Gratitude

Every year in November people on Facebook post something they are grateful for each day. And every year it annoys the hell out of me. But at the same time, I always feel like I should do it, too. They say that being grateful helps increase happiness. But I don't want to increase my happiness by annoying all my Facebook friends with my daily posts that no one cares about. So guess what, nonexistent readers? I get to annoy you instead!

Day 1 (yesterday). I am grateful for maple bars (which I had for breakfast) and the extra hour of sleep that the switch from Daylight Savings Time provides.

Day 2 (today). I am grateful for my sister and brother, who each had their birthdays in the last 2 days. I love them both a lot.

And....that was already difficult. I'm going to have to work hard to come up with 28 more things. But I"ll do my best. Now, here's a picture of a puppy. Because...puppies.

image from puppydogweb.com

Nobody Here But Us Chickens...

I figure at this point there is no one left reading this thing. Even I don't read it.

But lately, I've been feeling the need to put thoughts out into the world, and by now this is probably a safe place to put them that few will see.

When I started this thing umpteen-million years ago, my idea was to have someone to tell stuff to. At this moment I find myself with very few close friends and very little else going on. The subtitle of this blog has always been "All the stuff I want to say that no one cares about except me." And that's really the point of using it right now. I have no one to tell the little stuff to. So, here goes:

I got my nails done yesterday. I really like the fall color.

Also, I think my fingers look really weird in this picture. But then, I don't usually take pictures of my hands. So, yeah.

Also, I think beards are ugly. I don't understand the current love of men who don't shave. I'm okay with a goatee or a little 5:00 shadow. But if you look like Grizzly Adams, no thank you.

That is all. Thanks for listening.

p.s. Let Me Google That For You

So I'm Lame. Whatever. And Christmas.

Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to talk about my continual lack of posting. I'm trying to get over it. You should, too. Let's all move on, shall we?

So here's kind of what Christmas looked like this year.

My niece, Kenzie, and nephew, Bryce, ready to open gifts. Happy people.

My mom and her husband. More happy people.

My brother, Tim, and my newest niece, Addison. Happy and cute people.

And then there is my nephew, Max. Max hates getting his picture taken.

A lot.

(Okay, this might be Bryce's foot. Whatever.)

He doesn't care who else is in the picture.

Like my nephew, Carter, and niece, Madison (who loves earmuffs apparently).

Max is five. And this is what five looks like:

I was playing with my camera to see if it could take decent video.

Here is the narration: 

Me: "This is Monica [my sister] putting Max's shoes on. It's a thrill a minute. This is Max, getting his shoes put on. The end."

Max: "HEY!"
Me: "And that's what he looks like most of the time."

Thank goodness for Max. Someone's got to keep things interesting around here! Love ya, buddy.

Hey! It's blue!

In case you didn't notice, I just changed the colors and layout for the blog. I originally chose black and white because it was very simple and striking. But it's been feeling a little heavy to me lately, and besides, Blogger has all these cool new templates and ways to adjust them, so I decided to go blue.

I am still working on posting some of my trips to very cool restaurants in the Seattle area. It's just taking a while because I have SO many pictures. I don't want to bore you with twelve pictures of the same thing. I hope to have at least one up before Tuesday.

Another relatively new item on the blog is a way to follow me using Facebook. You may have noticed it off to the right. It looks like this:

Can you see all that space? Just waiting for more people to fill it up? It's not hard to join, you just click the "Follow this blog" box while logged in to FB. Not that you have to or anything, but it looks so sad right now with only four people. And one of them is the fake person I created so I can play stupid Facebook games. Yeah. So jump on the bandwagon, won't you? Thanks!

It's Fall

Here it is, just the first day of September, and already I'm proclaiming a new season. I actually wanted to post this about two weeks ago, but am just now getting around to it. Huh? What would make me feel like it's autumn during the middle of August? Hmmm, well let's see.

Could it be these?

image from www.betterbudgeting.com

No, that's not it. I haven't seen very many of the trees starting to change as it's been a pretty mild summer in our neck of the woods.

How about this then?

image from blogs.eveningsun.com

No, that's not it either. Though the weather hasn't been wonderful lately (especially yesterday) it's actually been pretty wet all summer, so that doesn't distinguish it in my book.

Okay, then. It must be this:

image from www.google.com

Well, this might be a little part of it. Our district starts tomorrow and some around us begin today. But that's not the definitive sign that we have officially begun a new season.

