And now a break from the irregularly scheduled programming

I figure there should be a day just for Krampuslauf, especially now that it's mainstream enough to attract the attention of NPR. I am astounded at how brave the children are to watch THIS parade, never mind being swept away with the various Krampuses (Krampi? That sounds a little too much like scampi.)

And it wouldn't be Krampuslauf without a little leftie political jabbing.

There's toffee, and then there's BACON toffee.

Toffee is probably my favorite candy ever (but don't tell Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Christmas Trees or Cadbury Mini Eggs). Bacon is probably my favorite breakfast meat ever--no exceptions. So, when I came across THIS recipe on the bacon-clogged interwebs, I had to try it, and Thanksgiving was the perfect excuse. The combination of excessive sweetness and fattiness practically screams Thanksgiving!

15% repellant, 75% heaven:

To add to the spirit of excess, I also contributed chocolate-chip cookie dough truffles to our family dinner. They sound, look, and taste decadent, but are really simple to make--at least once you practice chocolate-dipping a bit. My suggestion? Get an extra tub of chocolate melting wafers so you don't have to toss the truffles around too much as you near the end of the chocolate. Here's my little "taste-testing" plate:

Because of my attention to quality, I make sure to check everything three times...well, assuming I like the first taste.

As if the caloric content of bacon toffee and chocolate-chip cookie dough truffles weren't enough, I also decided to add a fruity element with fresh cranberry fruit jellies. Something of a play on traditional canned cranberry sauce, THIS recipe makes super-sweet, lightly-gelled candies. The color is a gorgeous burgundy, and they taste absolutely fresh and fruity. Unfortunately, these ended up being too sweet for me, and I have a serious sweet tooth. They also didn't set up well, but I believe that's because I doubled the recipe without completely doubling the amount of liquid pectin. I really wish that I hadn't doubled it, as I was looking forward to cutting out individual jellies with my mini leaf cookie cutters! Even so, it was a fun experience to try the recipe out, and the cranberries and pears were absolutely gorgeous as they began to cook down:

Charles Phoenix

I am going to marry him. The man, not the puppet. Why? Because he created/re-invented this, the Astro-Weenie Christmas Tree!

You can watch a video tutorial HERE.

 I think I'm in love.

An astrophysicist's thoughts on Thanksgiving

There are a handful of corners of the internet that focus on something so precisely of interest to me that I can't go a day without wanting to share! NPR's 13.7: Cosmos and Culture blog is one of those nooks. It's a joint venture by a small group of assorted physicists, plus an anthropologist and a philospher. Today's post, The Mystery I'm Thankful For, is astrophysicist Adam Frank's take on finding meaning, thanksgiving, and mystery in a world that even the best of scientists cannot truly fathom. It's a short and sweet ode to a sentimental, atheist way of life.

Planning ahead for negative holiday experiences

This thoughtful article from Psychology Today give some tips about living through the holidays with chronic illness and accompanying loneliness. It is bitter to recognize the experiences the author recalls, but there is sweetness in her discussion of practicing Buddhist philosophies of compassion, mudita, and tonglen. I believe they offer an alternative to the absorbed negativity of living with chronic illness, especially during the stressful and emotionally-loaded holiday season.

Thanksgiving Reincarnations

 Every year around this time I think about how nice it’d be if the U.S. officially evolved Thanksgiving into a national holiday celebrating food & the people we love and who love us. In the context of extreme economic inequality, it would be meaningful to think about where we stand and what we can do to make everyone feel thankful. Maybe it’s as simple as making your grandmother’s favorite food and driving to the nursing home to feed it to her. Maybe it makes sense to sit down with a beloved chosen family for a vegan potluck. Or, maybe it means revolution.

The spread at our ragtag Thanksgiving dinner, Antioch College 2000. My best college friend and I cooked and assembled the whole meal between three different dorms. The first, where we lived, had a kitchen with a microwave and fridge, but no stove or oven. The second, nearby, had an oven where I made the stuffing. The third—all the way across campus—had an oven big enough for the turkey. Somehow, between the two of us, we made it happen. It was my least traditional Thanksgiving celebration, but also the most memorable one by far. There is something lovely about sitting down with a table full of fellow students far, far away from home and actively creating an environment of such bounty and camaraderie.

Click here for my inaugural Thanksgiving piece from 2009, in which I begin to ponder the politics behind the holiday.

