I forgot I wasn’t done with baking. I promised two sweet potato pies for the potluck at work this Thursday, so I made them last night. And….I might be making more cookies this weekend. Maybe. I’ll let you know. I’m sure you’re dying to know.
How did it all turn out? I don’t really know, actually. I mean, I know I came home with a variety of yummy cookies, but I don’t know if they liked mine. Maybe I’ll hear about it later… I went over to my neighbor’s house last night all decked out for the holidays (or as decked out as I get) – I wore a red sweater, snowflake earrings, and my Christmas socks, although no one could see them since I wore my fuzzy boots. (The socks and earrings, like every other Christmas-themed item I own, were gifts from my mother-in-law.) I brought my required cookies (3 dozen chocolate chip cookies, NO toffee – nuts were forbidden, and the toffee I bought was made with almonds), some peppermint bark and toffee bark for each person in the exchange (those were gifts, not exchange items. I figured toffee would be okay for that.), and a couple of the toffee chocolate chips for our hostess, who’s not afraid of nuts. We poured some wine, had some dinner, talked A LOT, exchanged some cookies, and came home. Fun. Also cookies. What’s not to like about a cookie exchange?
If this were a movie, I’d put a training montage here (because training montages are cool). Since it’s not, you’ll have to imagine your own or just visualize me melting chocolate. It’s like watching paint dry, but it smells yummier. I spent Monday and Tuesday evenings making peppermint bark and toffee bark, and today is about chocolate chip cookies. Yes, I have a cookie exchange TONIGHT (in less than seven hours), and I am just now starting to bake the actual cookies. I only need a few dozen. They don’t take that long, right? I can totally do this. See? I’m prepared.
Also, there’s Christmas music playing (with a few Hanukkah songs sprinkled in, even though that’s way over), and I’m drinking tea. We may not decorate for the holidays (like, at ALL), but the season is nice.
Update: First batches are out, more are going back in, and I have unleashed all kinds of smoke into the house. We’ve had to open windows. Nothing is burned, but I think it’s the wax paper, like, melting or something. I’ve used parchment paper before, but it always seems to burn at the edges, which makes me nervous. And I don’t want to just put the cookies straight onto the cookie sheet because they don’t seem to come back up easily.
First batch!
Next batch going in.
Whole bunch of cookies cooling.
Update 2: Okay, so I googled it, and apparently you aren’t supposed to bake with wax paper (at least, that what some websites say). I decided to try parchment paper again (for round 2) and do my best to keep it from burning. And? Success! No more smoke, no burning paper, yummy looking cookies. And now I have 149 (because we ate one – DELICIOUS) regular chocolate chip cookies and 37 chocolate chip and toffee cookies (that I have not yet tried).
Update 3: 36 chocolate chip toffee cookies (we ate one). I might not have added enough toffee. Good, but still mostly just chocolate chip cookies. Not like that’s a bad thing.
John and I have found the best way to shop for Christmas presents. With snow beginning (1-2 inches forecast) and sleet coming later in the day, we decided to brave the biggest mall in the metro area less than 3 weeks before Christmas. It was great. I’ve never seen Tysons so empty (maybe not a good sign for retailers, but wonderful for us). No huge crowds of people, no crazed shoppers, no long lines – heavenly. We got there as the mall opened (10am), parked right next to the Barnes & Noble entrance, got some Starbucks, and got it done. I think the weather and the threat of bad roads kept a lot of people away (something that wouldn’t have been a factor closer to Christmas). The roads certainly weren’t great on our way home, but with fewer people out and most of those driving slowly, we got home incident-free, shoveled the driveway, put the flannel sheets on the bed (it is seriously cold out there), and now we’re relaxing and lamenting having to go to work tomorrow (like usual). And we’re done! We have a couple of things to order, but the plan is to do that tonight, so we’ll really be done.
Want to shop like John and Zannah and actually enjoy a trip to mall with the decorations and the Christmas music?
You’re welcome.
The turkey is stuffed and in the oven, the leftover stuffing is in a pan, the sweet potatoes are in a car on their way here, the cranberries were accidentally left in PA, and the other stuff (mashed potatoes and green bean casserole) can wait until later. John and I have spent the morning in the kitchen with oldies on Pandora for food prep. Now that we’re in clean-up mode, we’ve moved on to 80s pop. It’s been fun. Only sad part? It’s not really cold enough for a fire. Maybe at pie time. (Well, that’s not the only sad part, but who wants to get serious now? Miss you, family of mine!)
Happy Turkey Day!
My sweet potato pie was a HUGE success today. Everyone LOVED it. Everyone being the seven people who got to try it, but still. Big hit. Yay pie! Now it’s time to make the rest, if I can get Riley out of my lap long enough. He’s being a little clingy.
