T-day countdown

So Thanksgiving is just around the corner. 

Even though we will have all ten of the usual suspects for dinner, I'm not feeling too stressed

(at least right now) 

Last night we bought our turkey, all 26 pounds and now I'm waiting for it to thaw. 

Now turkey is pretty simple to prepare, but I truly believe brining make all the difference. 

Such a simple step, but if you are looking for a really juicy bird it is an absolute must.

Basic Turkey Brine

• 3 gallons cold water
• 1 1/2 cup salt

Soak for 24 hours

This one also looks pretty good.  I may just have to try it. You gotta love Alton Brown.

For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

My only additional advice for turkey brining is be careful where you leave your turkey.  A couple years ago my turkey wouldn't fit in the fridge so I left the bucket containing the turkey on the back steps.  I thought I had secured the lid, but apparently that was not the case. When I went out to get the turkey at  O' dark hundred I noticed some critters had started their Thanksgiving early. Yeah, not good.  Lesson learned, the garage is a much safer place.

:0)

Just Around the Corner...

Is it just me or has November been on hyperdrive. Where has the month gone? Crazy!!
I just realized that Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday. Yikes, I have to get on it. Thankfully we keep things simple but it is a reminder that the holidays will be in full swing very, very soon.
Are YOU ready??
:0)

Happy Halloween

This is the first year I can remember when Trick or Treating did not involve serious rain gear. In fact, it is the perfect night for such festivities. The moon is out and it is actually a tad balmy. (Yes, balmy) Not too shabby for the end of Ocotober.

Ben will be on Trick or Treat duty with Sam this year. He and his buddies, who also have younger sibs, volunteered for the job. Too bad Ben is 6 feet tall so I doubt he will get much candy unless our friends take pity on him.

As for the Trick or Treating front on our end it has been pretty dead (pun intended) We don't get a lot of trick or treaters. So far I've answered the door 5 times. My friend Candy lives in a development up the road and that is THE place to go. The development gets really into Halloween and it is the only place that is flat around here to that makes it a win win for most folks. Last year Candy said she ran out of candy. Who knew 50 pounds would not be enough. Needless to say that is where Ben and Sam are headed.

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween with lots more treets than tricks.

:0)

She's Ready for Her Closeup

Halloween is seeming to last forever this year.
Friday night we had Street of Screams.
Saturday Girl Scout Halloween Party.
Tonight is Trunk or Treat.
Tomorrow, actual tick or treating.

While we enjoy Halloween, the costumes always seem to fall on me. Sam told me she wanted to be "Goth" for Halloween. When I asked her if she even knew what that meant she said it was someone who wears black. Okay...

So in a panic I headed to the local thrift shop on a search for a "goth" costume. Little did Sam know I planned on returning with Witch fixings and she would just have to go with that. However since it was the Friday before Halloween, pickings were slim. I ended up with a black cocktail dress and I pitched the idea of a glam girl as an alternative. Since wearing lipstick was her major criteria she agreed. For something that was thrown together last minute and only cost us 6 bucks for the dress, I'm thinking she looks pretty good.

Happy Fourth of July

Today there is this big yellow thing in the sky. Rumor has it is called the sun.

A sunny 4th is RARE around here but none the less, I'm stoked.

We are heading up to our friends' annual bash and they could not have asked for a better day.

I made about 100 of these little guys as my contribution to the potluck. When I saw them on baking bites, I knew I had to make them.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July!!

:0)

Theme Tree

I was reading The Nester yesterday during my "research" and she feels every tree needs a theme. Not sure how I feel about that. Years ago, after a busted water pipe wiped out most of our families ornaments (that was a sad day) my mom decided she was going to do a theme tree: pine cones. We started buying all the pine cone ornaments we could find. It was pretty, but is was still missing something, so we added snowflakes. Still missing something, so we added red balls. The always looked nice, but for me, it always looked there was something missing. I guess it was all the old ornaments I looked forward to hanging up every year.


On my tree, we started out with a little bit of everything (the "no theme" theme if you will) I tried collecting cow ornaments. I have a few, but finding ones that aren't totally tack is difficult. Then I tried "green santas" (this was my protest against red santas when I found out that the red and white suit was a marketing tool for Coca Cola), but those are even more scarce than non tacky santa cows. It wasn't until I was at JoAnns one day and saw some photo frame ornaments marked down to next to nothing. I bought all they had. I was teaching at the time and figured they would make good thank you gifts for my parent volunteers. The left over frames sat in my Christmas box for a long time until we had Ben . We brought Ben home on Christmas Eve and so when I found this little frame, I thought it was perfect.

