Puxatony Phil Gives Me A Thrill...

Happy Groundhog Day!  Puxatony Phil did see his shadow today, which means 6 more weeks of winter.  But if you look on your calendar, the first day of spring is literally more than 6 weeks away.  That means Phil seeing his shadow isn’t the worst news in the world, and you can still be happy if you love spring like I do.  Did you ever hear the story of how this “seeing your shadow” came about.  There was a Celtic Saint called St. Brigid.  If the day was sunny and nice when she went to gather her wood, that meant she could gather more wood.  If she could gather more wood, she would need it for the extra winter days.  However, if the day was cold and overcast, she couldn’t gather as much wood.  This was fortunate, since she would not be needing it due to an early spring.  Above, you can see St. Brigid’s cathedral.  Have a wonderful rest of your day, and a wonderful rest of your winter.

I Should Have Danced

Whenever The Nutcracker Suite comes on, my body moves without me.  I do all these “Prima Ballerina” moves, which in reality probably look like a child trying to dance.  However, I can’t help it.  What is wrong with me?  I never took up activities as a child.  I loved to ride my bike, and play school, and other imaginary things.  I didn’t do sports in school, except tennis for two weeks before I got my first job at fifteen.  If I could rewind time, I would dance.  I would take band and golf so I could have free music lessons and free golf lessons.  However, if there was only one choice, I would have danced.  This is my proposition.  If you should have danced, email me, comment, or something, and we will take this journey together.  I’m going to find a grown up dance class, and you will too.  We can share the trials and joys.  Let us begin our second childhood today…..

Tying shoes and Good Reviews

    On the last day of our holiday break, I decided to teach my son to tie his shoes.  He is in first grade, which seems a little old, but I didn't learn until I was eight years old.  We have been trying to teach him since the middle of kindergarten, but we either have the wrong teaching style, or his muscle coordination just isn't ready.  Finally, with much patience and consoling words, he got it.  I can't tell you how wonderful it felt when he got it.  He was so proud, and this whole last week, he has been wanting to wear shoes with laces so he can practice.  What a sweet heart.  If you ever have trouble teaching your child to tie their shoes, here is a link to a youtube video my son and I made to help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSPwQvd33zw&feature=youtu.be   Even if it isn't helpful, there are other similar videos in the margin next to it. 

    After the shoe tying situation, I was on cloud nine.  This is a good time to do silver boxes.  My grandma-in-law taught me about silver boxes.  It is when you do or say something nice for someone, and it is like giving them a little silver box.  (Of course, my mom first taught me about doing something nice for someone, as she is one of the most generous people I know)   I signed up for a google review account, so I could give good reviews to wonderful hotels and resturaunts I had been to.  It is so sad to see how many bad reviews there are about perfectly good places.  (The only time I have been somewhere a bad review was due, was when we were at the Rodeway Inn in Boulder, and the couple next door had a domestic dispute with another couple where the cops were called, and people were having sex in the elevator.  I wish we had known they were renting out rooms for $99 a month.  It was a crazy time).  Enough negativity, anyhow, I want to talk about the silver spoons.  Try it out.  If you ever have a few extra minutes, get a google review account, and go to somewhere you had a wonderful time, and give them a silver box.  Not only will it make you feel good, it will probably also bring back some fond memories of the time you spent there.  Perhaps that will lead to you going back to make more fond memories.  Happy New Year Everyone!

Breakfast Quotes from Lady Bird Johnson

Today I was drinking  a delicious cup of eggnog flavored coffee from my Keurig (THANK YOU MOM!), when I noticed the quote was wearing off the side of the glass my hubby had bought me in Texas.  I squinted to read it, and this is what it said, "I hope when you consider your land, that you will cherish those places that are still wild, where you can explore.  Nature's secret places where bulldozer and highway have not invaded."  Lady Bird Johnson.  What a wonderful quote!  What a wonderful lady.  Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson is one of my favorite first ladies.  She was a very driven woman, who stepped in to help out style icon/former first lady Jackie Kennedy when she was pregnant, served on several boards, received a good education, and helped preserve and reintroduce native plants in Texas.  She was even nicknamed "Johnny Appleseed of Wildflowers".  That is a nickname I would love to have!  Her other nickname, "Lady Bird" was given to her by her nurse, Alice Tittle when she was a baby, because she was "as purdy as a ladybird" (a brightly colored beetle).   One of my favorite stories about her is when she chased down reporter Dan Rather in her car after he had a clash with LBJ, and invited him back to have punch because, "That's just the way Lyndon sometimes is".  If you want to know more about this interesting lady, check out her book , A White House Diary.  As for me, I might have to finish my coffee outdoors.

Breaking My Ceramic Cooktop and Hard Candy Like Glass....

