CMC: Christmas Dinner

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.

No Christmas Memory Challenge would be complete without memories of Christmas dinner. From the small dinners of just my immediate family, to the larger dinners of family and friends, to the insanely large dinners of the Alberta family, Christmas dinner is the apex of the holiday season. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, vegetables you're not totally sure when they are because you just immediately smother them in gravy, and plate-licking deserts, Christmas dinner is just such a lovely meal.

But it's not just about the food. In this crazy, rush-rush world we live in, it's so lovely to take an afternoon (or even an entire day sometimes) to come together with loved ones and just enjoy their company. Whether you get stuck at the kids table where one of your cousins takes to yelling out everytime he hears someone fart (true story) or you're stuck in the middle of a political conversation regarding the current situtation in Northern Ireland and you're too young to understand half of it (also, a true story), it's an excuse to just sit and take two hours to enjoy one meal.

So, from my family to yours, I wish you a happy holiday season and I hope you enjoyed my memory challenge. And may you take two hours to enjoy your dinner tonight without political conversations about the current Euro zone economy crisis... even if your dinner is Chinese takeout for you and your cats. (Not surprisingly, that last part applies to at least two of you and you know who you are!)

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

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.

CMC: Lemon Meringue Pie

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.

My mom's Lemon Meringue Pie is legendary... at least in our own house. It makes an appearance at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter and it's arguably what we look forward to the most. Move over turkey, there's LMP to enjoy!

I want to eat this photo.

CMC: Heisse Maroni

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.

I've known the opening line to A Christmas Song since I was old enough to listen to Johnny Mathis - it's the song that starts with "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." - but I didn't know anyone who actually roasted chestnuts. Most people I know collect chestnuts in the fall simply because of the belief that they repel spiders. (Or if you're me and you're eight, you collect them so you can make a necklace which doubles as a weapon against your brothers when mom's not looking). Chestnuts actually roasting on a fire seemed like an old-timey thing, like sleigh rides, a goose for Christmas dinner, or a quiet evening spent as a family.

Then I moved to Germany and learned that while the open fire may be a thing of the past, roasting chestnuts is still very much the thing to do. I also learned that I adore the smell. Oh, the smell is divine. I didn't actually care about eating them, I just wanted to smell them!

In early November (or when the weather turns cold enough), heisse maroni (hot chestnut) stands pop up all over Germany and Switzerland (and I'm sure other countries too, those are just the two I'm most familiar with) and I'd buy a bag of them just so I could walk around smelling them all day. When people ask me what I miss most about Christmas in Europe, it's the smell of heisse maroni... and buying Glühwein at a street kiosk. But mostly the smell of heisse maroni.

CMC: Cranberries

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.

"What are those," he asks as he points at the floating red berries in the punch.

"Cranberries," I tell him. He looks at me wanting more of an explanation. "Don't you have cranberries in Switzerland?"

He shrugs. Michael had moved to Canada for four months to study English, and he was spending Christmas with me and my family. I was introducing him to what 'Family Christmas Party' meant in my parents' homes, and it was clear there were a lot more cultural differences than either of us had assumed.

"Maybe but I've never had them. Why are they in there?" He squints at the punch bowl as if some unseen writing would appear which would answer his questions. I can understand his confusion, I had just poured us two glasses of punch while avoiding the cranberries as if my life depended on it. Why would you put something in a punch if you couldn't consume it?

"You can eat them, but I only eat cranberry sauce. They're very bitter in their natural state."

"I can try one?"

"If you want." It's my turn to shrug. He picks up a fork from the buffet table and fishes a cranberry from the punch. He smiles at me as his pops it in his mouth. Before he's even finished biting down, the smile is wiped from his face and replaced with the look of a toddler tasting his first lemon. He grabs a napkin and spits out the rest of the cranberry.

"That's horrid! Why did you let me eat that?" I can't stop myself from laughing as he spits a few remaining pieces of cranberry into the napkin before downing the entire glass of punch. "The punch tastes so good but those..."

"Hey, I told you they were bitter."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I had to find out for myself. Maybe our tastes are different, you know?" I nod.

"Come on. Let's get some food to get that taste out of your mouth."

CMC: Grandma's Molasses Cookies

This is part of my Christmas Memory Challenge, a goal I set for myself to recall 25 things I love about Christmas.

You know that Christmas is coming when my mom and I start to plan when we can make Grandma’s Molasses Cookies. The cookies are legendary in our family and with our friends. I can’t tell you how many Christmas potlucks I’ve brought a plate of cookies to only to find them completely cleaned out before the other guests have arrived. We double the recipe and the process becomes an all-day event with my mom making the dough in the morning so it can chill before I get there. When I arrive, we put on a spot of tea in grandma’s silver tea pot, throw on Johnny Mathis* and then we start our assembly line of baking. Roll, cut, bake, cool, ice, decorate, taste test, repeat.

I can not image the Christmas season without these cookies. On the years when my mom is away over the holiday season, I pull out her recipe card and make these by myself. They're good but never as good as when we make them together!

*trust me, I'll be talking more about him later

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...

Happy Easter!

