Grandma's Kitchen Table

Auld Lang Syne

       Matt and Ashlee at the last IYC Christmas Angels Sing Concert December 20th...good friends...Ashlee sings beside Matt in the choir, so it was fun to get a shot of the two of them side-by-side afterward.  We are so blessed to know so many wonderful and talented teens!

      Many of you have sent lovely emails and prayers, best wishes, Masses, etc. for me and I wanted to thank you all and let you know that I am doing well, just a minor glitch...should be up and running my usual gigs in no time, so much for vacation plans...hopefully be on time with my TWD and Whisk Wednesdays posts this week, but we shall see.  My Christmas gifts are still under the tree, so my season hasn't ended just yet!  Thanks for all the kind thoughts...I promise to try and get caught up around here soon. 

      Last Table post for the year.  All that's left to do now is celebrate the old and welcome in the new.  Click here for Auld Lang Syne...a movie version this year...I love all the olden means of transportation in this clip.  

Come on, go sing along...it's tradition!   Meet you back here in 2009. 

      In the meantime...sing along with me, you know the words to the first verse or two...come on, if I can't be with you at midnight, then let's just sing at least part of it together now:  Ready...Auld Lang Syne:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

      Auld acquaintances are never forgotten:  Happiest and Most Blessed of New Years to All of You From All of Us!

Merry Christmas From Us to You

        Merry Christmas and best of wishes for the coming year!  Grandma's Kitchen Table will be taking a bit of a vacation and return after the New Year.  Hope you all have lovely holidays! 

Friday's Favorites Fare & Old Toy Trains

LISTENING TO:   Christmas music, and for those of you who are just a little bit country, click here for today's song by Roger Miller about little boys...mine are not so little anymore!  Enjoy the song...and your own little boys...even if they are now all grown up! 

READING:  Dante's Divina Commedia 

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), we are on vacation until January 7th;  Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Real Butterscotch Pudding (and yes there is Butter AND Scotch in it) on page 386.

FAV NEW FIND:  Okay, I splurged...and right before Christmas, too...isn't there some sort of rule about that...oh, well, I was at Sur La you-know-where yesterday, getting a gift for someone else, and guess what was on the shelf next to it...a Kugelhopf pan!  Only ONE, so really, I HAD to get it because I have been looking all over for one.  Sometimes substitutes are just never the same...it was meant to be, just sitting there waiting for me...it just needed the right timing to be mine.  Perfect things are worth the wait.  So it's now sitting on my shelf waiting for me to make the next Kugelhopf for Christmas morning.  

FAV THING TODAY:   Wrapping presents...it's kinda fun, isn't it?  Who doesn't love getting a wrapped package now and again, right?  Donate something to those less fortunate...it will be a gift for yourself and you will feel really good about it.  And wrap it up nicely!

GOING TO:   Try to finish the Christmas shopping, do a little baking, fine-tune the Christmas Eve menu, watch ball games on the television, go to choir concerts, various holiday activities.

PRAYING FOR:   Patience...Understanding...Compassion...Acceptance...I think I need more of all of these, feel free to join me in prayer or add your own.

PHOTO OF THE DAY:  The Little Boys' Train under the Christmas tree in the living room before the tree was decorated...Mark's Grandma Sieckmann's crocheted tree skirt always makes an appearance under one or another of the trees as it was the last thing she made before she passed away in 1992 at the age of 92...I treasure having it from year to year.  The train is making its appearance after a few years absence due to the tendency of the Two Terrible Tibbies who think that it is a whole lotta fun to kill the train.  This year, although they have been giving it the eye, they have left it pretty much alone, deciding instead to kidnap various citizens and denizens of Bethlehem from the Nativity under another tree.  So far, all victims have gone unharmed, just been transported to various relocations.  We round them up at day's end and tote them back to their homes.  Hmmm...I just noticed that the logs from the train log car are MIA...suppose those looked a little too much like sticks for Tibbies to resist absconding with them...need to go on a seek and search mission for those today.  Have a great weekend!

Dog Tag and Snoopy Christmas

      Pippin, Lord of the Rings, left, displaying fine Tibetan Spaniel frog-legged lounging pose.    

      Vash the Stampede, right, suspicious of my motives with the camera flashing in his face.  

      Sometimes we here at The Table get a little silly...today would be one of those times.  It's Remy's birthday this week.  Remy is a Westie and he owns Sara and Ryan, The Winemaker and His Wife out in California.  Sara played along with a Doggie Tag for Remy's birthday, so we are playing along today for Sar and Remy.  If you want to check out Remy's answers, click on the connect to The Winemaker's Wife blog to your left. 

      So, in the spirit of holiday frivolity and all...here is the Dog Tag, and a Christmas tune for you today...click here for, you guessed it, Snoopy vs. The Red Baron Christmas.  Sometimes you just have to let silliness win out...it lightens the heart.

1.  What breed are you?

We are Tibetan Spaniels, a far superior breed to anything else out there, that's why there are so few of us, and why we have been so esteemed and treasured by Tibetan emperors. 

