Week in Review: Lots of snow on New Year's Eve and Day. The kids went back to school here on Thursday and I subbed Thursday for second grade and part of Friday. Maddie, The Amazing Barking, Snow-Eating dog didn't mind the weather one bit. She has a very easy life.



The Brad Miller Snowman

Yes, my snowman (although it's missing its arms) is significant because it was, indeed, handcrafted by NBA superstar Brad Miller. He made it back when he was just a boy, a long time before he signed his 68 million dollar contract with the Sacramento Kings. I gave him fifteen bucks for it. Hey! I've got an idea. Maybe I could call his mother and the next time he's in town, visiting, he could come by and sign my snowman and then I could try to sell it on Ebay. I probably shouldn't have divulged this information on the blog. Somebody might possibly drive by and steal my Brad Miller snowman. Me and my big mouth.


Corned Beef and Cabbage

We serve it up twice a year here, New Year's Day and St. Patrick's Day. It's yummy alright, but it sure stinks up the house. As Katie, the cook (played by Marjorie Main of Ma Kettle fame) said in the 1944 movie, Meet Me in St. Louis, "Cabbage has a Cabbage smell!" We didn't see Rob for three days.





We took down all our Christmas decorations on Sunday afternoon. It was very depressing. I felt like that guy on the Verizon commercial who pulls the plug on his outdoor display and all his inflatables go limp. Now I'll have to turn my attention to our Biggest Loser contest. That's right - five people (who shall remain anonymous on the blog) - 100 dollars each - 10 weeks. WINNER......TAKES....ALL. I even went out and bought a scale, because I had not looked at my weight in ten years. Truly. At the doctor's office, I would just look away. You know, that was really stupid.


Recipe of the Week: Is my favorite salad recipe. I got this one from the internet. The dressing is delicious. One piece of cooking advice - if a recipe tells you to toast your nuts, I recommend that you do just that. For years I ignored those instructions, but honestly, toasted nuts are tasty nuts, so, again, like with the weight-denial thingy.....me, being stupid.


Apple, Dried Cherry & Walnut Salad with Maple Dressing

Maple Dressing

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar or other white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Salad

1 - 5 ounce bag of mixed baby greens
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into match-stick size strips
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, TOASTED

For Dressing: Whisk mayo, syrup, sugar and vinegar in a bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in oil until mixture thickens. Season with salt and pepper.

For Salad: Toss greens, apples, cherries and 1/4 cup walnuts in a large bowl to combine. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Divide salad among plates and top with remaining walnuts.



And, I close this week with one more picture from Christmas. Landon Kutscher in the Rudolph hat his mommy made him.

Week in Review: We had a great holiday week of church, family, friends, presents, and food, of course - lots of food. Here we are getting ready to leave for Drew's wedding on Friday night. It was an elegant wedding and we had a very nice evening.

Lindsey and Brent came for the wedding and we celebrated our Christmas together with them on Saturday.

They had spent Christmas Eve and Day in Knoxville with Brent's family, so we had not exchanged gifts with them. I made a snowman with a spinach dip-filled tummy, as pictured here. We about made ourselves sick on that.

For dinner we had a beef tenderloin roast with bearnaise sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, dried cherry/apple/walnut salad with maple dressing and for dessert, creme brulee. Here's a picture
of Lindsey caramelizing the top.

New Year's Eve Plans: Well, they've been cancelled. We had dinner reservations at Opus 24, but Stormy flew out to Philadelphia to be with Nick because he needed to stay out there and work. So, I think we'll make beef stroganoff with the leftover tenderloin and then we'll watch two of our favorite movies that we didn't get a chance to watch on Christmas Eve.

Th 1951 version of A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim. You know, it's the one with the huge Tiny Tim. When the ghost of Christmas future is showing Ebeneezer Scrooge the Cratchet house after Tiny Tim has died, a despondent Bob Cratchet is remembering how he used to carry Tim on his shoulders and he was as light as a feather. And I always think "right. He was as big as Mrs. Cratchet, for Pete's sake." It's a great movie and Alistair Sim is the definitive Scrooge. (It also bothers me that Bob Cratchet doesn't have a coat....just a scarf)

The other movie is Holiday Inn. Bing Crosby sang White Christmas for the first time here, and Fred Astaire does his famous firecracker dance.

We haven't stayed home on New Year's Eve since 2000, so it'll be kinda weird. Maybe we'll discuss some serious issues like: Who are we going to vote for in 2008? or What can we do to improve ourselves, or (most importantly) How do we get the Doobie Brothers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Seriously. What does it take? One 2008 inductee is The Dave Clark Five! Are you kidding me right now, The Dave Clark Five??? Who is voting on this, anyway?

Recipe of the Week:

There are so many choices here. I think I'll share the recipe for Bearnaise Sauce. This sauce is worth the effort. Enjoy.

Bernaise Sauce

3/4 cup butter

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons chopped green onion

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves

3 egg yolks

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

To clarify the butter, in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, melt 3/4 cup butter until white solids separate from fat (10 -13 minutes) Remove from heat; skim off foam. Cool to lukewarm; set aside. In heavy 1 quart saucepan combine vinegar, wine, green onions and tarragon. Cook over medium heat until reduced to 3 tablespoons liquid and solids. ( 15 to 20 minutes) cool. Whisk eggs, salt, and pepper into vinegar/onion mixture until frothy. Place pan over low heat, whisking constantly until mixture thickens slightly. The pan should not be hot to the touch. Remove from heat; very slowly, whisk in the clarified butter leaving behind the milk solids residue in the bottom of the pan. Stir in parsley. Serve with tenderloin.

Really, the Dave Clark Five?

Week in Review:

I did some Salvation Army bell ringing, got my teeth cleaned and went with Stormy to Indy. We shopped and then picked Adam up at the airport. Bob was on vacation again this week. On Thursday he was Santa for South Side Elementary School.

I always remind him when he plays Santa to 1. Not go in the bank (as mentioned in an earlier post) 2. Not make any promises about delivering the goods and 3. Never tell the kids that he came without reindeer because Rudolph is sick. (that news can get some children really worked up, believe me)

Our UPS man on their busiest day of the year. A problem we never thought about: He intercepted some of his own Christmas presents at the terminal. Kind of hard to surprise him.

Friday night we went to see the Gin Blossoms at the new Rosebud Theatre in Effingham. They were great, but because it was so close to Christmas attendance was low - around 400 people. Like Lori said, it was weird to be at a concert where you knew about half of the people in the audience. We had a good time.

We also had a good time on Saturday celebrating Christmas at Maw-Maw's. We did not go caroling. My brother, John, is a mailman and he had to work so his family couldn't get there until later, and it started raining hard and singing in the rain is okay for Gene Kelly, but it's not for everybody. I refuse to carol with an umbrella! We did do some singing in the living room - The Twelve Days of Christmas and each took a part. Bob was "nine ladies dancing" and I was "three French hens."

We also celebrated Landon's first and Uncle Michael's 27th birthdays. Here they are tasting the cake.

Last week Baleigh sledded head-first into a tree. Thankfully, her head is okay, just a bump, but she managed to break a finger. We signed her cast. I told her we would have to write a new song, something similar to our "Would You Care to See My Mutilated Toe" number of last summer. We never came up with anything.

Sunday we spent the afternoon with Bob and Darlene - watching the Packers get thumped on by the Bears. Bob (my Bob) helped them hook up a new computer monitor. We made it home late Sunday night.

Recipe of the Week: I baked two raspberry white chocolate cheesecakes

to take to Effingham. I can't remember where I got this recipe. I've lost it, and along the way, I've altered it some.

Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 - 8 oz. packages cream cheese

1/2 pound white chocolate, melted

2 eggs

3 tablespoons Chambord liqueur

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

Crust

Mix together graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into a 9 inch springform pan. Set aside.

Filling

Mix together cream cheese and sugar. Slowly add melted white chocolate and mix. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well. Put the raspberry jam into a small bowl and microwave briefly, just until it thins somewhat. Add the liqueur to the jam and mix. Remove 1/3 cup of cheesecake batter from the mixing bowl and add to the jam. Mix well. Pour the cheesecake batter on top of the crust, then spoon the jam mixture on top. Take a knife and swirl throughout. Bake the cheese cake at 325 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven, cool, then cover and refrigerate the cheesecake overnight. The next day, place the cheesecake on a serving plate and frost.

Cheesecake frosting:

1 & 1/2 cups butter

2-8 oz pkgs cream cheese

1 pound melted white chocolate

3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Mix together the butter and cream cheese. Melt the white chocolate and let it cool to room temperature. Gradually add it to the cream cheese and butter, mixing well. Add the lemon juice and mix. Frost the cheesecake and return to the refrigerator just until it sets up. Microwave the raspberry jam, again, just enough to warm and thin. Pour over the top of the cake and spread almost to the edge. Pipe around the cheesecake with extra frosting.

