Paint in Jars

I grew up in museums. Perhaps that is why art is so important to me. My mom is an art historian and while I was growing up she was the curator of collections at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in California as well as the Pacific Asia Museum. From the day I was old enough she had me tucked away in a basket in her office. I even have the pictures to prove it.

Here I am just a few weeks old in my basket.

Here I am napping during an installation.

Sketching something at a family day

I have fond memories of my years growing up at the museums. So it's no surprise that when I went to college my focus was on fine arts. Furthermore it's no surprise that as a mom I am always encouraging the little inner artist in my children to come out and play.

Recently Lily was invited to one of her best friends Birthday parties. The mom had asked for no toys. So my mind immediately went to a paint set. I figured that somewhere online there had to be someone who had come up with a way to make paint at home. This way Lily could be involved in the making of the gift for her friend which appeals to her natural giving spirit. I was right. In fact there were several recipes which were all about the same. Even better we had everything that we needed to make it already.

Ingredients:

• 3Tbs. baking soda
• 3 Tbs. cornstarch
• 3Tbs. white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp. light corn syrup
• food coloring

Directions:

1. Mix together the baking soda and the corn starch.
2. Add the vinegar. It will fizz up and bubble at this point. Just stir it and wait for the fizzing to stop.
3. Once the fizzing subsides add the corn syrup.
4. Divide the mixture into containers. I used a plastic egg carton for the birthday gift and empty baby food jars for Lily's set.
5. Add the food coloring and stir to get the colors you want.
6. Allow to dry. This will take anywhere from a couple of hours to a full 24 hours depending on how much paint is in the container.

It will bubble quite a bit when you add the vinegar so make sure the bowl you use is big enough to compensate for this or you'll have a mess on your hands.

Pre-colorization



Finished paints

Lily had a blast doing this. I hope her friend likes using them too. Lily has been in a painting frenzy ever since we made these. Even my sometimes melancholy pre-teen sat down and had some fun painting with us.

 One of Lily's finished paintings.

One of Naiya's finished paintings.

The colors are vibrant and the paintings dry quickly. Plus you can customize your own colors and make as much of or as little of any color that you want. As an added bonus I have been able to find an excuse to pull out some of my favorite children's books on colors and art. There are plenty to choose from but I thought I could use this opportunity to share my top five children's books on this topic with you;

#5 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle. This is one of my kids favorite books to have read to them. I find Lily using phrases from the book when she is playing. She will pick up a teddy bear and say "Brown bear, brown, bear, what do you see?" And then find something that's another color to answer with. It's a short read and has large, colorful pictures in it to draw the kids attention and hold it.

#4 Lemons Are Not Red by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. I like this book because it gives the chance for the kids to be contrary, which always seems to be popular. "Lemons are not red" This is when Lily says "NO!! Lemons are yellow!" Besides the kids getting into the story the way the pictures work are pretty neat too. There is a cut out of lemon on the one page showing through to the next page which is red. It says "Lemons are not red". Then you turn the page and the cut out lemon is now on a yellow background from the page you were just on and the facing page says "Lemons are yellow, apples are red!" with a picture of a red apple. It is also a short read, and I love the creativity with the cut outs.

#3 Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. Now we are moving into some of my favorite books from when I was a little girl. What kid with any kind of imagination doesn't like the idea of going on a walk with a purple crayon and drawing a whole new world that you can interact in? This was always a book I looked forward to my mom reading to me. I know, it isn't about colors, but it is about art and being creative which is why I included it in my "top 5" list.

#2 A Painted Tale by Kate Canning. This one doesn't teach colors either but it has beautiful pictures in it and was another one of my favorites when I was growing up. It's about a tiger who escapes from his painting in a museum to get away from some hunters. He has an adventure which includes scaring a little old lady walking through the gallery. At the end he has to find his own painting again by finding his shape which he has a little trouble doing. I believe this book is no longer in print which is why Amazon only carries a few used copies.

