The grades are in. The books are closed. The students are still emailing, but I’m not rushing to answer them right away. I still have to pick some books for January (the bookstore really must hate me right now), but today I took off in order to finish up my sewing, stand in line at the post office, and brave the grocery stores. Here’s what I’ve learned.
1. Grocery shopping at 5p is dangerous. At 5p the week of Christmas, it’s a nuthouse.
2. People at the post office were pretty calm, given the line. I heard a stat on “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” a week or so ago that most people begin to wig out after 8.5 minutes of waiting. Interesting.
3. I’m tired. Super tired. Mr. Pea made dinner (sausages sauteed with green pepper, mushrooms and onions, on ciabatta) and I’m just loafing on the couch. Today began with errands, filing my grades, a visit to the chiropractor (I didn’t tell you about that–it’s starting to feel like my home away from home), sewing, visiting with the neighbor, running around. The cat and I are bookends on the couch now, and I’m headed to bed soon to read.
4. Spoon roast is on sale at Whole Foods this week, which has led to a lot of googling people, which has led them here. Hi, Whole Foods Sale Shoppers! Tell me all about your roasts!

In the meantime, I’m planning dinner for Christmas eve, when Mr. Pea’s parents will be visiting. I’m thinking lasagna. I’m going to make my own ricotta and mozzarella (I haven’t made either in quite a while). Then I will be making cinnamon buns for Christmas morning, and mashed potatoes to bring to my brother’s house on Christmas day. I’ll be a busy cooking bee for the next several days. I also think I might bring a pear dessert–we got a huge box of ripe pears as a gift this morning, and while they’re tasty, we’ll not eat 7 more before they get too soft. Any suggestions?

I don’t often share photos of myself with you.  Not of my face, anyway.  You might get an arm on occasion, a hand clutching a cup of coffee or cocoa.  But hey, it’s the season of giving.  I give you this.  You’re probably hoping you at least get some cookies, too, and I can’t say that I blame you.

This is the last week of the semester and, of course, the last full week before Christmas.  When I think about that I kind of want to crawl under the dining room table here, wishing there were just a few more days!  But that’s ok.  Today and tomorrow I am reading the research papers of my top-level students, so that’s actually pretty fun.  They write about interesting things, like witches and wars and educational systems.  Then tomorrow night and Friday I get to watch my students perform their final group projects.  I am keenly interested in this.  They were allowed ot pick pretty much any topic–anything from US history, pre-Columbus through the Civil War–and demonstrate what they learned through research in any format they’d like.  I  know there’s at least one puppet show coming, and one ‘talk show, Springer style.’  I’m a little terrified of the latter but also very, very curious.

At the same time, we’re out of un-frozen gingerbread people *and* we’re doing a cookie swap tomorrow, so later today Mr. Pea and I will be making a batch of those divine Peppermint Chocolate Cookies (fudgy deliciousness!) from last year, mainly so we get to keep a few ourselves without indulging in the whole batch.  Oh, yum.  So that’s on the agenda, after haircuts and errands and more grading!

Last night I was tired after fielding student questions at the office and proctoring a colleague’s exam, and really just wanted a burger, some fries, and a beer.  But I didn’t cave in to that crave, particularly since on Sunday I had a cheesesteak and fries (I do have arteries I’d like to use for a while yet).  I roasted a chicken, and it turned out beautifully, which for me is no mean feat.  I patted it dry with towels, seasoned it in and out with salt, pepper, thyme and garlic powder, placed it in a deep skillet (this I think was key), rubbed the outside with half a tablespoon of butter and tossed another half inside, and popped it into a 450* oven for 20 minutes.  Then I turned it down to about 350 for another 50-60 minutes.  It was a 4 pound bird picked up on sale at Whole Foods.   It rested a bit while I made the sides–cheddar mashed potatoes and killer brussel sprouts, halved and put in a skillet with a couple of tablespoons of the juices/fat at the bottom of the chicken pan.  After they browned a bit but were still firm I added half a cup or so of water, covered the pan, and let them simmer; I opened it when they were almost done and let the liquid cook off.  Yum.  And to top it all off, I made a pan gravy with the rest of the juices, which I never ever do, but since I made the chicken in a skillet all I had to do was put it on a burner and add a little flour, plus some broth, and voila.  Heaven, and so much more rewarding (and equally tasty) to going out for burgers and fries.

Tonight, on the other hand, may be a different story!

This past weekend we picked out our tree and put it up in the living room.  It’s weird having moved twice in two years, as we’ve had to pick out new tree places in our new apartments.  I’m happy with this year’s tree.  It’s hard to tell in the photo, but it’s well-formed and in the living room–this means I get to see it all the time, which makes me happy.  At our last place in Boston, we often kept the tree in the dining room.  It was still pretty but I didn’t get to see it constantly, only when passing through.  So this works for me.

This time of year, I think a lot of people are looking for dinners that they can get on the table quickly so as to keep up with the rest of their lives.  We’re no exception–this week is finals week, so I’m very busy, and I’d rather be baking all day than making fancy dinners.  So last night Mr. Pea assembled a cheesy bean and rice casserole while I was at the annual school holiday party.  It starts with rice you’ve cooked earlier and comes together in a snap.

Original recipe from allrecipes.com.
You’ll need:
1 cup of brown rice, dried, cooked per your directions (I use 1 c rice to 1.5-2 c water, about 40 minutes)
1 can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 large onion, chopped
1 T canola oil
1 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes with green chilis, undrained
2 t chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 c grated cheddar

Once your rice is done, add beans and stir. In a skillet, cook onion in canola for 5-8 minutes, until tender. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil.

