Food & Drink

My 2012 Yearlies List

/ Ally Bean / 14 Comments

[H/T to Chris at the Rude Cactus for this idea.  His list is here.]

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The Yearly Top Gardening Success:  Our in-ground sprinkler system for our lawn.  It took us years to have one installed, but now that we have one our yard remained green all summer– and I didn’t have to drag a hose + oscillating sprinkler anywhere on the property.  Not even once.

The Yearly Top Absurdity of Life:  Even though I didn’t go to Canada, I have a traffic violation from that country with a fine to pay.  I owe the Canadian Dept of Transportation 37¢ Canadian.  You see, Canada has a photo of a vehicle registered to me doing something illegal in their country.  The miscreant in this story is Z-D [or maybe one of his lawyer buddies] who went on his [their] annual camping cabin trip and somehow missed paying a toll along the way.  Because of this, I’m left holding the traffic violation.  And a bottle of maple syrup.

The Yearly Top Duh! Moment:  Cutie oranges.  Who knew these little clementines were so tasty?  Not me.  I thought they were only for kids, but thanks to J at Thinking About… I got some for our party, tried them and am now hooked.

The Yearly Top Annoying Term:  Guru.  If you believe yourself to be one, then you are not one.  This term is trite, hackneyed, pointless, stupid– and most of all, overused.  Don’t be a business guru;  you can do better than that.  Aim to add value, not gibberish, to the conversation.

The Yearly Top YouTube Video, Cat Angst Category:  Henri 5, The Worst Noël.  If you have ever been around a cat, then this series of videos will make you laugh more than you should.  Paws down.

The Yearly Top Expression Of Gratitude:  From a shy 10ish y.o. Boy Scout who came to the front door and sold me caramel corn + cheese corn.  A few weeks later when he delivered the products, he included a typed-out thank you note on a strip of paper, hand signed, which thanked me for helping him achieve his goal.  Very thoughtful kid.

The Yearly Top Home Improvement Project:  New light fixtures in the kitchen above the island & table.  Good-bye large weathered copper light fixtures with dingy uneven glass shades.  Hello sleek antique brushed nickel lights with etched white alabaster glass shades that spread the light evenly across the surface.  Such an improvement.

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So, what are your yearlies?  Care to share?

If The Fates Allow

/ Ally Bean / 25 Comments

I don’t feel like telling any stories today.  Instead, here are a few of the thoughts that are swirling through my head.  Keep in mind that Christmas is not my favorite time of the year, so if I sound cranky here it is because I am.  And quite frankly, why aren’t you cranky too? 

::  I haven’t started to address and sign our Christmas cards yet.  I thought that I’d leave that task until tomorrow when I have the morning to devote to it.  I like to send cards because they are personal– or at least they can be when done right.  The right way according to me?  Hand signed.  Group photos, if included, have the names of the people on the back.  A newsletter, if included, is succinct.  If someone does not abide by the above, then I tend to doubt that he or she is sincere when sending the Christmas card.  And I remember this.

::  I spent the weekend cooking.  On Saturday I tried a new recipe for roasted chicken with root vegetables that was a failure.  The only thing that we could salvage from it was the roasted red beets– the rest of it never cooked right.  On the other hand on Sunday, I jazzed up an old tuna noodle casserole recipe.  I turned a plain dish into a grown-up feast by using WW pasta, adding some white wine, throwing in some smoked paprika, topping with panko bread crumbs spicy chipotle pita chips + gourmet parmesan cheese.  *yum*

::  Anyone else finding the incessant Christmas music in all the stores to be especially annoying this year?  I dislike it to begin with, but in light of the Sandy Hook Massacre I find the jolliness of it to be inappropriate… rude… disrespectful.  Live music has heart, but this stuff is just wrong.  We are a nation in mourning this Christmastime.  And the music, which can easily be changed, needs to reflect this.

::  There is no sign of snow around here;  instead, we have lots of rain and lots of gray skies.  Some years December is like this.  It makes for a less than festive atmosphere during what I am told it the most wonderful time of the year.  While at night I enjoy the contrast of the bright outside lights juxtaposed against the late autumn gloom, during the day the grayness overwhelms me.  Any thoughts that I might have of Christmas merriment dissipate into the bleakness.       