#1 Adventure of Three Colors by Annette Tison and Talus Yaylor. Let me start by saying that this is the coolest book. It was like magic to me growing up. It's a story about a boy named Herbie and his dog Angelo. They see a rainbow and Herbie wants to paint it. So they run home only to discover that Herbie only has 3 colors left in his paint box; red, yellow, and blue. Through the book he discovers that by combining the colors in different ways he can make all the colors in the rainbow. Here is the cool part. The way they demonstrate this is by using plastic pages that overlap to form different animals. I took pictures to show you.

OK, here Herbie has painted a blue elephant and a yellow dog. The blue elephant is on the clear plastic. You turn the blue elephant over the yellow dog and...

Voila! A green fish!! This was my absolute hands down favorite book as a kid. There is a reason why I knew what primary and secondary colors were, as well as what happened when you combined them before I could count to 20. This book is also out of print and is only available by purchasing a used copy, but it is so worth it.  

Anyway Lily and I had a blast making the watercolors. Jude and her have also been enjoying all the books I have pulled out. Perhaps they will become favorites of theirs as well.

Snow Days and Pre-Teens

Let me start by saying that I love my family. I really do. I know that deep down they appreciate all that I do here even though sometimes it feels like they lack the verbal skills to say it. But some days I feel less appreciated then others. And sometimes on those days I boil over a wee bit. Prepare to be blown away here...I'm not perfect. I know, I know, it's shocking, but it's true.

Today was one of those days. I woke up to a lovely six inches of snow outside that made up it's mind to be on my to do list. Clearly the snow didn't see that my day was already packed. And although I appreciate the fact that our school district has an automated calling system to inform you of delays and closures, I do not appreciate them calling me at 5'oclock in the morning to let me know there is a two hour delay if at 7'oclock they are just going to cancel school all together. I know that mom's have mastered the art of sleep deprivation to a point where we can raise children, do all the housework, run all the errands, and make dinner on nothing more then a cup of coffee and a yawn. but at some point we'd like to believe that our 18 hour days will be followed by a blissful, uninterrupted, six hours of sleep.

So after changing the sheets, starting the laundry, getting myself and the kids dressed, our hair done, and our teeth brushed, I made breakfast and checked a few things off my to do list. Naiya wanted to go on the computer after breakfast. Fine. So I did the dishes, another load of laundry, changed the newspaper in the bird's cage, and sat down to play with the little ones for an hour before it was time for my youngest to take his morning nap. Then I gave Lily her snack, had a small bite for myself, gave her some play dough and asked Naiya (still on the computer) if she could watch Lily while I shoveled the snow. So I shoveled the snow, all of ours, and then I helped my 80 year old neighbor do her sidewalk. When I came back in Naiya was still on the computer, although she was now talking on the phone with a friend while they were on the same site playing games together. *sigh* I folded the laundry, made some chai for myself, and started the stock for tonight's dinner. Then it was time to make lunch. After lunch Naiya went back on the computer. Just as an FYI she is rarely allowed to play on the computer or have the time to. She had been trying to get on for 3 days before today so I was willing to let her have some time off. But as I busted my butt and watched her enjoy her day there was some tension rising up inside me. Especially since she hadn't done any of her chores yet this week. But I have digressed.

After lunch I had to clean up the basement so that I could vacuum it because over the weekend Naiya had accidentally knocked over a fluorescent light bulb and it had shattered all over the floor, part of which was the kids play area.Even though I had vacuumed immediately after it had happened I knew there had to be a few shards I had missed here and there. So I made sure Lily and Jude had shoes on and we went downstairs so they could play, while I cleaned, so I could vacuum. Naiya stayed upstairs and (you guessed it) played on the computer some more. At this point I was a little more then annoyed because now I am cleaning up something that she had broken on top of everything else I had done, and she hadn't even managed to brush her hair yet. My boiling point was reached when I began cleaning up and came across a bag of stuff that she had taken downstairs after a sleepover she had two weeks ago and hadn't put away yet.

