Might Be Enough

Another year of a birthday and Christmas has come and gone. Since it was a milestone year for me, I was asked, a lot, what I'd like for both occurrences. Tastes have changed. There are things which I'd like. Then, I look at them and think of upkeep and whether they need to be dusted and they fall off the list. Three things which don't are tea, chocolate and socks. I got a lot of tea for birthday and Christmas.

I dumped all Christmas and birthday gifts into a box sitting in the recliner and, over New Year's, put it all away. I also emptied and cleaned, the cupboards in the kitchen. No lie. There was an angel food cake mix with a "Best By 4-18-12" date on it. Not going to even attempt to use that.

In cleaning, I found packages of tea which had been shoved to the back of the cupboard when pasta or soup or olive oil had been added in front of them. I always think I don't have enough. I pulled everything off the shelves and was astounded.

This doesn't take into consideration the boxes which are in active use and repose on the window sill behind the stove, two of which can be seen at the upper right of the photo. After taking this, I found another small box of Christmas gifts which included three more boxes of tea. I used the last tea bag in the Huckleberry tea sitting on the corner of the window sill and replaced it with a box of Irish breakfast Carole gave me. This is a lot of tea.

A practical assessment is in order here. I drink a lot of tea. I have a large mug of Assam to my left as I type this. At the office I know I have four different varieties. Even if I use one tea bag a cup or one strainer of loose leaf, it will take me over a year, probably closer to 2 years, to use up all of this. I never do a 'one-off' of a bag. I usually get three mugs out of one before I pitch it. Hence, we are, realistically, looking at over 3 years of tea sitting on the counter.

What's also not shown are the containers of hot cocoa, both the cocoa which can be made with water and the cocoa which needs milk. I drank a lot of cocoa last week, when the temperatures dropped into the single digits during the day and negative numbers at night.

It's probably time to stop asking for tea as a gift.

Beverage:  Assam

Deb

Not On My Watch!

For my birthday, my best friend, Patt, sent me packets of the best instant hot cocoa on the planet. Seriously. This cocoa is incredibly good. Years and years and years ago (it seems, and then, didn't she just graduate? Time is fluid.), when Carole was in marching band in high school, to raise money, the band did Market Day fundraising. They bought food wholesale and you purchased this food in bulk. We used to get a lot of meat through them because things like chicken breasts and hamburger patties were individually sealed.

One of the things they sold, from November through March, was a box of Land O'Lakes hot cocoa. There were 6 different flavors in a box. Oh my! We would wind up buying 2 boxes per month and storing them because cold winter months require good hot cocoa to survive. I'm torn about which flavor was my favorite. This chocolate cinnamon was right up there along with their white cocoa and chocolate raspberry. Patt's cocoa didn't last very long.

Fast forward to Christmas and there are three packages of the same size in the box of Christmas gifts sent from Carole and Larry. I opened one and knew exactly what the other two would be.

Look at this! These are store display boxes of cocoa. You tear off the one side and the cocoa is easy access.

There are a dozen packages in each box. That's 36 packages of cocoa. I was sort of parceling them out because I didn't have any other cocoa, not even the mix in milk kind. I figured, the next trip to the grocery, I could get the Stephen's instant cocoa they have, assuming they had it. I've gone multiple trips without seeing it.

I mentioned to my friend, Terry, that I was low on cocoa. Christmas 2014, she sent me some Williams-Sonoma mix in milk cocoa and I've been working through that. The container was down to a half a mug's worth of chocolate. It's shaved and it actually goes very nicely on ice cream. The first week of January, I get a box. Inside is a note. "I read in your letter that you were nearly out of cocoa. That is not happening on my watch!"

The old container is to the left. In the middle are vanilla-tinged marshmallows. They are nice, but I tend to drink my cocoa without adornment.

I do, however, add more than the "recommended" amount of cocoa to a mug. It can sometimes be akin to drinking the syrup out of a can of Hershey's, for those of you who remember that.

Winter is saved. I just need to make this last until...oh...May, perhaps. The thing about Terry's cocoa is that it has to be mixed in milk. This is a great way to get calcium, at least that's what I tell myself when I'm on my third cup.

Beverage:  Water (I'm not bringing my cocoa to work. I don't want to share.)

Deb

California Food - Part the Second

Here we are, standing in front of the entry to BlizzCon. All the saving. All the sacrificing. All the trips to and from have lead to this. Liz has to work in her capacity as a journalist so she leaves Ashley and I to walk through the doors into the convention center. "Trust me on this," says Liz, as we part. "Eat at the food trucks outside and not at any of the convention spots inside. Convention food is nasty."

With this echoing in our ears, we sit through the opening ceremonies. Ashley is meeting a friend for lunch so I wander off to look around. It's now close to 12:30 and there is a panel discussion coming up I want to hear. Food is everywhere at this convention, everywhere. But remembering Liz's comment, I go outside. Holy food trucks, Batman.

Looking toward the convention center, this is part of the trucks on the left. And here is the same spot on the right.

There were at least a dozen behind me. It is a great way to provide food for the 25,000 convention attendees. Add staff and BlizzCon employees and a small city of close to 30,000 develops. There's just no way to have enough hamburgers and hot dogs inside. If you have any sort of dietary restriction, you could find a food truck catering to that. On Friday, after walking up and down and looking at the dizzying array of choices, I settled for a turkey wrap.

Turkey, bacon, cheese, lettuce and a mild sauce in this flavored tortilla. The size is deceptive in the photo. It was cut in half and was bigger than my hand. It was $12.00 with soda. That's the thing about the food trucks. They were not "cheap" by any means. But the sheer size made the amount of food comparable to, say, my usual lunch fare of a Subway foot-long with chips and drink; $10.00. I don't recall what I had for dinner on Friday night. I don't have a photo record of it.

