Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Looking Back, Part II

As I said yesterday, though I didn’t win the Nobel Prize for bringing about world peace, I think overall 2013 was a successful year for me. I had a couple of firsts and we experienced an amazing medical triumph.

This past year was the first time that Bill and I spent the entire winter in Arizona. Prior to 2013, we would come and go, perhaps staying for a couple of weeks at a shot (well, except for the time my body decided it needed to spend an entire month in the hospital, but it all turned out okay and that’s a blog post for another time). This past year we decided that since we both hate cold and snow, and since we have half ownership in a house in Arizona, why not bypass the bulk of the cold weather and enjoy the desert! I missed my family in Colorado, but overall it was one of the best decisions we ever made. We enjoyed lovely weather (mostly) and, since when God closes a door He opens a window, I was able to enjoy my brother and sister, nieces and nephews, and many, many great nieces and nephews. That’s why we’re doing it again this year!

March and April are probably the nicest months in the Valley of the Sun (though I have been enjoying the 70 degree days we have been having since we arrived a few days ago). My sister Bec and I did a fair amount of hiking in March 2013. In early April, my sister Jen arrived for a visit, and the three of us went for a walk one nice day. We were wearing flip flops since the decision to walk was last minute, and we were only going to walk a short distance on an asphalt path. At some point, we decided to leave the safe asphalt sidewalk and walk on a little dirt path down into the desert a bit. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. What could possibly go awry? We did indeed enjoy our little
deviation as it was very scenic, up until the time that we heard the sound of a rattlesnake that had tired of his winter nap and was out and about earlier than most. Now, the rattlesnake made his characteristic noise in order to warn us of his presence. Upon hearing the warning, one is supposed to quietly back away and leave it far behind you. Unfortunately, there was no quiet backing away as far as I was concerned. I let out a loud yelp and made a swift and noisy exit directly into a bed of cacti. Remember the flip flops? I had cactus needles everywhere in my foot and on my flip flops. Oy vey. Bec, who has gotten me out of series of mishaps over the years, spent the next 15 minutes carefully pulling needles out of my feet as the rattler slithered off. My first rattlesnake sighting.

Undoubtedly the best thing that happened to us in 2013 was Bill’s reaction to a new medication he began taking in November. As of his last appointment two weeks ago, he is showing zero, zip, zilch symptoms of Parkinson’s. The doctor told him she has rarely seen such a quick and thorough reaction to that medication. He isn’t cured, and will need to increase his dose as time goes on, but as of now, we are enjoying his symptom-free life! God is good.

And speaking of good (it’s a terrible segue, I know), my spa experience yesterday was amazing, and another first. I have never been to an all-day spa. The Aji Spa in Chandler is beautiful, and I left feeling relaxed and happy. We checked in, were given our soft and cuddly robes, and enjoyed a 75 minute massage (including a full 20 minutes focusing only on my feet – heaven). We ate a healthy and unbelieveably delicious lunch (who knew it could be both?) along with our “tranquility cocktail.”
We spent the remainder of the day floating in the pool, enjoying the Jacuzzi, and relaxing in the sun enjoying each other’s company. Awesome.

All and all, it was a good day to top off a wonderful year.


Tranquility Cocktail

Ingredients
1 oz. Citron vodka
1 oz. pomegranate liqueur
Cranberry juice
Ginger beer

Process
Pour the vodka and liqueur into a highball glass over ice. Fill to about an inch from the rim, then top off with a splash of ginger beer. Serve with a lime, lemon, or orange slice.

Nana's Note: The cocktail server told me the ingredients, but not the amounts. Those are a guess. I would guess you could use ginger ale instead of ginger beer. It was so refreshing and delicious!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Looking Back, Part I

Whew. We are looking at the final couple of days of 2013, and as always, it seems to have gone by quickly.

Bill and I left Denver on Christmas Day after spending the final few days before we left with three-fourths of our children (the other living in Vermont). We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner with the oldest, Allen, at McCormick and Schmicks, and felt like real grown-ups as we didn’t eat until 7:30.

Christmas morning we got into our already-packed car and headed south. Bill’s engineering mind kicks into full gear when he packs a car. He utilizes every square inch of the trunk and the back seat, leaving just enough room for our goodie bag.

The roads Christmas Day were very quiet. We listened to Christmas music as we headed towards our first stop – Albuquerque. We checked into the hotel early evening where I’m pretty darn sure we were the only guests. (Thankfully I didn't see Norman Bates.) We have this down to a science. We always pack one little bag for just those things that we need for overnight – pajamas, meds, toothbrush, and toothpaste. This time we also had a bag with our Christmas dinner.

I knew there would be no restaurants open Christmas night, so, at Bill’s suggestion, I packed a picnic reminiscent of those we had when we traveled through Europe a few years ago. I had salami and prosciutto, several cheeses, some vegetables, and of course, a bottle of wine. It made for a nice little dinner.

I’m always nostalgic at saying goodbye to one year and looking forward to the next. First of all, it means we are getting older and so are our kids and grandkids. That’s the cycle of life, of course. But I also always wonder if I accomplished anything important during the past year, or was I just a slug, using God’s resources and breathing God’s air and not contributing a single thing.

As I thought about 2013, I finally concluded that I didn’t accomplish anything in the finding-a-cure-for-cancer type of way, but I certainly feel like it was a good year, full of joy and family (which are really one in the same for me).

Here are a couple of things that were important to me in 2013:

Largely because of my job, I was able to travel around the United States a great deal. There really aren’t many major cities that I haven’t been able to visit. But my job (or my life in general) had never allowed me the opportunity to visit Savannah, Georgia, and that was definitely on my bucket list. This year Bill and I spent a week with my two sisters on Hilton Head Island, and we visited Savannah. What a beautiful city and what a lot of fun we had! We even had the chance to dine at Lady and Sons Restaurant, which was definitely a bucket list item (my bucket list is pretty simple, my friends).

I started this blog. I have always loved to write, but while my job involved a lot of writing, it was all business writing, and largely boring. Approximately 22,000 new widgets will be produced this year as a result of a stronger commitment to the environment, it was announced today by CEO Joe Schmoe at a press conference announcing new widget production. And so forth. I wanted to enjoy writing, and this blog provides that enjoyment. I hope to continue to grow and reach more people, and welcome any and all feedback.

