drew.
I took them to the girls' school and we had them for snack time. I wasn't there when the kids ate them. I wonder if they liked them, or if they freaked them out.
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Okay...here are the rest of our Thanksgiving photos. Most of these were taken by Eric's girlfriend-so thanks, Lin!
Eric and Lin. She has the best smile.
They flew into Dallas and spent a morning at Thanksgiving Square.
That was the week of the 50th anniversary of the JFK assasination, so I was afraid Dallas would be packed. They said it wasn't too bad, though.
On the way back to our place, Adam took Eric and Lin to The Bass Pro Shop. Even if that's not your kind of place, I'd encourage you to stop by if you ever get the chance. That place is amazing! This is the top of a 3 story aquarium filled with local fish.
Adam and Eric made home-ground burgers made of brisket and bacon. Mmmm....bacon.
They also made a bunch of bratwurst. It looks so gross in the casings, but it's yummy after it's off the grill.
Check out his spelunking lamp for night grilling. Such a Boy Scout, that one.
I was busy with food stuff, so I didn't get a great turkey photo. It's not invisible...we had one, I swear. Adam smoked it. It went on his grandmother's platter.
Pecan and pumpkin pie with chocolate leaves and acorns. I used Adam's Russian grandmother's recipe for pumpkin pie that uses a cup of bourbon.
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It was a great Thanksgiving! It's taking me forever to deal with photos, so I'm going to split this into multiple posts.
Here's Grump with Violet and Piper. That man is good with babies. He let them crawl on him for hours. Here he is teaching them about credit cards. Thanks, Grump.
See? Happy babies.
Grump, plum tuckered out.
Sick of my owl yet? I'm not. I hope he/she/they/their offspring stay FOREVER.
The girls and Adam's brother Eric. Piper is annoyed at all the flash photography, not Uncle Eric.
Whaaat? Is this trick photography? Does Photoshop have a function to make it look like my husband is washing dishes? (He's washing the world's scariest meat injector. )
It looks like a ginormous needle. Isn't that terrifying?
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I love...
...misty, chilly mornings...
...the smell of gingerbread in the oven...
...babies that are still warm from their beds...
...cozy blankets worn like capes...
...sweet crunchy salty nibbles...
...velvety soft cats with sunlight shining through their pink ears...
What little things are you guys falling in love with lately?
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Check out this box of pears from Bountiful Baskets. Yum.
I whipped up some Halloween hair goodies.
For me-a yellow poppy with bats in the center.
For a friend's daughters...little bitty clips.
For Violet-a big spider bow.
And a big huge spider for Baby Piper.
This was tasty and healthy-Autumn Chicken Stew-recipe here. Thanks to Dancingfox for the recipe. We liked a plop of sour cream and fresh parsley on top. I love dinners where I can throw everything in the dutch oven. I served it with wilted spinach and french bread.
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Happy happy, joy joy. Five dollar thrift store orange silk chair. Yes.
Isn't that a great color?
Pumpkin smoothies using Pioneer Woman's recipe. So good. So autumny.
I have a cheapo blender, so it's easier for me to take pumpkin pie in a can and freeze it first.
Everything is better with a squirt of whipped cream on top.
Piper loves them.
This is what happens when the smoothie is gone.
The tears dry up if she gets another slurp of my smoothie.
I found a Halloween phonics game. It's like bingo, using the beginning and ending sounds of spooky words.
Give it a spin, Violet!
"Hey, Mama-ghost ends with the T sound!"
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Violet's class is doing a letter per week, and show and tell at the end of the week. Our day to bring a snack fell on "B Day".
So we made sugar free Jello gummies!
Then we arranged them in a big "B".
Everything started wtih a "B". Yes. Really driving that letter home.
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I thought this essay from Kelly MacLean was so funny. She skewers the Whole Food crowd that will honk rudely at a pregnant lady in the crosswalk while zooming past in a Prius with a NAMASTE sticker on the back.
I particularly enjoyed her thoughts on the 'How Ugly Are You?" machine they use to try to sucker you into buying expensive beauty products. Who invents this stuff?