"Naiya!! Come down here!" At this point she knows that some line has been crossed and wisely chooses to obey me right away.
"Hmmmmm???"
"Naiya, you haven't done ANYTHING yet today! So you are going to get off the computer and put this away, brush your hair, and do the chores you haven't done yet this week."

She set to work as I got the little ones ready for their afternoon naps. Then I went back downstairs to clean some more so I could vacuum everything properly and make sure it was all safe again. Naiya appears at the bottom of the stairs to inform me that she has done what I asked and could she go back on the computer again. It was at this point that I decided to point out all that I had done that day so far. In fact had she even seen me sit down minus breakfast and lunch? No she had not. That is because everyday I play Cinderella, and while I don't mind vacuuming, I do mind spending an hour of my time cleaning up things that are not mine in order to be able to do said vacuuming. I mind that everyone walks around leaving this here and that there with the intentions to get to it later, which they rarely do. I mind because it falls on me. I have no intentions of waiting for my kids to get married and have families of their own before it finally dawns on them all that I have done with little thanks over the years. This isn't my dream job. I don't wake up everyday excited to clean poop stains out of someone else's underwear. I do this because I love them. But I would be happier to do it if on a snow day, instead of goofing off all day she might stop and see how hard I'm working and maybe think to pick up her backpack off the floor, or her dirty socks off the couch. Or maybe just tell me that something looks good that I just finished cleaning. I'm not asking for the mom of the year award. I'm asking for a little appreciation and recognition.

I didn't say all of that to her, but I did give her the abridged version, which included the part about poop stains. She stood there for a minute as I went back to cleaning up Barbies shoes and the tea set all over the floor. I turned and she had quietly walked back upstairs. Crap. Had I been too hard on her? I figured I would give it a few minutes to cool off and then I'd go and talk to her. And then...I heard things upstairs. I heard things getting put away. Could something of what I had said sunk in??? She came downstairs with some of the dress up clothes and put them away in the toy box.

"Are you cleaning up? Thank you so much Naiya. Listen, it's not that I'm not happy to go out of my way for all of you. I just feel like sometimes nobody notices or cares. It's like when you do something well and nobody says anything. You know?"
"I know mom."

She smiled and went back upstairs. In between me moving things around to vacuum around them I could hear her doing more. She was putting away the dishes, she was moving the chairs back in around the table. She was looking for things that needed to get done that I hadn't gotten to yet. I came upstairs and it looked like nobody had even played there that day. I literally teared up. I gave her a big hug and told her how much it meant to me that she took time out and helped me. I told her what a great job she had done. How much I loved her. How thankful I was that she had helped me. But more then that, how thankful I was that she had heard me.

She's not perfect, and neither am I. We see the best of each other and we see the worst of each other. But we love each other deeply and from the heart and in the end that's what gets us through each day. I am so thankful for my family. They are smart, clever, playful, giving, they make me laugh, and make my heart swell everyday. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world, even on their worst days, or even on mine.  

Wednesday Night Dinner

Normally we only have meat once a week tops in our house. This week however has been meat filled. It has a lot to do with the charcutepalooza challenge that I am involved in. It also has to do with some ideas I've been mulling over for a couple of weeks.  The week before last I made Raisin d'Etre Mustard the recipe for which I found on Local Kitchen. Since that day I've been slathering it on everything I can think of. When I was making it the recipe called for you to soak the raisins in beer for a few hours and then strain the raisins and puree them in a food processor with malt vinegar. I tasted this little concoction before I added it to the rest of the mustardy mix, and it was amazing. I was a little miffed that I was going to have to add it into the mustard and compromise the flavor that was sitting in my Cuisinart. Sometimes it's the little things you taste that inspire you to create. That night before I went to bed I had an idea.
Why not take that raisin mixture and turn it into a sauce for chicken? That is how I came up with our Wednesday night dinner.