After writing this all down, it occurs to me that making this cheesecake is a heck of a lot of work. Good luck, and Merry Christmas. Remember: He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.

Last Two Weeks in Review: Well, subbing, of course - 7th grade one week and sixth grade for a couple of days last week. There is no school today because of the ten inches of snow we received Saturday night, so there were no phone calls at 5:00 AM. I had a few Christmas parties/meetings - Common Grace, Tri Kappa, and Tuesday Club. Bob was on vacation last week. I made him watch the movie, Waitress, with me. He said he liked it, but I doubt that he liked it as much as I did. We got a new Jeep on Thursday. It has a rear backup camera, which is very distracting and I'm pretty sure I'm going to sideswipe something because I'm looking at my camera.

Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog's Christmas Do

Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog is as quiet as a church mouse on the car ride to the groomer's, but she barks her fool head off on the way home and bites at passing cars and trucks. There was a big puddle in the driveway at Champs and Tramps, so when I picked her up, I thought I'd better carry her to the Jeep to keep her from getting muddy, because, after all, I just paid fifty dollars to have her looking so spiffy. I took my dark coat off and put it in the back seat, so I wouldn't get dog hair all over me. I deposited her into the passenger side and started down the road, and what did she do? That's right. She jumped into the backseat on top of my coat and wallered it around. I was driving with one hand and flailing around trying to get my coat out from under her. Well, here she is, and doesn't she look nice? It took about twenty sheets off the lint-roller to get the hair off my coat.

Nothing spices up the holiday season like a colonoscopy. So, I had one. Bob went with me and was very helpful. He had his eye on the safety-step socks they give to patients - you know, the ones with the no-skid paw prints on the bottom. I told him he could have them. They will not let you leave the Heart Center until you pass some gas. Bob was a real cheerleader in that area. Actually, I didn't want to leave at all, but I didn't know how long you were allowed to just lay there and I didn't want to look like a weenie, so I let them wheel me out to the parking lot. (Sorry, no photos)

Landon and his dad. Don't cry. The team won!

(actually, he's probably distressed just thinking about poor Aunt Lou's colonoscopy)

On Tuesday, Stormy and I are going to Indianapolis to pick up Adam at the airport. On Friday night, the Gin Blossoms will be playing at the Rose Bud Theatre in Effingham. Several of us have tickets for that performance. We'll have Christmas at Maw-Maw's on Saturday with my family. We're planning to go caroling and I'm taking my Christmas kazoo along. We'll spend Sunday with Bob and Darlene and then plan to be back home for Chistmas Eve.

This past weekend, I made gingerbread men to give to the ladies (and gentleman) in my YMCA step-aerobic's class. I put a hole through the head and attached a gold cord so it can be used as an ornament. I usually just make my gingies straddle the banister garland, as pictured here.

Gingerbread Men

1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup molasses
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs
8 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

For the gingerbread men, I make a paper pattern and then just cut around it with a knife. Use a straw for the eyes and buttons. After you bake them you paint the eyes and heart and then cover with Modge Podge to seal.

Bob, Rob, Maddie, and me as internet elves. Rob is a little blurry here, but I'm sure he won't mind at all.

Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year? That's right,

Brett Favre!

Ummm-hmmm

Week in Review:

We stapled the sock to the squirrel's head this week (telling ourselves it looks very much like a Santa hat) so Christmas must be just around the corner. Ahh - the magic of Christmas. When I was a kid, I thought Toyland was on the second floor of Steven's Hardware Store in Effingham, Illinois. That's mainly because there was a sign in the store with an arrow that said "Toyland Upstairs." Plus, once our mom made us wait in the car while she ran up there, so I just assumed that we were not allowed to go there because we'd see the elves working on stuff.

My all-time favorite Christmas gift was something called Tiger Town. It had plastic (stone-like) houses (a-la Fred Flintstone) and plastic palm trees and little plastic tigers with a picnic table and a wheelbarrow. Very cool. ( I wonder if it was made at the hardware store) I also remember being really fond of my potholder loom.

BOOK BABES

We had a double-dose of Book Babes this week. We met on Wednesday to discuss the book, All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. This book has definitely been made into a movie, twice. The 1949 version, starring Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark was best picture of the year. The movie was re-made in 2006 and Sean Penn played the lead role.

