Today was Jdub’s third [and last] Christmas program at his preschool. This year he graduated to being an “Angel” complete with a speaking part.
We’ve been practicing these lines constantly: Christmas is God’s love for people on Earth, the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth.
My little Angel did great today along with all his schoolmates. Bless Ms. Lori’s heart … it takes a lot of work to get a group of little children all working together to put on a program.
All the sweet little 2 year olds ... it's like hearding cats.My sweet little angel.No Room at the Inn ... the stage is set.
After it was all over I asked Jdubs how he did and he said: “I did amazing.” What a precious moment!
Sometimes things don’t quite come together. Tonight was one of those nights… I had plans for this blog post, but Jdubs is not cooperating so I had to redirect. But now maybe it’s going to be something more awesome than I had originally planned.
I looked through my random photographs and there are several I haven’t been able to use elsewhere. So I decided to write this post as random awesomeness in pictures.
A few days ago United Supermarkets had a sale on berries. I LOVE berries, and since it was cold, I made oatmeal and berry awesome in a bowl. And I have serious coffee every day. This is pressed coffee. The French version of Cowboy Coffee; it’s not for sissies.
French Press Coffee. Old fashioned oats, fresh berries, walnuts and a splash of cream.
Supper tonight. I made vegetable soup and chicken salad from a leftover roast chicken. The bread is the awesome country French bread we got at Central Market on Sunday. Oh and those are the little garden tomatoes I picked when they were still green, just before the killing frost. If you leave them out, they will ripen.
Soup and sandwich supper.
I almost peed my pants when I saw this (at Central Market on Sunday). You know how I love Scharffen Berger chocolate. Well here is a giant block of San Francisco chocolaty awesomeness!
OMG. I've died and gone to chocolate heaven.
The UPS man left a great big cat playhouse on the front porch. (That’s what I told the cat, anyway). Awesomeness in a cat toy.
This is awesome until the cat tries to play at 2 a.m., then not so awesome.
Who doesn’t love Sock Monkey? This hat is random awesomeness!
This Sock Monkey hat was a big hit at the supermarket tonight.
This is a gem of a cookie recipe. And the best part is that it’s a “light” recipe. I very first found this recipe in one of my Cooking Light magazines. Cayenne is the secret ingredient, which adds a great punch of complexity that you can’t place, but know it’s what makes it all work. I don’t know what it is, but chocolate and red pepper go so well together.
The key to making this a wonderfully scrumptious recipe is to use really good chocolate. It needs to be bittersweet with 60% cacao minimum. Good brands that are easily available are Ghirardelli, Lindt and Baker’s. Don’t forget to look in the “candy” aisle for the good chocolate.
If you can get to a luxury grocery store, like Central Market, you can find tons of good chocolate. Scharffenberger is the very best American chocolate (HSO). Valharona is overpriced and overrated (another HSO). (HSO=Hot Sports Opinion).
If chocolate is the star of the recipe, use the good stuff. Life is too short for crappy chocolate regardless. For other recipes with Scharffenberger see Chocolate Covered Strawberries.
Just remember mediocre chocolate = mediocre results.
Very respectable American Chocolate from San Francisco.30-second intervals will keep you from scortching the chocolate.Satin-smooth chocolate.
This is perfectly melted chocolate. Look how shiny and smooth it is.
Cayenne is the perfect complement to chocolate.
You don’t want to pinch cayenne pepper with your fingers. The oils adhere to your skin and God forgive you if you accidentally rub your eye or nose (or any other precious body part with tender skin!). This is the dandiest trick to adding just the right amount of cayenne. Stick your knife into the spice bottle and get a dab on the tip of the knife and add to the dry ingredients. If you would rather use measuring spoons, it will be equivalent to about 1/8 of a tsp.
Butter, sugar and a farm fresh egg.
It’s hard to believe this recipe only has a ¼ stick of butter in it. Just for reference, traditional chocolate chip cookies have 1 cup of butter (4x the butter in this recipe). Believe me, the two greatest flavor-adding ingredients are butter and bacon grease.
Sous chef Jean-Guilliam.
I had my favorite sous chef in the kitchen today. I love cooking with my little boy. Hopefully he will know a few recipes by the time he’s 12 or 13 and can be responsible for cooking a meal a week (totally ripped this trick off from Dr. Jen.)
