Book Tease Tuesday

I came across the blog "Should Be Reading" and the author does a weekly "book tease" meme. Looks fun - I could get into that!

The rules are:

    •    Grab your current read
    •    Open to a random page
    •    Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
    •    BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
    •    Share the title & author, too.

Of course. I've more than one current read going right now, but here's a couple of lines from the book closest to hand:

"No, he thought, pulling on his windbreaker, I've done my grieving. I'll give my memory of Barnabas to the One who sent him in the first place and be glad of the pleasure of having known that good fellow."

~p. 388, At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon

My usual pleasure reading leans toward mysteries and crime procedurals, but Christmas vacation seemed like a good time to revisit Father Tim and the gentle people of the hills around Mitford, as it's been a number of years since I wandered that way.

What are you reading?

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Gingerbread Cookies

Niece and I made a GINORMOUS batch of gingerbread cookies last week. I was really anxious to try decorating them with Royal Icing, hope to achieve something at least approaching the beautiful, bright look of cookies I've seen on various blogs. Well... not so much around here. My Royal Icing pretty much failed, because it was way too thin and I used all the powdered sugar in the house trying to fix it! Oh well, c'est la vie... I did learn something, and I'll try again before too long.

We used a very mild gingerbread recipe that we got from Nephew's math book last year. I know, hilarious, right?! It was in a lesson on fractions, and when Nephew was at that point in the book, he brought it home and actually wanted to bake the cookies, which we did. Both kids like these cookies because they don't have a super-strong taste, and there is no molasses.  If I were choosing, I would make this recipe, as the addition of cloves and fresh nutmeg sounds wonderful.

We used Martha Stewart's Royal Icing, and I really don't think my failure was due to the recipe. Just add the water SLOWLY and start with less than the called-for amount!

Here's the photographic record of our decorating adventures:

 Piles of cookies, waiting to be decorated!

 Niece at work, organizing the colors.

 I did these green ones.

 

Black sprinkle sugar gets into EVERYTHING! I love the penguin cookies, though.

Concentrating intently....

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

52 Weeks/52 Letters

Katy at "The Non-Consumer Advocate" (one of my FAVORITE blogs) has put forth a challenge for 2011: Writing one letter or postcard each week for all 2011. Read more about it HERE.

OK, I am all over this! I used to - like, in the 80s and 90s - write tons of letters and postcards, send packages and treats and surprises and mix tapes and... well, you get the idea (note to a certain reader in Portland: Remember the plastic fish mail?!). 

The correspondence between my mom and me when I was an undergrad in the late 80s was a vital part of my existence, and I ended up with a box of those letters last fall.  I've only looked at a few, as it still makes me miss her too much, but her voice is so strong in those writings that I know they will be a source of comfort and happiness in the future.

So, "IRL" friends and family - expect some letters to come your way this year! And maybe I'll have a chance to connect in a new way to some online friends.

Bring on the snazzy stamps! I'll be reporting back on how it's going, and I'd love to know if you're going to take up pen and paper, too.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Image credit

Menus 12/27/10 - 1/2/11

No, there was no menu posted last week, thanks for your inquiries! :) Given all the vacation activities, baking, treat-making, visiting, etc., we kind of took each day as it came.  Here's some of what we ate, aside from treats:

CrockPot Spoonburgers - this gave us enough for that night's dinner, plus three more meals. I froze the leftovers in quart-sized Ziploc bags, and when we have them again, I'll add a can of corn to the meat mixture to stretch it out.

Chicken fajitas, beef fajitas, and Santa Fe lime rice on Chirstmas Eve at Casa Mamie. Dessert was modified Best Birthday Cupcakes - I used Red Velvet cake mix and cream cheese frosting. We decorated them with Christmas-y sprinkles and sugars. (I made an extra meal-in-a-bag for the freezer of both the chicken and the beef - we'll use at least one of them later in the month.)

Mixed grill - a choice of beef burgers, turkey burgers, giant hot dogs, and/or mahi-mahi fish at GolfDad's on Chirstmas Day.  I contributed Slow Cooked Baked Beans (used Great Northern instead of Navy beans) and No-Bake Cheesecake.

Of course, there have been TONS of treats and snacks and special things baked - I'm working on a separate post on that subject!

Last Monday night, in the midst of the torrential rains that have been slamming into the Intermountain West (after soaking the Pacific coast), we attempted to FINALLY see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."  Needless to say, ALL of The Village lost power RIGHT as the movie was supposed to start. We ended up going out to dinner at Red Robin in the Big Town with the Igor Family (Mr. Igor was even home!).