From then on, every year we add new photo ornaments to the tree. Each kid has a school picture ornament and I have one of the both of them in front of the tree. It is amazing how much the kids have grown and changed. As Sam was helping me trim the tree last night, she commented on each of her pictures. "I sure was cute back then. Huh, mom" and then practiced her potential poses for this years picture. In addition to the photo ornaments, Santa brings the kids an ornament every year reflecting their current interests so hanging out between the photos, we have Elmo, the Hulk, Dora and Hello Kitty, to name a few. Of course, no tree is complete with out painted macaroni and we have a couple of those too.


So I guess if I had to pick a "theme" I would go with "our family". Sweet and simple, just like us.

December is here: ready or not

Today is December 1st.

It struck me this morning that I have a lot to get done these next few weeks.

I know I should be chipping away at my to do list, but here I sit blog hopping. I'm calling it "research" to make myself feel better.

We have our annual Christmas party this Saturday. I can't do a lot of decorating until the carpets get cleaned tomorrow, but once that is done, I'm all over it. The real reason we have the party so early is so that we aren't putting up the tree on Christmas eve. I think this year will be fun because the kids are at an age we they are really into it and are actually helpful. Ben has inherited my "it must be symmetrical" gene so his help will actually be helpful when doing the tree. Sam is still in training :0)

What I'm looking forward to this year is that fact that we are keeping things really simple. Our "buy a gift" list is pared down and I'm excited to do a bunch of baking for friends. We don't' have a lot going on in December so I'm hoping things will just be mellow and enjoyable. Isn't that the point? To take time and reflect on family and friends and spread some joy as opposed to pulling your hair out? Well, that is what I'm going to try and do. I'll let you know how it goes... :0)

Happy New Year

We have been fully enjoying the "nothingness" of our time off. It has been so nice, I must remember to schedule more "nothing" this upcoming year.
We will be eating lots of good pasta tonight with our friends and then the boys will burn it off with various wii games. I'm sure the hens will sit around and chat while the kids run wild. The best part the festivities are not at my house and I am not cooking. Okay, well I am in the middle of making the more labor intensive cookies in my repotoire, but they are worth it.
So from our family to yours we wish you all the best for 2009.

Merry Christmas

We will be celebrating a white Christmas. Even though in true Washington style it has started to rain, there will be enough snow for Santa to use his sleigh.
We are off to my mom's tonight and then everyone will be coming to our house tomorrow for dinner. The down pouring of snow forced us to cut back dramatically on our festivities and it was actually quite nice.
So here is wishing everyone a very merry and relaxing holiday. If you are in need of a great little holiday movie I strongly recommend Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. Quintessential Muppets, pure joy.

T minus 5 days and counting...

This Saturday is our annual Christmas party.

Every year we invite everyone we know over for food and fun. One of the major draws is that my mother and sister-in-law makes a ton of sushi. Now, I am not a sushi person, but my friends sure are. Whenever the invites go out the first question is always, "Is Akiko making sushi?" I would like to think my friends would come even if she wasn't, but I'm a realist :0)

Every year the preparation routine is the same. On the Monday before, I get my carpets cleaned. I know some of you are thinking I'm crazy to clean the carpets before the party, but they REALLY need it and it just makes the house feel cleaner. It also forces me to deal with the piles of clutter that seem to accumulate in the corners. Once the carpets are cleaned, we set up the tree and start to decorate.
I don't have a ton of stuff, but I really like the things I have.
After the decorating, I go shopping for the food. Now I'm not a big "give everyone I know a gift" kind of girl, but I do love to entertain my friends, so I see this as my gift to them. I was smart last year and after the guests went home (around 3 am) Akiko and I sat down and made notes on what worked and what didn't. The biggest lesson from last year was let folks bring stuff.

Last year we killed ourselves and it was a lot of work. So this year when folks ask if they can bring stuff I say sure. That way they know there will be at least one thing they will like :0) Even though we are taking help we still have a pretty big menu. Appetizers are so fun to make and it seems like everyone has a favorite.

This year the tentative menu includes:
Various Sushi
Beef Satay w/ peanut sauce
Hot wings
Hot Artichoke and Crab dip
Bacon wrapped dates
Deviled Eggs
Piggies in a blanket
Sweat and Sour Meatballs.
Prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe
Bruchetta
Baked Brie
Hummus and veggies
Random Christmas cookies
Chocolate Fountain and stuff to dip

Yup, it will be a lot of work, but I'm hoping to spend most of Friday prepping the food and that will Saturday for last minute cleaning. We are still waiting for the RSVP's to come in. I'm so greatful for those who have already done it, but I'm still waiting to hear from over 20 couples. I just want a good crowd. I hate that awkward silence at parties. At least we have some stuff for our guests to do. We have darts and Foosball downstairs and Joj is wanting to get Guitar Hero for the Wii. I don't know about that, but it might be fun later in the evening once everyone is a little more loosened up.