Onward to Saturday. Liz left early so Ashley and I ate the free buffet at the hotel. It was standard stuff; muffins, waffles, cereal, pastries, yogurt, bacon and beverages. She'd not been able to connect with her friend for lunch on Friday so they arranged to meet on Saturday. We did a couple of things in one of the areas of the center and I wanted to see a program starting at 1 p.m. Ignoring Liz's comment about convention center food, I stopped at a stall selling orange chicken.

You know, this was pretty good. The candy bar was 2.5 times what I'd pay in the store, but the orange chicken was only $6.99. I got a bottle of water and picked at it for the next hour during the program. There was almost too much food in the container.

Ashley and I attended a session at 2 and then we split up again. Three thirty California time is 5:30 my time and my Hawkeyes were playing Indiana. I had asked my Facebook friends and family to post updates on the score, since I knew I would be otherwise occupied. I dashed back to the hotel room, popped on the TV and was able to post an article to my guild's web site while watching the last 5 minutes of the game, which Iowa won.

That respite, where I was able to put up my feet, left me energized for one final pass around the convention. I headed back and decided to try my luck with another food truck. I met Ashley; not planned, we just happened to see each other; and decided we'd eat off this truck. The fare looked good. They had bratwurst. Ohboy ohboy ohboy!

How can you go wrong with a solid hunk of sausage. Ashley got a bacon wrapped hot dog.

We got our sausages and sat down.

I don't like sauerkraut which bratwurst is usually served with. But cover it with a good German mustard and I'm deliriously happy. This was awful. I don't know if it was because I'm used to Wisconsin brats, i.e. Milwaukee made, or what it was, but it was just not good. I could only eat half of it. I hated to throw away what amounted to $6.00 for the half I didn't eat, but I just couldn't finish it. That, really, was the only bad meal I had.

On Sunday, we had reservations at Ariel's Grotto for breakfast.

The meal started with hot cocoa and a fruit and pastry basket. We sort of snarfed them up before I could get a photo of the basket.

Suffice it to say this was a hit.

The menu is fixed. You're handed a card and you order off that. It's not buffet. I had waffles this go 'round of breakfast.

That's a muesli mix at the upper right corner with bacon under my waffles. One thing Liz pointed out which I had not realized, every restaurant we went to did not have water out on the table. That's something we take for granted in the Midwest. You sit down and you're brought a glass of water. With Southern California in a terrible drought, that kind of thing wastes a lot of water because you can't just pour it back into the pitcher for the next guests. So water is provided on demand. We were out on the terrace of the restaurant, overlooking a lagoon. We quipped that the waiter would just take a bucket and drop it over the side to haul up water for us.

This was a lovely breakfast. Various Disney princesses wandered through the meal, including Rapunzel, who is Ashley's favorite. While the food was good and the atmosphere nice, I far preferred Goofy's Kitchen and the buffet. I'm glad we had a chance to do both.

The evening meal was a small affair over by the haunted mansion.

Cafeteria style, you grabbed a tray and walked around selecting items from a variety of stations. I got the kids-size pasta because it came with fruit and veggies, and a chocolate cake. Both were adequate. Later, I got a bag of popcorn and ate that while watching the pyrotechnic show and the fireworks. This was okay and a decent value for the cost, but I was tired at this point so the cake seemed dry and somewhat flavorless even though it was chocolate.

The next day was get away day. I grabbed breakfast at the airport; a large blueberry muffin and tea. My flight was delayed getting out of LAX and I couldn't bring myself to pay the price asked for what seemed like substandard fare aboard the aircraft. When I finally got home, I had soup and a ham and cheese sandwich.

Vacation food can be iffy. All-in-all, I had one lousy meal. That's not too bad of a track record for all the times I ate something. Uninspired meals were breakfast at the hotel, at Starbucks, and the final meal at Disney. Adequate meals were Sunday breakfast and breakfast at both airports. The meals that surprised me were the convention chicken, the sandwich on Friday and Thursday's soup at Rainforest. The other meals, Cafe Orleans, Goofy's Kitchen and good ol' IHOP, were amazing. I think I should try to make that peanut butter and jelly pizza. I'll let you know how that goes.

Beverage:  La Croix sparkling water

Deb

Frustration, Thy Name Is Starbucks

My best friend, Patt (not to be confused with my best friend, Pam. I love how my best friends' names start with "Pa". I know they would be good friends if they ever met, but I digress.) sent me a Starbucks card for my birthday. I don't drink coffee but they have tea and, right now, hot cocoa is all the rage. There is a Starbucks 2 blocks west of the office. I drive by it coming to and going home from work. And drive by is all I've been able to do.

Perhaps it's a sign of the times, that the economy is better or people are taking the savings they have earned from gas being half the cost it was a year ago and turning that into venti double espressos but the drive through line and their parking lot are always packed. The city fathers of Glen Ellyn didn't think the whole location of the drive through very well because on some days, traffic waiting for drive through backs out onto busy Roosevelt Road. I have cursed coffee drinkers and their need to pick it up from their car when I can't get around them. Had the drive through been positioned a couple car lengths further into the lot, it wouldn't stop traffic, even on busy days.

But what to make of the perpetually full parking lot? Well, there is a Chipotle in this small strip mall so perhaps the problem lies with a mix of the two. There is probably overlap between beverages and pastries and quasi-Mexican lunch and dinner.

Whatever the case, I have not been able to get a hot cocoa since the week after Thanksgiving. I'm rather frustrated at that. I've driven by at several odd hours and there is just no place to pull in or park. Oh well, the card doesn't expire and I'm sure they'll make hot cocoa for me in June as well as making it in January, right?

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Beverages of 2015

This Christmas brought a lovely supply of beverages, namely tea. As we head into the cold months and with the temperatures slated to be low teens and single digits next week, I'm looking at using quite a bit of these. The black pouch is cinnamon spice loose tea. The hot cocoa is the kind you mix with warm milk and the giver sent a box of Williams Sonoma vanilla marshmallows.

