Kiss of the Sun February 14, 2012

 

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I offer you my favorite love poem by one of my favorite poets, Mary Ruefle:

 

Kiss of the Sun by Mary Ruefle

 

If, as they say, poetry is a sign of something
among people, then let this be prearranged now,
between us, while we are still peoples: that
at the end of time, which is also the end of poetry
(and wheat and evil and insects and love),
when the entire human race gathers in the flesh,
reconstituted down to the infant’s tiniest fold
and littlest nail, I will be standing at the edge
of that fathomless crown with an orange for you,
reconstituted down to its innermost seed protected
by white thread, in case you are thirsty, which
does not at this time seem like such a wild guess,
and though there will be no poetry between us then,
at the end of time, the geese all gone with the seas,
I hope you will take it, and remember on earth
I did not know how to touch it it was all so raw,
as if by chance there is no edge to the crowd
or anything else so that I am of it,
I will take the orange and toss it as high as I can.

 

Me & My Valentine, Marfa, TX, 2011

NOLA Birthday Weekend! February 6, 2012

Today I turned the big 35 and am officially in my mid-30s.  Last week, I was feeling a bit panicked that the years seem to be speeding by all of the sudden, but our server at La Bayou this weekend in NOLA told me that his mom always said, “Be happy with your birthday, no matter your age, because there are a lot of people who never get to see what age you are now.”  I love this!

 

 

In looking back, it’s a miracle in itself that I am even here: I was 1.9 oz at birth (and in 1977, Neo-natal care was not what it is now) and had so many health problems as a kid.  I feel that I’ve come so far: I have a wonderful husband, family, I’ve graduated college with honors, gone to and graduated grad school, have published a book, have written another (which is a two-time finalist for a book award), I teach in my chosen field, I have my health, a house, three hilarious cats, good friends, good food, and happiness.  I am incredibly blessed and have had a wonderful birthday!

 

Jackson Square, NOLA

 

Jeff & I went to New Orleans for my birthday weekend and have the BEST time!  We stayed at the Cornstalk Hotel again (and came home with the craziest ghost experience I’ve ever had, which I will leave for another post) and got to enjoy the Krewe du Vieux Mardi Gras parade right outside of our hotel on Royal St.  On Friday night, we had dinner at La Bayou  and coffee and beignets (of course) at Cafe du Monde.  We went up on the Moon Walk and drank our cafe au lait and looked at the passing carriages in front of Jackson Square. We lunched on Saturday @ the storied Galatoire’s (me: shrimp Étouffée and a Pimm’s Cup, Jeff: crab gratin and a Sazerac) and had a casual dinner after the parade @ Chartres House Cafe.  On Sunday, we walked around the Quarter for a bit and had brunch @ Stanley, which had the best view of Jackson Square.  It was, hands down, the best birthday.

 

 

Getting my beads on!

 

 

Tonight, I’m having dinner (TBD) and cake (at Houston’s Chocolate Bar)with my friend Becca & Jeff.  So much fun!

Going Gluten-Free January 22, 2012

Earlier this week, I took the plunge: I decided to go gluten-free.  I started having pain again which led me to believe that I was getting another kidney infection (which I battled over the holidays).  I called my doctor and after talking for awhile and discussing my symptoms (bladder pain along with chronic migraines and stomach distention when eating pasta, bread, biscuits, and the like) led her to hypothesize  that I might have a gluten intolerance issues.  She suggested that I cut out gluten for a few months to see if it helps with these symptoms and if it does, then I have my answer.

 

I was a little scared to go gluten-free, although I have several friends who are gluten-free out of necessity due to Chron’s, Celiac, or other similar illness.  I was afraid because I thought I would never experience real “taste” again — no pasta, breads, cakes — and I was afraid because I love cooking so much.  However, I did extensive research about gluten intolerance and the more I uncovered about gluten, the more sure I became that this was a path I needed to take.  I purchased a few cookbooks, browsed a few gluten-free cooking blogs, and made some meal plans.  I am determined to prove that eating healthy, gluten-free meals can be just as tasty and decadent as eating “regular” meals.