Pippin:  We have the papers to prove it, would you like to see them?   

Vash:  Not that I need to prove anything, of course, but if I did, I do have them.  So there.

2.  How old are you?

Pippin:  September 24, 2002

Vash:  May 23, 2003

3.  What is your full name? 

Pippin:  Pippin, Lord of the Rings

Vash:  Vash the Stampede

4. Do you have any nicknames?

Pippin:  Pip, Pipster

Vash:  Vash IS my nickname.  Sometimes I will answer to "Vashie," but only if absolutely necessary and no one outside the family is around to hear it.  Geesh....

5.  Where do you sleep?

Pippin:  At night, in my doggie bed.  During the day, anywhere up off the floor so that I have an excellent view of everything that is going on.  We are, you know, guard dogs...it is born us, so we must do it...really, we must.

Vash:  At night, in my doggie bed.  During the day, anywhere I can be in someone's way.

6.  What is your favorite thing to do?

Pippin:  Go for a drive in the car.

Vash:  Go for a walk so I can terrorize all the neighborhood dogs and anything else in my way.

7.  What is something unusual or interesting about you?

Pippin:  I am very smart about all the routines around here.  I keep everyone on schedule.  I KNOW when it is time for things like getting up in the morning, eating, walking, going places, guys leaving for school, guys coming home from school, guys coming home from work.  I know and if it doesn't happen on schedule, I let everyone know about it.

Vash:  Everything about me is unusual and interesting.  I like to keep them all guessing.  All the time.

8.  Who is your best friend?

Pippin:  Mom and Matt and Vash...I am very protective of home, family, and territory, and if you want to play here, you better be related to me or be with a member of my family.  Having food or bribes won't do it.

Vash:  Dad and Matt and Pippin...I do not play with other dogs well.  It's them or me...so I am always thinking:  ME!

9.  Did you go to obedience school...if so were you "Top Dog" or would you flunk out?

Pippin:  I really don't need to go to obedience school as I am a real people pleaser around the house and a very good boy most all of the time.  The worst that can be said about me is that I like to tear up Kleenex if I get a chance.

Vash:  Obedience school you say?  Really?  I can make them all go to obedience school?  No one ever told me that...I will check into sending them all immediately!  And, BTW, there is no training a Tibbie...we do what we do because we are superior to anything around and we know it.  I like having the rep that I only do what I want to do when I want to do it...I figured out long ago that cats have it made with this sort of behavior, so why can't I?

10.  Can you do any tricks?

Pippin:  I can sit and stay if I feel like there is a reason to do so that will net me a treat or a hug.  Tibbies are born all black and they get blonde as they age and get older.  We have two coats of fur, the outer one you see, and an inner one of downy fur which is very useful in places like Tibet...not so much in places like Indiana.

Vash:  I can get the people around here, especially the big tall guy with gray hair, to do anything I want when I want it.  I'd say that's the best trick of all, wouldn't you?  Oh, and I fetch...when it suits me to do so.  I am a champion dog, a veteran of the show ring, and the year I finished my championship, in only five shows, no less, I was one of the top male Tibbies in the United States.  Don't ask what happened next, but I will say that things haven't been the same since. 

Now if you're reading this and you're a doggie, or if a doggie lives at your house (or even a cat, I guess), we invite you to play along. Just post these questions on your blog and answer them, then tag somedoggie else if you like.  Oh, and clue us in on your post as we would love to see what goes on in other doggies' houses!

Whisk Wednesdays: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Christmas Vacation! Whisk Wednesdays will be back Wednesday, January 7.

Happy holidays!

Class 20 Rotir et Poêler – Roasting and Frying
• Class 20, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, January 7, 2009):
Canard aux Navets (Roast Duck with Glazed Turnips) pages 257-258

 

And for a little extra Christmas cheer:  Click here for a bit of roasting!

 

Tuesdays with Dorie: Buttery Jam Cookies

      This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Buttery Jam Cookies, can be found on page 80, and was chosen by Heather.  If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Heather's site above and she will have it posted today.  

      I think this was the easiest recipe we have made at TWD.  The recipe came together for me exactly as printed and baked for the amount of time specified.   

      The apricot preserves and ground ginger were just delicious with the buttery flavor of the cookie.  I didn't add or subtract anything until the end when Alex and I decorated them a bit for the Christmas cookie platter.   

      They look a little bland all lined up, fresh out of the oven, but looks are deceiving because they are actually tasty little fruity bites, not too sweet, just perfect for complimenting a cup of tea.

      The recipe made 40 (it says 45, but I don't have the patience for waiting an extra round for a tray of 5 cookies, when 20 fit on each of the other two trays, so I just distributed the dough between its friends on the two sheets).   

      Mark and I preferred them without the frosting, while Alex, as you can see, preferred loading up plenty on the frosting.  I just added the frosting for the holidays...Dorie's instructions did not include icing.   

      They were all gone in short order as the guys were popping them right and left...one bite wonders! 

      Next week's recipe was chosen by Donna of Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases and is Real Butterscotch Pudding, which can be found on page 386.

      Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen.  See you there!

Frosty the Snowman

       Alex figured he would lend a hand to the cookie baking cause around here and frost a few for me today.  While he did this without complaining, I did note that the ones he frosted for himself as a snack had twice as much icing on them as the ones he did for the cause, motivation enough as it were, it would seem. 

       Alex has always been an interesting child.  When he was little he loved, and still does actually, broccoli.  He was convinced that the song Frosty the Snowman was actually Broccoli the Snowman, and he would sing it thusly when he was two.  Matt, being quite put out that Alex was "not singing it right," turned to Alex and said very sternly, "Alex, it's not Broccoli the Snowman!  It's supposed to be FROSTING the Snowman!"  You can tell what Matt's favorite food might have been at age 2, no doubt.  It's tradition around here to have at least one chorus of Broccoli the Snowman and one of Frosting the Snowman.

      Matt had a really great morning at the swim meet with his favorite swim, the 100 Back, dropping time, going from a 54.34 to 53.92...that is the swim he has been struggling to drop time in since last spring, so he was very happy to drop below 54.  He would have gone into finals 7th out of 49, and in the top heat, but as I mentioned yesterday, the swimmers headed home before finals tonight, so Matt had to pull from swimming in that coveted top heat.  Oh, well, the time itself is enough reward!  His 100 Freestyle was so-so, going from 48.85 to 48.93, so adding just a little bit there, 8 one-hundredths of a second.  Not bad for the last swim of a four day trip.  Shoulders held out, so that is encouraging. 

      Not a lot going on around here this evening, swimmers have returned to homework, and re-entry into civilian life.  They have tomorrow morning off, but Roch is in town and Matt will swim for a Guerin practice in the morning at 5:15 a.m. until 7:00 and then head off to classes and Roch will head down to Alabama for his day...see what I mean, the two of them are just crazy enough to make this whole long distance coaching thing work.  I am truly amazed.  And we are truly grateful as Roch is an amazing coach for Matt...somehow Roch is just able to coach the WHOLE Matt, not just the kid in the water...Matt and Roch have a good read on one another when it comes to the whole swimming picture.  We are very lucky.  

      Today's little Christmas ditty can be found here and you have your choice when you sing along, you can sing Frosty the Snowman, Broccoli the Snowman, or Frosting the Snowman!  Have a great evening.

 

Run Rudolph Run (Run Run Rudolph): Swim Swim CSC

       Matt's home away from home this weekend as they are in Nashville, TN at the Tracy Caulkins competition pool swimming at a meet.  (All photos courtesy of Matt's iPhone camera and sent to me from the road.) 

      News from the meet is good.  Matt swam the 50 Freestyle today and took off time both in the morning prelim session and the evening finals session, so he was pretty happy about that.  This morning he took off one-tenth of a second, which to you, and also to me, doesn't seem like a whole lot, but to a swimmer, especially in the sprinting 50s, it is quite nice to take off that amount of time.  His comment, "Oh, I was happy to have taken off time, but if I would have just been able to swim four one-hundredths of a second faster, I could have gotten in a higher consolation."  Even after ten years in the swimming world, I still have no idea what the heck four one-hundredths of a second is...the difference between life and death and swim times, I guess!  Anyway, he went back to finals and took a little more time off, so he was a happy boy when he called on their way to dinner after the meet.     

      Michael and Charles also with some happy faces for good swim times.  And, of course, Michael and Charles just always have a good time wherever they are and whatever they are doing:  so cute!

 

        Trish and Lauren, looking wet and happy and ready to head back to the hotel for some rest, two sweeter girls you will not meet, and the two of them hold some really fancy swim times at CSC...Olympic trials bound, both of them. 

 

      Tomorrow Matt swims his two best swims, the 100 Free and the 100 Back, but only in prelims as they are slated to all pull from finals in order to get back at a reasonable hour rather than arriving back at three in the morning and then having school the next day, etc.  He was a bit disappointed that those particular two swims fell on the last day and he wouldn't get to swim in the finals for them, but sometimes that's just the breaks. 

      The swimmers are all staying healthy and having a great time, everyone getting some new best times, and the coaches apparently pleased with the road trip.  Can't do better than that!  Swim Swim CSC!  Click here for a fun song for the swimming kids today.

 

Friday's Favorites Fare and Holly Jolly Christmas

LISTENING TO:   Christmas music, click here for today's song

READING:  Dante's Divina Commedia 

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking);  Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

FAV NEW FIND:  Two new best swim times for Matt from his two swims today at the meet.   

FAV THING TODAY:   Got all my lists made for the remainder of the season!

GOING TO:   Try to finish the Christmas shopping, do a little baking, plan the Christmas Eve menu, watch ball games on the television, cheer for the swimmer from afar, various holiday activities.

PRAYING FOR:   Families struggling with unemployment this season/year, please join me in praying for better times for them in the coming year.

PHOTO OF THE DAY:  Mark and Vash getting ready to watch the Hawkeye/Cyclone game...truly man's best friend...Vash sees no one else when Mark is around.

Jingle Bells

       Well, although it is not a "one-horse open sleigh," some of the swim club's swimmers embarked on a team travel trip over the rivers and through the woods for swimming late this afternoon and will return on Sunday, hopefully with some new fancy swim times and some fun memories of good times out of the water as well.  Matt and Mike boarding the bus, get to be roomies for the weekend...the two motor well together, so they will have a great time no doubt.     

      Matt and Matt F. riding down together as seat buddies, always a good time as those two motor about well together also.   

      And, just for fun...because he is always about the fun, Charles arriving just in time to hop on the bus and head out, toting pillow, cereal, and juice.  Charles always makes my day...always a smile for me, always a bit of chit chat, always fun with Charles around.  Rhiannon and Michael likewise...always fun. 

      Matt called about five and a half hours later and said they were all safe and sound and getting ready for lights out as they have early warm-ups tomorrow morning.  It feels very strange to be staying here while they are away as I usually go along...definitely going to be missing all that this weekend, but there are things to do here, so hopefully the time will pass quickly and I won't have time to be sad that I am not there with them all...these years are passing quickly.  

      And, last but not least, a little Christmas listening for you today, click here.

Whisk Wednesdays: Truite de Mer, Sauce Verte (Whole Poached Salmon Trout with Herbed Mayonnaise

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 19, Part 2,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Truite de Mer, Sauce Verte (Whole Poached Salmon Trout with Herbed Mayonnaise).    It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 84-85.  

       More Salmon...yeah, we happen to all love salmon here.  A whole salmon, with eyes staring out at you, and tail still attached?  Not so much.  The guys weren't too keen on eating anything that was so identifiable, so I opted instead of the whole salmon trout decked out in his fancy cucumber tux, for one of salmon filet decked out in a mere cucumber party skirt. 

      I cut the recipe down to one-sixth of the original as 54 ounces of salmon seemed like a whole lot of salmon for around here, and it was just going to be Mark and I eating it anyway...Alex not being fond of anything green and Matt liking his "just plain please."  As you can tell by the plate in the photo, this is still a whole lot of salmon and my usual portion would be about two-thirds of this...4.5 ounces shown here.  I would make less per person next time, or just shove more onto Mark's plate as there was no way I could eat all of this. 

      This was fun actually...I didn't have any interruptions today, so I was able to leisurely cook and assemble not being a tad distracted and all as I usually am around here.   

      I had never made the cucumber slices like this before...I sliced them and then laid them out with a very light sprinkling of salt, and waited for three hours for them to become translucent and sort of bendy-like so they would curve around the fish.  I can obviously use some work on getting all these slices the same width...even with a food processor, the pressure you put on the full cucumber made the slices vary in width...need to work  on that part. 

      The homemade mayonnaise is just out of this world, so I did make that to assemble the sauce as I had time today to fool around with that step, the blanching of the spinach and watercress, etc. before whirling it with the herbs into green sauce.  Yum.  (I goofed when I was spreading it on the fish and contaminated the bit I had in the bowl with bits of salmon, so I had to toss some of it out, a big loss as I am thinking of several things I can use this sauce for this week and I didn't like wasting any of it...it is really tasty!)  

      The court bouillon was easy to make, we had done that previously, and the flavor it imparts as the poaching liquid for the salmon is excellent...it really adds to the depth of flavors and you can definitely taste it in the salmon.     

      After I poached the salmon, I let it cool slightly and scraped off all the skin, etc., with a spoon, tossing it in the garbage and then spread the green sauce over the salmon and fashioned the cucumber slices into the little outfit you see in the photo.  

      The recipe said to sieve a boiled egg, white and yolk separately, and then place that around the fish.  I thought it was just for decoration, but it was very tasty combined with the salmon, the sauce, and the cucumber, definitely a tasty little touch.  Very nice. 

      It was all amazingly nice and I would make this all again in a heartbeat.  I would, however, make smaller portions as this was huge...maybe okay for a guy, but not a chick portion.  I served it with a salad of romaine lettuce topped with dried blueberries, dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and raspberry balsamic vinegar dressing and threw a few grape tomatoes on the plate as well.  A great combination, trust me.   

      The last photo is a bit of fun we are having amongst ourselves at Whisk Wednesdays this week.  It all started as part of a little joke where Shari was keeping track of the butter she used weekly, and expenses, on her blog with the recipes.  I was forever mentioning my pots/pans count and ALL OF US were noting each week how many dishes, etc.,  it took to make all this French food.  Last week, as a bit of a giggle, we decided we would all post our sink photos this week of all the things piled up before we tidied up.  OMW, all my friends and family are going to have a heart attack seeing this as I ALWAYS clean as I go and my kitchen NEVER looks like this.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it about half-way through, but I didn't want to let the rest of them down.  So, here, in all it's NON GLORY, is the damage in pots/pans/utensils count for this recipe this week.   As bad as it is, we have had worse, believe me...the French get their money's worth out of all their cooking utensils and equipment!

