A good weekend

Aside from the Packers' tough but not undeserved loss on Sunday, it was a good weekend. Lindsey was in town from Pittsburgh for a visit - the first time we'd seen each other in nearly a year and a half.

For a couple of people who became best friends in seventh grade and remained attached at the hip for years, that was an unprecedented length time between visits. I've been busy, to which the blog can attest, and she's been busy (doing things like attending med school and getting engaged.) Neither of us are big phone talkers these days, so although we still average a couple of emails every day, I couldn't help wondering if we'd remember how to actually, well, hang out together.

As it turned out, we did. Pretty effortlessly. I enjoyed showing off my new home and my town, we went shopping (trying not to freeze solid upon coming into contact with the outside air), watched some TV, and chatted for hours at a time. The next time we see each other will likely be the weekend of her big Indian wedding at the end of August, so it was good to get some quality stress-free time in now.

We also made soup for dinner on Saturday. Carrot and pear soup with basil chiffonade, to be precise. Other interesting ingredients included edamame and clementine juice. It was delicious, and I still have some left. Mmmmm. There's nothing like hot soup when it's below zero outside. God, I can't wait for spring.

Merry

Thursday night was the Little House-themed Christmas party at my place. Very loosely themed, to be honest, but we did make fried apples 'n onions (Almanzo's favorite), and button strings, and I gave out stockings that contained shiny pennies and horehound candy and Christmas candy in pink mosquito bar bags, and a whole orange for everyone! Could one ask for more?

Tonight I finished up the Greek cookies with my mom, and then Allison came over (look for our very first double blog post soon!) and we started a new Christmas tradition. The final cookies we made, theples, are fried in boiling oil. When they were done, it occurred to us that, hey, we still had a pot of hot oil. Why not fry some more random items? We battered up some Candy Cane JoJos, a chocolate chip cookie, a piece of almond bark (that one was a mistake) and two Whoppers. The JoJos were by far the tastiest creations. Hooray for frying! I also later made sweet potato pie with a pecan and brown sugar topping. It overflowed a bit in the oven - fortunately just onto the baking sheet where it was sitting - and it's currently chilling overnight in the fridge. Final verdict on its success will come tomorrow - it could go either way, folks. This concludes the Christmas baking, though I will also be pitching in for Christmas dinner. And I'm planning a healthy New Years pumpkin cheesecake (no, really) made with stuff like Fiber One cereal and fat free cream cheese.

Tomorrow (today, technically) is Christmas Eve. I love Christmas Eve. My responsibilities are pretty much limited to the gym in the morning, 4:00 mass at church, and then hanging out with my family all evening. I wish everyone a safe, warm, and very merry Christmas. Here's hoping it's a funky, funky one too.

Kindergarten recipes

With Christmas just over a week away, many people are busy with holiday baking. I'm always eager to help my readers with tips and tricks to make your lives easier. In that spirit, I'd like to share with you some recipes for this holiday season. They're perfect for family gatherings, Christmas parties, or just fixing a delicious meal or dessert for a cold night. These were originally compiled for Mother's Day, but I'm sharing them now in the hopes of making your holiday season just a little bit brighter and tastier. Don't just thank me - thank Miss Clarke's P.M. kindergarten class of 1986.


MAIN DISHES

Chicken
(recipe from David C.)
Directions:
Put it in boiling water. Turn stove on. What we are going to do is put some barbecue sauce on it. It tastes good. Take out of oven and eat it and nothing else.

Spaghetti
(recipe from Amber J.)
Directions:
On it put sticky cheese and tomato sauce, not tomato juice. Put salt and pepper on it. Well noodles. Then you cook it cause some of it's after you cook. Then you eat it.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
(recipe from Tony C.)
Directions:
First, box of string things. Put in pan. Put sauce in pan. Take hamburger, put sauce over, then it would be done.

Steak
(recipe from Gregory L.)
Directions:
Put steak in oven, has to cook for awhile. Make corn on cob, put butter on it then. I would make more steak. Then make carrot, cut them, take off corn, cook carrots. Then ice cream cones for dessert and chocolate pudding and more steak.

