A Party Goes On

Last night was our cookie exchange, which Mama Teacher and I had been planning for weeks, if not since last year's aborted swap.

And then Friday.

Because the guests were all close and/or long-time friends and because we thought we might all appreciate the chance to gather in mutual grief and support, we decided to go on with the party, recognizing that some people would not feel up to coming and that it wasn't going to be a light and festive occasion.

About half the originally-RSVPing people came (but not my poor co-host, Mama Teacher, who has pink eye!) and we did share our thoughts and feelings about Newtown throughout the evening; all other threads of conversation came back to the shooting, but we did talk about other things.

And we ate, eventually just moving the entire spread to the coffee table in the living room as we cozily gathered around it to chat.  Chips and salsa.  Brie baked in crescent rolls.  Cream cheese and chutney on crackers.  Mini quiches. Texas "Trash" or Chex Mix.  And Texas Black-Eyed Pea Dip, which was the most popular dish of the night, with the recipe unanimously requested.

I include it and all the cookie recipes below.

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Texas Black-Eyed Pea Dip

1 stick butter

5 scallions, chopped

8 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

2 cans black-eyed peas (I used Sylvia's Specially Sesasoned Black Eyes, at Shop and Stop in the "Southern" section; Trappey's is traditional but not available here), drained 

1-4 oz. can green chilies, chopped (like Old El Paso)

1 clove garlic, minced, or garlic powder to taste

Heat butter in saucepan until melted, adding all remaining ingredients.  Heat through, stirring occasionally.  Mash beans to desired consistency (I like to leave it half-chunky).  Serve immediately with corn chips.  Can be reheated in microwave if it gets too cool.

Holiday Cookie Exchange Recipes 2012

K.J.’s French Cookies

1 stick of butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup half & half

3 cups crushed graham crackers

2 cups chopped walnuts

1 bag mini chocolate chips

Hershey bars

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Cream together butter, brown sugar and half & half.  Mix in 3 cups of crushed graham crackers, chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips.  Stir well. 

Grease mini muffin tins or use mini papers.  Fill cups with cookie mixture.  Bake for about 8 minutes.  These cookies have the tendency to stick, so use plenty of grease and don’t let them cool in pan for too long.

Frost cooled cookies with melted Hershey bars! J

K.S.'s Italian Cookies

5 tsp baking powder.   
2 stocks butter
1 c. Sugar               
5 c. Flour.               

1/2 tsp. salt

6 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 Sambocca.

Melt butter. Beat eggs  than add sugar, cooled melted butter, salt, vanilla, b. powder and Sambocca. Mix well.
After mixing add flour 1 c. @ a time. Then roll in hand into a ball1 inch in size. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with thumb . Bake @ 350 for 12 minutes bottom should be golden brown.... Not top.

ICING
2 c. Powdered sugar
1 tsp. Sambocca
Boiling water as needed

Mix to paste. Put on cooled cookies and sprinkle with colored dots Let dry completely( 1 hr) then can be packaged and frozen until ready to serve.

W.Y.'s Cinnamon Tea Cakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon , divided

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar , divided

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Makes:  About 3 dozen cookies.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In small bowl, combine flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and salt. In large bowl, beat butter, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture; mix only until combined. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, placing 2 inches apart.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Remove to cooling grid; cool 5 minutes. Combine remaining 3/4 cup sugar with remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Roll warm cookies in sugar mixture; cool completely.

Miss J.L.'s Peanut Clusters

12 ounce bag of peanut butter chips

12 ounce bag of semi-sweet chips

1 tsp. vanilla

1 12 ounce jar of roasted peanuts

Melt both chips in micro. Stir in vanilla and peanuts. Scoop spoon full of mixture onto wax paper. Chill.

Miss K.K.’s Peanut Butter Bars

2 sticks of butter, melted

3 c. powdered sugar

1 c. smooth peanut butter

1 sleeve of of graham crackers, crushed

12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt butter in microwave. Stir in sugar, peanut butter and graham crackers. Spread and press into 9x13 dish. Melt chocolate in microwave. Spread evenly over peanut butter mixture. Place in fridge until cool enough to score. Score slices and return to fridge to harden completely. 

Shelley's Oatmeal Scotchies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange

3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats

1 2/3 cups (11oz package) butterscotch flavored morsels

Preheat oven to 375F

Combine: flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl.  Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in oats and morsels.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake: for 7 - 8 minutes for chewy cookies and 9 - 10 minutes for crispy cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Mama Teacher’s Soft Almond Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 C white sugar

2/3 C butter (cold)

2/3 C shortening (room temp)

2 eggs

2 tsp almond extract

2 3/4 C cake flour

1 C all purpose flour

1 Tbsp cornstarch

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

sugar in the raw (I like raw sugar for this, but any coarse sugar would work)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare baking sheet.

Cream sugar, butter and shortening.  Stir in eggs and almond extract.  Combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt and add to butter/egg mixture.  Use electric mixer to ensure dough is thoroughly combined.  Chill dough in fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll 2 tsp of dough (I used a small cookie scoop) into a ball and roll in raw sugar.  Place on prepared pan.

