Back Home

We're back in Providence after a week in Chicagoland with my parents.

I don't know if you've heard, but it's been snowing a lot. The day before we were supposed to fly to Chicago, the northeast got hit with a snowstorm. I left work at 1:30 and walked home. About a mile from home, the snow started. It was really pleasant at first, and then it started in earnest. And then the wind started blowing and by the time I got home I was covered in a layer of white. All night long the snow fell and the wind howled around our house. One of my favorite things is to be cozy inside while there's a blizzard outside.

The next morning, we woke up to this:

Since our flight left in the middle of the day, we had a little time to finish packing and to dig ourselves out. Jason started by shoveling the steps so we could actually get to our cars.
The cars:
I've definitely seen worse. Jason shoveled around the tires, while I swept the snow off the top of the car in great heaping armfuls. The plan was to take my car and drive to the house of a friend who would then drive us to the airport. After we finished with my car, Jason said he was going to shovel out his car too, but I pointed out that there was a good chance the snow would melt in the week we were gone. That's usually how snow here works. It snows and then it melts a few days later. We came home today to 52 degrees and no snow as far as the eye could see. I'm glad he didn't dig out his car too.

We got to the airport on time. Our plane wasn't there, but we were. Despite all the snow in the area the night before (and the fact that it started snowing again as we were leaving our house), our flight only left an hour late. We landed in Chicago, where it was also snowing. Oh, and the next day it was 4 degrees in Chicago. The following day we woke up to -2. We didn't really need to go anywhere, though, so we were happy to talk in awed tones about how cold it was outside while we were nice and warm inside.

Snow seemed to be the theme of the week, though, since a couple of nights later we drove out to one of the north suburbs to visit an old friend of Jason's in a mini blizzard. Thankfully we had a pretty substantial car* so we weren't slipping and sliding that much. Sadly we don't have any pictures of that night with them, but we played games and ate good food and their bookish 10 year-old daughter told me she thinks I'm beautiful and gave me a big hug when we left and I think she is utterly adorable.

We had a quiet Christmas with my parents. Here my dad shows off a couple presents.
We got him the Star Wars vault. I looked through it for the first time on Christmas Day and it's pretty cool. You know, if you're into Star Wars, which I am because I'm cool like that. Jason told me he got one for himself too. Yay!

Me and Jason in Christmas jammies. I'm knitting my dad a scarf and my mom wanted an action shot.
Friday we went into the city, which I was really excited about. My parents lived in downtown Chicago for about 8 years, and during that time I spent a few summers in the city and then I moved there myself and lived in a couple of different areas of the city for 3 years. Although it's a little too sprawly for me to want to live there forever, Chicago really is a fun city with a great energy.

A lot has changed since the last time I was there about five years ago. For one, they built Millennium Park (where the big Obama bash took place on election night). Jason and I started at Holy Name Cathedral at State and Chicago, ate pizza at Giordano's**, then walked all the way down Michigan Avenue, from the Water Tower to the Art Institute.

It was a foggy, drizzly day, but not so bad that we couldn't be out and about.
However, my hair, which was super cute when we left my parents' place, had no chance against the drizzle and humidity
The neato shell at Millennium Park
Us in front of the bean. It's really called "Cloud Gate", but whatever. It's a bean. And it rocks. Jason was not impressed at first, but it grew on him. I think it's great with all its big reflectiveness.
***

Jason and I are dead center in the reflection. I'm waving.
The Smurfit-Stone Building below has always been my favorite building in the Chicago skyline. You can always pick out Chicago because of this building. Coincidentally, Jason loves it too. We were walking down Michigan Avenue and he said, "Where's that one slanty building...I want to see that one." I said, "It's just down the street!" and then proudly led him to it.
We had parked in Evanston, just north of the city, so we took the El from the Loop and went over to my friend Beckie's house. I haven't seen them since her 4 year-old was 18 months old, so it was great to spend time with them, though it was way too short.

Here's Beckie's husband Keenan with their daughters, Marlee and Ava.
Both little girls are adorable and have personality coming out their ears. Of course, so do their parents so it's no mystery where they get their charisma from.

Me and the girls.
I met Beckie when I first moved to Chicago and before we even met some people who had met both of us were mixing us up with one another. We don't really look THAT much alike, but are similar enough (although there's this one picture from her bridal shower that we both had to look at for a second to realize who was who). When her two little sisters would visit, I would hang out with them and everyone thought we were all sisters. It's nice, as an only child, to suddenly have sisters. Beckie and I have called each other "sister" ever since.

