Happy Friggin' New Year Already

What better way to spend one of the lamest New Year's Eves ever than blogging? How about blogging and listening to indiscernible live jazz on NPR? Lenore and I are also drinking hot chocolate with roasted marshmallows (a delicacy I just made up...mostly because the marshmallows were a little stale, so hence the need to roast them), admiring the blue moon (which I just learned about...for those who don't know, it's when you get a second full moon in a month, and it only occurs every 2.5 years, though on New Years Eve, you'll only see one every 19 years), AND boiling beets. For borscht. Which we're going to make tomorrow.

But I digress.

It's OK that it's lame, because neither of us is in the mood for crowds, alcohol or frivolity. This whole xmas break has been fairly relaxing and uneventful, so why stop with the apathy now?

2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the annual McDonald Christmas Competition -- complete with commemorative t-shirts. If you click the link, note that if you click on each photo, you'll see more photos. This year's winner was Graeme, and Hoops' entry won an honorary "best recycling" award. She had to eat a lot of tinsel to get her entry to sparkle. Guess what it's made of.




I won't bother posting a photo of my entry, which were a couple of mini potholders. I know...lame, the theme continues.

Lenore got home from Edisto just after the big snow (close to 12" I believe), so she missed out on snowshoeing and other reindeer games. Roland, Amy and I went out to Raceway woods, which I managed to document a little (Roland, send me your pictures!), and I also got in a couple of x-country ski outings. That was in between snow blowing, shoveling, and sleeping 'til about 10 or so (I could totally get way too used to this).




We were enthralled (or, at least I was) by these interesting looking ice formations in the creek at Raceway Woods. They look both alien and musical.






This was taken at Beverly Lake Forest Preserve.



After xmas with mom and dad, and after Lenore got home from her family xmas, we had a little xmas celebration with Roland, Amy and my parents that involved a lot of lasagna (recipe available in the Pseudo Gourmet) and about three tons of cookies.



Also, my mom makes the best salad in the world. I can't seem to replicate it.



I got some good loot, including this spiffy new snow shovel (I tried to preserve the wrapping job, but it wasn't designed for hard labor).



Also, the Onion's latest tomb was very popular -- I wasn't sure I was going to get to take my copy home.



Speaking of food, we made strombolis (or are they calzones?) one night, which turned out to be a good experiment. I cooked stew meat in the crockpot all day with onion and a tomato-based sauce, and Lenore made the dough in her bread machine. Next time, we'll add more cheese I think.






So...another year. Marked by "yes we can," and "yes we did," though I'm not sure what we've got to show for it. The audacity of "nope" and an ever blossoming cynicism in...just about everything. Case in point: Sugar is being marketed as a health food. As reported in the Wall Street Journal (which, for the record, I don't read on a regular basis):

In their quest to reach health-conscious consumers, some beverage companies are turning to a surprising ingredient: sugar.

Jones Soda Co., a Seattle maker of quirky soft drinks sold by Target Corp. and other retailers throughout the U.S., plans to replace high-fructose corn syrup -- a ubiquitous but demonized sweetener -- with cane sugar in its drinks, starting in January. The move by Jones, which churns out Blue Bubble Gum and Twisted Lime sodas, along with an energy drink called WhoopAss, aims to capitalize on the bad publicity surrounding high-fructose corn syrup, which some scientists have linked to rising U.S. obesity ...

Anyway, the ball's about to drop, so Happy New Year!

Caroling of the Dominos

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Dominoes Everywhere for the holidays from Jared Lyon on Vimeo.

Normally I'm not a big fan of bell choirs, but this is pretty clever. I hope he got it in one take.

Also...these guys are too much fun.

There Will Be Bounce!

I almost forgot about my cherry bounce infusing away down in my pseudo wine cellar/dungeon! This (below) is actually some hasty documentation of the sticky dark goodness of wild raspberry bounce, made with raspberries Lenore and I picked along the bike trail. I took about 95 pictures with various settings in an attempt to get the delicious dark ruby color, but the stuff just looks like tar in every photo. I think I like the flavor of the cherry bounce better, but this is pretty good. After several shot glasses, it's fantastic! The vodka-soaked raspberries are great on one's morning cereal too. (hic) I'll probably strain and bottle the cherry bounce this weekend.



Also in the "need to document" file is a trek through the snow with Laura to view xmas lights. We bundled her up good, no?




And here's Todd, one of my Perky Potholder Pumpkin Carving winners putting his PP to good use making soft pretzels. Mmmm. Todd and Joules were the onliest ones who sent me potholder photos (sigh).




I should note that Todd also wins the suck-up prize, for this is what he sent me upon learning of his win:

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart Paula. This is really incredible news! It was an honor just to participate in this contest, but winning a potholder was beyond my wildest dreams.

I fully expect that having a Perky Potholder will bring me such good fortune that I’ll be able to retire within the next few months and sit around the house baking my specialty… German Soft Pretzels. I’d be honored to make a dozen of them for you, in return for this gracious prize!"

I need to cash in on that.