::  We don’t exchange presents with very many people.  When it comes to family, all anyone wants is gift cards/cash so that’s what we get them.  EZPZ, no?  I so enjoy giving the gift of shopping to other people who enjoy going shopping– unlike me.  And as for the rest of our holiday gift giving, I am only beholden to find some small items which I either put into pretty bags with cheery tissue paper or wrap in simple paper with a wisp of ribbon.  For us, gift giving is the easiest holiday thing that we do. *hallelujah*

So Anyone Know Where I Can Get Some Steel-Toed Flats?

/ Ally Bean / 21 Comments

[Sub-Titled: A Party In Review*]

THE GOOD:  The party went very well.  The pre-party helper elves were wonderful.  Highly recommend that approach to party giving.

The homemade hot dips were a hit.  Next year I’ll make more of those.  Chips & dips were very popular as well.  Healthy veggies & humus & dry snacky snacks, like sesame sticks & salted cashews, were not so popular.  [Of course, those may be more for me than the party guests.]

The wraps and the pretzel sandwiches, which we got from the Kroger deli, were snarfed.  Inhaled.  As was were the fancy cheeses & fruits pastes & crackers & wafers.  God bless Murray’s Cheese [at Kroger] for putting together a perfect cheese board.

The plates of cookies from a local German bakery were a big hit.  Truly yummy.  And the adorable cupcake Santa from the Kroger bakery was almost all eaten, leaving behind a rather Dali-esque image of Mr. Claus.  Oddly though, candy like M&Ms and Snickers was hardly touched.  Who’d of thought?

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THE BETTER:  The pre-party started at 5:30 p.m.  The last party guests left at 1:30 a.m.  [The helper elves were spending the night with us.  So we all went to bed at 2:00 a.m. after doing a fast pre-collapse clean-up.]

During our 8 hours of merriment we went through 7 bottles of wine, 40 bottles of beer, 20 cans of soda & 20 bottles of water.  There was also some shots of bourbon & a Brazilian liquor.  [Both were gifts.  Both were tasty.]

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THE UGLY:  I got hurt during our party when I dropped an ottoman on my left big toe.  The wooden leg of the ottoman went exactly onto my big toe.  Not onto the floor.  Not onto the top of my foot.  No, it went onto my toe which was inside my cute Stuart Weitzman flats– which I’m sad to report do nothing to stop a falling object, like an ottoman, from hurting a toe.  Wussy shoes.

Nothing is broken so I’ll probably survive this self-inflected act of stupidness.  But really, it hurt when I did it.  And it still hurts as I sit here typing.  *meh*  So on that cheery note, I’m out of here.  Going to put my foot up with a bag of ice on it.  Take some acetaminophen.  And rest my weary self.

Later kids.

*  This post is probably more for me than for my readers.  I need to put this info somewhere where I’ll find it next year.  And as I always know where my blog is, a post here seems like the logical place to me.

[Hello FTC!  Please rest assured that I was not compensated for my opinions here.  Just a few of my personal thoughts about stuff & things.  This & that.  Nothing for you to worry about really.  But, as always, thanks for stopping by, FTC.  And Merry Christmas to You & Yours.]

The Lady Of The List

/ Ally Bean / 20 Comments

We’re expecting about 30 people at our holiday party on Friday.  I like that number because that means there will be enough guests for everyone to know someone else here– & to meet someone new as well.  But it does mean that there is a lot of planning going on around here.  To wit, I’ve started living a list-centric life.

At first I was scribbling little lists every which way on scraps of paper, but I kept misplacing the scraps of paper.  No surprise.  I tend to be a bit scattered to begin with.

But being smarter than the average bean bear, I decided to designate one of our clipboards as my own.  Then I purloined a pad of legal paper from Zen-Den, Esq.  Putting these two items together I created The Official Party Planning List.  ‘Tis a wonderful document– that I suspect only makes sense to me.

I’ve also decided that post-it notes are my new BFF.  I write what food I want to be in a certain serving bowl/plate/platter and then put the post-it in/on/under the item so that when my helper elves arrive pre-party they’ll know what to put where.  I feel very managerial.  

And on that upbeat note, I’m off to the Kroger to buy a heaping cartload of ingredients to make yumminess.  Which will go into/onto the aforementioned serving bowls/plates/platters.  Which have already been given assigned spots on the tables & counters.  Which is where the people will stand during the party while eating & drinking & talking with each other.

Which will make for a good party.  *yeah*