Twelve Christmas Memories: Part I

My blog/FB friend Michelle Fabio, from the fabulous blog Bleeding Espresso, inspired me to blog about twelve Christmas memories as she had back in 2007. I don't know if I have twelve worthy of being blogged about, but, as I think my blog needs some life breathed into it (ie: I need to blog more!) I figured what the heck?

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And away we go...

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My earliest Christmas memory is from when I was just four years old. My family lived in Yukon, Oklahoma (home of Garth Brooks for anyone who knows who that is). My father's family lived (and still resides) in California while my mother's was mainly in Oklahoma and Texas. That Christmas we, along with my grandfather Pap who lived in Texas, took to the road and made the nearly two day trek to California. Just one thing, we did it in a bus.

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To this day I hate traveling in buses.

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We made it, more or less intact. I remember being so exhausted and then very overwhelmed by the sheer number of people when we got there. My father has three sisters and another half-sister. Add a spouse and a child or two, my family, and my grandparents, there were more family members there than I had ever seen! I singled out my Aunt S and cousin M as the people to stick to- like glue.

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I don't remember the Christmas presents so much as the activities and misadventures during that time. One night during the mass bathtime, that was neccessary with so many small children running around, being that I was the only female cousin my age I actually attempted to use the toilet in the fashion that my young male relatives, and brother, did. I was not successful and quickly corrected that said technique does NOT work with girl parts. Please keep in mind I had just turned four and I really, really didn't know any better. I remember sleeping in a big room with my cousins and waking up before everyone, seeing one of my aunts, but, my sleepy mind thinking she was a bear walking quietly amongst us. I remember the cats around my grandparents house that was in the woods near Yosemite National Park.

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I think that Christmas will always be about the experience of being somewhere new and being around family that I had never seen in one place. I remember them and all the new and sometimes strange things they did and this big woodsy place in California where we all had gathered. My first Christmas memory, which is appropriate as I love going to new places and being around people gathered together to celebrate and/or just appreciating being around one another. I think that Christmas set a tone that has always been around my whole life.

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Forgive Me Blogger for I Have Sinned....

Okay so it's been a little bit since a new 'here's what's going on in my life' post. To be quite honest life just got busy and thus I was T-I-R-E-D. Too much going on, info scattered and jumbled in my brain, and lots of fatigue made it difficult to sit down and sort through it all on my blog. So I will try to give a little recap to catch everyone up on the latest and greatest. Again no pictures because yeah... the camera has just not been taken care of. I think I'm going to make some serious threats to Jon to get that thing fixed... stay tuned.

On with the show!

Thanksgiving was celebrated at Jon's sisters house on Wednesday night. Everything went well- and I didn't have to bake a thing! Jon's sis is amazing, very much like him, in that she LOVES to cook and she handled it all with calm and holiday cheer. If I had to be in charge of an entire Thanksgiving meal for 15 people I would be having a series of mini-meltdowns- at best! We ended the night playing Cranium with Faith's whole family plus a boyfriend. Jon and I totally lost, but, I did know the answer to a little known factoid proving once again I have way to much random information in my brain.

Thursday Jon and his father cleared out the way too small storage unit and dropped everything off at his house. This proved to be helpful come Sunday when the big move occured.

Friday Tia and I rented a U-Haul to pick up the piano in Broken Arrow (a city just south of Tulsa). Thank goodness for Tia's brother and father though! The piano is a spinet or console, meaning it's the smallest upright piano you can get. Still, that sucker weighs easily 300-400 pounds! Fortunatly man power (literally), wheels on the piano, and a ramp got the piano safely in the truck. Add some scarves (yes I said scarves! We didn't pack any rope- real smart move) and we got the piano safely into our house. I've been playing LOTS! The joy of having a piano in my home after 6 years of not having one has been bliss!

Oh and Jon braved Black Friday madness and bought a fridge and a couple of random items for the house. Give me piano moving any day over retail madness!

Saturday brought about moving two loads of small boxes from Jon's parents house to his new abode. That took all afternoon. So the evening was spent in proper style over at a friends house with Wii playing and pizza eating good times.