Bake cookies for 7 minutes.  Remove from oven and gently press rounded tops of cookies flat with the back of a spoon while the cookies are still warm and pliable.  The cornstarch will keep the dough from spreading, so this step just makes them look better!

Return remaining dough to fridge in between baking each batch.

Allow to cool on pan for 1 minute.    Remove to cooling rack.  Allow to cool completely.

A tip:

~DO NOT bake longer than 8 minutes!!  They may seem under-baked, but when they cool they will firm up.

J.D.’s Russian Tea Cakes

2 sticks softened unsalted butter

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 walnuts, finely ground in food processor or blender

2 cups confectioners' sugar for coating

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until blended

On low speed beat in flour and walnuts until blended

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets

Bake 10 min (cookie may crack slightly)

Roll hot cookies in remaining 2 cups sugar until coated and cool on cookie rack.  Once cooled roll again in confectioners' sugar.   Enjoy!!

Mommy Hungry's Irish Cream Delights (from Penzey’s)

1/4 Cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)
1/4 Cup shortening
1 Cup sugar
1 TB. Irish cream liqueur (more if you like)*
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. CREAM OF TARTAR
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
13/4 Cups flour

Frosting:

3 TB. butter, softened
2 TB. Irish cream liqueur*
3 Cups powdered sugar
3 TB. half & half

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl combine the butter and shortening and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, liqueur, baking soda, CREAM OF TARTAR and salt and beat until combined, scraping often. Add the egg and VANILLA and mix well. Stir in the flour. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Frosting: Mix the butter and liqueur until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Beat in the half & half until smooth. Frost the cooled cookies.

* Feel free to use whatever coffee-based liqueur you like. We mixed our own with 2 TB. strong coffee, 1 TB. cream, 1 TB. whiskey and 2 tsp. VANILLA SUGAR. You can also leave out the whiskey, if desired.

Yield: 4 dozen

Miss J.S.'s Chocolate Crinkles Recipe 4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter 8 ounces (230 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar 2 large eggs, room temperature 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder Topping: 1 cup (110 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted Chocolate Crinkles: In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 3 to 5 minutes). (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) Then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and beat until incorporated. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (several hours or even overnight). Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the sifted confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. First, form the chilled dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls, and then roll each ball in the sugar. Make sure each ball is completely coated, with no chocolate showing through. Place the sugar-covered balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Bake cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Advent Activity: History by Candlelight

 
On a whim, we headed up to Old Sturbridge Village this afternoon for their evening candlelight event, which we've attended several times (for instance, 2010 and 2011.)  Amazingly, we got a table for dinner in the tavern, lit by candles and fireplaces.  We munched on pounded cheese (which tasted subtly of cloves and orange peel) and crackers while waiting for lobster pot pie (Bud!), turkey dinner (Sis), clam chowder and roasted beet salad (Mama), and a cheese sampler to share as well as mushroom ravioli (me).

Then we headed into the Village to all the familiar spots.  We immediately realized that OSV would have been a great place to have watched the meteor shower--dark and with an expanse of sky.  It is dark and the kids marveled that the real 1830s would have been much darker still.  We sampled fruitcake and gingerbread and candied ginger and sugar plums (this time, candy-coated fennel--ugh!), watched cider being caramelized with a hot poker, made tinsel and cornucopiae and a mulling spice sachet, rode in the horse-drawn wagon, played with a Jacob's Ladder and whirligig, listened to singers and musicians (one on a bowed psaltery, of all things), admired the creche, and learned about the history behind traditions such as fruitcake, candy canes, the Yule log, Christmas stockings.

We had thought it would be hard to go tonight.  Mama couldn't even listen to carols earlier in the day, thinking of presents under the tree for kids who will never open them.  Those kinds of thoughts just up and smack us in the head at times.  But in the end, we welcomed the distraction and enjoyed the familiar festivity.

But we held a moment of silence before dinner and wished for all beings to be comforted.  Isn't that what this time of year--be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice--is about?  Remembering the light will return even during our darkest of days?

Something To Do

For my crafty friends looking for some small way to help and for something to do with themselves instead of watch the news, I'm posting this link to a Ravelry group that is collecting handmade "monsters" to give to the survivors of the Sandy Hook tragedy.  I've never knitted or crocheted anything that wasn't a rectangle, but I'm going to try crocheting a monster to send along.

UPDATE:  The Prayer Shawl Ministry is collecting prayer shawls.  See here for details. This I can definitely do.  

In Memoriam

We've added to our Christmas decorations.   Blue and yellow are the Sandy Hook colors.

A Difficult Conversation

We told the kids this morning, wanting to talk to them first before they heard it from others. Bud's first question: Does that mean 20 moms were waiting at home and their kids didn't come? 

Sob. 

But we hugged and reassured and said they could ask us anything and it was okay to be sad. Because, I said, all the adults in the whole country are sad this morning.

