We did it again

We're getting pretty good at this holiday thing.  Few expectations, lots of time spent laughing, lots of good food, and I learned something.  What could be better?  It was just the four of us and it reminded me of childhood Christmases at my Grandmother's.  There was always so much laughter and joy and good food.  Maybe there were squabbles too and I was too young to see them.  The only problem I remember was when a distant cousin brought a beer on Christmas morning and there was scandal and I think he was asked to leave.  Which is weird because my Grandfather probably had a beer in the backyard that afternoon.  My parents came from social drinkers on one side and alcoholics on the other.  My childhood was filled with mixed messages about alcohol.  But, I digress.

I got a new ukulele, my first nice one, which I decided I deserved for sticking with it and practicing every day.  It's very pretty.  And, Rob gave me a wall mount to hang them from so they're not cluttering up the floor.  We don't go nuts with gifts and there are always some practical ones.  I gave Syd the pumpkin pie bowl and a corning ware pie plate, just like the ones in the picture from the cookbook.  It made her cry.  That made me cry.  I also gave her that ginormous kitchenaid mixer that I re-built last year.  Okay, don't tell her, but I was so glad to get that behemoth out of my kitchen.  I have two other kitchenaid mixers, one that I inherited and my good one that I've had for 25 years and the big one didn't offer me anything I didn't already have.  And, it was loud.  Very, very loud.  And, she loved it!  Win, win, win.

The bounty of food.  No one walked away hungry.  We did all the favorites.  

Monkey bread and hot chocolate for me and Rob while we opened gifts to one another.  

Ham, scalloped potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, squash casserole (tis the season of casseroles), candied yams, homemade rolls (I remembered to put the yeast in this time).  It was a feast.  

After that, there was coffee and "cake".  This is where I learn something.  We all fixed our coffee and I go after the cake with a knife and it is tough as leather.  The knife will barely cut it.  This is the same reason I've thrown away every genoise cake I've ever baked.  They come out perfect and then I put them in the fridge and they get tough and hard and I throw them away.  

So, I apologized and carried the cake into the kitchen and we sat at the table and enjoyed our coffee.  When we were packing food for them to take, I poked one of the slices of cake I'd cut and it was soft and tender.  WHAT?????  

Genoise is all butter.  And, what does butter do when you put it in the fridge?  It gets hard.  After that, I started cutting Rob and I a piece and letting it sit out for a while before we eat it.  It's damn near perfect.  Just the right amount of orange.  Just a little too much frosting...enough you don't mind leaving some of it on the plate, but if there were less, you'd miss it.  And, it was pretty.  

And, on Thursday, I sat.  And sat.  And sat and sat and sat.  I was tired and I didn't want to do anything, so I sat in my room and was recharged my introvert batteries and Rob puttered around the house and played with the dog.  By Friday, I was feeling human again and we started to take down the decorations.  That's always a mix of sad the holiday is over and happy to have the house back to normal.  Most of it is down now and Rob is headed back to work.  He asked how many days I was taking off and I said "meh" because I really don't know.  I'm on call for emergencies and guess I'll go back full time on Thursday.  

Meh.  

For now, I'm cleaning.  Putting things away.  Getting to things I've needed to do for a while.  I'm thinking that today, I'll load white thread in the machine and sew on buttons.  I have a pile if shirts in the sewing room/office that need buttons sewn back on, and that feels like a good project to do while I watch a movie.  

Everybody have a great week and a great new year.  We don't know what the new year will bring.  The uncertainty is like a weight.  So, I'm celebrating the next three weeks and doing my best not to try to look beyond that.  

Personally, I'm hoping for comic bumbling ineptitude, but who am I to base my speculations on current events?

Lane

Sleigh bells ring...

Well, here we are.  We've made it.  Christmas is just 2 days away.  If it ain't bought, baked, or cleaned, it ain't gonna be.  Now we just slide into the holiday.  

I picked my cake.  An orange flavored genoise sponge with a chocolate orange frosting.  I didn't realize it was a genoise.  After several really, really bad experiences trying to bake end throwing away genoise when I was in my Julia Child incarnation earlier this year, I'm not sure I would have made it if I'd recognized what it was.  It was half assembled before I saw that grainy looking texture that isn't grainy at all and seems to be a hallmark of genoise.  This one came out perfect, but not until I'd had a little adventure.  