Stuffed Breast of Chicken With Chipoltle Raisin Sauce

*Serves four*

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1/4 lb. brie
• 1/2 Tbs. duck fat or bacon fat (if you don't have either of those you can just use olive oil)
• 4-5 hand fulls of fresh baby spinach
• Pinch of crushed red pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:

• 3/4 cup sweet Thompson raisins
• 1 bottle of New Castle Nut Brown Ale
• 1/4 cup malt vinegar
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. dried chipoltle powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Heat fat of choice or oil in a skillet over moderate heat. Add spinach and red pepper flakes; saute until wilted. When the spinach is done add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts. Season both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Slice a pocket down the side of each breast without going all the way through. Open each pocket and evenly divide the spinach between each chicken breast. Lay the brie on top of the spinach and close the pocket. You want there to be enough spinach and brie in the pocket while still being able to make the chicken close after you have stuffed it.
4. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes or until juices run clear.

For the sauce:

1. Put the raisins and the beer together in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer until the beer is almost completely gone. The raisins will have plumped and the beer will have reduced to a thin layer of syrup in the bottom of the pan.
2. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a food processor. Add the malt vinegar and chipoltle powder. Puree until smoothish. I like a wee bit of texture but you can make it how you like it.
3. Return sauce to pan and heat through adding the salt and pepper to taste.

Putting it all together:

When the chicken is done and has been allowed to rest for 5 minutes slice the chicken on a bias and transfer to serving plate. Spoon the sauce over the top. I served some roasted new potatoes along the side, but a good crisp salad would do nicely too. When you are ready to sit down this is what will be sitting before you:

My Condolences to Charlotte

This past month Charlottes across the country had their spinnerets cramping in an attempt to save their Wilburs. This was all because Charcutepalooza's challenge for the month of February was bacon and/or pancetta. Alas, Charlotte's efforts were in vain. I will agree, though, he really was "Some pig".

I acquired my "Wilbur" from one of the butchers at our local farmers market. I called on Tuesday and that Friday I picked up 5lbs. of fresh pork belly from a local farm.

I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about my abilities to do this. I have never done anything like this before, but I had my charcuterie book, pink curing salt, along with all the other herbs and spices so I gathered it all together and dove right into my pork belly. I decided to cut it into two equal portions; one for bacon and one for pancetta. The pancetta won't be done for another 2 weeks though, so this entry will be solely on the bacon part of the pork belly.

I used everything that was suggested by Michael Ruhlman which included: the salts, maple syrup (that's Grade B maple syrup that I got from the Farm Show last month), pepper, juniper berries, bay leaves, garlic, and thyme. I rubbed it all over the pork belly and breathed it in...mmmmmmmm.

Next I placed the belly in a 2 gallon plastic bag. For the following week I diligently rubbed the pork belly and flipped it over so that each side had its turn in the curing liquid that gathered at the bottom of the bag.
The following Friday I rinsed off the cure. I knew the belly was done because it was firm to the touch. I turned on the oven and began "patiently" waiting for the belly to complete its slow roast. I swear, the last 5 degrees took forever. When I had one degree to go I pulled a frying pan out, set it on the cook top, and stared at the thermometer with my arms crossed in an attempt to will it up to the proper temperature.
After about 20 more grey hairs appeared on my head it was finally done...

I sliced off a sliver and fried it up. Now, let me say that, initially my hopes for this bacon were to achieve something as good as the best quality market bacon that you can buy. I figured if I couldn't achieve that, then I would just continue to get my bacon from the local farmer's market. There certainly isn't any shame in that.