 

I’m going to use this blog, to some extent, as a chronicle of such experiments and recipes (along with discussion of writing, publishing, teaching & poetry, of course) in hopes of helping others who are looking for tasty desserts and meals that are gluten-free.  A tip I’ve learned so far: Bob’s Red Mill is your best friend.  The key to baking gluten-free treats like cakes, pies, and muffins lies in the substitution of flours.  If you’re going gluten-free, you want to avoid white and wheat flour (processed/refined flours) and use flours such as rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, cornstarch, etc.  One more tip: Use 1/4 tsp. Xanthan Gum per 1 cup of gluten-free flour will enable your cakes and breads to rise.  Gluten, which is a binder in doughs and mixes, also helps the batter rise and hold its shape.  Xanthan Gum does the exact same thing, but is, of course, gluten-free.

 

How it’s going so far: My pain has subsided, I am not waking up with headaches almost every morning, I feel lighter and less “full,” I feel less foggy, and generally more energized.  In fact, I read in my research that reducing or eliminating gluten has been shown in medical studies to alleviate or reduce symptoms of Autism, Fibromyalgia, Chron’s Disease, Celiac Disease, migraines, IBS, UTIs, high blood pressure, brittle hair, dermatitis, and a whole crop of other diseases and syndromes.  I have also learned that only about 50% of the time does a food allergy show that one is gluten-sensitive or intolerant, so it’s very hard to diagnose.  The easiest thing to do is remove it from your diet if you suspect an intolerance and see if it helps you.

 

Here are two recipes I’ve recently adapted to be gluten-free:

 

Ultimate Gluten-Free Sriracha Burger (adapted from The Sriracha Cookbook)

 

Rudi's GF + Sriracha = Yum!

 

Rudi’s Multi-Grain Gluten-Free Hamburger Buns

1 lb. grass-fed ground beef

¼ cup gluten-free, low sodium soy sauce

2 Tbsp. Sriracha

2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tomato, sliced

lettuce, onion for garnish

slices of swiss or cheddar cheese, if desired

 

Method:

 

In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef, soy sauce, Sriracha, and pepper.  Do not overmix.  Form into patties.

 

Grill burgers (we used the George), turning once, 4 to 4 ½ minutes on each side or until done.  Garnish burgers with lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and cheese on gluten-free bun as desired.

 

Served w/ sweet potato fries

 

Result: Delicious!  The burger tasted just like any other home-grilled burger and there is little taste difference between a regular hamburger bun and a gluten-free bun.  These particular buns were a little “bready,” but I’d rather have them bready instead of flat and hard as a rock.  The sweet potato fries, which are also gluten-free, were also wonderful.

 

Gluten-Free Nutella Bundt Cake (adapted from The Food Librarian)

 

Hodgson Mill Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix

½  cup butter, softened

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

½ tsp. almond extract

1/3 cup Nutella

Bundt Cake Pan

Rice Flour and Shortening for greasing pan

 

Method:

 

Make yellow cake mix according to package directions.

 

In a small bowl, combine Nutella and 1 egg.  The egg will help loosen the Nutella.  After mixing egg and Nutella, combine 1/3 of the yellow cake mix with the Nutella mixture.  This is what you will “swirl” into the cake.

 

In a greased and floured bundt pan (make sure to use a gluten-free flour as mentioned above in the ingredients), spread half of the remaining yellow cake batter.  Next, spread half of the Nutella mixture, followed by the remaining yellow cake batter and the remaining Nutella mixture.  After all batters are in the pan, take a butter knife and gently “swirl” the layers.

 

Swirled Batter

 

Bake cake for 25 minutes in a 350° preheated oven.  Allow cake to cook completely before turning over pan to remove onto a cake stand or plate.

 

Pretty Nutella Swirls!

 

Result: I’ve made this cake before with regular, non gluten-free cake mix, and it was superb.  This cake was good, but there was a difference (minor) in taste and a large difference in the texture of the batter.  The GF batter has the consistency of pizza dough — this is not an exaggeration — which made it incredibly hard to spread in the pan.  The cake did rise, which I was afraid it wouldn’t, but it turned out a bit shorter than the non-GF variety.  My husband, who is serious about eating, said he would eat it again, so I suppose that says something.   I liked it, but found it a tad drier than the non-GF variety.   I would make this again, but might consider tinkering with the ingredients to see if I can make it a little more moist.  I like a moist cake!

