Christmas

Sorry I was MIA for Christmas, but we had a somewhat busy day followed by lots of Red Dwarf watching. I’ve never heard of anyone outside of my family watching that show except for Dori.

What follows is a picture heavy recap of the day. We woke early and I thought about making breakfast, but didn’t. After opening presents, we hightailed it to my parents’, and waited for them. They were on a walk.

[favorite candid photo of the day.]

My new scarf (thanks, Dotty!)

Mr. Greens’ scarf (that’s Callie, my parents’ cat)

We had breakfast at my parents, consisting of Starbucks Christmas blend.

homemade-by-mom breakfast cake,

and mimosas! (I was excited) [drinking when I should be working]

Appetizers: Chex mix made my moi, crudite, hummus made by my boyfriend, and warm pita wedges.

I dropped one of these tomatoes on the floor and couldn’t find it. I looked everywhere. My dad said, “Are your pants cuffed?” Sure enough there was a tomato in my pants cuff. Ha! Good thinking, dad.

My dad bought my mom the Stuff White People like Page-a-day calendar. Funny stuff. Hummus was January 1st, which we all had a laugh at. Hummus is good, what can we say. Also, we’re white.

My dad received this blended scotch, and pretended to drink it over his shoulder.

[this is a close second for my favorite photo of the day!]

My boyfriend got this interesting alcoholic beverage, a barley wine, or distilled beverage

which he also pretended to chug.

Actual lunch: We had a greek feast. You know how we are if you read this blog. We never have traditional American meals for holidays. We had spanikopita, mujadarrah, hummus, and greek salad. I was so full of mimosas, hummus and chex mix that I didn’t think I could eat any. Mom and I make the spanikopita on the actual day, everything was made in advance. Spanikopita is the greek pastry dish made with layered phyllo dough and a spinach, onion, feta cheese mixture on the inside. mmm, crispy layers….

Mr. Greens makes the best mujadarrah, one of my favorite greek dishes. It consists of rice and lentils, with fried onions and spices. If it’s done well it has a meaty consistency, like dirty rice.

And of course he makes a mean hummus.

My mom’s salad, unmixed. It is mostly several bell pepper, olives, fresh herbs, feta, tomatoes, and cucumber.

My plate: 

  Greek yogurt can be substituted for tzatziki sauce.

We do eat inside sometimes, usually when it’s too cold to go outside.

After eating, I took a short nap on the couch with a willing participant.

One of Mr. Green’s presents that I’m excited about is a Bialetti espresso maker. He perked me up with promises of a cup.

My mom has a cup, plate, or glass for every occasion. I probably would if I had the cabinet space. We are very similar.

I don’t know what my most exciting gift was….my boyfriend bought me a Snuggie (haha), a really nice blanket from Restoration Hardware, and two pairs of slippers. I’m an old lady, what can I say? I also got tea, candles (from Phebes!) and chocolate. Another biggie: a compost tumbler. That might seem weird to some people, but I’ve wanted to compost for a long time, and they’re really cool. Thank you mom, dad, and Mr. Greens.

The eats later on in the day included a freezer burrito, and lots of chocolate and cheese.

Plus a couple of beers while watching Red Dwarf, you smegs.

All right, this is way too long. I’m getting bored with myself….Merry(late) Christmas!

Christmas Eve

This morning I woke up bright and early (well, for a day off) and had the house to myself for a couple of hours. I made coffee, read blogs, and listened to the rain. Ahhh, the little things in life. I also ate a clementine and a honeycrisp apple.

I snacked on two Milton’s Multigrain crackers. Mmmm!

Around lunchtime, I embarked on making freezer burrito batch 3.  The ingredients this time were:

• pinto beans
• cheddar cheese
• brown rice
• chicken
• hot chunky salsa
• black olives
• onion
• flour tortillas

I used two large cans of pinto beans, drained and rinsed, then whirred them in the cuisinart.

One and a half chicken breasts, fork-shredded, and mixed with onion and chopped black olive. Let sit in several tablespoons of salsa, for maximum flava.

+Other ingredients 

We set up a station of the bowls of chicken, beans, rice, and cheese, then Mr. Greens rolled the burritos while I warmed the tortillas. Action shot:  

For lunch I had a burrito with lettuce added:

We made ten future burritos for the freezer.

A few hours later I made myself a vegetable snacking plate. The veggies at yesterday’s work party were going to be tossed out, so I took them home. I also have extra cheeseball. Ugh.

This was followed closely by chocolate. Early present from the boyfriend. I think he knows my taste.

I also have been drinking cranberry mocktails today. I’m glad we’re done with the Kool-Aid Cran-Grape.

Other big cooking projects today? I made old fashioned chex mix, and Mr. Greens is currently in the kitchen slaving over his famous hummus and mujadarrah. We like greek food in this family. We also like chex mix.

It’s acceptable to have once a year, or so. I make the full fledged recipe, with butter, and lots and lots of Worcestershire sauce. Sometimes I add Tabasco, and I usually add Tony Chachere’s.

There’s no surprise that I didn’t have a proper dinner, since I’m stuffed to the gills. I steamed some dumplings for the hungry boyfriend, mostly so he wouldn’t eat all the chex mix. These are from Vinh Phat, one of our local Vietnamese grocery stores. Pretty darn good.

I ate one. I am planning to have a beer or two tonight, probably Sam Adams Light. We’ll probably watch a movie, and try to get some shut-eye.

Yay for Christmas tomorrow! I hope everyone has a great day with people they love.