Christmas Eve Dinner

Well, dinner went off beautifully, except for one thing--we're inundated with snow and sleet (horizontal snow and sleet) high winds, sub-freezing temperatures, and Jennie, Tom, and Alisa are in a motel in Pauls Valley (35 miles south of us). They got as far as they could and ran into white-out so stopped where they were--fortunately they were at a town, and got a motel. They're all good, tucked in and warm for the night. They'll try to finish tomorrow, as the storm should be gone by then. If the highways have re-opened they will make it. In the meantime, Bobby's son, daughter and her family and Mark were here for supper. It was very successful this year. I made the best pork roast in the crock pot--I got the recipe from Amy in Houston. I also roasted a turkey breast with lots of herbs, citrus and aromatics--it had a really good flavor and fine texture. I made parmesan and bacon mashed potatoes (yum!) and roasted veggies (cauliflower, carrots and baby Brussels sprouts). Instead of olive oil, I used the bacon grease with salt and pepper over the veggies--what's not to love about that? Every morsel was eaten of the veggies and the potatoes. I had a really small amount of turkey leftover--maybe enough for a couple of sandwiches, and a few inches of one of the pork tenderloins, with its gravy. Oh yes, and I also made a trifle--angel food cake soaked in simple syrup flavored with vanilla and citrus, strawberries and raspberries, French vanilla pudding and REAL whipped cream. I made a syrup from some strawberries and raspberries and that was served over each individual serving--there is a SMALL amount of that left over--everyone had seconds of that. So, not enough for a repeat tomorrow--when Jennie and her group get here, Calysta is also coming and we'll eat cheesburgers for lunch and aebelskivers for supper. Altogether we had a wonderful day, and expect more tomorrow. Merry Christmas all.

smiling...

Bobby says the most frequent picture of me lately is sitting at my PC smiling. I have pictures (they change daily--sometimes hourly depending on what pictures were posted last) of Avery on my desktop and can't stop smiling at her. What a darling baby! For me, it's like looking down a tube or looking glass--from me to her--it's a long way there, but she's firmly in my heart. I was thinking about my great grandmother and my great granddaughter--such a span--so many generations. I don't have too much to say--too busy smiling--but Merry Christmas to all! Some of my family will be here this year so I'm happy about that, and I'll have a Merry Christmas, also.

New Generation

This is the new generation. Her name is Avery Danielle, and she arrived at 3:55pm CST, weighs 7lb 12oz, and is 19 3/4" long. I heard that Karie was a champ--we're not surprised by that, of course. I see her grandma when I look at her beautiful face. Wow! P.S. -- The word from Austin is that Wilson did a fantastic job supporting Karie during the process. Way to go, Wilson!!

White Wheat

So, I have made a discovery--white wheat! I had a visit from the Relief Society presidency and during our conversation, I had asked about purchasing wheat from the Bishop's Storehouse. She said they bought as a ward frequently, and she mentioned white wheat. As I had never heard of this, I asked about it. The president, Cindy, didn't know a lot, but the counselor she brought with her did, and she liked it. Well, since I wanted to buy some wheat, and it sounded good, I bought 50 pounds of it--besides the price was great--I mean REALLY great--$11.80 for 50 lbs. Well, let me tell you, it's wonderful! The wheat when ground appears about half way between whole wheat flour and white bleached flour in color. The dough it makes is very soft--and I mixed it about half and half to bleached flour. The bread is great--very tender and soft. Bobby's worried because it's very tasty and delightful--he has visions of many pounds added...so, in all, I would recommend this product to anyone who grinds wheat and makes his/her own bread. One more thing. I would like to purchase dried corn next year when I'm in Utah--apparently, here in the heartland where cornbread is the national food, they don't have it! Hopefully someone will help me out and discover where I can buy some.

Day After, or "Nana, why do they call it Black Friday?"

So, on Thanksgiving afternoon, we were watching commercials about "Black Friday" and Calysta thought it should be red and green Friday because it's the beginning of Christmas. Trade, profit and loss, and money-making strategies are difficult to explain to a 6-year old, but she understands shopping. We're going out later today. She is excited to make me something that will go permanently on my Christmas tree, which is about 3 feet tall and covered with stuff my children made me when they were little. She wants to be represented, too. We'll hit the Hobby Lobby first. If we find the right project, we will go directly home to work on it. She's also eager to "put up the tiny tree". I guess we have been making memories and setting traditions without conscious effort. You just never know what memories will stick in your children's heads--or yours either for that matter. Alex called me yesterday to tell me a secret ("I love you, Nana"). Calysta was here and they immediately got on the phone and chattered for about 5 minutes. It was one of the highlights of my day--those two little girls talking and laughing together! I wish all my children and their children a very Merry Christmas season--have fun guys. I also wish this for my other children--those of my brothers--and also their babies--whom I love fiercely and miss terribly.