So I took a bite...and it was at that moment that I began to be at a loss for words. It tasted like bacon. It had all of the salty piggyness that you would expect from bacon. But then there was more. A complex savory sweetness that blended with the pig so perfectly... I was blown away. I really can't describe it much better than that. I think my husband's reaction best demonstrates how absolutely amazing it was: he came home and took a bite. His eyes sort of widened and he said, "This isn't bacon." I replied that indeed it was bacon. He said, "Well, it's not like any bacon I've ever had. I guess what I've been eating has been a cheap imitation of bacon." Then he looked at the half-eaten slice in his hand and said to it, "Hello Bacon, my name is Brian, and I am looking forward to getting to know you."
Now, here's my conundrum. I had to come up with a recipe for this meaty treat. It's not that I am unable to make up recipes or adapt ones I already love; the problem is that this bacon is so good that I had to come up with a recipe that didn't take away from its wonderfulness. (Can you tell how good it is by how many made up words I use to describe it?)
So here's what I did.  I like played the food matching game. What does bacon go with? Meats (because when you add meat to meat it's always a good thing), pastas, apples, cheese, potatoes, spinach, Brussel sprouts. Hmm...maybe it would have been easier to make a list of things that bacon doesn't go with.
What I decided on was a favorite comfort food of mine with a twist. I offer up for your culinary delight, "Bacon Pot Pie" and a side of "Warm Bacon Dressing on a Spinach Salad." My favorite pot pie is a chicken pot pie that I found in The Farmhouse Cookbook  by Liz Trigg. All I did was change the amount of chicken for an amount of my bacon and changed out the crust. Here is our Valentine's Day dinner, brought to you by bacon:

Bacon Pot Pie

Adapted from The Farmhouse Cookbook,  by Liz Trigg

*Serves 6*

Ingredients:

• 8-9 oz. thick sliced bacon, cut into pieces
• 2 Tbs. bacon fat reserved (use butter to make up the difference)
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 parsnip, peeled and diced
• 3 Tbs. all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 5 Tbs. medium sherry
• 5 Tbs. dry white wine
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 Tbs. parsley, finely chopped
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten with 2 Tbs. milk to glaze
• 1 pie crust recipe a la Alton Brown, or your own tried and true pie crust recipe. For this recipe you will only need enough for the top crust.

Directions:

1. Make pie crust. Wrap and chill until you are ready for it. This step can be made up to a day ahead of time.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook bacon and set aside in a bowl. Pour out all but 2 Tbs. of bacon fat (Give poured out bacon fat to your closest furry friend). If there wasn't enough bacon fat add butter to make up the difference. Add the onion, carrots and parsnip and cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, until softened. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and add it to the bowl with the bacon.
3. Melt 2 Tbs. of butter in pan. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in stock, sherry, and white wine. Bring the sauce to a boil and cook for one minute, stirring constantly.
4. Stir the cream, peas, bacon, vegetables, thyme and parsley into the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for 1 minute, stirring, then transfer the mixture to an 8-cup pie dish.
5. On a lightly floured surface. roll out the pie pastry to 1/2 an inch thickness. Cover the pie and trim off the excess pastry. Dampen the rim of the dish. With a fork, press the pastry to the rim to seal. Cut decorative shapes from the pastry trimmings if desired.
6. Brush the pastry all over with the egg/milk glaze. Arrange decorative shapes on top. Then brush again with the glaze. Make one or two vent holes in the crust so that steam can escape during baking. Bake the pie for about 35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Serve hot.

My family loved this meal. It took our favorite pot pie recipe to the next level. It reminded me of coq au vin but richer and creamier due to the heavy cream. There was bacon in every bite. It was amazing. The salad was really good too. I adapted a recipe for a hot bacon salad dressing from Cooks.com.

Hot Bacon Salad Dressing

Adapted from Cooks.com

Ingredients:

• 10 slices of bacon, cut into pieces
• 2 tsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. grainy mustard
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• salt to taste
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. In a skillet, saute bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving a tablespoon of the bacon drippings in the pan. Add sugar, vinegar, mustard, pepper, and salt.
2. Add sliced shallots and saute for a couple of minutes until soft.
3. Add reserved bacon to pan.
4. Pour immediately over salad greens and serve.

