Holiday Baking

I had big plans for the day. Volunteer in the morning, hop on a train to Solana Beach, meet up with Julia, and go with her to Pacific Beach to get her tattoos. I was so excited, but it wasn’t in the cards. I got to the train station only to see that the trains aren’t running because it’s been raining for days (flooding, slides). But by the time I was dropped off at the station I was in a total fog from the Dayquil I had taken so I couldn’t drive. I’m still in that fog and it’s still raining, so here I am.

Here’s what I made over the weekend.

Grandma Violet’s Welsh cakes (without the currants). I don’t think I’ll be using the snowflake cookie cutters again. The snowflake “arms” were a little too fragile.

Brandy balls. These were aMAZing, if I do say so myself. The recipe’s here. I used brandy instead of bourbon because that’s what Grammy had on hand.

Winter Break List Update: 12/17/10

I’ve been working on many of the things on my list since I officially finished the semester on December 10.

1. Read for Fun. I finished re-reading the first Harry Potter book. It’s only my second time reading it and I enjoyed it. Now I’m reading On the Road and I love it so far.

5. Make cookies and share them with people. Well, I made cookies (Peanut Butter Blossoms) and my mom brought 90% of them to work. They came out a little too salty for me. In fact, if I make these again, I will probably omit the salt altogether. They weren’t good enough to take pictures of. As soon as I finish writing this post, I’m going to head to the grocery store to buy supplies to make my Mamaw’s almond lace cookies, my grandma Violet’s Welsh cakes, and bourbon balls (all of which I’ll share with my extended family this weekend).

I’m slowly making progress on or thinking about the rest. I’ll even take pictures.

Rice Pudding

This afternoon I took a break from writing to go to the La Semilla/AMIGOS holiday party.  I watched my students sing Christmas carols and dance to Christina Aguilera’s cover of “Carwash.” Their parents brought some yummy-looking food. The director of the program kept referring to the food as “a gift of love.” I loved that. I had rice pudding. I want to swim in rice pudding. It was a fun party! I’m going to miss them this winter.

Cereal o’ clock

I need to change the name of this blog. I meant it to be descriptive, but I think it gives off the impression that my age/youth is a huge deal. When I thought of it, I was not aware of anybody who went to library school straight after college like I did. I was feeling pretty insecure and unable to relate. Of course, with time, I came to realize that I had nothing to worry about. I’ve let go of a lot of insecurities about my age and now it’s time to let go of that (stupid) name.

I think I’ll go with “Midnight Cereal.” Life’s too short to put that so much thought into a blog name. And this bowl of cinnamon toast I just ate (12:20 AM) really hit the spot.

UPDATE: DAMN! There’s already a “Midnight Cereal.” “Midnight Cheesecake” it is.

Things I want to do during Winter Break 2010-2011

It happens every year. During finals week I fantasize about all the stuff I would be doing if I didn’t have so much work to do. Then when finals end I get bored and rack my memory trying to think of what it was that I was so excited to do. So now I’m going to write it down. One final paper to go!

1. Read for fun! I have a list of 175 books to read.
2. Go on bike rides.
3. Go to the gym at least 3x a week.
4. Go somewhere where it snows. I don’t care if the snow is all covered in dirt and dog pee. I am deprived of snow.
5. Make cookies and share them with people.
6. Be a good intern. Really nervous.
7. Bust out the sewing machine and fancy up some old cardigans. I added this after spending an hour the other day ogling the embellish knit month sweaters on Grosgrain. Look at this one!
8. Eat tamales.
9. Deep clean my room. This is actually my first reward for finishing finals. I love me a clean, dust-free bedroom.
10. Organize my closet and drawers.
11. Drink tea. I just joined Steepster. My tea drawer’s already at the brim and I am very afraid.
12. Make Mamaw’s spaghetti bolognese.
13. Go to the movies.
14. See my friends more often.
15. Make lemon curd.
16. Buy more grown-up clothes.
17. Make a plan for post-graduation.
18. Knit something, dammit. I haven’t touched my needles in months.

Latkes, Southwestern style

It’s Hanukkah time (happy Hanukkah!), and although my family doesn’t celebrate it, we like latkes. We also love Mexican food and always incorporate it into our holiday menu (tamales, albondigas soup, and champurrado are a Christmas Eve-Eve tradition). So when I saw this recipe for cilantro-jalapeno latkes with chipotle sour cream, I knew it was perfect for us. Grating potatoes and an onion and then mashing them in a colander to get the moisture out was also a great way for me to let go of some pent up stress and aggression that had accumulated in the past few days (finals/presentations, a brief flu, and a major personal problem ALL happened in a 2-day period). The latkes came out wonderfully and my parents loved them. I am sure I would have loved them just as much had I regained more of my appetite.