12.14.09
I’m Dreaming of a Crafty Christmas…
I’ve been neglecting my blog the last week or so for one major reason – I’ve been SO busy!
Between cooking – making marshmallows from scratch, and batches and batches of graham crackers, and three or four sets of various breads, and a big Asian-inspired feast complete with boba tea (oh yeah if you make Chinese steamed buns, make sure you put parchment paper on the bottoms or you’ll be cleaning your steamer for a week… I know first-hand!) - and crafting – cards, ornaments, basically anything anyone will let me near – and decorating – our house, the neighbor’s house – and nursing a very sore knee (dangit I have no clue what I did), I’m pooped!
I wanted to share some of my handiwork!
First, the Christmas lights (yes, this is technically mostly my hubby’s handiwork, since the’s the monkey who gets on the top of the ladders)…
On our house:
Big chunky colored lights on the top, net lights on the bushes, and my $5 thrift store vintage light-up Santa that I adore 
And our neighbor’s house:
This is the fourth year we've helped the neighbor across the street with her lights. She really goes all out and we benefit because we get to see our handiwork from this vantage point every night!
And our tree:
We went out to a tree farm in Potrero to pick our tree this year. They didn't have my Noble Fir - only Monterey Pines. It's pretty and it smells good, but this tree is DROOPY now, despite having been cut the day we got it and put it up (we think it's just the type of tree because it's taking in lots of water). Anyway this is the night we put it up.
Last night we went to hubby’s work Christmas party. They do a gift exchange there. One of our gifts was these “Super-Special Star-Shaped S’mores”:
Homemade s'mores kit!
I finally made the marshmallows and graham crackers from Smitten Kitchen (and trust me, it’s totally worth it, they’re amazing!) and we packed them up in little cellophane baggies with skewers and instructions and everything. In one of the baggies, we also put this baby:
S'mores ornament!
I know it’s a pretty horrible photo – to tell you the truth, I’d have sworn I took a better one until I went looking throug my recent photos to put this post up. Now I’m sad because it was a really cool ornament. It was shaped just like the s’mores in the kit – with the same star-shaped cookie cutter – and the “marshmallow” had a thin webbing on it that looked just like it was melty and roasty. I put a lot of work into that thing!
Speaking of putting work into ornaments, here are a few others I’m working on (they’re all Christmas gifts, so if you’re family please look away or at least don’t give away the surprise!):
"Home 2009"woodgrain detail - the mantle has the same woodgrain, made from smooshing and stretching together several colors of brown all at once.
the stockings, hung by the chimney with care (with mini candy canes!)
Mistletoe Mooses
Moose details
Snow Family 200
Snowgirl detail
Teddy bear!
He's beary cute (sorry, I couldn't resist!)
Puppy!
I'm totally proud of this killer bow!
Penguin - I love his body but I'm not totally sold on his eyes...
OK - this one's not a gift. It's for me. Eeyore, because he reminds me of my sweet kitty who died in '05
I love this tail!!!
I’m seriously wishing I’d gotten my start sooner. I’ll barely have time to finish family presents. I’d hoped to start an Etsy shop, because this is really fun and they’re turning out really, really cute. I am having an easier time with every piece (these were not posted in order of when they were finished) and getting details and technique down. Model Magic is kind of a pain in the butt, because it’s very sticky – you can probably see in the moose details shot where her face stuck to his sweater – but it’s also very malleable, incredibly blendable (I mixed most of the subtle colors), and very light. Which means even the big ornaments won’t fall because they are too heavy. The other thing is that it glues well – so even though I’ve had a couple of oopsies (like Eeyore’s ears, that fell right off the day after I made him), they were easily fixed with plain old Elmer’s.
Now on to the cards… We have 84 people on our Christmas card list this year. I don’t even know HOW I got that many people to send cards to!!! A few of them will be getting special cards – parents, siblings, great aunt and uncle, grandma, grandpa - but most will be getting “regular” cards. Except that our regular cards this year – with the exception of the two I gave out when I saw some family members before we were finished making these – will be handmade by us!