It's this:

This is one of the literally dozens of spiders that have decided it's fall. I know because they have all come into my house for refuge. This one happened to be at the very top of one of my twelve foot ceilings, so he gets to live in infamy instead of being transported elsewhere. That's right, I don't kill spiders. I put a big clear cup over them (known as "the bug cup"), slide a magazine over the opening, take it outside, set it down, tip it over, and run like hell. Am I kind to spiders because I'm an animal lover? Or because I believe in the sanctity of all living things? I wish. It's mostly because the feeling of squishing a spider this big can leave me with the heebie-jeebies for weeks. I found one in the bathtub about a week ago who was defying the bug cup, and I am still completely grossed out by the memory of the feeling and the sound it made as I got it with a kleenex. Ugh! I just shuddered!

Hopefully the critters where you live will be enjoying summer a little while longer. I, on the other hand, will be embracing fall. I'm ready for the next chapter. Speaking of which, don't expect too much posting for the next week or so. The beginning of school is a very hectic time for me. But I will be back! Kind of like the dang spiders.

Happy Autumn!

Cupcake Royale

I recently had a chance to visit one of the fancy shmancy cupcake shops that are in the process of taking over the world. Cupcake Royale has a number of locations; we visited the one in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. "We" being me, Laurie and her very sweet husband, Wayne. This would be Laurie from the Hawthorn Tea Room who is now a good friend. I guess she felt sorry for me after all my whiny blog posts about having no friends. So, see? You can make friends over the age of 40. Or I can. I don't know about you per se. You might have a gypsy curse which has forced you to become a recluse who never leaves your home to eat cupcakes. Or something.

The shop is super cute, lots of pink, brown and white with other very bright colors thrown in here and there. It's also very Seattley. Very trendy, lots of laid back cool people lounging about. And of course, there's coffee. Cupcake Royale also has some good marketing happening. Lots of cupcake related merchandise for sale and they also sell their products through Metropolitan Market, the upscale grocery store. My favorite item was the "Legalize Gay Cupcakes" shirt. It cracked me up.

We went to check out the selection and I had to spend some time wiping saliva from my chin. They don't like it when you drool on the display case. Sorry!

I've actually had their cupcakes before because, as I mentioned, they sell them at Met Market which has a location near my house. So I knew I'd be getting one with a white base. I absolutely LOVE the texture of their white cake. I'm usually a flavor person, but I'm all about the texture here. It's extremely dense and rich. It's almost like pound cake, but not that heavy. I wish I could describe it better. For me, it's the perfect cake consistency. I've tried other flavors, and they're all yummy, but the vanilla buttercake is my idea of cupcake heaven.

I chose the Lemon Drop, which has a lemon head candy on it. Even though these are super cute, this is too much frosting for me. This is how they frost all of their cakes, so I've learned to deal with it. But if they handed me the spatula for a minute, about half the frosting would come off. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, I just think the thickness of it is a little overwhelming. This plate, on the other hand, rocked my world. I adore it and am actually kind of glad they weren't selling this pattern, because I don't have any room for it in my house and I wanted to buy twelve of them.

They bake the cupcakes on site, which means they frost and decorate them here, too. They have an open area in the center of the store so you can watch. I was enamored with the sprinkle jars. Feel lucky you only have to look at two of the fifteen pictures I took of them. Not even joking.

After I ate my Lemon Drop, and Laurie and Wayne shared their vanilla and chocolate babycakes, one of the bakers came out and started frosting a tray of chocolate cakes. I freaked her out when my flash went off for this shot. Oops!

But she was so sweet and came over to the other side so I could take pictures. And she didn't call me "weirdo" or anything. In fact, you can see in the second picture she was talking with me about what she was doing and how long it took her to learn the signature swirl. This is the cream cheese frosting (which is phenomenal, by the way) and because it was a warm day it wasn't cooperating with her. But I still think they looked beautiful.

I know you may not live close to Cupcake Royale, but I'm sure there is an independently owned cupcake shop somewhere near you. Since they are taking over the world and all. So go support them and eat a few cupcakes. Unless you have that gypsy curse thing going on. In which case, never mind.

