Frog and Goat

May your 2004
Be More
May your 2004
Thrill you to the core

May your 2004 be filled with better poetry than this.

This morning I woke up around 6 am and then the better-half woke up too. He said if I went ahead and took my shower that he’d get up right after that and we could stop at Aunt Sarah’s on the way to work. Breakfast at Aunt Sarah’s is quite a treat and today was no exception. The food was good and the waiter cracked us up with a story.

The Aunt Sarah’s is across the street from a DMV and this being the last day of the year lots of people had business to attend to at DMV. There was a line into the parking lot before the doors opened at 8am. We were staring at the line and saying things like “dude you should use the phone line or dude you should use the website or dude I’d never stand in line outside at DMV”–actually I don’t think we said dude once. The waiter noticed that we were staring and made a crack about they must be selling concert tickets over there. Then he cracked us up even more with something that happened there a couple of years ago. One of the customer service women liked to make-up herself to the nines. He actually flailed his hands around his face to show how made up she was. One of his friends went over to DMV to renew her license and the make-up woman gave her a hard time and said something about “the lord giveth and DMV taketh”. The friend said to the make-up customer service woman “you have a nasty attitude” and grabbed her purse and turned to walk away. Then the friend turned and hollered back “and you look like a drag queen”. The waiter said everyone in all the lines cracked up and so did we.

The house is pretty darn clean right now and that is news worthy of posting. I can’t promise that it will look good in 15 minutes but right now it nearly sparkles. This is what happens when we have people over. We scramble with the dust rag, vacuum and mop and then look quickly about the house to revel in the clean. Living in the woods and having 2 cats means that the clean won’t last. Take a step outside and something will get stuck to your shoe and then you will bring it into the house–guaranteed.

The house also smells lovely with the crock-pot simmering. I’m about to fry some bacon to drop into the green beans (yes, I know I should use a hock–but I don’t have a hock) so the splendid smell should just get better.

This morning I woke up and immediately put a sheet of cookies in the oven. There’s nothing quite like making the house smell like a big fat cookie first thing in the morning. Here’s the recipe:

Ernie’s Cookies (the better-half’s uncle)-350 degree oven

2 eggs, 3 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tbs cinnamon, 1 cup butter (softened), 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped nuts (we used pecans-but walnuts would be nice), 1/2 cup candied cherries (we used red and green)

Sift together dry ingredients, set aside. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and mix well. Add dry ingredients, nuts and towards the end toss in the cherries. Add a few drops of milk if needed. Roll dough into rolls and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Chill several hours or days.

Slice and bake for 10-15 minutes.

The Chicken Soup Disaster
The other day I made chicken soup from scratch. I didn’t even cheat by putting in a can of stock. I had two chicken thighs (on the bone) and tossed them into some water to boil with some herbs, peppercorn and two bay leaves. While that was brewing I sautéed some onions and garlic and chopped some carrots and celery. After taking the chicken meat off the bones I dumped everything into the pot. Then it eventually made it into the refrigerator. The next day I heated it thoroughly starting with a 2-3 minute boil. I added some garden mint, some chervil and some red pepper flakes plus a bit of chinese five spice. What I forgot was the salt. Towards the end of the cooking I added some wide noodles and then we ate. Thank goodness I had also made some grilled cheese sandwiches because that soup was gross. The better-half said if he put a shload of salt in it that he could eat it.

This chicken soup disaster was the first time I’ve ever made chicken soup and failed. I have boiled out a pot while attempting to make stock (I was trying to get the flavors to really become nearly atomic in their chickeness) but never have I ruined chicken soup. In fact I’d say that chicken soup is one of the things I always do well. I was pretty disappointed.

Tomorrow we’re having friends and their kids over for a mid-afternoon lunch. I don’t see how it won’t be delicious…pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls with chocolate-cinnamon pudding for dessert. Sounds good, eh?

I think I’ll go figure out something for dinner tonight.

As I have mentioned before, I love going to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned. What I’ve come to not like is the hygenist. He extends the visit to double the length because he crosses his arms bug-like and chats and chats and chats. I feel like I’m captured by Jiminy Cricket.

I have a box on my bedside table that I use to keep ticket stubs and cards. I decided to go through the box and check out the ticket stubs from shows we went to this year. Here’s the not-so big 2003 Musical Review:

February 3: Beausoliel and Marcia Ball
March 6: Bruce Springsteen
March 8: Michael Feinstein
June 12: Blind Boys of Alabama
June 20: Los Lobos and Buddy Guy
July 24: Joseph Arthur and Tracy Chapman
Oct 29: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dar Williams, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin
Nov 12: Lyle Lovett
Nov 23: The Thorns and John Mayer

I always think of the day after Christmas as the best day of the holiday. No more stress and no more familial strife…ahhh.

Things you can do on the day after Christmas:
Sleep later
Visit with the folks you missed on the Eve and the Day
Go to the grocery store and not worry about being run over by carts
Email each other pictures
Listen to music other than carols (like, say, the new Kid Rock or a best of Lynyrd Skynyrd-it was all about redneck rock this year)
Wear new sweaters

See what I mean?

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night.

Last night the better-half got home after 10 after shopping and taking his mother to the grocery store. He hadn’t eaten so I made him a grilled cheese–I’m the queen of sandwiches but this was a basic grilled cheese and, by all accounts, quite yummy.

As we sat on the couch discussing how the plans have changed for parts of Christmas, I said tomorrow night when we go to M.’s this is what we’ll see:
An over-achiever with or without a new boy toy
An uncle droning on about cameras
Two aunts in the kitchen running around bickering and bossing anyone within earshot
Another uncle glad-handing like he’s running for office
The MIL wearing her Jackie O dark glasses
A husband of a cousin who goes upstairs to self-medicate (hey, share that stuff)
Three cousins ranging in age from high school to college who asked their dad if Frog and Goat were going to be there because otherwise they weren’t going
And, me sullen in the corner

Here’s how plans have changed and I feel a certain cosmic justice: we invited MIL to spend the Christmas Eve night with us, have breakfast and then we’d ferry her over to M.’s so they could eat again. Then the MIL broke bad on us and I didn’t think I could have her stay here but we never actually changed the plans. Then the MIL invited her sister and her husband to spend the night thereby breaking our plans. Now here’s the cosmic justice: the sister and husband are now spending the night at M.’s because her grown children said it just wouldn’t be the same if they didn’t spend the night at their house.

One last Bah Humbug, I ran into my parents yesterday at Kroger. My father is still not speaking to me. Whatever, dude.

Last night I could not stop going back to watch The Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. And, got to see the infamous Buffalo Wings scene…now, that’s a Christmas gift!