O' Christmas Tree

Thanks to this little guy our house smells wonderful!  And yes - that is our only tree!  And yes - it is real!  And no - you can't laugh at me, we don't have a place for a large tree and well let's just say that Tucker has already attempted to eat this one.  And I bet you couldn't drive to Lowe's, pick out and buy your tree, drive back home, and have it fully decorated in an hour (20 minutes of which I spent waiting to check out at Lowe's).

Report Card

BREAKING NEWS:  John can answer the phone and says "hel-whoa"...then when asked how are you doing he replies "Fine."  Then after telling everyone that "aunt day" is on the phone, he says "Bye-bye" and click you are gone...

Any time I attempt a new dish, Andrew gives me a grade on it (which I love - if it worked - we will have it again, if it failed, I throw away the recipe).  After stuffing ourselves full of turkey (well not so much turkey), dressing, hashbrown casserole, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and pumpkin bread pudding - he gave me the most amazing, totally unexpected grade ever - 99!! Here's the story -

Grand total - 18 eggs, 1 quart of heavy cream, 5 sticks of butter, 6 tablespoons of bourbon (in three different dishes), 4 cups of sugar, 2 cups of brown sugar, 2 cups of cheese, 2 cups of sour cream - yep that makes for a wonderful meal!!


The turkey breast that was supposed to cook in 2 hours on 325, took 3.5 hours on 325, then 350, then 375, then 400, then 425.  The moral to this story - I need double ovens.  However, it was moist, juice, and full of flavor once it was finally done after we had eaten all the sides.  I used an apple, Serrano pepper, and sage glaze on it - amazing!!

The dressing - aka 2005 Mama Ouzts Dressing - was perfect.  Mrs. Susan spent 4 or 5 years trying to get the recipe just right...she wasn't given much help - the original recipe said a dash, a little bit, and our all time favorite - "until good and juicy."  So lucky for me, she has already figured out what "good and juicy" means - and I quote from Mrs. Susan's recipe "similar to a lumpy cake batter."  Prior to putting it in the oven I declared it a success and sure enough Andrew said, "Its a 99.9% and if you had gravy it would be 100%"  but then he realized that it didn't require gravy and he was pleased.

The hashbrowns are the usual - thanks to Mom for the recipe - they are better than Cracker Barrel and super easy to make if you have a large enough mixing bowl and can brave tossing frozen hashbrowns with your hands.

The sweet potatoes were super yummy and I learned that most people don't peel, boil, and mash their own sweet potatoes - I've never been known to take the easy road...well...

The green beans - Glory brand straight from the can...easy road...

Pumpkin Bread Pudding - with homemade pumpkin bread - enough said...but gotta mention the bourbon maple cream sauce - okay now enough said...

Tradition

Not sure if it is just the South or everywhere, but traditions sure enough run deep in the South.  Andrew and I didn't have to face the difficult decision of which family are we going to spend this holiday with because lucky for us our families live an hour apart and they traditionally celebrated at different times.  For example, Mother's Day for my family is very important, for Andrew's family, it is a day that Mrs. Susan wants to go out and eat.  Thanksgiving - my family does lunch with all of Granddaddy's brothers and sister and their families at lunch - Andrew's family - does dinner at his parents house.  Christmas, Andrew's family - Christmas Eve...My family - Christmas morning.  So it worked beautiful for us.  The past four to five years that we have spent each holiday together has been a breeze. 

However, this year was different.  Living in Mississippi and with Andrew's work schedule, we just could not make the trip to Georgia.  So we are starting our own new tradition.  First was pot-luck at the hospital with some of the other on-call residents and their spouses.  Then today, it is a full Thanksgiving meal, for just the two of us.  And although no family could make it out and we deeply miss them, we are also looking forward to a relaxing weekend together - its been a while.