This year at Thanksgiving, my whole family was together – a somewhat rare occurrence. Our daughter and family spent the week in Denver, and the visit was culminated by a
joyous Thanksgiving dinner. I showed the family photo the other day to one of my nieces. She looked at it, shook her head in amazement and said, “Aunt Kris, I can’t believe you have that family when you just had one kid.” True, true, true. I am so blessed.

Today I am spending the day with my two sisters at a fancy, dancy spa (where I will likely have to unveil my bare, oh-so-white legs). This is a continuance of my birthday celebration, as it is a gift from my sister Bec. Fodder for my blog, no doubt.

I will reminisce about 2013 more tomorrow.

Last night we watched the Call the Midwife holiday special, and in its honor, I fixed Shepherd’s Pie – a British specialty. Here is the recipe from Simply Recipes.

Easy Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients
1-1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1-2 c. vegetables (carrots, corn, peas)
1-1/2 – 2 lbs. potatoes (3 big ones)
8 T. butter
½ c. beef broth
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
Salt, pepper, seasonings of choice

Process
Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes). While potatoes are cooking, melt 4 T. butter in large frying pan. Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat, about 10 minutes. If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and half a cup of beef broth. Cook uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes.

Mash the potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter; season to taste.

Place beef and vegetable mix into a baking dish. Spread mashed potatoes over the top. Bake in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minute if necessary to brown.

Nana’s Notes: I did not make mashed potatoes; instead, I bought the already packaged kind. Very easy. I used fresh carrots that I diced and frozen corn. The Call the Midwife special was awesome!

Friday, December 27, 2013

Friday Book Whimsy: A Land More Kind Than Home

I love southern fiction, particularly when the stories take place in the Appalachian Mountains. I don’t know why, though my suspicion has always been that I lived in the south in some previous life. There seems to be a couple of varieties of southern literature – the kind with loveable, quirky characters where the plots often involve cooking and food; and the sinister, gothic stories of the darker side of life in the valleys of the mountains where families have lived for a couple of hundred years.

A Land More Kind than Home, by Wiley Cash, falls into the latter category.

There was absolutely nothing uplifting about this dark story of a 14-year-old boy, mute since birth, who dies during a “healing service” in the church attended by his mother. The members of River Road Church of Christ in Signs Following – led by Pastor Carson Chambliss – handle snakes and lay on hands based on the Gospel of Mark 16: 17-18.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongue; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

The story is narrated by three very different characters. Adelaide Lyle is an elderly woman who lived all of her life in the area where this book takes place – the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. She was a member of this church for a very long time, and watched with sadness as it changed from a comfortable place of worship to a place where it no longer seemed Jesus lived. She alone, it seems, was able to see the evil playing out in the new church by Pastor Chambliss. And when an elderly woman dies from snakebite and it appears the church covers up her death, Addie takes it upon herself to remove the children from the church. She says on more than one occasion that looking into the eyes of Chambliss is looking at pure evil. Her words come to fruition.

Jess Hall is the 9-year-old brother of Stump (the boy who is killed). He believes actions he takes with his best friend ultimately result in his beloved brother’s death. Unfortunately, for all intents and purposes, he is correct. Watching the story play out through a 9-year-old’s eyes was fascinating. In particular, watching the development of relationships with his parents and with his grandfather make up the thrust of the story.

Finally, Sheriff Clem Barefield is called upon to investigate the boy’s death. Sheriff Barefield’s own son died as a result of negligent actions by Jess and Stump’s grandfather many years before. Barefield must put aside his feelings about Jimmy Hall (the grandfather) to fairly investigate the boy’s death.

The novel is really about relationships, and about the face of pure, unadulterated evil. The conclusion is imminently uncomfortable, but oddly satisfying. Cash’s writing (it is a debut novel) is extraordinary. Cash offers no relief from the dark story, yet that same story is very compelling. It would be a great novel for a book club discussion.

I recommend the book.


Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A Savior is Born

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.

Luke 2:8-14 New American Bible


I will spend the next few days driving and celebrating the holiday with my family. See you in a few days.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Grinch

Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!
Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!
Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Whos' feast!
He took the Who-pudding! He took the roast beast!
He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash.
Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!
Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.
"And NOW!" grinned the Grinch, "I will stuff up the tree!" – From How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss


Well, today is Christmas Eve Day, and I feel like the Grinch. I’m going to spend much of the day taking down Christmas.

I am undecorating the house, of course, because we are leaving very early tomorrow for our drive to Arizona for the winter. I will start the day by cleaning out the refrigerator, throwing out every last thing that won’t last until we get back. Just like the Grinch. Then I will remove the ornaments and stuff the tree up into the attic (again, similar to the actions of the Grinch).

The winter of 2013 was the first in which we spent the entire first four months of the year in Arizona. Up until then, we had spent a few weeks here and there. Last year we committed. So taking down decorations Christmas Eve, packing up the car, and leaving Christmas Day is our new tradition. As long as the weather cooperates. This year it will.

As I approached Christmas Eve this year, I recalled a funny Christmas Eve tradition we had when I was a child. For some years, Santa came Christmas Eve night while we slept, just as tradition dictates. But at some point my mom and dad, for reasons unclear, decided Santa should come Christmas Eve before we went to bed. So, around 5 o’clock, we would pile into our car to drive around town and look at the Christmas light displays. Every year, Dad would have a reason to go back into our house, where he would spend a bit of time taking all of the presents that he and Mom had hidden in their bedroom and putting them under the Christmas tree. He would come out looking very innocent, and we equally innocently never suspected a thing. We would spend about an hour looking at lights, and would return to find that Santa had come to our house when we were gone!

I asked Bill yesterday if he remembers the feeling of coming into the living room and seeing that Santa had come. Despite his 71 years of life, he admitted that he remembers that feeling as if it were yesterday. What magic. He also shared that he remembers being 30-something and putting together bikes or game tables or scooters in his pajamas at 2 o’clock in the morning. “And there were always screws missing,” he recalled. No magic there.

Last night I made my own version of a Who Feast and our son and his family came for dinner and gift-opening. And a feast it was. Racks of lamb, shredded brussel sprouts with pine nuts and bacon, mashed potatoes, cream puffs for dessert. Yum. Sent the Who Feast leftovers home with the kids.

And gifts – dolls and pjs and sock monkeys and ornaments – lots of happy faces. Then goodbye to more grandchildren until we see them again.