Two pies down, another two to four to go. I’ll do the others tomorrow. I always forget how easy they are. It’s a little time-consuming (boiling the sweet potatoes takes 40-45 minutes, then they have to cool, and then the pies take about an hour in the oven), but the mixing part is easy and goes fast. The rest is just waiting. Of course, when I’m as tired as I am, the waiting is scary (oh god, I can’t go to bed until I pull the pies out of the oven), which is why I’m only doing one round of pies tonight. I wouldn’t even be doing it tonight except that I need one for work tomorrow. I bet you guys wish you worked with me now!
We are free from our manipulative real estate agent! Hooray for us! She actually fired us. 🙂 It was kind of awesome. She said she couldn’t sell it at this price, we said we weren’t willing to change it, and she suggested we sign a release from the agreement. We win! And now we’ll take a little time, maybe enjoy the holiday season, and do it on our own soon.
I was doing so well with keeping up here, and then last week started. It was a horrible, crazily busy, totally exhausting week. Work was nuts, our evenings were not our own, and we just got back from a whirlwind 36-hour trip to PA and back for Emily’s engagement party. I can barely keep my eyes open. We braved Wegmans to get the basic pre-Thanksgiving shopping done, mostly because I have pies to make. Lots of pies. This year I actually need to double my recipe.
I’m too tired to make any more sense, so I’m going to shut down the computer, heat up dinner (we scored leftovers from the party last night), and watch TV with John. I might last another hour, max. I will try really really hard to post regularly again. I like it.
I skipped April Fool’s Day this year. I mean, I was there for it. I was awake and active in the world or whatever, but it completely slipped my mind until fairly late in the evening, and I wasn’t aware of a single prank. This morning, John showed me the Firefly one on Reddit (which I can’t find right now). That was a good one, if mean. Oh, and I saw the Google Nose thing after I got home last night. I don’t mind missing it. I don’t usually do April Fool’s. It makes me wonder if that’s how April is going to go, though. Am I going to miss every other day? Or rush through the whole month? Maybe I’ll just view everything through my congested fog. That’ll be fun.
Here’s the aftermath of New Year’s Eve:
Yup. We’re party animals. We even went out to eat on our anniversary. The actual day! Can you believe it?
Portrait of the couple on their 12th anniversary
(Yes, that is my Hogwarts scarf. Yes, we were about to go out to dinner to a fancy(ish) restaurant. Yes, I wear my nerd regalia out into the world. Oh, did I tell you I got a compliment on my TARDIS hat? It was from a girl who works at Advance Auto. Whovians are everywhere.)
We spent Saturday wincing at all the hammering and other assorted loud noises coming from upstairs as a team of four put in hardwood floors. Totally worth it, but man, it was loud. And COLD. They had windows open up there and a saw set up on the front porch, so they had to keep going outside, meaning the door was always open. On top of that, it snowed all morning and then my car wouldn’t start, so we just huddled in the dining room with the dogs and lit a fire. And played on the internet. And read. And reshelved books.
Starting Saturday night, we became crazy people who clean. And clean. And clean. And also crazy people who walk into a mattress store and buy a new bed in less than 20 minutes. And then tie it to the roof of the car and drive home. On the coldest,windiest day of the year. (This was Sunday, I think). And then, because Monday was New Year’s Eve and we were having people over and some of them were spending the night (and this new bed was for the guest room), we became the crazy people who have to run out and buy sheets and then wash them so they can go on the bed. (This new bed that is a double, which is a size we’ve never owned before, so we didn’t have any sheets that would fit.) On the day people are actually coming over. And THEN, because I’m a crazy person who is also an idiot, I went to Wegmans on one of the four worst days of the year to go to Wegmans to get everything we’d need for these people coming over in LESS THAN FOUR HOURS. What are the four worst days of the year to go to Wegmans? The day before Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, the day before Easter, and NEW YEAR’S EVE. It was a madhouse. And they were completely out of the yummy pre-made dips made of cheesy goodness that I usually get. Otherwise, I found everything I was looking for. I just had to fight for some of it.
New Year’s Eve was fun, but as John and I were dragging our tired asses to bed at 2am that night, I came to a realization. The demographics of our little group have changed. (Okay, yes, duh – I know.) Our friends have babies, and babies mean schedules and crying and parents who leave early to put said babies to bed. All of that is perfectly understandable (and we love their babies and love to see their babies), but if half of our guests are going to go home long before midnight, maybe New Year’s Eve isn’t the best night to have our little get-together. (Also, DAMN I’m tired today. 2am is entirely too late for me.) Instead, I declare Derby Day to be our day. It’s always a Saturday (so no one has to work), it doesn’t immediately follow any other holiday (so no one’s exhausted from family and travel), it starts earlier, and there’s no obligation to make it to midnight (although people are more than welcome to stay late). And it’s fun!