If you want me, I'll be curled up with something warm.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper (note the irony)

Deb

We Have a Crisis

I am all out of instant cocoa.

Carole gave me this for my birthday probably a couple years ago. You mix it into milk, as opposed to water. This yields a richer hot cocoa but it can be so easy to scald the milk which gives a slightly burnt taste to the cocoa. I finally, after more than a few errors, figured out that 2 minutes in my microwave produced a milk of sufficient warmth that it brought out the chocolate flavor just perfectly. I seem to be on the low end of the recommended Vitamin D charts anyway so why not make hot cocoa to get my D levels up? Like I need a reason to drink hot cocoa.

I finished the container off last week. It was a sad day to toss it into the recycling bin. I looked at Mariano's on Saturday, but their selection of instant hot cocoa is very, very sad. I know I can make it the long way; warm milk and melted cocoa with a smidgeon of sugar, but that takes too long when you want cocoa NOW.

I'll keep my eyes open in my travels. There is something out there I haven't discovered yet.

Beverage:  Not hot cocoa

Deb

When I Needed It

Things get lost. We all know that. Your best intentions result in never seeing said item again.

I've been thinking about that since Halloween because one of my best friends, Patt, sent me a $10 gift card from Starbucks. While I don't drink coffee, their Christmas hot cocoa offerings will get my feet inside the store. This will be most excellent.

So, I set the card aside, some place where it wouldn't get lost and I'd remember it. Why I didn't, right then and there, stick it in my wallet, I have no clue. I know I thanked her for it, at least, I think I did. Things got crazy and my mind lost track of where I'd put the gift card. Isn't that the way it goes? When I do a house recycling sweep, I have to set everything down and go through it a second time, lest I accidentally scoop up a bill and recycle that. We won't discuss how many times that has happened. I had pretty much resigned myself to having recycled the card or maybe, accidentally sent it back to her and she was too polite to tell me what a doofus I was.

I was cleaning Thursday night. I don't know why. I wasn't looking for anything, but I did want to get rid of a pile that sits on top of my dead printer. I found, at the bottom of the pile, two Halloween cards. Not sure why I didn't recycle them, I opened the top one. Here was Patt's gift card. In spite of myself, I hadn't tossed it.

It's been a rough week just passed. There has been a major personal stress event developing. I can't really discuss it right now because it's not sorted. And, we had a major event at work. It was the kind of major event that causes you to wonder if you really ever did know someone as well as you thought you did. I've found myself in something of a funk, not really wanting to do much of anything except sit in the recliner with a cat in my lap and crochet. There's probably nothing particularly wrong with doing that other than I was out of pants for work and I swear the dishes were multiplying in the sink as I stood there and watched. One person can't have made all these dirty dishes.

Finding the gift card caused me to stop at Starbucks on the way home from getting yarn for my next crochet projects.

It's a large hot chocolate and a "morning bun". They call it a "morning bun" because "cinnamon sugar roll" isn't very healthy sounding. It's a yeast roll dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. It was very good.

I needed this. I wouldn't have appreciated the gift of the card had I actually put it in my wallet as I should have done back in October. I needed to be able to treat myself when I was feeling oppressed. The card showed up at just the right time.

So many things show up right when you need them. You might not realize it at the time. Thanks Patt, again. I needed a tall hot cocoa and a cinnamon bun. You can bet, if I get another gift card, it goes right into the wallet.

Beverage:  Lady Gray tea

Deb

Lots of Cocoa

Well, I managed to make it last 10 days. The hot cocoa Carole sent, the version with huckleberry in it, is gone. It was so good. Time to look at the other cocoa I got for Christmas.

There are 9 boxes of cocoa here. Each box contains 2 servings, at least that's what the label says. In practice, since I like my cocoa strong, I may have 1.5 servings or maybe just one. I'll have to see when I open the first package.

The boxes are cute and might have a use outside of containing cocoa. "Might" is the operative word here. I'd save them but I'm telling myself that, because I don't know what I'd use them for right now, they can go in the recycling bin. If I had a place to adequately store this stuff, it would be different. Then, something like this which has possibilities, though not immediately, could be kept. Since I can recycle them, they won't become part of the waste stream.

That makes the cocoa taste really good.

Beverage:  Lady Grey tea

Deb

Makes Me Easy to Buy For

The Christmas gifts this year were heavy on food. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Once the food is gone, there's nothing to have to dust or find a spot for or thank the giver profusely for while thinking, "OMG, this is the most hideous shirt I have ever seen. What was she thinking?"

My friends know me quite well. Meredith sent the hot cocoa 9 pack and the two boxes of tea. Patt sent the chocolate chip cookies from a company called Geoff and Drew's. I've never heard of them before. I have yet to eat one of the cookies. That's on tap for tomorrow.

Terry sent the adorable snowman ornament complete with two pieces of chocolate. The scone mix, the chocolate cats and the Crater Lake hot cocoa mix are courtesy of my daughter.

I've been working on the hot cocoa mix. She sent me Ghirardelli hot cocoa for my birthday. That's definitely a sipping kind of cocoa, rich and chocolatey. The Crater Lake hot cocoa is from her trip west in September and it has a tinge of huckleberry in it. That might sound a bit weird but it's really good. My problem is that I make the hot cocoa and then get side tracked so, by the time I come back to drink it, it's tepid cocoa. Still, there is a lovely berry flavor, not at all overpowering to the cocoa. I'll probably drink the whole bottle and then start on Meredith's cocoa flavors. Might last me through January.

I kind of like being somewhat predictable in this fashion. You know that if you send me chocolate or tea, it's the right size, always fits and is always appreciated. Plus, I toss some of the chocolate into my work lunches and I think of you when I eat it.

Try doing that with a sweater.