We actually made cards in 2007 – we picked up a kit and put the cards together in all sorts of ways – but this year we went one step further. Most of the cards we made this year were from scrapbooking supplies, not a kit (16 of them were kit cards, though). I made about 90% of the cards – hubby was busy and just wasn’t “feeling” it, but he came in and made a few, with his unique creativity, in the end. These are some of my favorites (but don’t feel badly if you don’t get a favorite, because I love them all and every single one is unique):
Joy
Snowball Fight! (the snowballs are bits of glitter glue... I had fun)
Just For You
Do Not Open Until Dec. 25th
And because I’m a total nerd, I took fancy photos of all the cards we made:
Hubby's handmade cards (including one featuring a dog trying to get the cat who climbed the tree and one featuring a cat sitting in front of - but looking like it's being incinerated by - a fireplace)
The "kit" cards - red-and-green style (I actually used a bunch of stickers and embellishments from other sources on these cards, but the cards themselves were colored and are quite a bit smaller)
Blue "kit" cards
A duo of cards featuring my hand-done art. Yeah, there's a reason why there were only two!
"Scrap" cards - where I took bits of paper from other sources and sort of stuck it all together. I really love the one featuring the penguin (on the left).
Dark blue cards
Light blue cards
Muted colors
Red and Green cards
White cards (I made the poinsettia on the right side out of scraps of red cardboard!)
Today’s assignment? Lots of dishes, some laundry, and (hopefully) finishing up the Christmas shopping and wrapping, making the last of the ornaments that we’re planning to ship, getting the Christmas list ready to merge, and finishing signing Christmas cards! Tomorrow we’d like to get the cards and the package to the East Coast sent off… Whew!
12.09.09
I’m still here!
I promise I haven’t gone anywhere… I’ve just been incredibly busy. Between Christmas preparations (and horrible jobs at gift wrapping!) and cooking… I’m kind of pooped. I also tweaked my left knee pretty badly last week (sigh) and so I’ve been kind of gimpy. In addition, the giant storm that hit San Diego on Monday knocked out all our power until Tuesday afternoon. It was strange to walk around and think, “nope, can’t do that”, “nope, can’t do that”… So many things we take for granted (like a microwave, coffee maker, refrigerator, portable heaters, radio, and of course computers and lights). I mostly worked on ornaments yesterday (I have to admit – I went shopping too, to break up the monotony).
Today I was a machine – I did three loads in the dishwasher (sadly, yes, I did need to do three loads in the dishwasher – although with all the cooking I did today I filled up at least one load), three loads of clothes, some random crafting bits and pieces, all the Christmas wrapping that we’ve got, and some more little cleaning jobs (I also managed to break one of our wine glasses – oops). I decided I’d be cooking today too – so I made marshmallows and graham crackers from Smitten Kitchen (yuuuuum, s’mores!), along with her brioche hamburger buns (a lot of work but totally worth it). We had burgers and salad for dinner, and a s’more each for dessert. I wonder if cooking would get old if I did it all day, every day?
12.03.09
Vanilla Bean Pudding
To compliment my chocolate pudding, I decided to attempt a vanilla pudding recipe. I used the same basic ingredients in the same basic formula, but I did reduce the amount of milk, since there was less dry ingredient than the chocolate recipe.
This recipe uses a vanilla bean, mostly because I found them at Costco and I’ve been looking for an excuse to use them. But I know you could use vanilla extract (next time I’ll try it and let you know how much). It lent a really nice fresh vanilla flavor, plus the pretty vanilla bean specks!
So here’s the basic recipe:
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 1 vanilla bean, cut open and scraped
Again, the steps are simple (sorry, I didn’t take photos!):
- Stir together the dry ingredients in a pan.
- Add the milk and stir together. This is also when you add the vanilla scrapings and the halves of the bean.
- Turn on the heat to medium.
- Stir, stir, stir.
- Repeat #4.
- Let the mixture come to a boil and let the cornstarch thicken up the whole thing.
- Remove the vanilla bean halves before you turn off the heat and transfer the whole thing to a bowl for cooling!
This has a nice fresh vanilla flavor and is not too sweet (just perfect!). I didn’t even take a photo of the finished product, because to be honest it’s vanilla pudding, so it’s not terribly appetizing in a photo. I think I’m going to find an excuse to make my grandmother’s zuppa inglese (an Italian dessert similar to a tiramisu, which involves layering ladyfingers with chocolate and vanilla pudding – and those of you who know Italian, please don’t ask… I don’t have the faintest idea why a pudding dessert is called English soup!), and use the fresh pudding!
You could also make a fresh carmel sauce to drizzle over it… It’s killer!
12.01.09
Ditching the Pajamas
I made an observation this afternoon to my husband: I’ve spent less time in pajamas since I’ve been staying home all day than I did when I was working, at least the last year or so of my job. I’d come home and quickly change from my work clothes into PJs. Maybe it was that I didn’t want to get my work clothes all full of cooking? I think it was more because I wanted to “take off” work as much as possible.