I used to work near the Whole Foods headquarters in Austin, and I adored that store. Oh, how I miss their beautiful, perfectly arranged produce and extensive, lush cheese counter. But. But but but.
It's not really the sort of store where you do "normal" grocery shopping. Unless you're a very rich holistic practitioner or something, or only eat 5 organic green beans per day.
You simply can't buy white flour. Or table salt. If you ask, they look at you like you peed on their floor. It's great for interesting produce and specialty items, but if you're looking for an armload of groceries for less than $300, you probably want to head elsewhere.
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Care what we've been eating? Probably not, but here are some photos anyway.
When Adam's away, we eat lots of vegetarian meals. Butternut squash soup, greens, beets/onions/carrots, corn, and little peppers.
Broccoli and fish packets in foil. Get a square of foil, plop in a fillet, cover with paper thin potatoes, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and lemon.
Carrots with tons of parsley and dill, chicken and eggplant over rice.
"Hey Violet, do you want a plate of veggies?"
"Can I eat them with my mouth off the plate like a dog since Daddy isn't home?"
"Sure."
Bad parenting? Meh. She ate her veggies.
I love the smell of a big pot of veggies sauteing, don't you? Spell check said that s-word is spelled correctly, but it still looks wonky to me.
Lentil soup with ham. I could live on soup. It's about to be soup season....I can't wait for fall!
Nana met us at Panera for yummy muffins.
Seafood gumbo with some serious seafood in it. Steamed greens and a ridiculous pile of roasted garlic.
Les Nibbles Plates back on Bastille Day. With champagne, of course.
Little breakfasts for little girls. Cocoa, grapefruit, blueberry oatmeal.
Boston baked beans with blue cheese and bacon. Topped with caramelized onions and carrots. More butternut squash soup with a swirl of cream and fresh cracked pepper.
The rest of the Boston Beans, roasted brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and a salad of butterleaf with raisins and bacon with cream buttermilk dressing.
Noodle soup with beef, basil, onions, sprouts, and corn.
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My friend Jenny and I went to the Neil Gaiman reading/signing in Dallas this week. I simply can't say enough wonderful things about that man. (More photos and info here at my book blog, The Rhinestone Bookmark.)
We took a few hours to stroll around the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff, a Dallas neighborhood that's really thriving with art stops, restaurants, and shops. (More Gaiman tidbits: Neil Gaiman worked on his book at the Bolsa Mercado coffee shop last year while his wife Amanda Palmer mixed an album at a studio in the Bishop Arts District.)
Greek Cafe & Bakery was delish. A sweet Greek Grandpa seated us and made menu recommendations. The baba ganoush and hummus were fabulous-nice and garlicky. We'll definitely be back. Next time, we'll try the dark chocolate baklava. It looks like a little hole in the wall, but don't miss it!
I wish this place had been open!
The retro images were fun.
Unfortunately, we went on Monday, so almost everything was closed. Make your visit Tuesday through Saturday. Check the Bishop Arts District website to see which places are open Sundays.
We still found intriguing things lurking in windows.
I want this orange jumpsuit. Because, really-who wouldn't?
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We've had some birthday celebrations around here.
Adam's...
...then Piper's...
...then mine. I love that Violet wrapped my present herself this year. It's the one on the top.
Violet put a "party hat" on Clyde. He wore it for a surprisingly long time.
Fairy God Carol sent us some fancy earrings. Violet says, "I really don't like it when they pinch, but I really want to wear them anyway, really."
(Someone has a favorite new word.)
Adam smoked a lot of meat. That's not even all the ashes.
I received a carbonator. I can already tell a lot of things are going to get carbonated in my near future. Maybe things that shouldn't really be carbonated.
Like milk.
We call it "bubble milk", and Violet approves. I think chocolate milk will be next.
Piper has trepidations about bubble milk. But she has no problem with avocado...see the moustache?
And I tried to make gnocchi from scratch. It was all right, but not worth the effort. This was an appetizer batch we swazzled in olive oil and herbs. Dinner (forgot a photo, no, wait-was too exhausted after making all the gnocchi to take a photo) was better...small gnocchi stuffed with cheese and tossed with rainbow chard, caramelized onions, and garlic.
