Butter. It Is Our Friend.

18 December 2009 by

As much as I love to cook, I have never really been one for baking. It’s way too exact for me. I’d much rather make something where I can throw in a dollop of this and a dash of that and a heap of something else and then stick it in the oven until it smells like it’s done.

Plus, baking sometimes requires special equipment like candy thermometers and double boilers. And also baking doesn’t involve nearly enough cheese.

But.

There’s something about Christmastime.

And for the last couple of weeks, I have been baking up a storm. At least by my standards. Compared to your standards, I’ve probably just been baking up a light shower. Nonetheless, I thought I’d share a few bake-y recipes that I love.

Note: you will not see any homemade candy on this list. I draw the line at having to use a candy thermometer. It’s bad enough that baking requires me to do all sorts of math.

– Mama’s Pound Cake – It’s a classic.

– Hummingbird Cake – This is one of the first layer cakes that I ever made, and it’s still one of my favorites. The pineapple in the layers makes me so happy.

– The Bar – I made this recipe for the first time tonight, and OH. MY. WORD. I don’t know when I’ve ever tasted something and thought, Well, this is just butter in all its glory. I’m taking these to a Christmas party tomorrow night, and then I’m going to make another batch next week because my mama WILL. LOVE. THEM. Three sticks of butter makes everything better, you know.

– Coconut Cake – I’m not usually a fan of coconut. But these cake layers are so delicious that they totally won me over.

– Peanut Butter Blossoms – Peanut butter. Chocolate. Sugar. Butter. What’s not to love?

– Lucy’s Chocolate Pie – My grandmother’s chocolate pudding recipe is the best. THE BEST. And in a baked pie shell? With some homemade meringue on top? Perfection.

(Just FYI: for my meringue, I whip four egg whites with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. When the egg whites make stiff peaks, I spread the meringue on top of a cooled chocolate pie, then put the whole thing in the oven until the peaks start to get some color on them.)

– Apple Dumplings – These are so good that I talked about them for two days after I made them. Could not get over how something so simple could be so delicious. I’m planning to make them this Christmas Eve, in fact.

– Chocolate Citrus Cake with Candied Oranges – I made this cake last week. I skipped the candied oranges step because it was after 10 at night when I iced the cake and MAMA NEEDED SOME SLEEP. My cake didn’t turn out nearly as pretty as the picture next to the recipe, but let me tell you what: the layers of this cake – and the chocolate ganache in between – are ABSOLUTELY DIVINE. I think when I make this cake again I’ll probably just do the cake with some whipped cream and candied oranges on top. No icing. The layers are THAT good.

So those are my favorites – what are some of yours?

Filed Under: Cooking, Family Fun

I Have Only Myself To Blame

16 December 2009 by

Let me be clear: this is just MY laundry basket.

Please note that YOU CAN’T EVEN SEE THE BASKET.

I have no choice but to tackle it. What with my preference for wearing clothes that are, you know, clean.

So I guess we all know what I’ll be doing this afternoon. My goal is to finish (wash, dry, fold, PUT AWAY) everything in the basket. And to not get sidetracked by the sheets that need to be changed. And the towels. And the dishcloths. And the this. And the that. And the other.

(By the way, does anybody else see the look of condemnation on Ally’s face in the background? She’s all, I never let my laundry pile get that big. You wouldn’t find yourself in this situation if you’d do a couple of small loads every day.)

(I think she may even be rolling her eyes.)

(SOMETIMES SHE’S JUST SO CRITICAL.)

Anyway, I hope y’all are having a great day. I’ll be elbow-deep in Gain if you need me.

But the good news is that my Gain-covered elbows, they will smell DELICIOUS.

The end.

Filed Under: Rambling

Keely McSassy

15 December 2009 by

I met my friend Keely when I went to Uganda and she was the trip photographer. From the get-go it was crystal clear that Keely is one of those people who comes equipped with an extra measure of awesome. She is a blast and a half – wise beyond her years and hysterically funny. She can have a super-deep conversation or she can quote “30 Rock.” She has style for days. And I love her to pieces.

So when Keely emailed me last week to tell me that she was going to be in Birmingham for Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God concert (her hubby is a musician on the tour), I was tickled to death. And I would say I cleared the calendar so that I could go to the concert, but the thing of it is that there was nothing on my calendar. Just a big ole bunch of white space. And maybe a short grocery list. But even still, I wouldn’t have missed Keely + concert time for the world, EVEN IF I THAT MEANT I HAD TO CANCEL MY NON-EXISTENT PLANS.

That’s what you call a commitment to friendship, people.

The concert was last night at a local church, so late yesterday afternoon I picked up Keely, and we hopped down the road (NOT LITERALLY, SILLY) to a little Mexican place so that we could eat chips and salsa and drink tea and visit. We blazed through about 75 topics over the course of an hour, and then we headed back to the church so that we’d be there in time for all the purty singing. We hung out for a little bit with a couple of Compassion buddies before the show, and while we were talking I snapped a few pictures of Keely’s accessories because 1) I am just that annoying and 2) I wanted to document her sassy style.