90 days until Christmas!

I found this Amy Winehouse gem on Youtube today. It's her rendition of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." I love a musician who isn't too serious for covers, and holiday ones at that.

Busy, Busy times!

The winter holiday planning continues, and is much more pleasurable now that it is not simply a procrastination technique for other parts of my life. I am realizing that I need to sit down and pick a few specific crafts to do for my DIY gifts rather than just bookmark several dozen ideas and pick up various accouterments as I find them. I'm going to end up with too much stuff I'll never use. So--that's the next step. Hammer out the details. I wish I could say more, but I don't want to ruin the surprises for any friends who may read the blog! I also printed out a handy series of holiday planning page templates from Organized Christmas, which I've begun filling out. I'm doing a lot of picking and choosing with it; not every page they think is necessary is appropriate for my situation. For example, no matter how much I dream of it, I am not able to afford a full new outfit for every holiday party I attend. I do like that they have a template specifically for gift brainstorming, and even one that goes into specifics about handmade gifts. Perfect! I wish I were this organized in other aspects of my life.

In between all this planning, I came across a quote about Tori Amos that I wrote down more than a decade ago, and which happens to be very blog-appropriate. From Barbara Ellen at New Musical Express in 1992: "She's a Grade A, Class One, Turbo-driven Fruitcake." You bet your bottom dollar I'm itching to re-post the Superion's Fruitcake music video!

So remember that DIY ethic I was thinking about last year?

Well, I've begun gathering ideas for DIY crafts that would make good, inexpensive gifts, and it occurred to me: What if every gift I give this holiday season is handmade? I'm not talented enough to do it alone; I'd include Etsy.com and other artisan items in the mix.

Can you imagine how awesome it'd be to:
1. Save money?
2. Save resources?
3. Save transportation costs and fuel?
4. Disconnect from the holiday mass consuming culture?
5. Support small-scale crafters and artisans?
6. Learn new crafts and improve my crafting abilities?
(7. Make my holiday blog more compelling?)

Yes, it would be VERY AWESOME INDEED.

(Fat square!)

Of course, this means I will need to get started extra early. Like, right now. But that's cool. Any excuse to tune into the Pandora Christmas station and Google the you-know-what out of craft ideas! Oh, and the idea fits in beautifully with the goodies I bake every year anyway. Maybe there'll be other food-based gifts to explore!

What do you think? Do any arts or crafts come to mind if you were going to give this a shot?

Beets for Life!

I'm glad someone else was paying attention to Tom Robbin's beet love in Jitterbug Perfume.  Aside from being in the list of my top 10 favorite novels, Robbins also used Jitterbug as a vehicle for discourse on the lowly beet.  This writer over at Saveur.com talks about the Tom Robbins/beet connection, and provides several good-looking beet recipes to try out!

First Visit to the Farmer's Market

I am so, so stupid for going to my first farmer's market of the season with only $6 in my wallet.  All I walked away with were these extraordinarily sweet and tiny strawberries:

I ate them all within 20 minutes of buying them.  I excused myself for this, knowing that these are the sort of ephemeral fruits that mold over with white fuzz within several hours of picking.  My companion, M, bought some fresh snap peas, and we traded back and forth on the car ride home.  This market, which I had never been to before, had some offerings that I've not seen at my local farmer's market.  There were various cuts of local lamb, black currant cordial (the sample was divine!), lavender-infused goat cheese, and locally-sourced maple cream.  But most exciting was the strawberry-rhubarb shaved ice, which was made to order using a large, rotary shaving device.  It was fun to watch the process, and I only hope that they'll offer it again the next time I'm there!

Cooling Off Drinks

I've been wearing my inventor's hat the past couple of days.  The hot weather just begs for some kind of cool, hydrating drink.  And because I'm me, those drinks are best served in whimsical, colorful ways.  Here are my two newest creations:

Rhubarb Bubble Tea

5 plain black tea bags (caffeinated or not)
a cup or two of extra-large tapioca pearls (any color you please; I used white)
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 pint rhubarb syrup*
sweetened condensed milk or vanilla soy milk
ice cubes

Plan on starting this recipe at least 2 hours before you are going to serve the tea, as it needs time to cool down and chill.  Fill a large saucepan with water and set to boil over high heat.  Once boiling, add the tapioca pearls.  Cook the tapioca, stirring occasionally, until the "bubbles" soften and become almost completely transparent.  This can take up to an hour for large pearls, and you may need to add a little more water as it steams out.  Check for doneness by picking out a pearl and eating it; it should have a pleasant chewiness without any hardness or crunchiness.  When the tapioca is cooked, drain the water, then spritz tapioca with nonstick cooking spray and stir to coat.  Set aside.