White Roux & a Few Reviews January 14, 2012

Cold weather makes me want to make (and eat) comfort food.  The supreme comfort food? Mac and cheese, of course!  Tonight, I made Spinach-Bacon Macaroni and Cheese and it turned out amazing.  I got the idea from this recipe by, of all places, Kraft.

 

Ingredients

 

3 cups medium shell macaroni (I used elbow), uncooked

1 pkg. (6 oz. ) fresh baby spinach leaves

4 slices bacon, chopped

2 Tbsp. flour

2 cups milk (I used Horizon Organic 2%)

2 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, divided

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

 

Method

 

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COOK macaroni as directed on pkg., adding spinach for the last min. Cook bacon in large saucepan. Remove bacon; save drippings in pan.

ADD flour to drippings; cook and stir until bubbly (this is the white roux). Gradually stir in milk. Bring to boil, stirring constantly; cook and stir 3 to 5 min. or until thickened.

 

 

White Roux (you MUST stir constantly)

STIR in 1 cup Cheddar and Parmesan; cook and stir until melted. Add bacon and macaroni mixture; mix well.

SPOON into 1-1/2-qt. casserole; top with remaining Cheddar. Bake 20 min.

Right out of the oven!

Creamy goodness!

 

Result: This recipe is fairly easy to make; you just need to monitor your roux and bacon so that neither burns.  If you burn your roux, you MUST start over.  As one who has made rouxs before, there is nothing worse than burnt roux.  This made a delicious dish — kind of like a “grown-up” macaroni and cheese.  It also includes simple, easy-to-find ingredients, and is thus budget-friendly.  If I were to make it again (and I most likely will), I would add more cheese.  Even though the creamy texture is great, it lacks the cheese that one would expect from a traditional macaroni and cheese dish.  This is also a bit of a rich dish with all of the cream, so keep that in mind when serving portions.

 

*

 

My book, The Glass Crib, has had some wonderful reviews, recently: one here from Mead Magazine and one here from Tom Holmes (editor of Redactions: A Journal of Poetry & Poetics).  In fact, due in large part to social media, Tom’s review caused my book’s HUGE spike in sales ranking on Amazon from 1.7 million to 189,000 (ballpark) in just a few hours, which is awesome for a book of poetry!  It’s really exciting!  Another review is forthcoming in the journal Shenandoah, so be sure to look for it!

I will be giving 3 reading at this year’s AWP in Chicagoduring the first weekend in March (one with BlazeVox Books, one with Gigantic Sequins/Rose Metal Press, and one with my publisher, Zone 3 Press).  If you’re going to AWP this year or will be in theChicago area, I’d love for you to come out and hear some great writers & say hello!  More details to come.

 

*

A final note: I can now say that my second manuscript was a finalist for the 2012 New Issues Press Green Rose Prize judged by Jean Valentine!  It didn’t win (and congrats to Jaswinder Bolina for his triumph!), but this does give me hope about the collection’s merit and future.  I’m still sending it out, so fingers crossed!

 

So Many Books: A 2012 Reading List December 27, 2011

When I was at Bennington for graduate school, we were required to read around 100 books in two years.  Bennington’s MFA Program motto is famous: “Read 100 books. Write one.”  I had to put myself on a very rigorous reading schedule to accomplish this and for the most part, I did.  In the years since, I’ve scaled back a bit, but have always tried to keep some sort of reading “list.”  Call it OCD (I love lists) or habit (grad school training), but at the end of every year, I compile a new, revised reading list for the next year.  This list usually changes some depending on a new book I’ve heard about or if a friend has recently come out with something, but more or less I try to work my way through my list.

 

 

This year’s list (for 2012) is comprised of books I’ve been wanting to read, books I’ve mostly read and really want to finish, or books I’ve skimmed and need to make the time to actually sit down and enjoy.  Reading my way through this list is one of my top New Year’s Resolutions.  What better way to enter a new year than with the promise of a good story, a poem, or uncovering a new writer?

