Zoe's Christmas Potluck

Zoe's Potluck Christmas Party

This be the Potluck list for Zoe's party which will take place on December 22, 2007~beginning at 5 pm. Here you can peruse a list of things needing to be brought and RSVP by leaving a comment about if you are coming and what you will/can bring. I have temporarily allowed public comments.

Things we need:

1. Drinks--taken
   
2. Paper Party Goods (cups; plates; napkins etc.)--taken
   
3. Main Course (hot dogs? Hamburgers? Tuna Casserole?)
4. Another Main Course
5. Vegetable Dish (Green Bean Casserole? Veggie Tray w/dip?)
6. Another Vegetable Dish
7. Chips & Dips
8. desserts/treats--taken

• Zoe--Drinks; Pizza; Cookies; Cups; Plates; Napkins etc.
  
• Scarlett--Chocolate Mess & Ice Cream
  
• Liz--
• Erika--
• Scotty--
• Cindy & Cheryl--
• Timmy--
• Mary--

*Sigh*

Zoe is back at school. I miss her so much already. Just having her around makes me more cheerful. Although, not having her here makes it easier to try to get some of the projects I have planned for her Christmas presents actually completed...or even started. Nah, paltry recompense.

We got her unloaded and were able to take fairly good measurements of her various parts before Amanda, her roommate, arrived bearing toilet paper. We watched a Simpson's episode with Stephen Colbert in it, and I took off.

We drove up, stopping at the giant Joann's. I bought a Clover Mini Iron II, which is exactly what it sounds like. This kind has different heads that you can switch between. It was on my list, but was 50% till tonight and my pragmatic streak decided Rob would be hard pressed to get a better price so I got it for him for me...yes, I think that IS what I meant to say.

I also got some computer printable fabric. It's a new brand to me, 200 count pima cotton. I also got some super thick interfacing "for fabric bowls" that I will have to see what it's really "for."

I wanted to get Zoe some fabric, scissors or something but she was right there and I am big on the surprise element at Christmas--although with my lousy secret keeping abilities you'd think otherwise. I settled on some extra-fine flower head needles for the silk.

I dropped by Walmart--den of evil--to get some dog food and picked up some small magnets and sparkly plastic snowflakes and stars that are much prettier than they sound.

Turkey Day 07

Turkey Day 07
We had a good Thanksgiving even though:

The turkey was frozen, which meant I had to cook it with the neck and bag inside since all in the center were solid and rock-hard. Luckily I found a USDA recipe for cooking the turkey from frozen to done. I loves me the USDA!

Rob put the candied yams in to broil--to brown the marshmallows. However, not ever having broiled marshmallows before he didn't know how long it would take. So he cranked it up to high and wandered off to do other things. After a bit he looked in and the marshmallows were on fire. They were black and crispy. He ended up scraping as much as possible and we did without the marshmallow-y goodness this year.

The frozen turkey recipe said not to put the bird in a pan with sides as the bottom would end up getting less heat--so I decided to use the two-part broiling pan--but this meant that the juices could have gone everywhere if the bag burst. Mid cook, ominous crackling noises could be heard coming from the oven so to be safe I decided to siphon off the juices using the bulb baster. I sucked a big bulb full up through a slit in the bag, tipped it up so it wouldn't drip and I could put it in the de-fatting cup and a hefty stream of piping hot juice/fat leapt from the baster bulb onto Rob's bare feet. This is what I mean by entropy having a perverse precision.

Zoe is a vegetarian. No turkey for her...or gravy. We bought a Tofurkey (and vegetarian corn dogs just in case) and used vegetarian stuffing--cooking it on the stove-top. However, we couldn't find room in the oven for the Tofurkey, and the recipe on the package was adamant that we not microwave it--no way, no how! Rob went on the website and although they also said not to microwave it in big bold letters at the top, at the bottom of the page they grudgingly gave up some microwave instructions. Phew!

When the turkey was finally done I discovered that I had put the turkey in upside down so it browned on the bottom rather than the top. This also meant that the thermomater was inserted into the bottom of the bird instead of the top where it's supposed to go.

But, except for being hungry, we mostly kept our good tempers. The turkey was done and tasted really good (it was a butterball), as did the Tofurkey. The bag didn't burst and we had plenty of juices for gravy. Rob didn't have blisters and the candied yams absorbed a bit of the marshmallow taste even though we had to scrape the marshmallows--and you could hardly taste the charred bits. The green beans were perfect and delicious.

Dave, Rob's brother, came up for TG. It's nice to see him. Ooof, to tired to go more into detail.

Darwin LOVED the turkey and thinks he should have some every day.

Rob bought 4 pies when he went to the Pennsylvania Dutch Market in order to get some rhubarb pie to try. A guy in his office described rhubarb pie as a life-changing experience. Unfortunately, Rob thought this version was too sweet and his life remained unchanged. The pumpkin and apple were delicious though and the raspberry was amazing!