Proctor Farmers' Market

I am fortunate to live in an area that has not one, but three farmers' markets available on different days of the week. The unfortunate part is the lack of effort I usually make to visit them. Last week I got off the couch and made it down to the one on Proctor in the North End of Tacoma. I didn't think to take my camera, but here are a couple of things I brought home.

This bouquet was one of the smaller ones. Only $5.00. I love how they look in the pitcher.

This was my attempt at an artistic shot. I think the natural lighting made it turn out nicely. I got the whole bag of hazelnuts for only $5.00. They're super yummy too. Slightly sweet like I remember them as a child. And for some reason lots of twinsies. (2 pieces in one shell)

Freshly baked whole wheat bread. And only $5.00! Okay, not really. I don't actually remember what the loaf cost. I'm pretty sure it was less than $5. But it would be cool if everything I bought was the same price. Right? Or not.

I also picked up some blueberries which weren't very photogenic and grabbed some lunch at one of the restaurant stalls. Mmm, chicken curry and naan! Finally, I bought an official Proctor Farmers' Market bag in which to stash all of my goodies. Oooooo. See how I put the preposition in the right place there, instead of saying "to stash my goodies in"? And did you notice I put the apostrophe AFTER the s in Farmers? That's cause I is a college graduet! Impressed, ain't ya?

Anyway, I need to be better about supporting our local sellers, especially before the markets close for the season. Hopefully I'll have lots more $5.00 goodies to share soon.

All the Way Home

A friend shared this a few days ago on Facebook, and I just had to pass it on.

I don't watch TV very often, so this might be old. But it is new to me.

I may or may not have been a lot like this as a child. Or I might still be like this today. I'm not saying either way. But I want those pinwheels! Weeeeeee!

Cooking Light Mondays: Skillet Fillets with Cilantro Butter

So, Shrink My Butt Cooking Light Mondays haven't been going too well. Namely because I haven't bothered to cook any food for a million years or so. However, I did manage to throw something together way back in June and actually take pictures of it. Miraculous, I know. This recipe was super easy and very tasty. Definitely a do-again. Here's what transpired as far as I can remember.

Any recipe that has a big hunk of butter in it has to be a winner, right? To the softened butter I added some fresh cilantro, lemon rind, paprika and salt. I think it goes without saying that you have to be a cilantro fan to enjoy this. But I guess I just said it anyway.

Smoosh everything all up together. I suppose I should have wiped down the sides of the cup for this picture. Honestly, I'm just happy I found my camera.

You can use any "mild white fish" for this dish. I believe this is cod. Let's just say it is, okay? It gets sprinkled with a mixture of salt, cumin and ground red pepper. Don't worry, it wasn't too spicy. I am the poster child for the Spicy Food Destroys Tastebuds foundation and I thought it was fine. So it is SFDT approved. I may have put in less of the red pepper than called for, but I can't remember. You'll have to cut me some slack--this was two and a half months ago.

Anyway, the fillets and the nonstick pan both get a good dose of cooking spray and then fry for about 3 minutes on each side. (Fry the fish, not the pan.) I seem to recall leaving the thicker piece in longer because it didn't seem done. I'm always a little iffy about using cooking spray because I feel like I'm eating chemicals. But I've managed to down my fair share of Pop Tarts in my life, and those are probably worse, so I just get over it.

That was pretty much it. I stuck some Cilantro Butter on top and served it with a baked sweet potato and sauteed spinach. (Baked meaning microwaved for 5 minutes.) This was the money shot. Ooo. Ahhh. Ohhhhh.

Then I realized the fish really had very little flavor on its own. So I squeezed the lemon over it and spread out the butter so it would melt into the fish. MUCH better. Not as pretty, but pretty tasty!

So if you need a quick meal and want to get more fish into your diet, we have a winner! Hop on over to Cooking Light if you'd like to make this recipe. And let me know how it turns out. I'll pass the findings on to the SFDT. The tastebud you save may be your own!

Pathetic Confession #6

This billboard was posted near the freeway on my way to work for quite some time:

image from www.economistsdoitwithmodels.com

Does anyone else find this to be slightly dirty? Or is it just me? Anyone? No?

Okay then. Never mind...

Party Time!

That's right, people! Time to get out the confetti and cake! It's a party! Whoo-hoo! "Celebrate good times, come on!" Let the good times roll! "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999!" Party hearty!

