Tamale Making 101

Tomorrow (actually today, but I have to sleep first), five of my stitching friends are coming over to make tamales. It's going to be a bit of a squeeze with all of us in my kitchen so it's a good thing we like each other!

I took out my table--which seats six when necessary and without any elbow room--and replaced it with a 6 foot long folding table--which means it's a little hard to get around without running into something and will be even harder once everyone's seated. We'll manage though.

I've gotten just about everything done that I was hoping to get done this week except for quilting my Christmas bed quilt and making stuff to go with it--like pillow cases. But there's always next week, even if I DO have to go back to work.

I thought I'd show you a photo of the front of our house so far.

I strung lights around the patio area today and wired a large, gaudy bow to the fence. We still need to string lights along the front of the porch and garage roof line--with just the lights on the patio, it looks a little lopsided.

Unfortunately, Hubby's not going to be doing the lights tomorrow. He'll be spending the day elsewhere, because the LAST thing he wants to do is spend the day with us ladies, chatting, stitching, and cooking. I'm pretty certain, though, that he'll be home in time to eat some tamales for dinner!

Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho

. . . a pirate's life for me . . . .

No, I didn't get electrocuted putting up the patio tree today. Thank you all for your concern. As it turned out, our rain didn't start until later in the afternoon, so the tree lighting and decorating was a dry (albeit chilly) affair. And just as I was finishing, Gran pulled up to wisk me away to our lunch outing.

I don't know if you recall or were even reading my blog last March, but Gran and I had lunch one day at the High Hand Nursery/Conservatory and then we visited a vintage fiber/quilt shop called the Tin Thimble in the same complex of shops. Well, we pretty much repeated that trip today, except the lunch menu was geared toward winter rather than spring. Yes, we repeated the homemade potato chips with artichoke/lemon dip--we shared a large order. So darn good! Sadly, on the drive there, I realized I had forgotten my camera and Gran left hers in the car, so we have no photos to show you, but the food was excellent. I had a half a chicken/brie/apple sandwich and Gran had a seasonal salad with persimmons and mandarins.

The view during lunch was interesting to say the least. Inside the conservatory, which is a large, glass-walled building, they had large wooden planter boxes planted with fir trees that were decorated for Christmas with red ornaments. Since we had a choice of looking out onto the nursery's sparse winter garden or inward at the Christmas trees, we chose to look at the trees; the drawback was that doing so meant looking at the other diners too.

You know how low slung pants are popular now? An older, overweight woman sitting at the table in front of us was wearing a pair of DKNY low waisted jeans that were at least one size too small for her. How do I know they were DKNY jeans? Because the tag was hanging out the back, along with her . . . . Well, you know how plumbers have a bad rep for working bent over with pants that don't quite cover all they should? Yep, I think this woman may have been a plumber too. Not something a person would want to look at while dining. You'd think it would have been chilly enough in that glass-walled building that she'd have FELT a breeze or something, but I guess not.

Luckily, Gran and I were a bit distracted when a pirate entered the restaurant and was seated at a table not far from us. Yep, a pirate. In full pirate dress--boots, hat with feather, brocade coat, etc. Of course, since he was indoors, he took the hat off and had one of those kerchief things wrapped around his head.

Somehow, and it might have been that Gran asked someone who worked at the restaurant, we found out he was just a customer. So, no, I guess he wasn't there as a singing telegram or anything else that would explain his dress; I guess he just likes to dress up when he takes himself out to lunch. Hey, it's California, remember?! We can be grateful he wasn't dressed in drag!

After lunch (and a nice cup of hot chocolate topped with REAL whipped cream), we ended our excursion at the Tin Thimble where we watched a class felting wool roving into Christmas stockings with lacy embellishments. We really, REALLY need to take a class there someday--they do the most interesting stuff! And I love the vintage goods they carry--I came home with a couple pieces of vintage lace trim for pillows. Merry Christmas to me! Well, that's ONE person on my list I've shopped for now!

The Holidays Are Killing Me!

Sorry I didn't post last night. By the time I decided to stop decorating for the night, I was exhausted, I could barely move, and my computer decided to slow down. I really couldn't blame it since it was around 2:30 a.m. and I was pretty darn slow too!

The decorating is proceeding. I have to tell you that it's going a little slower than I would have liked. The other day, before the actual decorating began, I had been to WalMart and bought a large glass jar, thinking I would use it to make a little snow scene--I'll have to show you later. When Hubby saw it, asked what it was for, and I explained, he couldn't believe I didn't already HAVE something I could use and pretty much suggested I was a hoarder in desperate need of an intervention. He pointed out that I buy stuff and don't get rid of the old stuff I no longer need, and he's right. By the time I'm decorating, I'm too busy and too tired to go through all the boxes and get rid of what I don't want any longer, and when I DO have time, I'm pretty sick of looking at all the Christmas stuff and I don't want to have anything more to do with it.

