All I Wanted for Christmas...

      This Christmas was the first one that I haven't spent with immediate family members, since more than half of them were in India for a wedding. It was also the first time that I haven't taken off most of the week between Christmas and New Year's. Somehow I decided that this meant I was taking Christmas off--I only bought presents for my oldest niece and nephew (I figured that the youngest 2, both under 3 months, wouldn't care if I didn't get them anything.), I didn't make treats for anyone, I only sent out 7 cards.

     My aunt invited me to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with her family. Since they live around the corner & I love to hang out with them, this seemed like the best idea. She said that they would make a stocking for me, and even get me presents. She asked what I wanted. 
     I have a habit of asking for very practical presents. I think this may be because I try very hard not to want things, so that I won't spend too much money. "I want my own toilet plunger," I told her. This was the first thing that had come to mind. "The kind with the accordion bellows." (This request may seem a little less strange if you know that I live in a house with 6 other people. There are 3 bathrooms, and only one toilet plunger, which is kept in a storage room in the basement. I don't need to use it that often, but when I do need it, running downstairs to get it is no fun.) I did manage to think of a few other things, including these:

A sandwich-shaped case and dinosaur sandwich cutter.

I've enjoyed many grilled cheese sandwiches shaped liked dinosaurs this last month. :)

Cleansing & Rebirth

What a pretty spring soap that A gave us. Almost too pretty to use!

In my planner on the month of April was a cryptic note: "Make lamb cake for Easter." I have no memory of what prompted me to jot this idea down, or what form exactly a lamb cake should take. It seemed like a nice idea, though, so I decided to make one.

Coconut flakes seemed essential. Maybe only because of the lingering memory of this cake from February, edged in coconut flakes, in honor of my roommate's grandmother's birthday. If she was still alive she'd be 100.

Fortunately R stopped me from cutting into the unfrosted cake thinking it was a pan of cornbread before I'd done too much damage. (This was before it was heart shaped.)

I was planning to cut a sheet cake into the shape of a lamb and frost it in white with coconut. But then I had an even better idea: lamb cookies! My mother makes coconut macaroons with egg whites, sugar, and coconut flakes. They would be perfect as fluffy little lambs. I imagined sliced almonds as their faces with a chocolate chip eye and black licorice whips for the legs and tail.

They didn't quite turn out as I planned. The almonds were too small to have chocolate chips as the eyes, so I made the chocolate chips the tails. The licorice didn't stick to the cookies after baking, I was afraid to put it in before baking for fear of it burning. But with a little imagination they sort of resembled sheep, and they tasted good, which is what really matters.

I'd invited A & her family, T, K, and L over for Easter dinner. R, K and I spent Sat evening doing most of the cooking so that we could just relax on Sunday. Then we ordered pizza and played Ticket to Ride. The dinner was nice, very good company. J made bread, T made a green salad and L & M made a fruit salad. I was too tired to do much but enjoy the food and conversation, but I think everyone had a good time. I meant to take photos to document the people in my life, but then it seemed like it would change the dynamic too much. I do wish that I'd managed to think of an Easter activity. But our church meeting was nice--I sang two numbers with the choir, and there were a couple numbers by the children and a piano solo. There were 2 short talks about Easter and spring.


Since I didn't manage to take any photos of people at Easter, here is a photo from February of A & J's darling children. I love having them come over and going to visit them. They were here for Easter. Notice my photos of other loved ones in the background.

Here's my mother's recipe, complete with her notes:

Coconut Macaroons

2 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

In a mixing bowl beat egg whites and vanilla till soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add sugar, beating till stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Fold in coconut. Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 325 degree oven about 20 minutes or till edges are lightly browned. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Makes about 30. (It only made about 15 for me. I was impatient and didn't beat the sugar and egg whites until stiff, though. I could also have made them smaller)

It's a good recipe for Passover 'cause there is no leavening. Also gluten free.

Variations: I have made them with chocolate chips instead of (could be with) the coconut, tinted them green and added a little peppermint extract, added 1 tbs lemon juice instead of vanilla and put grated lemon peel with the coconut. I have never tried the nutty version where you add 1/2 cups toasted almonds, pecans or hazelnuts with the coconut but it sounds delicious.

