My holiday vacation plans consist entirely of this: house-sit at my in-law’s house, watch non-child programming on their cable tv, eat, send Arwyn to the basement to play with Grandma’s plethora of toys, come home occasionally to shower and get food (they aren’t so big on the stocking of provisions down there). Food and tv. That’s really all I require.
Archive for December, 2007
Merry and Bright
I’m not forseeing a whole lot of time for much in the next few days other than baking, eating, and opening gifts. Oh, and probably some cursing coming from the garage as we put together Arwyn’s new bed. And by “we”, I mean Bubby. So, I’m taking this opportunity in the calm before the storm to wish you all a wonderful, happy, peaceful holiday. I hope you all get your Christmas wishes, whatever those may be.
This is Why I Don’t Make Bread
Lest you think me some sort of domestic diva, I decided to share my failure, as well as my success, in the kitchen. The no-knead bread that everyone raves about did not turn out. It all started out innocently enough. I researched and read a lot before making this bread. I printed out reader’s comments and HIGHLIGHTED the ones I thought would work the best. (Anal much?) I’m thinking being well-prepared has diddley squat to do with being able to make good bread.
I wanted the bread to be ready for dinner when my sister was here last week, so I started it the day before. I let it rise for 18 hours, but it did nothing. It didn’t raise at all, not even a little bit. Maybe it was too cold in my kitchen? Maybe the bread gods weren’t feeling very generous that day? Whatever it was, not a darn thing happened in those 18 hours, nor the 3 hours of the second rise. I decided to bake it anyway, but I had some Sister Schubert rolls on hand as back-up that we had with dinner.
It looks ok, but I think it is supposed to be a lot taller than this. I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t tell you what it tastes like. I think I’ll take it to my in-laws. They’ll eat anything and enjoy being my guinea pigs (I think). I will stick with this recipe from now on. It was way easier, a lot less messy, and turned out well. Note to anyone who experiments with this: do not, I repeat DO NOT throw your dough-covered towel (or pillowcase) in the wash with a load of bath towels. You will have gooey, baked on dough boogers everywhere and nobody wants that, now do they?
The chicken and dumplings, however, were pretty darn good. I forgot to take any pictures during the actual making, so here is the finished product. Drool.
My kitchen was absolutely covered in flour after all of this cooking (and a lot of “helping” from Arwyn). It’s a good thing I have the world’s most fabulous sister who drove two hours to help me clean my house for my Christmas present. Aunt Banana is the best!
We’re Going on a Trip in our Favorite Rocketship…
Guess what we did on Saturday? Here’s a little hint:
I think she liked it.
Hodgepodge
How have I lived this long without knowing that Honeycrisp apples existed? They are my new favorite. Munch munch munch. I’m not cooking, just munching! I’m eating out tonight. I have a date with my buddy, BJ. (Yes, I have to have a snack an hour and a half before I go out to eat. Disgusting, isn’t it?) But I will be making homemade chicken & dumplings with my sister tomorrow night and there will be pictures to follow. So, brace yourselves.
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There was an incident this week where I applied something I heard in the sermon at church on Sunday to an event in my daily life and I couldn’t have been more shocked about that. Don’t get me wrong, I love your sermons, Rev, but they don’t normally come in handy for answering a three year old’s four million questions, which is the gist of my daily existence. We were walking out to the car and a moth was flying around the garage light. Arwyn was trying to catch it and asked “Who eats bugs?” I replied the very first, possibly sarcastic, thing that popped into my head, “John the Baptist.” Then comes the dreaded follow-up question, “Why does John the Baptist eat bugs?” I replied, “He just does.” And then we talked about frogs eating flies for awhile before we ventured on to 97 other questions in the 2 minute car ride to Grandma’s house. Maybe you had to be part of our Sunday school group to fully appreciate the locust and honey reference, but I was thankful to have a response other than “I don’t know.”
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And now, I’ll leave you with this riddle:
Q: What is the difference between boogers and broccoli?
A: Kids won’t eat broccoli.
Bwa, ha, ha, ha, ha!
The Making of a Christmas Card
Bubby borrowed a very expensive camera for our holiday photo shoot. Miss A became slightly obsessed with the camera while it was in our house over the weekend. She set up still lifes (lives?) in her room and on the dining room table just like Daddy. She begged repeatedly to take pictures. I’m sure we have a lot of hysterical outtakes. Pictures taken by a three year old are always great, aren’t they?
Now she is asking for a camera for Christmas. Maybe we have a future Annie Leibovitz on our hands?
Have to foster the arts!
Just Call Me Martha
Here’s what a three hour afternoon nap will get you: eating freshly baked bread at 10 pm. I realized that I had next to nothing to take to a lunch get-together tomorrow and decided to whip up a loaf of bread. I’ve always been kind of scared of making bread, but this recipe is so easy. I might even be brave enough to attempt this one as well.
The dough was super sticky, almost runny, which frightened me just a little. But as you can see, it turned out beautifully and tasted quite good. Especially with a dab of Aunt K’s homemade black raspberry jelly on top. It made for an excellent pre-bed snack. Did I mention I eat approximately six meals a day now? So expect a lot of cooking and baking from here on out (You’ve been warned, KC!)
This bread has a soft interior, which I like, but if you like your bread crispy you might not prefer. The second piece I tried (what? I had to make sure it was ok to take tomorrow!) had a slightly yeasty taste, which reminded me of beer. Seeing as how this will be as close as I get to a beer over the next few months, I don’t consider that a bad thing. This could be my new addiction. Who wants bread for Christmas? Four out of five fruits.
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What Would Life Be Like Without YouTube?
A really great holiday medley. Thanks, Karen for sharing the link!
Again with the Freezer Paper Stencil
Two holiday shirts that I finally finished up this morning. The ironing board has been living in the dining room for too long. It’s starting to detract a bit from the Christmas decorations. Maybe she can actually wear these a few times before Christmas. The penguin technically isn’t Christmasy, so we’ll get more wear out of that one.
If you thought I wasn’t on the ball, then take a look at these. Two short-sleeved shirts for next year! One is my take on the izod and the other is some sort of hedgehog type creature. I’m not too sure about it, but it can always be a play outside shirt or a paint shirt. But that would imply that we actually have clothes designated for those two activities, which would be false.