Beckie's husband works for the airline we flew out on today. When we got to the airport and got our boarding passes, not only were we not sitting together, but I had a middle seat. I could have sworn we picked our seats when we bought our tickets months ago, but I guess they didn't take. When the plane started boarding, our names were called. I went over to the gate and there was Keenan. He got us seats in the exit row and gave us lunch. It turned out he flew to New York this morning and flew back on the plane that was taking us to Providence. So he hooked us up. So sweet! I told him I'm using his name from now on when I fly that airline. "Oh, don't you know? I know Keenan."

We got home to a hungry and love-starved kitty. I fed Tiny, but after he ate a few bites, he came looking for me with this mournful meow. I had to pick him up and cuddle him while he writhed around in purring ecstasy.
Yes, he is resting his head on my shoulder.
At this point he just flopped over my arm like a sack of potatoes, purring like a motorboat. Even now, it's hard to type because Tiny is wedged between me and my laptop, with his head nestled into the crook of my arm, purring contentedly.

It's nice to go away, but it's also nice to come home.

* Dear Alamo at O'Hare Airport. It would be super awesome if you could train your staff to provide some semblance of customer service. Telling me that the car I want isn't there, but I can wait for it, but you're not really sure if there's one anywhere in the vicinity of O'Hare for me to wait for isn't helpful at all. Neither is vaguely gesturing toward several cars ranging from economy to premium and telling me to take "one of those" instead. Neither is getting annoyed with me when I get annoyed with you for disappearing while I turn my head for 5 seconds to consult with my husband, forcing me to wait in line all over again.

** It is a mystery to me why Pizzeria Uno's, the most mediocre of the Chicago-style pizzas, is the one that got franchised.

*** Side note: I got this puffy down coat from LL Bean and they have a very liberal return policy and I was thinking about returning it because I have just spent several days feeling like the Michelin Man and wonder if it's too puffy even for a puffy coat. It is very warm, I will give it that. What does everyone else think?

Romantic Comedies

I thought this was an interesting article about how romantic comedies spoil our love lives by creating unrealistic expectations.

To which I say, true!

I have known many women (including me) who have brushed aside one perfectly nice guy after another in the hope that the perfect romantic hero would show up and whisk them off their feet. I know some women now who are still waiting for that perfect guy and turn up their noses at the imperfect men in their lives. Or judge the men in their friends' lives harshly. I just think that I am in no way perfect, how can I expect the guy I'm with to be the complete package the moment we meet?

Also, I think that expecting the perfect romantic hero package can make you blind to the ways the man in your life is showing you that he loves you. Again, I plead guilty to this one.

Not that we shouldn't have standards, and I am not advocating sticking around a guy who completely takes you for granted. I also acknowledge that some guys are naturally really good at being romantic in that standard way the romantic comedies show us. I think some of them do it on their own, and some of them have wised up to how a lot of women think and have started taking cues from the movies.

However, I think there are a lot of guys (like Jason) who don't see the value in the typical schmaltzy stuff. Jason shows his love (both of me and his family) by taking care of things, by doing research and helping us get the best deal on something, and sometimes by completely shocking me with something sweet he says or does. Or he takes me out for dinner without me even knowing he takes me out for dinner. We have a joint credit card and at the end of the month he tallies up what I owe on it and I pay him. Apparently, there have been several times when he hasn't charged me for some dinner out that I thought we were splitting and has just said to himself, "Oh, I'll pay for that." I had no idea until he told me the other night.

In addition to making us expect the perfect man, I think romantic comedies also give us unrealistic expectation for how it's all supposed to work out. Love and romance is not perfect. There are arguments and misunderstandings that don't tie up in a cute little bow two hours later. One thing I've learned this past year is that marriage does take work - which, you know, duh. Everyone always says that. Sometimes Jason drives me up the wall and other times I look at him and just think he's adorable and am so ecstatic we're together. (I also find myself worrying about something happened to him - but those are just my awesome neuroses coming into play).

I used to be the romantic comedy queen, but for the past few years I haven't been that into them. Occasionally I'll pop one in the DVD player and watch it, but not in the way I used to, wishing for that ideal. Because I'm happy where I am now with my logical scientist guy who can't seem to hit the hamper.