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More food? Yes, I always like more food.
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Hey-do any of you recognize the herb on the bottom? I thought it might be tarragon, but it has an almost licorice-like flavor. I don't remember tarragon having that taste to it.
Check out this week's Bountiful Baskets "add on" option---all these herbs for $12.00.
Basil, chives, mint, tarragon (??), sage, rosemary, thyme, dill, and marjoram.
Isn't that amazing? Fresh, gorgeous, cheap herbs. Heaven.
I spent a lot of time drying herbs this past weekend. I put my oven on the lowest setting and place the trays in and leave the door open.
I thought I was watching them like a hawk, but I burned the rosemary. Grrrr. However, of all the herbs, that was the most expendable one since I have a large rosemary bush.
I grind them all up with my mortar and pestle then store them in tightly capped glass jars. I love having my herb cabinet full!
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Vanessa has been telling me for years that THESE are good, but I didn't believe her. I always told her they were the 'boogers of the sea'. I finally gave in and tried them. She walked me through her EXACT steps to eat them:
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Oh, people...if you like buttermilk as much as I like buttermilk, you need to make this:
Buttermilk Ice Cream
To make Buttermilk Ice Cream: In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and refrigerate until very cold, at least 1 hour. Pour mixture into an ice-cream maker; process according to manufacturer's instructions. Pack ice cream into a 1 1/2-quart lidded container and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface before sealing. Freeze until completely set, from 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours, depending on freezer. (Ice cream can be made up to 3 days ahead.)
I wanted to make the Orange Chiffon Cake you see above, but I was out of oil. Wah. Here's the full recipe from Country Living.
I've also seen a recipe for Blackberry Brown Sugar Buttermilk Ice Cream that looks delish. If we have a good crop of blackberries this year, this is on.
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5. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the greased griddle. (If you want banana slices or chocolate chips in your pancakes, place them on the pancake batter as soon as your pour the batter on.
Everything is better embedded in a pancake.
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Poor Daddy/Adam. So tired he almost slept through our picnic.
Picnic fare in ugly containers.....broccoli cheddar soup, okra pickels, and bacon/apple/gruyere on sourdough.
Also, this made my day. Check out Kid President's pep talk over at my book blog.
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Random Wednesday stuff...
Violet has always said "I yam" instead of "I am". I'm trying to get her to clean up, but every time her hand touches a new toy, she wants to play with it. I can relate-every time I try to tidy up my bookshelves, I end up an hour later with my nose in a book.
"I yam cleaning. I yam! I yam!"
ATC goodness from Charlotte. I really like the lace and fabric flowers on this. Great mushroom stickers, too.
Don't you love getting mail? Real mail?
It was 86 degrees yesterday, but we had a cold snap over night. I'm back in shearling booties and sweaters.
Mooskies curls up next to the refrigerator. It's always a little warmer by the coils. Coils? Vent? Whatever makes a fridge warmer at the bottom.
This is Ariel the mermaid with Clapper (he's a fish, says Violet) and Grabby. I think that's a lobster. The blue blob is her swimming pool. Of course, she had to choose the Betty Page magnet.
More tin whistle tunes. I am really liking this little instrument.
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I got 12 clamshells of blackberries from Bountiful Baskets. I love blackberries!
I made blackberry muffins for breakfast.
The bean soup is burbling on the stove. I like a good burble.
Do you have this pack at your grocery store? It's yummy with a ham hock, or bacon. Or both.
And I made some milk. I spend a lot of time hooked up to this machine. I swear I feel like a cooking, cleaning dairy cow some days.
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Here's a random Monday post about: mayocoba beans, author interview with Megan Boudreau, and Nightsong-a childrens' book about bats.
Every now and then, my grocery store carries Mayocoba beans. They're similar to a pinto beans, but yellowish. I used this recipe from Rick Bayless, then added torn baby spinach. In the kid version (left) I left out pickled jalapenos. I'll definitely make them again. I don't know if it was the beans or the other ingredients, but the dish had a rich, smoky flavor.
