Reflecting.

It's that point in the year, when everyone seems to be reflecting on the year that is almost over, and looking ahead to the year that is coming. My Pea-In-A-Pod Friend posed this earlier today, and I have to agree with her (as usual - there is a reason we are peas-in-a-pod after all): 

Truth: I've never understood New Year's celebrations. Out with the old, in with the new! Next year is going to better! Now is the time for change! We can finally hope for something different, something better despite the fact that tomorrow is likely going to be the same agent as today! I don't really *get* it. 

I believe that every sunrise is the opportunity to celebrate the newest new, the freshest fresh start and the cleanest clean slate one can have. And I personally like to celebrate that moment from the comfort of my bed, with my eyes closed. I may need to re-evaluate, but for now, that's the reality of my gratitude. Note to self: be more aware & grateful. Also, get your lazy ass out of bed more/earlier/without fuss. 

And so, here we are: the entire world* celebrating NEW! and POSSIBLE! and CHANGE! and BETTER! this *one* day when perhaps we should actually acknowledge this Every Day. 

But then I think, at least the entire world* celebrates together. And THAT, my dear, is truly a miracle. For today, the human race is largely in harmony. AROUND THE GLOBE, people are engaging in local traditions to celebrate the very same thing. Synchronicity. Commonality. Shared humanness-ity. When I think about *that*, it's actually kind of miraculous & beautiful. All the humans rejoicing together, celebrating together, hugging together, hoping together, fireworks at midnighting together ... 

New and Possible and Change and Better: I'll take it. On this and every new day.

Well said, my friend. 

If there was one lesson that I learned from 2013 (and frankly, 2012 too), it's that today is an awesome day, and the perfect day to try anything, especially something new. 

Holy Hosting, Batman.

In the last two weeks of the year, the Chez will have hosted 4 gatherings. The smallest a group of 7, the largest a group of <approximately> 36. We love to host gatherings and house guests, and are really lucky to have a home large enough to accommodate both with relative ease. But wuf. 

To date, three gatherings have happened: two were potluck, which was super fun, and by virtue, fairly stress free. The one for my family's holiday gathering was the simplest of them all though. I have a smallish nuclear family, and with Mi Madre living out of state, it was the 5 Nashes + my brother-in-law (Spouse's lil bro), who was visiting from out West, and his sweetie, who arrived on Christmas Eve.

This year, keeping in mind food preferences, and my family, I went with a menu of two soups, a delicious artisan made bread loaf, and butter. 

For the meat eaters, our friend's fantastic Green Chile Chicken Noodle soup and for the vegetarians, a very easy Red Lentil soup, recommended by a friend at work. 

Spouse and his brother hit up the North Market on Christmas Eve Eve Day and bought a fabulous light sourdough loaf from Omega Artisan Baking that turned out to be perfect. Crusty (but not hard) on the outside, and wonderfully chewy and dense (but not too dense) on the inside. Held up super well to the soups, a great companion to the Kerrygold (unsalted) butter we had decided on, and poof, by the end of the dinner, was gone, baby, gone. 

I had previously made the Green Chile Chicken Noodle soup, as Reverend Al swears by it for when one feels icky, but had never made the Red Lentil. Both are simple and really flavorful, esp with hacks. And I have to say, quick to make. 

Putting a Personal Swing into the Holidays.

When Spouse and I were married, the favors we gave to our guests was a 2-CD set: one was a mix of romantic/mushy songs and the other was a mix of holiday tunes.

Since that year, I've carried on the tradition of just a CD mix of holiday tunes, and gift it to family and friends. While the CDs for our wedding were a mix of his music and mine, my general rule for the holiday mix I do annually, is I can only use "my" holiday music. I've relaxed that a bit, but 92% of the tracks are guaranteed to be just mine....I may whork a little bit (he's got some really choice tunes). 

(The CD is really a present from both of us, as I receive at least 6 "new"* holiday CDs every year from Spouse, so while it may be classified as "mine", he had a hand in a lot of what I have, and use.)

The CD comes in really handy. 

An expensive yogurt batch.

I made a batch of yogurt last night. 

Nothing remarkable about that, really, except that the previous two batches were utter failures, so I felt much relief and joy that *this* batch worked. 

Enter Genius Spouse, who chimed in with, "Sweetie, for your yogurt, do you need consistent temps? Maybe that's the issue, since we turn the furnace down each night". 

Dammit, Beavis. 

