christmas/cookies

So cookie baking was moved to Saturday and my sister and I went to town. We halved all the recipes (see previous post about butter), so although we had a variety, we didn't have that many actual cookies.

Here is the run down: Mexican wedding, chocolate krinkles, oreos, biscotti, ice box and chocolate chip cookies. Divya made a whole batch of the chocolate chips, so we still have a ton of those left, but almost all the rest are gone:) oops.

This is just from the walk to the park for the holiday party on Wednesday. It wasn't sunny, but the park was beautiful. This man was walking his dogs on a frozen Swan Pond.
We pulled out Donna Hay, The Joy of Cooking, the Christmas Cookie Book, Martha, the Toll House book and some of SmittenKitchen's recipes.
These were the ice box cookies. SO easy - I don't think I will go back to the store bought cookie logs again. It took all of 10 minutes and tasted so much fresher. Unfortunately, this isn't a fool proof recipe, as I left them in for a few minutes too long and they were a bit too carbon-y for us. Ah well...
You can see the aforementioned burnt cookies as well as the biscotti. I didn't add enough sugar this time and they are not sweet enough Maybe I will grind them for a crust. 

Merry, Allie and Sara came over for this last batch on Sunday. Also VERY easy to make. Gotta love that powdered sugar. Not pictured are the oreos, the Mexican wedding (came out a little crumbly - I sent them home with my sister since they are her favorite), and the chocolate chip ones. 

Have a great Christmas everyone! There will be more pictures from tomorrow's festivities I am sure. Pray for trifle!

sorry martha

so we nixed the gingerbread town square idea. i did the tally and it is 13 and half sticks of butter total and no one wants to eat that many calories. so tomorrow, my sister and i will be baking regular cookies - gingerbread, peanut butter, rolled out, dropped, etc. i am kind of bummed, but it makes sense. maybe next year, if i am hosting a party of something. 

so hopefully tomorrow, there will be a posting on some cookies. but not a gingerbread townhouse. the martha in me is sad. but she's a tough gal  she'll get over it. 

roast

lately, i have been taking the easy way out when it came to roasting squash. i used to take the whole squash, chop it like firewood, roast it for 90 minutes and then scrape the cooked flesh from the skin. it made weeknight meals very late and turned us off butternut squash soup and risotto for a while. but then i saw that russo's did the chopping and the peeling for me for a slightly higher price! now, it's just throw the cut pieces into the oven, roast for 30 min and then i'm all set!

but last weekend, we didn't make it to russos and shaws didn't have cut squash. back to the primitive ways it was. sigh. chop, roast, scrape. the soup came out wonderfully (i threw a red pepper in the oven to roast as well and added it to the soup), but my spoiled self is going take squash off the weekly menu if i cannot find it all meepa-ed out. 

snow snow snow snow!

even though thursday wasn't our first snow, it def felt like it. it was the perfect flakey, fun, light snow that draws children and adults alike out of the houses and into the snow banks. everything smelled wonderful and wintery. i was smiling so much on my walk from the bus in the snow that i actually laughed out loud. there is something romantic about stepping knee deep into snow while tipping your head back to catch some flakes on your tongue. you feel very young. 

today, it is snowing again. but it is an angry, harsh snow. the kind that hurts your face and makes the sharp snow banks that grab your legs when you step into them. this is the type of snow you can hear against the window. needless to say, there will be no leaving the house today. it is days like today that make me wonder out loud how the native americans survived here for so long. 

here are some pics from the last few weeks:

one of the panini we made when we were too lazy to cook one night. i sautéed some red onion, zucchini and red peppers with thyme and basil and added provolone cheese as a binding agent. it was amazing. panini has been on our weekly menu ever week since then. on a side note, my sister would like everyone to know that there is no such word as "paninis" since the plural of panino is panini.


sasha, y-h and tarah at pops for a girly catch up dinner! it was one of those dinners were we laughed so hard that we stopped conversation around us. check out my yelp review for the meal run down. so so good. another gem in the south end. sigh - i love eating out.

(this was the dessert at pops.... you can see how get an idea of who rich the tart was - the dish was not that deep but could still support the spoon. the dish next to it was filled with whipped cream. double sigh.

and here are some shots from my walk to the bus stop friday morning. i was tempted to take some of copely when i went to run errands, but was pressed for time. so you get my humble street and will have to take my word about how wonderful the city looked.

today is the stay in the house, cuddle and watch tv kind of day. we dined on waffles and breakfast hash this morning and will be roasting some squash later on for a soup. all those smells mixed with the tree and this morning's coffee are filling every room. so few people can claim to live with so much content. 

sustain

so my mom sent me this link the other day and i sat down and watched it last night. although it was all information i already knew, presented all in one place made a bit of a difference. 

it's about 20 minutes long, so only watch it if you have time. it's more of a presentation than anything, but have patience. let me know what you guys think:)

it's weird timing actually. the day i watched this, i had to go to CVS to replace my toothbrush. it was about 6 months old when it died on me. i went and bought the exact same brand. why?

WHAT!

ok so i entered the new yorker cartoon caption contest for the cartoon on the link.

and what was MY caption? "I think that contact lense might be dried out by now." EVERYone i told that too laughed. laughed out loud.

now LOOK at the third "finalist"! ARG! mine is way better AND his sucks. i hate the new yorker.

you're a mean one....

so.. i think i am systematically ruining josh's christmas. 

way number 1: i am very vocal about the fact that people seem to equate happiness with presents. everything you see everywhere is about how people are and buying and buying and buying and buying. it makes me crazy. granted these ARE commercials for stores, but still. 

way number 2: i complain that all christmas traditions are about greed, but when josh wants me to come get a tree with him, i decide to stay home and clean (what? it was cold!)

way number 3: so we are decorating the tree and an image comes to mind - in the kite runner when the taliban kills that boy's parents and then dresses him up like a girl and makes him dance and then they abuse him. we plucked that poor tree from the ground, killing it, and now are dressing it up in tinsel and lights for our own pleasure and then when we are bored with it and the pine needles start falling off bc the tree is dying, we will leave it out with the trash. our poor little whore of a tree:( i feel so bad. 

way number 4: i bitch about how we are leaving nothing to chance and giving people lists of exactly what we want. the best present i ever got was this green scarf from melody. she obviously thought about the color and the quality (its cashmere!) and i wore it for years. i love stuff like that - i feel like thinking about people and their likes and passions and hobbies and getting something that makes their eyes light up. getting an exact list to divvy up bothers me for some reason. then again, when josh's mom wants to talk about my present, i need to know EXACTLY what she said and what he said back. i hate surprises (umm... but i actually don't) 

way number 5: i put the kibash on some christmas music the other day. i was getting a headache thinking  about the board meeting the execs had discussing which song and artist combo would makes the most money and if they could get the rights to a classic so they can remix with lil jon and usher and bribe someone into getting it on the top 40 list. ugh. i don't mind WINTER songs (baby it's cold outside, etc), but the thought of logically milking christmas for money makes me hate listening to them. 

my mom just got back from a small town in budapest. she said the whole town square was lit up and the families brought all the children to see the lights. she said that it didn't seem like these kids had a lot at home and to see the joy and wonder in their faces when they saw all the decorations made her realize that that sentiment was missing here. 

i see the santas with their bells and give as much cash as i have on me (usually less than $20, but the thought is there). and i smile at little kids and help the moms and give up my seats on busses and give to toys for tots and donate my clothes and m coats and whatever people ask of me. i am not a bad person - i am just a person who hates many aspects of the american christmas. i am trying to be better though - josh lives for christmas. my attitude problem is not going over well....