Pumpkin Spice Chai

Most of you know that I love my tea. I'm always open to trying new varieties, whether loose tea or bagged, my only real preference being black rather than herbal or green (or white, or oolong). I guess I like my caffeine.

Here's a variety that I found for the first time this fall. Perfect for the holiday season!

January girlies

I wondered how we would make it through the holidays with our rambunctious Alice and Mabel. Somewhere around a year old, they still have all their puppy exuberance, but both weigh a good 35-40 pounds. Have we trained them any? Not much, so it's a struggle sometimes to keep them from jumping up and being obnoxious in general.

Thanksgiving was only immediate family this year and I kept them closed in their room (the sun porch) until we finished eating. At Christmas they were banished to the back yard a good part of the time. I knew better than to trust them with the Christmas tree (more fear of them knocking it over than anything else), so it was moved back to the piano room behind a baby gate, the same as when Esther and Betty (and JJ) were young. They were only set free once the gifts had been opened and the paper cleaned up.

Betty has suffered some health issues lately (I won't go into detail) and has lost quite a bit of weight. She seemed to be feeling the cold, so we bought her a coat. In the past she has despised any type of clothing we've forced her to wear, but I think she really likes the warmth her new coat provides. Check her out! (tail and mouth in motion)

I was in the right place at the right moment to capture this photo of Alice, Esther and Mabel looking out the window together. Alice (Miss Busybody) frequently looks out the window, but Mabel rarely does.... and especially not when Esther is standing there.

Hard to believe we were in the midst of our first puppy drama this time last year. I sure hope things are calmer on the "dog front" in 2010!

Favorite Five - Holiday Eating/Drinking

I'm sure all of you have certain snacks, dishes or drinks that you associate with specific holidays. You know... Grandma's plum pudding at Christmas or Aunt Sally's homemade peach ice cream on the 4th of July. Or maybe it's just the candy corn you always buy for Halloween.

My family does a lot of holiday eating. We often try new recipes, but there are a few staples that I always look forward to. Here are some of my favorite holiday treats:

1. Cornbread Dressing - I've been making dressing for Thanksgiving since my mother died when I was 17. My version might be a wee bit different from hers, but I still follow her advice for keeping it moist. "When you think it's sloppy enough, add a little more broth!"

2. Stuffed Eggs - Some folks call them deviled eggs. No matter what they're called, they're wonderful. In recent years my younger daughter has taken over the task of preparing them for our holiday celebrations.

3. Cadbury Eggs - This treat is only available in our area at Easter. Not only do I love them, so do my kids. I'll never forget the look on my son's face when he saw his first Cadbury vending machine in the London underground a few years ago.

4. Sun Dried Tomato & Pesto Torte - Cheese is one of my absolute favorite foods! I treat myself and my sister to this yummy snack each holiday season.

5. Sparkling Catawba Juice - There wasn't much alcohol in our household when I was growing up. My dad knew he couldn't drink, therefore we just didn't have it around. Instead, we toasted special occasions with non-alcoholic Catawba juice. Though I no longer drink, during my "partying" days I preferred Catawba to real Champagne. Welch's sells several varieties, but the sparkling white grape juice remains my favorite.

Have you got any favorite holiday treats?

Decorating

I don't remember when or why I began decorating so early for Christmas. I draw the line at starting before Thanksgiving, but anytime after the dishes have been washed and the leftovers put away is fair game. This year my younger daughter and I spread the work out between Friday and Saturday.

I'm not much of a "pack rat", but there are some things I have a hard time parting with, Christmas decorations being one of them. My dad hand painted our names on glass ornaments when I was a little girl. I still have one survivor. My mother was quite "crafty" and I treasure the tablecloth she made representing the "Twelve Days of Christmas". It's starting to look worn in places. I have many of the decorations my kids made over the years, though some of them stay in the boxes and don't get displayed anymore. Any sort of decorative container that a gift arrived in has been packed away to set out in following years.

Earlier this month we got some new flooring in a few areas of our home. It required moving lots of stuff around, so I took the opportunity to clean out. As we pulled out the boxes of Christmas decorations this weekend I realized I was still in clean-out mode. I'd recently made a plea in the church bulletin on behalf of our craft group asking for old decorations no longer being used. It was easy to sort through my decorations with a critical eye and move a number of them to a box for the church.

Perhaps someday I'll be able to put into practice the words of my favorite architect.

"Less is more".

Thanksgiving 2009

We normally have extended family join us for our Thanksgiving feast, but this year it was just my husband, me, our son and two daughters, a significant other, and our granddaughter. We had a wonderful day filled with food and fun. We ate, played board games, ate, celebrated our granddaughter's birthday (the 28th) and ate some more.

What a feast it was! Turkey and cornbread dressing, goose and wild rice, gravy, spinach casserole, corn, sweet potato casserole, green beans, stuffed eggs, cranberry sauce, black olives, cheese and crackers and rolls. My daughters provided the desserts this year. Older daughter brought two things. I'm not sure what either was called, but both were delicious. One was a pie with cream cheese and condensed milk and the other was chocolate cheesecake balls dipped in chocolate, drizzled with more chocolate. Younger daughter tried a new pumpkin cheesecake recipe that turned out great. I'll leave you with a picture of it.... yum!!

Holiday Goose

We always have wild goose as part of our Thanksgiving feast in addition to the traditional turkey. I thawed a Speckle Belly (sometimes called a White-Fronted Goose) today. This recipe appeared on my old blog a long time ago. Figured it would be an appropriate time to post it again here.

Holiday Goose

Take a fresh goose and place breast side up in a steamer basket in a dutch oven. Cover and steam on the stove for about an hour to remove the fat. (keep an eye on the water level so the pan doesn't cook dry) Remove goose and steamer basket and pour off greasy water. Return goose to the dutch oven, breast side down, and stuff cavity with wedges of apple, onion and sliced celery stalks. Pour 2 cans of beef broth over goose, season as desired, then cover and bake 3-5 hours at 275 degrees or until done.

This dish is good to prepare a day early. Remove the meat from the bone when done then pour some of the baking juices over it to keep it moist. Refrigerate, then microwave before serving the next day.

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving dinner at our house is not just a one meal event. And no, I’m not referring to the leftover turkey that never goes away. I try to cook so that there will be leftovers… and plenty of them! My husband and his brother always want whatever food I’m willing to part with to take with them when they return to the duck camp Thanksgiving afternoon. The past two years they’ve had to compete with my son who wants to take leftovers home to his apartment. Of course my younger daughter and I try to keep some of our favorite stuff here for ourselves. Fortunately for everyone concerned, there was plenty to go around this year.

In addition to the two yummy desserts my older daughter brought (a turtle cake and a sopapilla cheesecake), we had: seasoned oyster crackers, fancy cheese & crackers, a condiment tray, turkey (a 20 pound bird!), cornbread dressing, gravy, goose, wild rice, green beans, corn, marinated carrots, black-eyed pea salad, spinach casserole, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffed eggs, rolls, pumpkin pie and chocolate cherry cheesecake.

Yum, yum!!

The Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake was something new I tried. I got the recipe (which was contributed by Shelly Klingler of Bloomington, IL) from a recent issue of Simple & Delicious Magazine.

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

1 jar (12 ounces) maraschino cherries
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 chocolate cookie crust (9 inches)

Drain maraschino cherries, reserving 2 teaspoons juice. Cut cherries into quarters; set aside in a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and reserved cherry juice. Add eggs; beat just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips and reserved cherries.

Pour into a crust (crust will be full). Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack.