Food Friday: Tamales

Tamales are a Christmas tradition at my house--as it is for many Mexican families. Tamales are an all day process. We literally begin at 9am and do not finish until after 5pm. And this is with many people helping. Usually the women do all the work but a few years ago my mother decided that everyone had to help. If you wanted tamales you had to help make them. As you can imagine, we finished in record time that year.

This year we had a small team. Myself, my mother, a cousin and her 4-year-old son. It took a long time but we had a blast. The tamales were delicious too. Many people have asked me for the recipe but the truth is, I don't know it. The recipe has been passed down through the generations from mother to daughter and many alterations have been made along the way. I still need my moms help to make them. It takes time to really learn this time honored tradition. Someday I will take the time to measure everything out and create a recipe. But for now, if you want tamales, you better come over and help. :)

Later on we decided that we needed a nice dessert...

 

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Alligator

I'm sure you've heard of Santa Claus, Rudolph and Frosty and some of you may even know about Dominic but how many have heard of the Christmas Alligator? No one? Well, I am happy to introduce you to him.

The Christmas Alligator was created during October and has been waiting patiently for his debut. He's almost 3 and the cutest, cuddliest and most fun alligator you've ever had the pleasure of knowing. He doesn't bite and enjoys baking and eating cake and never passes up a good book.

He is currently looking for a creative theme song. Suggestions and comments about how cute he is are very welcome.

Merry Christmas! 

Christmas makes me sleepy

Growing up, my brother and I were kept completely in the dark about Christmas presents. We were only allowed to know about the gifts we were giving. This may be due to Adam's 3rd Christmas when my father made a big deal about keeping secrets and not telling mommy about her gift. It seemed like we were all on the same page. Good. Then we got home and Adam promptly announced "Mommmy! We bought you a sweater!" "Adam, you were not supposed to tell her that!" Adam responded, "I didn't tell her it was a pink sweater." It's all in the details. :)

Anyway, I never knew about anything. Everyone's gifts were a complete surprise on Christmas morning. However, when I turned 18 all that changed. Suddenly Mom was taking me shopping for Dad and Dad was giving me gifts to wrap for Mom. At first it was exciting. I was in the know--something I had longed for much of my childhood. But it soon lost its magic when I realized I knew what almost everyone was getting. Sure, my gifts were a surprise and it was nice to see everyone enjoying their gifts but I wanted it ALL to be a surprise. 

Its been a few years now of this and I'm starting to get used to it. I actually was able to get my mom to shop in advance this year and enjoyed searching for silver wrapping paper for my dad (It's their 25th wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve).  I guess this is a glimpse into what it's like to be a parent during the holidays. It's fun and seeing your children excited and thankful for their gifts is wonderful. More than anything though? Christmas is tiring. Maybe I should start shopping for my future kids now.

Happy Holidays! I hope you get to take lots of naps between wrappings.

This blog has been taken over by Graduate school monsters!!

Yes, it's true. We have taken over Sunshine and Potatoes and refuse to let Grace post anything until she is finished with her graduate school applications. One of which she thought was due in January but is actually due in 11 days. Some of you will probably miss her during this time but believe us, it's for the best.

Cross your fingers that she is able to finish her applications soon!

Book Review: The Handmaids Tale

The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood

Overview: The Handmaids Tale brings you on a 1984 type journey in the future through the eyes of Offred, a handmaid. Her job is to procreate for families that cannot. The new totalitarian regime has come into power recently and Offred still remembers the way things used to be. She tells her story of living in the Republic of Gilead while interspersing her memories of her previous life. 

What I liked: I really enjoyed that this story is written from a womans point of view. It was easier to relate to and at times I felt like I was actually there. The way the main character goes in and out of her memories is also interesting. By the end you are left wondering what happens, which I have a love/hate relationship with. I understand that it is meant to make you think (and it did) but I think Atwood could have written a beautiful closing-whether it was happy or sad.  

I recommend this book to: Anyone that enjoys "end of time" type stories or loved 1984.

Overall Rating: 4 of 5

Currently Reading: Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen

P.S. I am so sorry DC Public Library that I have not returned this book! As you can see from my record I am very good about returning on time. I promise to get this to you tomorrow. And my apologies to any DC folks who are waiting for it to be returned. 

Tea or Coffee?

I am a huge fan of Etsy but for some reason I often just stare longingly at the pages without purchasing. I watched this beautiful and witty tea cup pass me by last summer. Last week I finally decided to email El the creator the tea cup to see if she would re-create it for me. Well, it was my lucky day. She said yes! I can't wait for it to arrive.

Check out El's work at her shop and blog Daily Ode. Her art is very creative and beautiful. Definitely worth looking at and purchasing!

Food Friday: Happy 100th Post! Cupcake Style!

I can't believe it. I've actually written 100 blog posts! If you asked me this time last year about blogging I would have told you it was my least favorite thing to do at work. And now here I am blogging and voraciously reading others blogs. It's been a joy and I look forward to hundreds more.