Beverage:  Irish Breakfast tea

Deb

Birthday Goodness

I turned 39...again, yesterday. My birthdays have, for some time now, been solitary affairs; me and the cats, maybe the office, a few cards, but rather quiet and almost just another day. Yes, I'll admit there was some resentment, over the years, that people didn't seem to acknowledge my birthday, but I have grown out of that. How egotistical can you be to demand that people recognize this date? It's like the price of your friendship is how much stuff they bestow on you for an arbitrary date on the calendar. I'm rather embarrassed, when I think back to some of those kinds of comments that passed my lips.

This being my 'year of gratitude', all I really wanted from anyone was the acknowledgement that we are still friends and will continue to be friends for the next year. It's kind of like a contract, renewable once a year. It's time for review. Has it been a good year? Yes? Well, then, let's renew it for another year.

I have made some friends via this game that I play who believe I deserve more than just a virtual handshake and an agreement that we'll be friends for another year. "I need a birthday/Christmas list from you," was the cry. My protestations that I didn't need anything from them fell on, essentially, deaf ears. Then, after a conversation with one of them, I realized that they want to send stuff because we're friends, not out of any duty or an attempt to buy friendship. Friends buy things for each other because they are, well, friends. They see something and think, "Deb would love this!" As much as I say, "You don't have to get me anything. You friendship is more than 'enough'", for them, and for me, too because I think the same thing, a token or tokens of that friendship is the natural expression.

The big box came on Friday along with a box from Carole. When Charly said he'd picked up "a few" things, I had visions of, at most, a handful of items. I could put both cats in this box. That design on the box is colored duct tape and Charly said he used three (!) rolls to cover it. I couldn't get into it with a pair of scissors so I resorted to a steak knife. Inside were packages wrapped in green bubble wrap and red tissue paper. Packages and packages and packages.

My first reaction was the old chestnut, "I don't deserve all of this." I think it's wise to have that feeling. If you felt that you did deserve 'all' of this, it's not a far jump to thinking you deserve 'all' of something else and then what reigns in your ego? "Oh lord it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way," goes the silly song. But, perhaps, on this day, I can allow myself to step into the "I am deserving" area just once.

Charly insisted I open something; he wanted me to open everything but I refused as it wasn't my birthday. So I opened two packages and then, after the tree was up, removed everything from the box. The contents were many and the girls even got a couple of things. I...I really don't deserve all of this. It must have cost a small fortune. I can't reciprocate for this kindness. All these things, and more, ran through my head.

Hold the phone here and let's take a few steps back. For once, this is about me, in a very legitimate way. Charly wanted to do this. He had enormous fun going out and finding all these things, wrapping them and then trying to find a box of the proper size. I think he also took perverse pleasure in wrapping that box with duct tape.

One of my best friends, Patt, also sent a few things. She got to go to Paris in the summer. She brought back a bookmark, magnets, a small note pad and real Swiss chocolate. I don't know what the words are on the box. I think they are German. Carole sent Ghirardelli instant hot cocoa and the best socks. As I have had to get rid of several pair as not being fixable anymore, socks without holes were extremely welcome. Plus, they are loud.

Those are bears, but it doesn't take much to look at them and think they are Pilchards.

And there is still a box coming from Meredith. AAAAHHHH! I don't.....

It is a measure of one's life that people do things for you. In my year of gratitude, I have come to see that the grousing and complaining I did, mainly to myself, was affecting how I looked at life. It's easy to get down. Cripes, I find myself struggling with it now as my knees really, really hurt and getting around is an exercise in pain endurance. Dang, this rheumatoid arthritis sucks. Oh woe is me.

In looking at things from the point of view of gratitude, warm socks are a godsend. Oh look! More stickers, just in time for the Christmas cards. I have wonderful scented bath gels and lotion. The Sensual Amber fragrance is something I have smelled before, somewhere, a long time ago. I know that scent. It's a scent of warmth and comfort but I cannot remember where I would know it. I do know it's something from childhood. I've got a book to read and a bookmark to keep my place while I sip luxury hot cocoa. Any one of these things would have been enough. The fact that I received all of them fills my heart with joy. I realized last night, that it's been awhile since I had joy, the giggly kind.

So, to quote Joanne Woodward in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Really good indie movie.), "My heart is full." It was a very good birthday.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

Using Them Up

You've all read the stories about how merchants love gift cards. Great Aunt Sally buys you a $25 gift card from Bath and Body Works because she really doesn't know want to get you. You're okay with the card although B&BW isn't one of the places you go to a lot. You stick the card in your wallet and, 18 months later, it's still there. It might have even expired. The store got Aunt Sally's money. You have a piece of plastic.

It's the same way with loyalty cards. It doesn't really cost Hallmark anything to issue me a $7.00 gift certificate for being a loyal purchaser of their product. I forget what the percentage I saw quoted is about certificate redemption but it might have been just over 50%. That means, there are a huge bunch of certificates which will expire before the customer uses them. I know that first hand. I just don't have a need for cards so the certificate hangs on the fridge until I find it with the every other month cleaning.

When you're trying to make every penny stretch, this is and isn't a good practice. I tend to get Hallmark gift certificates when I really don't NEED cards or wrapping paper or anything they have to offer. I like having cards available so I don't have to swing by the store for a birthday card, so I have a stash. I don't want to get more cards so I can get $5 off a $15 purchase. That's not cost effective. But sometimes, the money off actually works.

As part of Panera's loyalty program, they send out Internet offers. One of them was for free soup. I love their chicken with wild rice soup. An Internet offer, I am not likely to remember, print out or use so it costs them nothing to send it to me. This time, however, I got soup...and a brownie...and a drink, so lunch on Thursday was $2.97.

Today, I hauled out all the cards I've received over the months and tried to use them up. I stopped at the hardware store and bought more ant killer and a rake. Now, I can feel guilty about not doing more yard work, because I have a rake. That was $5.00 off on my total purchase. It wound up that the ant killer was, essentially, free.

