The Crab Chronicles

Turnips, Tarantino, and Christmas Decorations

We've had cold and rainy weather the past couple of days and today doesn't look any better. I hate the cold rain, but then again I don't have to shovel anything. LOL

Slow day yesterday, a typical Monday.

Alesia came home Sunday night and ate with us and spent the night. She left again yesterday afternoon, to go shopping and then stay over at Jason's. One of the conditions for her coming home was she could spend as much time with him as she liked, so I can't fuss about it. I wish she were here more, but so be it. When she is here, she's generally polite and helpful.

I already have two orders for Christmas cakes, which is awesome. I hope I get more. I make really excellent cakes, and I don't skimp on the ingredients. Most folks love my cakes.My kids fight over pieces.

Two of Michael's chores are putting the trash cans out and getting the mail. Last night when I asked him to put the trash cans back against the house [they'd been emptied by the county trash service] and get the mail, he balked. Then he had the nerve, two minutes later, to ask to use my computer for his homework! He whined that it was raining and I reminded him he wouldn't melt. I said nope, no computer, not until you get the trashcans in and check the mailbox. I used my raspy "Godfather" voice, which he loves, so he got the message, and grinned big time.

I have gotten to where I love turnips. Go ahead, laugh if you want. Turnips are very nutritious. I peel and boil them until they are soft, like potatoes. Then I slice them up and cover them with a cheese sauce. I make that by making a basic white sauce and adding cheese. Last night I went heavy on the garlic and added some dried parsley to the cheese, which gave it a nice flavor. Turnips au gratin are very yummy, y'all. Give 'em a try.

We finished watching Inglorious Basterds last night. What a long, stupid movie. I don't know what I was thinking, ordering that. I wrote an entire post over on my movie blog about how much I despise director Quentin Tarantino. Sometimes it feels good to just let loose verbally like that. Quentin can handle it.

We have done 98% of all the Christmas decorating. I tend to do a lot in the house, not so much outside, simply because we can't do anything electrical outside. Our house is old and we'd have to call an electrician to be able to put up any lights. So we make do with a wreath and a mailbox decoration. Inside, though, we go all out. We have a huge tree. We also collect Santas and angels. Below is a photo of my mantel:

oh yeah, and there's a cute boy with our furbaby there too...

Christmas Cakes and More

I am trying to make some extra money for Christmas, and I wanted to let you know about some delicious holiday cakes I am offering for sale. (If you are not interested but you have some folks in your address book who might be interested, please forward a link to this post.) Obviously this is aimed at folks who are in the Atlanta area, or planning to be in the area sometime soon.

Who doesn't love a homemade cake for the holidays?!

I am offering most of the cakes for $20, with a delivery charge of $5 anywhere in the Atlanta metro area [within 20 miles of my home in northeast Atlanta].* These make wonderful Christmas gifts and can be giftwrapped for an additional $2.

So here's the full list of cakes I am offering:**

Apricot Brandy pound cake $25

Pumpkin Spice cake with cream cheese frosting $20

Sour Cream Pound Cake $20

Chocolate Pound Cake $20

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting $25

Email me at [email protected] if you're interested in ordering a cake. I need at least 24 hours' notice.

*If you live more than 20 miles away but within an hour of me I will make and deliver the cakes to you based on the mileage, .35/mile. If you want to pick up the cakes from me and save the delivery charge, I live close to Northlake Mall.

** Cash only, payable upon delivery.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

BLOG: My blog gets 150-350 hits a day, and many readers are in the Atlanta metro area. If you have something to sell, a business to promote, or a charitable cause to promote, you can write a guest post and send it to me as a Word document and I will run it on my blog, and include photos, for $5. [Obviously I want the posts to be in line with my values.]

The Christmas Season

My son loves Christmas. He insisted we put up the tree asap after Thanksgiving, he helped with the assembling and decorating of the tree, and he has been very sweet about helping me with all aspects of Christmas preparations.

When we were in the car this afternoon I even caught him today grooving to Do You Hear What I Hear? when sung by Vanessa WIlliams. I personally prefer her jazzy rendition of What Child Is This?