During the evening, we also discussed the tummy-tuck power and dollar value of NYDJ jeans (Not Your Daughter's Jeans) Some jeans were modeled and behinds were scrutinized. Julia stayed home with a bad cold.

On Saturday we were all together for our annual Christmas outing. This year - lunch at Joseph Decuis in Roanoke. Here we are at the restaurant after our delicious meal.

Recipe of the Week:

Wouldn't you know that Bob took off again on Sunday morning for the west coast. He was kind of complaining before he left, then he reminded himself that it wasn't Iraq, it was California. I think he's just tired of flying out there. I suggested that he could have a nice lunch at the Branding Iron in Merced. Anyway, there was no Sunday Night Supper for Rob and me. This coming Wednesday morning, I'm catering a breakfast for twenty people. They've ordered a wake-up breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls. I got the recipe for these cake mix rolls from my mother-in-law, Darlene, and I think she cut it out of the newspaper. They're really good, and pretty easy to make, but expect a big mess in the kitchen when you make these. (or maybe it's just me)

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

1 yellow or white cake mix

4 packages yeast

4 cups warm water

2 teaspoons salt

7 1/2 to 8 cups flour

1/4 cup vegetable oil (in bottom of each pan)

Filling

Melted butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients (except flour) Add water and mix. Gradually add flour mixing well. Let dough sit in the mixing bowl for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into two or three parts (I use 2) Roll it out and drizzle with butter and add cinnamon and sugar. Roll up the dough and slice into cinnamon rolls. (about 1 inch thick) Put 1/4 cup oil in the bottom of a jelly roll pan. This adds moisture and prevents sticking. Position the rolls in the pan and let them raise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until done. Drizzle with powdered sugar frosting.

Week in Review:

Big holiday week full of cooking and eating and shopping! The hunters returned. Brent and Lindsey came up on Wednesday night. We had Thanksgiving dinner here on Thursday, then, of course, the Black Friday shopping trip. On Saturday we went to Drew's shower at Gene Stratton Porter, (see pics from the shower on Lindsey's blog) and celebrated Brent's 26th birthday. Oh, and my friend, Cheryl, who also rode Joe's bus home from Funkhouser School, e-mailed me that I forgot to mention the great bus debates of Ford vs Chevy. How could I forget!!!!

Corey and Rob and what they killed

For Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to try dry-brining a fresh turkey. This worked okay and was fine and everything, but I don't think it was really worth the extra effort and in the future, I'll be sticking with the Butterball. I've also never been satisfied with my dressing. After some phone consultation with Maw-Maw, (who makes wonderful dressing) I decided to cook the turkey neck and wings (I made Bob cut them off) in the pressure cooker and use that meat and stock as the base. I've always been a little afraid of my pressure cooker. I guess I think the lid will blow off and hit me in the head. But, I got it out anyway, and proceeded. Later, I added chicken broth and then the celery and onion and, on Maw-Maw's advice, rubbed sage, instead of the powdered. Well, the dressing turned out great and I feel like a real victory was won on this great holiday. We also served sweet potatoes that knock your socks off, mashed potatoes and gravy, scalloped corn, apple & walnut spinach salad with honey mustard dressing, pecan and pumpkin pie and turkey cookies, as shown above. Nick and Stormy were also guests at our Thanksgiving Dinner, as their children were not coming until the weekend.

Black Friday!!!!!

It was great. Our first stop, after Starbucks, was Best Buy. I ran in and grabbed my purchase and got in line, and waited in that line that zig-zagged down many aisles for about 45 minutes. Stormy and Lindsey positioned themselves so that they could wave and cheer at me and take my picture as I came around each corner. Then it was on to Target where we scored one sweet parking place and were in and out in no time. We used a little strategy there. One person immediately got in line and the other two ran to get the stuff and bring it back to the line. At one store, Lindsey demonstrated her assertiveness skills by telling the clerk how to ring up our sale so that the discount coupons could be used to our best advantage.

Us, at Starbuck's at 5:00 AM

Brent's birthday carrot cake

We had ribs and Stormy sent over extra jalapeno crab cakes that they were serving at their house.

