Monday, December 29th - F Bombs Roasting on an Open Fire

I'm pretty much taking a holiday break from blogging, and since I'm taking the rest of the week off, I am hoping to get my new blog format up and running.  New Year, New Blog, New Title...everything!  Woot!

I just had to pop in and talk about Christmas a little.  Christmas Eve dinner, that I was in charge of, turned out pretty well, though the standing rib roast ended up cooking for a lot longer than anticipated.  However, I think that may have been an ancient meat thermometer malfunction than anything I actually did.  I still have much more of a comfort level with baking than with cooking, even though my Chocolate-Coffee Gingerbread Cake almost died on me.  It is a great recipe though, and my friends can bet they'll see it sooner, rather than later.

I got a lot of the usual gifts, though this year I am much more in a non-fiction, historical mood.  So, the few books that I got were in that vein, books on Presidents Lincoln and Jackson.  It is nice to have a book stack again, though I'm taking longer than normal to get through The Mists of Avalon.  It's a big book though!

The best gift I got was the Wii Fit.  I have wanted this for a while, and even though  I know this is no replacement for the gym, I happy to see that you can get a pretty good cardio workout doing the hula hoop.  I just hope no one across the street has binoculars.  That would not be a pretty sight.  I've made no bones about my struggles with weight this year, and I have to say it is very annoying to have a little squeaky voice tell you that you're a bowl full of jelly.  However, the competition aspect is exactly what I need, and since I can graph out my weight loss, it is enough of a geeky thing for me to keep up with.  I'm also enjoying the Yoga, which I am surprisingly good at.  I've always avoided Yoga because it is a lot of balancing that my weak ankles and narrow feet have always had trouble with, but again, it is transformed by the skill and competition aspect that Wii Fit brings to the table.  So, I can definitely see myself doing this a few of times a week.

We'll see how it goes.

I don't know if I'll be blogging much more this week, but if the mood strikes, I will.  I expect to launch the new blog by the new year, and I'll be back to regular blogging, regardless, next Monday.

Happy New Year! :)

P.S.  Ohhhh...I almost forgot.  The highlight of Christmas was when my 8 year old neice dropped the F bomb in the middle of a rousing game on the Wii.  Best.Christmas.Ever!

Tuesday, December 23rd - Officially Tired

Is it Friday yet?

I have been a busy beaver since really last Friday, and I'm borderline exhausted...okay, I AM exhausted...and it isn't even Christmas Eve yet.

Here is a bullet list of what I've done:

• Friday Night - Christmas Party, drank vodka -- I normally don't drink vodka because it gives me a hangover, but that was the only choice I had.
  
• Saturday - wake up after said hangover, drag my ass to the north side of town (where all the good stores are) and commence getting most of the rest of my shopping done.
• Saturday Night - Meet up for Milk and dinner with the Pride Mafia
• Saturday Night, Part 2 - Meet up with Venus & Liberty so that I can figure out how they screwed up installing a Wi-Fi card for Venus' son's Christmas gift. I love being the traveling Geek Squad, and she fed me Vodka. Oy...
• Sunday Morning - got up and ran out to my parent's house to pick up some ingredients for buckeyes. My mother still insists on making a raft of Christmas candy, even though none of us in the family need it. The reason that I've taken over some of the responsibility is because I can whittle the batches down to about a 1/4 of what she usually makes.
• Sunday Morning, Part 2 - Go to Best Buy to pick up a couple of Wii games for my nieces. I got Wii Cheer for the oldest who became a cheerleader this year, and I got a singing game for the youngest. Since my parent's have a Wii and the girls will be opening their gifts on Christmas Eve, yes, indeed, Uncle Nick is going to be drunk...
• Sunday Morning, Part 3 - Grocery Shopping - I volunteered to make the main course for our main dinner on Christmas Eve, and I had to buy all the ingredients. Of course, I didn't pick something simple. So, this trip cost a bundle.
• Sunday Afternoon to Evening - I made a Chocolate-Coffee Gingerbread Cake for dessert, a Mushroom Pie with Lattice Top (I only brag about that because I've finally gotten the technique down), a horseradish sauce, which goes with the main course but I'm not really happy with yet.
• Sunday Evening, Part 2 - After cooking all day, I didn't really feel like making dinner for myself. So, I went over to Olly's for a fairly nutritious meal (for once), and Romeo met up with me for cocktails around 9:30. We were pretty much out of there by 11ish.
• Monday - Worked from 7-3. Then I walked to the liquor store. Before you Woo!, it was for a cheap bottle of wine for the Irish Whiskey Gravy I was about to make. Wine? Irish Whiskey? Yes, I plan on getting my whole family trashed before dessert. The gravy prep was probably the most fun I've had in the kitchen in while, just because after sauteing the shallots and garlic, I had to pour in the whiskey and set it on fire to burn off the alcohol. I'm a big pyromaniac...so this was like an early Christmas gift. Once the alcohol burned off, you pour in the whole bottle of wine and let it boil until it reduces down. Then you add 4 cups of chicken broth and let that reduce down. Then you add in cream and let it reduce down. My god...the gravy will kill you!
  
  While the gravy was simmering, I was working on the Porcini-Spinach Stuffing, which will actually be stuffed into the standing rib roast. All I can say is that Porcini mushrooms are very pungent, but the stuffing has sausage in it, too. So, what's not to like?
• Monday Evening - After I got finished with the above, I whipped up a batch of peppermint chocolate bark, and then I went to Olly's to hang out for a while. After I left there, I cut up the bark, and then I wrapped the gifts for my sister, her bf, and the kids.

Now, all I have to do is make the buckeyes and wrap the rest of my gifts, and I might...just might be ready for Christmas. Tomorrow, I have to get up and schlep out to my parent's house, so that I can take my grandmother to the liquor store. Yes, you read the right. Once I get her home, I'll have to start getting the meat ready to go into the oven.

Busy....very busy. I'm not sure if I'll be posting again until at least Thursday night or Friday. So, I hope you have a Happy Holiday!

Monday, March 17th - Happy St. Patrick's Day

I don't know how I could have forgotten about this video, but just in time to celebrate St. Patty's Day, here is the great leprechaun of Mobile, AL: