In which I give a catalog of my haul and the food made and consumed thus far.
No, not really, but close enough.
I also received $40 from my Grammy, a $50 iTunes gift card, a pair of black pjs from Gap Body, and a navy blue hoodie from AEO (the last two of which I am presently wearing).
On Saturday, we went out to lunch at an Asian bistro down by the ballpark.
In the afternoon I made chocolate-chip cookies. Then, my mom was having issues with the baci and the cookie press, and enlisted my assistance with those as well. We ended up removing the shaper at the end, and (in my opinion) they looked more like what they were supposed to be in the first place.
If you've never had--or made--them before, baci are rather work-intensive cookies; but the product is well worth the effort. We made "Romeo" baci (versus "Juliet" baci). "Romeo" baci have chocolate in the batter, whereas "Juliet" baci do not and are a plain almond or hazelnut flavor. They're baked in halves; then, you paint melted chocolate on the underside of one and stick it to another underside; then, you put them on a plate or sheet and stick them in the fridge until the chocolate sets again. It's a sandwich cookie, but it looks like ball--and more than a little naughty when it's in its halves.
Before baking the baci, we had to let them sit on the sheets for a few hours to set up. So we went to Costco and Kroger during the interim. At Costco we bought 5 lbs. of Australian lamb, two bottles of wine, and a few different kinds of cheese.
Some religious nut had left a fake $20 on a pile of journals with a "call to Jesus" on the inside: "Disappointed? Jesus won't let you down." It was followed by a church address and a number for a hotline. I borrowed my mother's red pen, wrote my own little message on the inside, and put it back where I'd found it. Shit-heels.
My dad wandered off, and my mom and I continued on to Kroger looking for bread and Ballatore. There was wine-tasting going on in the alcohol section, and I tried a merlot while my mom had a shiraz. They were good, but not tempting enough to make us change our planned course. All the bread was pathetic and embarrassing, so my mom said, "Screw this! Let's make our own!" Our cart was conspicuously food-free; we bought two bottles of Ballatore (the regular spumante and the rosso), a six-pack of the peach Bacardi, a six-pack of Mike's hard lemonade, and Dayquil for my eversick father.
When we got home, my mom sent me out to the yard to collect oregano and rosemary, and we proceeded to make garlic and herb baguettes. While they were rising, we finished the baci.
Saturday night dinner consisted of spiced wine, a few kinds of cheese, baguette, and cured ham--with baci, chocolate-chip cookies, and chocolate-covered almonds (because we had to do something with the leftover melted chocolate) for dessert.
Sunday continued the madness of food. Lunch was another simple sit-down with more homemade bread, cheese, and ham. Then, we went out to the Grand Asia Market and Trader Joe's in Cary. And, you know, bought more food. Because we had to.
After getting home again, my mom and I got started on Christmas Eve dinner: a riesling, roasted lamb marinated in too many things for me to list, herbed mashed potatoes, and a vegetable stir-fry. The lamb took nearly three hours to complete, but it was so worth it. I hadn't had lamb in nearly three years, and this was a happy reintroduction.
Today, following the morning's present craziness, we began Christmas dinner: a rose wine, still more bread, shrimp in marinara sauce, and Italian sausage lasagna. I am so damn full; I think I'll be rolling back to Boston after the holiday is over.
Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts
25 December 2006
more presents
13 December 2006
could live with(out)
Today's Holidaily subject is food that makes the season for you.
For me it's egg-nog and candy canes--and maybe gingerbread, though that's really not mandatory, just pleasant.
I know plenty of people who can't stomach egg-nog, but I've been drinking it since I was a kid (alcohol-free when I was younger, of course--but I enjoy it both ways now), so I guess it grew on me. Last year, John and Rodney came up from New Jersey a few weeks before Christmas, and we made the Martha Stewart recipe for egg-nog.
I had never actually made egg-nog before, having always had it purchased from the market or the closest quick-mart. I had rather doubted I could, or that it must be very difficult. There is actually a segment in the movie The Ref where some woman is complaining to the owner of a small grocery store that they're all out of egg-nog, and the owner suggests that she go home and make some. And the woman is completely flabbergasted and cannot even imagine doing so. I think that scene led me to believe that it must be near-impossible to make one's own egg-nog from basic ingredients. But it actually didn't take very long, and it turned out quite well. Well, quite strong, anyway.
It was over 20 servings and chock full of some different kinds of alcohol. And our apartment managed to drink ALL of it in one evening. Our final judgment on this recipe and its creator was that it mainly tasted of hard liquor, and "Martha Stewart is a boozer."