I published an author interview with Megan Boudreau today on my book blog-The Rhinestone Bookmark.
Inspired by the Google doodle on Edward Gorey's birthday, I scanned in a few photos from books. I printed them out to let Violet have some fun coloring pages.
We read a lot. That's a given.
Usually in costumes.
Violet has been on a bat kick lately. Nightsong by Ari Berk is a charming book.
The illustrations are adorable (look at that tummy!), and it's a good way to introduce children to accurate yet poetic information on the tiny mammals.
I'm impressed with how sweet that bat looks.
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It's almost Valentine's Day! We're getting excited. Violet requested
heart toast and eggs for breakfast. I've loaned out my heart-shaped
cookie cutters, but it's not too hard to trim regular toast...just nip a
wedge out of the top with a knife.
I love a cold day with a fire and steamy cup of coffee. Or tea. Or cocoa. It just has to be hot and steamy. I'm sure there's a rude husband joke in there somewhere, but I'm not finding it.
Mooskies is being weird today. It's in the thirties outside, but he wants to sleep in the yard. He keeps turning around in these pathetic, shivery circles and hunkering down in the grass. I go out, pick him up, bring him in and sit him in my lap by the fire. He sits there a few seconds, then jumps down and hides under a chair or goes back outside.
Violet has been playing veterinarian. That's what she currently wants to be when she grows up. Playing veterinarian consists of bringing Mooskies bits of his own kibble and petting him a lot. Maybe that will fix him right up.
What's up, my little friend? Maybe he's upset he doesn't have a Valentine.
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Here's what we've been cooking. A gourmet grilled cheese platter...and by "gourmet", I mean "whatever cheese was left in my fridge".
I thought this was kind of awful. The stew was too sweet and the spices didn't work very well. For our preferences, anyway.
Violet made PlayDoh carrots.
Adam made French Toast. And helped Violet with her cutlery skills. She's getting really good with a knife and fork. I hope she'll keep those skills at the table only.
Violet helped me make a Neapolitan cake for my friend Sarah. Mmmm....cake. Is there anything happier than cake?
I made a little pennant banner and stuck it to two cake tester sticks. That other white stick is a sparkler candle.
Darn it! I didn't get an interior shot. Oh, well....here's basically what it looked like. (Photo from GivePeasAChance)
I used Martha's Versatile Vanilla Cake recipe, then:
I divided the batter into 3 bowls.
Vanilla layer - plain batter, then poked holes in the cake and brushed it with a vanilla simple syrup.
Raspberry layer - added pureed raspberries and raspberry flavoring oil (I know this layer is usually strawberries but I wanted to try raspberry with this combo.) I brushed it with the vanilla simple syrup, too.
Chocolate layer - added 3/4 cup cocoa and brushed it with coffee infused simple syrup.
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Remember when Piper was this tiny?Not any more.
Oh, my little sweet peas.
Here's a photo of me from when I was Piper's age.
Look at that adorable umbrella quilt we received from family for Christmas. I love that my girls get to snuggle under handmade gifts. They seem extra cozy.
It's been a tough few days, actually. I'm not sure what's going on, but Violet has had some massive meltdowns lately. She seems extra excitable and volatile. I try to give her love and understanding, but after an hour-long-tantrum, I'm left with frazzled nerves. She's very sensitive, and hates changes in her schedule. I think the holidays, with all their changes and new activities, threw her for a loop. I hope getting back to our routine will help her settle in a little bit. Wish us luck.
Violet is all about bats this week. We've been reading books and watching videos about them. She can't get enough. I, personally, am getting sick of this song.
Peekaboo!
Again, me at Piper's age. I was standing. Piper won't even put weight on her legs, that lazy little baby. I try and try to hold her up, but she just giggles and pulls her legs up. I put her in an play thing...it's called an Exersaucer...this round thing she sits in with playthings all around a table top. It's supposed to encourage her to bounce, but she doesn't seem too interested. (No lectures, please...we've discussed this with her pediatrician and are keeping an eye on the situation.)