He's completely right. I've been wrapping the warmed crock in two thick, nice beach towels, and leaving it to chillax on the kitchen counter, but we like to sleep in a fairly chilly house. Plus even though it's technically not winter until Saturday, it has been winter for a few weeks.

I also suspect my I-have-no-idea-where-I-even-got-it-or-when thermometer may be biting the dust. I was farting around with it while heating the milk on the stove, and it seemed to have differing opinions of temperature at times. I realize I'm imprecise when cooking, but there is a time and place for preciseness. Fermented foods are up there. 

The Doctor *is* always right.

I have met an incredible number of dedicated, passionate students studying medicine in the last 7 years. One of my absolute favorites from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Dr. HB, also had a master's degree in nutrition, so in addition to being an incredible doctor, she is also an amazing cook and baker. 

I remember the time she gifted me with homemade marshmallows. 

To this child of the 70's and 80's, marshmallows were the puffy, uber white creations you got in a plastic bag - more often than not for either hot cocoa (in the winter) or s'mores (in the summer). I naturally assumed there were 86 ingredients, 3 hours of time and a legion of baking utensils and such needed, and said so to Dr. HB at the time - marveling that she went to all that trouble. She said very matter-of-factly, is my recollection, that no, they were not really hard to make, and I should try it sometime. 

That was 2008, possible 2009. 

This being the year of 95% home-made & heart-felt gifts, I started pondering handmade prezzies, mainly for the aunts, uncles, and cousins on Spouse's side, as we'll see most everyone during the end of December. The ladies are not difficult, but as a fairly girlie girl, what could I make for the uncles to enjoy? Homemade marshmallows, because who doesn't love marshmallows? NOBODY, that's who.

A Little Holiday Music.

One thing I've learned over my time with Spouse is that there is a $hit-ton of holiday music out there. He loves this area of music more than is possible to relate to you using human language. 

With songs ranging from the sacred to the profane, from the morose to absurd, from traditional to extreme - not to mention every single genre you can think of - between the two of us, we have at least a little bit of all types. It's pretty amazing what you can find, when you start looking. 

When people ask what my favorite holiday tune is, I have to request a genre, because I have favorites in every area. 

Novelty tune: "I Want A Hippopatamus for Christmas". I love this song so much, that one year, Spouse found a concrete hippo and bought it for me for the holiday. I named her Gayla Peevey after the young lady that sings the original song. 

This is my Gayla Peevey. 

Thank you, Nelson Mandela.

My freshman year of college was remarkable, not just for the obvious reasons of being my first year "on my own", away from my family. I started college in August, 1989, and had no idea of the amazing events that would take place that (academic) year. 

First, in the late fall, the Berlin Wall fell. The symbol of The Cold War, and the ideals that came with it, gone. I remember watching on my 13" tv, in my dorm room, as people came together with sledge hammers and power tools to make it happen, and seeing East Berliners & West Berliners shaking hands and hugging, without guards in-between. It was so amazing to me. 

Yep. It's Going to be *that* kind of week.

First, I forget to add ricotta to my roasted veg lasagna. 

Then, new batch of yogurt fails to take. Wah wah. Not sure if the left-over from last batch that I used as starter was bad. Maybe my thermometer was off. The joys of fermented foods. Sometimes, it just.doesn't.take. 

Owel. #FirstWorldProblemsForSure.

The silver lining is, because I ran out of energy last night to make a new batch of Spouse's bfast burritos, I got up early and made his fresh, then emptied dishwasher, reloaded it, started it, put lunches together for both of us (mine without yogurt though, which does make me sad). In short, I was way more productive by 7:30 a.m., than I normally am. 

Here's a panic inducing thought: three weeks to the christmas holiday. Egads.  

Hope everyone else's week is going well.

Happy Accidents in Roasted Veg Lasagna.

Way back in July, when I first began this blog, in my first post even, I promised to post missteps, in addition to posting my successes - knowing eventually I would have a misstep. Guess what? 

I am in that contingent of folk who are gluten-sensitive, meaning I can eat gluten, but sparingly. I'm always experimenting with ways to cut the gluten out, but without making me feel like I'm missing something. 

With an over-abundance of squash and zucchini in this summer's market bag, I began to experiment with using the squash in recipes and one that has worked well, in a few iterations, is Roasted Veg Lasagna. 

Roasting veggies is basically the easiest thing on the planet. And the right combo of veg leads to a great pasta substitute.