Happy New Year, it’s what? 2009!?!

Happy New Year everyone.  I had a great 2008 and look forward to an even better 2009.  I hope you all had a good New Year’s Eve and bid a fond farewell to 2008 with beloved friends and family.  I had a great time on Dec. 31st.  We threw a last minute party that included good pizza, great beer and excellent company.  Brooke, M and Jason played a multi-hour game of WizWar with M finally the victor by casting an illusion of sudden death on Brooke. The party friends = Lucy, SLH, Jason, Misty, Greta, Alec, Tavin, Marcelo, Kate, Chaya, Master Bash and lil’ Sylvia, + me & Brooke.  I think it is a good equation, friends + me and Brooke = a great time.

f + tB = GT²

We also played a few games on the Wii.  We made some Mii characters of a several folks so now they are on my system to taunt me from time to time.  I got photos of Master Bash and Chaya next to their Mii characters.  Great job!

I bought some take-away-bake-at-home pizzas from the gourmet grocery, then we all loaded them up with delicious toppings and tossed them in the oven.  I’ve done it a couple of times and it’s a great party food option.  You go out and get a plain cheese take away and bake at home pizza, then set out bowls with a myriad of delicious toppings. The options we had were: pepperoni, canadian bacon, sauteed red onions, basalmic mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, spinach, and kalamata olives.  I also made two big pasta dishes, tortellini with pesto sauce and corkscrew macaroni with marinara and mozzarella.  SLH brought some dessert, we also had a few things I bought at the bakery.  I picked up two growlers from the very awesome Mac and Jack’s Brewery in Redmond, WA.  We had a 1/2 gallon of both Black Cat Porter and African Amber.

** SYLVIA THE CUTE ** SYLVIA THE CHATTY  ** SYLVIA THE DARING ** SYLVIA THE DOLL **

I got to see the lovely Miss Sylvia again yesterday.  She is such a doll.  She was busy wandering around the house with a chaperone in tow (my house isn’t exactly child-proofed by any stretch of the imagination).  She is vocalizing a lot and when appropriate, looks at you and speaks a nonstop singsong of babyspeak that is so danged cute you could just pop her in your mouth and swallow her whole.  <sigh>  It makes me want to scream, “WHERE’S MY TOTALLY CUTE BABY ALREADY?!?!”  Oh well, patience is a virtue, right?  You can see all the photos I took here.

2009 FIREWORKS SHOW AT THE SPACE NEEDLE

When it was coming upon the midnight hour, we broke out a couple bottles of bubbly and another of sparkling apple/grape juice, filled up our glasses and waited for the countdown.  Since we had extra time, a “leap second” this year, I made sure that everyone counted down like this 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…1 – Happy New Year!  We watched the fireworks at the Space Needle on TV.  It was a great show with no delays (last year they had a computer crash that delayed the show).  This year it all went off smoothly and the fireworks and music were both really great.

After wishing everyone a happy new year and enjoying a toast, I got my first smooch of 2009.  Yay!  I am always so happy bringing in the New Year with my sweetie and a small group of friends.  The games were super fun and everyone seemed to have a good time. I enjoyed 2008 and I look forward to what’s to come in 2009.  I wish you all much happiness, tons of love, and good fortune the New Year.
--Traci

Merry Holidays of Seasons Greetings

Hello readers.  I hope you had a great time during your holidays and that they were filled with joy, celebration and love.  I had a great time on Christmas, we had an excellent meal made from the heart by all who sat at the feast.  We enjoyed some fun Christmas music and opened presents.  It was a great time. 

Lucy came over and helped me decorate the house for the holidays, we set up and trimmed the tree while enjoying some coffee and listening to my favorite Christmas CDs.  It was a lot of fun to pull out the ornaments we bought last year, as it was the first year owned and decorated a tree since I was a little kid.  Do you like the tree?  We also put Christmas lights around the window and over the mantle.

The snow caused some problems in folks getting to our house on Christmas Day, so Brooke drove in my car, the super awesome Subaru Impreza Outback Sport.  He was able to rescue the day by picking up our friends and his folks. We called it, “the Subaru that saved Christmas”.  What an awesome little car and Brooke is a fab driver.  Kudos to him for getting everyone here and back home again safe and sound.

After everyone arrived we passed out eggnog and started handing out the presents.  I thought all the gifts were very thoughtful and fun.  I enjoy giving gifts that please the senses (yeah yeah I’ll admit I’m a total hedonist). I bought licorice, candy, tea, coffee, nuts and other goodies for everyone to enjoy in their holiday bag from me.  I scored some awesome gifts including a scarf and hat, blooming teapot, and wait for it….a NEW TOASTER, the Hamilton Beach Toastation.  I’ve been using my half-broken one (it only toasts one side) for more than six months, now I can make toast like a pro.  I especially liked the name on it’s Spanish label, “Horno Toastador”.  I’m totally going to call it “El Toastador” from now on.