 

       If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Christmas Vacation! Whisk Wednesdays will be back Wednesday, January 7.

Happy holidays!

Class 20 Rotir et Poêler – Roasting and Frying
• Class 20, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, January 7, 2009):
Canard aux Navets (Roast Duck with Glazed Turnips) pages 257-258

Tuesdays with Dorie: Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

      This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies, can be found on page 146-147, and was chosen by Ulrike of Küchenlatein.  If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Ulrike's site above and she will have it posted today.  Ulrike lives in Northern Germany and publishes her blog in German, but there is a translating connect that you can click on to see it in English.  Her English is so wonderful that she may just have published it in English this week.    

      Hands down, this is now the best sugar cookie recipe I have in my possession...thank you, Dorie.  I have several from growing up years as my mother and my Aunt Minnie both made excellent sugar cookies.  That said, I follow their recipes, but I can never get them to turn out as good as they make them...something is missing in the technique or ingredient list, I'm not sure which, but mine taste nothing like my mother's.   

      Dorie's however, taste just like my mother's and the recipe is very easy, fast, and extremely tasty.  The only thing I changed was that I added another half teaspoon of vanilla to the recipe as we really like our sugar cookies to taste of vanilla. 

      The dough went together great, the chilling time in the frig was just right, the rolling of the dough was easy and fast, and the baking time was right on the money.   Absolutely a keeper of a recipe all the way around. 

      I decorated ours like my mother used to do when we were growing up.  She made all sorts of shapes and sizes of cookies, but the wreath cookies were always my favorite, and still are, because they have cinnamon red hot candies on them and cinnamon red hot candies are my most favorite candy in the entire world.  They go perfectly with the cookies, the vanilla buttercream icing, and a glass of milk.  Come on over, I'll prove it to you!   

      As you can tell from Matt's photo, it was all "finger-licking good!"  Alex, while still liking to eat the cookies, no longer finds decorating them enjoyable, so it was just Matt and I in the kitchen decorating the cookies last evening.   

      All the guys here agree that this recipe produces very fine sugar cookies and declared them "most excellent" all the way around.  High praise from guys who have tasted many sugar cookies and would know the value of an excellent one!   

      And, just for fun, here's a photo from days gone by...the boys were two at the time, Matt on the left in red and Alex on the right in green...decorating Christmas cookies and having a blast.  Matt has obviously gotten a bit neater over the years!  Bake with your kids...the time passes quickly! 

       Next week's recipe was chosen by Heather and is Buttery Jam Cookies, which can be found on page 80. 

      Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen.  See you there!

 

Winter Wonderland

       Photo:  The nice wintery view out our front living room window looking over at Kathleen and Mark's house as it was snowing the other day. 

      Alex hasn't been too keen on showing up at any of the Christmas concerts this year, so it has left Mark and I with many a date night recently traveling to and fro from concerts on our own, sans children in the car with us, as Matt drives himself these days, which is a good thing so we don't have to do the dropping-him-off-early-for-the-call-time and then waiting-around-until-show-time bit anymore. 

      It's quite different being in the car, just the two of us and all.  Let me preface this by saying that we were married for 14 years before said children arrived, and did quite a lot of traveling about in the car together, but now, after carting them about for 16 years, it just seems very strange to be ALONE IN THE CAR.

      We were marveling at how we could discuss anything we wanted without having them say, "Let's talk about something else...."  We can listen to any radio station we want without them rolling their eyes and shaking their heads.  Last night, for instance, CCR came on and Mark and I both said at the same time, "Oh, yeah...CCR" and started singing Proud Mary without fear of youngsters saying, "Oh, here they go again...." 

      I realized that this is going way too fast...those boys are going to be gone in just a couple of years and while I will be able to do all these things at will at that point, it will also be a bit lonely motoring around about by ourselves.  I am already experiencing this since Matt started driving on his own.  Before that, Matt and I had a lot of time for conversations and whatnot each day just from the time we spent in the car traveling to and from practices, school, etc.  Now I have to actually say, "Matt, stand still for one second and let's get caught up a bit here..." 

      Another aspect of this is the teasing I take from Mark about things like this:  last night as we were riding along in Blue Bernice, he glanced at the dashboard and said, "Wow, your clocks are right...who changed those for you?"  I replied, "Ah, well, Matt did that, and you are right, there's no way I would have gotten that done on my own."  His reply, "Well, I figured it was either Matt OR I figured it just caught up with you as you had probably spent the Daylight Savings Time on winter time just adjusting the time by an hour each time you looked at the clock." 

      He is so onto me and my ways...that's exactly what I will be doing when Matt heads off to college.  It will be like in the movie Same Time Next Year when Alda's watch isn't working correctly and instead of getting it fixed, he just adjusts the time in his mind.  Yep, that will be me. 

      Here's a little Christmas music for you today, click here.

 

Angels We Have Heard on High

       Another concert this evening for Matt's choir.  Tried to get a good photo of them, but I am hopeless.  I have no idea how to get the singers' eyes not to look like they are possessed...each year in these church concerts, this happens and if anyone knows how to prevent this from happening, please let me know.