In a 2 quart baking dish, layer rice and beans, tomato mixture, and cheese three times–so a layer of each, then a layer of each, and finish with just a layer of rice and one of tomatoes. Cover and bake at 350* for half an hour; remove cover and top with remaining cheese. Bake another several minutes til melted. We ate this with dollops of sour cream and a drizzle of green salsa from Trader Joe’s.

When I woke up at 7, I had two thoughts.  One thought was to stay in bed and sleep another hour as I was really tired.  The other thought stemmed from the 8-year-old part of my brain and was “Go see how much snow we got!  Go see the snow!”  So I listened to that part, rolled out of bed, put on my fleecy robe, and looked out the window.  We had a good 3.5-4 inches at 7 and no one had yet disturbed it–not my neighbors, or a bunny, or anything.  It was lovely.  I snapped a few photos to remember it by, as within a few hours, it had already begun to turn over to rain and will be an icy, wet mess before long!

On Monday night I decided to forgo getting much work done (mostly my own–all my grading, by some miracle, was completed) in order to make a batch of winter jam. It’s an apple-

cranberry jam, spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and allspice, and based on this recipe at Food in  Jars, my new favorite blog.  All I did to change it (besides halving the recipe) was to add the spices, which you can do safely with no adjustment to the acidity of the recipe.  The result was quite tasty, and I might have to make some more if I plan to give all of these jars away!

This weekend we made our annual batch of gingerbread cookies.  Some of you might remember last year’s Moose of Doom that Mr. Pea made; this year’s highlight was this Patrick Starfish cookie.  I  made some pink and green sugars, and they came in handy for this fella.  He’s made with a star cookie cutter, then stretched out a bit and sculpted with a toothpick.

The recipe we used this year was a new one that I found online, and swapped in butter for the shortening.  The cookies were spicy and delicious.  You can find the recipe if you scroll down here.

How ready for the holidays do I look here?  Red bathrobe–red and white pjs–snowman mug–I’m ready to go!

When I was in graduate school, my friend Monica and I had a longstanding tradition of grading our final exams at Starbucks, where we’d chat and drink overpriced lattes we (or I, anyway) only bought once a season.  I get one peppermint mocha a year, and it’s reserved for taking the edge off of exam grading.  But this morning I wanted one.  I’ve got papers to grade, after all, but no desire to leave the house.

What I came up with isn’t perfect, and I’m definitely open to recipe variations.  I used my Bialetti Italian coffee maker to brew some strong coffee (about half a cup), a couple teaspoons of the hot cocoa mix from my last post, about 1/8 of a teaspoon of peppermint extract (which was a little strong at first and accidentally inhaling the steam from the cup cleaned out my sinuses).  These ingredients I added to about a half a cup of warm 1% milk.  At the end I added a couple of splashes of half and half to give the whole thing a creamier texture.  It’s not bad.  Not perfect, but not bad.  Perhaps it’s the whipped cream that’s missing.

We’re expecting our first snow later today (and I have to go the grocery store first–eek), and nothing warms up a cold and wet evening like a cup of hot cocoa.  Earlier this week, down to just a couple of packets of swiss miss in the cabinet, I decided to look for a do-it-yourself recipe.  I didn’t want one with powdered milk, as I wanted to use what I had on hand rather than go shopping.  I ended up making one from Martha Stewart which was rich, easy, and delicious.  The original recipe makes a stunning 92 servings, so I scaled it back to 1/4 of the recipe.  You add two tablespoons of mix to a mug of milk (so about 8 oz) which you’ve heated up.  Stir and enjoy.

You’ll need:

.87 of a cup of sugar–I used a one-cup measure and eyeballed this
1/2 c plus 1 T baking cocoa (the powdered kind)
about a half-teaspoon of salt, rounded

Mix and store in an airtight container. I’m thinking I might mix a batch of this up to give as gifts to my cousins, along with some of this apple-cranberry jam and some beer bread dry ingredients, as they often go make beer together someplace in Massachusetts. Maybe I could swap them this for some of the pumpkin ale they recently made…

It’s that time of year again.  This is an old photo, of my first soft tree set-up.  Now it’s more elaborate, but it’s at home and I’m at work, so I can’t show you right now.  Anyway, I hope you are all getting into the spirit of the season.  Here’s a cookie recipe that I made from allrecipes to get you started:

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies
* 3/4 cup butter
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, then stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

These are the cut and pasted instructions–initial recipe can be found here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Chip-Peppermint-Cookies/Detail.aspx

This is one of the ornaments from this year’s flock.  Some of you who have read this blog awhile might remember last year’s birds–they were patchwork and really cute, if I do say so myself.  I made ten birds this year, and they were almost as much work as piecing those little guys from last year together.  This is only because I am a slow embroiderer.  I followed the basic plan for the birds from here, but used the patchwork pattern piece from last year (actually from this book), slightly modified, for the bird’s bodies.  They’re made out of inexpensive felt sheets from Michael’s (ten birds=two sheets=about $.70), and I went through 2.5 skeins of white embroidery floss, using three strands of floss for the embroidering and af full strand (6) for the loops.  The embroidery of each flower features a french knot (here’s a how-to) in the center and five (or six, or four, depending on my skills that day) modified lazy daisy stitches (tutorial) to make the petals.

The original I based this on had lovely green garland between the flowers, but when I tried that it got crowded, so I just went without.  I was thinking about Scandinavian paper cutting (and my favorite danish-themed pajama pants) when I made them, which is why they’re just red and white.

Because she sent me this!!  Lovely fat quarters–about ten or twelve of them–in lovely patterns!!  New stash!  There’s some gorgeous Joel Dewberry–his new lines are just stunning.  Plus some Heather Ross I’ve been pining for, and some lovely trellis fabric.  Gorgeous!  I was going to use some for gifts, but now I want to selfishly hord them for myself!  Thanks Mel!  You’ve cheered my dizzy self immensely!