French Toast Weather

My friend Susan coined my new favorite phrase for describing our current weather conditions. Depending on which station you turn in to, we will either have 1-3", 2-4", or 4-6" of snow tomorrow. This had created the mad dash to the supermarket where, as Susan put it, "everyone scrambles for milk, bread, and eggs". Thus, French Toast Weather. I love it!

I assessed my situation last night to see if I needed anything, should I be unable to leave my home. I've got the ingredients for Black-eyed Pea Cornbread, I've got a pork roast and chicken breasts, bacon and eggs, canned tuna and crackers. No milk, but really, I don't drink the stuff. No bread, because I never buy it.

I've got fruit--strawberries and cherries that Kim brought to my NYE party left, grapes, and tangerines.

I've got toilet paper and cat litter and dry cat food. I only have one can, but she can live off dry food if needed. Or I could share my tuna. All in all, I'm in good shape.

Although, all this talk about french toast has made me want some. Do I dare try to find a loaf of bread?

Christmas, New Years, and Stuff...

I took my Mom to Kmart on the evening of 12/23 so that she could do some shopping. We picked up a few things she needed and wanted, and were heading to the cash registers ( a straight shot up the aisle we were on, less than 50 feet away) when Mom told me to go ahead and check out and she would meet me at the front door. When I checked out, there was no Mom. I went back to where I had last seen her and searched. Nope. I spent the next 20 minutes frantically running from the front door to various parts of the store in which she might have wandered. As I was giving up, ready to ask a young employee for assistance, I spotted her in the very back of the store, in front of the storage area doors amidst the strollers. When asked what she was doing there, she responded with "Waiting for you! Where have you been?"

I got a Swiffer Wet Jet for Christmas. Sad to say, I was very excited to get a mop. I've used it twice already. I also got a lot of gift cards and a set of sheets.

I had friends over for fondue again this New Year's Eve and my friend Virginia took some pictures for me. I made a Gruyere fondue that I served with bread cubes, new potatoes, sliced apples, mushrooms and cauliflower. For a main course, we had chicken and pork marinated in a soy/ginger sauce that was really, really good. This we cooked in peanut oil. Ron and Virginia brought some shrimp which we cooked in beef broth.

Throughout the evening there was a wonderful Cheater Sangria, white wine, and assorted sodas.

And then came the reason for owning a fondue pot...chocolate.



Served with orange slice candy, bananas, strawberries, cherries, and marshmallows.

We popped the cork on some Yellow Tail Sparkling White at midnight, which we followed with coffee. We also played The Game of Things which I lost badly...it seems I'm very predictable.

I slept most of New Years Day and then took down my Christmas decorations on Saturday.

If you are interested, here are a couple of recipes from Thursday's Fondue Redo.

Cheater Sangria

1 bottle Shiraz
1 bottle White Cranberry Peach juice
1 orange, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced

Mix together wine and juice, add fruit, serve over ice.

Gruyere Fondue

16 oz Gruyere
2 Tbs corn starch
1 clove garlic
3/4 c dry white wine
pinch grated nutmeg

Remove rind from cheese and grate; toss with corn starch. Place wine and garlic in fondue pot and bring to boil. Add cheese and nutmeg. Stir until cheese melts.

Chocolate Fondue

8 oz semisweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli's)
8 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli's)
3/4 c heavy cream
3-4 Tbs Grand Marinier
2 Tbs honey

Warm cream in fondue pot until bubbles form around the edge. Add chocolate, honey,and liqueur. Stir until chocolate melts.

Sometimes I Amaze Myself

I have a rather checkered past when it comes to driving. I've been ticketed for rolling through a stop sign and for speeding (twice). And I've had more than my share of accidents. The first six months I lived in Nashville, I had three.

I have not, however, had an accident in about 19 years.

And this morning I was once again amazed at what I good driver I have become. I was driving to work in the dark, freezing fog at about 55 mph when a silver mini van turned left across traffic. I stepped on the brakes and spun the wheel to the right, easing the car onto the shoulder and narrowly missing both the mini van and the sedan sitting in the driveway of the gas station where the woman driving the mini van had turned in blissful ignorance of my plight.