Set a tea kettle full of water to boil.  Pull the tag off the tea bags (if they have any) and put them in a large heatproof bowl.  When the water boils, pour it over the tea bags; set bowl aside to let the tea steep and cool down.

Make the simple syrup: Pour the 1/2 c granulated sugar in a small saucepan; add about a cup of water and stir.  Heat the mixture over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and liquid thickens slightly.  Set aside to cool.

Remove the tea bags from their bowl; discard.  Pour tea into a large pitcher, followed by simple syrup and rhubarb syrup; stir well.  Add enough water or ice cubes to the pitcher to fill within a few inches of the top.  Add sweetened condensed milk or vanilla soy milk to taste and stir well. You may need more or less depending on how sweet your rhubarb syrup is.  Add the tapioca pearls just before serving and stir well again.  Serve bubble tea in large glasses over ice--extra wide straws optional.

*A note about the rhubarb syrup:  I used syrup that a friend and I made using the rhubarb from her backyard.  We cut the rhubarb in small pieces and boiled it for a long time with water and sugar until it was softened and stewed.  Then we put the mixture through a food mill and put back on the stove to reduce to a syrup.  We canned ours, but it's not necessary if you're making just enough for this recipe.  Extra syrup would be good in any number of drinks, or drizzled onto ice cream!  The New York Times has a similar method here.

Makes a large pitcher of tea, serving 6-8 people.

Damn-it's-hot Mango Lassi

about 1 mango's worth of frozen mango pieces (Trader Joe's sells these frozen and ready to go; you can also cut up a mango and freeze it beforehand)
1 single-serving container plain non-fat Greek yogurt
a pinch of ground cardamom
fruit juice (most any kind will do as long as it has some sweetness to it; I used leftover rhubarb bubble tea minus the bubbles!)
1/3 lime

Cut 1/3 of a lime and squeeze juice from smaller section into blender; reserve the rest of the lime for another use.  Dump the yogurt into blender, followed by the frozen mango pieces.  Sprinkle in some cardamom.  Add just enough fruit juice to allow the blender blades to work properly.  Blend until the mixture is completely smooth.  Pour into a large glass and serve immediately.

Makes enough for 1 large or 2 small drinks.

For posterity's sake, here I am with my mango lassi, amused by the fact that my straw matched my drink and my drink matched my dress!  I wonder what kind of dress I'd wear to match my rhubarb bubble tea?

Let's keep the funny Martha Stewart thing going.  Here are some hilarious Martha bloopers.  It pleases me to know that she, too, makes mistakes and has a bawdy sense of humor.

Planning Ahead for Halloween...

This is one of the creepiest things I've ever seen from Martha Stewart.

It's Christmas in May!

My new favorite cover of Feliz Navidad.  It's Cadallaca!  This might bump the Superions out of the top spot on my favorite pop holiday songs list. 

Easter 2011: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Lest the title alarm you, I actually had a lovely Easter, thanks.  The learning experience went thusly:  After dying a dozen eggs assorted technicolor shades, my housemate and I were left with several cups full of dye.  Not one to be wasteful, I pondered--how could we make use of the leftover dye?  After shooting down my suggestion that we dye her chihuahua blue (hey, food-grade dyes!), I came up with a more sensible option.  We TIE-DYED OUR UNDERWEAR!  Yes, I just screamed that.  Actually, we screamed it in unison, and ran off to our rooms to find underwear in need of overhaul.  It was probably the most fun thing I did all month.  My housemate's two pair of undies came out beatifully, one dyed mint green all over, and the other tie-dyed pink and purple.  I made slightly less attractive pink and white tie-dyed underwear and a matching bandana.  This sounds like a win situation, right?  Well, kind of...as long as we never wanted to *wash* our underthings.  Apparently Easter egg dye is not made for durability.  So, dying clothing with the stuff is now on my no-no list, right after my two other learned-the-hard-way lessons: eating Rice Krispies in front of a fan, and eating Pop Rocks directly in front of a mirror. 

