CMC: Waffle/Pancake Breakfast

This is part of my Christmas Memory Challenge, a goal I set for myself to recall 25 things I love about Christmas. You can also check out Shannon's memories here.

When I was young and split the holidays between my mom's and my dad's houses, Christmas Eve and morning was spent at my mom's. After we opened our gifts on Christmas morning, my mom would get out the waffle maker and we'd all set about getting ready for Christmas breakfast. Big bro and I would set the table, while my mom made the waffles and my stepdad fried up eggs, bacon and tomato. Just before we all sat down to eat, out would come the champagne and orange juice for some breakfast mimosas. (When I was young, you'd be hard-pressed to actually find a discernible amount of champagne in my 'mimosa'. It was exciting when I was actually old enough to have a 50/50 ratio in my drink... exciting and enough to get a 14 year old buzzed for the day!)

When I got older, and I had three households I had to fit in* the order changed around and I found myself usually at my stepmom's house on Christmas morning. Waffles got replaced with pancakes but the rest of the tradition pretty much remained the same (except that recent years have seen the mimosas replaced with prosecco). It is such a wonderful way to start Christmas Day.

*I know I've mentioned this on here before, but my stepmom is technically no longer my stepmom. As I say to people when I have to explain why my dad lives in Victoria and my stepmom in Nanaimo: she's not actually my stepmom, but I find 'my dad's most recent ex-wife of 22 years who helped raise me since the age of four' a bit of a mouthful so I'm sticking with the term stepmom.

Things I Think Are Awesome: Part One

I’ve seen these lists posts on other blogs so I decided to do one here... mostly because I really don’t know how to segue through all the things I want to talk about. Although normally I think a well-crafted segue is awesome.

Not segways, though. They kinda suck.

(The only good thing to come from segways was G.O.B.)

1. Stir It Up

I wanted to give some love to a new-to-me restaurant in Fernwood, Stir It Up. I was finally enticed into trying the restaurant one day after smelling of their delicious food. It's Jamaican and Caribbean food. Sadly, the kitchen is very small and does not allow for prep in the space so some of the items are premade and then reheated but it tasted so delicious, I got over that very quickly.

GET IN MY BELLY!!

[Photo from their site]

It is cash only so hit up the ATM before you go (there's one across the street at the Fernwood Inn, so, you know...) and you either need to go on a sunny day when you can sit outside or get take out as the inside has about two 'cozy' seats. Meals run about $10.

2. XKCD

So, this webcomic is something that I always love but I was a little enamoured with this particular comic:

[Permanently borrowed from XKCD]

I know I may get some haters but based on the people I know who attend Burning Man, I have come to decision that the majority of attendees are socially obnoxious d-bags. Also, based on the number of stories those same people have told me about cheating or being cheated on at Burning Man, they're d-bags who can't stay faithful so... yeah...

3. THR

This falls into the list of things I always love but THR (who is also crafty) is back from her trip Down Under to see her family and she linked up to a great link of free organization tools. I thought it was so awesome, I decided it needed to be shared over here too. She linked to some crafty person who also had links to fee name tags/crafty items. The part I liked most is here. It's all free and all cute. What's not to love?

4. Star Trek (TOS)

Thanks to Darla over at Bakingdom (that girl is seriously talented and you should all have her in your reader even if only to look at the pretty pictures of things you'll never make... like me!) I learned that today is the 45th anniversary of the airing of very first episode of Star Trek.

I don't know if you guys have noticed but I am a huge nerd! I watched every single episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation growing up. I read a couple of the books (which I would only read at home so I wouldn't accidentally be caught with one by a 'cool' kid and mercilessly mocked for) and even dressed up as Counselor Troi for Halloween one year.

I dyed my hair black with one of those 'one wash' dyes and then I curled it.

The curls were gone in about 30 minutes (stupid poker straight hair) and

I was still washing the black dye out two weeks later. One wash my *ss!

I was a late-comer to The Original Series (called  TOS by those 'in the know' aka geeks) only starting to watch it about five years ago. I love it. Some day, when I meet my sugar daddy (so, you know, never), I plan to buy the entire series on DVD because I'm nerdy awesome like that.

Back to Darla's awesomeness. Also being of the geek-persuasion, Darla made these awesome TOS sugar cookies.

[Credit: shamelessly stolen from Bakingdom]

Seeing them in my reader this morning made my heart go pitter-patter! Also, she insinuated she was going to make some Firefly baked goods so that's my day made.

Captain Mal in edible form? If you insist!

So, those are some things I think are awesome right now. I have more to talk about but a) I have a lunch meeting I have to get to and b) The Guild isn't going to watch itself in the next 20 minutes before I have to leave, so, you know...

I'm Not In Denial, I Just Refuse to Believe It

Apparently today is November 1st. I say 'apparently' because I'm pretty sure I've gotten sucked into some kind of time vortex which has created a slingshot effect landing me in a future time line while in my own time line, it's really October 15th.

In this alternate time line in which today is November 1st, I have failed to finish my October book but I'm so close. If I was in my correct time line I would not only finish it, I would perhaps even have time to finish a second book.

In this alternate time line in which today is November 1st, I didn't get all the prep work done for Nanowrimo done that I was aiming for and I've also taken on a few too many tasks for November to truly give it the go that I want to give it. If I was in my correct time line, the prep work would have been done and I'm sure I would have remembered Nanowrimo and therefore would have declined a few current obligations.

In this alternate time line in which today is November 1st, I haven't cooked any of the meals I planned to cook because I'd get invited out or ended up just opting for something less involved. If I was in my correct time line, I'd totally get a chance to crank out a few of those meals, blog about them and even post a few pictures.

In this alternative time line in which today is November 1st, I'm still working on part two of my Alberta post which I started almost a month ago. If I was in my correct time line, I'd still be working on it, but I'd take a little over a week, not a little less than a month to finish it.

As it stands, I will have to read two books in November to keep on track for the book challenge. I am doing the right thing and foregoing Nanowrimo this year as I have some writing I have to do (for money) and can't afford the time needed for Nanowrimo. I'm making myself cook in November by setting up a couple of dinner dates at my place. I will have the second Alberta post done by this weekend or I will leave it on my computer forever as a 'draft'.

Obviously, I need to find the Doctor so he can fix this time vortex issue that I'm having because I really need those additional 16 days back.

103: Stop People From Giving Me Cookbooks

That's right. Someone at work gave me a cookbook today. It's from her son's school--part of last year's fundraiser which they're now just giving away--and she knows that I like to cook.

I really should sit down and figure out exactly how many meals this is going to be for goal #97. Then I can set that as the number and just ignore any new cookbooks which find their way into my possession.

GBC Question #15

Question #15 is interesting: Favourite book dealing with foreign culture.

Ethnic Cookbooks. A good ethnic cookbook will not just have recipies, it will have history, customs, and traditions from that region/country. You'll learn a new dish and you'll learn about the culture. Amazingly, I have only bought myself two ethnic cookbooks in my life. People know my passion and keep giving them to me (not that I'm complaining, I love them) so at current count, I have:

Africa - 1 (broken into regions)
France - 1
Germany - 1
Italy - 1
Lebanon - 1
Mexico - 1
Morocco - 1
Switzerland - 2
Tanzania - 2
Thailand - 1

Of course, my favourite ethnic meal to cook will always be cheese fondue :)