Christmas Cheer

My mom just sent me this Christmas message.

Yeah, that would be me, Jason, my mom and my dad. As elves. Dancing. Personally, I'm a fan of the splits Jason and I do toward the end. Who knew we were so bendy?

Credit

I want to make sure that I give credit where credit is due. Yesterday, Jason had a long day of singing up in Massachusetts. He sang with our friend Andrus's choir in the morning and then had his Lessons and Carols service at Christ Church. I went to our ward in the morning and then drove up with some friends for the evening service at Christ Church.* Jason loves all the singing, of course, but after two rehearsals and two services AND waking up at what Jason would consider the middle of the night to make it to morning rehearsal on time, he was pretty tired by the end of the day.

While he was gone, I did a couple of loads of laundry, finished up the turkey stock from our post-Thanksgiving turkey and made beef stew in the Crock Pot so we would have dinner when we got home. I folded a little bit of the laundry, but mostly just parceled it out into his and her piles on the top of the bed, figuring we could do it later. After dinner, I spent some time in the kitchen putting away leftovers and when I was done Jason came in and led me into the bedroom to see what he did.

He had folded the laundry.

I was kind of amazed. Granted, he didn't fold mine quite right, but I didn't say a word. He said he wasn't sure how to fold some of my stuff and I said it was perfect and thanked him profusely. It's nice to know that occasionally he will see something that needs to be done and do it. Hopefully my enthusiastic gratitude will inspire him to do that sort of thing more often.

*Which was lovely - once we got there. Hi, I-93, can you stop having accidents and burning cars and such on the days when I need to be somewhere ON TIME?

Things I Have Done

Stolen from Cicada who stole it from someone else. Who probably stole it from someone else. I've bolded everything I've done in this list.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (going in 2010! Jason's parents like to plan ahead)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (I'm not sure if this means watched a lighting storm while I was at sea, or stood on a beach and watched a lightning storm over the sea in the distance. I've done the latter.)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (Do crocheting and knitting count as "art"?)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (A few times. No fun at all.)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept overnight on a train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden a gondola in Switzerland
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (I'm going to count kicking a home run in kickball)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen Amish country
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Yes and yes)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (No, but I've sold a LOT of stuff for various choirs and other fundraisers over the years. I think that should count)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason (Does this mean someone gave me flowers for no reason, or that I bought myself flowers for no reason? Because I buy myself flowers periodically.)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I can't! My veins are too small even after drinking lots of water. Red Cross won't even try to stick me. And I have guilt about it because I'm O negative. Dumb undersized veins.)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (Lived in Arizona for 17 years and never made it there. Shameful. Although, to be fair, it's not like the Grand Canyon is a quick little jaunt from Tucson. Arizona is big.)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (I just can't make it through the whole Old Testament. I get through the first couple of books and then I start jumping around to the interesting stuff)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (And as an attorney in Rhode Island I never will be as long as we live here. It's a law.)
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (I think this is biased toward Mormons. How about Swam in the Red Sea? I would be more impressed by that.)
97. Been involved in a law suit (only as a lawyer)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. One cavity or less (I have one filling)

Ideas, Please!

So now that I'm a big attorney (oo la la), I have a secretary (well, my boss and I share her and she's kind of a jack of all trades receptionist/secretary/paralegal). I'm trying to think of something to get her for Christmas.

She got me and my boss a cool present already: someone is coming in on Tuesday to give us 30-minute chair massages. Nice, huh? I have been so tight lately and ever since she told me about it I've been telling my aching shoulders and back to just hold on, help is coming.

I got her a salon service of her choice at her favorite salon a couple of months ago for her birthday and now I'm stumped. She's totally salt-of-the-earth with a slight southern Mass/Rhode Island accent and lives in a log cabin in the woods just over the Massachusetts border. Also, she makes stained glass creations (I got a star for my birthday) and loooooooves* animals. Any ideas?

* Yes, the emphasis is totally necessary.

Minty Fresh

One of my favorite things in the winter is Starbucks Peppermint Hot Chocolate. But the hot chocolate, like everything else at Starbucks, is pretty expensive.

Well, today I was at CVS and spied these little beauties:That's right. Peppermint Peeps. I bought some and then tried a little science experiment wherein

+

=

Chocolate Peppermint Deliciousness!

I think I'm going to stock up on Peppermint Peeps while I can.

