Never enough time

What a whirlwind...can you count 20 days a a whirlwind?  Somehow it felt like it was.  I've just returned from visiting family in Washington for the holidays and I have the post-holiday blues.  It's a very strange thing to have the important people in your life split on separate coasts of the country.  Every time I go back to Washington, I spend the first week missing New York, then the second week soaking up my friends and family (namely my mom's babysitting), then the third week, I'm ready to go back to New York but simultaneously miss my family and friends already.  It may be some form of mental illness.  lol.  

I think this time was particularly hard because of the job situation.  Being in between jobs meant that I had plenty of downtime to see everyone, but the uncertainty also means I don't have a planned return trip, and this will probably have been my last 20 day trip. While my last job wasn't ideal, it meant that I was able to work remotely, so I could take these long trips without having to take vacation time, but it seems unlikely this will be the case in the future. 

Enough of the sap, I had an amazing time!  Here's a quick recap of what I've been up to the past month or so: 

As soon as I got back to Washington, my mom and I went into full Christmas mode!  She had already decorated just enough so it felt like Christmas when I got there, but we usually do most of it together so she saved a bunch...

Of course we had to have Christmas (or music) movies on while decorating...this year she graduated us all to small stockings, and J got his own, too! I guess I have to keep him around.

My brother was in desperate need for an Ugly Christmas Sweater, so I whipped this puppy up for him.  It was pretty amazing, all of that garland made it weigh a million pounds, and I sewed bells in it so when he shimmied it jingled.  haha...does anyone have any ideas how to make homemade ugly Christmas sweaters my livelihood?

I squeezed in as much Goodall time as possible.  First Kaitlin and I had a wild night on the town, which in our world means a dinner out at a wine bar, and a tasting flight of "bubbles." It was so good to reconnect and gossip like we don't live 3,000 miles apart.  I got my usual favorite, flat bread with roasted figs, goat cheese, honey, and pistachio.  It's the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

A couple of nights later I headed back over to the Goodalls for our annual gingerbread house building. Sweet little Lila got in on the action this year, and probably ate just as much candy as she put on her house, but she was so proud of herself and for the record, some of the candy did make it on her house.

My mom and I did our normal holiday bake-a-thon but she had to work throughout the holidays so we had to seriously scale back the variety of cookies.  We still made chocolate crinkles, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, peanut butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, fudge, and rice krispie treats, so I don't think any of our recipients really noticed. 

If you look closely you'll see Humphrey hoping my dad will share some of his sugar cookie with him...poor neglected Humphrey.

The Monday after Christmas both of my parents had the day off from work so we all went to this little Bavarian village on the side of the mountain, Leavenworth.  We indulged in bratwurst for lunch, spiced German wine, beer, and wandered through some of the cute little shops.  Living so close to it, I never thought about the history, but J was asking how it came to be...upon googling it was literally developed to be a tourist trap.  In the 60s the town wasn't doing well economically, so they decided to create a faux Bavarian village, and voila! Success!

Then came New Years...J and I couldn't decide what to do for New Years Eve.  As much as I love my family, we decided we should do something other than stay in with my parents so we went down to Portland for a couple of days.  We lucked out and found this really cool "speakeasy" style party, and spent the night dancing and drinking...So fun!

We had a few low key days with my family, and then headed to the airport early on the 6th.  I didn't cry but I did a little on the 4th.  To make coming back feel more monumental, there was a snowstorm in the morning that meant an extra 2 hours on the plane with Humphrey.

The Most Perfect Day!

This weekend has been such a blur. I once again tried to cram way to much in but I wouldn't change anything. 

First, J and I went to see New York City Ballet's "The Nutcracker." It's funny because my experience or the Nutcracker was always Pacific Northwest Ballet's and I assumed it would almost all be the same but as it turns out, the NYCB choreography is much truer to the original choreography. The dancing was just on another level. Even J murmured "how is that possible" at one point during the sugar plum fairy's dance with her cavalier. 

The only draw back was all of the kid noise. Haha. It sounds like such a snobby thing, and I really love kids. Plus, I know when I have kids I'll bring thing to theater and ballet, but it's just a strange thing when you pay a lot for a ticket to go to the ballet and hear kids rustling candy wrappers the whole time. Actually my biggest problem wasn't the kids, it was the adults who somehow thought that since it was a kid friendly performance it meant they could behave as kids. The woman beside me literally stood for the beginning of the second act, and we had good seats. It's not that she couldn't see. (End rant. It was an amazing experience and I can't wait to bring my kids and be the mean mom that won't let them rustle candy wrappers). 

After the ballet we headed to Brooklyn to this neighborhood called Dyker Heights. It was featured on one of those, "Extreme Christmas Lights" specials, and for a good reason. More lights than you can imagine. J was such a good sport and I laughed good-naturedly about my pure joy and enthusiasm despite the freezing weather. 

