Just too anxious about Thanksgiving. I don't know why. It's just a dinner party with a predictable menu. No big surprises. No gifts to wrap, decorations to fuss with or eggs to hide. Just a bigger-than-usual lunch with four guests. Not even as many guests as our other dinner parties. Should be pretty casual. But....
I have a list of things to do every day this week to prepare. From thawing then brining the turkey to making two kinds of potatoes, three cranberry dishes (sauce, pie and jello mold) to setting up the games, there are items to check off every day. And don't even get me started on the cleaning!
While the kids and i have been commenting with dismay that the various restaurants are open on Thanksgiving (Shoney's! Burger King!), i'm starting to see the advantage to just going to a restaurant, letting someone else worry about all this and then just go home. "But then you have no left-overs! What a bummer!" counter my co-workers. To which i reply, "Yes, but that means you have no left-overs! What a bonus!"
Off to flip the turkey in the brine and start on the calabacitas. Have a great "Turkey Eve"!!
http://smartypanties.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Turkey.jpg
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
HOT yoga!
I just got back from a Barkan HOT yoga class. The room is 70+% humidity and 105 degrees. It leaves the muscles "soft like buttah", and very bendy. I love it. Now off to try to get the house looking like we don't have a family of refugees living here (socks, shoes and pieces of paper scattered everywhere). Fun day off....all by my lonesome. Easier to clean when i don't have to worry of someone "saving" something from the trash can.
:o)
:o)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
tradition #2!
While we have managed to maintain the "cabbage roll-snow" tradition with some minor adjustments, i don't know how the other traditions are going to hold up in the coming season, much less the coming years.
We have for the past years followed a number of holiday practices that we may have outgrown. :o(
1. New Pajamas. I've made new pajamas for everyone in the family (maman, daddy, alessandra, christian) for Christmas every year for as long as we've been a family. Some years, the kids' pjs match. One year, the whole family had matching pjs. We open the pjs on Christmas Eve. This not only gives us a gift to open the night before (yay!) but makes for cuter pics in the morning when everyone is opening gifts in cute jammies instead of the ratty pjs that they may have otherwise worn (yay#2!). This year, however, Joe has already told me not to make him pjs as he already has too many pj pants. And Alessandra has similarly said t hat she has "so many pjs that i cannot close my drawer". So, she doesn't want Christmas pjs either. And, with the kids getting older and bigger, the cute flannel patterns are losing out to plaid and other more "adult" designs. So, we'll see what i end up doing. I will likley end up just making pjs anyway to follow the tradition and then letting them donate them or not wear them. This morning, as i'm writing this blog, the kids came down to breakfast. Christian wearing the camo pants and t-shirt in which he slept (and wore all day yesterday, ick), Alessandra in the work-out shorts and cami that she wore all afternoon and night. Why make cute pjs when they're comfy wearing old clothes day-to-night-to-day (they will both stay in pjs most of the day while inside doing homework or reading or surfing the 'net)? Tradition.
2. We also have a tradition of the Christmas Eve dinner. Pancakes. Bacon. Coffee/cocoa. Fruit. It's all kinds of yummy but i don't know that the kids are that eager to keep this tradition either. I guess with my making pancakes and "fancy breakfast" more often than just holidays, it's not so much a "treat". We don't do the Christmas Morning spread that my Grandma Amy used to do because there just isn't the time or energy to make schnecken and homemade oatmeal bread and Wolfe Eggs (don't even get me started on that). We've had "orphans " (see Thanksgivng) for the past couple Christmas Eves but won't this year. Everyone has paired off and we haven't made new friends.
3. Christmas Day Movie. We have also developed a routine on Christmas Day of receiving a Christmas Disney/Pixar movie and watching it, all together, in our Christmas clothes (or pjs). This year, we're a little too old for a Disney/Pixar film. And i don't know that buying a film is the best way to go anyway. With little kids, films get watched again and again and again. Little Mermaid, Pooh, Beauty and the Beast, etc. With 13 and 15yo, the films are really just a once or twice event. Who (besides Christian) wants to see Predator or Top Gun more than once or twice? So, it would be better to just rent from NetFlix and return it. So much for the tradition of anticipating opening the new Christmas Movie Time.
4. Clothes. Christian only wears camouflage. Alessandra only wears those items that she deems worthy (and i cannot, absolutely cannot tell what makes for a "good" item over a "ick" item, much to my chagrin). Buying clothes for either of them is a losing proposition. So....no new clothes this year at all. Maybe socks and underwear (boxers!) for him. Cannot even choose what are acceptable undies or socks for her.