The gentleman in the sedan looked at me wide-eyed and then smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Something tells me that if I had gotten out of the car, he would have high fived me.

A quiet prayer of thanks for safety and skills, and I was back on the road.

By the way, I've not had a speeding ticket in 15 years, but only due to good luck, not any weight loss in my right foot.

Holiday Baking

I had every intention of getting it all done over the week-end. I really did. I woke up feeling sluggish on Saturday, but soldiered on. I made the dough for Rugelach and tossed it in the fridge to set up. A couple of hours later, my nose began doing it's impression of Niagra Falls while I was trying to assemble the cookies. I lost all sense of smell later that evening.

Last night I decided to make cranberry pistachio biscotti. I pulled out all of the ingredients and realized I didn't have orange oil. Okay, I'll use orange extract. I don't have that either. Why did I think I did? What to do? Well, I did have a bottle of Grand Marinier extract, so I decided to use it. And instead of regular dried cranberries, I upped the orange a little with orange flavored Craisins.

Since I haven't been able to taste anything since Saturday, I have no idea how they taste or if my substitutions worked. Oh, well. I'll find out Friday when I make a cookie tray for work.

Soldier Cookies and My New Obsession

Last Sunday I baked cookies for Operation Baking Gals and mailed them off on Tuesday. The day we had torrential rain. It was the most fun, ever! I love OBG because it gives me the opportunity to try new recipes. I love to bake cookies, but certainly don't need them hanging around where I could eat them. So I bake, sample a couple, and send the rest off to foreign lands. In this case, to Afghanistan.

This month I baked for David King, my old friend Mary Kay's hubby, who is currently on his second tour in Afghanistan. Here is a picture of David & Mary Kay and their two sons, Zach and David.



First I made Black Forrest Crinkle cookies, but they did not crinkle up as well as I thought. They did taste good, so I made a second batch of those.

And then I made Koulourakia (Greek Butter Cookies)

I'll give you three guesses on the first ingredient.



3/4 pound butter softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, plus 2 eggs, for glaze on top
2 tablespoons orange juice with no pulp
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
5 1/4 cups flour

All ingredients should be at room temp. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter for 5 minutes. Add sugar to the mixture and beat another 5 to 7 minutes. Add eggs and beat until blended.



Add the orange juice and the vanilla extract.



In a large bowl combine the baking powder and baking soda with about 1 cup of flour and stir in the egg mixture slowly. Add the remaining cups of flour gradually. The dough is ready when it leaves the sides of your mixing bowl completely. The dough is soft and pliable.



Pinch off a piece of dough and roll out the dough into long rope like portions, fold over in half and twist.





Place the cookies on a greased baking pan.
Beat the 2 eggs in a small bowl to make the glaze. Brush the cookies on the pan with the glaze and bake in the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.


Voila! Cookies. Enough to feed a unit of the National Guard.

Now, about my new obsession...If you haven't checked out this site, your really should. Start at the very beginning and read forward because there are a couple of entries from the same people regarding lawn chairs that are truly side splitting.

Christmas Decorations

Karen, Ruth, and I went on the Holiday Home tour Saturday, in which we toured several homes built in the 19th Century decked out in their holiday finest. Among them was Elm Springs which houses the offices of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (and if you think that doesn't make me uncomfortable, think again)and the Polk home.

They were all lovely and very Victorian and I was inspired to go home and pull out my Christmas "stuff".

While Alabama romped Florida (it is, after all, the season of miracles), I put up my tree.





My main decor theme, if you can call it that, is angels and I am happy to say that I have plenty. And I dearly love the Mary's Angels from Hallmark. I receive one each year for my birthday.





Aren't they just too precious?

It's a long list....

The list of things that I don't care about.

I don't care about the state of Brad & Angelina's relationship.
I don't care about what Lady GaGa wore or didn't.
I don't care about where Brett Farve plays football.
I don't care about misbehaving royals.
I don't care about child custody agreements of celebrities.
I don't care about what Michelle Obama wears.

But mostly...I don't care about Tiger Woods and his wife. Really. It's none of my business. I wish the news media would believe me.