ANNNNNNNYWAAAAAY, on to this week's menu:


Monday 12/27: Three-Potato Soup with Fresh Rosemary, Rosemary Focaccia, green salad (meatless meal).

Tuesday 12/28: Rosemary Tangerine Chicken (making an extra meal-in-a-bag for the freezer, and we'll have it again this month), toasted baguette, couscous, green salad.  I'm going to slice the chicken before marinating and cook it in the wok, rather than bake it. Then we'll eat it on top of the couscous.

Wednesday 12/29: Hobo Hash, Oatmeal Dinner Rolls (extras will be frozen), green salad.

Thursday 12/30: Southwest-style Turkey Burgers/Healthy Turkey Burgers (making up two pounds of ground turkey, cooking what we need that night for us, the Igor kids, and maybe GolfDad; freezing the remaining uncooked patties for later), Slow Cooked Baked Beans (using Great Northerns instead of Navy beans), green salad.

Friday 12/31: Breakfast for Dinner - Eggnog Pancakes/Buttermilk Pancakes, eggs, seasoned potatoes cooked in the oven and topped with cheese (meatless meal). We may have a collection of people for New Year's Eve dinner, and pancakes/eggs/potatoes are very flexible in terms of quantities!

Saturday 1/1: Chicken Tacos (making an extra meal-in-a-bag for the freezer to have next month), Lime and Cilantro Rice.

Sunday 1/2: GrandmaT's Birthday Dinner - Ham Casserole with corn and broccoli (STILL need to post that recipe!), Buttery Breadsticks, green salad, Banana Cupcakes with Honey Frosting. For those of you keeping track, YES, this is the identical meal GrandmaT requested last year, except for a change in the type of bread. Hey, it's her birthday, she gets to choose!

I have actually planned the weekly menus for ALL of January, but will just post them a week at a time (things can change, so I wouldn't want to get ahead of myself). And, except for fresh produce and some dairy products, we'll be eating entirely from our current pantry/freezer supplies (which were hugely re-stocked last week).

For tons more menu plans, go to www.orgjunkie.com.

Have a great week!


~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Never a dull moment!

This morning I went out to the chest freezer in the garage to get out some more chicken to defrost, because I am working on making some "freezer meals." Tomorrow's dinner is Rosemary Tangerine Chicken and I am going to prep double, cook one meal, and freeze a bag of the chicken and marinade for a dinner later this month. While digging for the chicken breasts, the plastic wading pool, which hangs on a giant hook (along with the snow saucers) right above the freezer, decided to leap off the wall and try to land on my head. Dodged that, but lost my package of chicken behind the freezer. Had to go disturb Mr. Mamie, who is intently writing and testing code, to have him reach back there with his famously giant long arms and retrieve the chicken.

Meanwhile, over at Chez Igor, there is sickness. Mr. Igor woke up yesterday morning puking violently, spent most of the day asleep, then woke again in the late afternoon with a 103.4 fever. By evening Mrs. Igor also had a fever. Great. This morning at 3:30 Mr. Igor got back in his big rig to hit the road, while Mrs. Igor continued with the fever.

This morning GolfDad called. Guess what? Sick. Also, still wounded from the attack his psycho cat launched on Christmas Day. Nevertheless, he hauled himself off to the golf course for his volunteer stint today.  Called again to say the golf course had sent his sick self away, and had suggested that he get the cat wounds looked at. Mrs. Igor had patched him up pretty well after the attack, but things still looked nasty. He went to Instacare where he was prescribed antibiotics, told to not take any more Immodium and to let the gut sickness run its course, and sent home.

After a morning nap, Mrs. Igor woke up and thought her fever had broken. I told her to load up her children and come have lunch here. 30 minutes later she texted me that the vee-yan (as Niece used to pronounce "van") had a dead battery, and did we have her battery charger and jumper cables? Yes, we had the charger, but I though that the cables were in our Pathfinder... which Mr. Igor had driven at 3:30 a.m. to the truck terminal 15 miles away where his semi was parked (his own pick-up being currently out of commission). Miraculously, I found the charger, OUR jumper cables, AND the Igor Family's cables all in one spot in the garage.

Drove the 9/10ths of a mile to Chez Igor and got set up to jump start the vee-yan battery. Discovered that MY battery terminals were covered in ick... I KNOW that Mr. Mamie cleaned those very thoroughly... a year ago. See, here are the pictures to prove it!