So THIS year, I made a conscious effort to cull out everything I no longer want. Yesterday evening, I spent a few quality hours in the garage, surrounded by boxes. I filled several bags of Christmas stuff for Goodwill and filled another box of stuff for the trash. In changing my bedding later in the evening, I even found a couple things in the linen closet that needed to take a trip to Goodwill. Hubby had already loaded his car with an unused dog igloo to be donated, so I just added all my bags and boxes too, and now his car is jam packed full. Serves him right. Bet he won't accuse me of hoarding anymore! Ha!

Soccer Son and I were supposed to do a little yard work today, but I think I broke my body yesterday, so when he showed up, I wasn't much help. As Soccer Son worked, Hubby looked on from the front patio, where he was assembling our old artificial Christmas tree--we decided to give it one more season of life, but it's going to be spending it outdoors. Unfortunately, while he was putting the tree together, Hubby had a Meniere's attack, which makes him incredibly dizzy and sick to his stomach; so while he slept off the attack, I took over the tree job and finished just as it was starting to get dark.

When I sorted out the decorations yesterday, I separated out some that were suitable for the outdoor tree. I was quite anxious to get that decorating task completed, especially since we're supposed to have rain tomorrow. So I looked through Hubby's box of outside lights and found two long strings of colored lights for the tree; when I tested them, both worked just fine. You can probably figure out where this is going, right? Yep, I put the lights on the tree, plugged it in, and only one string worked. And, of course, there were no more strings of lights in the box, so I had to go to the store and get more.

No, the patio tree isn't lit yet--at least HALF of it isn't. By the time I got home (because I did my grocery shopping too) it was much too dark and much too late, and I was much too hungry for dinner to mess around with the darn tree any longer. I don't know what time it's supposed to start raining tomorrow, but I might be finishing the tree in the rain.

So, yep, decorating is proceeding. It's actually getting close to done, in fact. Gran emailed me today and suggested I stop for a little while tomorrow to have lunch with her, so I think I'll do that. I DID warn her that she might have to carry me, but I actually think my body's feeling a little better tonight. I find that if I try really hard, I can get out of a chair by myself now and I can even straighten up--eventually.

I'm glad you could stop by so we could have a little time to visit, but I've gotta go now--it's time to take the pin out of the inner ear of that voodoo doll that looks like Hubby. Hoarder! Ha!

Le Petite--Butter Churn

Christmas decorating has begun at my house. In fact, I took the week off work to take care of the decorating and a few other things, like getting ready for a tamale-making get together I'm hosting on Saturday.

It's 1 a.m. and I've decorated (and cleaned) a fair amount today. A lot of the time has been spent sorting through boxes of decorations and thinking about what I want to use this year. I've about finished the living room and done a bit more here and there. Tomorrow I'll finish the kitchen--that's always a room that takes a long time--and get whatever remains to be decorated done on Wednesday. Since I'm working on a new Christmas quilt for my bed, I don't think I'll have our bedroom completely done this week, but once the rest of the decorating is done, I can get back to the quilt.

During the past weekend, I finally found time to make the Butter Churn quilt top--it's not quilted yet but I think it will go fast. I used the Fruitcake line by Basic Grey for this quilt--it's the November project for the Le Petite club.

One of the projects on today's agenda was to sort out the Sweat Shop, and you can sort of see that I've pinned several holiday projects up on the design wall, and I've also decorated the tree in there--since I spend so much time in this room, I can't ignore it when it comes to decorating.

If I don't post tomorrow night, it's just because I'm too tired and sore to do anything but crawl into bed. Which is kind of how I feel tonight, so I guess it's bath and bed for me. Thanks for stopping by.

Got Leftovers?

Do you have what's left of one of these?

Yes? Then I just might have a really good soup recipe for you!

I came across a couple different soup recipes that sounded good, and I decided to combine and tweek them a little. Happily, it resulted in a really YUMMY leftover turkey soup! And because Hubby gets a little upset when I do this since he knows I'll never remember exactly how I made something ever again, I thought I'd share it with you and forever memorialize the recipe so I can find it again too.

It's a turkey/mushroom/rice soup, and here's what it looks like--

Yum, and double yum!

Here's what you do--and, by the way, this recipe will fill a pretty big pot, so you can freeze half for another time.