Oh, if I could count the number of times I’d pinned a large flower to my purse – well, I’d have to count all the way up to zero.

And I don’t know if y’all can see the cute necklace or not, but it’s a vintage-looking pendant with a “K” on it.

SASSY.

The boots, quite frankly, were a revelation.

And then – AND THEN – right before we walked to our seats, Keely took the big flower off of her purse and put it on our sweater.

You know, I don’t know that I’ve ever had the fashion wherewithal to MOVE AN ACCESSORY AROUND. The only thing that comes to mind is when I’m getting ready to grocery shop and I take a clippy off of my purse strap so that I can put it ON MY HEAD and get my bangs out of my face.

Or maybe when I was in the 10th grade and used a ponytail holder to tie the bottom of my t-shirt over on the side JUST LIKE I LIKED IT.

Not really the same thing as a kicky flower, is it?

The concert was absolutely wonderful – sort of heartbreakingly worshipful, really – and if the tour is going to be anywhere near you, you should totally go. If you’re not familiar with the Behold the Lamb of God CD, I don’t want to spoil it for you, but if you can’t make it to a show this year, it’s worth the $10 (or whatever) to share this music with your family. It tells the story of Jesus throughout the whole Bible – Old and New Testaments – and it’s just an incredible way to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find a sassy scarf so that I can feel all jaunty and breezy as I plow through some work stuff today. I would attach a snazzy flower to my sweater, but unfortunately I’m fresh out of snazzy flowers. Maybe I should just walk outside and find a sprig of holly. But that might be a little weird. And also prickly.

Happy Tuesday, y’all!

p.s. Several of y’all commented or emailed me to ask if I could share my notes from Beth Moore’s session on discernment at Deeper Still in OKC last weekend, so I wanted to let you know that I posted them over at AllAccess. Hope they’re helpful to you!

Filed Under: Bloggity Fun, My Friends Rock

Christmas Tour of Homes 2009

13 December 2009 by

Christmas Tour of Homes with The Nester

So this year I decided that I was only decorating for Christmas with stuff that I really, really love. And I certainly don’t mean to imply that in the past I’ve decorated with all sorts of stuff that I, you know, hate, because what in the world would be the fun of that, MY WORD. But I think you probably know what I mean. Which is why I’m going to fight the urge to overexplain WITH EVERYTHING IN ME and show you some pictures now.

All righty, here’s our tree.

This year we decided to go CRAZY and use colored lights instead of white lights. WE’RE OUT OF CONTROL!

We actually had to replace the lights on our tree because all the original lights (our tree was pre-lit) were BROKE DOWN when we (and by “we,” I mean the other person in my marriage who is not me) set up the tree and plugged in everything. My husband actually spent the better part of a day taking the old lights off of the tree – apparently they were welded to the branches with some combination of screws and super glue and molten metal – and the fact that our marriage actually survived Light Removal Day is proof that God is still in the business of miracles, my friends.

Once David put on the new lights, I started decorating the tree – and I think I subconsciously tried to turn our Light Removal Day frown upside down by only using our very favorite ornaments.

Like these fun Christmas balls that my mama gave me last year.

And these cute Starbucks ornaments. Because Starbucks is a deeply meaningful part of our lives. PLEASE DON’T PITY US.

I kept the living room pretty simple, too – just some wreaths, a couple of my favorite Christmas items and a rosemary tree that MAKES ME SO HAPPY WITH ITS YUMMY SMELLINESS.

I know. I didn’t even pick up for y’all. I should be so ashamed. In fact, my mama may not even be able to show her face at church next Sunday because SHE’LL NEVER GET OVER THAT WRINKLED THROW ON THE COUCH. EVER.

Nonetheless, here are a few of the things that make me smile in the living room.

I was four. My friend Laura was three. AND APPARENTLY SANTA FORGOT HIS MUSTACHE.

In the kitchen I made a quick little centerpiece with Christmas balls in my favorite colors.

Our Christmas card tree is in the office that’s right off of our breakfast area, and it keeps that part of the house feeling pretty festive.

Especially a couple of days before Christmas when it looks like this.

The Christmas card tree has become one of my very favorite traditions in our house. I LOVE IT. And when Mama and Daddy get to our house Christmas Eve, the first thing Mama will do is pull up a chair right next to the card tree and STUDY those cards. Then she’ll ask me 800 questions about how everybody on the tree is doing.

At least, that’s what she’ll do if she’s recovered from the horrible My-Daughter-Didn’t-Pick-Up-Her-Living-Room-Before-She-Put-A-Picture-Of-It-On-The-Internet ordeal.

Y’all might want to keep Mama in your prayers.

My dining room looks pretty much like it always does.

But a few days before Christmas, it’ll look like this.