My mom's probably going to kill me for putting up a photo of her. Get a load of that old clock in the background. I still remember that pink fuzzy robe she has on. It always smelled like my Mama, and I loved to burrow into it when she had it on. Violet does the same thing with my fuzzy robe. She always asks me to wrap her up in it. She pretends I'm a hen and those are my wings, or I'm a mama bat, or I'm a pegasus pony, etc. I hope she'll have good memories of being warm and cozy and safe, too.
Have I mentioned how grateful I am that the girls get along? Sibling squabbles are sure to pop up at some point on the horizon. For now, though-I'm so happy about these giggling, sisterly times.
One of Violet's favorite games is 'tucking the baby in'. She loves to get pillows and blankets out and put Piper on them, then tuck her in. Works for me.
Go to sleep, Piper. Shut your eyes. Mama, the baby's not sleeping!
I am amazed at how many heads are cut off in my family's photos. I'm sitting on my great-Grandpa Vinson's lap. This was taken at my grandparent's little general store/gas station. I grew up drinking frosty bottles of Coca Cola out of that big cooler. It seemed enormous to me when I was a girl. All the old men in the area would come by and drink coffee and sit around that gas heater in the lower left of the photo. I remember the smell of that heater, the scent of gasoline from the pumps outside, and the smell of Granny cutting lunch meats and cheeses, and coffee...always coffee.
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I let Violet pick her cake every year. Last year she wanted a Frog Cake. This year, she wanted a Reindeer Sitting in the Snow Cake. Hmmm. I tried!
Violet helped make the cake, too. She tried last year, but this time she was really able to hold measuring spoons, whisk and stir, etc.
I made Alicia Paulson's Go To Chocolate Cake, complete with her Cloudburst Frosting.
Her cakes always look so pretty, and this recipe was great.
The cake was super moist and had a good crumb. I wish I could invent a heavenly cake like that. The frosting was good, too. Remember-just keep whipping it!
I like long, skinny candles. These weren't marketed as "stay-lit" candles, but apparently they were.
Here's a video of Violet trying to blow them out.
I'm glad Violet requested this flavor combo (chocolate for dirt, white icing and coconut for snow)-it's one of my favorites. Last year's vanilla and marshmallows and buttercream-not so much.
I think I'm going to have to repeat the snow globe-i-ness of this cake. Maybe I'll make a terrarium-style version in the spring. With little woodland mushrooms and gnomes and such. Maybe some butterflies.
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...this little lady.
I get a little depressed putting away all the decorations every year. I want life to get back to normal, and the house to be clear and simpler. Yet. Yet yet yet.
I feel a smidge let down after the holidays. Everything is so special and exciting over Christmas, then January is so....what? Bleak? Spare? Both of those. I feel like I spend January recuperating. I wish I could learn to embrace this month. Enjoy the gifts January has to offer.
I made trays of veggie Christmas trees for one of Violet's parties. They were supposed to look like trees, anyway.
Both girls got their shots yesterday. Poor things. They both have a fever of over 101 degrees. They're not sick, I don't think-it's just that day-after-vaccines exhaustion and fever.
There's nothing sadder than a baby making soft, pitiful cries. "Eh. Eeeeeh. Eh." It's like she doesn't even has the energy for proper crying.
This is probably not going to end well. I know, I know-never give a baby a balloon. I'm watching her like a hawk.
At the doctor's office, everyone was coughing and snotty and nasty. I hate going in with healthy kids for a check up and leaving covered in other people's germs.
One mom had a bunch of kids and she was letting them run wild. One of her kids was about three, and he was picking his nose and pulling out long strings of boogers and wiping them on the door handles. She totally ignored him. Isn't that disgusting? Isn't letting your kids smear boogers on the door handles the height of rudeness? What is wrong with people?
Warning...this is another long rant. Skip if you're sick of my downer blog post.