Apparently this needs to be done more than once every 12 months!

While the jump-starting was going on, a sad little Niece came out of the house. It seems that she's misplaced her wallet, in which she still had $25 of her Chirstmas money (she's already spent $25 of the $50 she acquired).  All I can say is that I hope the large and perpetually hungry and mischievous Igor dogs haven't eaten it, wallet and all!

Made it home to fix lunch for everyone. Had to disturb Mr. Mamie again to find out where a three-prong extension cord was so that Mr. Igor could charge the battery on the vee-yan. It was under the fallen-down plastic pool.  Searched both refrigerators for the huge package Hebrew National hot dogs GolfDad had given us after Christmas dinner; had to disturb Mr. Mamie AGAIN to find out where he had put them - ah, in the FREEZER of course! In the course of digging them out of the chest freezer it dawned on me that neither the freezer nor the garage refrigerator were running. Had to disturb Mr. Mamie YET AGAIN to report this fact and inquire as to what I should do about this situation. He suggested that perhaps when the package of chicken breasts fell behind the freezer it hit the switch on the power strip that both the fridge and freezer are plugged in to. I managed to poke the power strip with the mop handle and fix the problem. Whew, don't have to worry about hundreds of dollars worth of food spoiling!

Finally got hot dogs cooked under the broiler, heated up leftover Ranch Macaroni and Cheese and got everyone fed (Mr. Mamie was served at his desk - kind of like "Mobile Waiter" or "Dine-One-One" for the work-at-home crowd). GrandmaT came to the rescue and loaned Niece $25 against the collateral of the missing-but-hopefully-found-soon wallet so that Niece could consider further purchases at The Walmartz while her mother shops for groceries. The battery charger did the trick on the vee-yan, so I'm hoping that I won't be called to the parking lot of The Walmartz to rescue Mrs. Igor and the kids.

And now to return to my regularly schedule laundry, menu planning, cooking, and cleaning. WHAT a fun vacation Monday we are having! Oh, did I mention that The Beagle has stolen and hidden one of my new Smart Wool socks (he has a fetish), a fact I discovered when I started the day's laundry minus said sock???


~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Right Now 12-26-10

Time: 7:12 p.m.



In my mug: DietCoke – I got ten 2-liter bottles from the Igor Family as a Christmas present! It’s actually in my insulated red tall plastic cup with the cute snowman on it.



Outside my window: In one direction it’s cold, wet deserty hills; in the other, snow-covered mountains. No stars thanks to the cloud cover.


In my belly: Broiled Hebrew National hot dogs and delicious Ranch Macaroni and cheese.



Beside me: Mr. Mamie on his laptop.



In the fridge: Fajita leftovers, treat leftovers, lots of produce and cheese and milk and tortillas and eggs and….

 

In my ears: A re-run of “NCIS” on USA Network.



On me: Black fleece pants, black cotton camisole, dark turquoise long-sleeve t-shirt, new grey Smart Wool socks (Christmas present!).


Looking forward to: Doing some freezer cooking, sewing, and organizing next week. Hopefully also a hike since today’s got cancelled due to rain.



Grateful for: My lovely Christmas presents, our full pantries and fridges/freezers, and the wonderful time we’ve had with family the last few days.


~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Nearly Wordless Wednesday 12/15/10

(Another) sunrise series - 12/10/10, looking southeast from my backyard.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Menus 12/13/10 - 12/19/10

Dinners this week are on the super-easy side, as I have many things to do as far as finishing holiday cards to mail, finishing treats and cards for school, preparing for a potluck on Tuesday, etc. It's THAT time of year!

Monday 12/13: Spaghetti (whole wheat) and meatballs (delayed from a previous week) - using frozen Costco meatballs and previously-made spaghetti sauce from the freezer. Also green salad and garlic bread using a little baguette from Costco that's in the freezer. Going to make a big batch of turkey-black bean chili and some red velvet mini-cupcakes for a potluck at school tomorrow.

Tuesday 12/14: Mom's Tuna Casserole (using whole wheat rotini), green salad. Going to package up my treats for school, and finish cards for my colleagues. Separate post on the subject of treats coming soon!

Wednesday, 12/15: Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, using already-cooked chicken from the freezer and an organic wild rice blend (NOT the Rice-a-Roni mentioned in the recipe), green salad, Grammie Rolls (from the freezer). Going to put together my small holiday gift bags for my class - a book, a pencil, and some candy (gasp!).