Story Dream

I had a story dream--haven't had one in awhile this good. I was critiquing a house with a real estate flipper--trying to figure out why it hadn't sold. One of the real estate flipper's assistant's who looked like Denzel Washington ended up talking to one of the owner's kids (he was a black kid I've seen on TV, but I don't remember who he was). I asked him if he was worried about some safety-type problem and he said no because he had an alarm system (imaginary). His desk had two buttons under the tabletop and if there was a problem he pressed one, and if it was a really bad problem (there had never been a problem that bad yet) he pressed the other and someone came to help (I forget exactly who, or what sort of helper he said would come). It was so cinegraphic--complete with camera shots pointing up under the desk with close ups of his finger moving to press the first button--then shots of our faces, then shots of his finger moving to the second button). When he pressed the second button there was an earth quake and he pulled his finger back becaaaaaause at that exact moment GODZILLA WOKE UP!!!) Real Godzilla too, not dinosaur Godzilla with long shots of him moving through the burning city.

He actually ate people in this movie/dream. Some of the "main characters" got chomped. Some people who understood the whole Godzilla Zeitgeist came and spoke with us. The assistant was mentioning the coincidence of the kid pushing the button and the ground shaking to someone in their presence. They heard and were excited. They decided that the kid was The Speaker who could communicate with Godzilla (in otherwords, the annoying Japanese kid with the hat who could ask Godzilla to not destroy the planet).

I had decided to run through the dream again and make the kid get a shock on his finger when he pressed the second button, but Darwin woke me up.

Mrs. Clean (in certain areas)

John and Paul are here! It's a delicate balancing act--the clean before the storm. Don't want to start the visit exhausted, but I get so much done that I've been longing to do. It's always a surprise to see what hardened on unfinished detrius gets shaken free with a little panic and fervor. The living room is done, the kitchen mostly done. didn't get the bathroom really done or the hallway mopped, but hopefully if they don't look too closely...

So good to see them! Both of them have paintings aging in an attic somewhere. John took us out to dinner. It was too cold and too late to eat out of doors, so Darwin couldn't come. I filled his crate with wonderment--Dingos (rawhide with meat wrapped inside), dried chicken, doggy bones and other chewy goodness. He wanted to go in immediately, but, he had to wait which hopefully made his confinement seem less of an onus. He was asleep when we got home and oh-so-silently crept up to the door and peered into the window to see.

We went to Zeki, the Japanese restaurant that replaced Perkins near Target. We've been wanting to go to it and here was the chance. As expected it was a Benihana...admirer but the food was, I think, better. They had a mix of grill seating--the type where the chef amazes you by firebombing the grill and tossing shrimp into your mouth--and they had booth-ish table. John seemed to want a booth, but Paul suffered a little grill envy. One cool thing, the booths for two were made out of rough hewn logs! Unfortunately, none of them were for 4 so we got one of the non-lumber tables.

They were doing bang up business--it's a happening birthday dinner spot. In fact, we walked in to the disco "Happy Birthday--non-copywrited edition--recording that they crank up for every celebrant. There were at least 4 birthdays that evening, and at least one brought their own cake!

Rob and I had the Filet Mignon Hibachi dinner. Oh so good! John and I both couldn't finish ours so we brought some home for Darwin. I gave him a bite, he chomped down, and amazement flooded his little doggy face. He evidently expected it to be a dried treat. So right away, the texture sort of startled him. Then his eyes slid over to one side as he considered the taste and he entered doggy rapture. He got some more for breakfast and he was very concerned that the cat got some too.

I Learnt a Lesson

Yes, baking soda (as I saw on TV) does help get wood clean, but, it also turns the wood an icky, sickly green. Helping to explain why this tip isn't on the Arm & Hammer website.

Falling Fall With Wistfull Languor

The leaves are coming down, though most of them are still green. The yellows, reds and oranges are just beginning to creep in. They have yet to do that cascading thing they do in late fall where it's like raining leaves. I've heard that there isn't supposed to be much color as it's been so dry.

It definitely smells like fall. Hrm, sweet and warm? Sort of like a wettish library smell. Okay, I know it's probably rotting leaves, but it smells good. Vague memories of trips to Brown County, Indiana to look at the fall color are sort of clouding into my brain whenever I go outside leading to a cobwebby feeling of being both here and there.

In the 70's, Brown County was firmly entrenched in the hippy/artisan ethos. There was a lot of pottery, dipped/shaved candles and stained glass in shops covered with untreated wood shingles. The stores smelled of cinnamon, apples and beeswax so that those smells are forever entwined with the smell of fall. Now of course there are lots of tiny mugs with people's names on them and stuff made in China--c'est la révolution--crab, crab.

I always get the itch for apple cider around this time of year because one fall I had the best apple cider in the whole world--I mean WHOLE WORLD! China, Bancock, Australia, India, Africa--assuming any of those places has cider. It was unpasturized from a wooden press and like drinking concentrated sweetish-tart liquid apples...which of course it was. It was one of those peak experiences that you spend your whole life trying to find again.

It's all new to Darwin. He was walking on the crispy, crunchy fallen leaves like he was afraid he'd fall through. New sensation for him. Can't wait to see him in the snow! He's going to need a sweater though--he shivers if the AC is up too high in the car.