5 Favorite Things (About Sacramento!)

So I live near the state capitol of California - Sacramento! This past July 1st was our 7-year anniversary; we still live in the same apartment, even. (Although that time is probably coming to an end soon - we'll discuss that some other time.)

When we moved here, we thought this would be somewhat temporary; we both grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and figured we'd move back once we were a little more financially viable. We never considered Sacramento a possible permanent home, but now I can't imagine moving back to the Bay. I'm NOT saying I don't miss it like crazy sometimes, but it's become a nice place to visit and reminisce. Sacramento is where The Hubs and I have spent most of our time together, and it feels more like home now.

So here are my 5 favorite things about Sacramento and the surrounding area:

• The Capitol building. It's GORGEOUS, and I love seeing it from various cross streets. During the day or at night, it's a sight to see. Also adding to its gorgeousness: Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom. YUM. Despite his working regularly in close proximity, I've yet to actually see him. Mainly because stalking is illegal and I also know I would make a damn fool out of m'self if I saw him, squeeing like a teen girl at a One Direction concert.
• The Crocker Art Museum - I lived here for 6 years before I finally checked it out - then I checked it out twice in six months! First time was with my fellow art/theater nerd N, and second time was with The Hubs (they had a fantastic Norman Rockwell exhibit that we were both interested in viewing). It was just the old Crocker mansion, but then they expanded it into a modern building in addition to the original mansion. 
• The Sacramento Rivercats, our local minor league baseball team - The Hubs is a huge SF Giants fan - and unfortunately, the Rivercats are the feeder team for the Oakland A's (doh!). We don't hold it against them, though. Raley Field, where they play, is a very nice park with good concessions, and I enjoy the little extra entertainments they throw in for the kids and between innings. All this makes for a fun night out during the summer months!
• Ghostbusters! That's right, who ya gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS! I first saw them during a local 4th of July parade, but I've seen the car driving around at least twice since. It always makes me smile. They're committed cosplayers (so as a huge nerd I LOVE that), and they do charity work. How can you not love that? Plus what other city can claim to actually have the Ghostbusters? ;D
•  The FOOD. So many great restaurants to check out! Plus fancy grocery stores (I'm such a sucker for that stuff), from chains like Trader Joe's and Whole Paycheck Foods to local favorites like Taylor's Market and Corti Bros. My favorite local restaurants so far have been in Midtown Sacramento, for the most part; our favorite place to take out-of-towners is to Chicago Fire because the buffalo wings are perfect, the pizza is AMAZING, and their chocolate chip cookie a la mode is heaven. We've checked out tons of places that we loved and keep meaning to go back to, but just haven't (we try to keep the pricy meals out limited to once a month indulgences), and with so many options it's too tempting to try something new every time! I'm just happy to have my local sushi favorite, my local Chinese food favorite, and my local sandwich place favorite for quick meals, and then so many options to explore for fancier meals out! Off the top of my head, I highly recommend the Squeeze Inn for burgers, Paesano's for a unique Italian-style meal, the Buckhorn Grill for yummy tri-tip, and Thai House for Thai food.

Ok, 1 more thing that I HAVE to include and is not technically IN Sacramento: 

• Location, Location, Location! - I love that Sacramento is so close to so many things! Ok, "close" is a relative term. What I mean by this is Sacramento is only a couple hours away from a wealth of different activities. Major attractions like Reno/South Lake Tahoe is only a few hours away, the Napa Valley is about an hour and a half, San Francisco is about 2 hours away (excluding traffic), San Jose is just over 3 hours away (we go there at least once a year to see the SJ Sharks). Then there's local attractions that are less than an hour away (or right in town), like Apple Hill, Historic Folsom, the Jelly Belly factory, the state fair (which just ended!), and Old Sacramento. It's great to have so many interesting options for when you want to get out of town for a day or a weekend! 

I could go on! We have a great theater scene that I'm still discovering, nearby Placer county has lots of unique sites to visit, there's farmland all over the place (if you're into that sort of thing - having taught students in FFA clubs, though, it is kind of neat if you're a city mouse like m'self), lots of local breweries (if you're into that sort of thing)... there's so much about Sacramento to experience! It's only in the last few years that I finally warmed up to the city, and at this point it feels like home. I look forward to raising our family around here!

Link Parties I've linked up to

Fiesta Friday: A Foster-Parent Shower of Love

About 2 years ago, our friends the J's started the process to become foster parents. For miscellaneous reasons beyond their control, it wasn't until May that they were finally finished all the requirements and were approved for foster parenting!