 

Must Read, 2012 Edition:

 

Prose:

 

Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl by Sandra Beasley
The Ticking is the Bomb by Nick Flynn
Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Amen, Amen, Amen by Abby Sher
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Unpacking the Boxes by Donald Hall
Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife by Francine Prose
Happy by Alex Lemon
Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick
The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure
20 Under 40: Stories from the New Yorker
The Bill From by Father by Bernard Cooper
Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi by Dean Faulkner Wells
The Mammy by Brendan O’Carroll
The Writer’s Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House
Hungry Town by Tom Fitzmorris
A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle

 

Poetry:

 

Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson
For the Living and the Dead: Poems and a Memoir by Tomas Tranströmer
Temper by Beth Bachmann
The McSweeney’s Book of Poets Picking Poets
Facts for Visitors by Srikanth Reddy
The Kingdom of Ordinary Time by Marie Howe
Black Blossoms by Rigoberto Gonzalez
Stupid Hope by Jason Shinder
Milk Dress by Nicole Cooley
Special Orders by Edward Hirsch
Cocktails by D.A. Powell
A Village Life by Louise Gluck
Elegy by Mary Jo Bang
In the Surgical Theatre by Dana Levin
Pierce the Skin by Henri Cole
The Diminishing House by Nicky Beer
The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer
Letter to a Stranger by Thomas James
The Living Fire by Edward Hirsch
Domestic Violence by Eavan Boland

 

I’m also thinking about returning to some of my most-loved children’s books.  I feel that the books that we read as children shaped us in the way that no other books can: we learn from them, grow from them, try on their identities.  Some of the books that I would read again are:

 

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Secret Garden by Eliza Hodgson Burnett
Daphne’s Book by Mary Downing Hahn
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

 

*

 

Another related resolution that I’d like to add is inspired by the NPR article, “A Poem a Day: Portable, Peaceful, and Perfect.”  I love the idea of beginning the day with a poem and I find myself breathing easier whenever I read and then sit with a poem.  I think that doing so would make my day more peaceful, perfect.

 

Merry Christmas! December 24, 2011

 

And who is this little girl (circa 1979)?

 

6 Years + 1 Day With Poem December 17, 2011

Six years ago (+ one day) my little sister Sam was involved in a near-fatal car accident that killed her boyfriend, Nathan, and left her permanently brain injured and in a coma for over a month and changed all of our lives irrevocably.  They were hit by a drunk driver (on his third DUI) on a dark road weeks before Christmas.  She had severe brain swelling from frontal lobe damage (TBI), a pelvis so crushed the doctors found bone shards in her spleen, a broken clavicle,   and many other injuries.  It took two stays at Touchstone Neurorecovery Center and several months at TIRR (where Gabby Giffords received treatment) to bring her back to us.

Tonight, she visited the site to lay a wreath at the cross marker.  Tonight, I reflect on how time heals the heart, but doesn’t let it forget.

 

Without

 

Little sister, sleep or whatever it means

to be without the mind, without the mind

 

meaning body, you are still the early sun,

the unbroken glass.  You are still the wax bird

 

you once drew flying from the car window,

you are the sprouting grass.  When

 

your small fingers birded the paper sky

years before when your mouth was full

 

of popsicle or crackers instead of rutted

gravel, did you know how you would

 

later smash head-first into that December

cold, how your body would hit

 

the wet earth in the field?  Little sister,

I am drawing your bird swirls and your

 

stick fingers waving back.  Your face,

the black Os of your eyes looking up.

 

(from The Glass Crib, Zone 3 Press, 2011)

 

Sam @ Hermann Hospital, December 2005. The "bolt" in her head keeps pressure off of the brain.

Me and Sam, Family Day @ Touchstone Neurorecovery Center, 2006

Small Sizes December 12, 2011

It’s no secret that I’m a tiny woman — I’m 4’10 and weigh 100 lbs.  I’m small for a multitude of reasons, but primarily because I have what’s called Russell-Silver Syndrome.   I really don’t talk about it much because usually people have never heard of it and when I was younger and in school, I wanted to fit in so badly (and for the most part, did) that I felt that answering the question, “What are you so short?” with “I have RSS” would put me in the Freaks & Geeks category.