I went on to Target and bought groceries. It was just a lot of little stuff excepting the cat food and kitty litter. I'm in a cooking frame of mind and the things I wanted to cook required one ingredient I didn't have. I'm good, now, until the end of the month. I received a $25 American Express gift card so that took care of half of the purchase.

My friend, Patt, sent me a Starbucks card for my birthday last year. I did get several of Starbucks' seasonal hot cocoa drinks, but I never used the card up completely. On the way out of Target, I got a hot cocoa and used up the card.

I forgot the $1 off coupon from CVS where I picked up my vitamin D pill script this morning. It's not a very costly script, but saving a dollar is saving a dollar. I have it stuck to the fridge and I walked right by it.

So, that uses up all except one. I did rather well today to get things I needed for less. I have a Best Buy gift card, won for knowing more answers to a trivia questionnaire than anyone else in the office when we were doing mandatory training. I do not know the amount. Some were $20. Some were $25 and some were $50. I don't know what I want to use this for. I thought I'd be needing a new mouse but that got resolved. Should I buy movies? I don't watch many now. Adding to the collection seems like a waste. Hence this card just sits. I don't think it has an expiration date but I'd rather just use it up than hang onto it and, by extension, lose it.

Any suggestions, and no, I won't mail it to you.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

A Box From a Friend

A few weeks ago, I posted photos of some items I found while cleaning a random space near the computer. One of my guild members quickly pounced on the key chain and the scissors. "What do you want for them?" Nothing. "No. Really. How much do you want?" Um...nothing. Zero. Zip. I'm just glad to get them out of the house. If you want, you can reimburse me for the postage to mail them. (That came to a whole $1.90.) "Are you sure you don't want anything for them?" Positive.

But, she decided that just wouldn't do and set out to send me the cariest of all care packages. It arrived on Thursday of last week.

Now, this is the gal who sent me the amazingly awesome hippo toy that sings "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas". (Click on the link if you missed the post the first time.) I really, honestly, didn't need her to do anything for me in response to sending those two items. I'm glad they provided her with happiness and have a good home. But she insisted. So she also had to wrap the box to make sure it would take me a long time to get into it, as it only took me a few minutes to get into the hippo box and she had teased me that she'd really wrapped it up.

This box was covered with package tape and clear wrapping tape. I got out the utility knife and slit part of one side. Then I shoved in the scissors and cut that side open, repeating with the other side. From there, it was a quick slice and cut and, I would say, in 5 minutes, I had the box open to reveal, packing peanuts. Oh wait. There's stuff in here, in fact, there's a whole lotta stuff in here.

It must be noted that the girls gave the box a sniff and then wandered away. I can't remember bringing a box into the house that they haven't examined thoroughly before opening. They were absolutely not interested in this one.

Look at all the goodies. It was like emptying an unending box of stuff. Chocolate creme-filled biscuits; instant hot cocoa; mini somethings (I haven't opened those yet.); a strawberry champagne chocolate bar; chocolate-covered macadamia nuts; breath mints; three different selections of tea and a cross-stitch bookmark kit. WOW.

I am amazed and humbled by all this. It's far more than a pair of scissors and a key chain. As this is the year of gratitude, I kind of feel words are inadequate to express my gratitude for these gifts. And don't forget, she gave me a hippo, too. I'm quite touched and very appreciative.

I have eaten the hippo biscuits. They provoked laughter, to be sure. We have this theme going. What can I do on my end to perpetuate it? They were good. I also opened the macadamia nuts. As the package is exactly like the packages for cat treats, when I opened it, I had two very interested felines looking at me. Pilchard was downright annoyed that this was people food and not for her. Mija seemed confused. It sounds like cat treats but it's not. I wound up giving them a few treats while I ate mine.

Thank you. What a delight to find on the doorstep. I took the blue box of tea to work as I have nearly finished the teas my brother gave me for Christmas last year. I now have plenty to snack on as I play the game in the evenings. The bookmark is going to be stitched some time this year. I've never done a bookmark so I'm interested to see how this will work.

Unexpected pleasures. What happiness.

Beverage: Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

"I don't want people to think I'm a lush."

My mother and sister are giggling now. They should recognize that sentence.

If you are any kind of experimental cook, you've no doubt tried a recipe or two or three where 2 tablespoons of some alcohol was needed. Drive to the liquor store and find out said liquor comes in a 2 quart bottle. That's it. There is nothing smaller. Personally, I think there would be a decent market in making things like amaretto, hazelnut, cherry and other assorted spirits in 8 ounce bottles. I have a recipe for mahi-mahi that uses hazelnut liqueur. Fortunately, I like hazelnut liqueur, but what if you try the recipe and you wouldn't feed it to the neighborhood raccoons? You're stuck with a bottle of something you don't like.

I've mentioned my grandmother's cooking abilities in this blog before. She could whip up the most memorable dishes that took 2 hours and had 45 steps. She couldn't make chocolate chip cookies to save her soul. She was forever trying new recipes and many of them involved alcohol. Plus, she had certain drinks she preferred, although, unlike my grandfather and his rum and cokes, I can't tell you what she liked other than something that was yellow, came in a bottle with a tall neck; Galliano, or something like that.

She kept her alcohol under the kitchen sink, although a few bottles would go to the cabinet in the basement under the stairs. This way, the alcohol was at the ready if she needed it. Alcohol was on the left and cleaning supplies were on the right. Heaven help you if you put the dish detergent on the left.

In the last 5 years of her life, she began to think about her mortality and what her home said about her. Invariably, her thoughts turned to the bottles under the kitchen sink. I cannot count the number of times she would say to either my mother, my sister or me, "When I die, make sure the first thing you do is get rid of those bottles under the sink. I don't want people to think I'm a lush." We would always assure her the bottles would be removed quickly. Honestly, people might have had some negative thoughts about her for other things, but being a lush was not one of them.