Bill and I will be busy packing up our things today for our time in Arizona. Sad to say goodbye to this home, but happy to say hello to our other home.

Hope Santa finds his way to your house, and here is my recipe for the delicious brussel sprouts. Try them even if you think you don’t like brussel sprouts. They’re delicious.

Shredded Brussel Sprouts (from allrecipes)

Ingredients
½ lb. sliced bacon
¼ c. butter
2/3 c. pine nuts
2 lbs. Brussels sprouts, cored and shredded
3 green onions, minced
1/2 t. seasoning salt
Pepper to taste

Process
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain, reserving 3 t. grease, crumble and set aside.

In the same skillet, melt butter in with reserved bacon grease over medium heat. Add pine nuts and cook, stirring, until browned. Add Brussels sprouts and green onions to the pan, and season with seasoning salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until sprouts are wilted and tender, 10 – 15 min. Stir in crumbled bacon just before serving.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Bake me a Christmas memory

I have mentioned on very many occasions that my father (and my grandfather before him) was a baker. He owned a bakery for many years – 20-some years in Nebraska and then five more years in Leadville, Colorado. Because of all the holiday baking I have been doing, I have been thinking about the bakery and what we had to offer in the way of holiday treats at Gloor’s Bakery.

As I thought about it, what I came to realize is that in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, at least in Columbus, Nebraska, it wasn’t "Everything-Christmas" in the same way that it is nowadays in the retail world. My dad definitely had a few things that he only offered at Christmastime – almond bark and peppermint bark come immediately to my mind – but he didn’t even sprinkle red and green sugar on top of a cake donut for heaven’s sake. And apparently no one expected him to.

I do recall that he made a butter cookie – were they spritz cookies? He put the dough in a pastry bag with a flower tip and squirted them out onto the pan, where they were sprinkled with sugar. I’m pretty sure that was it as far as Christmas cookies went.

But having blabbered on and on about all of this, I have to say that there was one thing that he made that was totally associated with Christmas – to his family and to his customers. It was a braided loaf of bread that we called Butter Braid. For years I have been obsessed with trying to find the recipe for this bread. However, if I Googled “Butter Braid”, what always came up is the sweet pastry similar to a coffee cake. Delicious, but not what we called Butter Braid. What we called Butter Braid wasn’t particularly sweet.

Finally, the other day, I was playing around again trying to find a recipe and stumbled across something called Swiss Braided Bread. Hey! My grandparents came from Switzerland. They made a braided loaf of bread. Eureka!

Now that I had something to call it, I learned that in Switzerland it is called Zopf. I would be willing to bet that if my father was alive and I asked him about Zopf, he would
say, “Oh, you mean the Butter Braid we always made at Christmas?” (Kids, ask your parents all your questions now because some day it will be too late or they will be too old and crotchety to answer your question.) Anyhoo, according to what I’ve read, in Switzerland, Zopf isn’t a traditional holiday bread; instead, it is something they bake and eat on Sunday mornings, perhaps toasted and smeared with homemade jam. In our bakery world, there wasn’t enough time to braid a hundred loaves of bread every day all year long. Thus, it was something special for Christmas.

We sold very many loaves of Butter Braid every Christmas season, more than I could begin to remember. I do remember, however, that my mother would wrap the bread in cellophane, using a hot iron to seal it. She would then wrap that crinkly ribbon around each loaf of bread and use a scissors to curl the ribbon. Later, when plastic bags became more common, I assume she used them for our Butter Braid and closed the bag using the ribbon.

In memory of my dad, here is a recipe for Butter Cookies (from Taste of Home) and Zopf (from Allrecipes).

Butter Cookies

Ingredients
1 c. butter, softened
1-1/4 c. confectioners’ sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
½ t. almond extract
2-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
½ t. salt
Colored sugar and decorating candies, optional

Process
In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Combine flour and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture; mix well.

Using a cookie press fitted with the disk of your choice, press dough two inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Decorate as desired. Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes or until set (do not brown). Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield 7-1/2 dozen.

Swiss Braided Bread (Zopf)
Ingredients
1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast
1-1/3 c. warm milk
1 egg yolk
2 T. butter, softened
3-1/2 c. bread flour
1 egg white
1 T. water

Process
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Add the egg yolk, butter and 2 c. of bread flour; stir well to combine. Stir in the remaining flour, one-half cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 min.

Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll each piece into a 14-in. long cylinder. Braid the pieces together and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, beat together egg white and water. Brush risen loaf with egg wash and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 min, until golden.

Nana's Notes: I didn't bake the loaf of bread in the photo, I'm sorry to say. Are you kidding? I'm trying to get ready for a move to Arizona day after tomorrow? But I definitely will give it a try when I get there. Plus, My-Brother-the-Baker will be there to hold my hand. I struggle with bread.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Christmas Present

Bill and I have been given a wonderful Christmas present of sorts.

When Bill had his semiannual checkup at his neurologist’s office for his Parkinson’s, they added a new medication to his repertoire. They said this particular medication should significantly help his symptoms, something his other meds didn’t seem particularly good at doing. He began taking the medication, very low dose at first and working up to what is his full dose for now (it can and likely will be changed later).

Parkinson’s can have many symptoms. Someone with Parkinson’s can have any or all, no rhyme or reason. For Bill, his primary symptoms have always been slowness and loss of fine motor skills. He has others, but those are the two that are most evident and troublesome. There isn’t a thing he can’t do by himself, but lots of things take much longer – buttoning his shirts, buckling his seatbelt, cutting food, and so forth. Sometimes he has me help, but often he does it himself. He never complains. Not one single time.

I have been noticing his symptoms decreasing over the past weeks, but I’m not sure it has been as apparent to him. But at dinner the other night, he was eating chicken parmigiana with a side of spaghetti. All of the sudden, Bill says to me, “Kris, look at my spaghetti.” He was entirely able to eat spaghetti by rolling it on his fork, just as he used to eat it. He had the biggest grin on his face.

I tend to look at the negative side of things. When it comes to Bill’s PD, I often focus on myself and how his disease has impacted me. But suddenly it became clear just how tired he must get of always being slow and having to struggle with tasks. His smile opened my eyes to how much joy he must feel to be able to do simple things again.

This medication is tricky. While miraculous, as time goes on, it could take a higher and higher dose to work effectively. But this is where I have to nip my reflex to concentrate on what-ifs and just be ever-so-jubilant at the what-ares! Up to this point, his progression has been slow. He hasn’t had any of the potential side effects of any of his medications. There is every reason to hope that this medication will work for a very long time. And he is still on a really low dose, we have room to grow. God is good.

