A Day of Retrospective

I wasn’t quite sure what I would or could say on this eve of a new year, if anything at all. But, inspired by Joepe, I went looking through the photos that I took this year, for a little retrospective on what we did, where we went, and what we saw. It’s pretty interesting to look back, as I’m getting ready to look forward. Alot of what is in my year’s past are things that I never imagined would come to the surface.

In 2008 I lost a furry friend, and found a new one, I reconnected with friends that I never thought I would, and met others for the first time that I knew only through words, I saw the Grand Canyon where I stood on many precipices, I hiked on a volcano, I drove over the Appalachian Mountains and gazed upon the Lincoln Memorial and the eternal flame at Kennedy’s grave, I ate local and fresh, I learned how to really knit and I made my first quilt, I started a 365 day photography project and got alot more comfortable in front of the camera, I think I got alot better at photography, I painted, I finished a degree, and Nate and I made this house a home. It was a good year.

I’ll be ringing in 2009 with Nate and a couple of very dear friends. I imagine there will be champagne involved. And, this space will be quiet for a few more days. I don’t know what this year will hold, but I’m looking forward to finding out! Thank you for being here with me, for your support, for your friendship. See you in the new year!

Whew!

What a holiday! And yet, I feel like I’ve had a vacation. That’s a good sign, eh? I hope your Christmas or Solstice or Hannukah or whatever you celebrate was lovely.

My family tends to be a spur of the moment people. In many past years we’ve gathered for Christmas at my aunt and uncle’s place, but a week before the holiday I still didn’t know if we had plans yet, so I offered to have them over if they wanted to drive to Madison. Turns out, they did! So we made the largest dinner that we’ve ever orchestrated on Christmas eve, for 10, with ham, grilled venison tenderloin and those garlic goat cheese smashed potatoes that I was drooling over last week, and my mom brought corn and my aunt brought broccoli and rice casserole. And it turned out perfect. I recall hearing a couple of times during the moments leading up to this feast that I looked surprisingly calm. And I was. Plus, I knew if anything went wrong, it would just be something to giggle over at future gatherings.

It was great having my mom and her sisters in one place for Christmas again, as it had been a few years since that’s happened. And cream cheese filled banana muffins and corn souffle made from the leftover corn from my mother was pretty much the perfect Christmas morning with a bunch of my family.

But we didn’t stop there, oh no. We also offered to host Nate’s family for Christmas dinner on Saturday. For 14. It was a bit of a gift to his stepmom, who usually cooks for this big group, but who had to work on the day that worked for most of us to get together. But it was also fun for me to make all of my favorite holiday dishes, and introduce them to cornbread stuffing, which noone had had before. I got asked for the recipe more than once. We did a small turkey on the grill, more venison tenderloin and those potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, and a few other sides preassembled and warmed in crockpots. And cranberry compote made from cranberries that Nate harvested up at the cabin. Which I will totally do again. So easy. It was a crazy amount of food, but I’m pretty proud that it all went perfectly, again. Even my nervous attempt at gravy turned out well.

Nate also took me up on my challenge for him to make cheesecake. Espresso cheesecake. A huge espresso cheesecake. I stuffed and stitched more soft trees at the breakfast bar while he put it together, keeping each other company. And it was delicious. We spent Sunday snuggled on the couch with the kitties, knitting and watching movies. I got lots of photos processed, something that has been put off alot in the last few weeks.

And thus ends, mostly, this whirlwind of a holiday. I’ve got a few gifts left to deliver to some friends, and cookies and leftovers gracing my fridge to snack on for awhile longer. But I’m not ready to clean up the decorations yet. Those soft trees and twinkle lights and glass ornaments and garland that the cats can’t leave alone are going to stay up for a little while longer, I think. Just a little while. To remind me that I’m not a scrooge anymore.

A bit of holiday design

Not mine, found it. Love it.