They don't have their own kids, but Mrs. J has worked with kids before and had some kid stuff around the house. They also bought enough basics to get any kids by in the meantime (like, you know, BEDS), but they still needed a lot of basics that most parents accrue over time - and they kind of need it, you know, ASAP.

So, our mutual friend R and I decided to shower them with love! The J's are good people and they definitely deserve to experience a "baby" shower. The only catch is the youngest kiddos they'll be housing are 4-year-olds. So we called it a "Shower of Love"!

Mrs. J requested lime green and white for the colors, so we gave her lime green and white! ;D

R handled the invitations, food, and half of the decorations; I did the centerpieces, the banner, and figured out the games and prizes. We were able to use Mrs. J's church's reception room for free, which was nice, because we needed a BIG space - lots of people love the J's!

So the biggest problem was figuring out shower games for a non-traditional shower. I wanted it to center around welcoming the J's into parenting, and not so much around baby stuff because it doesn't relate to their journey. Brainstorming with my friend V, we came up with some modified versions of baby shower games.

• The first game was a silly brain-teaser; it has clues that relate to different names of candy! The people who got the most answers correct got bags of candies that were in the game as their prize. Guests really seemed to like this game, it was challenging but not frustrating!
• Another game we played was a modified baby shower game called "Guess the Price" - except instead of baby items, I picked parenting "essentials" like chewable vitamins, shampoo, swimming wings (or "floaties" as I grew up calling them), etc. This game was a lot harder than the baby version, apparently; the highest score was one person got 2 out of the 6 right. :/ I would modify it by offering multiple choice options, maybe, or picking different items.
• Finally, we played a variation on "baby bingo", but I called it "The Joys of Parenting Bingo". I came up with a bunch of different parenting scenarios (good and bad), and called them out like bingo numbers! I asked the winners if they had any funny stories to share from their Bingo line, too; no one had any, except for Mrs. J's mom! THAT was funny, hahaha.

Speaking of the joys of parenting, we had a "wish vase" for guests to provide words of wisdom and encouragement to the new parents-to-be!

I'm proud of the prizes I came up with, too - "movie night in" baskets and a stationary basket! The stationary came from the Michael's dollar bins, and the "movie night in" are simply movie-theater-size boxes of candy, microwave popcorn, and some Redbox codes for free (to the victor) rentals!  

The "gift card" for the Redbox codes - I included all the legal info that was emailed to me when I bought the codes on the back, so those who won them knew what to do and had the links to more info.

R came up with a great idea for the centerpieces - kids toys! This way not only are they cute centerpieces but HEY MORE TOYS FOR THE J'S FUTURE FOSTER KIDS! Unfortunately, R is a real grown-up with a year-round job, so since I had the time I did the execution. I decided to theme each of them, and wrap them in gift-wrap ribbons and bows so they look like presents but are also totally obvious as to what they are. We had kid books, bubbles, water/beach toys, puzzles, games, art supplies (like coloring books and markers), and a teddy bear! The ribbons tied the gifts back to the color scheme.

1 example of the centerpieces - art supplies!

All the centerpieces! Art supplies, books, games, puzzles, bubbles, pool/beach stuff, and a teddy bear!

Finally, I made this pennant banner. AND I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN OMG. Yes, it turned out cute, but those rosettes behind the letters were the bane of my existence. Seriously, it will either have to be for The Hubs or our own future progeny to convince me to put myself through that again. I mean, the end product was cute, but SHEESH.

Yup, I made that. Next time I'm making it a month in advance or just paying someone else to do it.

Detail close-up!

We kept the food simple - cakes from Costco, lemonade, water, and fancy mixed nuts for snacking were on the tables (it was a mid-afternoon shower). Guests also got those pastel mints as party favors.

The basic table set-up

All in all, it was a successful shower and Mrs. J was so grateful - she thanked us (and the guests) repeatedly, and overall seemed to have a great time. The guests also told R and myself that they had a great time, too. All the thanks and compliments made all the stress worth it! (Seriously, if you describe yourself as etierh "a perfectionist" or "anxious", don't plan a party. SERIOUSLY. I'm lucky I'm still married because the night before I damn near went off the deep-end when I realized I screwed up the Bingo cards at 11:30pm.)

I only have my crappy phone pictures right now, but I'm hoping Mrs. J will share the good pictures her photographer friend took! I'll post the better pictures and downloads/instructions for the games next Friday hopefully.