I have one funny grandkid story, as I often do. And, as usual, it involves Mylee.

I took Kaiya and Mylee to Lollypop Park yesterday afternoon, after a meal at McDonald’s. Lollypop Park is an indoor amusement park designed for little kids. They have a little ferris wheel, spinning teacups, swings that go around in a circle, a carousel, a train, and a little roller coaster. On the way there, I explained to the girls that Nana would NOT be accompanying them on the teacups this time as they made me really dizzy and sick the last time.

When we got there, they both immediately ran to the teacups and climbed into one. I watched them spin and spin and took a couple of photos. I was deleting some of the more blurry photos (they are in motion, after all) when they got off. I saw that Mylee was covered in vomit, but with a grin on her face. Yes, friends, she had tossed her cookies (well really, her McDonald’s cheeseburger) on the teacup. I washed her off in the bathroom the best I could, and she was raring to go. No more teacups, I instructed firmly.

This photo must have been taken immediately before Project Throw up. The look on her face tells it all.

Little girlfriend did not smell like a rose the rest of the afternoon.

Have a great weekend!




Friday, December 20, 2013

Friday Book Whimsy: Christmas in Wyoming and Boston

I was reading a rather grim novel about a young boy who was accidentally killed during a church service by snake-handling evangelical Christians in North Carolina and said to myself, “For heaven’s sake, it’s Christmas. You should be reading joyous Christmas stories – ho, ho, ho, and mistletoe and presents for pretty girls (as Lucy would say) – at least these few days before Christmas.”

Hence, I put aside my somber story (which I will likely review next week), and set out to enjoy Christmas with two of my very favorite detectives – Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming; and the irreverent Boston-detective-with-only-one-name Spenser.

Walt Longmire is a gruff man, born and reared in fictional Absaroka County in Wyoming, just south of the Montana border. It seems to always be cold and blizzarding in Absaroka County, though that probably just makes for exciting reading. The good sheriff always seems to be caught in blizzards, which add to the books’ suspense. His wife is dead before the first novel begins, and he continually grieves this loss. He has one daughter who is a lawyer in Philadelphia. Christmas in Absaroka County is actually a series of four stories in which the sheriff experiences the good in Christmas. He witnesses the goodness in others and he gives hope and joy to strangers. It is a quick read and it was fun to imagine the holidays in this cold northern place.

Silent Night: A Spenser Holiday Novel, is, to my knowledge, the only Spenser Christmas story. The late Robert B. Parker wrote very many books (some 39 Spenser novels alone and many others in different detective series). He passed away several years ago, and others have taken up where he left off, with Parker’s family’s blessing. It is debatable whether or not the new books are as good as Parker’s books, but that’s a blog for another time. Parker was writing this particular novel when he died, and with his wife’s permission, it was completed by Parker’s literary agent Helen Brann.

Parker has a very distinctive writing style. His sentences are sharp and crisp. His protagonists are always absolutely honest and generous and good, wrapped in the façade of irreverence. Spenser is as tough as they come, but loves his girlfriend Susan Silverman with fierce gentleness. He cooks wonderful meals and experiences Boston in a way that makes the reader wish they were drinking a martini right along with him.

Because Parker has such a unique writing style and his characters are so well-designed, I think his books are hard to copy. As such, I am always comparing his writing to the writing of those who have taken up where he left off, and never too favorably. Still, I’m happy the stories are being continued as I would mourn the loss of Spenser and the others.

All this is to say that I enjoyed this Spenser Christmas novel very much, but I can clearly tell that it wasn’t written by Parker. Still, it provides the reader with a different way of getting to the importance of the real meaning of Christmas.


Thursday, December 19, 2013

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Since Bill’s divorce a million years ago, he “got the kids” Christmas Eve. So for years, we drove up to Empire, Colorado – about an hour drive from here – to celebrate Christmas with a fine meal at The Peck House. Eventually, as the kids began having serious relationships and eventually marriages, our numbers outgrew what they could accommodate.

I spent the next few years finding different places where we would dine. Finally, as grandkids came along, we began simply having Christmas Eve dinner and gift opening at our house. I always knew that the day would come when the kids would be unable to join us on Christmas Eve. They might go elsewhere for the holiday. They might want to begin their unique traditions in their own home. Last year was the first year that everyone wasn’t with us on Christmas Eve. I was a bit sad, but I also understood. And it wasn’t like we didn’t see them. We had dinner with one son and his family on December 23, and that worked out just fine.

This year another son and his family will be in Mexico for the holidays. We had dinner at their house last night, and we kicked Christmas off good and right.

I don’t go overboard for Christmas. Our families are blessed with so much, and if there are 20 more toys from Nana and Papa, Mom and Dad’s head might explode. So I have a tradition of each child getting a Christmas ornament, a pair of new pajamas, and two things picked out especially for them. Still, when you multiply that times four kids, we walked into their house last night with what appeared to be an unbelievable number of gifts. The kids nearly jumped out of their skin in anticipation of opening them. They were required to wait until after dinner.

Remember that feeling of joy and excitement when you look at unopened gifts? That package could be anything. I always loved the surprise, so I rarely picked up a present to shake it and study it and try and figure out what it was. Three of the four grandkids last night were more like me, but Alastair (who has a disciplined engineering type of brain anyway), studied each of his presents, gave them a shake, and proceeded to tell me what each present was. He was, of course, correct. To be fair to me, however, two of the gifts are always the same (ornament and pjs), and it’s hard to disguise the contents of a box of Legos when you give it a shake.

Once dinner was finished, gift-opening began. It was a calm operation, choreographed by first-borned Addie. “Oldest to youngest,” proclaimed Addie, to youngest Maggie’s dismay. “Last year we did youngest to oldest,” she added. I’m certain she’s right. She isn’t likely to forget things such as that.

There was noise and proclamations of joy and tossing of wrapping paper as the kids opened their gifts. Each one stopped only to put on their new pajamas, which, I’m happy to say, all fit perfectly. Delightful Dagny proclaimed hers to be the “most comfortable pajamas I’ve ever had.”