A small copse

Not that I needed another project, but I have been wanting to make some of these for over a year. OVER A YEAR. With the move last year, though, it just wasn’t going to happen before Christmas, so it sat in my head for another twelve months. But finally, I’ve made a few trees. And they were surprisingly quick, too. Moreso than I’d expected. And I love them. I really want to make more, the collection needs some tall skinny trees, I think, but these will probably have to do for now, at least.

I used a couple of white prints that I have in my stash for a future white quilt, a few scraps that I got from Wise Craft, a fun vintage houndstooth that I found at a yard sale last summer, some red wool felt and some dark brown wool leftover from my halloween costume. There’s a few kernels of popcorn in the bottom of the stuffing for a bit of weight.

Christmastime is here again

It’s supposed to snow a bunch tonight, and again on Saturday. 8-12 inches tonight, and another 5-6 this weekend. Theoretically. As unthrilled as I am to attempt to drive to work tomorrow morning, and help shovel it all, I’m a little excited to have big piles of it on either side of the driveway, and tree limbs covered with white on a day that I am actually home to enjoy it, and photograph it. There’s nothing like the feeling of being at home while the snow falls, rather than out and about or at work, don’t you think? Able to bake cookies while the flakes fall, take a walk in the quiet crunchy winter wonderland, and then come in for hot chocolate or a stiff drink espresso.

And also (too) (I’ll never get tired of that, thanks Mrs. Palin) I have been a Beatles fan ever since early high school. They were my first musical love, and I got every album and the movies too with the money I earned at Burger King. So this is fun. Holiday greetings from the moptops in those cute Liverpudlian accents. So goofy.

Great Cookie Bake-Off

Thanks all for sharing your Christmas cookie traditions! It’s fun to read what other people do every year, or love or remember from years past. And now I have a handful of additional recipes that I really want to add to my time in the kitchen this year. I’ve got caramels on the docket, now. But that’s a good thing. My family definitely needs exorbitant amounts of sweets this season to make up for last years absence.

I spent a good percentage of my weekend in my kitchen, and three quarters of my cookie list is baked and packed in the freezer. Well, three quarters of my original list. These turned out to be a flop, but a flop that I was prepared for from others’ experiences, and a delicious flop at that. They make yummy crumbs, if anything. These are just as fantastic as they were rumored to be, and these are heavenly, if you like the coffee-chocolate combination as much as I do. I might have to keep a bunch of these for myself. They are rich and chocolately and definitely taste of espresso. When I was searching for instant espresso at the grocery store I started to wonder if it really existed, or if the few recipes that I’ve seen it called for were just making things up. And we all know that Martha likes to throw hard to find things into her recipes and crafts. But finally I found one brand, amongst the cacophony of sanka and maxwell house istant coffees.

So, I got alot of baking done, and a tiny bit of crafting for a handmade gift, but not much else. Ah, the speed at which time goes around Christmas. How was your weekend?

Oh Tannenbaum

We put the tree up a couple of weekends ago, and got out the ornaments. It was a welcome respite from all of the focus on school around here, and it meant that the hard stuff was over, for now. We still have the Christmas storage boxes all over the living room, of course.

We’d gotten a bunch of decorations after last Christmas on clearance, and I was psyched to unwrap the little fake trees and scatter them around the house. Turned out, they were alot scrawnier than the one I’ve had for years, not at all what I’d expected. Like little fake Charlie Brown trees. They look so sad. So the one that I put together stands abandoned atop the television at the moment, as I figure out a new plan of attack. I’m thinking of trying fake tree surgery and creating my own fuller fake tree from other fake tree parts. But that may be too much work. And that reminds me, I have a picture for reference, but seem to have lost it. So I guess I can’t show you.

I’m thinking about the roasted garlic and goat cheese smashed potatoes and cornbread stuffing that we’re going to have for Christmas dinner. What are you thinking about?

Cookies and a random photo

Um, I’m still thinking about cookies. This weather just makes it so.