INGREDIENTS:

4 slices of thick bacon, cut into 3/4" pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large ribs of celery, chopped

8 oz. pkg. sliced white mushrooms

1/2 of a green bellpepper, chopped

3 tablespoons of butter

2 pkg. Rice-a-Roni (or other brand) long grain and wild rice

30 oz. (approx.) chicken broth

2 10 oz. cans cream of mushroom soup

1-1/2 to 2 c. diced turkey

2 cups half and half

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In large, heavy soup pot, brown bacon. Remove bacon to paper towel to drain. To remaining bacon grease, add 1 tablespoon of butter and then onion, celery, bellpepper, and mushrooms. Saute over medium heat, stirring often.

While vegetables are cooking, prepare Rice-a-Roni according to package directions.

When onions are cooked to the point of being translucent, add chicken broth, cream of mushroom soup, turkey, salt and pepper, cooked rice mix, and reserved bacon. Reduce heat to low/simmer and cover pot, stirring occasionally, for one hour. Add half and half and heat through before serving.

Seriously, make this soup; it's THAT good. And if you don't have any turkey? Go buy one just so you can make the soup! (But if you're still resistant, substituting chicken would probably still be pretty darn good!)

More Homework--

But this time it's homework for YOU!

Remember my Holiday Wreath pattern made from the Paganini Schnibbles?

If you were one of the people who wanted to make it, the directions can be found HERE. And the template for the bows can be found HERE.

Remember, you need the Paganini pattern to make the quilt--my directions simply supplement that pattern. And if you make it? I'd love to see a photo, so please let me know if you've posted something on your blog or email a picture to me. And, of course, let me know if you have any questions about the pattern. Happy quilting!

Homework

Tomorrow (Saturday) from 1 to 5, I'm teaching a Schnibbles class, so I spent a good part of today gearing up for it--putting together my handouts and goodies and deciding what to feed my students. Once again, it's supposed to rain on the day of my class--as it did the last two classes--so again, soup seems like a good idea (and I'm SO GLAD I have the new crockpot with the locking lid!). I've been wanting to make a turkey/mushroom/wild rice soup, but I thought everyone would like a break from turkey, so I'm making corn chowder and accompanying it with pineapple/coconut muffins. Yum! I'll make the turkey soup for us sometime this weekend with our Thanksgiving leftovers.

Since this is the last class of the winter session and I haven't signed up to teach during the first couple months of the next session due to other commitments, it almost feels like I'll be getting out of school on holiday soon! It's a good thing, though, because with Christmas less than a month away, there's lots and lots of things to be done. Decorating, shopping, baking, sewing, crafting, wrapping, . . . . It makes me tired just thinking about it!

I didn't spend ALL day working on class stuff though--I stopped a couple times for recess. Quilting recess!

I finally started working on the Le Petite project for November, Butter Churn by This & That patterns. I'm using Basic Grey's Fruitcake line for this one and hope to have it done before--long before!--Christmas. In fact, I plan to finish the top in time for the parade on December 1st, and the really nice thing about these small quilts is that they quilt fast.

I've made all the churn dash blocks; next I need to start on the Jacob's ladder blocks. And as much as I'd like to do that RIGHT NOW, it's 1 a.m. and I have a class to teach in 12 hours, so I guess I'd better get to bed. Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

More Stuffed Than the Turkey!

First, for those who haven't heard much/anything about brining--brining is like a marinade. Some marinades add flavor and some tenderize or condition the meat in some way. Brining is a process that does both but is mainly used to make the meat more juicy. And it's popular because turkeys cook for a long time and have a tendency to dry out. But don't ask me how brining works because I'm not sure. Magic. I bet Alton Brown could tell you--email him and ask.

Brining uses liquid and salt and, quite often, sugar as well. Aside from those main ingredients, different flavors can be added, but it's the salt and liquid that hold in the juices when the meat is cooked. So I used water, salt, sugar, chicken broth, soy sauce, rosemary, celery seed, bay leaves, and thyme. And ice.

Seriously, I didn't notice much difference in the turkey either as to moisture or flavor. The soy sauce made it darker, though, and it cooked to a beautiful brown, so visually, it was quite nice. Usually my turkeys are moist and this one was too. I read that brining will make a turkey cook quicker, and there was a little part of the turkey underneath and to the back that wasn't quite submerged in the brine, and that part didn't really cook quite as well, but when we sliced the turkey and saw that little area wasn't quite cooked, we put slices in the microwave for less than a minute to finish the cooking and it turned out fine.

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to throw together a few appetizers, and I did--I had decided to only use whatever I had in the house rather than plan and buy more food, and that turned out well. We had deviled eggs, pimento cheese stuffed celery (haven't had that since I was a kid!), little smokies wrapped in small triangles of crescent roll dough, clam dip and crackers, and green olives. Plenty to eat! And THEN there were the main dishes. ARGH!

