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Momentary Thought
I'm being audited at work next week, for two weeks. So I'll be rather busy. Updates may be sporadic. Now might be a good time to join my Notify List, don't you think?
High/Low
High: I had a fantastic weekend, full of food, shopping, together time with Calvin, and an evening out to see the Boston Pops in concert. Some day soon I'll get around to telling all about it.
Low: I will have ZERO free time over the next two weeks.
Current Obsession
Finishing Christmas shopping. Calvin's done, Marie's done, Michael's almost done, all the stocking stuffers are purchased, and my sister's kids will soon be receiving boxes from Amazon. Almost there...
Grin Source
Marie: "What happened to the muffin pans?"
Me: "It wasn't me, I saw some kids running."
Singing
Give a little bit,
Give a little bit of my love to you...
The Gap commercial
A Year Ago
More or less
I was grumpy.
Storyteller
Bio
Dramatis Personnae
Who I Read
Recipes
Laura's Soon-To-Be World-Famous Blackberry Cobbler
1/2 cup butter2 cups self rising flour
2 cups white sugar
2 cups milk
3 1/2 cups blackberries - fresh, or frozen/thawed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once oven temp is reached, melt butter in a 9x13 inch baking pan (glass works best).
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar and milk - batter will be slightly lumpy. Pour mixture on top of melted butter in baking pan. DO NOT mix butter and batter together.
Drop blackberries into the batter. Bake for one hour or until golden brown.
Laura's Soon-To-Be World-Famous Pumpkin Pie with Walnut Streusel
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch pie crust (I used Pillsbury's - I can't make pie crust to save my life)1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, chilled
1 cup chopped walnuts
Separate the eggs, and beat the whites until fluffy. Place crust into an ungreased pie pan and flute the edges.
In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin, egg yolks, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Gently fold in the egg whites. Pour filling into crust.
Bake at 425 degrees for fifteen minutes. Remove the pie from the oven, and reduce heat to 350 degrees.
While the pie is baking, prepare the streusel topping. Combine the flour, brown sugar, and scant 1 teaspoon cinnamon. With two knives or with a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until crumbly. Mix in the chopped nuts. Sprinkle the topping over the pie. Return the pie to the oven, and bake an additional 40 minutes or until set.
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Thursday was a day of doing very little - Calvin was at work, Marie was at her mom's, and I had no cooking to do. I wrapped presents, cleaned, and watched a Buffy marathon on FX (as an aside - I just *can't* get into the whole Buffy/Spike deal). Thanksgiving dinner was lovely and Calvin's family was in high good spirits. Friday I did very little but finally bang out The Entry from Hell, and we all officially kicked off the Christmas season on Friday night by watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on TV (and I've got the 4-1-1 on *all* the Christmas shows via this marvellous linky-poo). Saturday we were productive and cleaned up the back yard and installed Nerf bars on the truck. Sunday was the Boston Pops concert, which I'll gush about in a future entry. Calvin and I both took Monday off and went out for breakfast, went wandering around antique stores, grabbed a couple of beers on Mill Avenue and checked out some art galleries, and finished up Marie's Christmas requests at the new mall.
I'd be really, really good at living a life of leasure.