What? You want to know what we're celebrating? Oh. Um...okay. We are celebrating the following:

1. I am posting an actual real live blog. Not a fake one. Yippee!
2. I have more stuff I want to post. And not just once every 6 months. Yowza!
3. There will henceforth be NO MORE WHINING allowed. Yay!
4. I am actually in a good mood and have been for quite some time. Exclamation starting with a Y!

Exciting, isn't it?

Thanks to everyone who expressed concern during my posts this last year. I was not in a good place, and I'm sorry it leaked into Internetland. And, no, I don't know what made it better. Mostly I got sick of being depressed. So I worked on fixing it. That's the only good thing about situational depression. Sometimes a couple of kicks in the ass from caring people can make a big difference. So thanks, friendly neighborhood ass-kickers. (You know who you are!)

Just to be clear, this doesn't mean I'm going to post every day. My life is just too hectic for that. But I'm actually looking forward to posting instead of dreading it.

On a side note, I am freaking out a little bit. Blogger has a new tool that lets you see how many people have viewed your blog and even which posts are most read. Apparently, I am getting over 500 views a month. WHAT? That's got to be wrong. Even with the random views, how in the heck is that possible? And now I feel so bad for all those people who had to look at my depressing posts. SORRY!!!!! Anyway, not sure I'm buying it. All 500 of you should comment to prove you actually stopped by. Hee hee!

Time to go eat some of my party cake. Mmmm, cake. See you all soon!

Where Am I?

image from www.davidsuzuki.org

How did I get here? Is it really 2010? Already? What do you mean it's February?

I feel very lost right now. My birthday is a week away. How is that possible? I feel like all I've done for the last 6 months is work. It feels like one giant work week. I just wrote the word "feel" three times in five sentences.

How is it possible that I have made it this far in my life and still don't feel like I'm on solid ground? Except at work, which I pour all of my energy into. Why am I okay putting so much effort into my job but I don't do the same for anything else in my life?

I was at a conference over the weekend and saw my ex-fiance from about a million years ago. We run into each other occasionally at these things. It always gets me thinking about the direction I could have gone in but didn't. Not that I would want to be with him, but the life that I could have had...marriage, kids, a house with a white picket fence and a dog...

I was at an entirely different conference a week ago (see what I mean about too much work?) and I had this amazing session where they discussed moral purpose. We were asked to make some decisions about what we valued, our moral stance, on certain topics. Then we were to make goals related to our moral beliefs. I totally took this to a personal level and realized that I do not live in a way that reflects my morals. For example, I believe that it is important to show respect for and honor peoples' time by being punctual. And yet, I am always late for everything. I always find one more thing I have to do, or think I have five more minutes before I have to leave. This is just one example of how my actions go against my values. I don't want to be this person. I can't say I believe one thing and then do the opposite. All the time. About everything.

I know this post is extremely random. I've got a lot in my head right now, so I'm putting it here. I don't know that it will help. I feel like I've been complaining on this stupid blog for forever. What will it take for me to make changes? I can't wait around for other people to figure out what I need, because apparently that is not going to happen. Sometimes I don't know what I need. But it has to be something other than what I have, which is a great career. It's not cutting it. I need a full life with lots of parts to it, so that when one part falters, I have somewhere else to turn. I don't know how to create that. I just know that right now I only have one place to turn, and that's not healthy.

Anyway. I'm still not sure how I can be this old and not have figured out how to get what I want. Sometimes I question whether it truly is what I want. If it is, why do I do things to keep me from having it? I know part of it is fear of getting hurt. Again. But I also think I am afraid that I will find out that no matter how hard I work, I won't be able to get it. Maybe I'm not...enough, or something. I'm not even sure how to complete this thought. Maybe I'm just super lazy. It's much easier to do nothing and bury myself online and ignore that I have no life. But sometimes it hurts too much to ignore. Like right now.

Oh my God, I'm such a Debbie Downer. I am extremely tired of posting sadness on this stupid blog. Seriously, go check out the archives. I used to be funny and cutesy. Really! I'm a fun person most of the time. No, I am! Or maybe I'm just not anymore. Was that real? Am I real now, or just feeling sorry for myself? It seems like the only time I write any more is when I am having a pity party. I am so sorry, my five readers, for having yet another pity party.