5. Toys. What is a fun time in ToysRUs before the holidays, looking at the year's "must have" toys for a 4yr old is decidedly less so for a teen. They need and want nothing. We've already purchased Alessandra's "big gift" and have chosen but not yet purchased Christian's. After the "big gift", there is little else to purchase. There is a big difference between a Barbie Dream House ($25) and a new 16gig IPod (lots more $$). The boxes get smaller and the dollar costs get larger. The big opening of the Christmas gifts goes very quickly. Maybe we'll get two Christmas movies this year.
Off to finish making breakfast for my still-half-asleep teens. And to see which traditions they want to keep and which/how to tweak them this year.
We have for the past years followed a number of holiday practices that we may have outgrown. :o(
1. New Pajamas. I've made new pajamas for everyone in the family (maman, daddy, alessandra, christian) for Christmas every year for as long as we've been a family. Some years, the kids' pjs match. One year, the whole family had matching pjs. We open the pjs on Christmas Eve. This not only gives us a gift to open the night before (yay!) but makes for cuter pics in the morning when everyone is opening gifts in cute jammies instead of the ratty pjs that they may have otherwise worn (yay#2!). This year, however, Joe has already told me not to make him pjs as he already has too many pj pants. And Alessandra has similarly said t hat she has "so many pjs that i cannot close my drawer". So, she doesn't want Christmas pjs either. And, with the kids getting older and bigger, the cute flannel patterns are losing out to plaid and other more "adult" designs. So, we'll see what i end up doing. I will likley end up just making pjs anyway to follow the tradition and then letting them donate them or not wear them. This morning, as i'm writing this blog, the kids came down to breakfast. Christian wearing the camo pants and t-shirt in which he slept (and wore all day yesterday, ick), Alessandra in the work-out shorts and cami that she wore all afternoon and night. Why make cute pjs when they're comfy wearing old clothes day-to-night-to-day (they will both stay in pjs most of the day while inside doing homework or reading or surfing the 'net)? Tradition.
2. We also have a tradition of the Christmas Eve dinner. Pancakes. Bacon. Coffee/cocoa. Fruit. It's all kinds of yummy but i don't know that the kids are that eager to keep this tradition either. I guess with my making pancakes and "fancy breakfast" more often than just holidays, it's not so much a "treat". We don't do the Christmas Morning spread that my Grandma Amy used to do because there just isn't the time or energy to make schnecken and homemade oatmeal bread and Wolfe Eggs (don't even get me started on that). We've had "orphans " (see Thanksgivng) for the past couple Christmas Eves but won't this year. Everyone has paired off and we haven't made new friends.
3. Christmas Day Movie. We have also developed a routine on Christmas Day of receiving a Christmas Disney/Pixar movie and watching it, all together, in our Christmas clothes (or pjs). This year, we're a little too old for a Disney/Pixar film. And i don't know that buying a film is the best way to go anyway. With little kids, films get watched again and again and again. Little Mermaid, Pooh, Beauty and the Beast, etc. With 13 and 15yo, the films are really just a once or twice event. Who (besides Christian) wants to see Predator or Top Gun more than once or twice? So, it would be better to just rent from NetFlix and return it. So much for the tradition of anticipating opening the new Christmas Movie Time.
4. Clothes. Christian only wears camouflage. Alessandra only wears those items that she deems worthy (and i cannot, absolutely cannot tell what makes for a "good" item over a "ick" item, much to my chagrin). Buying clothes for either of them is a losing proposition. So....no new clothes this year at all. Maybe socks and underwear (boxers!) for him. Cannot even choose what are acceptable undies or socks for her.
5. Toys. What is a fun time in ToysRUs before the holidays, looking at the year's "must have" toys for a 4yr old is decidedly less so for a teen. They need and want nothing. We've already purchased Alessandra's "big gift" and have chosen but not yet purchased Christian's. After the "big gift", there is little else to purchase. There is a big difference between a Barbie Dream House ($25) and a new 16gig IPod (lots more $$). The boxes get smaller and the dollar costs get larger. The big opening of the Christmas gifts goes very quickly. Maybe we'll get two Christmas movies this year.
Off to finish making breakfast for my still-half-asleep teens. And to see which traditions they want to keep and which/how to tweak them this year.
tradition!
Growing up on Forestcrest Way, the tradition was that the first day of snow, Mom made cabbage rolls. The whole house would smell of tomatoes, beef-and-rice porcupines and steamed cabbage. It's a lot of bother steaming the cabbage, separating the individual leaves and rolling them around the porcupines, then simmering them in the tomato sauce. She'd do it every year. Tradition!