Quote of the Day

Jason got me a George W. Bushisms daily calendar last year, and this was yesterday's:

"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."

Christmas Spirit

Starting this past weekend we catapulted ourselves into the Christmas season. It actually began a bit on Saturday night, when we got our tree.

Sunday morning I stumbled out of the bedroom to feed Tiny and saw snow on the ground outside our house. I fed Tiny (because he would not have allowed otherwise) and then ran back into the bedroom exclaiming, "It snowed! It's the first snow!" as I bounced on the bed to wake Jason up. He was not as thrilled since he was also really sleepy and sleep trumps snow any day in his world, but I was happy. It was just a light dusting, and the flurries continued off and on all day.

At church we did the Primary Christmas play, which was a lot of fun. The little kids loved the halos I made, and even the big kids giggled when I put Joseph and the shepherds in their costumes (striped dish towels with a headband around the forehead to hold the towels on their heads. They looked like Linus in "A Charlie Brown Christmas".). I only made 2 crowns for the wise men because I only wrote parts for 2 wise men. Frankly, our attendance has been down, so I was trying to make sure there were enough parts for the big kids, without overwhelming the little kids. Well, we had a bumper crop of kids in Primary on Sunday. I had one big kid and one little kid be wise men, but then the little kid's friend decided he wanted a crown too. The big kid very nicely let the other little kid wear the crown (with some prodding from his teacher).

Anyway, I think it went well, and the kids were very cute. If I'm still in Primary next year, I really want to start in early November and do an actual play with the kids that we can put on for their parents.

Immediately after church we drove up to Cambridge so Jason could get to his Evensong rehearsal. Even though it was pretty cold, I decided to go for a walk rather than just sitting around waiting for the service to start. I walked down Mt. Auburn Street for awhile and then cut up to Brattle Street. Brattle Street and the surrounding side streets make up one of my favorite areas of Cambridge. Brattle is where a lot of the old colonial and Tory homes are, and I love walking along, pausing to read the historic markers.

One house has these bronze statues of people in the yard that I have noticed in the past. As I walked by on Sunday, I realized that as part of their Christmas decorations they had put holly wreaths around the heads of the statues, which I thought was great. I moseyed up through Harvard Square and made it back to Christ Church just in time for the service. All told, I walked for a little more than an hour. I think I may do that more in the future when we go up there for Jason's rehearsals.

After Evensong, we went to a friend's house for her Christmas caroling party. I had a blast, singing Christmas songs classic and cheesey, and catching up with friends, including one who I hadn't seen since she moved back to Boston several months ago. I don't think Jason had quite as good a time as I did because he didn't know as many people, but I really enjoyed seeing everyone, and even joking around with complete strangers. It made me realize that no matter how much the singles ward drove me crazy, I do miss the fun parties and socializing that went on. I made tentative plans with a couple of people to get together after the new year, so I'm looking forward to that.

We drove back to Providence and decorated the Christmas tree. Jason and my Christmas ornaments don't exactly coordinate. I have been collecting ornaments for years, buying a few every season, and receiving some as gifts. I like classy decorations, leaning toward Victorian style, in jewel tones and gold. Jason has a talking Darth Vader ornament and several Simpsons characters strewn about the tree. It's kind of funny to see it all blended together on one tree.

Last night we went to see A Christmas Carol at the Trinity Rep in Providence. They put on a good show, and in a twist had a black man playing Scrooge and a black woman who was a narrator/spirit, and tied the play together with a couple of Gospel songs. So I am already a total sap when it comes to A Christmas Carol and cry during the end of pretty much every version I ever see*, plus during the last pages of the book when I read it. I love the message of redemption and as I get older and realize how flawed I truly am, it really speaks to me of the redemptive message that is highlighted throughout the Christmas season. But then you tack on some heartfelt Gospel music, like they did last night, and I'm just a mess. I managed to hide the tears, though. It was really lovely.

Also, the Ghost of Christmas Present was kind of a Willy Wonka-type character with a red velvet cape and a red cruiser bicycle, and minions bouncing around singing "Sleigh Ride" and basically attacking Scrooge with Christmas cheer. Hilarious.

*That includes Scrooged, the sometimes foul-mouthed version of the story starring Bill Murray. Seriously, though, that ending? Tears rolling down my face.