      It was a very nice concert...kids sang nine songs and then four sing-along-songs with the audience which was a lot of fun.  My favorite song tonight was Angels We Have Heard on High as it was the first time they had performed it for an audience with the new arrangement by Martin and it was very very good. 

      While I don't have a recording of them singing it, you can click here and hear Angels We Have Heard on High as the Christmas blog song for today.  (In the photo, MTS...My Tall Son...is in the back row, left, tallest one, and note that Matt and Matthew, Thing One and Thing Two from our carpooling days are singing side by side for the first time ever, and Greg is right in front of them so they form sort of a triangle which is nice as usually the three of them are spread out all over the stage.)      

      The singers had all been at rehearsal at Butler all afternoon, eaten pizza together for dinner, and then changed into their concert wear and drove the ten miles to the church to perform for a 7:00 concert. 

      Various singers were driving and various ones were riding...I tell you...I am still a little nervous about this as this is major city driving for a new driver, etc. 

      Matt and Ali rode over together and then after the concert, Rachel and Ashley, requested a ride back to campus where they had left their cars, so I made them all line up here, Alea, Ali, Rachel, Matt, and Ashley and had the girls hold up their right hands as I said,  "Repeat after me...I (insert your name please) will ride nicely in Matt's car.  I will not distract him when he is driving in any way, shape, or form.  I will not play the radio loudly so that he cannot hear approaching vehicles.  I will not squeal and shout and scream for any reason whatsoever while riding in the car.  I will go to the bathroom before we leave so that Matt does not have to stop in some questionable area of the city so that I might use the ladies' room.  I will not shout out the windows at anyone passing by.  I will not reach over and honk the horn while Matt is driving.  I will not put my hands anywhere near Matt or the steering wheel while Matt is driving.   I will wear my seatbelt at all times.  I swear that I will obey all these things, so help me God."  Everyone in the vestibule of the church got quite a kick out of it, but hey, I was serious!   Matt was laughing the whole time and the girls were giggling but they knew I was serious.  I am thinking of drawing up some sort of document for future use in this regard.   

      Am pleased to say everyone arrived at the appropriate places without incident.  Thank God.

O Holy Night

      Hawks were lookin' good last night against Bryant...that Tucker can shoot those threes!  Gotta get Tate remembering that he is the senior dog and acting like it, and those Hawks could possibly be a force this year.  Couple of Hoosier guys on that Iowa team, one from Carmel, and, of course, a Hoosier native as coach, so that makes it extra fun to cheer for the Hawks. 

      The Hoos were looking very fine today...okay, they lost, but the score does not reflect the effort those baby Hoos were putting out against the number 5 team in the country today, Gonzaga.  Considering the Hoos are sporting a brand new coach, only two players from the return roster, and one of the best players today for them was a walk-on from Carmel who is a state soccer player...this was a pretty good showing and much better than anyone had predicted. 

      Splitting our time between basketball and concerts this weekend...oh yeah, and the Colts game tomorrow.   We were watching the IU game at home today since we needed to go to Matt's concert, so no trip downtown to watch the first basketballs dribbled in the end zone of the new football stadium and all.  Matt had gone off to pick up Ali for their concert...this was Matt's first time to drive with someone other than just himself or one of us in the car (in Indiana you need to have your driver's license for 3 months before you can drive with someone else who is a minor in the car with you and his three months was up last week), so we had a bit of chat about the seriousness of driving someone else in your car, etc. (Matt is a good driver, but these types of discussions are written in The Parent Handbook in italics and underscored heavily...or so I told him). 

      About 45 minutes before Mark and I were ready to leave for the concert, we got a call from Matt in a panicked voice saying, "Mom, we need your help."  I tend to go from calm to panic in less than a half a second and said, "WHAT?"  I had envisioned Matt and Ali in some sort of accident or something.  Matt says, "Ali forgot to eat, and we can't get her parents on the phone, so can you bring her something to eat before the concert?"  Geesh...teens!  Scared me to death and all they wanted was food. 

      Relieved, I packed a yogurt, a granola bar, a napkin, and a spoon all neat and tidy and lovely looking in a ziploc and we headed out.  Mark looked at the bag and teasingly said, "What, no after dinner mint?"   Ha ha very funny.  The guys around here have no appreciation for my chick ways in matters such as these...they would have shoved something in their pockets and handed it to Ali that way.  Seriously, they would have. 

      They met us at the door, grabbed the food, gave me thanks and hugs, and ran back to the rehearsal room as I was reminding them that I would like a photo of the two of them after the concert.   

      They remembered...sort of...as before I could get a photo, they had gone out to the car, changed half of their clothing, and came back in with everything else in their arms racing to the changing room to see who could get changed first.  Believe it or not, Ali won.  

      Photos are them semi-dressed still (we put Ali in front so it wouldn't be as obvious that Matt was missing most of the upper part of his tux; next photo is the full shot with each of them sporting footwear NOT worn for the concert; next  photo is of the two of them afterward munching on the brownies Laurie and Buddy brought for them as they received a text saying, "Bring food."  Swimmers...are...always...hungry.     