Then again, I love most all Christmas music.

Even though this is not going to be a lavish Christmas, I am trying to orient myself to just being joyful about the season and not worrying about gifts. So far, I am enjoying the decorating and the baking.

Mother and I got out late this afternoon and rode around looking at Christmas lights and decorations. We will do that again several more times in the coming weeks - it's one of our favorite things to do and doesn't cost much.

I am also trying to focus more on the religious aspect of the season - to give Michael a taste of the sense of wonder I had as a child would be a true blessing.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. As a child, I found it very exciting to watch the different candles being lit on the big advent wreath at the front of the church.

Michael asked this morning at breakfast why we were going to church to make an Advent wreath, and I stumbled and bumbled the explanation pretty badly. Wish I'd had this article to review.

Our church decided instead of Sunday school today that folks could make advent wreaths in the parish hall, so that's what Michael and I did. He enjoyed it. He is very creative. I let him decide what sort of greenery we'd put on the green floral foam ring, and he was eager to see it on the dining room table when we got home. I truly think it's the prettiest one we've ever had.

Relaxed Saturday

After all the hoopla of the past few days, I was happy to not leave the house today! I got the tree decorated, with a lot of help from Bruce and the kids. I put out all three manger scenes - with angels and everything. I am officially ready for Christmas!

Well, except for gifts. Since I am unemployed that's going to be a big challenge this year.

In all the flurry of activity over the past few days, I have misplaced all the cookie sheets I own. I normally stow them in the big oven because we usually just use the wall oven. Now I've stowed them somewhere else, in an unknown location. All of them. I made cinnamon rolls today and baked them on a broiler pan covered with foil. My brain is simply not recalling the cookie sheet location. I feel very frustrated!

If you are a psychic and you know where they are, please contact me.

Some people believe "there are no accidents." Maybe God or The Universe or whomever was trying to tell me "Don't bake cookies this year! You don't need the calories!"

Wow, cheerful thought.

Bruce cleaned out all the tomatoes still in my garden and pulled out the cages and "winterized" my gardens. Now I will be composting. Despite the recent warm weather, the plants were pretty much kaput anyway. I was amazed at the several dozen small tomatoes he found, though. They are ripening on the kitchen counter as we speak.

I just thought of where my cookie sheets are - I am my own psychic! They are outside on a bench up against the house. Yay. Now it's just a dishwashing issue.

Michael was supposed to go to Colton's house tonight but Colton has a "man cold" his aunt told me. not sure what that is, but when you're in bed with a box of tissues, that's sheer misery. Poor little guy.

I just had to negotiate with Alesia for the last remaining bit of pound cake. She and boyfriend like to eat large hunks of it. There's almost none left. I guess I should feel complimented?!

Alesia was supposed to work at the store tonight but they called her and said business was really slow and not to come in. I hope she can get enough hours between now and Christmas to make a little bit of money.

I hope y'all are having a relaxing weekend and nobody is sick.

Remember, too - shopping is not the reason for the season...

If you want to know what I think of some new movies, check out Scribblerchick's Movie Dish. I did a new post today.

Friday Report

We've had a nice day, and it has been relaxing. Usually I get uptight the day after Thanksgiving, worrying about decorating the house and the tree. We got the Christmas tree up, but we couldn't get the decorations done before Alesia had to go to work, so we are just waiting until tomorrow afternoon when she will be here to help.

I have vowed to not get uptight about decorating. One of the few good things about not working is we don't have to cram everything in on the weekends.

Alesia had her first full day of work today, from 2 until 10:30, which is a long day on Black Friday. She said they had a good bit of business and she sold $600 worth of perfume! I hope she will wear better shoes tomorrow though. She wore little sandals.

Bruce took the kids shopping this morning, but they only went to Walmart and the International Farmer's Market. He said Walmart was a madhouse. Well duh. I wouldn't venture out of the house near retail places, except when I ran Alesia to work. Thank God the mall is very close to the house, like 2 minutes away by car.