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Resources for talking to children about the shooting in Newtown, CT:

• Tips for Talking to Children about the Shooting and Resources:  Talking and Teaching about the Shootings in Newtown, CT, NYTimes--good solid intro, the latter with several resources culled from numerous tragic events
• How Not to Talk with Children about the Sandy Hook Shooting, NYTimes Motherlode--I especially liked the worried thought/brave thought
• Talking with Children about News, PBS.org--this has great age-related suggestions
• Helping Children Cope after a Shooting, National Children's Medical Center--a helpful pdf
• Coping with a Traumatic Event, Center for Disease Control--practical tips for routine and normalcy
• A National Tragedy:  Helping Children Cope, National Association of School Psychologists--great, long lists of suggestions
• Helping Children Cope with Tragedy-Related Anxiety, Mental Health America--tips broken down by age
• How to Talk to Your Children about the Shootings, MSNBC--shares National Mental Health Association's suggestions
• After the Tragedy:  Helping Young Children Heal--Early Trauma Treatment Network
• Parent-Teacher Tips for Helping Preschool Age and School Age Children, National Traumatic Child Traumatic Stress Nework

Prayers for a School in Connecticut

UPDATE:  Oh, there are so many dead.  It is just devastating.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the children and their families, the teachers and staff, and emergency response teams at a school shooting in Newtown, CT.

Especially with the family of the one student confirmed dead.

I weep for them, not twenty miles or so from here, in an elementary school like ours.

Twinkle, Twinkle Shooting Star

It's auspicious for us, perhaps, that tonight's meteor shower came from Gemini, the twins.  We went out around 8:30 pm and it was clear (and chilly) and pretty dark, with no moon.  We spotted Orion immediately and knew this one bright spot was something special; Mama later identified it with her phone app as Jupiter!

And then the meteors fell, about one every three or four minutes, which was just long enough to get cold and a bit discouraged in between, especially as they were falling across a wide swath of the sky.  I don't think we all saw the same one at any given time.  But we did count to 16 in all, with everyone spotting a few.  Sis and I saw the first ones and Bud wasn't sure how to tell a meteor from a plane.  It'll be a line in the sky, I said.  And after he saw his first, squealing with glee, he said, "It's like someone drew a line on a black chalkboard and erased it really quickly."

Do they even have chalkboards at school?

Well, we do have a green one on one whole kitchen wall.

We talked about meteors, as opposed to meteorites, one of which you can touch at AMNH, I believe. Sis remembered that a huge meteorite killed the dinosaurs.  Bud worried that we might get hit by one, but I managed to dispel that fear.

I think we watched for about 45 minutes, migrating into the darkest bit of the backyard where we could spot the biggest patch of sky.  The meteors were pretty falling through the silhouetted branches of the leafless winter trees.  Beautiful.  Sis also kept finding "Hidden Mickeys" in the stars.

It all reminded me of the most spectacular meteor shower Mama and I have ever seen, on the winter beach of the Rockaways in 2001, I think, the Leonids.  In early morning hours, wrapped in coats and carrying hot chocolate, Mama, Goo, and I (joined for a bit, if I recall, by Ma and Gong) counted over 400 meteors falling constantly across the sky into the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes they came so fast and from some many directions that we couldn't even keep count; eventually we did just stop. It's one of the most amazing natural sights I've ever seen and the most memorable stargazing.

Tonight, I think we started the kids on their own love of stargazing.  I hope they get a night like our Leonids sometime in their lives.  But tonight was a great first start!

(And it sure beats getting up during the peak hours around 3 a.m.!)

Advent Activities: The Tally

Okay, with just ten days to go, I made my list, checking it twice.  Some things just won't happen, but that's okay, especially because the kids particularly like their Lego Star Wars and Playmobil Advent calendars this year.

1. Make gingerbread houses--12/22
2. Bake sugar cookies--12/11
3. Make teacher gifts/cards--12/15
4. Deliver treats to doctor/vet/etc--12/14
5. Do "Would you rather?" checklist--12/22
6. Play Christmas bingo
7. Buy and affix holiday stocking pin
8. Gifts for others (via church)/Toys for Tots--12/16
9. Donate savings jar to an organization
10. Make natural wreath
11. Write letters to Santa
12. Have friends over for cookie decorating party after school--12/13
13. Make latkes for Hanukkah
14. Stay-up-late Solstice party/camp out under tree-12/21
15. Snowflake tortillas--12/24
16. Make "my favorite things" ornament--12/19
17. Make bird feeders--12/20
18. Have a fondue party--12/12
19. Field Trip:  NYC or OSV
20. Make origami ornaments
21. Go caroling to relatives via phone--12/18
22. Decorate windows/chalkboard--12/17
23. Make snowman fridge--12/10--oops, missed this; see if we can squeeze it in.
24. Make jar snow globes--12/23

Advent Activities: Cookie Chaos

Laid Up

I'm back in bed with this seemingly never-ending cold, having been up stuffing and coughing half the night.  At least it gives me a chance to watch "Doctor Who" season 7 to be ready for "Whomas" in about two weeks.

12/12/12

What a wonderful day!

Though, after years of imagining it, I didn't even notice 12:12 go by (I preset my birthday post)!  I think I was having too much fun to notice and I don't mind at all.