I may have linked up at: 

Six Sisters' Stuff

Foodie Friday: a Fabulous Brunch Menu

That's right, a Foodie Friday post - back from the dead!

Here's the deal: I am not a food blogger. Like, at ALL. Here's why:

• I'm a terrible photographer
• I'm a forgetful photographer
• I don't really "create" my own recipes (but I do modify and add to recipes a lot)

As a fervent Pinterest addict and blog-reader, though, I have noticed that while it helps to not be like me in regards to the first two bullets, the third isn't really an issue. If anything, most recipes I see on blogs are modifications of other recipes found on the internet (and some shouldn't even be called recipes, if I'm being really blunt).

So while I will never call myself a food blogger, or this a food blog, I have made some recipes lately that are quite tasty. They're modifications of other recipes, so I'll just include what I changed or any changes to the preparation methods were made along with the original recipe.

**************************************************

The week before Memorial Day our family had two different college graduations! One had a big party that was hosted by the graduate's partner, and the second was a small family brunch hosted by me! I was really excited to celebrate our family graduate AND make my first brunch for people other than myself! 

The Hubs is not a huge fan of most breakfast foods, especially eggs. I'm not a huge breakfast person, but I like savory breakfast foods like bacon, sausage, and EGGS. Yum. Since it's usually just The Hubs and I, though, I'll usually make myself a nice breakfast and he just waits until lunch. *shrug* So this was exciting! Not only did I get to do something nice for my graduating sister-in-law, but I also got to try out a recipe I've been wanting to do but couldn't thanks to The Hubs' egg ban. 

My cousin made this recipe when I was visiting IL in November, and it was DELICIOUS. She actually made two batches; one with spinach, one without, and I preferred the one with spinach. Since The Hubs' sister and mom aren't as picky as he is, I figured this would be the best option for a main dish! Bonus: It can be made the night before! 

I still needed to fill out the meal with stuff The Hubs WOULD eat, and I feel a good brunch has something sweet and fresh fruit also. Here's the final menu I came up with!

• Egg Casserole
• Cinnamon Rolls (pre-made)
• Bacon
• Waffle-iron Hashbrowns
• Strawberries
• MIMOSAS! It's a celebration, after all.

 All right, so here's the recipe as I made it, based on Jimmy Dean's Easy Egg Casserole.

The casserole pre-baking. I forgot to take a picture post-baking. This is a perfect example of WHY I'M NOT A FOOD BLOGGER.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. turkey breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese block, grated
• 1 loaf French bread, cut into 3/4" cubes
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk
•  1/4 tsp black pepper (or 10 grinds of a pepper mill)
• about 2 cups baby spinach

Instructions:

1. Prep the ingredients: Brown the sausage and drain on paper towels, grate the cheese, cube the bread. 
2. In a BIG bowl (seriously: HUGE), combine the eggs, milk, and black pepper by whisking the eggs to break up the yolks into the whites, then to mix the eggs with the milk and pepper. 
3. Gently stir in the bread cubes into the egg mixture, then mix in the cooked sausage, spinach, and about 3/4ths of the cheese. (I didn't use a big enough bowl, so I had to do this in two stages and mix it up in the casserole dish. KIND OF A PAIN. Seriously, you want the big-ol' KitchenAid 6-quart mixer bowl size. I used the little 3-quart size. Sheesh.) 
4. Spray 13"x9" pan with non-stick cooking spray, then pour in the casserole. At this point, I put plastic wrap on it and popped it in the fridge! Then I went and watched my sister-in-law graduate with her B.S.!
5. To bake it, cook it at 350 degrees F for about 55 minutes if it's from the fridge (45 if it's not), or until a knife comes out clean (watch out for sticking the knife in a cheesy section - it's misleading!). The original recipe called for it to sit for 10 minutes but, uh, we couldn't wait that long. 

How to prepare it so all the food finishes at around the same time:

Once the casserole was in the oven, I busted out the Mimosa ingredients so they could start celebrating while they waited for the food! I also rinsed and hulled the strawberries so they could nibble while the food was cooking. Around half-time in the baking of the casserole, I baked the bacon (but since it's at a lower temperature than the link suggests, I baked it for about 10 minutes longer). Once the casserole needed to sit, I threw in the cinnamon rolls to bake and started the waffle-iron hashbrowns. (I follow the basic directions in the link, except I used EVOO and I also mixed in garlic powder and onion powder!) The hashbrowns took a little longer than I planned because I forgot how long the iron takes, haha. So the hashbrowns were given out as they were finished.