(I think we should try to do a summery picnic thing on the Mall (or somewhere in DC when the weather’s nice), too. Easier for everyone to get to and also fun!)
That’s what I learned from New Year’s Eve this year. I’ll show you the screaming sheep I found tomorrow.
I realize I’ve posted nothing but negative things these last few days, and I’d hate for you to think I didn’t enjoy myself. I totally did. Molly and I got our nails done on Sunday, and Tom and I lost to Molly and Tania (by a whisker) and John and Emily (by a lot) at Taboo on Christmas Day. John and I kicked everyone’s butts (especially Emily and Sean’s) at Cranium on Saturday night. Christmas itself was a very fun day, as usual. Molly got me possibly my favorite present of the year. I am now the proud owner of a TARDIS hat.
Also, I have a flashing Rudolph nose, but I only wear it on special occasions.
Home now. Still sick. Thoroughly exhausted. I think I could have been good at writing telegrams. We were right on the edges of that big snowstorm that is heading northeast, so there were multiple accidents on the highway this afternoon, and John and I took an alternate route home. It took us five hours, but the GPS said staying on the highway would have taken almost seven. Eight, really, since we’d been on the road for an hour when we checked. So we’re home, and the car is unloaded, and the Chinese food has been ordered, and John is out getting milk and yogurt. Roxy is resting on her own bed. She was really good this past week. Very quiet, no accidents, no incidents with Mabel – she was the perfect houseguest-dog. My head feels both clearer and runnier than it has for days. I think that’s an improvement, but I’m so over this horrible cold/congestion/sinus infection/HORRIBLE THING I could just scream. But that would make me cough. And THAT would make me dive head first into a fire pit. (Because it might feel better. Also because it was 57 degrees in the house when we walked in, and a fire pit would probably be warmer.)
Okay, people, it’s time for Christmas. I just spent two hours in a thoroughly depressing walk-in clinic, and I need some lights, some presents, and some music, stat! (Turns out I have a sinus infection, but I’m all doped up now and will hopefully be on the mend soon.)
For reasons I cannot explain, my internet connection is really slow tonight, so this will be short. Today is the 12th of December, as I’m sure you’re all aware. The entire world has gone crazy about it being 12/12/12, but that’s not what this is about. The year is irrelevant to me, except that it helps me count. Today, 12/12/12, is the 15th anniversary of our first kiss. This is very nearly the first time either of us has remembered this little anniversary on the actual day. Of course, it’s a Wednesday, and John didn’t get home until nearly six, and I have yoga tonight (in a couple of minutes, so I have to be quick here), AND his office holiday party was today, so he ate there, and I ate a quick dinner when I got home. So….we went out for frozen yogurt. Because we’re in luuuuuurrrrvvvve.
Despite my recent enthusiasm for shopping, Black Friday is still something I avoid. Like the plague. I have absolutely no interest in dealing with crowds of shoppers, and I think the day after Thanksgiving should be a national day of rest. I did go to one store. One superstore. One store I have no need to ever visit again. Cabela’s. It’s a hunting/camping/fishing kind of store. Like Bass Pro Shop, but with more taxidermied bears. (I assume. I’ve never been in a Bass Pro Shop, but it sounds more civilized.) SO totally not my kind of store. We tagged along with Emily and her boyfriend (who fishes) because, I guess, family time? It was…interesting. Aaaannd we came home with two bows. With arrows. Actual bows. Well, junior bows, like toddler’s first bow. Kid bows. And blunt arrows (of course). We set up cardboard boxes as a target in the backyard and pretended we were Robin Hood or Welsh longbowmen. And you know what? It’s kind of hard. And kind of painful. I don’t know if I was holding the darn thing wrong or what, but the string kept recoiling against the inside of my left elbow. Out of 20 or so shots, the string hit me (hard) 3 or 4 times. After the last one, I was about to start taking bets as to how long it would take before a bruise showed up when I rolled up my sleeve and actually looked at my arm. That’s when I ended my illustrious career as an archer. I already had the nastiest bruise I’ve ever seen, and on top of that, there was an egg-sized welt right in the middle. Even now, three days later, I look like I caught a fast ball with my arm. (The swelling went down pretty quickly after I iced it.) So I’m retired now. No more archery for me.
I baked today. In fact, I’m still baking. And I need to check on my pies – the last thing I need is burned pie after all that effort.