Now I have some wonderful news to share - Alesia got accepted officially into the Gateway to College program!! Yay! I am so tickled. She starts school January 10th. This means she will get a regular high school diploma in about a year and a half, and have a lot of college credits already.

Bruce and Michael and I went to see a fun movie this afternoon, Red. It was a lot of fun. I liked that the love interest for Bruce Willis was Mary Louise Parker, who is about 46, not some twenty-something babe. She's attractive and smart. Since Bruce Willis is only 9 years older than she, that's a lot closer to reality.

I was delighted that Lesleigh came over tonight with her brother Wynn, who lives in Asheville, NC, which is a really nice town in the mountains. I hadn't seen Wynn in years. He was a good sport about eating leftovers, and gamely tried the Russian cabbage rolls and even some kimchi that Bruce had bought from the Farmer's Market. Below is a photo. I should've told him and Les to smile. Behind them is out tree-in-progress.

It freaks me out a little that Wynn looks so much like his dad and Les looks like a blonde version of her mom.

If you want to chuckle [hopefully], check out my latest entry on Bad Date Stories.

 

5 Examples of Great Scottish Cuisine

I visited Scotland in 1988 and loved it - awesome people, wonderful sights, and a lot of tasty food. Also, lots of my ancestors hail from there - MacMillans, Hendersons, etc. I'm tickled to bring you this guest post. - Dee

This guest post was contributed by Boisdale.

 If you are planning a visit to the bonnie isle of Scotland you will need to be sure and bring an appetite. Scottish cuisine is not for the light eater but instead is filled with solid hearty foods that stick to the ribs and give you all the energy you might need for a long and tiring day on the moors. This article will talk a bit about five examples of traditional Scottish cuisine.

1 Haggis

There is absolutely no way a discussion of the food of Scotland can possibly omit haggis. Haggis is a sort of sausage dish made up of sheep. Basically to make haggis you would take the leftover bits of a sheep including heart, liver and lungs and chop them up and mix in some onions, stock, oatmeal, salt and pepper and suet and toss it all into a sheep’s stomach then boil it for a few hours. It might not sound very good but it tastes fantastic!

2 Cullen Skink

No, Cullen skink is not some weird type of lizard it is a hearty stick to the ribs traditional Scottish soup and is often served as a first course at formal Scottish dinners. Cullen skink is a delicious mixture of smoked Finnan haddie, onions, and potatoes.


3 Cabbie Claw

 

Scotland is surrounded by water as well as filled with it. Lochs, rivers and sea, fishing and fish play an important role in the traditional dishes of Scotland.

Cabbie claw is a traditional dish from the north of Scotland and is made using fish such as cod, whiting, or haddock with parsley, mashed potatoes, and horseradish with a sauce made up of flour, hard-boiled eggs, butter, and spices.

4 Puddings: black, white and red

In America, a pudding is a sweet creamy confection made with milk in Scotland however a pudding is a sausage.

Black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage that is made by cooking blood with filler such as meat, onions, oatmeal, or potatoes until it thickens enough to congeal when it is cool.

Red pudding is often served at chip shops and is made from a mixture of bacon, pork, spices, beef, beef fat, beef stock and suet and is then battered and fried.

White pudding is similar to black pudding but without the blood. It is made from pork, suet oatmeal, onions, spices and bread.

5 Shortbread

Scots love their sweets. And one favourite traditional sweet is the shortbread. Shortbread is basically an unleavened cookie that is made with 1 part sugar, 3 parts oatmeal flour and two parts butter.
Scottish cuisine much like the Scottish people is hale and hearty and definitely not 100% healthy for all day dining but great for the occasional meal.

 

Thanksgiving Eve

It's been a day of cooking. I got these things made: dressing, a pound cake made, and a pumpkin pie, and I made dinner. Dinner was easy - steaks, bisquits, fruit salad, sauteed spinach.

We have found that Publix has the best steaks. I got filet mignons which were so tender Mike could cut his with a fork and they were delicious - for about $28. You could never order the meal we had in a restaurant and come out for less than $150. I'd rather eat at home most of the time.