(Oh...and we received a call from our credit card's fraud prevention department this morning. This morning, there are over $500 of online charges we didn't make on our card. I think the cashier may have copied the numbers. Isn't that frustrating? I mean, think about it---any time you give someone your actual card, they could easily steal your personal information. I'm so glad the company called, and I really really REALLY hope we don't get stuck paying for all this. Stealing is so, so wrong. Why would anyone think it's ok to take something that isn't theirs? Do I want things I don't have? Sure! Everyone does. But I would never, never in a million years take something from someone else. That's just wrong on such a deep level. And, if people don't think it's wrong, or can find a way of justifying it to themselves...how would you ever be able to reason with them? I find it scary that there are people out there who seem to have no inner moral compass. I'd like to think everyone knows right from wrong, but I don't think everyone does.)
It's time for some comforting soups. I found a pozole recipe I liked a lot. It takes a while to cook so that the pork gets really tender, but it's not very hard to make. I like to toss all the ingredients in the slow cooker at night so that the meat is falling-apart-tender the next day.
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I made banana snowmen for Violet's class before the break. It's tricky to find a healthy snack that everyone will eat.
BANANA SNOWMEN:
Cut the bananas into 2 inch chunks. Thread them onto the skewers. (stay in the middle of the banana or they'll split.) Add a triangular shaped wedge of apple, then a grape. Stick on raisins (or mini chocolate chips) for buttons and eyes, a tiny sliver of carrot for a nose, then break pretzel sticks in half for arms.
Violet also likes these frozen. Then...they're more like real snowmen.
I found it easiest to transport them on a foil covered cookie sheet.
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ARGH---my stove died. Perfect timing, huh?
I really wish this hadn't happened just as I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving baking. Crud.
(Aren't these gorgeous?)
I also wish we had gas hookups out here, but we only have electric. I'll be glad to get rid of the electric raised coil stove, but I wish I could replace it with a gas range.
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Do I ever need to post another photo? Ever?
I know I'm not as productive as I used to be, but hey-I don't care. I could just sit quietly and stare at that precious baby face all day long. I seriously waste HOURS each week, just squishing myself horizontally alongside this tiny fat cheeked baby, watching her sleep. Her fat rolls are delicious....the chubby legs, the little dimples at the base of her fingers, the cheeks that rival a squirrel's. I love this baby so much it hurts.
P.S. Let me remove the word 'waste'. I meant to say 'indulge'.
A quick lunch today. We woke up at 78 degrees...ug. It has been rapidly plunging as of sunset....it's now 56 degrees..yay! That feels decadent here in Texas.
Lunch: Tomato soup...sautee 4 garlic cloves in a drizzle of olive oil until soft, add one huge can of petite diced tomatoes, add 1 tsp chopped rosemary and basil, add 1 tablespoon cream, then puree with immersion blender
-homebrewed porter
-sandwich---on rye: pastrami, brie, chopped black olives, whole grain mustard, red onion, fig jam
-pickle. Unnegotiable.
I've been participating in the nation wide food co-op called Bountiful Baskets for a while now. This week, I got a $10.00 Herb Selection, and it was AWESOME! I got a ridiculous amount of basil....like----it filled my kitchen sink. I have no idea how to measure that....it was an unreal amount of basil. I made a ton of pesto, then chopped the remainder up and put it in ice cube trays.
I got about 2-4 cups of sage, thyme, marjoram, cilantro, dill, and rosemary. This is the thyme I oven-dried.
I'm drying the dill and rosemary by just clumping them with a rubber band and air-drying them. I started the dill in the oven, but it was saying 'no'.
I dried most of the herbs in the oven. I washed them, then patted them dry, then spread them out on baking trays. I put them in the oven at the lowest temp for about 3 hours, checking every 15 minutes to make sure they weren't burning. I cooked them 'til they were dry. (Thanks to Tayelor for directions.)
After they were dry, I separated the leaves from the stems of marjoram and thyme. For the sage, I crushed it in a mortal and pestle. I'm storing all of the herbs in air tight glass containers.
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So...what are you guys cooking up for Thanksgiving? How do you celebrate? I'm guessing most of us do about the same thing....get together with family and/or friends and eat some sort of food. Most traditional, some less so.
I've experienced a big range....from cooking it all (turkey to pie and everything in between) by myself, to doing NOTHING but eat someone else's glory, to eating Chinese food. I prefer traditional Thanksgiving fare, though.