I like to try new recipes and sometimes those involve alcohol. In the basement, on the top shelf of shelf unit along the west wall, are bottles of liquor. They sit, like the one in the photo, collecting dust. I've used, maybe, a half cup out of some of them and then not touched them again in years. Last winter, during the blizzard, I dug out a bottle of cinnamon schnapps and started adding a shot or two to my hot cocoa. When the schnapps was gone, long about August, and yes, I drink hot cocoa all year 'round, I brought up a bottle of white cream de cacao. There was a bottle of banana liqueur. A shot of both of those added to hot cocoa was really good.

The photo above is dark cream de cacao. You can tell how long I've had it by the layer of dust on the bottle. I had to run the top under hot water to break the crusty seal to get it open. It's still good. There's a bottle of cherry brandy down there, a couple of empty bottles and a couple bottles of wine. I really don't drink that much so it will be awhile before all of this is gone. Then, I'll be down to buying just what I'll drink.

As I savored my hot cocoa laced with chocolate liqueur, I thought about that mahi-mahi recipe. I haven't made that in years. Add a salad and fruited rice and that would be an excellent dinner. I think the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons hazelnut liqueur to go into the sauce which is poured over the fish. I'll have to buy a big bottle. Just don't think of me as a lush if you find that bottle in the basement. Add a shot to your hot cocoa. It makes the cocoa taste like a peanut butter cup.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

Swimming

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me, seven swans a swimming.

There's an aphorism that came to mind this week. I know I'm paraphrasing it here. "Be like the duck. Calm on top but paddling like the dickens underneath." It's kind of how I've been feeling. Lots of busy work to do. You know that kind of work. It's little things that HAVE to be done in order to accomplish the big thing. It's frustrating when you want to finish the big project, the one that says, "Look what I did", but you have to pay bills or do wash or clean the bathroom sink. Blogging has taken a back seat to other things that have needed to be done. It's now the ninth day of Christmas and I'm three days behind. Time for some catch up. I have certainly felt like the duck in the aphorism, all calm and collected but paddling like the dickens to keep afloat.

The seventh day of Christmas is the last one with birds. Beginning on day seven and continuing to day twelve, you'll need 35 swans for this particular line. Swans are expensive. The PNC list says they cost $6,300. I assume this is because swans are, for the most part, endangered or threatened. They aren't just something you can run to a farm and purchase. For five days of swans, you'll need to fork out a hefty $31,500 which, of course, doesn't account for something in which they can "swim", a home or food.

These 35 swans join the 12 partridges, 22 doves, 30 French hens, 36 calling birds and 36 geese in your true love's back yard. That's 171 birds. I'm pretty sure I don't have that many wild ones in my yard, even when the grackles show up in flocks.

So what would be a good substitute for swimming swans? I thought about 36 days at a beach-side resort but that would probably set you back more than the PNC 12 Days cost, but water gave me another idea. What about things that go into water?

Ah hot cocoa. This tin of organic coca costs $4.99 at Dominicks. Godiva has a set of 3 canisters, 1 dark and 2 milk chocolate, for $45.00. You also can't pass up Ghirardelli chocolate. They have a 4-pack which includes one each of white mocha, double chocolate, chocolate mocha and chocolate hazelnet, for $27.80. They also have a peppermint hot cocoa for $11.95. If your true love prefers coffee, send them a bag or two or 35 of their whole bean coffee. That will cost $18.00 for one bag.

I adore Cocoa Amore. It's kind of hard to find. I used to be able to get a sampler pack with 8 different flavors. Now, I can only find a 6 pack from C&C Creations for $37.75 with the following flavors; chocolate caramel, french vanilla, chocolate raspberry, chocolate supreme and white chocolate. That's okay because one of the 8 pack flavors was chocolate mint and I don't care for mint in my chocolate.

Unfortunately, chocolate is one of the world's most slave driven commodities. Some of the major chocolate producing countries count on the income they get from chocolate to oppress their citizens. Occasionally, an online petition shows up asking M&M's or Hershey's or Godiva or chocolate makers in Belgium and elsewhere to not buy cocoa beans from places such as the Ivory Coast. For a chocolate lover with a conscience, it can be really difficult to satisfy the craving and feel you have done right by those who do the manual labor. Equal Exchange has a lovely organic hot cocoa for $7.75 that is grown on small plantations where people are paid living wages and where they don't live in deplorable conditions. It can be hard to find but it's good cocoa.

That gives you 6 ideas for hot cocoa and one idea for coffee, but let's go farther. Dunkin Donuts has, I'm told, some of the best coffee on the planet. A bag of their standard coffee is $8.99. Standing in the coffee aisle at the supermarket can be daunting. So, just head over to Caribou Coffee for a bag of their Reindeer Blend, the seasonal coffee. A pound of that is $15.00. Or wander by Starbucks and get a pound of their Holiday Blend for $14.95.

We're done with coffee. I don't drink it so I have no idea what is or is not a great tasting coffee. What I do know is tea and there are a wealth of tea sites on the Internet where you can get great tea. My favorite is Blue Moon Tea Company. You'll want to get one of each of these: Assam (box $7.95), Scottish Blend (box $8.95), Ceylon (bag $7.95), Huckleberry (box $5.95), Brodies Famous Edinburgh's (box $10.95), Scottish Breakfast (Tin $8.95), Chocolate Cream Truffle (loose bag $7.95), Yorkshire Gold (box $11.95), Barry's Irish Breakfast (box $8.50) and Apple Pear Green (loose bag $10.95).

The next place to go is Celestial Seasonings. Most of these you can find on your grocer's shelf. Celestial Seasonings is famous for their naturally decaffeinated and herbal teas. These can be just right for a late night watching of "It's a Wonderful Life". Now is the time they have their holiday flavors out. Each box is $2.99, a veritable steal compared to other beverage costs. Pick up a box of gingerbread spice, sugar plum, candy cane, sugar cookie, nutcracker sweet, caffeine free herbal, cranberry apple, mandarin orange spice, sleepytime and a box of their fruit tea sampler.