We have more Christmas gift surprises to come since the danged roads made it impossible for gifts via UPS, FedEx, etc. to be delivered.  I received a scroll of power saying that I’ll receive a mystery gift after the snow melts and my friend can actually get to the store.  I also bought a super awesome gift for Brooke that didn’t arrive yet.  I could be mildly grumpy about the whole thing, but I look at it this way…I GET TO ENJOY CHRISTMAS TWICE.  :-)  

I made a special gift for Brooke this year.  It is a 24” x 36” framed photo collage of pictures from our wedding.  I had a great time making it and learned Adobe In Design for helping out with the layout.  It took a while to choose what photos I loved the most and decide what order to place them and how to crop them to fit the mat openings  I wanted to make sure that all of our wonderful friends and family who joined us for the ceremony and reception were a part of this picture. It is a treasure we will both love to look at every day.  Leave me a comment and let me know if you made any gifts this year. I would love to hear about them.

Brooke got another extra special gag gift, a tub of lard.  We were all laughing so hard our faces hurt.  After opening the presents, having an eggnog toast and taking photos, we sat down and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  We ate ham, scalloped potatoes (thanks Lucy), a traditional Finnish rice and liver casserole called Maksalaatikko (thanks SLH), italian-style coleslaw (thanks Ma), green beans, and irish soda bread.  We drank a fabulous bordeaux that went very well with the salty ham and rich potatoes and casserole.  After dinner we went downstairs to view our photos from London.  Unfortunately we had to end our evening a bit early because the roads were bad.  I packed up the dessert I made in containers for everyone to take home.  It was an awesome Eggnog Bread Pudding with rum raisins (recipe below). 

It was a great day with merriment, excellent conversation, much laughter and happy full tummies for all. Here is a link to to my Christmas Photo Album, or you can just click to see the slideshow.

 

RECIPE -- Holiday Maple and Eggnog Bread Pudding with rum soaked golden raisins and candied pecans

Do you love eggnog? How about pecans? Care for any golden raisins soaked in rum?

Oh yeah you do, you naughty little elf.  ;-)

INGREDIENTS --------------

for the bread pudding
1 loaf day old Challah bread, cubed
4 eggs
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup half and half
1 cup real maple syrup (I prefer Grade B)
2 cups eggnog
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons rum (I prefer Meyers dark rum)
1 tablespoon butter (for preparing pan)

for the candied pecans
2 cups raw pecans (not yet roasted or salted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
pinch of cayenne pepper

First of all, I think it’s essential to use good quality eggnog and real maple syrup.  Don’t use the high fructose corn syrup stuff, I think it will be too goopy and affect the quality.

DIRECTIONS --------------

1. PUDDING - Cut the challah into large 1 inch cubes and set aside
2. in a very large mixing bowl, beat the 4 eggs until they are well combined (whisk about 1 minute)
3. add to the egg mixture the cream, half and half, maple syrup, eggnog and vanilla extract, whisk a few minutes to combine
4. Add the cubed challah bread to the cream/eggnog/syrup mixture and stir gently making sure the bread is completely soaking in the liquid.  It should be very wet. 
5. Set aside and refrigerate for 2-4 hours
6. RUM RAISINS - While the bread is soaking,  place raisins in a small dish and add rum.  Let them soak while the bread is in the fridge.
7. CANDIED PECANS – Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).  In a shallow baking pan combine pecans, melted butter, brown sugar, salt, chili powder and cayenne.  Toss them well to combine, then roast in the oven for 8 minutes.  After 8 minutes or so, stir them up again and check to see if they are done.  TASTE ONE!  The pecans should be fragrant, robust and sweet/spicy.  If they aren’t done to your liking, then put them back in the oven an check every 4 minutes.
8. Butter a 9x13 baking dish, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
9. Place 1/2 of pudding mixture in the buttered baking dish.  Sprinkle with rum raisins, then spoon on the rest of the bread pudding mixture.  Top with 1 cup of pecans, reserving the rest for snacks and garnish.
10. Bake in the preheated  oven for 40 minutes. 
11. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, cut into squares and enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed the recipe, leave me a comment if you tried it, or would like to.  I love to cook and this is an original recipe.  I did get a general idea of the bread/egg/liquid ratio, using maple syrup instead of sugar and oven temp/baking times from Epicurious.com.  A truly awesome website that has all of the recipes from Bon Apetit and Gourmet magazines.  Check it out!

“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”