Sunday- ie "D-Day" ie "The Big Move". Four friends volunteered to help with the promise of two paid for meals as payment. Jon rented a U-Haul and I drove it. Yes, I drove a U-Haul around as I wasn't going to be able to be much help when it came to the heavy lifting- had to contribute in some way! Of course Sunday was cold and dreary with the threat of rain. Still we managed to clean out most of Jon's stuff from his parent's house and all the stuff that was stored at my place (due to the before mentioned storage unit being tiny). This was accomplished in about four hours and we beat the rain. Some doors had to come off their hinges, but, large items were put in place and our friends were rewarded with a large Indian meal bought at a nearby restaurante.

So to summerize... several days of on and off packing and three days of moving culminated in Jon finally out of his parents house and into his own place- FOR GOOD! If I hadn't been so exhausted I think I would've done cartwheels all over Tulsa. However, for me, the adventure didn't stop there. Monday I went down to Norman in a rental car (my roomie works for a large car rental company and it was going to be cheaper than filling the tank my big hooptie car) to see an aunt and uncle I haven't seen in over 8 years! They live in California and they were in town to see my cousin's family. So, I made the trek in hopes of reconnecting with more of my family. The trip was a success. Nothing major really went down, just lots of catching up, and helping with a project my aunt and cousin were working on. I finally got home around 11pm and in bed after midnight.

As a result of all of that 'activity', yesterday I woke up EXHAUSTED beyond comprehension. So that's why this rather long and drawn out post came today.

So there's what I've been up to! How are you all doing?

Sometimes I Wonder....

Snippet from tonight's phone conversation with my older brother:

Me: "I'm saving up money, budgeting, so I can make it over to my friends in Paris."

Bro: "Yeah I'm saving some money too... I'm thinking about buying another gun."

Whhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa????????

There are moments when I wonder, in all seriousness, if my brother and I are from the same gene pool. And if we are, which is likely, which hellish redneck end did he pop out of?

Heaven Comes in Small Packages

Rather, small edible packages. I cooked macarons- no, NOT macaroons, macarons. Macarons are a cookie from france made from egg whites, almond flour with a filling. They come in many different flavors and hues. I've been baking chocolate ones and they are pure bliss.

I made this batch over at Jon's sister's last week. One nice thing about macarons is that they are completly gluten-free. Faith has a gluten intolerence and these cookies are utterly delicious and friendly to those who can't consume gluten. The picture above is the cookie part post-oven. The bottom part of the cookie that looks like it's has oozed or something is called the 'foot'. Don't ask me, I just read it and bake it.
Keenai, their Rhodesian Ridgeback, LOVES chocolate. She's an addict and will stalk you once she gets a whif of that cocoa bean based goodness. I indulged her because I'm a sucker and I adore her, but, at the same time I felt the need to get a restraining order.

Can you get a restraining order for an animal? Hmmm questions to ask lawyer boyfriend. Anywho, this is a ganache I made by scratch that serves as the filling. Once this yummy amazingness cools you just slather it on one cookie and put another on top. And Violà! you have macarons.

Here's the final product... kinda looks like a mini-hamburger doesn't it? I actually forgot to photograph all the cookies once I put them together, luckily there were a few leftover so I got a shot before Jon and I headed out. We ate them too soon though, which is why I wasn't completly satisfied with this batch. For whatever reason these babies need to sit for awhile as they have a much better texture after several hours of 'gelling'. We ate ours an hour after they were put together- still yummy, just not quite right. I also needed to sift the almond flour after I mixed to take away a bit of the mealy texture. Ah well, there were no complaints and there will be more macrons to perfect in the near future.

[Oh if you are really curious, here's the recipe I used for the cookie from David Lebovitz's awesome all things French site: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/09/making_french_macarons.html (click on his chocolate recipe)

I don't use his ganache/filling, I found another recipe and while it makes more than what I need it is perfect as it isn't too sweet and compliments the cookie VERY well imho:http://www.epicurean.com/featured/french-chocolate-macaroons-recipe.html]