All the ingredients were on the counter, the oranges were squeezed, the eggs and milk had come to room temp, the butter was soft.  Next step was to grease three 8" cake pans.  The only 8" cake pans I have were my Mom's and they are beat to hell where she creased them while trying to get cakes out by banking and using the point of a knife.  And, there were only two, so okay, let's run up to the store.  I decide to try one of those stores that sells stuff that didn't sell at other stores.  Two Martha Stewart cake pans, $5 each.  So, I go next door to Michael's.  Cheapest one they have is $12.99 and there are only 2.  Next one up is 19.99.  Not!  So, I go to another store that's related to the first one and is a few doors down.  They have one Martha Stewart cake pan, $5, so I buy it and then go back to the first store and buy two (and a small casserole dish I'd seen in there and couldn't resist again) and then I came home and made cakes.  Fortunately, all that only set me back by 40 minutes.  I guess I was speed walking through stores.  A man with a mission.  And the mission was cake.  

I wasn't paying attention and almost bashed into a lady about my age waiting in the checkout line.  I apologized and explained I was looking at the pretzels with lust in my heart.  And, then I realized I'd just said lust to a lady in the checkout line and sure hoped she didn't think I was a creeper.  

The cakes aren't decorated yet.  That's today's job.  I realized yesterday that my Christmas cakes are about more than just cake.  They're about challenging myself to try new things.  Be a little extravagant in my cooking, have an adventure.  Yesterday, I candied orange slices to go on top.  Never did that before.  They sure are tasty.  For background TV, Rob put on the GBBO Holiday Specials, so I got to watch former contestants bake holiday treats.  I loved it!  It was great inspiration.  

On Saturday, Rob cleaned up all the leaves in the back yard.  It was a LOT.  While he did that, I prepped the tropical plants to go in the greenhouses.  We had a couple of cold nights and it was time.   Then there was a little shopping and some lunch and a nap and Mexican food for dinner and a movie and that day was suddenly over.  Yesterday, I spent the whole day in the kitchen and it passed just as fast.  

Here are the last holiday decorating pictures.  

Here's the village that started it all.  My Mom was doing the village pieces and I found this smaller scale version in a store and bought it.  Rob loved it and would set it up every year.  Then, my Mom gave him a full scale piece and he really fell in love and it developed into what we have now.  

This is Retroville and is set in the 40's.  I think it's Rob's favorite.  It was a limited series and he has all the pieces except 1.  

We bought this ceramic tree at a garage sale.  It was a fun story where the seller's price was so unreasonably low that Rob offered her double what she was asking and still felt like we'd gotten a steal.  We love the old ceramics class projects.  

My Mom's ceramic tree was white, so when I saw this ornament at JoAnn's, I knew I wanted it as a reminder.  It's been sitting next to my work desk and I've enjoyed looking at it while I was on boring work calls.  

Today is my Dad's 91st birthday.  This is him with his first great-grandchild.  He still lives alone, keeps house, cooks for himself, works in the yard, helps his kids and grandkids and neighbors, drives his tractor around, looking for stuff needs doing and sings in church choir.  We should all be so lucky, right??

Everybody have a great Christmas week!  Enjoy yesterday's traditions, but don't forget to create some new ones for tomorrow.  May your holidays be a time of abundance, especially abundant joy and happiness. 

Lane

Cookie week is ended

Rob and I did a really good job of reducing the number of cookies I needed to frost last week.  And, even though there were less than 4 dozen left, it still felt like it took most of a day.  But, they're cute and I packed up a dozen for Syd and a dozen for us, and Rob packed the rest to take to friends at work.   The cookie tree in the upper right is for us, too.  I only made the top half this year.  I got the cutters as a set for a discount after Christmas a couple years ago.  Last year, I made one and dropped it while I was frosting it, so you didn't get to see it.  This year, I ran out of dough half way down and decided not to make another batch of cookies, just to finish it.  The bell cookies were supposed to be silver and the frosting was a nice light gray that continued to darken as it dried, so they're very tarnished bells.  

Rob continued to decorate.  The dining room looks like Santa exploded in there.  

And, speaking of an explosion of Santa.  We've collected Santas for more than 25 years and this is what happens when you do that.   The one on the hearth, far left is this year's acquisition.  

And, of course, there's the swag.   across the living room ceiling.  

And a table of vintage pieces Rob has collected.  He loves the blow molds.  The ornaments and tree topper came from my Parent's and Grandparent's collections.  They're not the shiniest or the brightest, but they have a lot of history and meaning.  

And, yes.  There's still more to show next week.  It's mostly Rob.  If it was left to me, there'd be one sad tree in a corner, but 17 pounds of candies and cookies.  That I'd try to eat by myself.  