The Chair

Saturday morning I went to Wal-Mart* to pick up some supplies for our Primary Christmas play on Sunday. I spent some time making some edits to the script and making halos, crowns, and signs labeling the locations (Stable, Inn, etc.) I also found some great coloring pictures of cows, sheep and chickens to use for atmosphere. I cut a couple of songs out of the play since our kids don't know very many Christmas songs, which is too bad.** Then late afternoon on Saturday we went and got our Christmas tree. We strapped it to the top of my car and hauled it up to our apartment. Jason put the lights on it while I finished up dinner and we spent the rest of the evening basking in the glow of Christmas lights.

While clearing a space for the tree we got rid of the awful armchair that has been sitting in the living room for 2 1/2 years. It's not horrific and is marginally comfortable, but the fabric is stained and picked all over by cat claws. Jason bought a slipcover at one point and tried to put it on the chair. However, the slipcover was obviously made for some giant Laz-Y-Boy chair, and completely drowned the little armchair. Rather than take the slipcover back to the store, Jason just left it on the chair, where it looked like a messy mound of green velour in the corner of the living room. Then the cat adopted the chair in the early Spring and dumped 20 pounds of fur on it as he shed his winter coat.

When Jason was out of town a couple of months ago I asked him if we could get rid of the chair and he said yes. Of course Saturday night he had no memory of that conversation and pouted. I tried to reason with him, pointing out that it was in bad shape and asking him why he wanted to keep it. Apparently a friend from his old lab gave it to him several years ago. It went from one boy college apartment to another boy college apartment. I have met this friend and without even seeing his and his wife's apartment, I guarantee to you that they have nothing like this chair in their current decorating scheme. Jason can attach sentimentality to just about anything and doesn't understand my need for a "grown up" apartment, versus the makeshift college/grad school place that he has created for himself.

In the course of arguing with him about it, I started feeling incredibly guilty for making him give away something he loved so dearly. Then it occurred to me that our living room is jam-packed with chairs (and LOTS of other stuff). Also, if he really loved it so much, why didn't he take care of it and get a slipcover that actually fit? Or even clean the one that was on it so people could sit on the chair without getting fur all over their clothes?

No, it had to go.

We lugged it down to the trash and as I turned away, I felt positively gleeful. So, for me at least, that was definitely the right thing to do. Honestly, I probably could have dumped it in the garbage while he was out of town and he wouldn't have noticed it was gone for at least a year. I probably should have done that and saved myself the guilt.

The good news is, I posted a notice on Craig's List that there was a free armchair downstairs. By yesterday evening, it was gone. Jason always feels better when something he loves is given to someone who can use it versus just being thrown away. So thank you, whoever picked up that striped chair on the East Side. I owe you.


* I would INFINITELY rather go to Target because Wal-Mart makes me feel oppressed by the capitalist machine and a little bit dirty, but Target is 20 minutes away and Wal-Mart is 5 minutes away. Please, Target, open a store in Providence. Save me from Wal-Mart and the screaming babies that are always, always there no matter what time of day or night I go.

** But we adults had fun singing "Joy to the World".

Evil Pie...Not Quite So Evil Anymore

I revised the Evil Sweet Potato Pie. My revisions are in red (like a good lawyer).

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar (1 cup sugar)
  
• 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes (so I baked a medium-large sweet potato and wound up with probably a cup and a half to 2 cups of mashed sweet potato and thought that was a perfect amount) (I wound up with about 2 1/2 cups of sweet potatoes this time)
  
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup (1/8 cup light corn syrup)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine (1/4 cup butter)
  
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk (I used evaporated skim milk, which I also used last time)
  
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Add potatoes, eggs, corn syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, butter and evaporated milk; beat well. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes.

Success! I took out almost half the sugar and half the corn syrup and butter, and upped the sweet potatoes (mmm, Vitamin A and beta-carotene) and it was still awesome. I highly recommend this pie, as do my dinner guests last night who said, "Nom nom nom."

Also, it's extra special if you put it in a cute pie pan. Like this one. Having people over for dinner is a good excuse to whip out all the cute stuff we received off our registry. I served chili in these bowls. Because they're adorable.

Broccoli Supreme Redux

My Nana passed away over 6 years ago and I still have pangs of missing her. Mostly when I realize I haven't heard the latest news about my dad's side of the family. I could always call her and know all about my cousins in Tucson and Texas and Missouri and Arkansas. In one phone call. She was also not shy about letting me know what she thought about whatever happened to be going on.