And this? Lenore is to blame. I was all ready to hit the water slides at The Wilderness Water park. Amazing how all the ankle biters veered away from me, I can't imagine why.



P.S. Current temperature: 9. As in 9 degrees.

Blanket Fans

Austin made (!) this fabulous quilted blanket for me, but it's been usurped. By the cat. Seriously. I was reading and enjoying the cozy confines of my blanket and *sharing* my lap with Hoops. Then I got up to "cook" (using the term loosely) dinner, and returned to this. This is the look I got when I said, "Hey, whadya think you're doing?!"



It wasn't long before I was faced with this.



How do you disturb such peaceful slumber without going to hell? Since my house drops to about 60 degrees at night, Hoops likes to crawl under the down comforter and sleep with me (until about 4 a.m., at which time she must walk around on the bed, stick her nose in my ear, chew on my hair a little, commence with sentry duty and return to drop toys on my head...but I digress), but last night she slept on HER new blanket ALL NIGHT. However, seeing as Hoops has claws, from now on, there will be no unsupervised visits with the blanket. And no more catnip mice in bed either. Whose house is this anyway?

Winter Walk

Laura took this photo last night as we embarked on a short walk to view some of the xmas lights in the 'hood. Blustery conditions have prompted us to keep Laura for another day so she can fully appreciate the blizzard and negative wind chill. It's the least we could do. We are all three maximizing the WiFi during this impromptu snow day. Though I may need to go out and lay in the street in an attempt to get the snow plow to STOP PLOWING IN MY DRIVEWAY. Each shovelful of snow weighs about 300 pounds, because the snow is so wet and sloppy.

Siblings

This blog entry is dedicated to siblings. Yay! To mine, who can travel again and has therefore jetted home twice to empty the refrigerator and get my dad out of the house, and to Lenore's who are tag teaming to chaperon Lenore through recovery lest she attempt to re roof the house or steam clean the carpets. Yes, a pale and scrawny Lenore is home after braving yet another abdominal invasion, this time to remove a grapefruit-sized reoccurrence of that MF cancer and a hunk of intestine for good measure. Austin came earlier in November, Lyla stood sentry in hospital, and now Laura is here to provide both nursing and bonus computer support. Starbucks and the pie shop should note a jump in December profits. Lenore's 5th (!) round of chemo starts after xmas, at which time aforementioned profits may decline. Please invest accordingly. Shout out to Lynda, too, who's already started her chemo for the way too many-ith time.

Lenore documented several new faces, though some where possibly dilaudid induced, so they speak only to her. Check out the more coherent additions here.

In other news, there really is none. Seriously. The highlight of my day is crawling into bed with a bottle of Jack and Hoops purring in my armpit, and the low point is when the alarm goes off the next morning. Just kidding. I prefer gin.

18 shopping days...doesn't someone on your wish list need a wonderful signed cookbook?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cranberry man always dresses for dinner.

Much as I eschew overly processed foods, store-bought baked goods and all the evils of trans fats, HFCS, etc., Thanksgiving is wrought with exceptions. Like stuffing. I really like Stove Top more than any from-scratch variety made with love. The stickier and gummier the better to absorb the gravy. And cranberry sauce? I do not want any of that gourmet crap with actual cranberries. It has to be from the CAN, preferably still in the shape of the can with the little lines and everything. Pumpkin pie is another one. I made one from scratch. Once. Cooked the pumpkin and all that rot. Wasn't any better than pastry made from canned pumpkin. Though I'll still make my own crust (foolproof recipe available in the Pseudo Gourmet, do you have a copy?). And I'll tell you someting else. Those pre cooked birds from Jewel? They're awesome. And no clean up. Norman Rockwell would be so proud...as long as we got him drunk first.

This year I won't have to worry about over eating cuz Odie's coming home. Hahaha. That's a little joke on account of the brother figure has what moms might refer to as a "healthy appetite." Post-meal entertainment usually entails the rest of us sitting around chatting and watching Odie eat. It's been so long since he's been able to travel, I'm rather excited about rekindling the family tradition.

Speaking of thankful, I'm thankful that Lenore sent me more pictures from Lake Lure.

And thanks to Joules for sending me a photo of her with her Perky Potholder Pumpkin Carving Contest prize! Niiiice!

80 Years Young

Happy birthday, Dad!

Hold the Onions

One of Lenore's hospital visitors came in her Italian ice cup.

Lenore came through her liver angiogram and the RFA very well, and should be coming home today. The doctor said he was able to "cook" 90-95% of the tumor, and there's a chance he could go in later and fry some more when Lenore has her other surgery on the 30th to take the alien being out of her abdomen. Aside from a couple of nasty burns on her legs from the electrodes (no extra charge for that, thanks), she's feeling pretty good and will come home today. She's already clocked in about 12 laps around the hospital floor. Someone told her it’s four laps to a mile. I’m not sure how many extra calories you burn lugging an IV pole and a bag of pee, but I’m sure it’s considerable. Chemo won't start 'til after xmas, which bodes well for her travel plans.

