New Year

Well Christmas has come and gone. All the anticipation and hard work and then it’s over in no time at all. We consumed two huge meals within about 5 hours. I was ready to never eat again. Yet, I got up the morning after Christmas and made French toast. Christmas was good though. My chocolate pie got rave reviews. We ate it for breakfast Christmas morning.

So Christmas is over and 2008 is almost gone. I’m not sure I’m ready for 2009. The past year was really great. I’ve been happier this year than I think I’ve ever been. It seems like my life is finally starting to fall into place and I really like it. Hopefully that means 2009 will be equally fantastic. I’ll be ringing it in drinking champagne with my fantastic boyfriend.

I always have aspirations for great New Year’s Eve plans and it never turns out to be as amazing as I hope it will be. I’m not too into the going out scene, I’ve tried hosting parties but they never turn out as I hoped (people are usually lame and bail) so this year I’m refusing to be disappointed. I’m going to be happy with my nice hotel and champagne. Maybe I’ll buy party hats.

Every year I feel like I should reflect on the past year. So how ‘bout looking at where I was this time last year.
-I was a child care worker but I thankfully did not have to work on New Year’s.
-We went to a New Year’s party at my friends house. But we were the lame ones that bailed early. We rang in the new year sitting on my couch watching the peach (instead of the ball) drop with Miranda Lambert.
-I poured champagne down my shirt (in a non-seductive way) no less than three times. I am wearing that shirt today
-I was thrilled to be celebrating a new year with someone I really liked.
-My haircut was less cute than it is now.
-I was neither skinnier nor fatter than I am now (at least I’m consistent)
-I wasn’t nearly the cook that I am today. I’d barely branched out past cheesy chicken.
-I didn’t realize my whale shirt was a bad choice for a first date.
-We “watched” the Mizzou beat Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl!
It’s been a good year. I loved 2008. It was definitely good to me. No huge milestones that I can recall but just that in general joy and happiness that we all strive for. I really like my job, my boyfriend is amazing, my apartment doesn’t suck and things are looking good as I look towards the future.

Happy 2009!

Christmas

It’s only two days until Christmas. I have to finish up baking tonight and then I will be done. I’ve already done divinity and green Christmas tree sugar cookies dipped in white almond bark. Both I am very proud of both. My sister and I killed the mixer making the divinity. And my sugar cookies almost brought me to tears. I’ve moved since last Christmas and the new oven threw me off. I burned the first two trays of cookies. I recovered though and went on happily.

Tonight I’m going to go home and make chocolate pie and pizza. I made my crusts last night but I have to go home and make the pudding for the pie. That will take a while but it will be worth it. And it was specially requested. Turns out my pie and divinity are the caliber of generations past. I feel pretty good about that.

I finished making my last Christmas presents last night. I made two pairs of earrings for my mom. I was happy with how they turned out. And I had to create a box for one of my sister’s presents, thanks to two Diet Coke boxes and a lot of masking tape and a ton of creativity and ingenuity.

So I think I’m ready for Christmas. There will be lots of traveling. This is the first year I will not wake up Christmas morning at my house or my parents’ house. So that should be interesting. I think I might miss the traditional Christmas morning cranberry bread. It might just be my favorite part of Christmas.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. A Christmas full of love and joy and peace (crossing my fingers for peace) and lots of deliciousness. I hope that everyone is safe and warm. That everyone has food to eat and people they love to celebrate with.

peppermint bark

It’s official, it’s winter. There was ice, there was snow, I sat on my couch and ate Taco Bell. I don’t like winter, not one bit. I think it’s the worst season. Of course it has its redeeming qualities – Christmas, wearing sweaters and fuzzy boots, cuddling up on the couch with someone you love, and drinking hot beverages. Other than that, I could do without winter.

Winter does cause me to want to bake and be even more domestic. I told the boy last night to think about what he wants to eat when he comes over and I’ll fix extra for him to take home. I always love cooking for him. He’ll always try new things and likes pretty much whatever I fix him. It’s fantastic.

So I’ve been tossing around the idea of starting a shop on etsy.com, I’m quite crafty and it would be fantastic to make some extra money doing something I really like. So we’ll see. Probably after Christmas. I still have 2 presents to entirely make, I need to finish a baby blanket, and figure out what else to get the boy for Christmas.

banana cake

My next big baking adventure is going to be a banana cake. We (the boy and I) went to a wedding over the Thanksgiving weekend. His table (no, we were not seated together, as he was in the wedding party) had a banana cake. Each table had its own individual cake which I thought was rather clever, my table had spice cake. Anyway, now it has been requested than I make a banana cake in an attempt to duplicate the deliciousness he enjoyed at the wedding.

I’ve never made a banana cake. I don’t really like bananas. But because he asked, I will make it. When I think about baking it though, I keep singing the Jack Johnson song Banana Pancakes, I hate that song. But I will banish the annoying song from my head and make my best attempt at a banana cake, probably while singing along to the Nitty Gritty Dirt band or something else similar. Maybe Alabama Christmas.

So I’ve started thinking about why I’ve become so willing to cook. When I was in college I was happy to eat a bowl of cereal for every meal of the day. I rarely cooked and when I did it was always the same thing – pasta with chicken or butterscotch brownies. I haven’t made that pasta with chicken in years. I still make the butterscotch brownies occasionally for my dad, usually as payment for changing my oil.

I think the cooking change occurred when I had someone who actually wanted to eat my cooking. Someone who had actual opinions on what we should have for dinner and liked whatever I cooked. If something is requested, I try to figure out how to make it. And I love it. I love scouring websites and cookbooks for what I think will be just the right thing. I ask about a million questions, trying to find out what the desired outcome is. I always want it to be perfect. Even if it looks ugly, it always gets eaten and is appreciated.

Now I have a couple of banana cake recipes. I doubt I will do all the trials like I did with my chocolate pie. I think I’ll just pick the one I think sounds best and hope it turns out well. I need to work on my frosting skills though. I make good icing but when it comes to actually getting it on the cake…. That works less well. I’ve been reading tips though. I’m working on getting better.

It’s almost time to start holiday baking. I’m really excited! I’m still thinking about what I’m going to make. I think I’ll probably have to go to my parents house because my kitchen currently is not very large and does not have all the things I’m used to having. This year I’m thinking peanut butter fudge, chocolate covered marshmallows, chocolate covered orange slices, sugar cookies (maybe) and possibly something else. My work Christmas party is Friday and I need to figure out what I’m taking. I just don’t know.