 

I’m older and wiser, now, and have a great sense of self and have accomplished so many wonderful things with my life.  I also have become somewhat active in the RSS community by joining online organizations, such as TARSS (Teens and Adults with RSS) to help others, especially scared parents, understand and gain confidence in the fact that size is not an identity.  Granted, at 4’10 in stocking feet I’m rather “tall” for a RSS person (which is akin or in the family of dwarfism, but not a true dwarf) and I don’t have many of the myriad of characteristics held by the syndrome.  However, I am short (my bones capped when I was 12, which means I’ve been the same size since I was that age), which often makes buying clothes (in particular, dresses, skirts, and pants) a challenge.

 

I’ll admit it: I’m a clotheshorse.  When cleaning out my closet this past weekend, my husband joked that I had more clothes than there were days left on earth.  Hyperbole aside, he’s probably not far off.  Tops fit me fine, as do sweaters and most jackets.  However, dresses and shoes have proven the biggest hurdle, fashion-wise.  I have tiny feet (I wear around a size 1 in kids shoes) and, as much as I love her,  I don’t want to wear Hello Kitty sneakers.  I have been able to find “adult” looking shoes — boots and heels and flats and sandals — from Nordstrom and Zappos in particular.  However, because I have high arches and narrow heels, I always have to fix them up with heel inserts and arch supports.  As for dresses, forget it.  I’m short, but somewhat curvy (thank God, or I’d really look 12) and I have a short torso, but very long legs for my height (I have a 26 1/2 inch inseam — compare that to my 5′ 9 husband’s 30 1/2 inseam).  I’m literally all leg with tiny feet.  I live at the tailor.  That is, until now.

 

I came across two websites recently, eshakti and Cinderella of Boston.  Eshakti’s motto is “We design.  You customize.”  The process involves choosing a garment from a wide range of stylish designs (skirts, tops, pants, jackets, and in particular, dresses) and having eshakti customize your garment based on your measurements.  Their prices are amazing: around $60 on average for a dress and $7.50 to customize.  In addition to having the garments made to fit you (and I would suggest having someone measure you as they ask for a LOT of different types of measurements to provide an exact fit), you can customize your garment as far as hem length, neckline, sleeve length, and so on.  This fall, I’ve made quite a few purchases (after an exhaustive research of the company and reading through reviews on blogs), and ALL of them have turned out like a dream!  Each dress has fit perfectly and I just received a gorgeous red silk skirt in the mail that fits like, well, it was made for me!  Eshakti makes itty-bitty sizes up to 26W, so there’s a dress (or jacket or pants or skirt or . . ) for everyone.  Here are some photos of my selections:

 

Cutaway shoulder beaded mesh dress (sold out)

Closer view of green dress (with keyhole neck line)

Bow tied neck cotton twill dress (wore to a wedding to rave reviews!)

@ wedding in the red bow-tie neck dress (also bought this in black)

 

I also purchased (but have no photos in, yet) the Pleated yoke cotton dress, the Ruffle front wrap dress (in black), the Pleated silk skirt, the Asymmetric pleats knit dress (in teal, sold out, & wore to my mom’s birthday with a black cardigan, tights & tall boots and got a LOT of compliments, but, sadly, forgot to take a photo!), and the Pointillist tweed dress (sold out).  I really would like to get the birds who gossip dress and the Pops of color dress before those sell out! Maybe eshakti will send me one to review (hint, hint)?

 

Cinderella of Boston is also an amazing place to order from if you’re a hard fit, shoe-wise.  They only sell shoes in sizes 2-5 1/2.  However (and VERY lucky for me), their shoes run small.  Take a look at their size chart:

 

 

Like eshakti, Cinderella of Boston‘s website can quickly become addicting if you don’t watch out.  I ordered three pairs of shoes this fall, and each one is nearly perfect!  I say nearly because even though they fit length and width wise, I find that I still need some sort of arch support, but that’s not their fault.  The shoes are ALL well-made and look expensive.  Here’s what I’ve ordered:

 

The Elite (in black). Photo c/o Cinderella of Boston.

The Dorado Boot. Photo c/o Cinderella of Boston.

The Sage Bootie (my favorite!). Photo c/o Cinderella of Boston.

 

I am so in love with all of these shoes!  The heels on them run around 3 inches, which is the highest heel I’ve ever had, but I took to it immediately!  C.O.B. is supposed to be coming out with their Spring 2012 line very soon, so I’m ear-marking a little bit of money for a cute pair of wedges or sandals.   You can find the above shoes here, here, and here.  However, the shoes at C.O.B. sell out fast, so if you have tiny feet, I would order right away.  They are pretty quick with shipping and send you communication about your order throughout its transit, which I like.

I sit down to write, I get a bake sale December 10, 2011

I’m beyond excited to say that my second collection of poems, “The City That Care Forgot,” is currently a finalist for a major book prize!  I just started sending this manuscript out at the end of September and to know that it’s already a finalist straight out of the gate is such an incredible feeling!  I was very apprehensive about this manuscript because it was such a risky undertaking subject-wise, but I believe in it and know that you can’t get anywhere without taking risks.

 

I haven’t been writing much this fall and haven’t written anything since early October, which is actually fine with me.  I’ve been teaching 5 classes this term, which is exhausting, but that is only a small part of why I haven’t been writing.  For the most part, I need a break.  I wrote two books back to back over the past 5 years and I feel that I need time to relax–to read, to think, to enjoy life–and I feel that this (brief, most likely) hiatus will be well worth it in the end.

 

I love cooking and baking and the fall/holidays are the perfect time to find yourself elbow-deep in flour.  Last night, I made homemade butterscotch slice cookies for both Jeff as well as little neighbor holidays treat bags.  The recipe is from Paula Deen.  Since this recipe was quite different than I initially expected gauging the ingredients list and also because  I haven’t done a recipe review in a while, I figured that I would share the recipe, method photos, and final results:

 

BUTTERSCOTCH SLICE COOKIES

 

Image courtesy Paula Deen

 

Ingredients 

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

 

Directions

 

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time.  Add flour mixture one cup at a time and mix well.  Stir in chopped nuts. 

 

 

Place dough on wax paper and form into 2-inch rolls.  Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 375º F. Slice into 1/8 inch slices and bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 5 to 6 minutes.

 

Allow to cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.

 

 

Outcome: These are easy to make, delicious cookies.  When I first read through the ingredients, I wondered how on earth these were going to taste like butterscotch when there were no butterscotch morsels in the recipe.  However, the butter and brown sugar work together to make the dough taste EXACTLY like butterscotch.  Sadly, though, when baked, these little cookies lose their butterscotch flavor and taste more like sugar-pecan biscotti (which is not a terrible thing, but just not what I ultimately wanted).  I think I’m going to rename these cookies (as is) Butter-Pecan Cookies because that’s what they really taste like and then whenever I make these again, I might try adding butterscotch morsels and see if that works any better.  Also, it’s important to note that baking times do vary.  I found that if you slice the dough on the thinner side (which I started out doing, but quickly realized this made for a rather dinky cookie), that I needed to bake them for 5 minutes exactly.  When I began slicing them a little thicker, say, 1/4 inch, they need to be baked for around 7 minutes.  Ultimately, these are yummy cookies that, I know, don’t scream “holiday cookie,” but do make for a nice little tea biscuit or afternoon cold-day snack.  My husband likes them with a glass of 2% Horizon Organic Milk.  I prefer them with a hot cup of Nutcracker Sweet tea.  

 

Santa likes them!

 

Notes from the Paula Deen Test Kitchen: Makes a great cookie to be served with tea or coffee.  Dough freezes well.  Dough is easier to cut when frozen.  If using this method, allow cookies to sit 3-4 minutes on a cool baking sheet before baking.