Shout out, too, to our dragon boat Lynda, who's also getting back on the chemo train starting today. Cancer sucks -- how much more of an understatement can that be? Internet hugs to both of these brave gals, with an extra sprinkling of electrons on top.

In other news (before all this hospital stuff), I cashed in on my birthday dragon from Roland and Amy, only when we got to the restaurant it was CLOSED. Luckily Joules was there to suggest we try the new (to us anyway) Thai place in Algonquin that also has sushi, so we did, and it was splendid. I did not try their dragon, though, because I wanted to also sample the Tom Kha Gai soup (delish) and the ginger dressing, which every sushi place seems to serve on their salads (also good, but not as good as Kaminari or Bistro Wasabi). So I got something that was similar to a dragon, but not as fancy or pricey.




This is Lenore's -- we all liked the scallopy dishes.



Amy got duck in a curry sauce, and it was HOT.



Everyone did a fine job of documenting their food, but only Roland and Amy consented to action eating shots. Well, Joules did kind of since there's actual food in her chopsticks. Lenore consented not to hide under the table, so that was a success as well.





Also, I need to post these pictures of a spooky house in my 'hood, because I made Lenore stop the car and wait for me to get just the right shot, which didn't turn out so great anyway. The guy who lives there came out of his house while I was photographing it, which was just a little awkward, but then I offered to e-mail him the photos and he was good with it. Anyway, I thought this thing, whatever it is, on the side of the house was superbly creepy (plus I like the shadows) and all the lights and mist in the yard were well done too.




Speaking of mist...Lenore found this picture of me taken in D.C. It's very superhero-ie and mysterious. Maybe I'll use it for Facebook.



And speaking of photos...co worker Jesse showed me a really easy way to stitch photos together, so here are a couple of pano attempts from Lake Lure.

Prizes!

Just a few of the pumpkin contest prizes mailing soon!

Democracy Doesn't Always Work

Especially with pumpkins.



I asked my co workers to help me judge the pumpkin contest, only I neglected to remember that "decision making" is maybe not what you would call a "high performance skill" in our office. What resulted was a confusing collection of multi-pumpkin ties for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Holy gourd glop, Batman, I need more judges!
So then I enlisted the help of several more co workers (the power of unsanctioned employee e-mail usage!) and changed the parameters to just one vote for the top pumpkin. You would think this would be a little less confusing...but you would be wrong.

What resulted was just more votes for virtually the same amount of ties. (sigh)
But in a way that's good news, because, like T-Ball, everybody wins! Every pumpkin got at least one vote for first place, so snaps all around. Also, many judges commented on how great all the pumpkins were and how hard it was to pick just one. So, in keeping with the friends I keep, some, in fact, totally ignored my instructions and gave me multiple submissions for different reasons (technical merit, cuteness, spooky factor...)

We did have one stand-out for first place, and that was Rachel's Spooky Witch Tree (on the left). Yay for that!


Second place was a neck and neck race between Todd's penguin, Ronda's Edward Scissorhands, and Austin and William's mummy.

Lenore's Tiny Ghost, Austin and William's Scary Ghost, Ronda's Chuckie, Joules' Headless Horseman and Josie's Spooky Tree garnered all the votes for third place.

Thanks to all the participants and judges. I'll contact you for addresses so we can send you your Perky Potholder Prize!

Contest Results + Scenery

My co workers agreed to judge the pumpkin contest. These are the same people (and I include myself in that lot) who take 3 hours to decide where to go to lunch (we have a preponderance of Libras), so, long story short, I do not yet have results. I do, however have a 5- to 6-way tie for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I think we're going to have to enlist the help of an IT person and maybe a spreadsheet. We'll get back to you.

Meanwhile, do enjoy some scenery from our recent Lake Lure, NC mini vacation. Lake Lure, you may or may not know, was where Dirty Dancing was filmed. The actual location, which was a boys' camp, is gone now, but you can still see the foundation of the lodge in the photo below.



This is the raging creek in the town of Chimney Rock (home of...Chimney Rock!). Lenore asked me if I'd rather live in the mountains or on the ocean, but I think I'd rather live near a burbling creek (as long as it doesn't flood!). The sound is so relaxing.



And here is Lenore, safety professional, balanced precariously on a rock ... without a net! Laura speculated that she probably had an inflatable PFD in that fanny pack though.



Wildlife was abundant, however we didn't see any. Well, we saw lots of deer, raccoons, a lizard (in our room!) and a snail. And Tommy claims he saw a bear cub, but we were (and still are) skeptical.

I would LOVE to be able to grow rosemary like this! People grow this stuff as ornamental shrubs in NC, and I am way jealous. I pilfered sprigs whenever I had the opportunity.



You can view a few more scenes from Lake Lure on my Flickr page. Click "show info" to view all the clever comments. I may need to re upload these in a higher resolution, I think they look a little fuzzy.

Later that same moment...
(OK, I just added some at a higher resolution...but now they might take a long time to load. It's a trade-off, people!)