Ok this will be a quick catchup blog, its probably more for myself and my own 'record-keeping-of-events' than entertainment value, but so be it. =) At least this disclaimer will explain the dry and less-detailed commentary. Also, I am eating ice cream, flavored 'peaches and sweet cream', so I am slightly distracted, I have to take another bite between every sentence and forget where I was. Yum.
So back in the December, Kevin, Shauna and Emma stayed with us for the week after we all got back from Hawaii. It was cute to see the kids interact, Corey still tried to antagonize Kevin, but Kevin kept his cool and tried to ignore it for the most part. Oh and Tabor and Emma did fine as well. Tabor copied Emma, or tried to be close. So when Emma had a teething ring and was laying on the pillow, Tabor found a ring and layed next to her.
Gordon had to work over Christmas weekend, so Lisa came over to Portland for the weekend. We spent some time with good friends on Christmas Eve (Tabor got some noisemakers and an air horn in his stocking from Mark McD, thanks). Sunday was cooking experiment day - I pre-choose 5 or 6 recipes and got all the ingredients Saturday afternoon. Then Sunday after meeting Lisa and I cooked until 3 when everything was finally ready to eat. Nothing was mind-blowing spectacular, but it was fun to try a bunch of new recipes and have help in the kitchen. Craig and Laura joined us so we put them to work. Corey babysat. I should do proper recipe reviews but I don't feel like it, so I'll just tell you what I made and post the link to the recipe for each. Everything was from Smitten Kitchen.
Pumpkin and Marshmallow Biscuits were great, I'll definitely make them again, super easy. But I will use actual mini marshmallows next time, and more of them. I had to cut up large marshmallow, and I think they need the powder on the outside to not just dissolve into a layer of caramel (which was also good, don't get me wrong). We had these Xmas eve.
Woops this one is not from smittenkitchen, and the photo looks disgusting, but they were great!
Brussels Sprouts Gratin was a lighter dish than I was looking for, but super easy to make and very tasty. Will definitely make these again, and probably even as a side dish for mid-week dinner. Not fancy, but totally delicious. Also Xmas eve. Everything else was on Xmas day.
Stuffed Mushrooms We omitted the sundried tomatoes, and added 6oz of cream cheese. Awesome, will make these again for sure. Also got to use the new chopping knife from Shauna (who is selling pampered chef), and so it was fun to get to chop chop chop everything for the mushroom caps. Possibly over-chopped, but they were fantastic.
Parsnip Latkes... could take em or leave em. Really too much work for just a boring old vegetable. HOWEVER, Tabor ate the leftovers, cold, for the next four days - weird kid - so for that reason alone I would consider making them again. But probably cutting a few corners.
Ceasar Salad Deviled Eggs were awesome, even if only for the flaky crouton-type yumminess that was sprinkled on top. Laura made the topping but I am assuming it was easy because it only took her like five minutes. We cut some corners on this recipe and didn't make the dressing/sauce either. So basically we made deviled eggs, put them on romaine lettuce, topped them with the awesome crumbly topping, and served it with bottled ceasar dressing. YUMYUMYUMYUM! I also had some tomato wedges to make it a proper salad, but forgot them. oh well. still good.
Meatball Sub with Carmelized Onions was okay, I liked the idea, but will just make without a recipe next time. The meatballs needed more flavor, and I skimped on the bread and got cheap hoagies. A good seedy baguette would definitely make them better. I will also probably use a better marinara sauce next time and less of it (probably home-made, Corey does a good job in this dept), and definitely more cheese. This was our main course and it was fine, just not amazing like I hoped.
Nutmeg Maple Butter Cookies sounded so boring and were anything but! Even as I was making the dough I thought they would just taste like a bland, slightly salty butter cookie, but they were so so so yummy. Lots of maple flavor, and really thin and crispy and actually surprisingly sweet. We ate these the rest of the week and never got sick of them. Hmm maybe I should make another batch tomorrow.... you should too. Also, I hear these freeze really well, and they kept great in tupperware.
We went to Bend for New Years. I had been frantically looking for snowboots all week and finally found a pair - we anticipated a whole bunch of snow and were excited for Tabor to experience it. Sadly this year is oddly dry - we dressed him up anyway and slid down the driveway on paper bags. =)
While in Bend, Tabor met another love of his life, Lily. He really wanted to sit on or next to her the entire evening, very cute! We did keep very busy in Bend, even double-booking New Years Eve with TWO social events. Only stayed up til 11pm though, it was Saturday after all...
Which brings us to last week, Tabor was sick with his first ear infections and horrible bronchial goobers, boogers etc. Not fun. He didn't eat for 5 days, but ultimately managed to fight it all off himself without too much misery. Yay! Go immune system!
Yesterday Corey and I took an Intro Glassblowing class that was lots of fun. See earlier blog post, but yeah it was always something I've wanted to do and Corey got me the lesson almost a year ago for last valentines day.... we didn't want anyone to have to babysit the Gerbil and kept putting it off - but now Brian and Mari are pro's with Tabor, in fact we think he might prefer them to his own parents - so it was time to get out and do something fun!
Which brings us to today. I (on a whim) bought seven little baby chicks. 3 Australorps, 2 Americanas and 2 Barred Rocks. Our adult birds are no-longer laying so it's time to move them out to a nice home in the country. We're hoping by getting these chicks early, that they will be outside by the time the new baby arrives, and laying by early summer! Tabor hasn't squished any yet - but keeps trying to feed them cheerios, cheese, croutons, or whatever he finds. Hopefully we can socialize the chicks and make them cuddly little pets for Tabor. I already have some little jackets I made for our first birds but they didn't like them - maybe these will be more agreeable... =) Perhaps they would even wear pants! I'm sure there will be many more bird posts to come.
Good Night!