We drank a keg of this and I still love it. (It took us a few weeks to drink the keg, BTW)
It is Friday night, after all. And the best way to keep from eating all the dough is to drink a beer while you work. Beer and cookie dough is a no go.
Tasting the product. Always a good sign in an aspiring chef.Payoff. Licking the beaters.
If the dough is good the cookie will be even better.
After 10 minutes in the oven, this is the outcome!
The cookies will have a slight crackling to them. This is perfect. When you break them open, the outer shell should be crispy.
Chocolate awesomeness! Crispy on the outside and chewy, moist greatness inside..Powdered sugar makes it pretty.
A little dusting of powdered sugar for a festive look … and voíla. Chocolate cookie awesomeness.
Mexican Chocolate Cookies
5 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3.4 oz. all-purpose flour (3/4 cup)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Dash of pepper
Dash of cayenne
1 ¼ c. sugar
¼ c. butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put chocolate in glass bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until just melted. Set aside to cool.
Weigh or measure the flour and put in a small bowl. Add cinnamon, baking powder, salt, pepper and cayenne. Give all the dry ingredients a stir.
In a separate (and larger bowl), beat the [soft] butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat until just combined. Add the cooled chocolate. Beat for a few more seconds, then add the dry ingredients by stirring it in until just mixed. Use a tablespoon or scoop to drop uniform dollops of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until cookies are just set. When cooked, remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
I’ve been shopping around our downtown and online and at Walmart in search of gift greatness. And I’ve found a few items I love.
Electric kettle – this rocks. The best $11 I spent at a hardware store. I use it every day sometimes more. I make pressed coffee in the morning and in the evenings I have a little hot cocoa or a decaf coffee. This kettle works great – heats up very quickly, faster than the microwave.
Starbucks Via is a great stocking stuffer. And it goes well with the electric kettle … It is great for that single cup.
Subscriptions to awesome magazines. I love Cook’s Illustrated. (OK Williams-Sonoma isn’t a magazine, but the stuff in it is way cool).
These are awesome little gifts for your kids’ teachers or work colleagues. They are little covers for travel packages of tissues. Boaz has them in our little town. They even gave me three little gift sacks to package all my teacher nick-knack gifts together.
Several people have asked me what we were going to make for Thanksgiving. When I say “nothing” puzzled glances follow with raised eyebrows. When your family is far-flung or out of pocket for whatever reason, it’s hard to justify cooking an 18-pound turkey for four adults and a small child.
My grandmother is recovering from the surgery she had last week. The procedure made her weak and tired. I have a family member going through a divorce and another one with a terrible bacterial infection, etc., etc.
So it was just easier and more convenient (and cheaper) for my immediate family go to Wildcatter for Thanksgiving.
A big pile of food ... Tri tip steak, ham and smoked turkey. Mac n cheese, grits, dressing, green beans, broccoli and sweet potatoes.
It was delicious! And we had a spectacular view of the North Texas Hill Country.
View off the southern bluff at Wildcatter Ranch
We had a stellar French Burgundy and when we were done, we went home. No dishes, no leftovers, no nada.
2003 Santenay was lights-out good!
I don’t think I’ll want to do it every year, but I’m thankful it’s an option. We’ll have traditional Thanksgiving feast with my husband’s family over the weekend – fried turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie.
We had a good day, (well other than that fight we had). And it was a beautiful day to be outside in the garden. I worked on long-overdue cleanup and winter planting.
The Christmas tree went up with relative ease. As I write, the Aggies and Longhorns are still battling it out. It’s been the holiday I really needed.
Today school was out, but I had to work. I had three big deadlines bearing down on me so I worked late even on a holiday eve. Fortunately my mother was off today and took Jdubs for the day. He had a great time, as always.
Today was special because Jdubs really wanted his grandfather to take him for a horse ride.
This is Sugar ...
And that is exactly what they did.
Sugar is a good little starter horse. Very gentle. She's a borrowed horse. It's a common thing to do.
Jdubs decided that he didn’t need any help so he took the reins and took off. It was a great day indeed.
Jdubs is the 4th generation to ride this saddle.
Our legs are finally long enough to reach the stirrups.
That's one happy kid.