We ate at 1 p.m. so Soccer Son and His Lovely Wife-to-be-Someday could go on to her mom's house for a later Thanksgiving meal and the Wild Child went to a boyfriend's parents' house out of town for dessert and to spend the night. That, of course, meant Hubby and I had the perfect opportunity for a late afternoon Thanksgiving nap!

The Drooling Dog has had his share of table scraps and Spike and Stitch had their dry cat food spiked with clam juice, so everyone has eaten well today.

Now Hubby and I are both nibbling on the leftovers and thinking about the pumpkin pie that awaits, as yet untouched. Uh oh, I think I can hear him up and moving about the kitchen, so I'd better get off the computer and make sure he hasn't gotten into that pie without me.

Turkey Talk

This year I decided to brine my turkey. What do you think? Do you brine yours? Smoke or barbecue it? FRY it?

Normally I just roast it the old fashioned way, but THIS year, about a week ago, I decided to brine it, because I had an experience over the summer where I brined pork chops and they came out marvelously moist and tender, which is unusual for pork chops. MY pork chops, at least. So I figured brining was magically good stuff.

There was only one problem: About ten minutes after I decided I was going to brine the turkey this year, before I even LOOKED at a recipe for brining, I forgot. Totally. Until about an hour ago, around 8:30 p.m. on the eve of Thanksgiving.

The internet is a wonderful thing. Within a minute or two I found a TON of brining recipes with all kinds of star ratings, so I was able to find one with an excellent rating that used ingredients I already HAD. Then I went in search of a who-knows-how-many gallon bucket and washed that out--several times. Of course there's NO WAY that bucket will fit in my refrigerator--not with the shelves holding all the OTHER Thanksgiving food! But remember how I said we were having a really cold Thanksgiving? Well, I took the bucket out to the garage and covered it with boards, and I'm sure it will be just fine there until around 7 a.m. when I retrieve the bucket, stuff the turkey, and stick the bird in the oven. (Just as long as Hubby doesn't wake up from his nap in the recliner, decide it's too cold for the Drooling Dog to sleep in his dog house on the patio, and bring him into the garage--THEN we might just lose our traditional holiday meal and have to get Chinese takeout for Thanksgiving.)

I've made the stuffing, and it's in the refrigerator. The rest of the meal--green beans with bacon, onions, and mushrooms; scalloped potatoes (I cheated and got Trader Joe's--we LOVE them!); Crescent rolls; and cranberry sauce will be simple and quick. Hubby was going to make a pumpkin pie, but he ran out of time today, so the Wild Child picked one up at the grocery bakery. Oh, and I have a few appetizers I can throw together. So, all in all, for our little family gathering, we're pretty well set and I'm looking forward to a nice day. And, of course, I hope you are too! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Gobble, Gobble!

One more day of work and then Thanksgiving is here! Most years we've been invited to a smallish get together at my in-laws' house and we've gone a couple times, but I really enjoy cooking the traditional dinner at my house for my immediate family--and besides that, I LOVE having the leftovers to eat over the following few days while I work on getting the Christmas things out and the house ready for the season. And as far as Thanksgiving goes, I would also love to have a larger gathering at my house, but the house is so small, we can't accommodate more than about six people. Some years it's still so warm outside, if I'd known ahead of time, we could actually set up a couple tables on the patio and host the whole family, but this year is going to be one of the cold ones. The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down for the first time ever in the foothills south east of us today and temperatures in the Sierra Nevadas will get down to zero degrees or below tonight. Brrrrrrrr! Perfect Thanksgiving weather, though, and the ski resorts should have a pretty good amount of snow to start off the season.

How about you? Are you cooking or going to someone else's house? Do you have any particular Thanksgiving traditions that you HAVE to repeat year after year? And what about Black Friday? Are you planning to get up and out early to shop? Personally, I prefer to sleep in and then get busy with Christmas decorations when I get up.

We'll be having our Thanksgiving dinner early in the afternoon this year so Soccer Son and his Lovely Wife to be Someday can have dinner at her mom's house in the evening. I kind of like the earlier dinner but it means prepping a lot of it tomorrow night.

Remember the photos I've shown you of turkeys lurking around my office? Yesterday I was in the kitchen/dining room, which is lined with one wall of windows looking out on a grassy section and then our neighbor's parking lot, and what did I see? A freakin' FLOCK of turkeys! I COUNTED them and there were TEN! I sure wished I'd had my camera with me. With the economy the way it is, I have to wonder how many of the flock will be left come the weekend!

I think I'll be back to post tomorrow night, but if I'm not, just picture me up to my elbows in stuffing, wishing you and your family a happy Thanksgiving.