Okay. I am going to use what I learned at the session. I am going to set a goal right now. My goal is to be on time to work every day this week (it's only a three day week, so doable) and not make anyone wait more than five minutes to meet me for social events. I can do this. I know it's small, but I think I need to start with something little and build off of it instead of trying to fix my whole life at once. I can do this. I think I'm going to set a few more small goals, too. I'll let you know how I do at the end of the week. I have to do something. I can do this.

Thanks for listening internetland.

Tea and Sympathy

Well, I am writing this at 5 a.m. It is concert week for me, which means I have a hard time sleeping. Which means I was very awake at 4 a.m. I tried to go back to sleep, but no such luck. And it's WAAAYYY too cold to get up. Like temperatures in the teens cold. Right now it is about 11 degrees outside. Yeah. So I am snuggled up in bed with my very warm laptop.

Last Saturday was the Holiday High Tea at the Hawthorn Tea Room. I was still in a pretty grumpy mood after my little melt down from my last post, so not as many pictures as there could have been. But it was very nice and Laurie tried hard to cheer up my downer self. Plus, I went with my wonderful friend Jill, so that made it even better. When we walked in, we were greeted by this:

Such a pretty little composed plate! Besides the fruit there was a tiny jam tartlet with pomegranate seeds and some pecans and walnuts that I think were spiced. I just love this Christmas tree plate, too. So cute! It was nice that they had the plates ready for us. They serve their "special day" teas all in one sitting, so even if people arrive at different times you have some little nibbles to tide you over until they are ready to serve everyone.

Next came a champagne flute of Sparkling White Jasmine Tea, which was very light and refreshing. Definitely reminiscent of champagne, but no bite and a very light flavor. I enjoyed it and it was nice to have something unique like this. Good choice, Hawthorn!

On to the main courses! This is where I got lazy and should have taken more individual photos, but as I said, not feeling it that day. Anyway, on the bottom were some savories; pesto cheese pastry and chicken-apple-brie crostini. Very fancy! The sandwiches were yummy. I think the turkey with cranberry cream was my favorite, but I also really liked the cucumber with feta and mint. The feta added a lot of flavor and was somewhat unexpected, but in a good way.

One of my favorite things for this tea was the scone. Usually I am a plain scone girl because I like to put lemon curd and devonshire cream on it so it will taste like lemon meringue pie. Mmmm, pie. But the Ginger Pumpkin scone was really good! Neither flavor was overpowering and they complemented each other well. The scones were also baked perfectly. Definitely a highlight!

The dessert course was lovely. Jill was most excited about the chai-infused shortbread. I, on the other hand, could have eaten about ten of the Chocolate Cherry Christmas bars, which are the ones with the pink filling. For those of you that don't know me, I generally dislike fruit with chocolate. Because the chocolate is so sweet, it makes the fruit taste sour. Icky. But these were SO GOOD! The bar part was super moist and delicious, while the filling wasn't overly sweet or fruity. The cherry flavor was subtle enough to taste fabulous with the chocolate. I would love to see those on the menu again. Hint, hint Laurie!

For our tea we had three choices, and Jill and I both chose the French Breakfast, which is a black tea. It was excellent. It had the flavor of an English Breakfast, but wasn't quite as bracing. Much more gentle. I will probably buy some the next time I'm there. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you, Laurie and Cathy, for all you do to make us feel comfortable and happy at the Hawthorn!

Now, on to the sympathy part. Thanks to everyone who reached out after my last post. I just have the single girl blues sometimes and throw a little pity part for myself. I will try really hard to stop throwing them on my blog. I'm sure you all are sick of hearing me whine. So I am making an effort to reach out and build my relationships a little more, as well as widen my circle of friends. Soon I will have lots of exciting adventures to post as I do lots of fun things with my wonderful friends. See how I'm being positive there? And not whining? Go me!

Odd Man Out

So I'm having an emotional melt down right now, and I'm pretty sure no one wants me to call them at midnight, so it's all you, internetland.

Without going into specifics, sometimes I just feel like leftovers. What do we do with this single girl? Where do we put her? I'm the proverbial spinster aunt that someone has to take in. Do people have conversations about this? "What are we going to do with Christine?" "I don't know." "Well, we took her last time. It's your turn."

I know I'm just being melodramatic, but this is coming on top of my severe lack of social time. I'm tired of inviting people to spend time with me and getting turned down. I'm tired of not being able to have an equal phone conversation. Somehow, I am friends with many, many people who like to talk and not listen. No, I am not talking about the six of you, so chill. I guess I am drawn to extroverts, since I am one, too. But I know how to ask questions, listen to an answer, paraphrase...I'm even pretty good at it. How come I can't find other people who are?