In the past years, i've followed the same tradition, to mixed success. The vegetarian cabbage rolls with red cabbage weren't a hit at all. The bulgur wheat filled cabbage rolls were less of a disaster but i still ate almost all of them. This year, we tried a new recipe and it was really good. Ok, Joe and i liked it a lot. Christian liked it ok. Alessandra at least tried the sauce over noodles. I will still be eating all of the left-overs but they're so good, i'm looking forward to it. The house smells great and the dinner is stick-to-your-ribs yummy! See recipe below and see what you think!
UNSTUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS (recipe as written)
1# ground beef
1 medium onion, sliced
1-2 t minced garlic
28oz stewed tomatoes
6oz tomato paste
2t dried parsley and oregano and sugar
1 small head cabbage, sliced thinly
saute first three ingredients, drain fat, add tomatoes and break up with potato masher (or spoon), add 1 1/2C water and remaining ingredients, bring to boil, then simmer 60-90 minutes
serve with mashed potatoes and green beans
LISI ADJUSTMENTS:
1. used Morningstar Grillers pre-cooked veggie meat for ground beef
2. used 28oz tomato puree (opened wrong can!)
3. served with rice or boiled egg noodles instead of mashed potatoes
4. mixed in sour cream at table to give dish a bit more fat and creamy texture
yummy!!!
In the past years, i've followed the same tradition, to mixed success. The vegetarian cabbage rolls with red cabbage weren't a hit at all. The bulgur wheat filled cabbage rolls were less of a disaster but i still ate almost all of them. This year, we tried a new recipe and it was really good. Ok, Joe and i liked it a lot. Christian liked it ok. Alessandra at least tried the sauce over noodles. I will still be eating all of the left-overs but they're so good, i'm looking forward to it. The house smells great and the dinner is stick-to-your-ribs yummy! See recipe below and see what you think!
UNSTUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS (recipe as written)
1# ground beef
1 medium onion, sliced
1-2 t minced garlic
28oz stewed tomatoes
6oz tomato paste
2t dried parsley and oregano and sugar
1 small head cabbage, sliced thinly
saute first three ingredients, drain fat, add tomatoes and break up with potato masher (or spoon), add 1 1/2C water and remaining ingredients, bring to boil, then simmer 60-90 minutes
serve with mashed potatoes and green beans
LISI ADJUSTMENTS:
1. used Morningstar Grillers pre-cooked veggie meat for ground beef
2. used 28oz tomato puree (opened wrong can!)
3. served with rice or boiled egg noodles instead of mashed potatoes
4. mixed in sour cream at table to give dish a bit more fat and creamy texture
yummy!!!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Thanksgiving
We have traditionally invited "orphans" to our holiday meals as our family is just too small to merit all the fuss of a holiday dinner preparation, Our friend Carlos and his fiance Jen have been the most frequent guests but we've also included Donna (former colleague) and her mom, Petra (Alessandra's piano teacher) and her hubby/son, our friend Mark (before he married his wife who hates us), Amanda (from my Bible study) and her brother, Joe's friend Vic and his wife, even including his daughter and ex-wife too. We had our friend Will a couple of holidays while he was separated from his wife and kids by his job placement (awaiting their relocation here which never happened),
It just seems like a lot of bother to make a 14# turkey, mashed potatoes, Lorraine's sweet potato pie (for Joe), cranberry jello mold (tradition!), rutabaga, cranberry bread and fluffy rolls, baked acorn squash with maple apple stuffing and a green salad, not to mention at least two but usually three pies for just the four of us. It was easier to do rationalize all the cooking and preparation with the whole Rossi clan coming to our house. And getting the premade Thanksgiving dinner for four from the grocery store just seems too depressing (but easy and quick!).
So, we're down to just the six of us this year with Carlos and Jen. All the others have gotten married, moved away or just moved on. The Fruits family shindig is just too far to go and the Rossis cannot travel here (although they keep threatening to...). So, if you know of anyone that is hankering for a good SW Thanksgiving dinner (hey! we've got green chile cornbread this year!), send them by. I'll leave a couple places set, just in case.
It just seems like a lot of bother to make a 14# turkey, mashed potatoes, Lorraine's sweet potato pie (for Joe), cranberry jello mold (tradition!), rutabaga, cranberry bread and fluffy rolls, baked acorn squash with maple apple stuffing and a green salad, not to mention at least two but usually three pies for just the four of us. It was easier to do rationalize all the cooking and preparation with the whole Rossi clan coming to our house. And getting the premade Thanksgiving dinner for four from the grocery store just seems too depressing (but easy and quick!).
So, we're down to just the six of us this year with Carlos and Jen. All the others have gotten married, moved away or just moved on. The Fruits family shindig is just too far to go and the Rossis cannot travel here (although they keep threatening to...). So, if you know of anyone that is hankering for a good SW Thanksgiving dinner (hey! we've got green chile cornbread this year!), send them by. I'll leave a couple places set, just in case.
it's been forever...