I hope everyone had a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving. We sure did, but it was go, go, go. As I look ahead at our calendar every weekend is full, but it is the good kind of full filled with lots of friends and family. My goal is not to stress this holiday. I'm trying to keep things simple and really only do the things that I WANT to do. We shall see how that goes.
Happy Monday everyone :0)

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.
In 2 hours I will run my first 5K (or at least try) I checked the time results from last year and I think I have a shot at at least beating the women in the 70's and up division. At least I won't feel guilty about those extra helpings mashed pototoes and gravy, yummy.
:0)
_

We had ourselves a merry little Christmas

Well, another Christmas is in the books. Although it was off to a bit of shaky start (everyone but me was hit by the flu bug) I think it turned out pretty well.
Before the plague hit our family, my mom and I were able to bake up a bunch of cookies. The plan was to put together some cookie trays for friends, but that just didn't happen. So here we were on Christmas Eve with tins full of naked cookies.
Sammie and I decided we would frost the cookies, since we had to leave some for Santa anyway, and it turned out to be a very fun time. In fact, I think this will be come a new little tradition. We had "It's a Wonderful Life" on in the background, we frosted cookies and after leaving a few for Santa we drove around and looked at lights. It was a nice way to wind down Christmas Eve and then kids were almost asleep by the time we got back which made bedtime a snap.
Christmas morning Ben came in very early and wanted to go check out his stocking. I told him he had to wait for Sammie, who was still sleeping, and he actually did. Poor Ben, Sammie slept in until 9. There is a running joke in our family as to the contents of stockings. When I was in Jr. High, my brother took my Journey tape and used it to document his Christmas Eve. At one point he goes and does a little recon on his stocking contents. He states he had received an orange, a candy cane of M&M's and 2 lottery tickets, both losers. He signs off with "wish me luck under the tree". Of course at the time, it was not funny but now I wish I still had the tape. So now Santa always leaves oranges, candy canes full of M&M's and 2 lottery tickets. Santa also leaves on ornament which reflects the interest of each kid. It is kind of fun to see the progression of interest from Elmo to Clifford to super heroes and now Star Wars. Ben got the "Death Star" ornament which lights up and talks. Sammie's ornaments have gone from Jojo to Dora and now princesses. I'm trying to avoid the whole Disney princess thing, so I found a marshmallow princess. It is very cute.

Once the stocking were done, the wait began. We were having everyone for dinner around 5 and then we would open presents after that. Ben and Sam were such troopers. They didn't beg to open presents too much and kept themselves busy. Everyone was coming to our house for dinner. We decided to keep the menu easy: Prime rib, potatoes, asparagus, salad, rolls and cheesecake. I had never done a prime rib before and besides forgetting to season the meat (ugh), I think it turned out well.
Present time was fun and everyone got good stuff. Even though we don't really go overboard with gifts, there was quite a big pile.
Ben had asked for an electric blanket, gotta love a kid with a practical side, and Sammie asked for a fishing pole.
I love the fact that our kids asked for simple things. In an age of "I'll text you a link for my gift registry", it makes me happy that my kids are still unjaded. Our family wants for nothing and they seem to get that.
Today will be spent cleaning up the aftermath. I thought I did more last night, but oh well, at least I got a load of dishes through the dishwasher. Joji is at work and Ben is off at a friend's house so it is just me and Sammie. I think a little mommy/daughter bonding time cleaning the kitchen is in order, lucky Sam :0)

Holiday Fun

The carpets are cleaned and the tree is up. Holiday buzz is in the air. We have begun the prep for our party. We still have 20 folks who have not RSVP'd yet. I doubt that most of them will come, but it would be nice to know either way. Wednesday is the deadline, so I'm curious to see if I hear from anyone. One of the nice features of "evite" is that it will remind you if you have not RSVP'd.
We were going over the menu tonight. It takes a lot of thought to make up a party menu. I'm kind of a picky eater, so I really try and be sensitive to other picky eaters out there and have something for everyone.
Here is what is on the menu so far:
Sushi (California rolls, unagi maki, ebi sushi and some type of cucumber roll ~ Akiko and BaChan make amazing sushi it is the star of the show)
Beef Satay
Hot Wings
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Egg Rolls
Baked Spinach Dip
Cantaloupe and Prosciutto
Veggie Tray
Deviled Eggs
Meat and Cheese Platter
Bacon Wrapped Dates
Bruchetta
Pigs in a Blanket
Chocolate Fountain with various dippers
Sugar and Gingerbread Cookies
As for spirits, we keep it simple. Big bucket of ice with beers and "mikes". Usually we have Cosmopolitan Jello Shots. Kind of cheesy, but very tasty. However, I'm in a slight panic due to the fact that NO ONE has cranberry Jello. Hopefully, I can find some. If not, we will just have to make due with a Cosmo punch :0)