When I was in college I used to drive across town periodically to have dinner and play cards* with Nana and Papa**. It was great to spend time with them, listening to Big Bands music (which they used to dance to back in the day and which they were thrilled to learn I enjoyed too) and playing cards late into the night.

Nana always cooked tasty food and one of my favorite dishes of hers was "Broccoli Supreme", a broccoli cheese casserole. I got the recipe from my aunt a little while ago and decided Thanksgiving would be the perfect time to whip it out.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to the grocery store and I made a list of what I would need. The ingredients kind of reflect Nana's Depression-era childhood and 50's-era cookery. Canned mushrooms, cheese food product. You should have seen Jason's face when he asked me what I was looking for as I wandered around the dairy products and I told him I was looking for Kraft garlic cheese in a roll. He just does not understand growing up poor on a farm in Southeast Missouri. I mean, generally I wouldn't eat it either, but I wanted to make my Nana's recipe. Jason convinced me to try a nice sharp cheddar instead.

So I classed up the recipe a bit and it was a big hit.

Broccoli Supreme
2 packages frozen broccoli
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used the reduced fat, lower sodium kind)
1 8 oz package mushrooms, chopped small
1 small chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Cheese Sauce:
3 C. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 T. butter
1/8 C. flour
1 1/2 C. 1% milk

Saute onions and garlic in 1/4 cup butter, add broccoli and cook until thawed.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt 2 T. butter over medium-low heat. Add flour. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly (do not allow to brown).

Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until mixture thickens slightly, whisking occasionally, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add grated cheddar cheese. Whisk until cheese melts, about 2 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Add soup, cheese sauce, mushrooms and almonds to broccoli. When mixture is blended, place in 9x13 casserole in preheated oven (350) and bake 30 - 40 minutes until slightly browned.

Note: the cheese sauce also makes a pretty good cheese fondue, which I found out because I was starving and dipped a bit of baguette in the leftovers in the saucepan.

*We played Hands and Feet, a very fun game that they taught me when I was about 8 and that I need to teach some people around here so we can play. It's similar to Canasta, so I hear.
** And use their free washer and dryer!

Haul Out the Holly

It's sort of eerily quiet at work today. Not that I'm not busy. I've been working on contracts all morning. I have more contracts to work on this afternoon. In case you don't know, contracts are now my life. I'm getting appreciably better at them, though, so at least I'm learning. For instance, on Monday we met with a client to finally discuss a contract that I finished for them in, oh, March, and I was kind of cringing as we went through it because there were a lot of things there that I would do differently now. The good news is, we're going to revamp them and I get to redo them. The bad news is, we're going to revamp them and I get to redo them. It's kind of a bummer to have to go back to something I thought I was done with, but at least I can make them better.

Anyway, it's been crazy around here lately what with this huge deal happening with one of our clients. There was supposed to be a big deadline today, but yesterday all the attorneys (there are 6 or 7 firms involved) got on a conference call and decided to postpone. So now it's more quiet and the phone isn't ringing every 5 seconds.

We were supposed to buy a Christmas tree and decorate last weekend since Thanksgiving is the decorating weekend according to me, but were so busy that we didn't get around to it. So Jason and I (and this is just pitiful) looked at our jam-packed schedules and set aside this coming Saturday to buy a tree and decorate. I feel like there's not a lot of time this Christmas season to just sit back and enjoy, but I have a Christmas station from Pandora playing on my computer at work and I just made reservations for us to go to a Celtic Christmas music concert and see A Christmas Carol at the Trinity Rep. Because we need a little Christmas.

Evil Pie

Last night I discovered my new favorite thing and my new biggest nemesis all wrapped up in a single pie. I made Sweet Potato Pie from a recipe that guaranteed it was authentic Southern-style and they weren't kidding. It was so amazing - you know, if you like sweet potatoes and pie and Southern food, all of which I do (to the chagrin of my hips).

I'm going to share the evil with all of you!

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes (so I baked a medium-large sweet potato and wound up with probably a cup and a half to 2 cups of mashed sweet potato and thought that was a perfect amount)
  
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Add potatoes, eggs, corn syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, butter and evaporated milk; beat well. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes.

Yeah, I know. Sugar, corn syrup AND butter, all in relatively large quantities. I told you it was evil. And yet so, so good...