Thanksgiving prep

Well, I have made the mashed potatoes with bacon and mozzarella and parmesan cheeses (YUM), the dressing with roasted chestnuts (as it turns out they're great--I had never had them before) freshly baked French bread cubes, dried cranberries, sweet Italian sausage and assorted other stuff, both ready for the oven on Thursday after the bird comes out. Mark will be here later to prepare the brine and we'll drown the turkey until Thursday AM when I put it in the oven. Tomorrow I'll prepare the green beans. On Thursday, I'll roast the sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts (quartered long-wise) in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. Oh one more thing, I had bought a container of dried cranberries and put about 2/3 of them in the dressing. Then I reconstituted the remaining 1/3 in cranberry juice with orange rind, orange slices and juice. Made a terrific cranberry sauce--maybe the best ever!! Whew! Tonight I also made beef stew so when Mark comes back after delivering Calysta to her mom, we'll have a nice supper. Then I will sleep very well. G'night all!

Mini-pumpkin Cakes

These were so much fun! The recipes were in the October issue of Southern Living magazine. There are two recipes for the cakes--pumpkin and pumpkin molasses. I used the pumpkin one. The glaze is caramel glaze and the stems/leaves/tendrils are molded caramels. These will be individual desserts or party favors for those at my Thanksgiving Dinner.

November 2009

The month is getting away from me and I haven't written a blog. Eric graduated this month; Jennie will graduate next month. My brother died. I saw the Grand Canyon. Altogether it was a momentous month, not altogether wonderful. I was mentioning a pan I saw in Southern Living magazine, that when I went to the website (www.wilton.com) where they said I could get it, they said it was unavailable. My beautiful and generous daughter-in-law, Amy, told me she had seen the pan at the local Michaels out in Queen Creek. So we ran by and there was one left--and she let me get it! Now I'm on a quest to find her one. It may not be this year, but I'll do it. I'm perturbed that the magazine would advertise something that's unavailable, and I'm sure they and Wilton heard many complaints about it. Maybe that will spur them to make it available again. I'm making the cakes today. I love being retired. I can make whatever plan I choose and barring something unexpected, I can feel assured that I can do it. It's freedom of the First Water. I have been thinking about my great-grandmother lately (for obvious reasons). Her name was Martha Jensen Rasmussen. She's the one who lived next to my grandparent's house who lived next to us. We called her Ma. Her home was a polling place, and she, along with other women ran the polls on every election day. I would go over and watch. I had to sit quietly on the couch and just watch, but it was interesting. When I go to vote these days, I always pay attention to the ladies at the polls and thank them for their work when I leave. One thing: Ma always had coffee and tea served in a beautiful service set, pastries and other goodies for the ladies who were working at her home. Well, my nose is telling me that my cakes are ready to come out of the oven, so I'll go for now.

Momentous news!

Bobby retired yesterday! He had planned to take his return to work authorization to his work and see what needed to be done before returning next Monday (he has been off since late July with back difficulties and surgery, you remember). After he was there for a little while, he just went back to the HR office and told them he was done--do the paperwork, please. He's still a little shaky...

Halloween thoughts

Well, I was wondering why we (my children and I) never made much of Halloween in our family. I tried to remember what I did as a child and I think I had the Big Aha. No one, as long as I can remember, did much for Halloween. When we were really little, Bobby and I had to figure out something to wear--not our regular clothes--usually a gypsy and pirate--we could use mostly regular clothes and do a few extra things to make those costumes OK. I know people did Trick-or-Treating and we did too, but that's about it. No one in any of the three houses we grew up in did any decorating, and there were no scary stories or really anything except foraging for costumes and eating resulting candy. I went to a Halloween costume party once (I must have been around 10 or 11) and there were decorations, games, including bobbing for apples, mothers dressed up as witches and a lot of hilarity, but it was the only time I ever saw that as a child. So, with apologies to my children for our Halloween lack and my particular Halloween lapse I hope you find your First-Holiday-of-the-Season lots of fun and very scary!!