Candy-canes are a basic mainstay of every Christmas I've ever had. I didn't like mint or peppermint or spearmint, etc. when I was younger, but the other flavours of candy-cane appealed to me very much. I remember being particularly fond of raspberry candy-canes for a really long time. These days I buy a box of the Hershey chocolate-mint candy-canes right after Thanksgiving. And, since I don't eat one every day, those will last me until Christmas. They're awesome. I sometimes dunk them in my coffee and have chocolaty-minty coffee.
Aside from those things, no particular food is expected at my house for the season. We never have a specific dinner that we must have at Christmas--unlike Thanksgiving, which is always turkey at my house. Usually it's cured ham, but even that was never a rule; and I think this year Mum is cooking lasagna with Italian sausage. I'm very much looking forward to it.
Holiday food I would be happier without? Fruitcake. It's horrifying. I don't know anyone who likes the stuff, so I really don't understand why it's such a mainstay at the grocer's this time of year.
07 December 2006
"animals howling in the night"
The Holidaily prompt of the day is asking us to recall our most memorable "perfect day"--but that isn't sparking any inspiration. It's just causing Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" to lodge itself in my brain and not go away. So I think I'm going to ignore the prompt, and I hope no one cares.
My mom sent me a vacuum cleaner in the mail. I'm taking this as a subtle hint (on top of her earlier more blatant remarks) that she thinks our apartment is dusty.
But mild resentment over opinions about my nonexistent housekeeping skills aside, I'm actually happy to have it; it's an improvement on the Dirt Devil, as it is bristle-free and won't scratch the wooden floor. And, more to the point, I recently decided that I need to pull down the storm-windows for the winter season. Lots of "stuff" accumulates between the window pane and the wire mesh screen over the spring and summer months. Suffice to say, I desperately need to vacuum out the cobwebs and dead insects around and inside my windows, so I hope this vacuum has attachments.
Mum also forwarded a UPS e-mail notification that says something else is supposed to arrive on Monday--and I'm guessing it's something that is also heavy or bulky, else she'd have had it delivered to their address and waited till I came down to visit them.
Very excited, very excited, indeed. Have become Welsh. ... Ignore that Eddie Izzard reference if its meaning escapes you. It's not that important.
Anyway, I don't really know what it is--but I'm hoping it's a region-free DVD player, so I can finally watch The Tribe and Lawless on my television, rather than my laptop. And I could rescue (and watch) the Once Were Warriors DVD from my parents' house. And finally get around to ordering The Brave from Amazon.co.uk, a film that I've been meaning to watch since, well, forever.
Yes, counting eggs as chickens. Good, good.
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The eighth episode of Torchwood became available in the late afternoon on Tuesday, so I downloaded it and watched it on Wednesday morning. It's entitled "They Keep Killing Suzie" ... and, as you might expect, they really do keep killing Suzie (a character that died in the first episode, whom they resurrect for this one).
On imdb.com there has been much speculation about the end of the episode, wherein Ianto and Jack are discussing the myriad of uses for a stopwatch (an implement that Ianto is carrying around and using for most of the episode). So many imdb.com users are insisting that it could be completely innocent. Well, no, boys and girls--the creators are trying to make it obvious that it isn't innocent fun and games. I mean, really, the producers have already announced that all the main characters on the show have the potential for omnisexuality (especially Captain Jack), so why is anyone surprised about a possible Jack/Ianto pairing (it's easier to swallow--double entendre really not intended--than Jack/Owen or Ianto/Owen)?
And besides, we have this from the Official Site: the Jack/Ianto instant messenger transcript. Yeah, so what if Ianto's girlfriend just died; we suspend lots of disbelief for the sake of this show, so there's no reason to not suspend it here.
... I can't wait for episode nine.
And I can't believe there are only thirteen episodes per series! Is it a solely State-side trait to have a 26-episode season?
In other entertainment: yesterday, I received the third and fourth discs of Witch Hunter Robin in the mail--SPOILER ALERT: skip the tiny paragraph between the following images if you've not watched this series and intend to do so.
That cannot be the end of Amon!! We're only halfway through the series! Helping her escape and then being some kind of martyr?! What the crap was that?
That being said, I'm supposed to get the fifth disc today, and I'm excited about finding out what happens.
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Ooh! look what Se gave me to try!
I had Cappuccino, Strawberry, and Praline. They are awesome--and so ridiculously cute! Little chocolate seahorses! Se says that this kind of chocolate is very expensive in China due to import taxes, so she buys them here and gives them as presents when she goes to visit. Nice idea.
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