And that is a summary on why we live here – because we can go to our grandparents house on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving and ride our horse all by ourselves for the first time.
I made this last week for the annual Thanksgiving family night dinner at my church. In preparation, I looked through several of my recipe books for a good one.
They all had the basic same ingredients except for one, which actually called for canned candied yams. Yep. Candied yams, which a good Ag woman knows that a yam is really just a sweet potato. Real Yams are imported from the Caribbean or Africa.
I’m a big fan of Cook’s Illustrated. It is by far one of the best producers of recipes in the U.S. They have new recipes but they also reexamine old favorites to get the best version of, say chocolate brownies. They definitely have a flog-it-to-death approach when it comes to research and trials and tasting. These magazines and cookbooks aren’t cheap but they don’t have any paid-for promotions, product endorsements or advertising.
Cook's Illustrated rocks!
I was feeling very sassy and took their recipe and deviated from it. (This is a big-time no-no. Baking is a science but it’s also an art—so until you get a feel for what you are doing, stick with the recipe.)
Pumpkin pie ingredients.
2 C. cream (you can use half n half)
3 Large eggs + 2 egg yolks (you will need a total of 5 eggs)
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 Can or (15 oz pumpkin puree)
1 Can candied yams (15 oz.)
¾ C. sugar
¼ C. Maple syrup
2 tsp. Grated fresh ginger
½ tsp Ground cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground fresh nutmeg
1 tsp Salt (use table salt)
1 Pie crust (see Never Fail Pie Crust or you can use the refrigerated, pre-made dough)
You have to bake your crust a little before you put the filling in. Use pie weights or you can do what I did and line the pie crust with foil and throw a few pennies in as weights. Bake pie crust in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. After the crust bakes for a 15 min, remove the foil and weights then place pie shell back in the oven to cook for 10 more minutes. Remove crust from oven when it just starts to brown.
No pie weights, no problem. Lots of cookware is made from copper, so why no pie weights?.
Whisk cream, vanilla, eggs and yolks and set aside. While your crust is baking, make the filling. Combine the pumpkin, yams, sugar, maple syrup, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt in a pot. Heat it until it gets to a sputtering simmer. Continue to let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Mash it with a potato masher (or a fork). Stir constantly for another 5-10 minutes.
Pumpkin, yams (aka sweet potatoes), sugar, syrup, spices.Keep stirring until it's done. It will get all creamy, sticky and thick.
Remove from heat and let mixture cool for 5 minutes. Then add the cream mixture and whisk together.
Let it cool before you add the cream and egg mixture. You don't want eggs to scramble.Whisk together cream mixture and pumpkin mixture.
Strain mixture thru a fine mesh strainer. Use a rubber spatula to push solids through to make a smooth, creaming liquid. When all the solids thru you can, give it one more stir then pour into the pie shell.
Mr. Potato head helped me strain the solids thru a sieve.
Pour into the warm pie crust. Place in the hot oven (400 degrees) and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 300 degrees and finish baking for 25 to 30 more minutes. When the center is set (or the instant thermometer reads 175 degrees), remove from oven and let cool at room temperature for 2-3 hours until custard set.
Nearly perfect pumpkin pie -- just put a dollop of whipped cream on that little hickey.
Tah-dah … And there you have a pumpkin pie that tastes good even though it’s not perfect.
We spent Saturday night in Fort Worth this weekend. We had a blast with good friends, sampling wine, eating delicious food. But on our way to and from the big city we got to see a lot of beautiful fall colors.
Rock Creek Bridge.
I lived in Michigan for 6 fall seasons, with some of the most beautiful fall colors you can see anywhere. But it’s got nothing on Young County.
One-eyed barn.
This old barn looks like it’s winking at you. Not a lot of fall color around it but the picture was taken in the fall. And it’s one of my favorites so I thought I’d add it in here.
In the Rock Creek area. Love the contrast of colors.
Now all we need is a strong, gusty wind to blow all the leaves off the trees.
Oak leaves.I have no idea what kind of tree/shrub this is, but it's bright red. Awesome.The hydro-electric plant. AKA "the Fairy Castle"
Of course the day couldn’t be complete without a beautiful sunset over the “fairy castle.” Thanking the trusty iPhone photography capabilities.
The Arcadian Experience 