• my very own Pokemon "It's my birthday!" badge, which I wore all day--and everyone wished me happy birthday and the man at the Tibetan restaurant wished me "Many happy returns of the day!"
• more "Happy Birthday" on the piano
• calls from Aunt Banana, Gommie, Pop, Goo, and Lambeth!
• lots of emails and FB posts wishing me a happy day
• a pot of rose tea with my second-to-last teabag from Lady Mendl's
• a trip to the British Shop for Christmas goodies and a new teapot
• lunch at Tibetan Kitchen, with the best chai (I think it's just black tea, cardamom, and cream!); mango dhara, kinda like a lassi; Himalayan Ne-zom with tofu, peas, potatoes, and cauliflower in tomato sauce; Tingmo (steamed bread) and Bhaklep (pan fried bread); Shogo-ngopa, a potato with spinach curry-like dish; Shaptak, a beef dish with onions, bell peppers, and hot peppers; and drey-sil, essentially sweet rice with raisins served with sweet yogurt.
• a visit across the street to It's Only Natural, a delightful natural market with lots of interesting food products and gift items--we even saw a friend from church who works there!
• a stop at my new yarn store to pick up some pretty yarn I ordered last week
• listening to Code Name Verity on audiobook during our whole drive; it's a WWII YA (young adult) novel about a Scottish (!) spy taken prisoner by Germans and her friendship with a female pilot (no, this is YA not Sarah Waters; there's no lesbianism.  But you can imagine. . . . ).  It's on the notable children's books/young adult of 2012 in the NYTimes. 
• just hanging out.
• a dinnertime fondue party, with yummy melted cheese and bread, celery, carrots, and Triscuits, and then chocolate and poundcake, brownies, sugar cookies, and pretzels.  Delicious!  And such fun!
• an early bedtime for me, exhausted from all the activities (I'm still in the grips of my cold).
• while this is not officially part of the day, I woke up coughing around 3:30 and had a great discussion with Mama about her heart-wrenching book (I'd read the spoilers between sniffles a bit earlier).  I'm not sure I'll finish listening to it, but oddly, I would recommend it.  If you can handle the oft-mentioned tears.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make the day extra-special, particularly my family!

Happy Birthday to Me!

And just look at all my favorite number 12s in the time stamp!!

Surprise!

I had to go to the store this evening to fetch a few forgotten ingredients for dinner.

And when I got home, "Surprise!"  There was a party waiting for me.  There was a Disney Fairies "Happy Birthday" banner in the entryway and everyone was wearing mouse ears party hats, with one for me.  And there were about a dozen presents under the tree.

Now, sure, we could have, maybe should have, waited for tomorrow, but if you know me you know that's not how I roll.  Besides, the kids were practically already opening the presents for me!  There were new pages for my "I love you as much" book ("I love you as long as a car trip around the world!"); lots of little toys to play with the kids, mainly from my two favorite Disney movies Beauty and the Beast and Brave; a book Time for a Hug because I love hugs and the characters are bunnies; a bar of orange chocolate; three bags of beans (!); some Schleich fairy figurines; a Hobbit Lego; and an origami manatee by Mama to represent the manatee they adopted for me!  And Bud played "Happy Birthday" to me twice on the piano.  Then Sis gave me a coupon for "a). A hug every day.  b.) A peace of candy.  c). [for her to try] a sweet bean."  Needless to say I was very touched and shed a few tears of joy.

And I never got to cooking dinner so we ordered out pizza and chicken fingers!

I hear there is fondue on Star Wars plates and Perry the Platypus napkins tomorrow.

Advent Activities: Sugar Cookie Crazy!

Here they are, in progress.

Just made the sugar cookie dough for this afternoon's marathon sugar cookie cut out bake-a-thon, which is in preparation for a small cookie-decorating party the kiddos are hosting on Thursday afternoon.

As always when I make sugar cookies, I think about Tania, of Love Big Bake Often, a friend with whom I lost touch years ago.  She was a devoted mom, excellent baker, good teacher, and generous friend.  I miss her most when I bake, especially when I bake her signature cut-out cookies which she brought to some many playgroups.

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No-Fail Sugar Cookies

Miss T loves and swears by this recipe. She usually cuts it in half. I made it all and froze half--the kids ate so much dough, we needed the whole batch for the party.

6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like
almond myself)
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below)

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350
degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe
can make up to 5-dozen 3” cookies.

HINT: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess – Rather than wait for your cookie dough to chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out to the desired thickness (about 1/4") then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the
refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut. Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process! An added bonus is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies.

**my note: this dough can be frozen in disks and thawed later.


http://kitchengifts.com/


T's Royal Icing
4 tablespoons merengue powder
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon shortening (to make it soft and shiny, optional)
1 teaspoon lemon extract
5 cups powdered sugar
colos

Mix ingredients. Add water if too thick. It should be the consistency of glue. Separate into bowls. Add colors with toothpicks. Stir with little spatulas.

T outlines with a #3 tip and then floods the inside when the outline dries (to make flooding consistency, add more water--really just a few drops). You can use a bag with tip or a spoon to flood, and toothpicks or decorating brushes to spread it into the cracks.