Holiday Nostalgia December 3, 2011

I’ll admit it: every year when I open and unpack the boxes of Christmas decorations, I get a little sappy and nostalgic.  I love looking at and setting out my “heirloom” decorations and ornaments and remembering back to my childhood.  Yes, I love my newly-acquired decorations and baubles, but if there was a fire and I could only save a few holidays lovelies, I would opt for these:

 

 

My mom gave me this book when I was two, back  in 1979 (!)  It’s a precious pop-up version of “The Night Before Christmas” and I’ve adored it every since I I first held it in my hands.  Some of the pieces are missing, but most are still intact and in good condition.  I love setting this out and creating a “scene” around it that involves vintage santas and gold-glitter reindeer.

 

 

The little yellow angel playing the mandolin in the front is a Goebel Hummel bell ornament from my birth year (1977).  My parents lived in Germany for several years in the 1950s and have a small collection of original Hummels.  I don’t know where my mom purchased the above Hummel, but I adore it.  At 76, she’s not able to put up a large tree anymore, and so dispersed the valuable ornaments to her children.  I love this one and set it out every Christmas — I’m afraid to put it on the tree in fear of it falling and breaking.

 

The red lady playing the guitar behind her pre-dates me and I think it’s precious in its vintage holiday charm.  There is a sticker from the long-closed Hefner’s gift shop in the town where I grew up on the bottom, which makes me love it even more.  It’s a symbol of small-town life long ago when mom and pop shops were the backbone of the community.

 

 

 

This house also pre-dates me and it is one of my favorite holidays decorations, hands down.  There were once little plastic color “lights” that fit into the holes on the Christmas tree, but they have been lost to time (or my parents’ attic).  When this ceramic house wound up in my hands, it was filled with candle wax — it was even coming out of the windows!  My husband was so kind to carefully and painstakingly clean it out of all of the wax and soot and random wicks.  I now put a tealight inside instead of a votive and love to watch it glow.  I wish I had the little plastic “lights” and if anyone knows where I can get some, I’d be very appreciative.

 

 

I think this is so cute!  This was actually part of a set that included “peace” and something else.  It’s just a simple plastic decoration, but I always “played” with it when I was a little child.  Before my parents tore the wall down between their formal living room and dining room, they had this little space with rails about a foot or so from the ceiling to the top of the wall that they used to sit these on.  I would stand on the back of the couch in the living room (when no one was looking) to reach them.

 

 

Starting when I was about 5, my mom and sisters would take me to the Nutcracker ballet most years.  I loved the Nutcracker!  My mom enrolled me in ballet classes and bought me the Tchaikovsky soundtrack.  My favorite part of the Nutcracker (besides the mice) was the actual Nutcracker itself.  When I was about 10 and had a little allowance money, my sister Lynne took me down to the now-closed Foley’s department store where I purchased a Nutcracker for my mom for Christmas.  For a few years, it became a tradition for me to buy her a Nutcracker.  A few years back when my mom started to consolidate her Christmas decoration collection, she gave me a few of them for my house.  The above Nutcracker is the original one I bought in 1987.  Its hair is a little yellowed and its fur beard is thinning, but it generally works and is good condition for being 24 years old.  This year, I made a Nutcracker “scene” on my mantle with all of the Nutcrackers, our wreath stocking holders, the “Nutcracker” candle from Yankee Candle, and these votive cups from Crate & Barrel.

 

 

My husband Jeff and I first met in August 2001 (and married in August 2002).  The above ornament is from our first Christmas together.  I bought it at Hallmark and just love it.  It’s so sweet and makes me smile each year.  The man   is holding mistletoe over the woman and below them dangles a star that reads ’2001.’

 

 

This ceramic Christmas tree is from 1982 when I was 5.  I made it in the kindergarten at Vor-Lin Preschool (which I still think was once of the best preschools around as we learned to read, do basic addition and subtraction, learn colors, the alphabet, etc. all by the time were were 5 or 6.  In fact, a lot of the kids in my class that went to Vor-Lin went on to become honor students, valedictorians or salutatorians, doctors, teachers, activists, and all-around good people).

 

I begin decorating after Thanksgiving because I love looking at these memories as long as I can.  It’s such a joy to unwrap each one and find the perfect place for it.  Each year, it’s a little moment of love.