Ever since I was in high school and wanted to give Christmas gifts but didn’t have any money, I’ve made cookies for people. And in college, this came in handy, because I still didn’t have any money. It’s trickled into my current mindset of giving handmade gifts, although in the past few years I’ve given other things, like handmade candles, bath mixes, and calendars.

This year The Husband and I are hosting some of the family at our place for Christmas, and since I don’t have final projects due the week before the big day like the past how many years, I’m excited. And not stressed. (Well, yet.) And I’m going to make cookies.

I’ve been poking together a cookie plan along with the meal plan for the day. My mother’s butter cookies are a staple. I’d like to try these lemon shortbread-ish cookies, and I’d like to take a stab at lace cookies. And these ginger sugar cookies are pretty much the exact same recipe as my mom’s molasses crinkles, so maybe I’ll add those to the rotation too. Or maybe just plain gingersnaps. I’m hoping The Husband will play the cookie making game with me, starting this weekend. I remember the first year we were together he helped me make a batch or two of cookies in my old college kitchen.

When I first started doing this, I compiled a list of cookies that didn’t call for eggs, so that my cousin who has an egg allergy could partake in them too. My favorite go-to Christmas cookie, Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies from Martha Stewart a long time ago, doesn’t have eggs, instead it is leavened with proofed baking soda. (I’ve never used fresh ginger in the recipe either, since I never seem to have it on hand or remember to buy it.) I like a high saturation of ginger in my Christmas, if you couldn’t tell.

What’s your favorite all time Christmas cookie to make? Like, the one that you make every year, your tried and true recipe? I’d really like to know, and get even more inspired!

These are the things that make me stop and stare

I’m going to talk about graphic design for a bit, k?

So The Husband and I were wandering the aisles of Target the other day trying to find a way to spend $100, because that’s what inevitably happens when you go to Target. You come out with $100 worth of stuff. Frames were on the list, and bleach, and we barely escaped with our lives, along with an impulse pizza for dinner. And dangit! We forgot rubbing alcohol to clean my mighty mouse scroll button that stopped scrolling in the up direction. Shoot.

Anyway, we were hungry, and had just been at the mall for a couple of hours, and we were feeling kind of goofy, stopping every five seconds to ooh or ahh or pick something fun up. And right before we dissolved into fits of hysterical laughter over a nut roaster because we are five years old at heart, we walked by this display for glassware that I fell in love with. It made me stop and stare for awhile. I had to take a picture.

There were two panels to this display, this one, and another to the right. First of all, each of the printed glasses is varnished, so they are shiny, popping them off of the matte finish of the rest of the display. The color arrangement of yellow-orange-red-brown is beautiful. And the deco-ey font that is used for the headers of each type of product is not one that I would think to use myself, but it totally works, and makes me appreciate more certain typefaces that I wouldn’t go to right away.

Ok, back to regular programming.

Back in the saddle

I’m catching up a bit now on friends’ blogs and flickr streams, and it feels nice. I’m finally feeling the urge to take pictures again. It’s always dark when I get home, so maybe this weekend a walk will be in order. A walk in the many inches of snow that is falling today. I still don’t seem to have much to say, but I’m wanting to get back into the rhythm of posting, so here I am.

I’ve had a hard time adjusting to winter this year for some reason, harder than in the past. Maybe it’s because I felt like autumn flew by extraordinarily quickly, that I missed it somehow because I was so focused on school in this last semester. Or maybe I’m just changing. But it was nice to read Emily’s reasons to love winter, and look through Martha’s flickr group of reasons, and it started to get me remembering that there ARE reasons to love it.

Cookies to be baked. You aren’t the only one that got lost over there, Em, I did too. I’m formulating a cookie baking plan right now. Soup, of course, I made lentil this past weekend, and have plans for some other sort of bean variety up next. I was thinking black bean, but it would be good to use the last bag of Rancho Gordos in the pantry. Twinkly lights. The smell of pine in the house. Thinking about repurposing a pink wool blanket from the neighbor into a little cozy throw blanket. With pebbles, perhaps. Hmm. Thinking.