In honor of my 100th post, I've decided to write about one of the coolest and most fun things I ever did.

Way back in my second year of college I was sitting in the computer lab (not writing a paper) when I got a great idea. I immediately turned to my best friend Elysa and said "Let's jump out of a huge cake for Rahul's birthday!" She gave me a funny look and then said "ok". I promptly called my mother and told her my idea. She loved it. Not long after that she called me back and said "I've decided you two are way too cute to jump out of a cake, let's make it a cupcake". Of course, we agreed.

My mother did most of the work. She used cardboard to make the base of the cupcake and then folded butcher paper to make it look like a cupcake tin. The frosting is made out of paper as well. Pieces were folded into little roses to give the creamy frosting effect. And of course there are paper sprinkles and a birthday candle. The candle extends down into the cupcake which allowed us to hold it up properly and jump out of it without tearing it.

On the day of the event we enlisted the beautiful Kimberly to photograph and video. We then snuck over to Rahul's dorm and set ourselves up outside his door. Kimberly knocked. Once the door opened we waited to let Rahul and his friends get the full effect then we jumped out with a loud "Surprise! Happy Birthday!!"

The cupcake is a tad flat in this picture since we were not inside it holding it up.

Rahul, as usual, was having a party at the time so we had a decent sized crowd witness the event. Everyone had a great time playing in the cupcake. I think this is one of my fondest memories. I may have to do it again sometime. 

Thank you all for reading my blog and for the supportive comments. It means a lot to know people enjoy reading it. And it helps me so much to get my ideas out there and figure out where I want to go next.

Happy Friday!

Halloween Fail

As you know, I like to plan things and be well prepared. But sometimes Murphy's Law has it's way and there is nothing you can do about it. 

It started at 8:30am. I drove my boyfriend to work. It was bad enough that he had to work on Halloween, but after I left him there, I found out that his co-worker was two hours late. So my boyfriend ended up standing outside in the rain. FAIL

While he was sulking in the rain, I was making my big push toward health and physical fitness by taking advantage of my first day of gym membership. But when I got to the gym, there was no parking anywhere. FAIL

Then I spent the afternoon scouring the grocery store and the mall for pieces for my costume and ingredients for my Halloween cookies. With all my success and excitement, I came home to "Oh crap! I messed it up." Yes, my boyfriend messed up his Halloween costume by trying to use bathtub caulking as fabric glue! Goodbye costume idea #1. FAIL

Later we came up with another brilliant idea. All we had to do was burn a shirt with an iron. But the iron wouldn't burn my boyfriends shirt for the costume idea. What!?! Seriously, a Nonburnable cotton shirt? Who's heard of that? FAIL

While he struggled against the cotton menace, the cookies I made came out came out wrong. What I thought would be cute little sandwich cookies turned out to be huge cake sandwiches. Martha really let me down this time. I tried to save them with artful decorating, but instead of a witches hats, they looked like traffic cones. FAIL

7:53 came. We had no costume. No motivation. No energy.

Everything about the day was a complete and utter disaster.

And then it hit us:

Did I mention that the car was out of gas, he forgot his wallet, and I left my jacket at home?

FAIL - FTW!

Food Friday: Halloween Goodies

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love creating costumes and baking delicious treats. The past two Halloweens I have made Martha Stewart cookies--Lady Fingers and Candy Corn cookies. Martha has so many delicious and fun Halloween recipes. And this year I simply can't decide what to make.

I've narrowed it down to four options based on my ability to make them the day of Halloween, the ingredient list and ease of eating while partying. At the moment I am leaning towards the Wicked Witch Cupcakes, but the other three recipes look so darn good. I wish I could make them all.

Please help me choose! Below you can see the photos and links to the recipes. Either comment or vote using the nifty poll. And if you hate all of these options (and you are attending Nikki's party) then please tell me what other treat you'd like me to make. Thank you for your help friends! 

1. Wicked Witch Cupcakes

2. Halloween Whoopie Pies

3. Jack-o'-Lantern Tarts

4. Brownie Bits

Halloween Costumes: Robert Palmer and Backup Dancer

Last year was a great Halloween. My boyfriend and I went to my good friend Nikki's Halloween party. She is awesome and her party was so fun. We had a great time eating and drinking with friends and there were lots of laughs.

We decided it was more fun to create a costume together and in a moment of sheer brilliance (aka me wanting to dance to 80's music) we decided to go as Robert Palmer and his back-up dancer.

Most of the costume was easy to put together from our closets. Which gave us more time to track down a wig and make a guitar. We put off buying the wig so the store only had white oness-- we spray painted it brown. The guitar was really fun to make and we are so proud of our creation. Most people think it's real at first glance but it's all cardboard. :)

For those of you too young to know who the heck Robert Palmer is check out the video.