Thursday, 12/16: Shepherd's Pie (from the freezer), green salad. Going to finish putting together the second half of our holiday cards so they can be mailed on Friday (first half going out TODAY!) while watching the Chargers whomp on the 49ers on TV!

Friday, 12/17:  Date night with Mr. Mamie! Where/what we eat is dependent up how I feel after getting a chip and some resultant decay on the back of one of my front teeth repaired. Isn't it lovely that I managed to schedule a dental appointment right after school on the last day before winter vacation??? At least it will be done with and I won't have to go during break! We're planning to FINALLY see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1  - YAY, I am so excited! I have never NOT seen a Harry Potter movie later than the first weekend it opened, so I have been DYING for this opportunity!

Meals for the weekend are up in the air - we need to go major grocery shopping, do some Christmas errands, etc. so I am just going to go with the flow - because I'll be ON VACATION!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Grammie Rolls

When my dad was growing up, he and his brothers came home from school at noon for "dinner," which was the main meal of the day. My granddad owned a dry cleaning business in those days, and the shop was open in the evenings. Also, the three boys were heavily into sports (my dad has high school records in track that still stand!), so their late afternoons/evenings were busy. Supper was light, and ewas eaten late.

My grammie told me that as soon as Granddad and the boys were out of the house, she would clean up from breakfast and get started on dinner preparations so that a substantial hot meal would be ready at noon. A couple of times weekly she would make these dinner rolls. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, or you can shape and bake all of the rolls and freeze them to be reheated as needed.

On my recipe it says that I wrote it down (dictated by Grammie) on December 31, 1992.  Granddad is gone now, but we still have Grammie - almost 100 years old!

Grammie, Mamie, and Laprador (as a puppy-in-arms) in the kitchen, March 1998. On this day we were making waffle fries, which is another story for another post!

Grammie Rolls

• 4-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (2 packages)
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups scalded milk
• 2/3 cup oil
• ¾ cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 2 beaten eggs
• 10 – 11 cups sifted flour

1. Dissolve yeast in one cup warm water; add 1 teaspoon sugar.
2. Add oil, ¾ cup sugar, and salt to scalded milk.  Let cool.  Add eggs when lukewarm.  Add yeast; beat well.
3. Add flour to make soft dough.  Let rest 10 minutes.
4. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic.  Place in greased bowl, cover, and store in fridge. Can be stored about 5 days.
5. Shape rolls 2 hours before baking; let rise.
6. Bake at 425 degrees 10 – 15 minutes

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Six Word Saturday 12/11/10

Holiday cards in progress - feeling jolly!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

How I feel right now....

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Six Word Saturday 12/4/10

Christmas light FAIL.  Bah humbug here.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Nearly Wordless Wednesday 12/1/10

I recently cleared an accumulation of "stuff" off of my nightstand. Here is the rather large pile of hair "thingies" that had piled up there:

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

30 in 30 - check!

With this post, I can say "I did it!" I posted every day during the month of November, thereby succeeding at NaBloPoMo! Of course, I forgot to ever actually register at the NaBoPloMo site, so won't be getting any props there, but this was for my OWN satisfaction anyway.  Hopefully daily posting has become enough of an ingrained habit that I'll be able to continue.


~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Menus 11/29/10 - 12/5/10

Monday, 11/29/10: CrockPot Gravy Pork Chops with egg noodles, green salad, leftover Thanksgiving green beans and Grammie rolls.

Tuesday, 11/30/10: Beef and Barley Skillet (bumped from last week in favor of Shepherd's Pie to use up Thanksgiving mashed potatoes!), green salad.

Wednesday, 12/1/10:  In n' Out or Pollo Loco - Mr. Mamie has a class and I have some errands to do in the Big Town.  GrandmaT can have leftovers or one of our homemade freezer meals; if kids are here GrandmaT can do a casserole from the freezer.

Thursday, 12/2/10: North Dakota Beef Vegetable Soup, Grammie rolls (from the freezer), green salad.

Friday, 12/3/10: Eat at my school holiday party (Mr. Mamie too).

Saturday, 12/4/10: Cheesy Chicken Lasagna, Italian Cheese Bread, green salad.

Sunday, 12/5/10: Mom's Stuffed Bell Peppers (made with ground turkey), Oatmeal Rolls, green salad.

Recipes for Grammie Rolls and Mom's Stuffed Bell Peppers to come - check the "Recipes" tab soon.

See lots more meal plans at www.orgjunkie.com!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)