Man? I Don't Need No Stinkin' Man!

Before I go any further on this post I wanted to share a photo of my girls. Kele has now figured out why Lili likes to sleep on the sofa all the time.

Well the time came for me to get the Christmas tree out of the house. I called a friend, I sent him a text, I left him a voice mail. When I got tired of waiting to hear from him I took matters into my own hands.

Here it is 11:21 and the tree, all 8 feet of it, is ready to go outside.

It is now 11:32 and the tree is not only out of the house but it has been tossed over the back deck rail.

By 12:09 the house was back to normal.

So who needs a man for these things,, not me!

The Christmas Holiday

Usually our boss gives us off on Christmas Day and the day after Christmas. This year he was very gracious and gave us off Christmas Eve also and since we get to leave work at 1:30 on Fridays I had a 5 1/2 day long Christmas holiday. And even though I have no one in my life right now I was determined to have a fantastic holiday and I did!

On Friday afternoon I did not do much. On the 22nd I baked, sorry no pictures. I made Oatmeal cookies with white and semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter cookies with kisses on them, sugar cookies, cinnamon toasted almonds and peppermint bark. WHEW!!

On Sunday the 23rd I had my neighbors over for wine and appetizers. They were up from Ft. Lauderdale for the holiday.

Here is William pretending to doze in front of the fire while Alister gives Morgan some loving.

William, Gail and Jill.

Christmas Eve I had my friend Josh back for dinner. He was down in September for dinner and his picture is on a blog post. The tree was lit and the table set.

Since it was Christmas eve, the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

On Christmas morning my son, CJ, and his girlfriend Brooke arrived. After everything was unpacked and their car moved down the mountain due to snow coming,we had lunch then started opening gifts.

Gifts done we relaxed with some wine and appetizers. Brooke fit right in.

CJ relaxing. He took over the fire duties for me and kept us very warm.

Whoa,,,Orca whale watch. This is treadmill incentive for sure.

The morning of the 26th while waiting for CJ and Brooke to get up I took a picture of Christmas Day's empty bottles. They were all very good. I cannot imagine how many bottles there would be if Boo and Tony had joined us. CJ says he would really like to meet Boo and Tony.

For breakfast on the 26th I made a hash brown, egg, sausage and cheese casserole.

After breakfast we played Monopoly. CJ had control and he was killing us. Things quickly went from bad,,,,,,,

To worse,,,,,needless to say Brooke and I got creamed. However Brooke won at Scrabble later that day and I won both rounds of Scattergories (sp).

During the Monopoly game Kele decided that she wanted up on the sofa and since Brooke was sitting in her spot she just wedged her body in behind Brooke.

Wednesday afternoon I got a picture of CJ and Brooke with the tree and the snow in the background. It was Brooke's first white Christmas.

The morning of the 27th I had to go back to work and Brooke and CJ had to head home. Here are the empty bottles from the 26th.

As we said our good-byes we took photos. CJ and Brooke in the snow.

My son and I,,love that man!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Chorizo Lentil Stew

Since my ex bought so much Chorizo I am still looking for ways to use it all up. This time of the year I enjoy soups for lunch so when I found this recipe I was a happy camper. I found this on TastyKitchen.com

Ingredients:
1 pound Chorizo
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 can (15oz) Cannellini beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) fire roasted, diced tomatoes
1 cup dried lentils
2 cups chicken stock
6 cups chopped, fresh spinach
crumbled goat cheese for garnish

Directions:
In a big pot, brown the Chorizo in a little bit of vegetable oil, stirring constantly until almost done, about 5-7 minutes**. Add in the Canellini beads, tomatoes, lentils and chicken stock. Stir until well combined. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft and tender. Remove from heat, stir in the spinach; cover and let sit for about 5 minutes or until the spinach wilts.

Garnish with the crumbled goat cheese.

**Note: after browning the Chorizo there was so much grease in the pan I removed the Chorizo to some paper towels and drained off all the drippings except for about a teaspoon.

Apple Buckle

Each year a client brings a bushel of apples to our office and I make pies and such from the ones we don't eat.