I took the kids to Target this morning and I ran to Kroger for a prescription for Mike. Kroger was not terribly crowded, but there was a lot more activity than usual. They were selling sweet potato pies for $3.99. I don't like sweet potato pies. They could've been free, and I wouldn't touch one.

I was talking to Leslie late this afternoon, and I told her I'd made a pumpkin pie. She said "I don't bake," in tones of awe. I had to laugh. Making that pie takes 5 minutes. I buy pre-made piecrust dough and grab a bowl and throw in a can of pumpkin, a can of condensed milk, a couple of eggs, some cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and bake it. It's ridiculously easy. Pound cake isn't hard either, as long as you have all the ingredients. My mother used to measure so carefully. After watching Ina Garten scoop up flour and level it with her finger, I quit getting so uptight. I think it took me 15 minutes to make that cake. The only hard part is remembering to put the butter out on the counter so it can get soft, and buying sour cream at the store. Michael generously licks the beaters and the bowl for me.

Making the dressing? That was the ordeal. First I bake cornbread, which isn't hard. Then I toast bread and tear it up, which mom helped with. Then I cut up onions and celery and diced them in the food processor. The dressing is made in a big bowl filled with crumbled cornbread, bread pieces, eggs, chicken broth, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, onion powder, and a handfull of baking powder. I measure the baking powder in Mother's hands because mine are bigger and the measurement would've been off. It sounds slapdash and it sort of is, but then again my mother and I have never made a bad pan of dressing. It's in a big bowl in the fridge, ready to be baked tomorrow. What a relief.

Bruce came in about 8 after fighting horrible traffic in Columbia all the way to the Georgia border. He said once he got through Augusta it was fine.  He and Michael are watching Gladiator, and he is giving Michael tidbits of information about ancient Rome and Roman military tactics.

Mike has been coughing all afternoon and he doesn't feel too great. I hope he's not worse tomorrow, but if so maybe he can just play quietly in his room or something. We have friends coming over so we'll eat in the middle of the day.

I am going to poach a turkey and make one side dish and I am done. Kate is bringing other side dishes and a dessert. I'm sure we'll have plenty of food.

I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Piling up Problems and Letting Go

A relative sent me an inspirational email and one of the little pithy sayings in it struck me: If everyone piled up all their problems and you saw other people's piles, you'd want your own back. Or something like that. Rephrased, basically it's saying no matter how bad you think your problems are, someone else surely has it worse.

I ran to Publix this morning for a few last minute things, and was just congratulating myself on getting out early, before the crowds, when I noticed I had dropped my car key somewhere in the store. I carry a large ring of keys and only the car key was missing. I searched, but it was not to be found. I left my contact info. with customer service and thanked God I have a spare key. I am praying the key will be found. It's an old rattletrap car, but it's paid for and that's all I care about.

I picked up Mike at school at 2:00, because he had two appointments. It was a madhouse. There was nobody but the assistant principal in the attendance office and a long line of parents. They finally found Mike and we headed to the orthodontist. A wire had come loose on his braces and needed to be fixed.

Next, we headed to the pediatrician. I didn't like Mike's cough. He clearly didn't feel good. The waiting room was unbearably hot and stuffy, and we waited 45 minutes just to get shown to a room.I was trying to read a book, and this woman across from me prevented me from hearing myself think. She kept talking loudly about TV shows to the two teenagers with her. She sounded like she was incredibly fascinated by the characters in the shows, talking about them like they were personal friends. "You know, he doesn't love her! He's just using her!" I wanted to say "Lady, for heaven's sake, zip it. Nobody cares!" The two teens looked bored silly. I was actually glad they got to a room before us.

Michael has a bad cold, or a virus. The doctor wasn't overly concerned.He listened to his lungs and said there was no cause for alarm. Thank goodness.

When we got home, Alesia was here. She had been at Jason's since Sunday night. I am a little concerned because the relationship seems a bit too intense. They are spending a LOT of time together. I am just hoping and praying things calm down by the time she starts school, because she will not have as much free time for lover boy.