She recommends the following schedule:
Day 1--baking
Day 2--icing
Day 4--packaging (too soon and the icing will be damaged)
Because of the icing, the cookies will stay fresh for about a week.

Cats and Yarn Don't Mix

Having finished the crocheted Christmas stockings, minus the names, yesterday, I've started on a simple knitted scarf today.  Fluids and rest have really helped my head cold, but I'm still pretty tired so knitting while watching "Doctor Who" is the perfect activity.  But Albus, our cat, wants love.  And yarn.  So he's curled up right next to me, alternately sleeping and swatting needles. This isn't helpful.  And Christmas is only two weeks away!

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Mommy Hungry's Simple Scarf
Using 10 1/2 needles and worsted weight yard (mine is red variegated Merino), cast on 24 stitches.  Work in garter stitch (knit all stitches) until scarf is desired length. Bind off, weave in ends; add fringe if desired.

Inspired by a pattern at Blue Blog Patterns

This Year's Christmas Cookies?

I can't decide which cookies to make for the Christmas season.  Here are the current front runners, though I doubt I'll make them all.  I'm leaning towards the snowballs or Irish Cream cookies.


Mini-Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts
Powdered sugar

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

BEAT butter, sugar, vanilla extract and salt in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour; stir in morsels and nuts. Shape level tablespoons of dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven. Sift powdered sugar over hot cookies on baking sheets. Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, if desired. Store in airtight containers.

Chocolate Orange Dreams
These taste just like those Pepperidge Farm Orange Milano cookies.

4 dozen cookies

Cookies:
1cup Butter flavor Crisco
1 cup sugar
1-3 oz. pkg cream cheese softened
2 eggs
2 t. grated orange peel
2 t. orange juice
½ t. salt
2 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Glaze:
½ cup powdered sugar
2 ½ t. orange juice
1 ½ t. orange liqueur (Grand Marnier)

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet.
Combine crisco, sugar, and cream cheese. Beat on medium. Beat in eggs, orange peel, orange juice, and salt. Add flour. Mix well. Add chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls two inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes or until edges are light brown.
While baking, combine powdered sugar, orange juice, and liqueur. Stir. Brush on cookies immediately upon removing from oven.

American Cookie Celebration II


Penzey's Irish Cream Delights

1/4 Cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)
1/4 Cup shortening
1 Cup sugar
1 TB. Irish cream liqueur (more if you like)*
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. CREAM OF TARTAR
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
13/4 Cups flour

Frosting:

3 TB. butter, softened
2 TB. Irish cream liqueur*
3 Cups powdered sugar
3 TB. half & half

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl combine the butter and shortening and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, liqueur, baking soda, CREAM OF TARTAR and salt and beat until combined, scraping often. Add the egg and VANILLA and mix well. Stir in the flour. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Frosting: Mix the butter and liqueur until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Beat in the half & half until smooth. Frost the cooled cookies.

* Feel free to use whatever coffee-based liqueur you like. We mixed our own with 2 TB. strong coffee, 1 TB. cream, 1 TB. whiskey and 2 tsp. VANILLA SUGAR. You can also leave out the whiskey, if desired.

Prep. time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 8-10 minutes
Yield: 4 dozen

Christmas Cards

I have started to receive the annual influx of happy holiday greetings.

And I realize that I probably won't be sending any out this December.

I am just not feeling it this year, especially with a 100-person list.

Maybe I'll pare that down.

Or do an eco-friendly e-card.

Or just wait until I can send along a cheerful family photo from our spring trip to Disney World and Hogwarts!

At-Home Day

I have a head cold and stayed in bed all day,  first watching the last of "Upstairs, Downstairs" (with Alex Kingston as a lesbian Egyptologist) and then "Doctor Who" (with Alex Kingston as River Song).  I crocheted all the while on Mama's and my Christmas stockings.  They're all done now, except for the names--but do we use our given names or Mommy and Mama?!

Advent Activities: Catching Up

We had a very Christmas-y weekend:

1. Play Christmas bingo--at school on Friday night!
2. Donate savings jar to an organization--bought a share of "women's empowerment" in education and business from Heifer International today at church.
3. Write letters to Santa--emailed (!) Santa at special visit with Mrs. Claus today, as well as made crafts (see  reindeer puppets) and ate cookies
4. Make latkes for Hanukkah--ate potato, cauliflower, and beet latkes at Bloodroot last night.
5. Field Trip:  NYC--did the museums in the city yesterday.
6. Make origami ornaments--inspired by AMNH's origami tree, we made a creche of penguins today!

Advent Activities: O Christmas Trees!

With rain in the forecast, we decided to ditch our plans to go to candlelight at Sturbridge Village tonight.  So we headed into NYC instead.  Not for the usual 5th Avenue promenade and visit to the Rockefeller Tree, but uptown on both the East and West sides to visit the Met and the American Museum of Natural History.

The kids didn't get into either of the audiobooks we had so we played car games--the ABC game (J and Q are hard), counting the cars (1 pt for cars, 5 for buses, 10 for trucks, -5 for police!), count the Christmas trees (more of that on the way home), then once we hit the city, we looked for iconic NYC things--taxis, food carts, police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, bodegas, fire escapes.

