the best: taking a long, hot bath is a luxury for me now that i only have a shower at home. it used to be a necessity. at least my fear of showers, a la psycho, is gone.
the worst: feeling for the hair dryer and pulling out someone else's old funky drawers shoved into the top of the closet.
i made up my very own recipe - and it is so good! although i have no way to tell if it's actually as good as i think it is. jack loved it, but he doesn't count. really he doesn't - once he came home and i yelled to him from the other room to try my beans. he said: this is so good, honey, but maybe it needs a little salt. when i went in, i realized he had eaten a spoonful of the soaking beans (only half fit in my pot so i left the rest on the counter in a bowl of water). seriously.
anyway. maybe someone can try this recipe and let me know? it's quick and easy. this is for a little pot (2 big, big bowls), but you could double it for more.
cajun corn and crab soup
ingredients
4 tbsp. butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 c. onion, chopped (1 small)
1/3 c. celery, chopped
1/4 tsp. garlic, minced
2 tbsp. flour
15 oz. chicken broth (1 can)
15 oz. sweet corn cream-style (1 can)
1 c. heavy whipping cream
6 oz. crab meat (1 can)
1/4 tsp. liquid crab boil
salt
pepper
thyme
directions
· Melt 2 tbsp. butter in sauce pan. Add chopped onion and celery. Cook until soft (about 10 minutes).
· Whisk in flour. Cook for 2 minutes.
· Stir in chicken broth and liquid crab boil. Sprinkle in thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.
· Remove from heat. Stir in crab meat, cream and remaining butter. Let sit for 1 hour.
·Reheat gently. Do not boil.
i'm almost ashamed to say that these pictures are from this year.
what can i say? usually i'm all it's not even thanksgiving! but this year i was all think it's too early to put up the tree? another advantage of artificial trees - i could have put it up in july if i wanted too. (the weather here actually isn't that different than july - note the pretty pink flowers outside.)
i love the holidays. i love our decorations. the little stars, and the star topper, the sparkly red garland, colored lights, shrinky-dinks, and this year's addition: mini-disco balls!
and i picked up a few candles so it smells like the holidays too!
incidentally, this is what my step-kids consider their favorite christmas cd - star wars and other galactic funk:
i have to admit i associate it with the holidays too, probably because we play it as background music during holiday parties. it's actually a really fun, energizing cd.
anyway, i'm guessing they'll love this:
woke up this morning much earlier than usual and feeling sort of mad at everything. i realized there was absolutely nothing i had to do today. then realized this could be a very good thing.
turned up the music (afi - the accidental default since it's first on the ipod), made a cup of coffee, printed out a new recipe and my perhaps favorite to start on, and maybe will put on my favorite background movie clueless just for good measure.
*my pumpkin honey muffins were so good! perfect for the season. i used the linked recipe, but changed a lot i guess. i left out the raisins - don't like them in muffins or cookies. i didn't have whole wheat flour, used all-purpose. didn't have pumpkin pie spice, so used some cinnamon, ginger, and black pepper. (then found pumpkin pie spice in the cabinet and added it too.) accidently added 2 cups of pumpkin instead of 3/4 cup, then added 1/4 cup self-rising flour to compensate.
i love that now i'm comfortable enough cooking that i can switch things up a bit and still have good results. i particularly liked the black pepper taste to the muffins, it was unusual.
it took me a while to remember that new orleans is nothing at all like this in real life.
nothing.
remember this? well, not anymore. turns out you don't need cookbooks if you have the internet. really, it taught me how to cook. since i've been enjoying people's cooking adventures on blogs lately, i figured i'd update my own.
it started last thanksgiving. i was away from my family, and couldn't bear the thought of not having thanksgiving the way it used to be, so i made my own. i looked up the recipes for the things i wanted and called my mom to fill in the details. and although i was imagining disaster a la pieces of april, everthing turned out perfectly.
i couldn't believe how easy cooking is, turns out i'm really good at following directions. and everthing you need to know, for instance what blanching is and how to chop celery, is right there on the internet.
i search allrecipes, which has awesome reviews were people rate recipes and also leave comments on what to change and what to leave, and find things that i want to make, and print them for my recipe binder (yes, i'm a nerd). i usually try at most one a week, but it's something i really look forward to. (seriously, half of my christmas list is kitchen supplies.)
ok. so here's what i'm most proud of. my grandma used to make me these big pans of stuffed peppers and they were so good. i'd been craving them for, like, the last 8 years. and i couldn't find a recipe that sounded exactly like what she did, so i made my own. seriously. i took maybe 10 recipes and read them all to see what people did, and made up my own from a distant memory of my grandma's peppers. and they were just like hers. maybe better. and so easy. i think i've made them 4 or 5 times already:
classic southern stuffed bell peppers
ingredients:
4 green bell peppers
1 lb ground sirlion
1 cup chopped onion (about half of a big one.)
3/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 (8 oz!) can roasted garlic tomato sauce (or plain and some minced garlic, i suppose)
tonys (original creole seasoning - this is the secret to everything!)
what to do:
1) cut peppers in half and remove seeds and stems and stuff. blanch*.
2) brown meat and onions in a skillet.
3) in big bowl, mix the meat mixture in big bowl with 1/2 can tomato sauce, almost all the bread crumbs, worcestershire sauce, and then shake tonys all over the top. i stir it, then shake tonys all over the top again.
4) put peppers in a pan, then spoon meat mixture into it, packing well. top each with a spoonful of tomato sauce and sprinkle the remaining bread crumbs.
5) Bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees.
*ok, to blanch them you bring to boil one cup of water, throw half the peppers in, cook them for 5 minutes, covered, moving around a little. then you take them out and put them directly into a big bowl of ice and water. then repeat with the other half. this is how i do it anyway.
wear a costume.
celebrate every holiday with a tradition.
learn a foreign language, or several.
return my library books so i can check out stuff again. including books on above.
dress for fun, not function.
make a look-book journal from all my magazine rip-outs.
moisturize every morning, so i'll have pretty skin.
listen to music all the time.
watch the top 1001 movies, except the very scary ones. not worth it for me.
exercise almost-daily.
and lose 5 pounds.
do something to help the world.
learn photoshop, start by reading my new book.
develop all of my waiting film.
scan the rest of the old photographs.
and then print all the digital pics.
and then buy a fancy box to keep them in.
not have grubby nails. do them once a week. in pretty colors.
go to a museum in every city i visit.
and every museum in the city i live in.
six month dental cleanings!
make a quilt.
have wedding photos. maybe book an engagement session and wear the clothes we wore?
