I was just realizing that I'm coming into the seasons of hosting my own Thanksgivings and creating our own family traditions and foods not a moment too late. Because within the next five years, everything will be changing. And Thanksgivings will be a major deal then. In five years Baboo and Wiyah will likely not even be living with us! So Thanksgiving will be a sweet time of reunion and family because when they come home our whole family will be together again.
And within ten years we'll have to start doing things like putting Baboo's family in her old bedroom (the one she shares now with Wiyah) and Wiyah's family in Kelvinator and Mack's old bedroom. And I guess JJ and his wife will have to stay in our den. X won't even be there at all because he'll be at the tail end end of his mission. Winkleberry and Pinkleberry will be so excited to see her baby cousins because they didn't grow up in a houshold with babies and they'll think they're lots of fun.
And maybe there will even be drama because it's all Wiyah's husband can do to tolerate the holidays with us because he doesn't really like us. And maybe there'll be tension between me and Baboo because she thinks I parent her kids too much and she wants me to get off her back. And maybe JJ's new bride will not like me and she will be sad to not be spending Thanksgiving with her own family for the first time.
But I hope not. I hope that I respect Baboo as a mother and am pleased with the parenting choices that she learned from me and that I am thrilled by the parenting choices that she makes that I did not make. I hope that Wiyah's husband loves coming to visit us for the holidays. Maybe he just loves to talk shop with the Hubba and he will think I make the best Thanksgiving food ever. And JJ's brand new wife just loves me to pieces and will want me to teach her how to make my rolls from scratch or something. (And I'll tolerate her because, really, who is good enough for JJ?) And we'll all anxiously await the call from X and I'll cry and the phone call will take forever because of all the people at our house who are dying to talk to him.
And all the grandkids will be running around having a blast playing with their young aunts and uncles who now have way more energy than their own parents and grandparents. And I'll get all teary to have little babies in the house and it will be hard for me to cook because I'll just want to sit and hold them and smell their newborn sweetness and remember by own babies.
It'll be a lot to be Thankful for. I hope we're all hear to see it. I totally just made my own self cry.
27 November 2009
Temple Lights
One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to go see the Christmas lights at the temple in December. So I have to admit that I'm EXTREMELY disappointed that the LDS church is becoming environmentally friendly and replacing its beautiful bright Christmas lights with LED lights. LED lights are so dull. They aren't festive and bright. They're kind of dark and they hurt my eyes to look at. I can't imagine making a beautiful Christmas scene with them. We have LED lights up on our house for Christmas and I hate them. They aren't cheerful or bright or beautiful and the colors are all wrong.
But I guess I'll try to keep an open mind as they switch out the lights over the next few years. This year, I think they're just starting with one tree.
But I guess I'll try to keep an open mind as they switch out the lights over the next few years. This year, I think they're just starting with one tree.
26 November 2009
Thanksgiving wrap up
We started the day out with a late breakfast or maybe a brunch of my family famous pumpkin muffins. Then we jumped right into the cooking. After a while, my in-laws and JJ and X and the Hubba played a board game--one of the versions of Settlers of Catan, I think. And then my mom came over, too.
It was a good meal. And we ate only 30 minutes later than we had intended to. I didn't eat the turkey but the Hubba said it was perfect. My mashed potatoes were a big hit, as usual. (I like my potatoes not to need anything put on them. So the secret is to add large quantities of butter and salt while your mashing. Nothing earth-shattering.) For the first time this year I made a green bean dish that involves beans, sauteed onions and garlic, crumbled bacon, fresh parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. Oh yum!
On facebook, a friend was bragging about how she made her traditional family "Cranberry Ice" just the way her mom always made it. So I asked for the recipe and got it. She says that in their family it's served with the dinner and you eat it to cleanse your palate as you go. I thought it sounded summy and we made it.
Here's the recipe:
4cups (1lb bag) cranberries
2 Cups sugar
4 cups water
1 cup orange juice
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
Orange rind grated (optional)
Put cranberries into a pan with water. Bring to a boil and simmer gently, until all the cranberries have popped. Press cooked berries through a wire strainer and discard skins.. Stir in other ingredients and pour into a loaf pan, cover with foil and freeze. Stir once or twice while freezing.
Ours wasn't even close to freezing by the time dinner was served. It was, however, starting to think about getting slushy about three hours later. Last time I checked, it still wasn't quite ready. In the meantime, my friend posted a picture of hers and hers looks all pretty and pink. Ours is a much deeper red color. And maybe a touch too sweet. We didn't quite have 4 cups of cranberry and so we tried to adjust the quantities. Maybe we didn't have enough water. It is tasty though. I'll try again next year maybe.
The Hubba said my apple pie was the best apple pie he's ever had. And I have to admit that it turned out WAY better than I thought it would. I wasn't very impressed with the cherry pie. I mean, it wasn't bad. I just found that I had eaten the whole slice without it making any impression on me at all. Utterly forgettable. But that's okay because we had 10 pies and one bread pudding! So plenty of chance for me to make up for that.