Our first stop was the Met, where we went straight to the medieval hall to see the creche.  All the while, Bud kept telling us that a group of Adelie penguins is called a creche.  We were a bit doubtful, having heard of colonies of penguins, even rafts of penguins.  But guess what?  I just looked it up and he's right.  A creche of Adelie penguins.

Well, there are not penguins in this creche.  Instead, we saw an elephant, a camel, numerous sheep, a donkey, an ox, some dogs, plus, of course, the Holy Family, angels, Wise Men, the shepherds, and all the Neapolitan peasants surrounding them.  It was a delightful I-spy.

  

Before we left the Met, we took a detour to the newly-installed (relatively) American galleries specifically to see Emmanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware.  We looked long and hard at the huge painting, talking about art vs. history--the sunrise halo around Washington, the stable triangle-shape of the figures in the boat, the pinnacle at the flag, the diversity of figures in the boat (Scottish, frontiersmen, African, etc), as well as how and when the actual crossing took place.  Plus the original circumstances of the creation and exhibition of the work about 100 years later.  It really is a fun painting to explore.

The kids probably could have stayed all day, but we were off across the park to AMNH.  I have long wanted to see the Origami Tree and so we headed straight to it.  And we loved it!  If I-spy was fun with the creche, it was doubly fun with all the origami animals:  koalas, owls, penguins, bunnies, pandas, hedgehogs (perhaps--they were high up!), dolphin, ducks, swan, jellyfish, foxes, lemurs, peacocks, bears, horeshoe crabs,  oh so many different critters.  Just look at the pictures.  There are over 500 figures, made by members of Origami USA, who start in July to finish in time.  Very intriguing and inspiring.

   



We visited the dioramas--both in North American mammals (bunnies!) and the hall of the Blue Whale (penguins and manatee).  Did you know that the Blue Whale hall might be the best place to stretch your back in NYC?  (Well, I bet Central Park would be good, too, but not in December.)   I spent awhile on the floor, horizontal like those around me, admiring the whale from below.  Very good for the spine!

Then we headed to the special exhibition, Global Kitchen, which is all about "food, farm to fork."  The first bit of the exhibition was perhaps too science-y for me and even too preachy (and I'm the choir!  Maybe that's why!)--gallons of water, pounds of waste, etc etc etc.  Though, as the NYTimes reviewer notes, this is an exhibition about how people have intersected with nature for sustenance and how that has totally gone awry recently with agribusiness.   But then, I prefer anthropology and social history.  There were a few history of science facts I found intriguing--kohlrabi, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, and all cauliflower actually originate from the same wild cabbage weedy-thing that has been cultivated for thousands of years; apples are 7 times less bitter than their crabapple forebears; bananas might be extinct in our lifetime because they only use one genetic family which is susceptible to a blight right now.  We had fun tasting cornbread in the Whole Foods-sponsored kitchen (mine is better!  They change the topic every two weeks).  And we liked sniffing all the different scent interactives (yeah, lavender; ugh, garlic).  We especially liked the Aztec market with its basket and bags and pots full of fish, beans, corn, tortillas, agave, iguana, turkey, tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, squash blossoms, etc etc.  It was a great display.  And without wheat, cheese, chicken, or beef--several of the items we associate with modern-day Mexican food.  Or plastic or styrofoam or even glass containers!  We also loved situating ourselves at meals through the ages--a feast with Kublai Khan, ice cream with Jane Austen, reclining with Roman empress Livia Drusilla.  And cooking our own meals on an interactive computer "stove" making groundnut soup, poached eggs, grilled salmon (see here for more recipes and info).  And seeing what Ghandi usually ate (vegetarian), what Michael Phelps downs during intense training (Bud wanted to try to eat that--3 breakfast sandwiches, omelets, oatmeal, French toast, coffee, what Otzi (the 5,000 year old Iceman found in the Alps) had for breakfast the day he died (dried Ibex and some fruit, I think), and what Nobel Peace prize winner and sustainable food activist Wangari Matthai would eat.  There were also displays on cookbooks, the history of utensils, and the specific traditions of China, Morocco, France, and Korea.  The only part that fell very very short was food as ritual--two small cases cramming diverse celebrations such as Chinese New Year and Day of the Dead together, accompanied by a too-short film about different traditions.  This could have been an exhibition itself and was not properly addressed.  But the gift shop made up for the slightly rushed end--we chose several different kinds of chocolate and candies to sample on the ride home!  And so we drove home up Broadway, munching on black raspberries, peach chewies, chocolate marzipan, and "milk bottles" of condensed milk candy.

But that wasn't the end of our day!  After a two-hour rest at home (including several holiday specials I slept right through), we headed for dinner at Bloodroot--because it's Latke night for Hanukkah, where a lovely clay menorah was lit in the center of the dining room!  The kids even played the dreidl game with another little kid and his dad while we all waited for our food to come.   Then we happily gorged on porcini soup (Bud's favorite), Cambodian kanji, oatmeal bread, three kinds of latkes (potato, cauliflower, and beets, with sour cream, applesauce, and a great beet spread from the NYTimes, Selma said.  Sis loved the cauliflower latkes), halushkin (noodles and cabbage), solianka (tomato-y mushroom-cabbage dish), Jamaican jerk "chicken" with this spicy green chile spread, marinated tofu salad, and then cranberry kissl, kombucha squash roll with cream cheese (think pumpkin roll), and hot fudge sundaes!

