The Aftermath

Bread is rising, and the cookies on top of brownies are baking. The house smells pretty darn good. Now to wash those dishes!

Favorite Hauntings

What I did not eat today (or yesterday, since I'm posting this a day late and a dollar short), but I really should get back to our favorite burger joint soon. I tend not to have burgers there, but perhaps I should make an exception soon. Burger. Mmmm.

Not Too Juicy a Rumor

I have always loved watermelon, but I'd never had watermelon juice until I went to Hong Kong in 1992. This is the watermelon juice I had last night. They still only have seeded watermelons here, which are in my view more flavorful than the seedless ones, which means this was pretty tasty juice. It was a bit more expensive than a beer would have been but definitely worth it. Oh, yeah, that more expensive means about $1.50 as opposed to $1.00 for a beer.

Lunching Away

This is where I just lunched with the husband. The food was passable. It is hard, after all, to ruin noodles with vegetables. The price was right, too, $7.00 and change for two noodle entrees, two pineapple shakes, and two coffees.

No Bad Egg

One more thing to do before leaving for seven weeks: Use up the perishables that the son staying behind might not think to use. I'm making potato salad as part of having my mom over for dinner tomorrow night. It won't use up all the eggs, but it will help.

Behind Only the Coffee Maker ...

in my pantheon of kitchen helpers is the rice cooker. It ranks ahead of even Lady Mixalot because I can, in fact, make very good bread without her help. I cannot, however, make decent rice without the rice cooker.

A Saucy Dinner

My friend Gina posts great photos of some of the incredible food she and her family make. This is not like that. This is spaghetti sauce from a can, with diced tomatoes (also from a can), ground beef (low-fat), and herbs added. It tasted fine.

Mmm ... Good!

We had blueberry muffins for breakfast this morning, courtesy of Mama Bear's Christmas basket. I hate to see close friends move away even if only temporarily (18 months counts as temporary if a return is planned), but if they move to locations with tasty goodness and find a way to share it, who am I to argue? The muffins got eight thumbs up by the way.

Berry Good Tidings

Two loaves of bread finished. One is half eaten, and one has been gifted. Three pounds of cranberries turned into sauce. Dough for two pie crusts awaiting rolling. After that, there's filling for two pumpkin pies to make as well as dough for tomorrow morning's cinnamon rolls. Merry Christmas Eve!

Sunday Sweetness

I don't usually drink sugared sodas, but I had to give this one a try. Older son probably described it best after his taste - liquid blueberry scone. Worth the 135 calories one time, but I don't think I'll be getting another one any time soon.

Into the Fridge

So what if the power went out while dinner was in the oven? It wasn't out at the Chinese restaurant a mere 4.5 miles down the road. Between the dinner that finished cooking after the power was restored and all the leftovers, someone won't need to cook for a while.