Still haven't picked a Christmas cake, but I'm thinking orange and chocolate.  It's an unbeatable combination.  And, I have some orange curd in the freezer to get me started.  

Dottie doing dotty things.  Every day, when Rob gets home from work, he goes out to the garage to get her a special treat.  It's a chicken flavored chew stick that she devours in about a minute.  If he forgets, she dances and sings to get his attention.  When he hands it to her, she runs through the house as fast as she can and jumps on the bed and sits there and eats it like she's just conquered the world.  Every day.  Same routine.  

When I take Bella to the vet for her monthly injection, I take Dottie.  They all know her there and call out her name like it was a Cheers episode and she gets lots of treats.  She's the only dog I ever owned that runs into the vets office.  I practically have to drag Bella through the door.  The other day, the office manager said she'd make a good ratter.  I sure hope we never find out.  

Rob asked me to make her a winter jacket.  Ignore the unhappy look.  She's just not used to wearing clothes.  I think she'll get used to it after she wears it out walking once.  It has velcro up the back to close it and a built in harness in the front with a buckle and D rings to clip to.  When I put it on her this morning, I found a mistake in the buckle that I'll need to make a quick adjustment to fix.  Oops!

Everyone have a good week!  I hope your holidays are shaping up to be both merry and bright.  Two weeks ago, we went Christmas shopping in coats.  This weekend, it was shorts.  Winter in the south can be fickle that way.  

Lane

Cookie week has begun

The time is short between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and we're trying to squeeze a lot in.  Plus we have our first cold night coming up, with temps that my outdoor tropical plants will not enjoy.  It made for a very busy weekend.  

On Saturday, I started the cookies and put the dough in the fridge and we went Christmas shopping.  It was cold and rainy.  Not quite coat weather, but certainly right for multiple light layers that could be added or removed easily.  We hit all our regular haunts, plus a new store and we laughed and had fun and we bought gifts.  And, if the sales staff wasn't smiling when we walked up, they were smiling by the time we walked away.  When we got home, I baked cookies.  For hours and hours and hours.  Unfortunately, I didn't get them decorated yet, but that just means there's fun to be had later, right?  And, I know from experience, they eat just fine without the frosting.  After the grocery yesterday, I cleaned inside for a while and then went to the greenhouse and cleaned out there.  There was a LOT to do to get ready to move in plants.  Then I came in and did some cooking for the week and suddenly the day was over.  

I was on my feet a lot!

I solved my toaster problem.  I had kept the off-brand one on the counter, but hadn't used it.  I just didn't like it.  It was the wrong red and it felt so cheap and I was hoping I'd find something better while we were out shopping.  I'd even added a couple of stores to our regular shopping, just to look at toasters.  We went to one of those stores that sells overstock and found a Krups for the same price I'd paid for the cheap one and brought it home.  It's still not as sturdy as the old one I sent with Rob to his office, but I believe it will be fine.  And, it makes toast so fast, and I can get the perfect shade of brown.  That's all I needed a toaster to do.  I've boxed up the cheap one to send it back.  

This is the Li Bien tree.  These ornaments were available exclusively at Pier 1, before they decided to go broke rather than lower their prices.  Then, we found them at World Market and we bought a few last year, but this year, they're not the same.  The paint is splotched on and the price has gone up significantly.  We have at least one ornament for every year since 1998.  Some years, there are 4 or 5 because we just couldn't pick one.  They do an angel ornament every year and this year, that's the only one we bought.  They sure do make a pretty tree.  

This is one of Rob's villages.  The other night, we were watching The Great Christmas Light Fight, which we watch every year, mostly so we can talk about how excessive other people get about decorating for the holiday.  There was a lady that had a village that had about a hundred buildings.  Rob was amazed and impressed.  One day, I'd love for him to be able to set up an excessive number of houses in a diorama like that.  

His people move around and go places and do things in a story he updates regularly.  

This is one of the ceramic trees.  This is new to the collection this year.  Rob's Mom made it and gave it to him when he was home last time.  It's a beautiful tree.  It sits on a tall narrow table that I will be gingerly stepping around for the next several weeks.  

The rest of my photos from last week are cake recipes.  I still haven't figured out what kind of cake to bake for. Christmas.  They're usually something complicated that takes more than one day to finish and I haven't found it yet.  I've been toying with the idea of a steamed pudding.  Then that voice in the back of my head asks if I'm feeling okay and I start looking at cakes with white frosting again.  We'll all have to wait and see what ends up inspiring me.  

So much to do, so many distractions, and I need the distractions from the news.  I have a growing resolve to be myself, no matter what happens in the future.  To celebrate life the way that Rob and I celebrate life, no matter who disapproves.  I can't change other people.  But, I can prevent them from changing me.  