We were invited by some friends to see their Christmas lights in the country, so I thought I would bake them each a little individual "Crazy Good Bananna Bread", as listed in an earlier post.  While it was baking, I decided I would make some hard candy on the stovetop, and while digging through my pots and pans, bam!  A pot lid fell out of the cupboard and landed on my ceramic cooktop.  Not only was there a starburst, but there was also a huge deep fault line making my largest burner sink in.  It was devastating.  What am I going to do?  I guess that is where our Christmas bonus will go.  Anyway, the light at the end of the tunnel popped out of the candy flavoring.  There was a recipe for microwave candy.  Whatttt!!!  I don't have to stir over a hot oven while doing squats and taking the candy's temp?  What do I have to lose by giving it a try?  (just some cooking supplies)  So, I went for it.  I made a batch of green watermelon and a batch of red cinnamon.  They turned out beautifully and they were fun to break (unlike my stove top).  The cinnamon was crazy hot, so if you like it a little less intense, use less cinnamon flavoring.  Here is the recipe if you want to try it.
Microwave Hard Candy.....
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 dram or 1/2 tsp LorAnn Gourmet Flavoring Oil (or as desired)
Liquid food coloring (as desired)
Powdered Sugar (optional)
Thoroughly mix granulated sugar and corn syrup.  Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 3 minutes.  Take out carefully remove plastic wrap (watch out for steam), and stir the sugar mixture.  Cover with a new sheet of plastic wrap.  Microwave on high for 3 more minutes.  Remove from microwave and carefully remove the plastic wrap again (STEAM).  Stir in 3 or 4 drops of desired food coloring, and then stir in your flavoring oil.  Pour it onto a greased cookie sheet(score at once to mark squares).  Let candy cool on counter (not fridge) until hardened then break apart like glass.  Dust with powdered sugar to keep from sticking.  The directions said cook on high for 3 min 10 sec each time, but I didn't want to burn it so I only did 3 minutes each time and it turned out lovely.
The real life product is pictured at the top of this post.
My real life stove top is pictured underneath.  Yes, it looks dirty, but don't judge, I don't want to cut myself cleaning it.

Eggnog and Squats

I found a tempting eggnog recipe on punchbowl.com.  Since my daughter and I were baking cookies, I thought we could make this as well.  We put the cookies in the oven and began stirring the egg/milk/sugar mixture over the stove.  The goal was for this mixture to stick to the back of the spoon, but it was slow going.  The cookies came out, my daughter went downstairs, and I was still stirring....and stirring...and stirring.  I started doing squats while stirring to detract from the calories I would be putting in my body while eating the fresh baked cookies and drinking the eggnog.  The recipe said, "be patient", and "Set your burner on the lowest possible setting".  After my squats, the stove setting slowly went from Low to 2 to 3 to 5.   I was doing toe raises, leg lifts, my arms were getting tired from stirring.  Doing leg lifts while stirring a pan is like walking and chewing gum.  I almost lost my balance, and I hadn't even had any spiked eggnog yet.  Finally, after about 1/2 hour total stirring time, and turning the burner to 6, thickness occurred!  I was elated, and it made the whole experience worthwhile.  The verdict on the taste...My husband and I loved the spiked version, my daughter liked the regular version, and my son was napping after a busy day of playing.  Will I make it next year?  I think I might, however, I do see why there are so many ready made versions on the shelf of the store.  For those of  you who may like to do my eggnog exercise regimen, the recipe follows...
Use an electric mixer to beat 6 eggs in a large bowl. Gradually add 3 cups milk and 8 tablespoons sugar to your mixture until it has thickened slightly. Set your burner on the lowest possible setting and heat your ingredients in a pan until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Be patient! Next add 3 teaspoons vanilla essence and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled. To make the low-fat version of this easy eggnog recipe, you can substitute with egg beaters, skim milk, and artificial sweetener.
Now to spice it up! To make an eggnog recipe with alcohol, add 1 ½ ounces spiced rum per glass to 4 ounces of eggnog, stirring together. Top with a pinch of either nutmeg or cinnamon. Serve and enjoy!
You can, of course, make non-alcoholic eggnog for kids and other guests by using rum flavoring from the spice aisle. Another delicious eggnog recipe is eggnog punch. This is typically made by mixing a quart of eggnog with a pint of vanilla ice cream. Then, slowly add a quart of 7-Up or Sprite.

Thank you Pandora and Madame Hoel for a beautiful breakfast

Today is the first day of our school's holiday break.  Although I love my job as a school librarian, I am so excited to have two weeks of bliss with my family.  Yesterday after school, my daughter asked, "Will you please make crepes for breakfast tomorrow?"  Of course I couldn't turn that sweet request down, so this morning I took out a folded recipe written in the beautiful cursive of my late high school French teacher Madame Hoel to begin the crepe making.  Madame Hoel was always happy, and she loved all things French.  She had a big bouffant hairstyle sometimes decorated with little bows.  She wore pastel clothing, lots of pastel makeup and costume jewelry, and even rocked grown up braces for a couple years.  She would bring little candies to class and walk around to each student asking if they would like a candy in French, and we had to reply in French.  She taught us to make crepes, played Don McClean's song about Vincent Van Gogh for us, and had us make little commercials in French.  I'm so thankful to her for all the fun culture and high school memories she gave me.  I'm also thankful that when my daughter asks me to make crepes, I now know how.  So this morning, I brewed some French roast coffee, and began the task of crepe making with thoughts of Madame Hoel.  I also turned on my Edith Piaf Pandora station, as I love to listen to music to match the mood of whatever I am cooking or eating.  If you don't know about Pandora, you must join.  It is free.  All you need is an email address.  At this time of year, you can make Christmas, Hannukah, or Kwanzaa stations and they will play a wide variety of songs.  If you do celebrate Christmas, I would like to say to you as Madame Hoel would say, "Joyeux Noel!"