The remainder of the night was spent getting started on building the White House out of Legos and making bracelets out of little rubber loops, using the Rainbow Loom. Addie took all of the things out of her old and broken backpack that she’s had since Kindergarten and put them in her new LL Bean backpack. Maggie played with her doll until bedtime.

I kissed them all as they went up to bed, and did the same to Dave and Jll as we left for home, knowing we wouldn’t see them for a long time. I was pretty good until we got into the car, and then I blubbered all the way home. “You can come back here anytime,” Bill kept saying.

And as I said yesterday, thank goodness for modern technology, because there is also Facetime and email.

I have one quick story about something that happened yesterday and gave me pause for thought.

I stopped at a very nice restaurant near our house to buy my very last Christmas gift – a gift card. The bartender who took care of my business was very nice, but our interaction was fairly quick. Later, after I was home a bit, I received a telephone call from my credit card company telling me that they had received a call from Rob at an unnamed restaurant, who was calling to report that he had my credit card, and could they contact me and let me know. Sure enough, Rob was the nice young bartender who had helped me with my purchase.

Here’s the thing. I frequently purchase gift cards from restaurants, and when I do, I always struggle with the blank line for the tip. I’m a generous tipper when it comes to restaurant servers because I have worked in the restaurant business and many of my children, nieces and nephews have served or do serve food for a living. But when it comes to leaving a tip for something like a gift card purchase, I am never sure what to do. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. But yesterday the bartender seemed nice enough, and it is close enough to Christmas that I thought, what the heck. I added a generous tip and thought nothing more about it.

When I picked up my card from Rob-the-Bartender, I thanked him heartily for going over and above what he needed to do to get my card back to me. After all, he could have just given it to the manager to hold until such time as I realized my card was missing. He accepted my thanks graciously, and added, “You were nice enough to tip me when most people don’t, so I thought I could be helpful back to you.”

What goes around, comes around.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Birthday Hangover

So, it’s December 18. My birthday is over. My sister flew back to AZ yesterday. The house is very quiet with just Bill and me wordlessly falling back into our uneventful routines. This morning I put the three coffee cups that I hadn’t even gotten around to removing from our kitchen table after yesterday morning’s coffee into the dishwasher, thinking, well, today we only need two cups.

And then I told myself, “Get a grip. You’ll see her again in a week-and-a-half.”

I’m always sad to see visiting family leave. But the world is really small these days. I remind myself of the days when I would visit my sister when she lived in Washington D.C. and we didn’t have email, cell phones, or social media. I would know I probably wouldn’t see her for months and months. Now I talk to her almost every day, sometimes a couple of times. We can talk face-to-face via Facetime. I see pictures of her kids and grandkids on Facebook.

Having a December birthday always sort of split up the holiday season for me. Granted, as I have grown older, my birthday has been less of an event. This year, of course, was an exception. When I was younger, people often asked me if I hated having a December birthday. I would always tell them that I loved having a birthday in mid-December as a child because people would be out buying Christmas presents and would buy me a little something extra for my birthday. My brother David’s birthday is a bit different. His birthday is December 28, and his birthday was always a letdown. People were exhausted from Christmas shopping and celebrating and barely remembered his special day. Once Mom even forgot to make him a birthday cake and, in its place, brought home from the bakery a cake that someone hadn’t remembered to pick up. It said Happy Birthday Frank from Friends. Poor David.

As a random and meaningless side note, I distinctly remember my two favorite birthday gifts of all time. The first: My Aunt Cork, who was also my godmother, always got me a
birthday present, and it was invariably something fun. When I was probably 6 or 7, she got me a set of three plastic wigs – blonde, brunette, and auburn. No artificial fiber; just a molded piece of plastic that you placed on your head. Oh. My. Goodness. Did I ever love those wigs! I was the happiest child alive. Now they are in some landfill somewhere, where they will never break down.

Second: After my divorce, I bought a small house in an old, established Denver neighborhood in which my son and I lived for four or five years. They were very happy years. We loved that house. Anyhoo, it sat on an alley, and had a garage right by the alleyway, unattached to the house. We would drive up to the door of the garage and my son would get out and manually open the door for me to drive in. One year, when Bill and I were dating, I was out of town on business sometime near my birthday. He picked me up at the airport and brought me home to my little house. As we pulled up to the garage, to my surprise, the door began to open. While I was gone, Bill had installed an automatic door opener. I was in seventh heaven, and so was my son.

Now that the house is quiet and the birthday festivities are over, we can move towards Christmas celebrations. For us, they begin tonight as we will celebrate Christmas with our son and daughter-in-law and the grandkids who will be leaving Friday for Mexico where they will spend a week with her mother and sister. Christmas with palm trees. Now that doesn’t stink.

And now…..


Unbaked Peanut Butter Cookies, via Bec B., via her mother-in-law

Ingredients
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup, light or dark
3/4 c creamy peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
2 c. Special K cereal

Process
Bring sugar and corn syrup to hard rolling boil. Then add peanut butter, vanilla, and cereal. Roll them into balls and let harden.

Bec’s notes: I used 2 c. Rice Crispies and added 1/2 C almonds. We think they taste like a salted nut roll. Make a double batch; they'll go fast. On the back of the card it says: Remember it is a hard rolling boil, not a hard boil stage.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Birthday Festivities, Part II

My sister and daughter-in-law gave considerable thought to just what my 60th birthday party should look like. Jen said she knew she wanted something interactive. They considered a pottery painting party. She said (and I think she was serious) they even spent a few minutes discussing ziplining. Thank you God for that being a short-lived consideration.

The driving force in their decision-making is that they knew that what would make me happiest is if the grandkids could be involved in a major way. My daughter-in-law’s sister told her she had used Mark and Susan and their cooking lessons for a team-building day for her staff to great success. Pasta-making was involved. Kids can make pasta. Voila!

I am sorry to say that I don’t know much about Mark and Susan (except that they are excellent chefs). My suspicion, however, is that they spend most of their time working with groups exactly as described above – in team-building exercises or holiday functions for adults. I would guess they don’t often work with children – much less six children between the ages of 3 and 10. They were amazing. I can’t emphasize that enough. They never got impatient. They stayed calm as flour was flying. They didn’t appear to get worried when a 5-year-old was seasoning the meat. And they got every single child involved in a way that was fun for everyone.