A wonderful day of family, food, and fun.  And trees!

One of Bloodroot's cats curled up on Bud's jacket.

An Embarrassment of Riches

You may or may not recall that two years ago, we suffered through Bud's serious disappointment at not winning anything at the school's annual holiday Snowflake Bingo night.  It was such a struggle of a night that both Mama and I were relieved when we didn't go last year!  We even gave them a few pep talks about enjoying the game and not just the winning, finding joy in others' joy (Buddhist mudita), etc. etc.

But tonight made up for the night two years ago.   More than made up for it.  Almost embarrassingly so.

Mama won the very first game of Bingo but had me shout it out as Bud retrieved the prize, which was a gift certificate for doughnuts.

A few games later, Sis actually won.  And got a gift certificate for sandwiches.

This was good.  One win for each, even if Bud didn't really win.  Besides, in the end, it's all luck and chance, right?   Mommy Goose's husband, though, was teasing me about it all being fixed.  Double trouble, I said.

After an intermission for baked goods, we returned to bingo.  And Bud won, on his own this time, picking up a gift certificate for bowling.  Mama was ready for us to go home; we'd had fun and won.  We didn't need any more prizes; Mama wondered aloud if we should give some of them back so others could win.  I didn't think that would work because it was all quite organized and I didn't want to interrupt or make a fuss.  We weren't even sitting with anyone we knew to share with; I would've given doughnuts or sandwiches away to a disappointed kiddo because I know exactly how that feels.  Later, when people needed more cards and they passed out more to everyone, we actually just divvied ours up between us so that only the kids were playing, not all four of us.

But, granted,we did keep playing.

Then, during the raffle, Sis's name was called.  And she got a little art booklet.  We clapped and smiled but were ready to hide.  It was just too much.

When Bud and I left the cafeteria just as someone called "Bingo," I heard someone say, "Not them again!"

No, not that time.

But on the second to last game for the grand prizes, this one for four hockey tickets, I leaned over and noticed that Bud just needed one more, "G-50," I think it was.  And as I said as much to him, incredulously, the exact number was called.  He'd won.  Again.  A grand prize.  Hockey tickets.

We wouldn't even let the kids play the last card!  Our gift bags overfloweth.

And we laughed all the way home about buying lottery tickets or heading upstate to the casinos!

With or without the winning (though, I'll be the first to admit that winning makes for a much better evening!), it was a great night, thanks to all of our PTA people and the teachers and staff from school.  They're our real win!

Advent Activities: Falling Behind

We're not keeping up with our Advent activities so well this year.  Especially this week.  Almost every night has been busy or late--kung fu, holiday office party, Brownies, more kung fu, school holiday party--we don't even remember to check the socks for activities.  And wouldn't have time to do them even if we did, especially because most are really involved ones, like "make a snowglobe."  So, note to self:  more quick activities next year!

Though, with all the rain in the forecast that's affecting our weekend plans, we might be able to double or triple up this weekend!

The POD is Gone!

Almost three months to the day after the garage accident which totaled a car and damaged both the garage and its contents, everything is restored.  The garage is restored, the remaining contents are back in place, and the POD is gone!

I wouldn't recommend a car accident as the best way to clean a garage, but we certainly have a cleaner, decluttered, brighter, more usable space than we did before--and an electric garage door!

Advent Activities: The Switch

As Advent socks come down, Christmas cards go up.

Early Christmas

I came across a new-to-me yarn shop on my way to my hospice visit today.  Such lovely colorful, soft, inspiring yarns.  So, of course, a few came home with me:  two skeins--one purple, one red--of fleecy "solo 1 minuto" which can be hand-crocheted into scarves and such; a chunky finger-woven-like Berroco link yarn in blacks, whites and grays which can also be worked up by hand crocheting (i.e. hand-over-fist, not with a hook); and three skeins of varigated reddish merino for a scarf.  Lovely, lovely, lovely.  And probably too tempting to drive past weekly!

The Siege

Before, Last Night

After, This Morning

The Not-Quite-Honest Chef

A few weeks ago, we went to Mystic Aquarium and, while there, I had a surprisingly good harvest vegetable chowder with various root vegetables and thick, creamy broth for lunch.  I liked it and wanted to recreate it.  Tonight, I tried.

The kids were game to try it, despite there being indeterminate veggies.  Bud especially was bothered by not being able to distinguish between potato (ick for him), rutabaga, and turnip.  And the orange thing was suspiciously like a sweet potato.  But it was butternut squash.   Sis, who loves potatoes but not the other root veg, had a similar problem.  And she likes sweet potatoes but not butternut squash.  So they became increasingly vocal and agitated.

EXCEPT they liked the broth--the slightly thickened, orangish broth.  Which they each had 3 bowls full of, complete with oyster crackers, while avoiding all the visible chunky vegetables.

