Sunday, November 29, 2009

Putting up the Christmas tree...

Love this time of year and this is the first Christmas that I'm gonna get some "white"! Yahoo! Here are a few photos of us decorating the tree.

We get the tree from a local shop. In and out with the dogs in under 15 minutes!

This is the widest tree I've ever gotten. This tree cost us $39! In Tampa this tree would have been at least $60.
Charles untangling the mess that is the lights.

Ginger helps Daddy put up the decorations. What a good girl!

Putting up the vintage tree topper. I remember when I was little we used this one a lot. I am so happy (sometimes) that my mom was a pack-rat and kept everything. I love this topper and this is the first year I've used it on my tree.

The final product. Ready for presents!

New "Hunting Season" Ideas

It is pretty common knowledge that Charles and I don't "get behind" the notion of hunting. Give a guy a gun and send him off into the woods to shoot at critters. Doesn't seem to really be a fair fight, so Charles and I were discussing some more "level-playing-field" options for the game commission to consider this season. And since tomorrow is Buck Day (first day of deer hunting season-and a local holiday from work) we've decided to share them with you!

-Strangling Season
-Ice Pick Season
-"Your Mama" Jokes Season
-Hand Drill Season
-Vulcan Nerve Pinch Season
And our favorite, the
-"Why-You-Hittin'-Yourself?" Season

We hope that some of these new "seasons" will catch on!

Happy Please-Don't-Shoot-A-Buck Day!

Marshmallows with Toasted Coconut




7 ounces sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup of cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and allow to sit while you make the syrup.

Meanwhile, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Put the mixer on high speed and whip until the mixture is very thick, about 15 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Sprinkle half the toasted coconut in an 8 by 12-inch nonmetal pan. Pour in the marshmallow batter and smooth the top of the mixture with damp hands. Sprinkle on the remaining toasted coconut. Allow to dry uncovered at room temperature overnight.

Remove the marshmallows from the pan and cut into squares. Roll the sides of each piece carefully in confectioners' sugar. Store uncovered at room temperature.

I used the Ina Garten recipe but made mine bigger to fit perfectly on a graham cracker square. They were wonderful in s'mores, but just as yummy direct from the pan!

This is a bit messy but totally fun to make and I used disposable gloves when smoothing it down.

Friday, November 27, 2009

25 Things

I am borrowing this idea from my friend Suze's blog who borrowed it from a US Weekly article about 25 things you don't know about a certain celebrity.

Here are 25 Things You Might Not Know About Me:

1. I am a cat person. As much as I love my two dogs, I love cats more!

2. I have a magazine fetish. Love to read them, and used to "collect" them. Was very hard for me to throw out a magazine. (That was before I started watching Hoarders on TV.)

3. I once saw a person fly through a window of a van and get impaled on the antenna.

4. As a teenager I saw more old, classic movies on the big screen than I did current ones.

5. I used to be an interpreter for the deaf.

6. I won a cooking competition and had my conch fritter recipe published in a cookbook when I was a teenager.

7. I have thrown, co-hosted or attended a Halloween party almost every year of my life.

8. Swimming in water that isn't clear freaks me out. I mean really freak out.

9. In high school I won state competitions for acting including Shakespearean Comedy.

10. Most of my "telephone" friends know that I have a code words ready so that if I am in trouble and cannot say so they will hear my code words and call the police!

11. In the 70's my dad gave me the nickname "Doobie". For us it meant "do-be good, and don't be bad". It wasn't until many years later that I realized it had another, more widely known meaning. We were so naive! (Which leads me to #12)

12. I have NEVER smoked anything or done any kind of drug. Ever.

13. I used to be a regular guest on HSN, selling scrapbooking stuff.

14. When I went through chef's training I was too short to reach the back of the grill so the chef made me stand on a stool to reach it and said I was the only one that ever had to use a stool!

15. My acting partner in college drama class was Brian Warner (AKA: Marilyn Manson) and I used to go to his concerts in Fort Lauderdale when he was Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids.

16. I once walked in on a burgler who had just broken into my parent's house.

17. I love anything tomato based...tomato soup, catsup, spaghetti sauce...but I CANNOT eat a raw tomato.

18. I am extremely directionally challenged. Cannot read maps. Do not know N-S-E-W. Get lost coming home sometimes. I am a 100% landmark kind-of girl.

19. I have never learned how to drive a stick shift.

20. I used to live in a haunted house.

21. I met Randy Travis when I and a couple friends snuck backstage at one of his concerts by pretending to be with a local DJ.

22. My dream is to own a "canned ham" and travel around in it.

23. I was physically punched, slapped, kicked, threatened and beat up regularly when I attended my one and only year of public middle school.

24. My favorite car that I've ever owned was a 1970-something, baby blue, Oldsmobile Delta 88! LOVED it!

25. I think that I could easily be swayed to adopt a "survivalist" mentality and lifestyle. Emergency preparedness, survival and self-reliance kind-of stuff.