The first task they undertook was the meatballs. Susan brought over the ground meat, eggs, cheese, breadcrumbs and seasonings to the table.
She gave each of the smaller kids an egg, and allowed them to crack their egg into the meat mixture (after which she spent a bit of time removing eggshells!). Then each child put in a handful of cheese. Finally Susan passed around the pepper shaker, allowing each child to grind a bit of pepper into the mix. The meatballs were mostly made by the smaller kids, with Addie helping with supervision.

But the real fun came a bit later in the evening, after all of the sauces were almost finished. The kids were called to the table to make the pasta. There were two Kitchen Aid mixers with pasta-makers attached. If you have ever made fresh pasta, you know that you roll out the pasta, sprinkle it with flour, make the rolling mechanism one click thinner, and continue in this manner until your dough is nearly transparent. Then you cut the pasta in the shape you desire.

Addie’s job was to roll the pasta. She would lay a piece of rolled pasta onto the table. Dagny, Magnolia and Kaiya added flour. (Mylee was happily playing downstairs by herself where she apparently realized at long last she wouldn’t have to fight bigger kids for the toys she wanted. In her mind, her work was done with the meatballs!)

I can’t even begin to describe the amount of flour that was coursing through the air, onto the table, under the table, and into the pasta at the hands of a 7-year-old, and two 5-year-olds. There were literally mounds of flour on the table, of which they would
take handfuls and begin rubbing it into the pasta (and onto their faces and clothes in the process). Mark assured us that you really couldn’t have too much flour, and that was a very good thing. Flour everywhere.

Once a piece of dough was thin enough, Addie would hand it to 8-year-old Alastair, who did the cutting. He was masterful at it. He really did figure out how to carefully hold the cut pasta and lay it carefully in a mound on the table sprinkled with flour (not that it needed a lot more flour).

It was quite an assembly line, and the pasta turned out delicious.

I have watched my grandkids in school performances. I have attended dance recitals and piano recitals. I’m always happy to be there and proud of them. But I don’t think I will ever enjoy watching them more than Saturday night as I watched them prepare the meatballs and the pasta for my birthday dinner.

And now…..

Last week I gave you my recipe for caramel corn. My daughter-in-law sent me this recipe for the caramel corn she makes every year. It is, my friends, infinitely better. It is from orangette.blogspot.com.

Caramel Corn, via Lauren H.

Ingredients
1 (3½-ounce) package plain (unbuttered natural flavor) microwave popcorn, or about 10 cups fresh popcorn popped by any method, lightly salted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup lightly salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Process
Preheat the oven to 250°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

If using microwave popcorn, pop the popcorn according to the package instructions. Coat a large mixing bowl with nonstick cooking spray, and dump the popcorn into the bowl, taking care to pick out and discard any unpopped kernels.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt, and 2 tablespoons of water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Continue to simmer, whisking often, until the mixture reads 250°F on a candy thermometer, about 3 to 4 minutes. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in the baking soda and vanilla. Quickly pour the hot caramel over the popcorn. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the caramel into the popcorn, taking care to distribute it as evenly as you can. Stir in the peanuts, and transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, stirring and turning the popcorn with a spatula every 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Gently break up the popcorn, and serve.

Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days (or thereabouts).

Yield: about 10 cups

Nana's Note: I didn't use a candy thermometer because the boiling temperature at high altitude is different than at sea level and I didn't have time to figure out the difference. So the candy thermometer would have been useless. So I just boiled the sugar mixture for 4 minutes as my other caramel corn recipe proscribes. Also, I didn't happen to have peanuts on hand, but that would be a delicious addition -- the salty and sweet would be yummy.



Monday, December 16, 2013

Birthday Festivities, Part I

My birthday has come and gone, and my celebration is certainly one I will never forget.

The party planners (mostly my sister Jen and my daughter-in-law Jll, with suggestions, advice, and help from others) know me well. They know that they didn’t need to plan a party at a fancy restaurant. They know that I wasn’t looking for a cocktail party with friends I haven’t seen for ages bringing me gifts I don’t need. But mostly they know that if I’m going to celebrate anything, it had better be with my family and there better be a role for my grandkids. And there had better be food!

I knew something was up. The kids have been giggling and whispering for a couple of weeks now. I had no idea what to expect. And even if I had given it a lot of thought, I would not have predicted what actually transpired.

When I entered the kitchen I was introduced to Mark and Susan who were going to be my personal chefs and cooking teachers for the evening! And the cuisine was my very favorite – Italian. Over the next couple of days, I am going to tell you what my evening was like.

After I realized what was happening and had a glass of wine placed in my hand and a birthday tiara placed on my head, I saw that Susan had begun making the appetizers. She had already prepared an amazing chicken liver pate. Delicious. Susan didn’t give me the specific recipe, but she noted it – and lots of the things they would be cooking and teaching us to cook – would include cream and butter. Get used to it, she pretty much said. Oh, I could easily get used to it.

To go with the pate, Mark grilled French bread that had been brushed with olive oil, giving it a delicious smoky flavor. It was perfect. He brought in a tray of bread that I thought we would never eat, but of course we did.

At the same time, Susan was preparing skewers on which she placed a grape tomato, a fresh basil leaf, and a piece of fresh mozzarella, and then drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. The colors of the Italian flag, she pointed out. They were delicious, especially if you put all three pieces in your mouth at once and tasted the explosion of flavor. Mylee was a bit more selective, however. She probably ate seven or eight of them, but she would bite off the mozzarella cheese and hand the rest of the skewer to me. A symbiotic relationship.

Mark and Susan made three types of sauce for the pasta which would be made later. They
made a fresh marinara sauce, which started with a gigantic bowl of a variety of fresh tomatoes. A mixture of tomatoes gives a more complex flavor, Mark explained to me. He cooked the tomatoes for probably an hour, along with onions that he had cooked slowly until they were as sweet as candy. As the tomatoes cooked, you could see them soften and condense. In the end, Susan used a hand blender to puree the soft tomatoes that he had cooked with the onions.


The second sauce was a meat sauce that consisted of a mixture of hot and mild Italian sausage, seasonings, and finished off with fresh red, green, and yellow peppers that had been cooked separately in olive oil to preserve some crispness.
Finally, they made an alfredo sauce with a very different twist. Instead of using butter, Mark used bacon. I was somewhat doubtful, being sort of an alfredo purist. Wow. It was amazing. And really, why should I have doubted? Parmagiano Reggiano cheese, cream, and bacon in one dish? What could go wrong with that?