I’ve also watched less television and woken up consistently less exhausted. We have been going to bed at a consistenly earlier time, which helps (about 1/2 hour earlier than we were). But I’m also sleeping. Which really helps.
I also went for a walk today – about 3 miles – with my neighbor. First of all, I’ve had more energy all day. I feel awesome (if a bit sore). I know I love walking – when I was doing it all the time I felt like a totally different person. So this is no surprise. But it is refreshing. And second of all, I have said for years I wanted to get to know my neighbor better. I’ve always been so stressed out that even when we’d do things together I don’t think I was a particularly good friend. Now we’re going to go walking a couple of times a week – and I am so excited to finally get to spend time with her!
I’m just feeling so blessed… And enjoying living the kind of life where pajamas are only for sleeping.
11.30.09
Unexpectedly Awesome Body-Positive Images!
I am in love with the Fruit of the Loom “Fit for Me” commercials running right now. Images of sexy, confident women with breasts and hips and tummies and thighs, preparing for and being on dates with gorgeous men who are obviously smitten with them, all set to a sultry song. I love it! Body positivity!!!
Also, we were watching some silly movie on the Hallmark Channel a couple of days ago – with Jonathon Taylor Thomas of all people – and one of the characters was about a size 24. She was described by her husband as “one of the most beautiful women on the planet” or something similar. He groveled at her feet, apologetic about something stupid he’d done. It was one of the most body-positive couplings I’d seen on TV – she looked gorgeous!
YAY! for positive images of beautiful women who are not itty bitty stick figures!!!
11.29.09
Asian-Inspired Shrimp and Chive Dumplings
This recipe came about one day when I was running late from work (yup, it’s that old). I was so hungry and we were going to be making stir fry, but I wanted something quicker. I wanted an appetizer! I had to pick up some of the stir fry ingredients from the store anyway, so I picked up some wonton wrappers too. I started tossing things into the food processor, and the result was incredibly yummy!
Shrimp and Chive Dumplings
- 1/2 pound shrimp (obviously remove tails, shells, etc., but you can either use cooked or uncooked – since these cook thoroughly before you eat them, you should be fine either way)
- 2-4 green onions or one bunch of chives (I know they taste different, but they’re close enough in flavor that you can use either in this recipe)
- 1/4 tsp minced fresh ginger
- 1 large clove garlic
- 1 egg
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- 1 package of wonton or eggroll wrappers (the difference, as far as I can tell, between commercial eggroll and wonton wrappers, is like the difference between spaghetti and linguini – a slightly different shape yields slightly different results, but the flavor is basically the same; wonton wrappers tend to be round. This recipe makes about 36 dumplings)
Toss all ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth. I originally added the egg because nothing was blending up, but I think it created a nice fluffy texture. Fill wonton wrappers. Try to not take a cue from me – I always always overfill them. Steam and serve.
Aren't they pretty? Vibrant green from the chive!
One of the things I discovered with this recipe was that if I carefully placed each dumpling on a covered cookie sheet and put the whole thing into the freezer, I could freeze them individually for later use. After 12 hours, they went into a baggie and straight from the baggie to the steamer. I ate them with just a tiny drizzle of soy sauce.
Baggie
To steamer
To plate! (sorry, I apparently don't have any steadiness in my left hand!)
11.28.09
Tequila-Lime White Enchilada Bake
Yup. You read that right. This is a mish-mash of two of my favorite “Mexican-inspired” recipes: a layered enchilada “pie” (similar to a lasagna) that I decided to make once a long time ago because it is genetically impossible for Flores women and their progeny to roll enchiladas without the tortillas cracking all over the place, and my tequila-lime shrimp recipe.
Hubby and I were feeling a little bit creative and wanted to use up some leftover chicken I’d made earlier that week, so I whipped up a bunch of the veggies from the tequila-lime shrimp, added shredded chicken (and some ground turkey I had in the freezer) and half a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (since hubby said he didn’t want enchilada sauce).
I started with a layer of corn tortillas, put half a can of fat-free refried beans on that layer, topped it with a small amount of cheddar cheese, and more tortillas. Then I added the chicken and veggies mixture and a little more cheese. I repeated the pattern and topped the whole thing off with a touch of cheese (I didn’t even use a whole small package of the shredded stuff, and this served eight – yay for leftovers! – so it’s not as deadly as it sounds!). I baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes, until the cheese got all bubbly and golden.