This year I made an apple buckle. It was really good! The recipe came from SparkPeople.

APPLE BUCKLE

Dough:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 butter melted
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Apples:
5 medium apples, peeled, cored and very thinly sliced
2 tsp cinnamon
6 tblsp sugar

Crumble:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, softened, not melted
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease a 9 x 11 inch pan

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

I in a medium bowl, using a mixer, combine the sugar, melted butter, egg and milk. Blend until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until well blended.

Toss the apples with the cinnamon and sugar. Using a wooden spoon mix the apples into the dough. The batter will be rather stiff.

Place the apples and dough into the prepared pan.

Using a fork or a pastry blender combine the crumble ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over the dough in the pan.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Make sure you are not sticking the toothpick into an apple.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend I loaded up Wahine (my CR-V), got the dogs in and headed off to my daughter's house for a family holiday.

At the time I did not realize how far out of whack my date stamp was on my the camera, it has since been corrected. Anyway,,,,

Thanksgiving morning my son in-law Justin picked up my son from the airport and they sat and chatted for a bit.

I got a picture of my children and I, not too many of these out there as I am usually the photographer.

CJ and Patricia in the kitchen doing some prep work for the big meal.

Black Friday after we had done some shopping Patricia and I took the 4 dogs for a walk. The saying about unless you're the lead dog the view never changes is true.

My 4 legged kids and I before we head back to Patricia's house.

Saturday morning Justin, Patricia and I headed out to put up the outside lights. After Justin and I got them all out of the attic we started at the corner of the garage.

Once I knew Justin could handle his portion alone I went to put the lighted garland up over the front door.

Once the outside was done we headed off to get a Christmas tree. Patricia was happy with the one we picked out and it came from West Jefferson.

My pregnant baby girl putting the lights on. She only paid $10 more for her tree than I did for mine,,hmmmm.

Sunday morning I loaded up and headed home. The traffic was awful. At one point I hit 30 mph,, OMG!

Nope,,,that must have a been a figment of my imagination because I am stopped now. It took me a total of 14 hours to get home that day.

May Day in November

I like to entertain. I like to do different things like Christmas in July. This year I decided to do a May Day in November.

In Hawaii, May Day is a big deal. It is a day to celebrate the Hawaiian heritage, food and music. I invited a few friends over and we had Hawaiian food and listened to Hawaiian music while enjoying each other's company.

Since people in Hawaii eat Spam I found a recipe for Spam and Pineapple Kabobs, brushed with honey and broiled. They were good.

I made Lomi Lomi Salmon, Oven Roasted Kahlua Pork with Cabbage and Huli Huli Chicken.

A few years ago my wonderful co-workers gave me some sea shell shaped floating candles. I used them for a table centerpiece.

Guests included Emily, Damon and Nancy.

Bill and Sue. There was a prize for the most colorful a/k/a loud shirt. There was a coin toss between Bill and Nancy. Had Damon been there on time he would have won.

After everyone left I got the kitchen cleaned up. I cannot stand waking up to a messy kitchen.

By the time I was done the dining room was ready for Thanksgiving.

The living room was back to normal. It was a fun night and next time I'll invite more people. Aloha!

Pot Roast Smothered in Onions

I was curious about this recipe, a pot roast with apples and cinnamon? Sounds interesting. So I gave it a try, not bad.

4 large cooking apples, unpeeled, cored and sliced 1/4" thick
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 (2 1/2) pound beef chuck pot roast
1 tblsp mild vegetable oil
4 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 cup apple juice or water
2 large cloves garlic minced
1 tblsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried, crumbled oregano
1 tsp dried, crumbled thyme

Put apples in a 3 1/2 quart or larger crock-pot. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Trim fat from roast. If necessary cut roast into 2 pieces to fit into crock-pot. In a large pot brown the roast on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Place roast on top of apples. Separate onions into rings and put on top of meat. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and pour over meat and onions. Do not stir. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Transfer meat to a carving platter. Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with apples, onions and pan juices.