All of these sauces were served over homemade pasta, which I will tell you about tomorrow. That memory will stay with me the rest of my life.

To conclude our meal, we had a wonderful desserts. Susan fixed the kids special ice cream sundaes, which included the long, thin, cookies filled with chocolate. Those cookies were a hit with the kids. At one point Dagny was just walking around eating the cookies right out of the box.

The adults were given an adult dessert of tiramisu, heavily flavored with coffee liquor. It was light and delicious. And beautiful, as you can see.

My sister had asked me some time ago to pick out a cake from Mixandmatchmama’s list of 100 bundt cakes. I picked hummingbird cake, which is a southern favorite that includes
bananas, pineapple, and pecans, and is frosted in a cream cheese frosting. It was awesome, and looked terribly festive with my 6 and 0 candles.

You know, I have been complaining about turning 60, and that is silly. I am so blessed with my family and friends, and with good health. I have a wonderful husband I’m crazy about, three siblings who are my very best friends, daughters-in-law who are so kind and loving to me, and nine grandchildren (going on 10) who make me laugh every day.

Wait until you see the pictures and stories I will post tomorrow of the kids making the pasta. Don’t miss it.

And now.....


Peanut Butter Balls, via Jen S.

Ingredients
2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. butter
4 c. confectioners' sugar
3 c. crisp rice cereal
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Process
Melt peanut butter and butter in saucepan, ovr low heat. In large bowl, mix crispy rice cereal and confectioners' sugar well. Pour melted peanut butter and butter over cereal and sugar and blend together thoroughly.

Form into 1 inc. or smaller balls, spread on cookie sheets, chill until firm in refrigerator (overnight is okay).

Melt chocolate in double boiler and keep melted while working with balls. A teaspoon is best to use in dipping the balls in chocolate. Dip and place on cookie sheet. Keep chilled until firm.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

They Say It's Your Birthday, It's My Birthday Too, Yeah

Since I started this blog in August, I keep referring to the fact that I’m almost 60. Well, I can no longer say that. Today, I AM 60.

Not really sure how I feel about it. Well, come to think about it, I am sure. I’m not crazy about it. I know, I know, it’s better than the alternative. Still, 60 truly is what I considered to be elderly as a child and a young adult. And the fact that my mother died at age 69 doesn’t help matters.

Growing old is funny business. I certainly have more aches and pains, but aside from that, I feel the same as I did when I was 30. Or 10, for that matter. Unless I look in the mirror of course. But growing old is so gradual that you hardly feel it happening. That’s good I guess.

I remember my landmark birthdays. When I turned 20, I was in college at the University of Nebraska, and my mom and dad, who by that time had moved to Leadville, Colorado, had a big birthday cake delivered to the sorority house where I lived so that the whole group could celebrate my birthday. Fun.

I spent my 30th birthday in bed with strep throat. I was sick as a dog. I was also in the throes of my divorce, so it definitely wasn’t the best time of my life. I had a difficult time turning 30, and I’m sure that’s why. I felt as though I was a failure.

Turning 40, however, was a piece of cake. I was happily remarried and my career was in full swing. I was just about to earn my master’s degree. We had recently moved into a pretty house. All was good.

Bill and I spent Thanksgiving in London the year I turned 50. On the way home, there was a man sitting in the seat in front of me on the plane who had a terrible cold. He spent the entire flight hacking and sniffing. I managed to catch that cold. It’s the worst cold I have ever had to this day. It was in my head and my chest, and I even managed to get pink eye. The cold went on for weeks. But the thing is, I had made plans for a gigantic birthday celebration .My sister flew in from Washington, DC, and my brother drove in from Arizona. My sibs even ordered a turducken for the occasion! (A chicken stuffed into a duck which is stuffed into a turkey.) Unfortunately, it was a party I barely remember. Here is a photo we took on that day 10 years ago:

My pink eyes were barely open!

So here I am, age 60, and very content with my life. My family is having some sort of celebration in my honor. The details are at this point a secret, though the grandkids know and it is all they can do to keep from telling me. The other night when I tucked 5-year-old Maggie into bed, she said, “Your birthday is coming and I know something I can’t tell you.” She giggled and snuggled her face deep into the pillow in an effort to keep the words from coming out. So I will be surprised. And what’s more, my sister who now lives in Arizona instead of D.C. flew in yesterday for the celebration. What joy.

I just have to remember that birthdays are just another day and 60 is just another age. I have a wonderful life and I am mostly healthy so I am grateful for all 60 years.


Friday, December 13, 2013

Friday Book Whimsy: Monument Road

I have to confess that Monument Road by Charlie Quimby is the book my book club discussed on Tuesday, so some of my thoughts may have been influenced by the wonderful insights of the members of my group, all who enjoyed the book thoroughly.

The story is fairly simple. Leonard Self’s wife Inetta died of pancreatic cancer. Before she died, she made Leonard promise that one year to the day after her death, he will take her ashes to the cliff edge at Artists Point and toss them over the edge. Said Inetta, “I want to be good and dry. Me and Jesus’ll be watching, and I want to float for a while.”

So begins one of the loveliest and most complex stories I have read in a while. What a treat, coming so soon after reading My Antonia. Great Christmas gifts to myself.

Leonard intends to make good on his promise. However, he also intends to follow the ashes in a suicidal leap, since he believes he has nothing much to live for without Inetta. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn more about this wonderful man and the amazing relationship he had with Inetta, and with others he encountered in his life. Reminiscent of the McPheron brothers in Kent Haruf’s magnificent Plainsong series, Leonard is someone I spent the entire book wishing I knew in real life. I wish he was my next door neighbor. Though a devout Christian, Inetta promised Leonard when they married that she wouldn’t require him to attend church, and she didn’t. While he didn’t consider himself a Christian, and certainly had no patience for churches and their services, he undoubtedly lived the life of a Christian whether he called it that or not. This apparently was enough for Inetta. (Inetta, by the way, was also a lovely character.)

There are a couple of other story lines introduced throughout the book. At first, I was really startled and confused. Why do I care about a teenage girl and her desire for a lead role in the high school play? While sad, what did it matter that she apparently fell off the edge of Artists Point? Several other story lines and characters were also introduced. Quimby ties them all together at the end of the book in such a way that I actually said, “Ah ha!” out loud. Some of the story lines are quite sad, but overall the book is so sweet that I found it joyful.