Photographic proof of the tie-dye underwear experience.  I'm nice enough not to post my housemate's underpants!

There was some creative success this Easter.  For the second year in a row I tried my hand at Peepshi, that sub-cultural phenomenon made popular last year by SeriousEats.com .  This year it officially became a family affair!  My cousin Stephanie and I had a ton of fun creating the little sweet treats, and I can't say I didn't get a thrill from playing Frankenstein with marshmallow bunnies and chicks.  Peepshi-making evening was a great excuse to bond with my cousin.  Seeing the look on our family's faces the next day at Easter dinner was pretty entertaining, too.  Behold, my double-decker Peepshi, which Stephanie smartly coined the "missionary roll."

To finish off this irreverent post, may I present you with the Superfluous Donkey:

That's me with bunny ears hair clips, which have most definitely been designed for small children.  I know this because when I walked into a room of friends, they immediately called me a superfluous donkey.  I guess I need bigger ears?  I decided that "superfluous donkey" sounded like a band name, and my friend L declared that Superfluous Donkey *is* a band...a band of one: me.  We decided that when I play gigs I walk on stage (dressed as above) and stand in the corner silently, like a true Superfluous Donkey.  And yes, I'm available for your upcoming bat mitzvah and baby shower.

Happy belated Easter!

A New Year's Eve Wedding

Usually I find New Year's Eve depressing. I invariably end up at home, doing something un-extraordinary like, say, surfing the internet or reading a book.  I always take my NYE hermitage as a sign that I'm about to embark on another year of feeling kind of shiftless and out of the loop. This year I didn't have to dread that awkward transitory evening; my mother decided to get married on it! Although it made for a busier than usual holiday season, I appreciated the opportunity to get dressed up, travel, bake, and celebrate! My mother and (now) step-father decided to have a small wedding, but liked the idea of going somewhere special for it. They decided on a Bed & Breakfast in upstate Vermont. The place was beautiful, and I had a lovely peach-walled room to myself, window seats and all. I packed comfortable clothes for walking around downtown as well as my laptop (love the free wifi) and a couple of new books.  I managed to read almost nothing because I got sucked into watching The Human Centipede, a movie I can't even stand to think about for fear of getting re-grossed out.  Suffice it to say, a friend posted about it on Facebook, saying she made the mistake of watching the preview, and I took the challenge.  I think that says a lot about the kind of person I am.  Tell me no and I say yes.  Tell me yes and I say no.  Sometimes.

Anyway, the ceremony was short and sweet, the officiant being an old family friend.  The officiant's husband and I rounded out the wedding party.  My mother and I made a grand entrance, walking (in my case, stumbling) down the B&B's front staircase in our fancy dresses. We assembled in the wedding suite's sitting room and vows were read.  Afterward we all drove over to a different B&B for their special NYE dinner.  Let me just say that I have never, EVER gotten grossed out  by the richness of a meal. I swear I've never eaten so much cream in one sitting in my whole entire life. I started with lobster bisque, followed by creamy spinach-stuffed artichokes, beef wellington (tender beef smothered in a paste of mushrooms and liver, then wrapped in puff pastry), caramelized onion risotto, rainbow baby carrots, and maple syrup creme brulee. Oh, and I had a Manhattan, too, and I drank the whole damn thing. I felt like I was raising the spirit of my British ancestors between the drink and the Wellington. My mother ate lobster--not an easy feat when you're wearing a ball gown. I took a funny photo of her holding a lobster claw in front of her sequined, napkin-draped chest. By 11 we made it back to our B&B, where we managed to cram more champagne, German dessert wine (OMG, best thing ever!), and wedding cake into our stomachs. After the officiant and her husband left, my mom, step-dad, and I watched the ball drop, after which T.I. performed live (um, in NYC, on the TV, not in our B&B). My mom stood up and began doing an interpretive dance to his rapping, and I took that as my cue to leave them to their wedding night!
























When my mother announced her engagement I immediately offered to make their wedding cake. I didn't expect that everything would be happening so fast! In the end I made a simple two-layer cake in red velvet, to honor my mother's bold personality as well as the holiday season. This was my second time making a red velvet cake, and I've discovered it's not my favorite. It just doesn't have the richness I expect in a cake. The recipe can be found here, if I haven't already scared you away! I covered it with a white vanilla buttercream, so that the cake looked traditional on the outside. I wanted the drama of cutting into something colorful and unexpected.  And buttercream is my mother's favorite frosting, which never hurts. I used a new recipe, always a dangerous thing, but it came out well.  I was nervous about having to make the cake two days prior to the wedding and then transporting it in the car and in and out of the B&B's refrigerator, so I used a special buttercream frosting that incorporates meringue powder, thus firming up the frosting. It worked well--the cake looked beautiful on New Year's Eve, and the frosting was still just as soft as a traditional buttercream.