I spend all day surrounded by children, then come home to an empty house. I have no one to talk to. It is killing me!!!! My hairdresser knows more about my life right now than almost anyone else. Because she asks. I had a hair appointment yesterday, and as I was starting to steer the conversation back toward her, she asked me another question about me. Because she was concerned since I cried all over her last time. We still talked about her half the time, but I felt listened to. And I could tell she cares about me. I didn't want to leave. How crazy is that?

I know I can be a lot to handle sometimes. I am loud (always) and obnoxious (on occasion). But it makes me wonder if I need to be different than I am...maybe my personality is keeping me from finding the friendships I lack. But how do you change who you are on the inside? Should I even have to? If I just say less of what I'm thinking would it be better? But, except around my immediate family who HAVE to put up with me (it's the law), I am already filtering something fierce. If I say much less I won't be talking at all. And that's half the problem. I process my thoughts by saying them out loud. If I think of something, it keeps spinning around my head until I can tell someone about it. If I keep it all inside I feel bottled up and more and more alone. Which is why I'm writing this. If I don't get it out I won't get any sleep tonight.

Oh my gosh, I don't know what's happened to my blog. I started this whole thing trying to be cute and funny, but it sure has gotten boring lately. All I do is whine. Welcome to my personal sob story.

Whatever. I know I should be a big girl and just suck it up.

But I'm sad. I'm tired of being sad.

Anyway. Thanks for listening.


p.s. Sorry, but I've disabled comments for this post. I just wanted to be listened to and not talked at for once. Thanks for understanding.

p.p.s. Don't worry, Mom, I'll be fine.

Mmm...Hot Butter!

When I think about the holiday season, I realize that yes, I love the family time, the weather and the spirit of giving. But the thing that I think of most during the holiday season is THE FOOD! There are treats we get to enjoy at this time of year that are the true essence of the holidays for me. I associate many smells and tastes with the magic of the season. And some of them just aren't available at any other time of year, so I take advantage of them while I can. One example is this:

This special product comes to area stores and I get so excited when I see the little yellow tub. This so reminds me of the stuff my mom made when we were kids that I would drink by the gallon if allowed. The only problem is, I don't like rum. So I just drink the batter on its own, hence I drink Hot Butter instead of Hot Buttered Rum. I wanted to find out how many calories were in this stuff (bad idea since it's mostly sugar and butter) so I went to their website. No nutritional info, but a very interesting story about Harvey, the man who invented this stuff back in the 50's and now runs a small factory in Bremerton (a town about 30 minutes away) making only this batter. The man is in his 90's and still going strong. Which goes to show, that drinking this stuff will help you live a very long time. Plus it is SO GOOD! Of course, the container says to use a teaspoon of mix per cup. Bwahahahahaha! That's a good one! I'll just stick with my 3 heaping tablespoons, thanks. So, if you are in the Northwest and you see this nectar of the gods in your local dairy case, do yourself a favor and pick some up. You'll thank me.

But, wait, what if you don't live in the Northwest? What if you are doomed to live in some other boring, Not Northwest, Butter-Rum-Batter free zone? Well, guess what I have for you? My mom used to make an equally deadly version of this every year and because I'm so kind I will share the recipe with you. Mom's is technically better than Harvey's but with the premade stuff I don't have to work so hard. Always a plus. Anyway, go whip up some of this batter to keep in your freezer. And I won't count how many tablespoons you put in your cup if you don't count mine!


Hot Buttered Rum Batter

1 lb. powdered sugar
1 lb. brown sugar
1 lb. butter
1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened
1 Tbl. vanilla extract

Beat together all ingredients. Place in an airtight container and store in freezer.

To make, combine 1 1/2 Tbl. batter, 1 cup hot water, 1/2 jigger rum. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

I told you it was bad for you. What's not to love? Enjoy!

By the way, anybody know what a jigger is?

Look! Snow!

The view from my window last December.

I made it snow on my blog! Cool, huh?

Hopefully this time it won't mess up anyone's computer. Last year poor Laurie couldn't access my page because the snow made her computer freeze. I used a different program this year, so hopefully things will be fine for everyone. See how nice I am to you, even though this snow doesn't collect in little piles on the bottom of the browser like before, which was so completely adorable...oh well.