I am trying hard not to be judgmental, to just let her live her life and not interfere. Wow, that is SO hard. Those of you with younger kids, it does NOT get easier when they get older.

I don't remember ever being that enamored of anyone at her age, but I was always a nerd and I could ignore hormones pretty well. I was ultra-weird. LOL

I am going to try and get some of my cooking done tomorrow. Mike wants to go to Target. We shall see...

 

Hot Turkey Week

I know we're getting close to turkey day because of the crowds in the stores. I won't venture near Honeybaked Ham.

I was just telling Michael, I don't know whether to run the air conditioner or the heat at night. The high was around 70 today. Tomorrow it's going up to 74! We'll be wearing shorts on Thursday, which is traditional.

Michael has a slight cough. I can't stand the idea of him being sick over the holiday weekend. We are going to the doctor tomorrow, but I won't keep him out of school unless he's running fever. I know he doesn't feel good because he's been very clingy today, wanting lots of mama-time.

Alesia is spending most of her time at Jason's and Michael is not happy about it. They're both grown, and as long as he's a good influence on her and is good to her, I am OK with it. I told her she needs to be here with me Wednesday because I am going to do some of my cooking ahead of time, like the dressing and probably a pound cake. I will make the pecan pie on thursday because it will make the house smell good.I also want my house to be clean for the holiday weekend.

I got one of those emails this morning that's a recipe swap, and I look forward to seeing some new recipes.This one below intrigued me:

Oven-Roasted Vegetables:

Wash and dry all vegetables thoroughly using a scrub brush. Cut vegetables into small chunks:

Butternut Squash (or maybe red new potatoes instead)
Brussels Sprouts (or maybe zucchini instead)
Onion
Carrots
Parsnips

 Place vegetables into a large bowl and add/toss together with:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1 minced garlic clove
1 teaspoon ground black pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

 

Directions:
Place vegetables in fridge for about an hour. 

 After that, spoon them out onto a lightly greased baking sheet

Then place in a preheated oven at 425 degrees.

Stir vegetables every 10 minutes and remove from the oven after 25 minutes.

Serve over whole wheat bowtie pasta or brown rice. (or by themselves)

 

I like roasted veggies, so I may try this. Not with brussells sprouts, though.

 

GRANNY

Anyone who reads me knows my 77 year old Mother lives with me. She is no "sweet little old lady." She is feisty. She's opinionated. If one of the kids gets out of line she jerks a knot in their tail right quick. She blasted Michael the other day for coming to the dinner table without a shirt. My father and brother never dared try that. (Michael likes to peel off his shirt a lot because she keeps her part of the house pretty warm.)

Anyway, Granny doesn't play, except on the email.

She sent me this email today with a dancing alien graphic and here's what it said:

ALIENS ARE COMING TO EARTH ON MONDAY

AND THEIR MISSION IS TO ABDUCT ALL GOOD LOOKING AND SEXY "OLD" PEOPLE. 

I'M JUST E-MAILING YOU TO SAY GOODBYE

Prayer Requests

I am sad to report there are two urgent prayer requests that I need to pass along. Prayer is so powerful - let's please harness that amazing power and help in these two critical situations.

My friend Cindy B is asking for prayers on her blog for her son-in-law Preston, who is in the hospital with sepsis. That's a very serious thing. Please pray for Preston, and pray for strength for Cindy, his wife Sarah, and their entire family. Cindy just lost her father a couple of weeks ago and they are still mourning that loss.

My friend Stephanie, who has the kindest heart of just about anyone I know and has adopted 5 special needs kids, is asking for prayers on her blog for a baby named Anton, who has a terrible disease and desperately needs to be adopted or to have money donated for his care, at least. He is so sick, he spends his life in a crib in a Russian hospital.

Finally, and I feel almost selfish asking this, please pray that I will find a job soon. My health insurance runs out in a matter of weeks and I really need to find something with benefits.

Prayer can move mountains!

[BTW, if you came here looking to laugh, scroll down to my favorite Thanksgiving joke!]