(photo from Luxury Post)
This year, we're going to Gramma's (my mother-in-law). Her boyfriend (Grump) will be there. Adam's brother Eric and his girlfriend Lyn will be flying in, too. I need to bring a few sides.
Do you have a chain called Black Eyed Pea where you live? My favorite thing there is the vegetarian platter. I particularly like their squash casserole. My cousin Stephanie makes an awesome version. I was thinking I'd make a basic squash casserole using acorn squash instead of yellow squash.
I don't think I could live without a pecan pie. Here's a tasty recipe from the Food Network. I approve of the bourbon in the ingredients list.
And I need to bring some other side dish. We'll have turkey, stuffing, gravy, spinach and broccoli casserole, and sweet potato pies.
What else would y'all recommend making? Do you have any good recipes?
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I made a short video of how to de-seed a pomegranate. The seeds look so beautiful in Thanksgiving dishes. I recently bought a case (over 40 in a huge box..is that a case?) of them through Bountiful Baskets. I split it with friends, but I've still been preparing a lot of pomegranates.
There are many methods for preparing the fruit, but this is the one that works best for me. I like these year-round, but they're only available seasonally in my area. I'm glad I have the opportunity to freeze some.
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There are some things a lady should never have to cook. And this is one of them.
My husband requested tongue, so I agreed. But it's really grossing me out. He wants me to make this recipe.
I shouldn't be able to see a creature's taste buds. That's just nasty.
There's not much I won't eat, but tongue is on the list. My hand brushed it getting it out of the package and it felt like a giant cat's tongue. I nearly gagged.
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We're making caramel apples and getting ready for trick-or-treating.
Mmm.....caramel apples. They just smell like Halloween, don't they?
I got a few darker colored flecks in my caramel, but they still taste good. It makes them more authentic and rustic looking, right? Right?
I really liked today's Google Doodle--did you see it?
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We're making sugar-free gummy candy today. It's super easy...just mix Jello and Knox unflavored gelatin with water, then pour it into molds. I used this recipe from Spark People.
I've been collecting Halloween molds for years. I think the spider webs are my favorite.
We're giving little treat bags to all the kids in Violet's class at her Halloween party tomorrow.
Our grocery store had a whole bag of tiny red apples for .99 cents. They'll be perfect for caramel apples. I like teeny tiny apples for them, don't you?
This last week at Bountiful Baskets, I got the Asian pack. It had a head of napa cabbage, snow peas, bok choy, thai basil, a huge onion, green onions, celery, and garlic. Oh! And those purple things are fresh water chestnuts. I'd never had those before, so I was excited. They're a lot like the canned type, but are a bit sweeter and crunchier.
I cut up all the veggies at once, then cooked two separate meals with them.
I made pho. I know it's pronounced 'fuh', but I always want to say 'fow'. I guess it's Faux Pho since I only used what I had on hand...including ramen noodles.
Adam and I decided this was The Absolute Worst Thing I've Made since we've been married. I cook a lot, and I've racked up an impressive list of cooking failures. Being the absolute worst is really saying something. It was a garlic shrimp with veggies mess. Just a big mess.
Roast beef, salad with pomegranates, bread, and acorn squash rings. I thought the acorn squash was pretty this way, but it was too hard to eat because you had to get all the pulp out of those curly shapes.
Poached eggs, toast, spaghetti squash with cherry tomatoes and basil, and garlic soup with bleu cheese crouton.
Chicken and acorn squash cassoulet, spinach salad, bread. We really liked the cassoulet, and it's really flexible. You can use anything you have on hand and easily substitute other ingredients.
Steaks, baked potatoes, salad.
Northern beans simmered with Italian veggies, green beans.
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Do you guys think that the different colored parts of candy corn have different flavors? I think the yellow part tastes the best. Isn't that ridiculous? I seriously think the colored parts taste different, though. Do you??? After watching this, it seems like they're all made out of the same base, and only have added dyes.
Thanks to my friend Dusti for getting me interested in the makin's of candy corn. I'm munching on some right this very minute.
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