Since i've been here. Sorry!!
So, speaking of it being forever....you should see my kids. I still call them "the kids" although i'm trying to transition to "the teens" as they are both completely in their teen years and bigger than i am. We just got their pics done a couple weeks ago and yikes! They look like adults. In fact, one of Alessandra's friends thought that it was an engagement picture (size of subjects and positioning) . I guess they're not toddlers anymore.
This point keeps being driven home to me. This past weekend, we had "family movie night". instead of something Pixar or Disney, the kids had chosen to watch the Netflix film that they'd received. So, instead of animated animals or talking clocks (see Beauty and the Beast), we watched Schindler's List. Not real upbeat! Great movie but kinda a downer. While i had bad dreams afterwards, Alessandra came home from school today and started playing the theme from the movie on the piano. She was figuring it out as she played. As if the song wasn't already haunting my thoughts all day! She is becoming a very interesting person in her own right. So very unlike me in just about every way. So much more like her father but mostly just like herself.
Christian is also very unlike me in just about every way. He is more like his paternal grandfather than anyone else. But mostly just like himself. More stubborn than the day is long. You cannot tell the boy anything. He is all about finding it out for himself. Even if the answer that he is given is the same one that he'll find on his own, he will not allow that someone else might be right. It's going to be a loooooong adolescence for him as he is already making me crazy and he's only thirteen and in seventh grade. Five more years of school and homework issues and having to have things his way. That's a lot of camouflage clothing and late homework assignments. Send me strength, patience and lots of time in the hot tub alone.
Off to help Alessandra with some homework/clothing crisis. It seems that her friend needs black jeans imminently, until Monday, so they need to flip through my pants to find some that will fit Steph. Christian will be wearing camo every day until Monday. It's easy to shop for him-- oversized military anything. He looks like a Army surplus advertisement.
Oh! The recipe below was easy but a bit too pumpkin for me. See what you think. Like pumpkin pie without the crust.
PUMPKIN FLAN
1pkg flan with caramel sauce (Jello)
1C pumpkin pie mix (not the pureed pumpkin)
1C milk (or coffee creamer or half-and-half)
make flan like instructed on box, substituting the pumpkin pie mix and cream for the 2C milk
chill for 2+ hours and decant as needed for dessert.
good but not as good as homemade pumpkin pie with cool whip !!
So, speaking of it being forever....you should see my kids. I still call them "the kids" although i'm trying to transition to "the teens" as they are both completely in their teen years and bigger than i am. We just got their pics done a couple weeks ago and yikes! They look like adults. In fact, one of Alessandra's friends thought that it was an engagement picture (size of subjects and positioning) . I guess they're not toddlers anymore.
This point keeps being driven home to me. This past weekend, we had "family movie night". instead of something Pixar or Disney, the kids had chosen to watch the Netflix film that they'd received. So, instead of animated animals or talking clocks (see Beauty and the Beast), we watched Schindler's List. Not real upbeat! Great movie but kinda a downer. While i had bad dreams afterwards, Alessandra came home from school today and started playing the theme from the movie on the piano. She was figuring it out as she played. As if the song wasn't already haunting my thoughts all day! She is becoming a very interesting person in her own right. So very unlike me in just about every way. So much more like her father but mostly just like herself.
Christian is also very unlike me in just about every way. He is more like his paternal grandfather than anyone else. But mostly just like himself. More stubborn than the day is long. You cannot tell the boy anything. He is all about finding it out for himself. Even if the answer that he is given is the same one that he'll find on his own, he will not allow that someone else might be right. It's going to be a loooooong adolescence for him as he is already making me crazy and he's only thirteen and in seventh grade. Five more years of school and homework issues and having to have things his way. That's a lot of camouflage clothing and late homework assignments. Send me strength, patience and lots of time in the hot tub alone.
Off to help Alessandra with some homework/clothing crisis. It seems that her friend needs black jeans imminently, until Monday, so they need to flip through my pants to find some that will fit Steph. Christian will be wearing camo every day until Monday. It's easy to shop for him-- oversized military anything. He looks like a Army surplus advertisement.
Oh! The recipe below was easy but a bit too pumpkin for me. See what you think. Like pumpkin pie without the crust.
PUMPKIN FLAN
1pkg flan with caramel sauce (Jello)
1C pumpkin pie mix (not the pureed pumpkin)
1C milk (or coffee creamer or half-and-half)
make flan like instructed on box, substituting the pumpkin pie mix and cream for the 2C milk
chill for 2+ hours and decant as needed for dessert.
good but not as good as homemade pumpkin pie with cool whip !!
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