Also, hopefully my computer generated snow will not result in any real live snow. The computer kind is JUST FINE! We had enough snow last year to get us through three or four winters. So no praying for snow days or singing "Let it Snow" from this girl. Instead, how about, "I'm dreaming of a green Christmas...."

Cooking Light Mondays: Pomegranate-Avocado Salsa

This is one of the appetizers I brought for Thanksgiving. We always have snacks before hand, but I'm not sure why since we eat freakishly early, so I'm rarely actually hungry for dinner. But somehow I managed to eat plenty anyway.

The first time I ever had this, my friend Jill made it for a cookie swap she was hosting. I don't remember much about the cookies we had, but I remember this salsa, so that says a lot. It actually has "spicy chips" that you can make to go with it, but I wasn't feeling it. Also, remember: broken oven. We had baked Tostitos scoops and they worked great and tasted yummy. Couldn't really tell they were the baked kind, so that's good.

This is fairly easy. The hardest part is seeding the pomegranate. I used the underwater method to keep from spraying juice all over the place. It was kind of tedious, but it got the job done. The rest of this is just chopping stuff up; oranges, avocados, cilantro, green onion and jalapeno. You throw it all together with some honey, lime juice and salt. That's it. Easy as pie. Actually, pie's much harder to make, so I'm going to say Easy as salsa. So there.

Here's the recipe if you would like to make your own. It's a really popular dish, there was nothing left of it. So I highly recommend it for any holiday parties you might be attending. I think I'm going to make it again for our upcoming staff party in December. If you make the chips let me know how they turn out. Once I have a working oven I might give them a try. Enjoy!

p.s. Isn't the dish pretty? I just love Polish Pottery!!

Thanksgiving and Tea

Wow, I can't believe it is almost the end of November. Only two more days of NaBloMoPo. I really do intend to keep posting. But it will definitely be less frequent as December is a very busy month for me. And you too, I'm sure.

Anyway, thought I'd catch you up on my holiday weekend.

My niece, Madison, made these cutie-patootie decorations in school out of toilet paper rolls. I'm not sure why they are looking to the side and sticking their tongues out. Maybe they are full from too much turkey. I do know that my nephew Max enjoyed pulling their hats off repeatedly.

My poor sister, Monica, came down with the stomach flu on Thanksgiving, so no turkey for her. It was a pretty rotten holiday for her overall. She's trying to look cheery in this picture, unlike her daughter. Madison is a very sympathetic girl, so she's hanging out with mom on the couch.

Mmm, turkey! You can tell it's done because its little timer popped up. It's sitting on this neat rack my mom found that lets you easily lift the entire bird up out of the pan.

Here's the center of the table loaded up with food. Why, yes, we did have a ham as well as turkey. No, I don't know why. Because we did, that's all I've got for you.

After we recovered from pigging out at dinner, we further did ourselves in with pie. Besides pumpkin, we had pecan made by my brother-in-law, Steve, (it was very good!)

and apple pie without any cinnamon. My step-father is allergic, so we had to sprinkle our own cinnamon on there if we wanted some. It didn't really taste the same, but what can you do?

The next day was tea at the Queen Mary Tea Room in Seattle. You may recall that we did this last year, too, but with a different cast of characters. Unfortunately, my sister still wasn't well enough to come. So besides me, we had

my Aunt Kay (left) and my mom (right). They are wearing crowns because the waitress offered tiaras to the little girls but they wouldn't wear them. So we put them on instead. Plus, we made them look GOOD!

Madison drinking her Almond Cream tea, looking pensive. Actually, I think she's mid-sentence, but I wanted to get bonus points for using the word "pensive."

Kenzie is trying her hardest not to smile in the top picture. Obviously, that didn't work too well for her!

Our tea trays, loaded up with lots of yummy stuff! You would never have guessed that we pigged out at Thanksgiving the night before, because by the end of tea, our trays looked like this:

Overall, I ate WAY too much. But I was able to spend time with my family so that makes it all okay. That and the healthy eating I plan to begin again tomorrow. Right before Christmas. When there is food literally everywhere. Yeah. Oh well, holidays come just once a year, right? Thank goodness!

p.s. Welcome to my 6th official follower, Pam from Sidewalk Shoes. I feel so honored to have all these people reading my lame little blog. Thanks, guys!