Bacon
(recipe from Marcy B.)
BACON

Chocolate Meat
(recipe from Lia C.)
Ingredients:
-powder
-salt
-pepper
-dough
-sugar
-meat
-chocolate
-chocolate milk
Directions:
First you start with powder and last is salt. You put it in the oven for 10 minutes and the rest of it is second and then you do dough then pepper. You do sugar fourth.


A fine transition to... DESSERTS

Cake
(recipe from Jesse O.)
Ingredients:
-3 candles
-put flowers in there
-dough
-milk
-different kinds of cookies in it
Directions:
Turn knob on right, put in oven. When it buzzes take it out. Candles around cake.

Pie
(recipe from Heidi E.)
Ingredients:
-strawberries
-pumpkin
-berries
Directions:
Make dough, put it in the oven, take it out, eat it.

Chocolate Cake
(recipe from Eric B.)
Ingredients:
-3 scoops of sugar
-chocolate frosting
-some of that chocolate mix in the middle of the whole cake
-with chocolate chips inside
Directions:
First you need a pan and put in the frosting first and then the middle and then spread the frosting on top and then put the chocolate chips in on the top, then bake it 20 minutes.

Apple Pie
(recipe from yours truly)
Ingredients:
-5 apples
-pie crust from the store
-cinnamon
Directions:
Cut the apples up, put them in a bowl, put the pie crust in a pan and put the apples in the pie crust. Sprinkle cinnamon. Put leftover crust (if you have any) over the top of the apples, then put in oven and bake for 20 minutes, take the pie out and eat it all yourself.

Cherry Pie
(recipe from Daniel M.)
Ingredients:
-powder
-knife
-cherry
Directions:
Pour sugar, stick a knife in it, press it down, slice pie. Cut ends of crust, put cherry in, put sugar in it, put more crust, cut square holes, then you eat it.

Cookies
(recipe from Jimmy C.)
Ingredients:
-chocolate chips
Directions:
Make round circle, put chocolate chips in it and put in oven for 6 minutes.

Chocolate Cookies
(recipe from Keith B.)
Ingredients:
-dough
-sugar
-chocolate
Directions:
Bake 'em.


Happy holiday baking, everyone!

Boo

On Thursday night I hosted a pumpkin-carving and cupcake-eating party. It was a good excuse to get some friends together for Halloween fun, try my hand at baking cupcakes, and let people see how the condo is coming along (or meet it for the first time.) I was a bit overzealous with the invitations, but it ended up working out - I was able to scrounge up just enough chairs and work surfaces for everyone. Thank goodness I have a functional basement.

I enjoyed the motivation to decorate a little more extensively than I might otherwise have done, and buy things like cheesy Halloween table cloths and paper plates in preparation. Earlier in the week I visited a local farm to get some fresh honeycrisp apples and cider, and baked the aforementioned cupcakes. I ate one for dinner on Wednesday, and it was delicious. Frosting and decorating them was fun, too. Special thanks to U for the cupcake tips! People scarfed them down on Thursday.

I think a good time was had by my guests - and by me. I did take away some wisdom for future parties, though. First of all, when given the choice between apple cider, beer, tea, and soda, people tend to choose along these lines: 89% beer, 8% apple cider, and 3% other. They also don't eat much popcorn/pretzels/pumpkin seeds/apples. More popular: cupcakes, frosted rice krispie treats, and candy pumpkins. People apparently love sugar. Sugar and beer. Finally, there is probably a better place to store coats than random piles on the living room floor, but I hadn't really thought about it beforehand. Perhaps the guest room - it threw me off by being upstairs. Tricky!

Anyway. It was a fun night, and we wound up with an excellent group of carved pumpkins. Here are some of them:

Cleanup wasn't even bad after everyone went home - everything was spic and span and put away within an hour. I'm already trying to think of a similar activity theme for a Christmas party. Tree trimming? Wreath making?