And I just didn't have the heart to tell them that the broth was actually half of the soup including the vegetables pureed!!!!!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mommy Hungry's Harvest Vegetable Chowder
*I must confess to using a container of pre-cut soup veggies from Whole Foods so I don't have exact measurements on those.

olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups vegetable broth
1 Yukon gold potato, cubed
1 large turnip, cubed
*7-10 baby carrots
*1 cup cubed butternut squash
*1 cup cubed rutabaga
*fresh parsley and fresh dill to taste
3 cups milk

Saute onion and celery in olive oil until tender.   Add garlic and saute until fragrant.  Add broth, vegetables, and herbs and cook until vegetables are tender, 20-30 minutes on simmer.  Add milk and simmer another 10 minutes.  Puree half of the soup in a blender or use an immersion blender (or all of it!).  Serve with oyster crackers.

*I think it would have been good with sweet potatoes, too, possibly leeks, parsnips, or whatever you like.  Even greens like kale.

Mommy Hungry

Breakfast of Champions

Okay, that's more of a title than a truism.

But we have been focusing on better breakfasts around here.  Bud always likes oatmeal, with maple syrup and fruit.  Sis prefers scrambled eggs, often with cheese (better with bacon, but I won't cook bacon on weekdays).  So we alternate mornings, with fruit or yogurt, cereal or toast also available.

And now they both like French toast, which Mama made yesterday and today.

I don't know if that will be a regular addition to our school-day mornings as it is a bit time consuming, but we'll see.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Alton Brown's French Toast Recipe

1 cup half-and-half
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old or stale country loaf, brioche or challah bread
4 tablespoons butter
Directions
In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, honey, and salt. You may do this the night before. When ready to cook, pour custard mixture into a pie pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.

Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all 8 slices. Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream or fruit.

Alton Brown

Romeo and Julicat?

For a week running, our cat Hermione has perched downstairs in the basement window . . . for the entire night.  Sometimes we hear thumps, as if she were batting the glass, but mostly she sits looking out.

And now we know why:

She has a visitor.

Though, we're not sure what.  Is it friend or foe?  A suitor or attacker?  Whatever it is, Hermione is very interested.  It comes every night, apparently.  From the footprints, it is clear it circles back and forth.  Small footprints--another cat?  Nocturnal, surely.

But it also tries to get in and has managed to pull the screen off the window twice.  And now we can see that the plastic frame of the window has been slightly bent.  There are no scratch marks, though, like a raccoon or opossum.

Mama jokes that we should put up a web cam.  I suggested staking it out from the car.

Whatever it is, Hermione is silent on the matter and sleeps off her nightly activities all day . . . .

Is this what having teenagers is like??

Gumbo Ya-Ya!

We watched Princess and the Frog on Saturday, part of our ongoing viewing of the Disney canon.  The kids liked the movie just fine, but there have been some unexpected consequences.   Namely, an obsession with the food of New Orleans (which, if you haven't seen the film, does play a part--Tiana wants to open a restaurant).

So, last night we tracked down one of the only places we could find that served anything remotely Cajun or Creole, and had fried crawfish, fried catfish, jambalaya, and, best of all, beignets!   And the kids liked it!  Then they kept asking for gumbo, so I made some chicken and sausage gumbo today.  And they liked it, too!  With the sausage, even.  And the green bell peppers!

Color me purple, gold, and green!

Now they want to go to New Orleans.  Cautiously, Sis said they wouldn't talk to anyone wearing a skull and crossbones (a la the bad guy in the movie).  Bud was unfazed--the guy was dead!  But Sis said, what if the story happened in the future and he was still there now?!?!

Has she been sneaking "Doctor Who?"

-=-=-=-=-

My gumbo recipe is here.  And it was so good I turned meat-eater for a meal!  Much to the kiddos' surprise!  "Mom, you're going to die if you eat meat,!" thought Bud.

Advent Activity: Off Already

Well, we're already sorta off schedule with the Advent activities--yesterday, we actually did two:  both the homemade natural wreath and purchasing pins to affix to their stockings (a semi-annual holiday tradition).  We also put out all the yard decorations--several penguins and Snoopy!

Today, we didn't draw an "official" activity, namely because we haven't found the string of socks yet. But we did put up our Christmas tree.  And, of course, there was all that Christmas music at the recital!

I came up with two more activities, just in case:  making sticky toffee pudding and making snowman sundaes.

He's Playing My Song

Bud had his first piano recital today, after just four months of lessons (and only 3 months with this teacher).  With a plate of homemade brownies in hand, we made our way to the library.  Bud played in the middle of the program and waited with increasing anticipation.  But he played his two pieces, "Good King Wenceslas" and "Joy to the World," very well indeed.  We were very proud, not only of his performance but in his interest and persistence in learning a new skill.

And yes, I cried.  Though, oddly, not during his part--I cried during the pieces of people a few ahead of him and then only again on the way home!

Coincidentally, "Wenceslas" was the first song I learned how to play during my summer of lessons after college, but his is already a more advanced version!

Advent Activity: Homemade Wreath

The decorating has begun!