Everything worked out well enough, though: Mom- and Sis-in-Law both loved the casserole, The Hubs got bacon and hashbrowns AND cinnamon rolls to fill him up, and we all had a nice and relaxing brunch to celebrate the sister-in-law's big accomplishment! She was happy, and that's all I could ask for. :)

Hello, Autumn!

Can I just state for the record that I much prefer the term "Autumn" instead of "Fall", because I think "Fall" the noun is too easily confused with "Fall" the verb? Not to mention "Autumn" is such a lovely word to roll off the tongue.

Sorry, the English teacher took over for a second there, I'll stop.

It only took until early October, but we are officially experiencing Fall (Autumn) weather around these parts! Which is nice, it's actually a little early this year. Usually our area has a far-too-long "Indian Summer", but the last few days have been slightly crisp and gorgeous. What a relief!

There are several things I like about the Autumn season:

• my birthday (I'm very self-centered)
• the colors of the trees as they change
• the cold weather demands warmer foods and drinks
• the smell of the air
• cute Halloween costumes on little kids 
• coming in from the cold and the feeling of your body getting warmer
• sweaters and cute boots
• enjoying Turkey Day, then hosting my extended family for ye olde day of Gobbling (Thanksgiving)

I still want to have a pumpkin-carving day, but I suspect that considering we're having folks over next Saturday for my birthday hootenanny (basically just making a chili bar for sustenance and then hanging out and playing games - hence my hesitation to call it a party) it might be too soon to have another party thingy. But the urge to carve pumpkins is still strong...

Regardless, since I mentioned it, yes it IS my birthday next Sunday! It's also homecoming week at the high school where I work, so it's going to be pretty insane this week *sigh* - at least in a mostly good way. The Hubs is coming out to the Homecoming game Friday night at my request to see my classroom and also support the team. ;D Saturday is a baby shower for friends in the morning, and then my hootenanny that evening, followed by Sunday (actual bday) with my folks coming up to go out to lunch! It'll be a fun week/weekend, but to have to go right back into a work week with no real break is not something I'm looking forward to, to be honest. What can I say, I've become a workaholic now that I'm back in the classroom. It's exhausting and stressful, but I love it (for the most part ;D).

Anyway, yes, it's officially my favorite season and it makes me happy. Cooler weather, my special day, SF Giants are in the playoffs... it's good month/season!

Potpourri

I disappeared again. Lots of stuff going on, lots of stress, but things are finally starting to calm down. That said, here's what's been on my mind lately:

• THERE IS SO MUCH AWESOME STUFF COMING OUT THIS MONTH. I'm a pop culture junkie, and I am seriously OMG SO EXCITED. My favorite show, "Community", comes back this Thursday, followed by the premiere of "The Hunger Games" movie (!!!!), followed by the season premiere of "Mad Men" (!!!), followed by the season premiere of "Game of Thrones"! (Ok, technically "Game of Thrones" comes back on April 1st, but I'm still counting it.) Of course, I then have to wait until the end of May for the next big thing ("The Dark Knight Returns"). So the excitement will have to last me a while. ;p
• Had a last-minute dinner party last night, and it went surprisingly well! I say "surprisingly" because my insecurities about our tiny apartment make me worry that I'm not a good hostess... but I know that's wrong because I'm a more-than-decent cook, I make sure my home is always clean as possible, and I try my best to be accommodating. Really, what else can you do to be a good hostess? :D Considering how much laughter was had and how much food was eaten, I think I did good. We played Munchkin Zombies, which is SUCH a fun game. We need to get our own version of Munchkin, so we have some variety to play depending on whose house we're at. It was a great night, and it reminded me how blessed I am to have such lovely people in my life who enjoy my company. :)
• Speaking of the dinner party, I was able to cook a meal that met all of the necessary dietary concerns for the guests possible, and was completely crowd-pleasing. I was so proud! AND my guests were considerate of my dietary concerns and brought a dessert that I could eat, which was ALSO awesome! 
• Speaking of my dietary concerns, my "concerns" are basically figuring out which things I can still eat without getting sick. By "sick" I mean I don't feel like ass after I eat it. It's frustrating, because it's hard to figure out how things will affect me sometimes; the "sick" feelings take a little while to come about after eating for some foods, but others are instantaneous. Some foods I can still eat but in small amounts, and I'm still figuring out how "small" that is. It's annoying, and as my friend last night said (with her own different dietary issues), it feels like a betrayal from your body. So I'm still trying to find my comfort zone with it, I guess. Some days are better than others, and it's human nature to fight change, but I'm noticing a reluctance to eat the stuff I know will make me feel yucky more and more, and that once I find the balance that makes me happy and healthy, I'll be committed.
• Things are finally calming down, but it's actually a bad thing. Well, not a bad thing in most respects, but I'm still in this mode of "I have free time! I MUST DO NOTHING." Which, when I only have free time once a week, is ok, but now that I have a little more free time it's not so acceptable. Y'know? So I need to snap myself out of it... especially since I have a paper due by Wednesday night. Why, yes, I HAVEN'T started it, how did you know?
• In regards to this here blog, I'm at a stalemate. It's not that I don't want to write... I do, a lot, actually. Often I'm writing in my head while I do something else where I can't be at a computer... then I get home and have free time and... well, see previous bullet point. There's also the issue of keeping a certain amount of privacy and anonymity because I'm not set in my career field as a teacher, and some things I'd like to write about are possibly things that could be held against me by a vindictive parent (IF I ever got to that point, which I'd like to think wouldn't happen, but it's a very real concern in this new world of social media and helicopter parents). So it's either write what I want to write and consequences be damned, or play it safe. Considering I can't make a living off my writing (at least not yet), I'm in "play it safe" mode... which limits my conversation topics. Which makes me bored, and I fear bores what few readers I have. So I'm in contemplation mode. My posting will probably continue to be sporadic as I figure this out. It is what it is. 