We all had a wonderful time, and I'm so glad I got to be a part of the process. And hey, it'll be a piece of cake remembering my mother's anniversary. Pun intended.

Christmas, finally

Christmas: it happened.  It was busy.  It was mostly fun.  I cooked a lot and I drove around a lot.

For the past two years, my dad and I have cooked Christmas eve dinner together.  He takes on the main, meaty course, and I do an accompaniment.  The side dish is always meat-free because my step-mother is vegetarian.  Although I spent a portion of my 20s vegetarian (and one tragic week of veganism), I'm not used to veggie recipes.  Most of the recipes I'm attracted to contain meat, be it a hunk of beef or chicken stock.  So this year when my dad announced he'd be making a ribeye roast, I immediately thought of my favorite butternut squash risotto...which contains copious amounts of bacon fat and chicken broth.  Up for a challenge, I purchased the best veggie stock I could find (Pacifica brand), and substituted several pieces of bacon and bacon grease with more butter.  Let me tell you, butter really does make everything better!  The risotto came out great and I really didn't miss the meat at all.  The original recipe is from Ina Garten and can be found here.  My dad rounded out the meal with roasted baby potatoes, carrots, and turnips and my step-mother made a delicious salad with diced avocado, orange, nuts, and other tasty crunchy things.

After dinner we exchanged gifts, then sat down in front of the wood stove and had coffee, tea, peppermint chocolate truffles, and Eton Mess.  I made both of the desserts.  The truffles were a new recipe that caught my eye because of their simplicity and peppermint-chocolate flavor combo (which is one of my favorites!).  I think I let the truffles chill too long before the step where they are rolled in the crushed candy canes.  None of the peppermint pieces adhered to the truffles, so they didn't have the festive appearance I had hoped for.  They did taste very good, however, due to the peppermint extract in the chocolate mixture.  I'll be darned if I know where the recipe went, but if I find it I will post it here.  Eton Mess is a dessert I've made several times (and may have actually blogged about already, come to think of it).  In any case, it's a very simple trifle-like dessert consisting of layers of freshly whipped cream mixed with crushed meringues and fresh fruit.  My grandmother, who was with us for Christmas eve dinner, can't tolerate seeds, so instead of using berries I chopped up ripe pears and apples.  The combination of unsweetened whipped cream and super-sweet, crunchy meringues is heavenly!

On Christmas day I met up with the other side of the family for a big, boisterous mid-day meal.  I brought a key lime pie and a pecan pie.  Both were made using Cook's Illustrated The New Best Recipe Cookbook, which is my go-to cookbook when I'm looking for the absolute best, tastiest, and prettiest results (i.e. - when I'm cooking for others).  The key lime pie was effing fantastic; hats off to the editors at Cook's Illustrated.  Making the graham cracker crust was easy with the aid of my food processor.  Juicing the key limes was a tedious, time-consuming task, but it was really my own fault because I purchased them before reading the cookbook's suggestion that regular limes be used--they said the taste-testers couldn't even tell the difference.  The pecan pie also came out well, although a bit denser and drier than the only other pecan pie I've made.  I don't know if that's a result of the recipe or if I did something in the process of making it.  My hosting aunt made roast pork with applesauce, and other relatives supplied everything from stuffed shells to lemon tartlets to huge homemade truffles.

Other than the tasty food, there was a very memorable Yankee Swap, where my mother's friend, a vegetarian, ended up with a jar of Baconnaise and a generic Snuggie.  I got a framed photo my cousin took in Arizona, where he lives for the moment.  It's a beautiful shot of palm trees (and a tiny Uhaul sign in the distance, as my other cousin pointed out).  I felt a bit of guilt making out with such a nice gift after seeing my mom's friend holding the Baconnaise, trying hard not to look disgusted.  By the time I returned home late Christmas night, bearing overloaded bags of gifts and leftovers, I was so totally ready for a few quiet days alone!  And I mean that in the best of ways.