I loved this Thanksgiving meal because as I looked down at my plate, it was full of food that I was actually eager to eat (I'm not a big fan of a lot of traditional foods). It made me realize that I kind of am starting to like hosting Thanksgiving and being in more control of the meal and what's served. I also like the idea that now I can start creating our own Thanksgiving family traditions which we haven't been able to do in the past when we weren't in charge.
The wind down to the day was very mellow. Lots of talking and kids being quiet. In fact, Baboo, Mack and Winkleberry fell asleep on their own before bed time. And Kelvinator asked to be tucked in early. Yes, a very quiet evening, indeed. I have much to be thankful for this year.
It was a good meal. And we ate only 30 minutes later than we had intended to. I didn't eat the turkey but the Hubba said it was perfect. My mashed potatoes were a big hit, as usual. (I like my potatoes not to need anything put on them. So the secret is to add large quantities of butter and salt while your mashing. Nothing earth-shattering.) For the first time this year I made a green bean dish that involves beans, sauteed onions and garlic, crumbled bacon, fresh parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. Oh yum!
On facebook, a friend was bragging about how she made her traditional family "Cranberry Ice" just the way her mom always made it. So I asked for the recipe and got it. She says that in their family it's served with the dinner and you eat it to cleanse your palate as you go. I thought it sounded summy and we made it.
Here's the recipe:
4cups (1lb bag) cranberries
2 Cups sugar
4 cups water
1 cup orange juice
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
Orange rind grated (optional)
Put cranberries into a pan with water. Bring to a boil and simmer gently, until all the cranberries have popped. Press cooked berries through a wire strainer and discard skins.. Stir in other ingredients and pour into a loaf pan, cover with foil and freeze. Stir once or twice while freezing.
Ours wasn't even close to freezing by the time dinner was served. It was, however, starting to think about getting slushy about three hours later. Last time I checked, it still wasn't quite ready. In the meantime, my friend posted a picture of hers and hers looks all pretty and pink. Ours is a much deeper red color. And maybe a touch too sweet. We didn't quite have 4 cups of cranberry and so we tried to adjust the quantities. Maybe we didn't have enough water. It is tasty though. I'll try again next year maybe.
The Hubba said my apple pie was the best apple pie he's ever had. And I have to admit that it turned out WAY better than I thought it would. I wasn't very impressed with the cherry pie. I mean, it wasn't bad. I just found that I had eaten the whole slice without it making any impression on me at all. Utterly forgettable. But that's okay because we had 10 pies and one bread pudding! So plenty of chance for me to make up for that.
I loved this Thanksgiving meal because as I looked down at my plate, it was full of food that I was actually eager to eat (I'm not a big fan of a lot of traditional foods). It made me realize that I kind of am starting to like hosting Thanksgiving and being in more control of the meal and what's served. I also like the idea that now I can start creating our own Thanksgiving family traditions which we haven't been able to do in the past when we weren't in charge.
The wind down to the day was very mellow. Lots of talking and kids being quiet. In fact, Baboo, Mack and Winkleberry fell asleep on their own before bed time. And Kelvinator asked to be tucked in early. Yes, a very quiet evening, indeed. I have much to be thankful for this year.
25 November 2009
The applesauce experiment
Blegh!
That's the result. The first year I made applesauce, I had a group of women over helping me and the way they always made applesauce was to add sugar to the sauce. No exact measured amount. Just sweeten to taste. So I did. I had learned from another canning guru friend that the added sugar created an acidic environment that prevented the growth of bacteria. My kids loved that applesauce and were always asking for some and I could open a jar or two and have them devoured on the spot.
This year, the Hubba didn't want to add sugar to the applesauce. He did some research and we determined that the extra sugar wans't necessary to create the needed acidic environment and plus applesauce without added sugar would just be healthier.
Let me repeat. Blegh!
When I buy applesauce from the store, I typically buy unsweetened, so I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But I was soooooo wrong. First of all, I divided and labeled the applesauce made from my neighbor's mild-flavored apples and the applesauce made from our delectable apples. What I've noticed this year so far is that no one is asking for applesauce. No one is eating applesauce when I serve it. Now I'm not a big applesauce eater so I hadn't actually partaken of it myself. But I noticed that the jars of applesauce from our tree were dwindling and I hadn't done my taste-test yet.
So I did. I opened a jar of each kind of applesauce and served myself up some. The applesauce from my neighbor's apples was really very bland. Like yucky bland. Like no flavor, force yourself to eat the mush bland. Okaaaaaay.... Surely the wonderful, flavorful apples from our tree would make much better unsweetened applesauce.
Blegh!