THT Xmas: Easy "Extra Family" Gathering Hostess Tips!

So how many of you have divorced parents? *raises hand* I can legitimately claim going through 3 divorces before I was ever even married myself. (And one of them resulted in their getting back together 2 years later!) It's already frustrating to arrange to see your family when you're significantly other'd, add in multiple groupings of family and OH MAH GOD it is a pain in the hindquarters! One unfortunate side effect that has happened is that I rarely get to actually spend the holiday with my siblings, as we share a dad, but we grew up with our mothers. Our two mothers get along fine, but they have their own families they spend the holidays with, so getting us together on the actual holiday was a rare occurrence indeed. Same frustration for extended family from random sides of the family. Or hell, sometimes your families just suck all the fun out of the holidays and you'd RATHER spend the time with your friends, but your family would never let you get away with it. (This isn't the case for my family sitch, but sometimes I almost wish my friends didn't go to their families that stress them out and could just come hang out with us, y'know?)

Solution? Have a little pre-Xmas Xmas gathering! (Or pre-Holiday-You-Recognize, sorry! I celebrate Xmas, but I know people celebrate the other ones.) If you have agreeable people, you could even make it a "traditional" Festivus party! ;D

How we did it:

• 2 weeks before, I texted the people who we wouldn't for-sure see on the actual holidays we celebrate to see if they'd be free either day of the weekend we wanted to try and arrange for gathering. Found out who was in, and who was out. Asked everyone to bring something to share, but we'd also provide basic beverages and foodstuffs as well, and agreed that this would be when we exchanged prezzies. 
• Day before, wrapped all the gifts of people who were coming and pre-made any food that could be pre-made so it wouldn't drive me nuts the next day. Seriously, when I'm hosting, it's all about what can be made with as little attention paid to it the day of - crockpot, pre-made, or takes-5-minutes-to-make is how I do. As for decorating, well, the apartment's already decorated for the holidays so all I did was add a little decor for the table (pictured above). That was just carefully layering ornaments in my cylinder vases - man, for only paying a $1, I freakin' LOVE those things, man. So many uses!
• Day of: Give the house a good once-over (we've been keeping it tidy regularly, so all we really needed to do was wipe down surfaces, dishes and garbage, and vacuum), and dolled myself up in the easiest way possible. Seriously, I have my own primping rules for being a presentable hostess while not stressing myself out (noticing a theme here? I totally overthink so much crap, I have to force compromises on myself so I enjoy the hosting instead of over-stressing it): slightly glammed-up basic face by adding a darker brown eyeshadow in the corner of the crease and slightly heavier mascara, the nicest hairstyle I can do that takes 10 minutes TOPS to style, and one of my go-to "hostess outfits" - nice elastic-waist black pants and one of several nice jersey tops, or a sweater dress over leggings. I always end up looking nice and feeling good without freaking out.
  