For salad greens, I used baby spinach and a chopped apple. I chose a gala apple because they are sweet and crisp which balanced nicely against the tartness of the vinegar. It complimented the pot pie perfectly. This is what our Valentines day dinner looked like:

Finally, there was dessert, and while there was no bacon it did finish off the meal nicely. I made chocolate whiskey pots de creme which I got from thekitch.com. I didn't change anything there but if I make it again I would probably reduce the whiskey from 3Tbs. to 2 Tbs., as the whiskey flavor threatened to overtake the rich chocolate flavor.  But as you can see we didn't have much trouble finishing them off anyway.

And so ends the month of bacon. I promise to blog about the pancetta as soon as it is done. Tonight, I hang up my duck prosciutto, and I'll post on that in a week. I have already come up with a recipe that I want to try with it. I am pumped for the next challenge. Bring it!!!

Charcutepalooza

What is charcuterie? Charcuterie is the art of salting, smoking and curing meats. The process of charcuterie has been around since Roman times but was perfected by the French during the 15th century. If you like bacon, sausage, salami, prosciutto, pancetta or any other number of savory, salty, meaty treats then you have enjoyed charcuteire.

At the beginning of the year a challenge was set up for anyone who was willing to partake by co-creators Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Kitchen and The Yummy Mummy. A year long charcuterie experience in which every month for 2011 a new challenge is thrown at those participating to do our own charcuterie at home, come up with a recipe using it, and share it with everyone on our blogs. With the help of the the book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn it looks like it will be an exciting year.

Well let me tie on my apron and sign me up! Every year I try to come up with new things I want to learn about. This year for my cooking skills I was, and still am, planning on getting into making my own vinegars. However when an opportunity to learn about producing your own sausages, prosciutto, bacon, and what not comes along...well you just have to grab that pig and ride it all the way home. Speaking as a mom I find it incredibly important to know what I am putting in front of my children at the dinner table. I try to make everything that I possibly can. This includes our breads, pastas, sauces, jams, jellies, chutneys, mustards, canned fruits, and pickled vegetables. Heck we even make our own ice cream around here. I am particularly excited about our garden this year. But you get the point. We don't eat a ton of meat around here because I will only buy the best and that is also the most expensive. I have avoided processed meats in particular because of their ify origins. But if I can make my own??? Well then that's a whole other story.

So this year I plan on playing with my food. I expect to enjoy myself thoroughly. January's challenge was duck prosciutto which I am working on now, and for February it is bacon and/or pancetta. I will be posting something on that this upcoming Tuesday. So now I hope you will understand why once a month my blog will have a kinds of meatiness on it.

Planning Ahead

Right before Christmas I saw a blog post about eggnog. Not just any eggnog but eggnog that you make a year ahead of time and allow to sit in your refrigerator. Do I have your attention?  These two guys Clay and Zach who co-write a blog called The Bitten Word found a recipe for eggnog written by Jonathan Hunt that calls for you to allow your eggnog to sit for 3 weeks to a year before drinking.
I was instantly curious and I'm always willing to try anything once. The recipe makes a gallon of eggnog, which I thought was a wee bit much even for an eggnog lover like me. So I opted to dial the recipe amount back to only make a quart. Keep in mind that I plan on pinning this recipe against my dulce de leche eggnog recipe next year. So when I have both eggnogs in the fridge I'll already be up to a 1/2 gallon. Who's coming over next year to help?
OK, the first thing you have to do is watch the video that Clay and Zach made of themselves trying the eggnog for the first time. You need to do this because it's hilarious. It's very clear whose idea this probably was from the get go and who was...hesitant. But they both survive and so do the friends at the following party they had. And now we move onto the recipe.

Best Eggnog Recipe

via Jonathan Hunt at Chow.com

Total: 10 mins, plus 3 weeks for aging
Active: 10 mins
Makes: About 1 gallon

Game plan: It’s good to give the eggnog a full 3 weeks of aging or up to 1 year, but you can drink it right away; however, the flavor will be less rounded.