The only person who will find my five minute paint job the least bit amusing is me.

Well, me and other dorks who've read and/or watched Game of Thrones.

Oh, Sean Bean. You pull off the bunny ears almost as well as you pull of the stoic hero!

I'm off to do a few jobs and then I'm heading over to my mom's for Easter dinner. Whether you follow a religion that believes in Easter or you're a skeptic who lists your religion as "invisible space pickle" (because I do), I hope you all have the pleasure of spending today with your loved ones.

Happy Easter.

Lesson Learned

While grocery shopping yesterday, I happened to spy a little treat I just had to have. It was a passion fruit. I can honestly say I haven't actually seen a passion fruit since I came home from Tanzania and I was overjoyed at the idea of actually having a passion fruit and not just 'passion fruit flavoured'.

I balked at the price of $1.99 per passion fruit. The last time I bought one is was 3 for 200TSH (roughly $0.25) but I so desperately wanted to taste actual passion fruit again.

After I put the groceries away, I popped on the kettle for a cuppa and then set about enjoying the passion fruit. I cut it open, it was exactly how I remembered them looking. I dug my spoon in to one half, eagerly anticipating the moment.

I knew that it wouldn't taste as good as an actual fresh passion fruit, that the taste would be a little duller, but the instant I put that spoon in my mouth I regretted it. The last thing I had done before going for groceries was brush my teeth. 

*Sigh*

I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for that passion fruit experience.

Merry, Holy Cr@p, It's 2011 Already!

Before I completely leave Christmas behind me and dive into the new year, I figure a few photos are in order.

Baking Grandma's Cookies means we drink tea from Grandma's Silver Tea Pot. It just makes good sense.

Lemon Meringue Pie. The official dessert of Christmas in our house.

There were never religious icons in my mom's house until they bought this carved nativity scene in Mexico a few years ago. It was more for the carving and less for the religious aspect that they bought it.  It will never be as awesome as my dad's nativity scene however. Scared he was going to lose the baby Jesus on one of his moves (as he has all the wise men and the angel), he decided to affix the figurine by nailing it to the manger! The mileage I have gotten out of that story, let me tell you!

My mom, Big Bro and I made these when I was about seven. Twenty-three years later, they're still looking pretty good

The thing I miss most about growing up now that I'm living in my apartment is having a fireplace. There's a warmth and comfort from a fire you just don't get from central heating. I also don't think you get it from a gas fireplace but that could just be a prejudice I have against anything that replaces memories from my childhood.

This is proof that my Baby Bro actually stopped playing FIFA 11 long enough to do dishes. Years from now, historians writing his biography will look at this picture and gasp. Debates will rage about whether or not it is photoshopped. I am here to settle the score: this picture is not photoshopped, he is actually doing the dishes!

During the summer we could never figure out the point of the man-made gully in my stepmom's backyard. Then the rains came. This mini-river leads to a pond which was empty this summer. The pond is currently overflowing and the backyard is still a little soft. I'd hate to think what the backyard must have been like before they dug the gully!

Before driving me and Baby Bro down to Victoria on the Tuesday, my stepmom treated us to lunch at the Dinghy Dock Pub on Protection Island (off Nanaimo). I was glad our original plan of going on Monday was thwarted by it not being open. Monday was bucketing down with rain, Tuesday was gorgeous and sunny. The food was decent although the service was a little slow, but on a sunny summer's day I'd go back in a heartbeat. Having a beer while looking out over the harbour really can't be beat!

This is the best completely-useless-but-it-looks-pretty present ever! It's a marionette cat in fancy dress. My stepmom and Baby Bro met up in Italy last November (he had been backpacking for eight months). When they found this in Venice, they agreed it must be mine. Useless and feline. Yup, that sounds exactly like something I would covet! Now, to find a permanent place where the living, useless felines can't get to it.











The first day of 2011 was fabulous. It was gloriously sunny all day although still very cold, I had a fabulous brunch with a fabulous lady at a place I had never been to before but would definitely go to again, and I wrote up and planned out all my resolutions and will be discussing them on here very soon but for now, it's getting late and I want to read before bed.

I hope you are all having a fabulous start to 2011!

Traditional Traditions

There are certain things I need to do to really feel like it's Christmas. I'm a sucker for traditions and I have a lot of them all year round but especially at Christmas. I am, after all, a self-proclaimed Fauxman Catholic. I started one of the traditions Saturday night by watching White Christmas and another one on Sunday by baking Grandma's Molasses Cookies with my mom.

The scene with the bells leading up to this scene used to terrify me.

Actually, it still does.

My step-mom always watched certain movies leading up to Christmas. Eventually these films became a must for our family: White Christmas, A Child's Christmas in Wales, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Carol/Scrooge (depending on what country you're in). We have certain rules that have to be followed for each movie. The order in which we watch them is carefully selected as only White Christmas or A Child's Christmas in Wales are allowed be watched after Christmas. A Christmas Carol has to be watched as close to Christmas Eve as possible. On Christmas Eve is the best night but with two households to plan around, that's not always possible. Unfortunately, my step-mom moved up to Nanaimo earlier this year so many of these films are being watched alone.