But going back to traditions - Thanksgiving is one of the those meals that is based on tradition.  Its Aunt Sara or Mama Ouzts' dressing, Papa George or Mr. Charlie's fried turkeys, hashbrown casserole and sweet potato casserole, and of course, buttermilk custard, pecan pie, and any other amazing dessert Mama George whipped up.  Although Papa George and Mama Ouzts have passed and Mama George doesn't cook, someone filled the void...it was Mrs. Susan with the dressing and as luck would have it the Ouzts have traditionally fried their turkey just as Papa George did.  But it seemed that no one had filled the void with homemade pies in the Ouzts family since Mama Ouzts passed so our first married Thanksgiving, Andrew and Papa Ouzts both requested that we have homemade desserts and I agreed to make them.  They didn't want just any dessert they wanted a chocolate custard and coconut custard just like Mama Ouzts made.  So after days of searching for her recipes, we gave up.  So I pulled out the original Better Homes and Gardens and as wished I found a recipe for both.  Come to find out after successfully making them and getting the seal of approval from Papa Ouzts that those were the recipes that Mama Ouzts had always used. 

So this year - it is my turn again to fill all the voids of home - I am going to make my first attempted at turkey (baked not fried) and Mama Ouzts' dressing, as well as some other fixings - but we are starting a new tradition - its called sometimes you can't be with family so fix your own Thanksgiving meal, be thankful for each other, our family and friends, and the traditions that were started years ago, and enjoy a beautiful weekend together.  And we are going to be really Thankful for Penn's, Chick-Fil-A, or some other fast food restaurant when dinner turns out terrible!

Babysitting...

In two weeks, Andrew and I get the true joy and honor of babysitting for some friends (and one of Andrew's bosses).  The parents are going to Memphis to run the marathon and walk the half-marathon and we get all three kiddos for the weekend.  Now those of you that know us well, know that we are super excited about this.  We love kids, but we also love giving them back to their parents!!  Here is their family blog if you want to see the precious little ones.

Shopping with MB

MB, John, Grandmomma, and Granddaddy came up for a visit this past weekend.  The game plan was for MB and I to do some shopping then re-decorate my living room.  We had a few specific goals in mind, but more than anything I wanted to take our house from "apartment, college" looking to a true "grown-up home."  Here's how it went down:

1) Friday night - they arrive with both John's demanding pizza as soon as they step out of the van
2) Saturday morning - I whip up a country breakfast then we plot our day...Grandmomma and Granddaddy decided to head on back to Georgia since Granddaddy was missing everything about home...
3) Saturday mid-morning -
(a)MB, John and I (while Andrew worked) set out to Bed, Bath, and Beyond...we pick out some curtains and a rod for the kitchen door area since we can't sit at our table in the evening because of the sun...we also got mom and dad's Christmas from MB, John got a new noise machine, and I got a new crock-pot.  MB got a ton of other stuff too - I can't remember what all she put in the cart, but John was out of room by the time we left.
(b)We move on to TJ Maxx, where we get Grandmomma's Christmas, a few toys for John, MB a couple of shirts, and nothing for my house.
(c) John spotted the rear of the Chick-fil-A and started yelling "COWS, MOOOOOO" "French Fries, Dip-Dip..."  FYI - the kid knows the colors of the building, he doesn't even need to see the sign and he demands going there if he spots it.  So Andrew met us there for lunch.
(d) Andrew swaps out my car with MB and hands over he phone (since her's was at our house charging) and he and I take the swagger wagon (aka "The" van) with John to our house so he and I can take a nap.  Andrew heads off to the driving range once home...MB is gone to Toys-R-Us, Tuesday Morning, Dillards, etc...John, Tucker, Tico and I all take a nap.  Once Tucker and Tico decide that my nap is over - I get up, send Tucker outside, and decide to make cheese straws from Southern Living all before John wakes up.  I get half-way through making the cheese straws before John awakes, so I give him a snack and finish up the straws.  MB then starts calling and sending me pictures of her finds at Tuesday Morning.  So John and I finish up and head to Ridgeland to meet her.
(e) MB has completed John's Christmas shopping including a Christmas outfit, John and I meet her to review the finds at Tuesday Morning - she buys me a picture for my Birthday for over the fireplace and some candles...
(f) I head out to Newk's to pick up dinner, she and John head back to the house with the wine we picked up too...
(g) All parties arrive back home, and unload the finds...Andrew starts to freak...then he claims down after he found out I only bought the curtains and crock-pot as budgeted..
(h) we all eat dinner (with wine)...we then start rearranging...first we attempt to hang the curtains, but John needs to use the step-ladder with us and we realize we don't have a level...then we take the old picture down from the fireplace and put the new one up - good thing the new one is so big it just rests up there...we call it a night
3) Sunday morning - Andrew heads back to work, MB and I give John some "Happy Birthday Cake" for breakfast (really it was a blueberry citrus pound cake that Mom sent to me for my Birthday, but any cake is now Happy Birthday Cake according to John).  We start on the curtains once more.  Using a shoe string as a level, we get the curtains hung and taught John that if you teach your daughters how to use power tools, this is what they will do when their husbands aren't around...
(a) then we moved our old quilt into the guest room, switched around a ton of pillows, rehung the "Sunflowers" in the guest room with the day bed, and finally decided to get dressed so we could go back to Tuesday Morning and find more goodies...
(b) went to a different Tuesday Morning that didn't have anything, got John Subway for lunch, headed to the house as I fed him in the backseat - MB loaded up the van to head to the coast, John finished his lunch, I told them, good bye and away they went...
(c) I came inside, brought Tucker inside, and he and I crashed hard for about an hour - then I went to Kroger, and came back, and crashed again....

Here is a little taste of our work....it is still a work in progress but it has made a huge difference...

Hallelujah!! The Schools are Closed!!

Can you tell that I am only slightly excited that all the little kiddos and their big yellow buses, sleek mini-vans, and tank-like SUVs will be off the roads all of next week??  What does that mean for me since I don't have kids??  That means traffic will be like a dream in the mornings and most likely in the afternoons too!!  That means that I won't sit in traffic caused by a school bus stopping in the main road to pick up kiddos from the neighborhoods along it!!  Oh and when school is out, the majority of parents take time off too - have you noticed that trend because I have...Mom, Dad, Ouzts'....get ready because when we have kids and they get a day off...they are packing their bags and heading to your house for the weekend.  I think I will work those days because traffic will be a breeze and well I won't be calling for help when my kids rope me to the bed or something...or I could just stay at home, sit in my pjs, eat cookie dough, and dream of the "old days."  Whoa...good thing I have a long time before I have to worry about that.

Throwdown

Andrew and I both love watching Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the Food Network.  I think Andrew enjoys it because he really likes most of Bobby's food, and of course I like anything that involves food.  On Wednesday night there was a very special Throwdown - not only was it a full-hour Thanksgiving meal, it was with Pioneer Woman, aka maker of amazing cinnamon rolls, the inspiration of my dream kitchen, etc.  If you have picked up on it previously, I love all things Pioneer Woman.  She is an amazing cook, has two pretty awesome kitchens (both of which have features I would die for), and lives on a massive ranch in OK that well is pretty much like heaven to me with all the cows and horses. 

Anyway - Andrew so wonderfully agreed to watch Throwdown with me but he was on-call when it first aired.  So I watched it with two of my bestest friends - Jessica and Megan - via text messages.  Then last night Andrew wanted to watch it so of course I agreed and poor thing, he graciously sat through my commentary which included pointing out all things I love about both kitchens and every PW related person. 

He deserves a massive pat on the back for that one - but he did figure out why I enjoy PW so much - he said, wow she really can cook, and at one point, he laughed out loud at something she said and I responded with - that is how her blog reads on a daily basis...he gets it now!!