Also.
I cleaned my oven for the very first time tonight. It smelled something fierce, but oh man my oven is so clean now! Come over and I’ll bake you something and muck it all up again.
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i never thought it was such a bad little tree.
I have to say, it’s starting to feel pretty festive around here–Abbey’s Hannukah party was a potato-pancake filled delight, complete with apple turnovers and a Menorah lighting. I had never lit a Menorah before, you guys! Which was surprising, based on the number of Jewish boyfriends I have had in my twenty-four years, but somehow my timing was never quite right.
And after talking about it for six years, last night we finally made it to the Holiday Pops, which was lovely in its way–a little fusty, maybe, but that’s the risk you run. We bookended the night with drinks at Top of the Hub and the end of the Moe Pope show at Church, then topped the whole thing off with some takeout from Parish. Best part: bed by twelve-thirty. Hi, Christmas season. I am loving you this year.
Tonight: Charlie Brown, Winter Warmers, and Italian mac and cheese.
Hello Monday.
Who has two thumbs and wrote 1400 words of fiction this weekend?
THIS GUY.
I won’t say that the drought is over, but I will say that it drizzled some.
I spent most of the weekend in front of the computer, which means that not very much else got done, although I did get some shopping in. Plus I made some disappointing butternut squash soup that will inevitably sit in the fridge for a week until I finally admit defeat and throw it out. I told Sierra last night that I can’t figure out if I’m bad at making soup, or I just don’t like soup. Further investigation is necessary.
This week: Holiday Pops! Christmas shopping with my favorite ten-year-old. Bread pudding, walnut crescents, slogging through Beloved and trying not to sob openly on the T. Sending and receiving. Peppermint mochas with whipped cream on top of them. And maybe–maybe–some more time with the writing.
Happy holidays, kiddos.
Five Good Things: Random Friday Edition
001. Tom made me sit down and watch TV with him on Wednesday night, even though the sink was completely full of dirty dishes and the counters needed some serious help. “You know how they do that thing with heroin addicts where they lock them in a room and don’t let them have any heroin?” he asked. “Well, we’re going to try that with you and cleaning.” And you know what? It worked. I even fell asleep on the couch.
002. Turning off all the lights except for the tree and cozying up in my slippers, even if I’m more likely to be eating Honey Nut Cheerios out of the box and hollering at Iron Chef (“OYSTER ICE CREAM. Are you watching this? He’s making OYSTER ICE CREAM.”) than demurely sipping some peppermint hot cocoa and listening to Burl Ives.
003. True story: We tried this new place for beers last night and the bartender was rude and condescending and horrible, so before we left we tilted the whole bowl of complementary matches into my purse. Mature? Maybe not. Satisfying? I mean, YES. Plus we needed matches!
004. My Amazon order came yesterday, full of Christmasy excitement and happiness. Nothing says Holiday Time like a giant box full of nifty gifties on the stoop.
005. This weekend: gift-wrapping, cookie-baking, Netflix-watching, contacts-getting, coffee-drinking, apartment-tidying, plus Abbey’s Hannukah party and a trip to the Christmas Pops on Monday night. I am so happy.
Bonus! This song is so nerdy, and I love it so much. I’ve been rocking out to it on Pandora Christmas all week.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5pCDKX1b4g]
my first-world problems, let me show you them
THREE MORE GIANT BUTTERNUT SQUASH.
Plus twenty more pounds of potatoes and onions and a bunch of red things that appear to be giant radishes.
I’m showing you these cookies because I cannot bear to show you all my roots.
I’m going to make muffins. And Sierra says you can make pasta the same way you would make risotto, and because she has never steered me wrong I believe her. Other than that I am at a loss.
Help please.
You know what?
Let’s say the first four people to comment, instead. Ash, I like you too darn much to leave you out.
That’s it for this round of Pay it Forward: pretty ladies, send me your addresses, please, and I’ll get some goodies to you asap.
Awesome Girls, and Paying It Forward
Do you guys know Micaela? I found her blog a few months back and I think she is just so glam. She’s always impeccably styled and posts pictures of Brigitte Bardot on her blog and is a member of the Benevolent Postcard Society, which like…come on. You know you wish you were a member of the Benevolent Postcard Society, too.
Micaela has been lovely and amazing enough to invite me to be a part of the Pay It Forward challenge. Nifty right? The way it works is this: the first three people to comment on this post will get a most excellent present in the mail at some point in the near future (I think the original rules say you’ve got a year to deliver, but I’m going to aim for January)–so long as you promise to post the challenge on your blog and send three presents of your own out there into the world.
You know. Pay it forward. Random acts of kindness. You saw the movie. I saw it on senior retreat in high school and it had all the curses edited out and then we had to tell each other we were sorry for being such wretches all the time, Mean Girls-style.
ANYWAY, so far as I can tell, the presents could be anything at all: a box full of amazing novels from the used book store, a giant jar of honey from the farmer’s market, or a cozy scarf you knit yourself if you are so inclined. COOL RIGHT?
Right.
So let’s play!
hey! that’s as tall as me!
Have you guys seen that commercial? With the lady and the extra tinfoil? Whatever. It just makes me laugh, is all.
Anyway. One thing about December is all I want to do is cook and bake. My oven is cranked up constantly. My range is always lit. It’s kind of satisfying, that feeling of hunkering down and feeding my family (biological and surrogate both), of spending some time on dinners that are maybe a little bit more special than usual.
Lately: super-easy, super-festive butternut squash risotto (thank you Bethany!), a rather amazing pumpkin sauce (maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and a giant white pumpkin that has been sitting on my mantle since Columbus Day) drizzled over ice cream and homemade gingersnaps, salty sweet potato fries, a parmesan spinach artichoke dip, and scallops wrapped in bacon. Holiday food, for sure.
Question: I have a giant pot roast and I want to make it in my crockpot. Can somebody tell me how?
Tonight we’re parking ourselves in front of the Christmas tree with the 5th season of Lost, parmesan-garlic BLTs (featuring Ina’s roasted tomatoes, oh man I am excited) and the last quarter of a chocolate tart I made last night for tree-trimming. While not a bona fide winner (it was just TOO MUCH, plus I used cheap chocolate and you could tell. I feel like Marissa probably would have seen that one coming), it is a mother effing chocolate tart and I’m not about to let it go to waste.
Tomorrow: a giveaway of sorts! My very first. Amazing, yes? I kind of think so. Come by and have a look, in any case.
Right now: my boyfriend’s home. I gotta go.
Also.
Everyone say hi to my dad, new (and charmingly enthusiastic) reader of this blog.
My family is rather excellent.
Derailed.
Got sent home from work on Friday with something that was not quite but sure resembled Swine. Seventy-two hours, an entire bottle of TheraFlu, and many long naps later, I’m feeling way less like a pale, sweaty wretch–but I’d be lying if I said whatever nastiness got in there hadn’t slowed me down a little bit. In the long run, it was probably a good thing: I tend to get kind of rushed and shrill this time of year. Nice to slow down, watch copious amounts of Food Network, and let Tom bring me juice and trashy magazines.
I missed the first snow of the season entirely (“Real snow?” I wailed, when Tom got home from work on Saturday frozen and soaking wet), but I did manage to tend to some holiday business, including card-making, tree-finding (!!), and getting the last of the root vegetables into various bellies (more on that later)–just in time for our next CSA pickup on Tuesday.
This week: Monday Funday tree trimming, a couple of overdue catchup lunches and dinners, finally finishing the Butler, sage and walnut quickbreads, and a long-belated birthday cake for A. Plus a nap. Or two. Or three.