So far so good. Now, at least. I was up to my elbows in pie filling about an hour ago. I pulled up my recipe (yes, MY recipe – eleven Thanksgivings ago, I experimented until I came up with the ideal sweet potato pie recipe), checked that I had everything to make two pies (I had double the ingredients listed in my recipe), and threw the sweet potatoes (I got them before breakfast this morning) into a pot to boil. All EIGHT largish sweet potatoes, because my recipe called for four. They boiled forever, and then they cooled, and then I got my mixer out. I peeled four of them, put them in the mixer, and realized that was about all that would fit. Okay, no problem, I’ll just get one pie ready, then do the second. I mixed everything together, pulled out my pie crusts (I make pie filling, not pie crusts), filled one of them, and realized I had enough filling left in the bowl for a whole ‘nother pie. What? So I filled the second pie crust. (I may have overfilled it a little.) Then I looked at the other FOUR giant sweet potatoes that were sitting there in the pot, already cooked, just waiting to be peeled and turned into pie. I had one more pie crust because I always buy one extra (I usually have enough filling left over for a little pie), but that clearly wasn’t going to be enough. I put the two pies that were ready to go into the oven, shoved the dogs into the backyard so they wouldn’t be tempted to counter-surf for drops of pie filling, and raced to the nearest grocery store for another pie crust. (I get nervous leaving the house with the oven on.) I got there, picked up one crust, grabbed a set of six mini-pie crusts (perfect for that little bit of filling left over, right?), and raced back home. Nothing burned down, so I made the rest of the pie filling. Turns out those last four sweet potatoes were ALL bigger than the first four, so after I filled the other two regular size pie crusts, I had enough filling left in the bowl for at least another whole pie. No more whole crusts, though, so I filled the six little mini crusts and called my neighbor Beth. “Anyone in the family allergic to pie? No? Wonderful! ‘Cause I seem to have vastly overestimated how many sweet potatoes I needed to cook.” She opted for the mini pies, so John and I are now discussing who we’re giving the fourth pie to. (We’re keeping one, and two are slated for Thanksgiving dessert.) It has to be someone we’ll see in the next day or two, so it’ll either be a work friend or another neighbor. Tough choices to make.
Anyway, I have now added the crucial information that was missing from my recipe. My sweet potato pie recipe, as written, makes TWO pies. Never forget.
I think I’m getting old. My back hurts (lower back – it’s felt achy and a little twinge-y since my last Muscle Blast class two Mondays ago). My left arm was tingling off and on for almost a week (it’s stopped now) because I think I pinched a nerve doing a handstand in yoga class (a week ago Wednesday). I make grunting noises when I lunge to get over the dog gate at the bottom of the stairs, and worst of all, I was SO over Halloween after about the tenth group of kids. I lose patience for that quicker every year. All we were doing was handing out candy to the kids who came by. I can’t imagine how the parents of 8 or 9-year-olds must feel, trailing their kids down block after block. I mean, when they’re 3 or 4 or 5, they’re totally adorable, they need your help, and they get tired fast (very important, that). Beyond that age, can they even get tired out? It’s exhausting just thinking about it.
I missed the very beginning of the evening because I had to take Roxy to the vet. Once again, her paw was bothering her and she licked it so much she made it worse. Yay for obsessive dogs.
Here’s my sweetpea last night at the vet:
And here she is today, completely miserable in her Cone of Shame. The sock just wasn’t working this time.
I’m exhausted from last weekend. May I have another? I promise to rest for much of it. No? Too bad.
Friday night we went to a costume party. We were pretty happy with our costumes, but the party was a little awkward at the start. It got better, and we had a good time. All that’s minor. Let’s stick with the important stuff. For the most part, our costumes were created from things we had at home. John went as Wolverine. We had to buy his claws (would you believe we didn’t have a spare set at home already?), but that’s it. 
John realized that I had everything I needed to be Hermione except the wand. I’d forgotten about the scarf I bought at Universal over the summer.
Not crazy about my hair here. I left in braids all day to get that kinda curly messy younger Hermione look, but I think it came out a little too much like Weird Al.
Classic Hermione pose coming up. I know! I know!
Notice I’m holding a wand? Yup. That’s ’cause John made me one. An awesome one. Because he’s wonderful.
Check it out! He even burned the Deathly Hallows into the end. Because he’s the best.
Now, I think our costumes turned out pretty good, but my first choices for us were Dr. Horrible (me) and Captain Hammer (John). Unfortunately, we don’t have ANYthing we need for those, and we didn’t have enough prep time to get them. Maybe next year. I really want to be Dr. Horrible.
We’re home, safe and sound, and so are the dogs. Nothing happened to Roxy this weekend. (Thank you, Jess.) We had a highly successful Passover seder Friday night, I drank all the wine in the house Saturday night (Mom assures me I most certainly did NOT drink all the wine, but I felt like I had by Sunday morning), and we spent much of Sunday stealing books from Mom and Dad’s basement, all of which now live in OUR basement. The drive home was much better than anticipated (mostly because we listened to a fantastic book the whole way, but I’ll have more on that once we actually finish it – we have about an hour left), and when we arrived, we unloaded the books in about 30 minutes and picked up the dogs just before the kennel closed. Busy, but quick and over and done with. Details tomorrow. Maybe. I’ll think about it.