I also saw a recipe where you shape them like birds' nests and then put jelly beans in them for the "eggs."

Pumkin Pie! Pumpkin Pie!

I love Thanksgiving. I love that it's about family and gratitude, that there are special foods that we always have, that it's not commercialized.

Did you know that Thanksgiving was instituted as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, during the civil war? Here's a link to his proclamation:

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm

Growing up, Thanksgiving was my dad's holiday. He usually made the food, with a little help from us kids, and my mom got the morning off. My brothers made mashed potatoes, jello, and rolls. I always wanted to make the pies--using Libby's pumpkin pie mix and frozen pie crusts. (Once we gave a pie to our neighbors across the street, and he complemented the pie crust, saying that it was better than many grown woman's that he'd had. I had to tell him that it was store bought. Someday I would like to master pie crusts and be a real woman.) We'd cook all morning, eat in the early afternoon, and then watch movies and play games, going back for more food as we felt like it. There is also a important family story about my sister having to do with Thanksgiving. My mother points to this incident as the beginning of my sister's vegetarianism, at age 4. She took one look at the turkey and announced "I don't eat dragon."

During college, I spent many Thanksgivings at my aunt & uncle's, driving up to their house with some of their friends who lived near me. We'd often have the main meal at their house, then pack up the leftovers and spend the remainder of the weekend camping in the mountains, in a cabin with some electricity and a wood stove. We'd go hiking and play in the snow.

This year I went to spend Thanksgiving with many members of my extended family & one of my brothers. My aunt and my grandmother divided up the cooking. My aunt and her family made the pies and rolls, and my grandmother made most of the rest. I decided to make a cranberry chutney from my good friend/adopted cousin's family, where I spent Thanksgiving a couple years ago. I also asked my dad for his stuffing recipe, he makes his own every year that is unlike any that I've had elsewhere, and I missed it. It turns out that it's based on what his grandmother used to make, so it's a family tradition that I can now carry on.

We had a plethora of pies--my aunt, uncle, and cousins made peach, apple, cherry, lemon meringue, banana creme, pumpkin, and a fruit tart! Here's photos of them working. Each child got to roll out at least one crust. (So they are real children!):




Zesting a lemon



preparing fruit for the fruit tart




the key to a good photo is to hold something right in front of your face.


my helper with the cranberry chutney. I love blenders!


Peach pie, prior to baking.


cherry! sweet, not sour.


mini gluten-free pies & pumpkin.


2 different apple--crust and crumb topping


can you tell which dressing I made?


Here's the recipe for the cranberry chutney, thanks to Kim!


-1 LB. Cranberries
-1 unpeeled apple
-1 whole orange (skin and all)
-2 C. Sugar
-1 small can crushed pineapple
-handful of pecans


grind cranb. apples and orange and pecans
add pineapple and sugar
stir alottt
make well in advance
refrigerate

I didn't add all of the sugar, though.

I'd give you the stuffing recipe, but I'd probably have
to kill you. ;) Just kidding, but I think I'll keep it a
family secret for now.

Everyday is Halloween at our house

That's what my dad used to tell his 7th grade students, anyway. At the photo studio where I work, we do a costume contest every year at Halloween where we photograph kids and adults from the neighborhood in costume, for free. This is the 3rd year that we've done it. We started just after I started working there. My job is to sit outside and get people's names, a description of their costume (so that we can figure out the names of the winners) and their contact info. It's fun to see everyone's costumes, but by the end of the night I'm usually exhausted and a little grouchy from dealing with the line.

Here's my costume from this year:


I'm a jellyfish, if you can't tell. (My boss's guess was a rainbow rain. Probably since last year's costume was more conceptual.) I did tell one parent that asked what I was that I was feeling more like the victim of a jellyfish.

Last year's:


Most who ventured a guess said I was a dryer. My title was "the place where all the missing socks go." My headband and collar are socks as well.

Our first year:


I'm supposed to be a sunflower. I made the headband myself. The blue sweater is the sky, the green shirt the leaves and stem. Unfortunately, the wire I put in the leaves wasn't that strong, so they flopped down. One little boy exclaimed, "Look! She's a banana peel!"