  

  We also dressed Daisy, but she wasn't into it. At least we left out the beard this year!
• The Menu (that we provided, doesn't include what was brought):
  

  

  The Spread
• Appetizers: Ham pinwheels (flour tortillas spread with flavored cream cheese, add lunchmeat ham and lettuce, roll up and wrap with plastic wrap, chill for at least 2 hours, then slice up); cream cheese with hot pepper jelly on top, served with wheat thins
• My ex-stepmom D. made crockpot meatballs and they were DELISH - pre-made meatballs with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce and half a jar of orange marmalade. SO GOOD, they smelled fantastic, too. 
• Main Meal: Slow-cooker Carnitas, refried beans and fixins' 
• Dessert: Oreo Mint cookies (Hey, they taste good, amiright?)
• Beverages: Water, Hot Cocoa Bar (Hot Cocoa and Liqueurs to mix in), Wine
• Entertainment: Our favorite holiday cartoons ("Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas") and movies, holiday music, and our own company! Seriously, my siblings and I have to watch those two cartoons together or it doesn't quite feel like Christmas, at least for me. (If we can't watch it together, I'll at least watch them on my own - they're my favorites!) We also exchanged gifts, which was awesome. Everyone liked their gifts from me, thank goodness!

 Of course, there's always the alternative of hosting an actual dinner party, but we don't have the space for that. My friends do, though, so we're having a potluck the day before Christmas Eve! I'm excited - we get to enjoy our friends for the holiday before we spend the holidays running around to our various family gatherings. =D Hope you find a way to celebrate with EVERYONE you love this holiday season!

The Holiday Trinity: Turkey Day Wrap-Up!

I have so much to say, and yet it feels like any more discussion of a holiday that was over half a week ago is unnecessary for everyone else while still relevant for ME, since MY version of the holiday just happened last night.

So rather than do a long recap (which is only interesting to ME, let's face it), let's just do a list. Who doesn't like a list!

Successes:

• Despite falling a half-hour behind my self-made schedule, the food was on the table and (mostly) warm at the "scheduled" time. 
• Turkey skin was brown AND the meat stayed juicy! 
• The Hubs was on FI-YAH; Once all the cooking was done, I poured myself a "ghetto pour" glass of wine and relaxed; he was on the dishes like white on rice, we have barely anything to clean up! Such a great guy. 
• Everyone said the food was great (or were at least nice enough to lie).
• My centerpiece was gorgeous and we had a lovely table setting. Of course, I'm so caught up in hosting that I never end up taking a proper picture, but I took a pic of the centerpiece during the "aftermath":

Et Voila.

Failures:

• My first time making gravy was a big fat fail. Well, there was a brownish liquid that looked kind of like gravy and tasted kind of like gravy, but it was bland and watery. Going to have to find an easier recipe for next time. 
• My mashed potatoes tasted delicious, but my biggest pot could only hold half of the potatoes at a time, so the first batch of boiled potatoes kind of refused to truly "mash", so they were REALLY lumpy. Cooked through, but the starch just wouldn't let me break them down completely. (They still tasted great, but they just taste BETTER when they're smooth.)
• The corn-casserole-in-the-crockpot burned all around the edges. Luckily, the middle was delicious and the exact texture I wanted, but it kind of halved the final output. Still, I put it in a separate dish and no one knew, so it only bugged me. 
• I made way too much food, as usual. But that's ok, 'cuz there's LEFTOVERS!

Using that last "fail" as a brilliant segue, here's what I'm doing with my LEFTOVERS!
~ Making THE ULTIMATE LEFTOVER SAMMICH.It turned out REALLY good, and it's REALLY rich. I loved it on the biscuits - and you'd think the cranberry sauce would be weird, but it's actually a perfect touch of sweet (if you spread it on thin). BTW, that's MY article I'm linking to.
~ leftover cranberry sauce was mixed with chili sauce (found near the cocktail sauce) and a good-sized spoonful of garlic-chili paste and poured over frozen meatballs for one of The Hubs' fave dinner/snacks for dinner tonight.

Plus I just eat the leftovers as is. I've come to realize that I actually CAN keep eating the same meal if I find it to be really tasty and I have a "palate cleanser" meal in-between; e.g., if I had Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner, I'll be happy to eat some for lunch or dinner again as long as I had something different in between the last time I had leftovers. I know, I'm weird.

I know this is WAY late, but I just got out of a depression episode (nothing major, just couldn't fight off the "Mean Reds" for a week), and now I'm in the thick of Christmas prep, which will be posted VERY soon! YAY THE HOLIDAYS!

The Holiday Trinity: Turkey Day Menu!