Sunday - There was no supper. I was all cooked out, s0 we had leftovers. Bob spent the afternoon cutting down the neighbor's walnut tree, so he can put up a dish and watch I.U. basketball games on the Big Ten Network. Here's Bob carrying his Little Giant back to the garage. At this point, the deed is done and the tree is finally down. I just ran out to check. I had been inside the house, praying, and frantically searching online to see if there was maybe some Patron Saint of Woodcutters on whom to call. (like St. Paul of Bunyan maybe) Anyway, the neighbor is safe and so is his property and the lights and cable are still on, so whew!

The recipe of the week is for the turkey cookies featured above. I got this recipe for cream cheese sugar cookies from another kindergarten room mother at J.L. Buford School in Mt. Vernon, Illinois in 1988. You have to keep an eye on these cookies when they're in the oven, as they brown quickly because there's so much butter in them.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup softened butter

3 ounces softened cream cheese

1 egg yolk

2 3/4 cups flour

Combine all ingredients except flour. Stir well. Add flour slowly until well-mixed. Chill a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Bake approximately 7-10 minutes. Watch closely. Frost or sugar them when cool.

Week in Review



Absolutely no subbing at all this week. I filled in for Sally at the park department while she was on vacation. Bob was on the west coast again until Thursday and then he and Rob and a friend of Rob's left for a weekend duck hunting trip in Stuttgart, Arkansas, the MECCA of duck hunting.


The weekend was again, kind of clunky. I was trying to load groceries in a rainy/snowy Wal-mart parking lot and my hood was pulled over my head and I couldn't see that the liftgate on the Jeep was not raising up as I thought it was and, anyway, I almost knocked myself out on the liftgate and I have a small lump above my left eye. And, when Bob applied online for Arkansas hunting licenses, he typed in Rob's birth date as 1889, making him 118 years old. They were 2 hours in some Arkansas Wal-Mart trying to get that straightened out, and Saturday morning they didn't even get a chance to fire their guns. Maybe some planet is in retrograde motion, wreaking havoc on our weekend.........or, maybe we just need to pay closer attention to what we're doing...and stay out of Wal-mart's.



There are no new pictures because thoughtless hunters took both cameras to the MECCA of duck hunting, so, for you Landon watchers, here he is in his formal nine month photograph with Stella. It could only be better if the dog was wearing a sweater with a boy on it.









It's Thanksgiving week and I've spent some time this afternoon making a shopping list. Brent and Lindsey will come and Nick and Stormy, and maybe, Lori and family. We'll have all the fixins and some Packer football and then we'll ready ourselves for BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!!!!


Here's how it will go. We'll get up at 3:00 am and we'll load all the store fliers in the back seat and drive to Fort Wayne. Initially there will be some mumbling about how stupid this is, but it will subside as the shoppers start to get into the spirit of the morning. At Starbuck's we'll get peppermint mocha's and then we'll plan our attack.

I think it's important to have a code of conduct or a set of rules to adhere to on this very special shopping day. So here's what I will and will not do:

On Black Friday I WILL NOT:

1. Push or shove

2. Scratch

3. Use profanity

4. Issue threats

However, I WILL:

1. Run

2. Bob and weave (if necessary)


3. Use shopping companions to create a diversion away from doorbuster items.

4. Act stupid and helpless to get what I want. (sometimes this is not acting) This works well with men at H.H. Gregg and Best Buy - you might even get them to lug some heavy stuff to your place in line, but don't even bother trying it at JC Penney, Macy's or Target because you'd be wasting your time. In fact, it's best not to show weakness at these locations, as any sign of vulnerability is like a drop of blood in shark-infested waters.




No Sunday night candlelight supper this week. I did have dinner at Nick and Stormy's on Saturday night. Shane and Krissy were also guests. We were served a delcious chicken Marsala, and we had a great time.

Illinois Corn Sausage Chowder is a family favorite. I still have the original recipe on a limp, grease-soaked, folded-up magazine page torn out of a 1988 issue of Midwest Living. I entered this chowder in a cooking contest that the Effingham Daily News sponsored many years ago and won second place in the soups and salads category. I think I got twenty-five bucks. Here it is. Enjoy


Prize-Winning Illinois Corn-Sausage Chowder
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
4 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled potato
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups water
1 17-ounce can cream-style corn
1 17-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk

In a Dutch oven or kettle, cook the sausage and onion until sausage is brown and onion is tender; drain on paper towels. Return sausage and onion to the kettle with potato, salt, marjoram, pepper, and water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer just till potato is tender, about 15 minutes. Add cream-corn and whole kernel-corn and milk. Heat through