      Last photo is Buddy, Ali, and Laurie before we all departed for new television shopping and dinner out.  Buddy is holding two pairs of the three pairs of shoes Ali brought for the concert...Ali has a thing for shoes and does not travel lightly in that particular arena...we still tease her about being limited to 50 pounds of luggage on the Italy trip and packing seven pairs of shoes!  Since I have only guys around here, it is tremendously lovely to have Ali in my life to bring in the pink and giggle factors. 

      The concert was great, and our favorite was O Holy Night, for which they received a standing ovation...they did an awesome job!  On the way home, Mark and I heard  it again on the radio and decided that would be today's blog song, so click here for O Holy Night.

Friday's Favorites Fare and Deck the Halls

 

LISTENING TO:   Christmas music, click here for today's song

READING:  Dante's Divina Commedia

PHOTO TODAY:  Looking through the kitchen nook window into the backyard...the seasons seemingly undecided amongst themselves:  the lovely red leaves on the maple tree and those that have fallen below it, the golden tones of the decorative grasses, and the snow newly fallen on the ground.

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this coming week pages 84-85 Truite de Mer, Sauce Verte; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this coming week pages 146-147 Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies.

FAV NEW FIND:  Remote control for the Christmas tree lights, stair garland, etc.  One click and they are off, no more reaching behind the trees, etc. each evening!  Reasonably priced. 

FAV THING TODAY:   Finishing decorating the house for the holidays, decking the halls and all; baking Christmas cookies; Christmas cards in the mail; a fire in the fireplace in the evening with my chair pulled up to it, my favorite throw spread across my lap, and a good book!

GOING TO:   Concerts and Sports...and I am looking forward to it all.

PRAYING FOR:   Families who are going into their holiday season with a loved one being absent for the first time, please join me.

   

The Holly and The Ivy

       Of all the things we have planted in our yard, I think my favorites are the three holly bushes, one of which is shown here with a dusting of snow from earlier in the week. 

      We have three because the first year we planted two, and as it turned out, they were two female bushes.  With just female bushes, you do not get the red berries, so the next spring we planted a third bush, this time a male, and we now have lovely bushes with beautiful berries. 

      I call them The Two Hollys and The Barry and they make me smile every time I see them, which is often as they flank our front walk just outside the front door.  I like that they stay green all year and the little red berries add a brightness to winter days. 

      Because 'tis the season and all, click here and you can hear The Holly and The Ivy.

Whisk Wednesdays: Saumon au Champagne (Salmon in Champagne Sauce)

        The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 19, Part 1,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Saumon au Champagne (Salmon in Champagne Sauce).    It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 486. 

      We had our choice of recipes this week, between this and a chicken dish, so I picked this one as the recipe was in our book and our family loves salmon, so I figured there was a good chance I would make it again if it turned out well. 

      We all made fish stock this week for this class, and that was easy enough with the instructions as we have done many of these same steps for other recipes already.  I didn't buy real champagne from France, etc., as that would be a bit costly, so I purchased an Italian Sparkling Wine and made due. (I'm still making due with that as I am sipping the remainder of the bottle as I write this...after Mark had a go with it at dinner, there isn't all that much left actually, maybe just enough to get one in a romantic mood early of an evening and all...LOL).   It turned out well...so I can just imagine what the real champagne would do for this dish!     

      I used salmon filets as that was what was the freshest at the fish market, flown in yesterday, so that seemed a fine choice. 

      The actual sauce part was easy enough, techniques we have already learned, and I made sure to have the best ingredients as that helps immensely for the flavoring.  Once again, the layering of flavors is the most amazing thing about the entire process.  It makes all the difference in the world to cook with the layers and then bring them together.  This is actually my favorite part each week, to see how all this layering comes together and what it does for even a simple dish.  Very nice.

      The most difficult part was combining the cream and egg and then mixing it into the hot sauce as I am always afraid that I am going to scramble it all and have fancy scrambled eggs in the end.  I don't trust myself over direct heat with this, so I always pull out the double boiler for it (another two pots to wash, but worth it in my mind as I would be devastated to come all this way in a recipe and ruin it at the end!)...total pan/pot count this week, including that, was six (but only 4 if you are comfortable without the double boiler at the end). That said, it also took another three pots for linguine and broccoli...are you counting???!! 

      We all loved the sauce on the salmon...it was creamy and very tasty, lots of layers of flavor, complimenting the salmon just enough but not overpowering it at all.  You are actually supposed to pour the sauce over the salmon, but I put it on the plate and then put the salmon down as some members of this family are really picky about things like having too much touching on a plate...you know, that if you pour it on top, you have no choice but to have sauce with every bite...whereas, if you put it on the bottom (the skin protects it and I don't eat the skin), then you have a choice whether you want a bit of sauce on the bite or not...I'm just saying...SOME MEMBERS of this family like the sauce on the side or the bottom...the above plate was mine just in case you had any doubts about who these picky people might be over here.  Oh, and it was really good on the lemon garlic butter linguine also as a little seeped into that as well.