Quimby’s writing is absolutely beautiful. The book takes place in and around Grand Junction, which made it kind of fun and interesting to me since I’m familiar with that
part of Colorado. His descriptions of the land really did remind me of Willa Cather’s descriptions of Nebraska. As he wrote, you could not only visualize the setting, but you could taste the dust in your mouth and hear the sound of the cattle and the horses. Amazing writing. As one of our book club members pointed out, the setting almost becomes one of the characters.

I give a big thumbs up to this book, and to this author. This is his first novel.


And now……

Candy Cane Cookies, via Rebecca B.

Ingredients
1 c. sugar
1 c. butter or margarine, softened
½ c. milk
1 t. vanilla
1 t. almond extract
1 egg
3-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
½ t. red food color
2 T. finely crushed peppermint candies
2 T. sugar

Process
Stir together 1 c. sugar, the butter, milk, vanilla, almond extract and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Divide dough in half. Stir food color into one half. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Heat oven to 375. Meanwhile, stir together peppermint candy and 2 T. sugar; set aside.

For each candy cane, shape 1 rounded teaspoon dough from each half into 4-in rope by rolling back and forth on floured surface. Place 1 red and white rope side by side; press together lightly and twist. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; curve top of cookie down to form handle of cane.

Bake 9 to 12 min. or until set and very light brown. Immediately sprinkle candy mixture over cookies. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 min.

Makes about 4-1/2 doz. cookies
Nana’s Notes: The original recipe calls for peppermint extract instead of almond extract, but Bec said she didn’t want them to be so pepperminty, and I agreed. I was fearful that they were going to be more complicated than they actually were. They are very Christmasy and delicious.


Thursday, December 12, 2013

All Booked Up

Tuesday night, I hosted my book club. It’s not a hard job. As host, you basically have three duties: 1) buy a bottle of red and a bottle of white and put out some wine glasses; 2) bake or buy some kind of dessert; and 3) provide a selection of four or five books on which the group will vote to read for the next meeting. I have been a member of this group since 1996 – almost 18 years – so I have hosted many times.

Yesterday I baked a batch of brownies and made a simple ganache frosting by heating up cream and pouring it over 8 oz. of chocolate chips to melt, then adding a teaspoon of instant coffee. Because I was feeling particularly festive and clever, I crunched up three or four candy canes and sprinkled them over the top of the brownies after I frosted them with the ganache, for some added Christmas spirit. Furthermore, I made a special trip to our neighborhood liquor store where I bought a nice red zin and a crisp pinot grigio. I cleaned the house and set up the room for our gathering at 7:30.

Bill and I were sitting down and eating a quick dinner at 6:45, when – and I don’t know why – it suddenly hit me that I hadn’t gotten any books on which the members could vote for next time. Generally, the host actually has the books on hand so that the members can peruse them prior to making their collective decision. I had nothing. I said a bad word.

Thank goodness that I keep a running list of books that I want to read. Our book club has two rules regarding the books: 1) (and aren’t I using a lot of numerated lists in this post?) the book must be available in paperback; and 2) the book selected must be a book that no one in the group has already read.

The problem with my list of books I want to read is that it includes hard cover books, and it also includes many mysteries (which I happen to love but the rest of the group doesn’t). In a matter of minutes, however, Bill had figured out the perfect answer: 1) (I can’t resist) go through my list, and upon finding a suitable book, find it on Amazon; 2) hit the “share” button and email it to him; and 3) he would do the rest.

I used my list, coupled with the section of Amazon that says “customers who bought this item also bought…”, and was able, in about 20 minutes, to come up with a list of six books. Bill worked his magic, and in 10 more minutes, he handed me six sheets of paper, each with a picture of a book and the synopsis. I had time to pour myself a glass of wine to calm down!

Our book club was founded in 1994, and we have seen many members come and go over the years. It is a awesome group of women of different ages and different backgrounds who all happen to love to read. Our conversations about the books are always interesting but never snooty or overly intellectual. Just intellectual enough! And we digress – a lot! I will, of course, be unable to attend for the next four months or so as I will be in AZ. But I will continue to read the books they select and maybe even – if I’m really ambitious – electronically provide my thoughts about the book, perhaps via Nanaswhimsies!

They, by the way, didn’t blink an eye when I handed them sheets of paper instead of books. Thanks friends.

In addition to my numerated lists, I also seem to be using a lot more exclamation points than usual. Too much coffee perhaps? And now that I’ve mentioned it, I’m not going to change them!

Yesterday morning I made my annual holiday batch of caramel corn. Who doesn’t like caramel corn? I can tell you that I brought a batch in a tin to my son with whom I ate lunch, and he was very happy. I even snuck in a leftover brownie from last night. The recipe is simple and delicious.

Caramel Corn

Ingredients
1 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar
½ c. corn syrup
1 t. salt
½ t. soda
1 t. vanilla
5 quarts popped popcorn

Process
Preheat oven to 250 and place popped corn on tray(s) in oven to keep warm.

In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Then boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla. Pour in then stream over corn; stir to coat.

Bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven; let cool completely before breaking into pieces.

Nana’s Notes: Every year, including this year, I use too much popcorn. The result is the corn isn’t as thickly coated as I would like. Use less. Pretend I said 4 quarts of popped corn.

And now......



Cream Cheese Kolacky Cookie, via Margaret M.


Ingredients
3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla (lemon or orange are nice also, depending on what filling you use)
1/2 cup filling (jam or pie filling)
1/4 - 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Process
Mix the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla. Add the flour slowly until well blended. Shape into a log and chill overnight or for several hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll the log in the powdered sugar. Slice off 1/8 in thick slices and place about 1/2 tsp filling in the middle of the cookie. Fold ends of cookie over the jam. (The original recipe calls for rolling out the dough and cutting 2-1/2 inch squares then overlapping opposite corners. The modification is just easier when we are doing this with kids, and we don't handle the dough as much, so it's flakier). Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. If desired, sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar after cooling.

Source (before modifications) : Allrecipes

Makes about 3 dozen.

Nana's Notes: Thanks for the great recipe. I rolled the dough out and used a biscuit cutter to cut circles. I placed about a half tsp of blueberry or apricot peach preserves in the center and folded the cookie over. I didn't have a lot of success getting them to
stick. But, while they aren't lovely, they are definitely delicious. I should have rolled them thinner and used egg to seal.

Anyone else have a recipe they want to share? Comment or send an email to the address on top right.