Happy New Year!!!

Such a quick year, in a few hours it will be 2014, doesn't seem possible.  I can remember being a little girl and trying to picture me in the future.  2014 seemed impossible, did anyone live long enough to live into the 2000's?  LOL
In review 2013 was a busy year for us, lots of crafting for me, lots of painting for Mac.  Trips to visit our daughter in D.C., a trip to Wyoming to finally see Yellowstone National Park (had wanted to go ever since I watched Yogi Bear in Jelly Stone all those years ago), an almost trip to Spain that my suitcase got to make, but we didn't, and a visit home to California to see family.
In between we gardened, went out dancing a few times, went to a couple of golf tournaments, grew a little older, hopefully a little wiser.
No New Year's Resolutions, I'm just not good at working under pressure.  Hoping to do more traveling next year(oh England I have missed you), finally finishing a few projects (yes afghan I'm talking about you) and trying to slow the days down--I'm no longer the little girl who couldn't wait to grow up, I'm the little, old lady who'd like to take her time.
I'm including a picture of a sculptural owl that our daughter gave Mac for Christmas, he wanted her to see that he'd put it out in the garden.

Christmas Presents

My family knows me well and my presents fit me perfectly, no,  not clothes, I never want clothes.  No, I got rather more exciting gifts.  I got a cannon that really fires black powder.  I've always wanted a cannon, not exactly sure why, it just appeals to the pyromaniac in me.  Mac needs to get me some fuses and then I'm good to go.

Another very appropriate gift was a Bugs Bunny,  complete with tuxedo and white collar.  Why Bugs you say, well everything I know about classical music I learned from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons.  So Mac got a Bugs Bunny and he made the tux with tails, it is just too cute.

My daughter gave me many wonderful gifts too, but of course remembered I needed a small Godzilla, my hero.

I've been busy undecorating the house, hate to see it all go, but it's time.

Cream Puffs

Morning Minion has asked for the recipe for the cream puffs, so I asked my daughter for it.  She says it's a Japanese recipe and that cream puffs in Japan are called Shu Cream.
Here it is:

Yield: Makes 8 or 9 puffs

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 eggs - 2 eggs
• for custard cream filling:
• 2 Tbsp flour / 1/2 cup sugar / 1 cup milk / 2 egg yolks / 1 Tbsp melted butter
• matcha green tea powder (optional)
• for topping:
• powdered sugar

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Beat eggs in a bowl. Put butter, sugar, and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Add flour in the butter mixture and stir quickly. Stop the heat. Add eggs slowly in the mixture and mix well. Place a cooking sheet in a baking pan. Put the dough in a plastic bag to squeeze out as small mounds in the pan (she just drops the dough by the spoonful onto the pan). Make 8 or 9 mounds of dough. Bake them in the 375 degree F oven for 30 minutes. Cool the puffs and cut them in halves horizontally.

Make custard cream as follows. Mix egg yolks and sugar in a pan. Add sifted flour in the pan and mix well. Add warm milk in the pan gradually. Place the pan on low heat and stir the mixture constantly until thickened. Stop the heat and add melted butter and stir well. Cool the custard cream. (If you want to make matcha flavored custard cream, dissolve 1 tsp of matcha green tea powder in 2 tsp of water in a small bowl. Mix well. Add a few spoonful of custard cream in the green tea and mix well. Add the green tea cream in the rest of custard cream.)

Fill the bottom halves of puffs with custard cream and place the top halves. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

They are so light you could eat a dozen of them.

A Wonderful Christmas

How could it not be, our daughter was here and we spent great days talking, laughing, cooking, watching movies, I'm exhausted.  She left yesterday and is back at work today, these airport goodbyes are horrible!
Like the good Spanish (well, at least they are) we ate and ate and ate.  Traditionally on Christmas Eve we have fresh shrimp (we're so lucky to live in Georgia where fresh, local shrimp are abundant and very reasonable) along with plates of olives and cheese (Mancego from Spain and Monterrey Jack from California).

Christmas Eve

Christmas morning it was coffee and cookies as we opened  our presents.  I GOT A CANNON, ONE THAT WILL FIRE, I'VE ALWAYS WANTED A CANNON!!!!!  I'll tell you more about it and another rather interesting present tomorrow.