INGREDIENTS

For the eggnog:
    •    12 large eggs
    •    2 cups granulated sugar
    •    1 cup heavy cream
    •    1 quart (4 cups) whole milk
    •    1 liter (about 4 cups) bourbon, such as Jim Beam
    •    1/2 cup Myers’s dark rum
    •    1/2 to 1 cup good Cognac or other brandy
    •    Pinch kosher salt
    •    1 whole nutmeg
To serve (optional):
    •    10 egg whites
    •    1 1/2 cups heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS
For the eggnog:
   
    1. Separate egg yolks and whites. (Reserve the whites for another use). Combine yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl and whisk until well blended and creamy. It will turn a light yellow in color.

    2. Add cream, milk, bourbon, rum, Cognac (use the good stuff), and salt, then stir.
      
    3. Bottle it right away and refrigerate it until it’s ready. (An old liquor bottle works great, as do 22-ounce bail-top bottles, available in brewing supply stores. I used a quart jar since I quartered the recipe)
   
    4. It’s traditional to wrap the bottle in aluminum foil, shiny side out, together with a fresh nut of nutmeg tucked into the foil for grating later. Keep refrigerated for at least 3 weeks, or up to a year if you can.   

To serve (optional):

    1. Serve aged eggnog on the rocks with some freshly grated nutmeg on top. If you want to serve the eggnog in the traditional way, pour it into a punch bowl. In separate bowls, whip 10 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups heavy cream to soft peaks and fold them into the eggnog. Serve in punch cups, garnished with freshly grated nutmeg.

 The star ingredients

This is the part of the post where I talk about the importance of using farm fresh eggs. I mean still warm from the chicken if at all possible. I got these beauties from my local farmers market. The stand has a picture of the chickens strutting around their yard. That's what I'm talking about. Those are my girls. Look at how pretty those eggs are. Besides helping your local economy and supporting farmers that are staying true to the art of farming you are getting a superior product that is less likely to contain nasty little beasties like salmonella. And when you are planning on consuming something raw fresh is always best. Mmmkay?

So I will be patient and try to forget about the yumminess ageing away in the back of my refrigerator until the appropriate time next year. At which point I will be pinning it against my own dulce de leche eggnog. We will see which is the "best eggnog recipe".

Frigid Days

Encapsulated

trees like a rose with icy thorns

hibernating and dormant

they lie and wait

pondering warmer days

and budding branches

Thoughts Sans Pictures

This will be a different blog because it will be lacking pictures. I'm not sure exactly what happened, all I know is that Naiya had gotten a computer game from the library, installed it onto our computer, and now we can't access windows at all. This means that all of my family photographs are inaccessible. So there will be no pictures in my blogs until this problem is resolved. Ugh. It's a shame too because I was all set to stop slacking and start blogging about all this cool stuff that I've been up to. I actually started a list that is on my refigerator of all the things I want to blog about so I don't forget in the haze I feel like I stumble around in half the time.

 

So instead I figured I'd share something that I have thought about on and off again for the past few years. It started with a conversation with my husband. But it was one of those conversations that sticks with you and you go back to and think about again. I don't even remember how it started really. Perhaps a movie or a TV show...who knows. But somehow the conversation started and he mentioned that men would rather be respected than loved. This struck me because while I can't speak for ALL women, I can speak for myself and I personally would rather be loved.

 

This is why. Perhaps men view love differently but I can't love somebody without having respect for them. However I can respect somebody without loving them. For me love encompasses a much greater wealth of feeling and gesture. Loving includes trust, respect, adoration, commitment, faithfulness, truth, support, compassion, understanding, and endurance. I can respect many people but I don't choose to love them all.

Perhaps that is the biggest difference to me--choice. Sometimes I have to show respect towards someone whether I want to or not, whether they deserve it or not. But to love is always a choice. Everyday I choose to love those I care about. I also choose to interact in a loving way towards them.

So yes, I do respect my husband, very much. But more importantly I love him, everyday. Maybe I'll tell him that I respect him every now and again to let him know I heard him, even though it sounds strange to me. "Babe, I respect you." Should we pound fists after I say it??? What is the proper etiquette in that situation?  But I'll always tell him I love him everyday.