The cool thing about Thanksgiving, IMHO, is that it's a basic menu that most people follow, but there's room for individual twists and spins. I loooove reading housewifery magazines to see what variations they offer for recipes, but I'll admit that my own menu is fairly traditional because, well, I like the traditional stuff, and The Hubs is finicky so I don't even have that much room or point for variety. Seriously, of my menu, The Hubs will most likely stick to turkey, a little stuffing, and lots of mashed potatoes with gravy. That's IT. Sheesh. (Though in his defense, he loves my step-grandma's food, which is where we will eat on actual Thanksgiving - he chows down on her cornbread dressing and greens, and hell, I don't even like greens.)

So since I enjoy seeing what the possibilities are from other people, I figured it was only fair to share my menu and my version of the recipes. Hopefully this is helpful, and makes you hungry for Thursday!


Wondering where the rest of the meal is? I'm asking my in-laws to bring a dessert and my cousins to bring an appetizer, so all I have to worry about is the main meal and the drinks (which we already have leftover unopened bottles of wine, beer, so all we need is soda). I'm picking up a can of mixed nuts, too, so there's something to nosh on if people arrive hungry.

The Holiday Trinity: Turkey Day Timeline!

So I'm UNEMPLOYED unemployed right now. It's a weird position; I'd been working rather steadily for most of Sept. and Oct., and then the work ran out. They might need me again, but so far no. In the meantime, I've interviewed and lined up some part-time work, but they're not going to start yet. I'll be taking some college courses soon, but that doesn't start until January. So in the meantime there's... nothing. Lots and lots of NADA. It's a weird place to be, at least for me, and it kind of sucks me into this vortex of lame, where I don't want to do anything. It used to be a lot worse (and last a lot longer), but now I'm feeling better and I think I'm crawling out of it.

One thing motivating the crawl out: The holidays. Big Holiday #2 is right around the corner, and this week is my big prep week.

Now, TBH, I will TOTALLY own it that I'm probably making a bigger deal out of it than I need to, but... well, what else do I have to do? Plus I LOVE hosting. The only thing I've ever hated about it is the guest list, and that's only if it's a strictly friends list or I'm inviting people over for the first time. If it's family, feh, it's family! I love my family (for the most part), and they already know my shortcomings. ;p

Either way, I seriously made an outline for the week. Curious? Of course you are. Keep in mind that my hosting of Thanksgiving is the Sunday AFTER, because it's for my in-laws and my MIL works the actual Turkey Day. So here's the plan:

Halloween - doin' it my own damn way!

So I bemoaned the lack of Halloween goodness in my life last week. After I wrote it, though, I decided that rather than sit here and pout, I could figure out SOME WAY to have fun for Halloween.

Of course, I decided this on the WEDNESDAY before Halloween, so it's not like I had a ton of time. I chose to just have some friends over, cook them some fall-themed food (ever so kindly linked in the menu plan - the food was a big hit, btw!), and watch a scary movie. We invited our local "couples" friends, who were kind enough to bring some scary movies for us from which to choose.

Go figure, though, when we all voted, we ended up voting for "Clue" - which is a great movie, but not exactly scary. Hahaha, guess we're wusses! It was merely an excuse to hang out with good friends and call it "celebrating Halloween".

I didn't decorate the house, but I DID decorate myself!

My nails! I painted them myself! (Except for the heart & crossbones, that's a sticker. I'm not THAT good.)

Whipped up a quick ribbon brooch in Halloween colors!

I also wore my orange-and-black Swarovski crystal earrings that I made for when we go to SF Giants games (who have the same colors as Halloween, luckily), and a brown top. So I felt Halloween-y, even if I wasn't wearing a costume. So it wasn't a GREAT Halloween, but now at least I feel like I HAD a Halloween!

However, I'm saying it now: I'm having a party next year, come hell or high-water. I want to dress up! I had, like, a MILLION great costume ideas this year and no reason to buy/make/wear them! =(

Hosting a party, the HMHW way

So my husband turned another year older! I co-hosted a party to celebrate his breakin' out of his mom's uterus with another friend/ married couple, as J's bday is 2 days before The Hubs', so they wanted to have a joint bday/poker party.

I talked to J's wife, who is renown for her baking, and she offered to cook the sweets - so naturally, I offered to cook the savory. J then invited his family; not a big deal, except J has a huge family, which means the guest list nearly tripled! I now had to cook for a crowd nearing 30 (when the original guest list was around 10-15), which I've never done before. It also meant I had to change my plan of poker munchies (mainly apps) to something that would feed a crowd a good meal. OY.

