Friday, December 23, 2011

Dirt: My dream "grown up" house



(click above...it is so fancy, I couldn't put it on my blog)



My real house


Notice the hole in the middle...cleared for Dance Party

light fixture from 1896

Wine glass...from last night...missing chairs...cereal box...

Ah...there are the chairs....

Christmas vacay...lots of laziness...especially on my part!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Food: Christmas is for eatin'

I have been shoveling making cookies the past few days. 
Thus far, peanut butter, molasses ginger and now some chocolate Cary cookies from my Beaufort, S.C. cookbook given to me for Christmas by my best friend a few years back.
My house smells like Christmas. 
My children have been helping with the shoveling which has kept my inhalation of cookies to the modest dozen or so. (Who am I kidding?)

 Food is something always on our minds at my house.
We talk about what we are going to eat  at the next meal WHILE we are eating the current one.
My husband and I love to eat. I love to read about eating. 
He loves to talk about eating.
We might have a sickness.

So, as we were eating lunch yesterday, we were discussing what we are going to eat this weekend. I personally do not want to cook on Christmas, as I generally like to lay about in my pajamas and nap all day. Then get dressed, have a glass of wine and put the enchiladas in the oven.
via


However, I am not one to pass up a chance to eat well.
So we compromised on Christmas Eve lunch, 
as we go to the Children's Mass and then to our dear friends for gumbo on Christmas Eve night.
Holidays are a great time to fire up the oven, grill, smoker, or what have ya.
So, in addition to the traditional  enchiladas we eat on Christmas Day 
(which are now being made and frozen to take to eat at the beach with my side of the family)
we will be cooking up a feast on Christmas Eve for lunch...
Smoked venison roast, homemade macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes with sage vinaigrette, sauteed kale, homemade biscuits and some sort of dessert that I am pondering as I write.
My wonderful mother-in-law is making Christmas lunch for us. 
She is a super foodie as well.
So much so that she heard a recipe on the radio, went home and looked it up and we are having it on Sunday. Pumpkin and goat cheese lasagna? Yes, please! Homemade gingerbread? Of course! 
I am making a winter salad and we will have lots of wine and cheer!

Here we are...Cheery and Winey
 


Christmas is about love. Here in the south, we show love by cooking (at least in my house) and by gathering around the table with our loved ones, to sit and talk and laugh. 

If those loved ones are foodies...all the better!