It was so pretty, and unexpectedly light. The flavors were bright and it was SO good, even after the third day in the fridge.
I know I'm not great at taking these photos... and the color is all off. but you have to admit it still looks yummy! And it tasted even better!
11.27.09
A Quick, Unanticipated Post About a Truly Awesome Restaurant
Dear Tao Restaurant on Adams Avenue,
I know I didn’t try you for months because I so wrongheadedly thought that you were an expensive, pretentious restaurant. Please forgive me. I love you. You’re incredible. With your complimentary salad and ice cream, your perfect boba tea, your incredible mock duck, tasty (tasty!!!) homemade tofu, and the oft-discussed-on-other-blogs-and-actually-what-drew-me-to-you-tonight red chicken, not to mention your friendly staff, huge portions, pricetags under $10, and your wafting scents of Asian goodness from the kitchen, I love you with the heat of a thousand pineapple curries. You have overtaken Bleu Boheme on my list of local restaurants that I adore. And that’s hard to do. Please, don’t change.
Yours Truly, Your New Biggest Fan
Chocolate Pudding that Puts Jello to Shame
Soooo… This is the first in a slew of cooking-related topics I’m planning to post. I’ve been cooking a lot – but not a huge amount – but the real reason I’ve got so many posts coming about cooking is that I’ve been sort of saving them up. Not really on purpose, just because I’ve been busy. So I’ve taken photos and all, just not written up what I did. But I am going to change that… Starting with the most recent endeavor first. Enjoy!
Earlier this week my sister and I made a box of Organic pudding from Henry’s. It was the kind you cook to thicken, and had a nice not-too-sweet flavor. Sort of fresh. I looked at the ingredients: sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, salt. That’s it. No unpronounceables. No additives. No colorings.
And I thought, “I can do that.”
Now I’ll tell you it actually took some doing to find a recipe online. Apparently, like ice cream, most people use eggs in their pudding. Now I’m not a fan of eggs in ice cream, so I didn’t even want to mess around with eggs in my pudding. Plus, I knew it could be done without them. I finally found this recipe but I can never leave well enough alone. I had to tweak it.
Yeah I know – why tweak something you’ve never made? I wanted a dark chocolate flavor and so I figured I’d play around with the cocoa. The nice thing is that since there was no egg in the recipe it was really no big deal to taste it before cooking - no salmonella to worry about, Mom! – and I could make sure I liked it right from the start.
I used:
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 3/4 cups milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
First, you stir the dry ingredients together in a saucepan (you could also package this up and make a pretty little mix… Especially if you make yourself some vanilla sugar… Hmmm…).
Mix together dry ingredients
Then, add the milk and vanilla and stir in. The milk foams a bit. Turn on the heat, to medium.
Stir in the milk and vanilla
Stir vigorously. Keep stirring. Stir some more.
Keep stirring!!!
Finally the stuff will start to boil. And – poof! – the cornstarch does its magic. Test the mixture by sticking a metal spoon into it. If it’s nice and thick, it’ll coat the spoon.
Operation Coat the Spoon: complete!
Turn off the heat and pour into a pretty bowl (or pretty individual bowls). Cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t get a skin and cool in the fridge for 4 hours before serving.
Don't forget the plastic wrap!
Serve.
Dear Autofocus: Can you please stop screwing with me? This is SO much prettier than it looks in the photo! Kthxbye!
YUM!
I’ve been trying really hard to stop relying on boxed mixes – no more boxed cornbread or biscuits, cookies, pancakes, potatoes, or pastas are made in my house (okay, made by me in my house – we do have them around in case hubby is making dinner). Now I’m so excited we can go boxless for pudding! Okay, we don’t eat much pudding… But it’s so much fun to say I can, and tastes SO much better. Seriously, it’s worth the extra five minutes and dirtying a pan, versus the instant Jello! Now, what can I try unboxing next?
11.26.09
Enjoying My Time Off
As if you couldn’t tell from yesterday’s post, I’m enjoying my time off mightily. I’ve cleaned every nook and cranny of the closet in both the bedroom and the office; I’ve reorganized our office bookshelves, my craft drawers, my computer software (which was a huge wreck), our game closet (yes I said game closet – we love board games), all the bathroom cupboards, and my chest of drawers; I’ve repotted my houseplants (a feat easier said than done which dusted the entire kitchen in a layer of potting soil); I’ve dyed my hair a pretty russet color (which I used to do years ago, but haven’t done for a long time); I’ve done load after load of laundry, including pillows and blankets that, as far as I know, have never been washed. I’ve cooked. I’ve done crafts. I started to organize old photos (I got through my first year and a half!) at my parents’ house. I treated myself to an at-home mini spa day yesterday.