Guess what? IT CAN BE DONE. In fact, not only can it be done, but it can be done to the point of overkill!

So first order was to change the menu. Luckily, my heritage has given me an affinity and comfort with Mexican food, and most people won't turn down a taco bar - plus it's easier to make a bunch of food that people can mix and match to their heart's desires than set plates, I figured. Not to mention taco fixings are relatively cheap. Once the bday boys approved, I started looking into how to accomplish this. 

The most helpful link I found was this one, which simplified the formula of how to account for how much to have of everything. I figured I didn't want to be a complete cheap jerk, so the bar consisted of refried beans, seasoned ground beef, and pork carnitas for the "fancy" filling. I also had nacho cheese, shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes for everyone to make their tacos as they saw fit. (Well, I say "tacos", but they were more soft tacos or burritos as the option; we also bought a mess of tortilla chips so people could make nachos if they wished.)

The day of, I made the carnitas in slow cookers (7 lbs. worth! OY). I drove to J's house 5+ hours ahead of the party to get the slow cookers cooking, then ran the rest of my errands and got ready for the party back at my place before heading back there 3 hours ahead of the party to get crackin' on the rest of the food. It got a little intense as the party start time grew close, as I was in the home stretch but not quite done with everything yet and started to freak. J's mom, bless her heart, actually stepped in and helped me finish, which I greatly appreciated. I'd say about the time everyone had arrived about 40 minutes into the party, I was done and everything was ready! I was quite proud of myself.

The spread!

Close-up of my toppings set-up: I love that sectioned platter, so classy IMHO

So for all the sturm und drang and stress, it went off fairly seamlessly (externally; internally, I was a basket case that took an hour to calm down OMG I was so stressed in that last hour). The carnitas were a big hit, and most of the guests dug in enthusiastically. I received lots of "it's great!"s from the guests.

Only bad things: 1. I severely underestimated people's love of guacamole and should've made more, and 2. I MADE WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. I figured people would KEEP eating, but everyone had one serving and stopped. We even had leftover carnitas - which everyone claimed was their favorite! Of course, it didn't help that some people ate before they came (?!?), and although most of the guest list showed up, I'd say only 2/3 of the people actually ate.

J and R declined most of the leftovers, of which there were a TON. For the rest of the weekend and the start of the week, The Hubs and I were eating nothing but Mexican food. After 3 days, we still had a TON of food leftover, specifically beans and taco meat, so I made a schnikey-load of burritos to freeze. I made 10 decent-sized burritos! (I used this link as a guideline for how to prep for freezing.) I love Mexican food, but I'm good for another couple weeks on eating anything other than the burritos, which'll be my lunch at work for the next week or two. Thank god I like my own cooking.

All in all, I was REALLY proud of putting this out. It made me confident that I could do a bigger-scale dinner party once we have a place that can accommodate a larger group! (We live in a one-bedroom apt.)

Martha Screw-Up: Only I DIDN'T screw up!

Psych-out! I'm actually sharing a SUCCESS, not a Screw-Up! WHOOOO!

Our friend tried to plan a last-minute poker gathering, and The Hubs and I were totally down. Then, literally an hour before we were all supposed to meet, our friend had to change venues... to OUR place. Now, we usually only host when we have tons of time to clean because normally we're not very clean. However, we've been maintaining our place since our last deep clean in November, so it wasn't TERRIBLE, just cluttered and needed a quick scrubdown.

So with an hour until our guests were to arrive, we managed to do the following:

• clean off the dining table (clutter picked up, wiped down)
• scrub the bathroom really quick 
• wash the dishes/ wipe down the counters
• light some candles to help minimize any bad smells
• pick up Little Caesar's and soda for the guests
• make myself presentable (changed top, took hair out of pigtails and into chic chignon, slapped on some makeup)

We had 20 minutes to SPARE, bitches. I even managed to throw up all the Xmas cards we received so it looked like I somewhat decorated for the holidays.

Of course, only one of the people actually showed up, but it was still a lovely evening. Also, I was incredibly proud of The Hubs and myself that we've been maintaining our place so we COULD pull off a last-minute hosting of anything. Considering how bad this place has been in the past, it shows a LOT of growth and progress on both our parts. I felt like an adult and an accomplished hostess, which is always a nice feeling to have. =D

Downside: We have a TON of Little Caesar's to eat because our one guest didn't have any, and we bought a cheese AND a pepperoni pizza. Urf, a little gross. We always buy a little too much food, meh.