And every single time my little boy and his friends stomp through that part of the house, I will cringe and wait to hear the sound of something breaking. It’s a very special tradition as you can imagine.

Speaking of the boy, he has a new tree in his room, mainly because the old aluminum tree – which was SO fun and vintage and sparkly – was not going to survive another year in a little boy’s room. So this year we went with something a little more, um, STURDY.

And as always, a few of the little man’s crafts made their way into the decor – I think these are my most favoritest decorations of all.

So there you have it. I’m tempted to say that we’ve really scaled back with the decorations this year, but then I remember that we have three Christmas trees, so I think I’ll just offer you a cookie and wave bye-bye.

(Here is where I should insert a picture of me waving bye-bye, only wait, I DON’T HAVE ONE.)

Merry Christmas, everybody – and don’t forget to check out all the other homes on Nester’s Tour!

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” – Luke 2:10-14

Filed Under: Tour of Homes

Linky Interwebby Awesomeness 12.11.09

11 December 2009 by

1) A few days ago a friend of mine showed me an old picture, and I was so overcome with joy that all my pea-sized brain could do was to sit there and rattle off a numbered list of all the things I loved about the picture (“ONE, your hair! TWO, your sweater! THREE, your glasses!”). I made it all the way to “NINE, your hands!”

This morning I had a nearly identical reaction to Melanie’s first ever gift guide for the outdoorsman, which was written by her hubby, P. And when I talked to Mel a few hours ago, the first thing I said was, “ONE, afield!” The whole post just DELIGHTS me.

2) The comments on my HP TouchSmart giveaway post are working again. For real this time. All reliable and stuff. Remember that you have until December 24th to enter.

3) Same goes for the $500 L’Bel giveaway. Comments on that one are open until January 8th.

4) This morning a friend of mine from college emailed to tell me that her husband had surprised her with a weekend away – he’d made all the plans by himself – and he was taking her to Jacksonville to see Travis, Shaun and Cindy in concert. WELL PLAYED, KELLY’S HUSBAND. And what a wonderful gift, you know?

Anyway, even if your husband doesn’t surprise you (again: WELL PLAYED, KELLY’S HUSBAND), you and your whole family will be so blessed by a GLORIA Tour concert. You can check out all the dates – as well as links for tickets and info – on Travis’ blog.

5) One day a couple of weeks ago I was cooking supper and started watching “Rudy.” It sends me into the ugly cry every single time – such a phenomenal story.

Well.

This morning I saw that Mississippi State’s senior quarterback, Tyson Lee, has been nominated for college football’s Rudy Award.

This is a guy who’s listed as 5’11” in the media guide but can’t be much bigger than 5’9″. He’s a walk on who moved up to starting quarterback at an SEC school. He loves the Lord. He wants to be a high school teacher and coach. He never gave up on our team. He drives from Starkville to his hometown every single Sunday morning so that he can teach Sunday School.

Y’all. WE HAVE TO VOTE FOR HIM.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Filed Under: Daily Awesome

Out Of The Office

10 December 2009 by

Well, it’s 10:30 in the PM, and I haven’t turned on the TV to watch “The Office” yet, and the odds of me actually staying awake – much less TYPING QUOTES – aren’t very good at all, my friends. They’re not very good at all.

There’s actually a very good reason for the hitch in my TV-watching plans. The comments on the HP giveaway sort of lost their mind this afternoon – apparently my “memory settings” need to be “adjusted” to handle the number of comments on the giveaway, and if you think I know how to fix that, then obviously you have me confused with someone who knows where to locate my blog’s memory settings. I actually have some Trained Professionals on the case, and I have a feeling that everything will be back to normal tomorrow.

At least that’s what I’m telling myself because that’s what I tell myself about everything. It’s a combination of denial and optimism that seems to work beautifully for me. I highly recommend it.

And you can still enter the HP giveaway, by the way – you just have to refresh the giveaway page and then make sure that ALL the comments load before you start scrolling down the page to leave your comment. Really, it’s exactly the same kind of professionalism and reliability that you’d expect to see from, oh, a Prodigy page back in 1995. Maybe even an AOL message board circa 1997. I like to stay on the cutting edge with my commenting interface – as you can clearly tell.

So other than all that nonsense, I have nothing else to report. I’ve done a little Christmas baking this week, which means that right now I am on a sweet / salty merry-go-round that shows no signs of stopping. Cake batter! Herbed RitzBits! Hershey’s Kisses! Bacon! Peanut butter cookies! Cheese grits! I’m a little scared that in a week or so I’m just going to be alternating a handful of sugar with a handful of kosher salt.

And I’d totally eat the kosher salt last. Because everybody knows you have to end on salty. Ending on sweet will never do. YOU END ON SALTY.

I’m so glad that we’ve once again tackled the tough issues. SOMEBODY HAS TO.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

And don’t forget Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes on Monday!

p.s. YOU END ON SALTY.

p.p.s. I’M NOT KIDDING.

Filed Under: Rambling
« Previous Page
Next Page »