April Made Green Tea Cream Puffs

Christmas Day

For dinner we had leg of lamb, loads of roasted veggies, grilled brussel  sprouts, deviled eggs  and cranberry sauce.  Dessert was pumpkin pie.  There was champagne to toast with.
The time flew, it will be months before we get to see her again, thank goodness for the internet!
Hope your Christmas was special too.

Twas' The Day Before Christmas

Let's see, cookies baked, cream puffs made (thank you April), eggs boiled for deviling, pumpkin pie baked, fresh shrimp picked up and ready for tonight, leg of lamb ready for roasting, packages wrapped, I think we're ready.
Merry Christmas to all!!1

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful ...

No it's not snowing, blowing or cold, dog gone it, it's hot!  Yesterday set a record, it was 83°, on December 22, come on, that's just not right.  Rain was supposed to come, bring a cold front and cool it off.  Today was supposed to reach 70°, it was 78° at 11 am, our overnight low was 66°.
Please Santa, the weather man says low 30's for Christmas Eve, please bring it!

Christmas

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, 
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” 
― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

True, true, true.  But sometimes it does come in an airplane, particularly the plane that will be bringing our daughter tomorrow.  For that's what Christmas is to me, when we're together to share the joy, the happiness and the love that being together brings.

Microwave Part II

It'll fit the salesman said, they're all standard size to fit the typical opening for a mounted microwave, you'll have no problem.  Don't worry about the dimensions and it's in stock.  So we  bought it and carried it home.  It was heavy, it was awkward, Mac called our friend to come and help.  I was cooking beans, they said not to worry, twenty minutes tops to get the old one out and the new one in.
Two and a half hours later it was done.  I don't know what standard size is, but it's not what we have.  The holes for the screws that hold it in place were in a different place, the microwave itself was deeper than our old one, it sticks out a bit.  Because it's over the stove that's not a problem, but it definitely isn't the same size as our old one.
I can only assume that the salesman in search of a sale had no idea what he was talking about or  that he's never installed a microwave or standard size is a a mythical number.    The store charges $75.00 to install a microwave , we now know why.
But it does pop popcorn.

R.I.P.

Not Peter O'Toole, though I liked him very much, particularly in Becket, nor Joan Fontaine.  No, my microwave died Monday night.  It gave us 10 good years of service, other than the handle falling off a couple of times---I tend to yank instead of pull and we were really sorry to see it go.  It went with a small pop and that was it.  Mac says that he could probably get the part that blew, but the thing is old and its finish doesn't match the rest of the appliances so I said no, let it go in peace.
  It's an over the range microwave and when we put it in we were more concerned with the dimensions matching our opening than we were with what it could cook.  Now after ten years I know exactly what I need in a microwave, in addition to fitting in the opening.  It must be able to pop popcorn, reheat coffee and cook potatoes, that's it, anything else is a bonus. Oh, and it has to have stainless steel finish to match the rest of my appliances and most importantly  it had to be available immediately, none of this, we'll deliver in a week or so.
Bright and early, and way too cold, yesterday morning we were off, to the post office to drop off the last Christmas box, to Goodwill to drop off a donation, to a local shop that carries Mac's paintings---he'd sold one and had money waiting, then to Home Depot.  They had a ton of microwaves, lots in stainless steel and at prices that didn't make me gag, I mean, how much are you willing to pay to pop popcorn, and one model was actually in stock, we took it!
Mac has it setting up out in the garage, we need to remove the old one before putting the new one in.  We installed the old one all those years ago and Mac was sure that though the new one weighs 65 pounds we'd still be able to get the new one in.  I'm not so sure, I told him that though he's not a little, old lady that I am.  So he called our friend and he'll be over tomorrow  to help Mac, so I can do little, old lady things instead.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

It's Monday morning and the good news is that because I'm retired I didn't have to get up and go to work.  Instead I got up in the cold and went walking 2 miles, did a load of laundry and hung it outside, printed a label for an item Mac sold on ebay, made a loaf of bread and baked a load of gingerbread folks.  Are we having fun, I don't know, but we sure made a mess and that's kind of fun.

Cactuses (English plural)

My Christmas Cacti (Latin plural), if you don't
 count the white one that rather sheeplike decided to croak for no apparent reason, are putting on a spectacular show.  Starting just after Thanksgiving they budded out and now are covered in flowers.  Well done!
As for the multiple spellings of the plural form of cactus, both are considered correct and I couldn't decide which I preferred so I just used both.