Lastly, visit the Bigelow Tea web site. Bigelow is another brand that is ubiquitous on the grocery shelf, but they make very good tea. Plus, their teas usually come in a regular and decaffeinated version. You'll need a box of Constant Comment, English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Chinese Oolong and Cinnamon Stick. If I am reading their web site correctly, you buy a selection that contains 6 boxes of the variety. That costs $17.75. The teas retail for $4.99. As long as you don't mind 6 boxes of one kind, the pack is the way to go.

That's 36 different drinks that mix with water. Totaling up the cost, you've spent $135.24 on cocoa; $56.94 on coffee; and $149.94 for tea by buying the individual Bigelow teas at the grocery. Total cost for swimming in beverages, $342.12.

Just a hint, if you're sending your true love 36 cheesecakes, adding something to drink with them is a good idea.

Beverage:  Gingerbread Spice tea

Deb

Birthday Goodies

It's raining. Actually, it's pouring. It's not going to not rain the rest of the day and into the night. I long for snow on my birthday. It's close enough to cold weather that this could be snow or rain mixed with snow or even just flurries. No sleet or ice, thank you very much. Just snow. 

I could be forgiven for not wanting to go anywhere in the chilly late November rain. But a couple things got me out of the house. 

Stop #1 - Pharmacy. Tomorrow is the last day for which I have a pill for my knees. I could go get this on Monday but why? I have other errands so they will fill the script and have it waiting when I come back.

Stop #2 - Photo store. The gal who works in Wisconsin has been given a 27 home inspection project with reports. She needs photo holders. They know me by sight in this store so Harry helped me do that math to determine we only needed one package of photo holders even if 500 photos are taken. 

Stop #3 - Office. Drop photo holders on desk and put space heater on floor. I could have taken the space heater back on Monday. Yeah, right. With my memory, it will still be sitting on my living room floor come January. 

Stop #4 - Bank to deposit the check friends gave me to help with the furnace repair. 

Stop #5 - Caribou Coffee. I received a coupon for a free drink on my birthday. You must redeem it on your birthday and they are open on Thanksgiving for those years where my birthday and Thanksgiving coincide. Large white hot cocoa with a shot of hazelnut, whipped cream and crushed Snickers on top. FREE! God better have this in heaven or I'm not going. 

Stop #6 - Wendy's. I received a coupon good for a $1.00 off any combo meal. I just wanted a hamburger, fries and a drink. I didn't need the drink but I would have had to pay extra for a Frosty. "Would you like cheese on your burger?" "Oh sure. It's my birthday. Why not?" Thanks mom. Your birthday money bought me lunch. And Wendy's new and improved hamburgers are outstanding. My burger had to wait for me to get home and it was still really juicy and flavorful. I'm going to have to go back. 

Stop #7 - Back to the pharmacy and pick up my script. Notice that Dr. Pepper is "Buy 1 Get 1 Free". I don't know why they don't just drop the price to $1.00 each but whatever. Toss in a large candy bar for the chocolate quotient and I'm good to go. 

It can be hard to remember, when you feel beaten down, just how the little things can make you happy. Free cocoa. A dollar off lunch. A free bottle of soda. All good. It can rain all day. I'm happy.

Beverage:  White hot cocoa

Deb

I'm Out!

There is no more of Daniel's instant hot cocoa. I finished the last of it today. I've been feeling rather rough around the edges. I'm not sure why. I'm glad I had some ginger ale in the fridge for my stomach was not at all settled. I've slept more than I've been awake. I've done some cleaning, no sewing, and I wrote a letter in that journal which I'm going to send to a friend. It turned out to be many, many pages. But that's what the "journal-letter" idea was meant to be, pages of thoughts and feelings and ideas. I hope she enjoys it. She's welcome to take a few months to write back.

I finally decided eating something would be a good idea, so I made up the last of my Bob's Red Mill Scotch Oats. Since I can't find them at Dominicks, a trip to Whole Foods is in order. Orange juice wasn't appealing as an accompaniment but hot cocoa was. And that's the last of the cocoa.

We were chuckling about this last weekend. I mentioned to Daniel that I was running out, that I'd managed to make his recipe last me over a year. He bemoaned not writing down the recipe. It's too bad. While he couldn't retire on his earnings, there would be a market for an instant hot cocoa recipe made with organic cocoa powder and organic dry milk and whatever magic he added that made it taste so good with or without the addition of Godiva, cherry or hazelnut liqueur or cinnamon schnapps.

So, I'm back to taking 7-8 minutes to make hot cocoa via nuking milk. I saw you roll your eyes at me. It's just that sometimes, milk can get a funny flavor to it when you add alcohol, even in shots. Daniel's cocoa never did that. There is a bright side to this. Once I wash this container, I can put my dried cranberries in this and toss the plastic container they came in. Less space eaten up in the cupboard.

Now, to figure out something to bet with him so I make him have to make me more cocoa.

Beverage:  (sigh) the last of the cocoa

Deb

Pity Party. Attending? One.

I've been in a funk all weekend. There was a wedding this weekend. I was kind of surprised when I was told, back in November, it was coming. Carole and David got a free trip to Las Vegas to be witnesses at the wedding. I'm sure there will be stories as well as copious amounts of photos.

I do wish the bride and groom well. I'm given to understand it's been more than a little interesting to have finally arrived at a Vegas wedding. If you've divorced and reached a point with someone of "do we or don't we", you certainly don't want to go through the divorce process again. So, I hope this wedding is what they want.

Yet, the whole idea sent me into something of a funk. I thought I'd get remarried first. I really did. I did all this emotional therapy to get to a place where I know who I am and what I want out of life. I've been reminded, on more than a few occasions, that nothing on the other side has changed significantly and I am so much better off living as a single. Plus, I am an introvert, as I've mentioned before, and I value, prize and demand alone time. It's me and two cats, which I've grown to accept, sort of.