(More lights below)

On the way home he surprised me by stopping at my favorite restaurant in my old neighborhood, Lot 2. He won serious points with that move and then was rewarded by them having his favorite cocktail featured as the drink of the night (Veiux Carre...recipe at very bottom. It's the perfect winter warm you up cocktail. It was a shame I don't live a few blocks away and we couldn't stumble home because we both would have gladly imbibed more.)

Then we were going to have "Christmas" because I'm heading to the west coast for Christmas with my fam tomorrow but we decided to watch an episode of Breaking Bad instead...priorities. Christmas tonight though!

Happiest Christmas Tree

Santa! Christmas has arrived! 

I'm slightly fanatical about Christmas. I've been preparing J basically since we met about my obsession and then talking about getting a tree since summer. 

My family has always gone to cut one down ourselves. I think there is something special about seeing a tree amongst hundreds of others and deciding it belongs in your family. There is a song, "happiest Christmas tree," that I always think of when choosing a tree. 

I was determined to cut one down but all the determination couldn't compete with plain bad timing. We were going to go Friday after J was done working but then he ran late and the tree farm closed early, and we had a friend taking a train to come over so we didn't have time. I'm kind of surprised but I totally took it in stride and suggest a trip to Home Depot. I think I shocked J too. 

We got there and all of the trees were already bailed. J thought this was convenient. I thought it was an outrage and joked with another equally outraged customer. How will we know what it looks like?! I chose this little guy because the bottom was peeking out and it looked ok. 

We asked for help tying the tree to the and the guy came out with a roll of shrink wrap. Haha. I'm so sad my battery on my phone died because the process was hilarious. He wrapped through the inside of the car then over the roof tons of times making the car look like Thanksgiving left overs. J refused to use his phone for a picture out of embarrassment. The whole ride home other drivers were gawking and it's a Christmas miracle we didnt cause an accident. 

It all worked out though. Our tree is up, and all decorated and it makes me so happy. The apartment is in a state of chaos because of the great move-in but in one little corner there is a bright calm. I'm in love with this scrawny little tree.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

But it's kind of beautiful and the perfect day for my last day of my job, and for kicking off an unemployed holiday season. I'm hoping I can keep my brain from worrying too much and just think of all of the extra time I'll have with family and friends.

Since it was cold and snowy I made soup. 

I really love Smitten Kitchen's Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe, so I more or less just followed that. She's right, the browning of the chicken in the pan really gives the soup another layer of flavor, and once you've tried it, you won't go back to the old just boil it method. The only change I started making was to cook noodles separately. Unfortunately, you do lose a little by not having those noodles soak up the broth directly, but we never finish the whole batch at once, and then our noodles get soggy sitting in it. So now I boil them separately until they're almost done before draining them, then adding the broth and veggies and finishing the cooking the rest of the way.

Ingredients:
Serves 4
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
3-pound chicken, in parts or 3 pounds chicken pieces of your choice
8 cups water
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons table salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large carrot, diced (1/3-inch)
1 medium parsnip, diced (1/3-inch) (optional)
1 large celery stalk, diced (1/3-inch)
3 ounces dried egg noodles, I prefer wide ones
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or flat-leaf parsley
 

Prepare broth: In a large (5-quart) heavy pot over medium-high heat, heat the vegetable oil. Add the onion and saute it for 3 to 4 minutes, until beginning to take on color at edges. Add the chicken pieces (if too crowded, can do this in two batches), making little wells in the onions so that the parts can touch the bottom of the pan directly. Cook chicken parts until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Add water, bay leaf, table salt and some freshly ground black pepper and bring the mixture to a boil.

Reduce the heat to a simmer and skim any the surface of the pot. Simmer pot gently, partially covered, for 20 minutes.

Transfer chicken parts to a plate to cool a bit before handling. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl (ideally, with a spout) and pour soup through it.

To finish and serve: Add diced vegetables and simmer them until they’re firm-tender, about 5 minutes. Add dried noodles and cook them according to package directions, usually 6 to 9 minutes. While these simmer, remove the skin and chop the flesh from a couple pieces of chicken, only what you’re going to use. You won’t need all of it in the soup. Save the surplus for another meal later in the week...tacos, salad, etc...

Once noodles have cooked, add chicken pieces just until they have rewarmed through (30 seconds) and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with dill or parsley, dig in and let it fix everything that went wrong with your day.

MMMM...

On A Roll - Friendsgiving

Tuesday night we had a pre-Thanksgiving Friendsgiving, and for me Thanksgiving is all about the sides.  It's about the roasted vegetables, the stuffing, the rolls.  Oh, yeah, the rolls.  My dad is famous for these rolls, they only come out 3 times a year because they're kind of labor intensive (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter) but everyone always stuffs themselves with them whenever they make their rare appearance.



Since my dad is across the country, I decided to try my hand at these rolls...such pressure! Not only was I raving about them to friends before attempting myself, but I had a lot to live up to in order to protect the family name.  I'm kidding, but not really.  These rolls are famous in my circle. 

So, after an emailed recipe and multiple phone calls discussing logistics, I was off.