Thanks to the folks who signed up for the cookie swap (hopefully, we will get some more) I'm thinking our official post day can be the 12th. That way folks can get to see the recipes and still have some time to try them out. If you know anyone who might want to join us, send on over. The more the merrier!!
And speaking of merry... check this out. Too fun :0)

The Art of a Cookie Exchange

I love the idea of a cookie exchange. I love to bake and I take a lot of pride in what I bake. So when I hear about a cookie exchange, I get excited and sign up. Well, I haven't participated in a ton of these, but I always seem to have the same experience. I spend a lot of time baking cookies from an old family recipe, put them into pretty packages and then show up only to come home with many ziploc bags full of broken snickerdoodles (I'm not knocking the snickerdoodle, I just find it funny that it seems to be a very popular Christmas cookie, who knew?)
Anyway, one night my mom stumbled across a website dedicated to the art of hosting a cookie exchange. Of course, having a little German in us, we instantly went to "the rules" page. She minces no words on what kind of cookies are acceptable and what kinds are not. She also encourages you to find an upscale bakery if you your cookies are not up to snuff. Apparently, her methods work and she hosts a huge exchange every year. On the website are pictures for many of the years and I must admit is looks fun.
I have always wanted to host a cookie exchange of my own, but it always seems December slips away too quickly. So I thought I would try and host a virtual cookie exchange. I planned on posting pics and recipes of the cookies I was planning to make and I figured why not invite others to share. So if you are interested (and I really hope folks are) let me know if you would like to join me and I will "try to" create a link list.
And now for the RULES:
Post a recipe and pic of your favorite Christmas Cookie on December 12th
If there is a story or history behind the recipe, feel free to share that as well.
Don't stress and have fun (seems to be a common theme for folks this year)

Tonight we are setting up the Christmas tree. Sammie and Ben are so excited. It is also supposed to snow tonight. How great would that be?? :0)

Tick Tock

I had a slight panic attack today. I read that Christmas is only exactly 5 months away. When I was little, it seemed like FOREVER between my birthday and Christmas. Now I look at my calendar and it is quickly filling up with "stuff" that makes the weeks seem really short and sure to fly by. School supplies and Halloween decor are invading local shops. Christmas stuff is soon to follow. Yikes!!
Every year is the same. I promise myself that this year will be different. I won't wait until the last minute to get everything done. One year after an exceptionally stressful Christmas, I actually wrote myself a letter with suggestions of how not to repeat the situation. It actually helped.
I want my kids to enjoy the holidays because I think it can be a very exciting time to enjoy one another. I just hate getting swooped up in the Christmas machine. It is all of the contrived gift giving that bugs me. I am anti "stuff for stuff's sake". Don't get me wrong, I love finding that perfect something for someone. It just doesn't always happen in weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have cut my Christmas shopping list way down from what it used to be and really feel sorry for my friends who feel they have to spend money they don't have on folks they don't really care for because "it's Christmas". What a waste.
One of the things I do enjoy about the holiday is our annual Christmas Party. I would much rather spend money on putting out a killer spread and be able to reconnect with friends. I feel like I'm giving my friends the gift of my time and I think that is a precious commodity these days, plus it won't become a storage issue or part of next week's goodwill donation.
I guess the point of my rambling post today is that I miss the days when time seemed to creep along. There doesn't seem to be that anticipation anymore because you blink and there it is. I will do my best to subscribe to the motto: Keep it simple, sweetie. That usually is the best advice.
Now I'm off to clean up my basement and work in the yard. I got a handmade trellis from my good friends Bob and Jessica and I bought the most gorgeous clematis to climb it. Christmas Scmistmas, viva la summer while I still can :0)
PS
I love google image and this little picture just seemed perfect (how cute is the hedgehog??) Anyway, I found it here http://theblackapple.typepad.com/inside_a_black_apple/ and she has Etsy shop in case you feel like taking a look. She has some of the sweetest prints. Some seem a little "Wednesday Addams" but there are still cute.