I still have a list as long as my arm: scrub the walls and windows, the tile in the bathroom, the kitchen; vacuum; organize the kitchen cabinets and the stuff in the laundry room and the CDs/DVDs/records in the living room; get all the crap out of the shed and go through it/organize it so we can actually USE the shed as a shed; go through my records (bills and stuff) and shred/file; get ready for a yard sale; make Christmas ornaments and Christmas cookies; go through my mp3s and finally get my Zune updated correctly (which I think will take a full reformat); plant a winter garden; decorate for the holidays; start walking (but – yay! – I have a walking buddy now!); finish going through pictures at my parents’ house and scan hundreds of them; maybe I can finally start my wedding album (if I can get all the rest of the photos from friends!!).
Oh yeah and find a job.
I know, it should be higher up on my list. But when you’re given a gift of time – something I really don’t remember having for quite a while – you want to make the most of it. I have been applying places, and actually found a job at UCSD that looks interesting. But I am so happy to be making the most of my time off. I only wish I had some sort of direction I could go in that would ensure my being able to stay home – like an at-home business. Maybe my creativity will burst forth?
Speaking of creativity, I have been having a ton of fun. First, my work with Crayola Model Magic:
A miniature version of a plate of cookies; these are cookies from both of my grandmas - from the top right, Weeta's candy cane cookies, Weeta's Reindeer Turds (yup, we're classy!), Noni's Zuccharini, and Noni's Haystacks. I kind of want to make this plate of actual cookies now.
For perspective, that's a small paper clip.
I’ve also been playing with fabric (although I just realized I can’t share that online because it’s a gift; maybe the next piece I make will be shareable?). And cooking a lot (which is something I’ve been doing – but I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to be super-creative with it). And something that made me super excited: I actually wrote a really excellent scene from a novel last week. You see, this is how I’ve always written – a single scene comes to me and usually doesn’t connect with anything I’ve ever written before; I can’t tell how the story begins or ends, but the scene is pretty awesome. I have about a dozen different “books” going, but only one or maybe two scenes from each. Which is frustrating to say the least. The exciting thing about this scene isn’t how funny it is but the fact that it got written. You see, I haven’t written any scenes in years. I wrote three kids’ books – which I should really look into getting published – but never a scene, and at one point I was writing all the time. I feel like my creativity is just flowing back into my body. I hadn’t realized it was gone, but I sure as heck don’t want to ever let go of it again!
Overall I miss my coworkers. But I am feeling like a new person. Full of energy and enthusiasm. Like myself of old. It’s strange really when I think of what a black cloud I was under. Not only the obvious sleep issues, but a total lack of energy for even longer than I was having trouble getting to sleep (I’d wake up tired and drag myself through the day). And the throttling of my creativity. And the way every bit of my body would hurt – from my digestive system (I haven’t had any weird indigestion or anything either by the way, and a month or two ago I’d be popping Rolaids) to my joints (you guessed it – my knee and ankles are feeling great) to my skin (okay, that’s not 100% clear but it’s definitely better) to my hair (which was falling out at an alarming rate – every time I’d brush I’d get a giant fuzzball) to my weight (I haven’t been watching a single thing I’ve been eating, nor have I been walking as I’d hoped I’d start, but I can tell from the way my clothes are fitting that I’ve dropped at least five pounds this month). I haven’t had to have a single supplement to help alleviate stress or help get to sleep. I haven’t had to rely on coffee to keep me awake (nor have I had a single problem sleeping after drinking a cup of coffee!). I haven’t been grumpy and bitchy and mean to my hubby for no apparent reason. It’s like being in a Rip Van Winkle story, like I was asleep for the last four years. And now I’m ready to start living again!
It’s Thanksgiving. And all the craziness of the last year, culminating in what happened at the end of last month and everything that’s happened since, has me thinking. I’m so thankful for my support system – my friends and family who have listened to me, have loved me, have supported me through everything. I’m thankful that I was given this opportunity – this chance to gain perspective on a life that wasn’t being fully lived. I’m thankful that I can enjoy my time off rather than stress about it (as I succinctly put it earlier this week – when you find you’re less stressed out about having no job than having the one you’ve got, you know it’s better not to have it). I’m thankful that tomorrow is another day.