They're about to fulfill their destiny of being tasty, tasty cookies!

Grandma's Molasses Cookies recipe goes back to at least my great-Grandma. My grandma always had them year round in her house (obviously not with Christmas designs like ours) but we only make them at Christmas. I like it more that way. Like Starbucks' seasonal flavourings, it builds the anticipation. I eagerly await for my mom to suggest a baking date every year and then I talk ad nauseum about how we're going to bake Grandma's cookies and how they're the best cookies ever (which they totally are!) and that the recipe is over 100 years old. It's not just that I love eating these cookies, I love making them. I love the process of rolling out the dough and fitting the cookie cutters to get as many cookies as possible. I love icing them and then adding sprinkles. There's something about that last step that just really seals the deal for me.

Best. Cookies. EVER!

My family is full of traditions, these are just two of them, but there's too many to talk about them all so I'll just leave it to the ones I actually participated in this year. Besides, who really wants to hear about my Baby Bro almost falling from the ladder with the chainsaw during our family tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree?

Highlights of an Otherwise Normal Wednesday

1) While at work I received a phone called from my mom who was in hysterics because I posted the Corb Lund video for 'The Truck Got Stuck' on my other blog and she had never seen it ("The part with the Hudderites, hahaha!" You're welcome, mom.).

2) I learned Gordon Campbell was resigning. Gordon Campbell is a bully. Nothing indicated that more clearly than the way the HST was introduced. Whether you support the Liberals or the NDP, his resignation is a good thing... albeit a little bit too late in my opinion. Man, I really wish I was in a Canadian Poli Sci class right now because no one at work wants to discuss the long term ramifications of this on BC politics with me.

3) I had Thai for dinner with a bunch of the fellow MoonDance people. I love living in a place where there are so many good ethnic restaurants to choose from. Variety is the spice of life!

4) My little brother agrees that we need to do a road trip to Seattle for the BSG exhibit at the EMP. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that I'm not the only dork in my family. I was worried for a while that I was going to be the odd one out because my older brother and stepbrother were always waaaaay too cool for me, but Little Bro totally gets it. He also gets Doctor Who and Star Trek and Halo and the Simpson's and South Park and Cannibal! The Musical and Team America World Police and Fawlty Towers and Monty Python and Lord of the Rings and Shaun of the Dead and... well... he gets me. It's nice to have someone in your family who does.

5) MoonDance is talking about going back to Guinea for another dance/drum intensive learning holiday in 2012. Actually, Lynn suggested it a few years ago and then later said it wasn't a firm plan. Tonight Erin and I decided that we're just going to talk about it like it's happening because then it will. So, I'm totally going to Guinea in 2012. You heard it here first.

102: Stop Buy Cookbooks

I can't believe it is the weekend again already! It's been a busy past week and it's kept me away from the internet more than I was expecting. I never got to talk about my lamb Thanksgiving dinner. That's right, lamb. We're Irish and my dad didn't feel like cooking a turkey. I love lamb; it really has to be in the top three for my favourite meats (along with fresh salmon and Alberta beef). The only downside is that I missed out on the leftover stuffing and turkey sandwiches. Sigh. Christmas isn't too far away so I will get those sandwiches soon :)

Wandering around dad's property

Despite being away from internet, I've been doing a lot of writing via the ancient tradition of using a pen and paper. How quaint, I know! I have a blog post written but I'm waiting for my mom to come home from Nova Scotia so I can use a few of her photos. Even knowing that I was writing it for the blog, there really is something about the act of writing that I love. Computers, for all their ease and speed, will never replace that.

Here's a hint: the post has something to do with Grandpa's farm in Milk River, AB

Tonight is the AGM for Matoto, the non-profit connected to MoonDance. I'm going to go check that out and if it looks like something I want to get involved in then I can cross #23 off 101 in 1001. During morning coffee with a friend (during which we also played rummy... me and my cards!) there was a discussion about a possible cross-Canada road trip in the future. It feels good to know I'm working towards crossing things off the list!

Taking names and kicking ass in Rummy. It's what I do.

As much as I'm trying to cross things off my list, it would help if I stopped buying things that added to it. While in town this morning, I bought another cookbook. It was on sale for $7, how do I say no to that? So that's one more meal that I have to cook for #97. Two steps forward, one step back!

I Got Canned!

I wasn't at work today so instead I did something that I've been wanting to do for a number of years: my mom taught me how to can peaches.

We done good!

Every peach season for about the past five years, I've thought to myself "I should can peaches like mom used to", but then my mom would go away camping or I'd be too busy enjoying summer BBQs and we just never got around to it. We actually missed the good peach season this year, but determined to finally get this done, my mom found some good peaches hiding out at a local farmer's market.

I can honestly say that the whole process wasn't as labour-intensive as I was expecting, but time-wise it did drag on. It's given me confidence, however, that I can do this on my own in the future (although I will have to borrow all of my mom's equipment so really, why not just do it with my mom?) and that I want to try and can a few other items. My mom's relish recipe is on my list along with dill pickles, pears, beets, well, pretty much anything you can can. (Because we can can can!)