      Thanks to fellow Whisk member, Michelle, for the suggestion of the scallion on top of the salmon and the chopped up olive relish on the side (okay, she said on the top, but again...it's a personal call, right?).  It was fun...I was cooking and Clarice (my computer) was sitting there watching and Michelle was emailing me back and forth with these suggestions and describing olives and olive butter and what not...21st Century cooking together even though we live far, far apart!   

      Since we have been learning to make our stocks and freezing them, this recipe would go together in very little time if the stock was already made and ready to use. 

      Shari has been making her sauces and keeping them warm in a thermos, which is excellent if you want to make this dish for company...you could have most of it done and then just cook the salmon and sauce it at the last...very easy. 

      I have some sauce left, so I thought I would play around with a bit tomorrow to see if I could get it a bit thicker...mine was okay, but I just want to see what a thicker version would be like, and I love to mess around with stuff like this.  (Note:  This is the longest post ever...may have something to do with sipping this sparkling wine as I am writing this up...yep, just might.)

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Upcoming schedule: 

• Class 19, Part 2 (Post on Wednesday, December 10, 2008):
Truite de Mer, Sauce Verte (Whole Poached Salmon Trout with Herbed Mayonnaise) pages 84-85

Tuesdays with Dorie: Linzer Sables

       This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Linzer Sables, can be found on page 134-136, and was chosen by Noskos of Living the Life.  If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Noskos' site above and he will have it posted today.  Noskos is from the Netherlands, but his TWD blog is published in English.  (His barbecue blog is published in Dutch if you want to check that out also).   

      All my life I have seen pictures of these cookies, seen them on cookie trays, etc., but never tasted one.  They look pretty.  I just always thought they might be a bit messy to eat, so haven't ever ventured forth.   I was excited to see this recipe chosen so that I could make them myself. 

      The dough is very easy and quick.  I love to put things in the food processor to whirl them about until they become dust, so that was my favorite part:  grinding up all the almonds.  It all smells great while you are combining all the regular cookie-type ingredients:  butter, flour, egg, sugar, etc. and then you get to add cinnamon and ground cloves and the finely ground almonds, and it smells even better.  Okay, I admit, I tasted, it too...I had just a tad dribbled on my fingers and licked it off...so good!   

      The chilled dough rolled out nicely, and I even had the cookie cutter Dorie specified, so that was lucky, no last minute dashes to sur la you-know-where to pick one up. 

      I used strawberry preserves for the filling as Mark is not a big fan of the raspberry ones that Dorie suggested.  The strawberry was excellent with the cinnamon and clove flavors in the cookies. 

      I baked, spread the jam on the cookie, dusted the top with powdered sugar, sandwiched them together, and voila...yum!  The cookie flavorings with the jam is delicious.  Are they messy to eat?  A bit...two layers with jam between...well, not exactly white glove dainties, but I wasn't wearing white gloves, so I enjoyed mine immensely.   

      And the guys?  They haven't had any yet...photo is of Matt grabbing one cookie without the jam or powdered sugar on his way out the door for school this morning, pronouncing them "absolutely great with nothing on or in them!"  

     I am sneaking these into the freezer for Christmas cookie trays, so they have been squirreled away in boxes marked "Chicken parts" in the freezer.  (It's my way of hiding things in the freezer...the guys don't want to take any chances in looking inside boxes marked "Chicken parts," so I think they might be safe.  Might.) 

      Next week's recipe was chosen by my friend Ulrike of

Küchenlatein, is Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies, and can be found on pages 146-147.  

Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  It is too late to join the online TWD baking blog, but you can always join us in spirit as the recipes for upcoming weeks are posted on the site and you can bake along in your own kitchen.  See you there!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

       Let it snow!  Photo shows our backyard winter landscape as we woke up yesterday morning.  I tried to capture the huge snowflakes that were falling non-stop, but somehow my camera, or probably more correctly stated, my camera skills, could only manage this shot. 

       Today, we are having more of the same.  Strangely enough, rather unlike me, I am finding it charming and lovely this year to have this snow already. 

      I had an inkling that such early snow would be arriving as our Tibbies started getting their winter coats very early in November this year, nice and thick with lots of downy undercoat (Tibbies have an outer coat and an inner coat of fur, each different, as they originated in Tibet where one would need such winter wear...here in Indiana, not so much, but the Tibbies don't know that I guess.) 

      Also today, totally unlike me, I rolled out of bed this morning with an urge to call Cindy and do a bit of Christmas shopping.  Yep, you heard it correctly:  me and shopping...what gives with this???  I knew better than to call Cindy that early, so I patiently waited until the 9:00 a.m. "semi-reasonable hour of calling Cindy" and we are off and running as soon as I get my TWD cookie dough made and chillin' in the fridge. 

      Are you getting snow there yet?  Either way, here's a little click to get you in the seasonal mood...you can sing along!  Have a great day.