Everybody have a great week!  16 days til Christmas and the start of Hanukkah!  May your spirits be merry and bright.  

Lane

hustle and bustle

Well, the holidays are in full swing and I hope yours are peaceful.  We're having a good holiday, focused on important gifts that we may not be able to get later, which was originally anything made in China, but now includes 'hecho en Mexico' as well.  I'm focused on getting through each day so I can enjoy these holidays and doing my best not to worry about the future.  

Thanksgiving was very nice.  It was just the four of us and we talked and laughed and ate and watched movies.  They recommended a horror movie called Thanksgiving that was...just not right.  It is not for the faint of heart and I admit to turkey dozing during part of it.  Syd's pie was delicious!  Everything was delicious.  I specifically wanted a picture of the table but in the rush to get it all on the table, all I remembered to take a picture of was the turkey.  It was perfect!  Yesterday, I picked the last of it off the bones and made a small pot of soup and some leftover for turkey tetrazzini tonight.  

Then on Friday, we started decorating.  Friday, I put up the tree of Li Bien ornaments.  That isn't a huge project and was a good one that I could knock out and then get off my feet for a while.  Then, on Saturday, I put up the swag.  As I was pulling it out of the box, I found a strip of fabric tied around it and said to Rob 'there's a strip of fabric.  that's got to mean something.'  Then I said, 'wait, there's a note'.  I'd left myself a message from last year.   That took an hour to fix.  

While I was putting up the swag, Rob assembled the added the lights to the tree.  Yesterday, I put on the ornaments.  There are not as many on the tree this year as last.  I reached a point where I'd just done all I could do, so there aren't any on the back.  BTW, if you're looking at the back of someone's tree, maybe you shouldn't.

It looks like it leans, but I can assure you, Rob put that tree up and it doesn't lean.  

And, all lit up.  

One of the things I decided to buy pre-tariff was a toaster.  I bought a name recognized brand with a good reputation.  I was disappointed.  It didn't pop the toast up very high, so I felt like I had to reach in to retrieve it and on the lowest setting, the toast was very dark.  I thought 'maybe I'm using the darkness settings wrong.  Maybe the highest number is the lightest toast', so I adjusted it, put in a piece of toast and got distracted by the dogs wanting out.  When I came back, the kitchen and dining room were full of smoke and the toast was very, very black.  That toaster was boxed back up and returned.  Then I ordered another.  It looked great, had great reviews and when it got here, I thought how cheap it felt.  I haven't decided whether to keep it or not.  There are some things that it's hard to buy without holding them in your hands and giving them a squeeze and a shake.  I didn't think a toaster would be one.

While we decorated, we watched a season of Great British Baking Show.  It was perfect!  And, it's left me inspired for cookie week around here next weekend.  Now that I remember how (I think I ended up making 4 batches last year before I got it right), I might even make a batch of divinity.  The yule log was fun last year, but I think I need a different Christmas cake this year.  No ideas yet, just thinking about it.  

My Mom was on my mind a lot around Thanksgiving and I made a couple of her favorites; cornbread dressing, and candied sweet potatoes.  Both came out perfect!  While no one else wanted my sweet potatoes, Sydney's boyfriend thought they were wonderful!  I even heard him say something about real southern cooking.  Syd and Rob still treated them like they were Satan's covered dish contribution, but I didn't care.  And, they're easy enough that I should make them more often, just for me.  I remember my Mom being very anxious that they wouldn't come out like my Grandmother's.  They're supposed to come out "almost translucent" and mine didn't do that, but they were mighty tasty all the same.  

I've noticed that my Mom leaves the spices out of her recipes.  She's left the nutmeg out of the sweet potatoes, the cloves out of the pumpkin pie, and the sage out of the dressing.  These were all flavors my Grandmother added and I can only assume my Mom didn't care for them, so left them out.  That's based on one clue: I know she didn't like sage in her dressing.  When Rob and I used to go for the holidays, we'd joke about the bland food.  But bland or not, there was always plenty of it and for even the most picky of us, there would be at least one something that we liked, so no one walked away hungry.  That's how you get one plate with a grilled t-bone on it at a table full of turkey (brother in law).  

Everybody have a great week!  Find peace.  Find joy.  Search for what the season means in your life this year.  For me, it's the traditions.  My traditions, Rob's traditions, and the traditions I grew up with.  Melding them all together and making new traditions, some of which Sydney will likely carry on into her life.  Little links to the past's peaceful memories.  

Lane