That is the most bitter concoction I have ever tried to pass off as food. Seriously. Not just bland, but actually repulsive in its bitterness. I could not even take another bite without sweetening it.
Next year, I'll be adding sugar. Maybe not as much sugar as in the original batches. But it needs some kind of sweetener. Seriously. The Hubba doesn't even eat the applesauce anyway.
That's the result. The first year I made applesauce, I had a group of women over helping me and the way they always made applesauce was to add sugar to the sauce. No exact measured amount. Just sweeten to taste. So I did. I had learned from another canning guru friend that the added sugar created an acidic environment that prevented the growth of bacteria. My kids loved that applesauce and were always asking for some and I could open a jar or two and have them devoured on the spot.
This year, the Hubba didn't want to add sugar to the applesauce. He did some research and we determined that the extra sugar wans't necessary to create the needed acidic environment and plus applesauce without added sugar would just be healthier.
Let me repeat. Blegh!
When I buy applesauce from the store, I typically buy unsweetened, so I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But I was soooooo wrong. First of all, I divided and labeled the applesauce made from my neighbor's mild-flavored apples and the applesauce made from our delectable apples. What I've noticed this year so far is that no one is asking for applesauce. No one is eating applesauce when I serve it. Now I'm not a big applesauce eater so I hadn't actually partaken of it myself. But I noticed that the jars of applesauce from our tree were dwindling and I hadn't done my taste-test yet.
So I did. I opened a jar of each kind of applesauce and served myself up some. The applesauce from my neighbor's apples was really very bland. Like yucky bland. Like no flavor, force yourself to eat the mush bland. Okaaaaaay.... Surely the wonderful, flavorful apples from our tree would make much better unsweetened applesauce.
Blegh!
That is the most bitter concoction I have ever tried to pass off as food. Seriously. Not just bland, but actually repulsive in its bitterness. I could not even take another bite without sweetening it.
Next year, I'll be adding sugar. Maybe not as much sugar as in the original batches. But it needs some kind of sweetener. Seriously. The Hubba doesn't even eat the applesauce anyway.
I have a hypothesis
Interestingly, I'm beginning to wonder if I really do like hanging the clothes up to dry.
When I first started to do this, remember how I said I really liked it? And then I started procrastinating and not doing it and letting it build up and I wrote in a post that I definitely did NOT like it. But I wasn't even DOING any laundry at the time. So the past two days I have been busily washing and hanging laundry and guess what? I LIKE it again. It's giving me this really good feeling as I watch my kids' rooms getting cleaner and cleaner and seeing their drawers fill up and knowing that I did that without the help of a dryer. I feel good when I hurry and get the clothes I can hang outside out as early as possible to get the fullest effect of the sun. I feel good when I find new and ingenious places to hang more clothes so I can do another load.
And yesterday, JJ put a load in and I was kind of irritated because there was no dryer to just move it over to. In order for me to the laundry I needed to do, I had to personally hang up every item of his clothes somewhere. So I opened his bedroom blinds wide (he has a south facing window) and his hung his clothes up all over his room to dry. And when he came home from school he thanked me profusely for putting his clothes up to dry and that gave me ANOTHER really good feeling. In fact, I liked it so much that when X was lamenting that he didn't have any clothes to wear today, I decided that I would put in a load of his laundry and hang it up to dry for him, too! (Which is the first time I've done his laundry in months, probably, since I have no recent memory of doing it at all.)
Interesting, no?
So my new hypothesis is that I LIKE doing laundry when I'm actually doing it. But NOT doing laundry makes me not like it.
When I first started to do this, remember how I said I really liked it? And then I started procrastinating and not doing it and letting it build up and I wrote in a post that I definitely did NOT like it. But I wasn't even DOING any laundry at the time. So the past two days I have been busily washing and hanging laundry and guess what? I LIKE it again. It's giving me this really good feeling as I watch my kids' rooms getting cleaner and cleaner and seeing their drawers fill up and knowing that I did that without the help of a dryer. I feel good when I hurry and get the clothes I can hang outside out as early as possible to get the fullest effect of the sun. I feel good when I find new and ingenious places to hang more clothes so I can do another load.
And yesterday, JJ put a load in and I was kind of irritated because there was no dryer to just move it over to. In order for me to the laundry I needed to do, I had to personally hang up every item of his clothes somewhere. So I opened his bedroom blinds wide (he has a south facing window) and his hung his clothes up all over his room to dry. And when he came home from school he thanked me profusely for putting his clothes up to dry and that gave me ANOTHER really good feeling. In fact, I liked it so much that when X was lamenting that he didn't have any clothes to wear today, I decided that I would put in a load of his laundry and hang it up to dry for him, too! (Which is the first time I've done his laundry in months, probably, since I have no recent memory of doing it at all.)
Interesting, no?
So my new hypothesis is that I LIKE doing laundry when I'm actually doing it. But NOT doing laundry makes me not like it.
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