But how I wouldn't love to share my space with another human, preferably a guy. How I would love to come home and have him cook supper, do wash, bring in the mail, shovel the snow, call the plumber. I have felt as if the last 10+ years have been an exercise in always being "on", wondering when the next problem will happen and having to face it alone. The dating service was an abject failure. I still think that, at some point, they decided that they wouldn't be able to match even half of what I'd like so they just sent all the guys who hadn't dated ever my direction, because I'd have something nice to say in addition to the "What were you smoking when you matched us?" comments.

So, at a time like this, I sit in my quiet living room and wish there was someone whose dirty socks were left on the bedroom floor. I sit feeling sorry for myself. Why me? I come to the conclusion, rightly or wrongly, that guys my age aren't looking for independent women my age. They either want someone to take care of them (shudder) or they want an air-head who will be arm-candy (double shudder). And let's not even discuss the side of my ego that is critiquing my appearance. "Gray hair? Hello? Here's $10. Go get a box of dye."

I took Friday off. It was a smart move. Mike, in the office, is expecting his first child any day now and he will be gone for 2 weeks when that happens. I had one day held over from last year and it was quiet so now is the perfect time to use that up. I went grocery shopping and have spent the weekend cleaning. I've emptied the paper recycling bin twice. I paid all my bills and it's just "me" time although a big black cat has demanded my lap. She knows I just need to know that someone, even if they have four legs and a tail, cares.

The party ends when I get up tomorrow. There is no more pitying myself for what I don't have. Time to move on. Tonight, it will be hot cocoa with a shot of Goldschlager. Tomorrow, it's Cheerios with bananas and the start of a new week.

Beverage:  hot cocoa

Deb

Pizza guy? Just toss it.

The street is so close. After three days of shoveling, if I desperately needed something, it could be tossed to me and I could, in theory, catch it.

I'm not real good at estimating distance, but after today's bit of shoveling, I probably have 20-25 feet left to get to the street. Where the plants are on the left is where the sidewalk is. I should be able to reach that in tomorrow morning's shoveling. Assuming I sleep as well tonight as I did last night, I'll be up for it. 

My afternoon shovel session was very productive. The shovel marks where I ended this morning. The snow here is a bit under knee deep. 

It's still a lot to move but the two shovel approach makes it some what easier. In theory, I wouldn't have to shovel as wide of a path as I am. That is, pretty much, the whole drive. But I have told myself that doing just the bare minimum will come back to bite me as this melts so I'm doing the whole drive. When I look back at the Jeep, I think that's a smart, if exhausting, thing to do.

I moved the Jeep forward 2 feet, to get the tailpipe out of the snowbank behind it. Next week, I'll shovel that area out a bit more. The Jeep started up just fine. No, I gave no thought to "gunning" it. I might be able to get a running start and to get out, but there is no way I'd get back in. 

I also gave some thought to knocking the snow off the south railing. 

I think I'm going to leave it, however. I want to see how long before it either melts completely or tips over. 

So day 4 ends. The sunshine of the last two days is supposed to be going away. It got windier this afternoon although it wasn't cold. Tomorrow is to be warmer still with clouds and snow showers. I realized, looking out the front door, that I could shovel off the top step and maybe one or two of the steps themselves before I get into the drift. But my main task is to get to the street. I can get out of my house if I had to, therefore, the front door can wait. 

I think hot cocoa with a shot of cinnamon schnapps is in order tonight. 

Beverage:  Gunpowder Green tea

Deb

A Fresh Start to a New Month

It's snowing today, the first measurable snow of winter 2010-2011. That's a nice way to begin December. It's not much, just enough to make roads slick and to pile up around the edges. It reminds me that I need to get salt for the front steps, but I can possibly put that off until the weekend.

I started the month by getting legal again. My driver's license expired on my birthday. I've had the notice on the fridge since mid-October, but a number of things transpired against my getting it done before today. The first was, of course, finances. Even at a low rate of $30, that's $30 I don't always have. Second was the busy-ness of my life. Suddenly, I have to be out of the office doing things or in the office fielding phone calls. It has sort of slowed down but I'm still covering more things in the field than I have in the past year. Then the holiday showed up and they aren't open on my birthday. Monday, after work, the line was out the door so I went back on Tuesday, earlier in the day, but the result was the same, a line out the door. So, I went at 8:45 today and there were 4 people in front of me. It took all of 15 minutes.

After that, I went across the railroad tracks to Starbucks for a hot beverage. For my birthday, my friend, Patt, gave me a Starbucks card. What a great way to celebrate being legal, a hot cocoa and a slice of their low-fat banana chocolate pound cake. The guy behind me in line said, "No!" when I took the last piece of cake. "That's his favorite," the clerk said. It was okay. I make better but it was okay.

This is a good start to the month, knock, heavily, on wood. I'm legal again. I've had hot cocoa and pound cake. Thanks, Patt. We have snow that frosts the landscape and I have a bit more income incoming which will make this December less tense.

I'll drink to that.

Beverage: Duh

Deb

Hot Cocoa

I made a mug of Daniel's hot cocoa last night.

It was an interesting evening because I brought the box in and then went to the basement to hang up the load of wash I did the day previous. While I was down there, I noticed, on the top shelf of this shelf unit near the wash lines, a bottle of Amaretto. I will swear that all the times previous when I've been looking for that, I haven't been able to find it. There it was, clear as day. I was actually wishing that I had 7Up to make amaretto and 7. And I dug out a recipe for MahiMahi with an amaretto sauce. Now, I don't have any MahiMahi but I have other white fish that should be just as good.

I followed the directions he provided for making the cocoa and added amaretto. I am not sharing. I'm sorry. You go find your own cocoa. This is mine. I have some cherry liqueur and some cinnamon schnapps on the shelf. As I'll drink hot cocoa all year 'round, I think I'm set for raiding beverages for a couple of months, at least.

Wow

Beverage: Assam tea

Deb