Ashley Made me a Happy Birthday!

A month ago I sent Ashley a cigar-box birthday package full of wax-paper wrapped goodies to remind her of home and of her passions - instant snow, multi-flavored local honey sticks, a tree, and - the crowning piece - a prism! (Ashley loves triangles and colors - how could she not own a prism?!)

What I got back for my birthday package was even better!! Beautifully illustrated sea-creatures rendered by her own hand, exotic candies, and even pearls! Here are some snap State-side snap shots from the grab-bag goodies and CD & card illustrations.

More photographs as taken across the sea can be seen on her blog or in the quoted segment below:

The Sea is Laced with Gold

Here's a little calendar I made for my dear friend, Danica. It was her birthday in December, and I was a little late. Hence the multiple year thing. There was also a mix CD, as there tends to be with gifts given as of late, but I'll let her post those pictures.

I cooked some dang good pizza too late for Pi Day.

(Photo courtesy of The Petit Chef - who included figs in their pizza!)

I missed Pi Day (3/14) – what a shame! – so I am backdating this entry commemoratively. Every year since I first discovered π Day I manage to miss it in favor of my enthusiasm for the Ides of March (3/15). Oh the conflicts of multiple nerdy interests. Come hell or high water, though, I am NOT missing the epic, once-a-century Pi Day of 2015 (3/14/15)!!!

In any event, I accidentally celebrated with a pie - a Spinach Procuitto Pizza Pie!

Apparently, you can get a mean trio of imported cured hams from Trader Joe's (I used this one). I use about half a package per pizza. Matt and I are suckers for these kinds of meats, particularly as it pairs so well with our vice for expensive cheeses.

And speaking of - don't skimp on the prosciutto or the parmesan reggiano! It's well worth the extra coupla bucks for the fancy stuff.

Enjoy this salty pizza with a glass of tart red wine (I picked Liberté Cabernet Sauvignon) and chocolate dessert!

I found an incredible set of post-WWII photos.

One of the perks of working in storage facilities is cleaning out the abandoned units. You would think its the kind of job that belongs on Dirty Jobs, and often it is (one time we had a customer who's doggie hotel went bankrupt and as a result he was able to keep is stuff in storage for 3 years without paying OR accessing it... this included dog food that attracted crickets which attracted spiders which attracted beetles...); but slightly less often there are units that are full of things that just needed a little TLC.

Last month we cleared out the unit of a deceased music teacher. The other side of treasure hunting is the tragedy that usually brings you to such circumstances. I don't know anything about the death of this particular individual. I suspect that his unit was deemed abandoned because the family members were unaware of it and, when they did find out about it, the amount due was so high they opted to let it because our site's property.

Even though I never heard his story and met any family members, I could tell you that he was a saxophonist and an aspiring (or maybe accomplished!) composer. He really liked cheesy laughs and had books and books of awful one-liners and knock knock jokes. This must have made him popular with his high school students because there were cards and plaques from student honoring him. From 1951 to around 1954 he had a small camera with which he took pictures of himself and servicemen stationed in Japan; especially the all Black army band.

One of my co-workers and I decided that the pictures were too cool to toss with rest and, before another guy whisked them away to be presented to potential buyer, I managed to snap some iPhone pictures of the album. I've been begging him to give the pictures to me if the buyer doesn't take them. I really hope I can scan them and get them to the California African American Museum.

I cooked eggnog (the cooking is, apparently, optional).

Re-appropriated glass milk bottles from my two favorite dairies!

At last week's Pasadena Farmers' Market I bought a pallet of eggs from a local guy (not as good as my mother-in-law's friends' eggs, but definitely tastier than any store bought eggs I've tried!). This week, I had not baked enough pies or cookies calling for so many eggs to consume them before our trip out of town to the folks. Another food-oriented dilemma we had was an abundance of milk and half & half in the fridge only days before the journey.

Oh what to do?

MAKE EGGNOG, OBVIOUSLY!

Creative cooking is something we call "Christenson-ing" in our circle of comrades, after our ingeniously creative beer-brewing, recipe-discovering, you-tubing gourmet friends. Instead of planning on discarding our invevibly expiring dairy products, I intended to Christenson some eggnog to take with us on our journey.

I started with this recipe, deemed the "Amazingly Good Eggnog Recipe" which called for cooking the eggs sightly instead of the traditional raw egg yolk ingredient. I made some adjustments having learned a few tricks recently regarding dairy (i.e. light cream can be replaced with half & half and good old fashioned vanilla ice cream can be used for heavy cream) and used mostly half & half instead of milk and cream. Having sampled the awesomeness of this eggnog, I can definitely say that the half & half replacement was successful - particularly for those who add milk to their thick 'n heavy store bought nog like myself - but I can see why the milk is parted into cream portions and milk portions; that is that the two seem to deal with the spices and eggs flavors differently, the milk giving you the smooth start and the cream giving you the lingering sweetness. In any event, here is how I made the recipe which turned out GLORIOUS and absolutely perfect to my taste buds!
(also, I tend to like a little more spice, so you can reduce all the spices by 1/2 a tsp)

(imagine that the palett on the left is FULL of eggs from the Pasadena Farmer's market ;) )

ingredients:
.5 g. of half & half
(or 1 qt milk & 1 qt light
cream)
1.2 c. or sugar
5 whole
cloves
1 tsp of nutmeg
1.5 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp of
vanilla
12 egg COLD
yolks
(*optional: rum)



quick instructions:
1) whisk together the yolks and sugar
2) combine 1 tsp of vanilla, nutmeg, &
half the half&half (or milk) over heat until it boils
3) reduce heat to medium and add the egg yolk mixture slowly
4) stir vigorously for 3 minutes, remove from heat and let cool for 1 hour
5) Finally, add remaining unused ingredients, stir, and refrigerate overnight



extended instructions:
1) Begin by separating the yolks from the egg whites. This is most easily done when the eggs are cold as room temp eggs may have more delicate yolks (you can use the egg whites for whipped topping or meringues later - just
make sure they stay away from ANY moisture).
2) On the lowest setting in a large sauce pan or broad stock pot, combine half of the half & half (or 1 qt of milk) on the stove with the cloves, 1 tsp of vanilla, and the cinnamon for several minutes (5-10 min).
3) Slowly bring to a boil over the course of another 5-10 minutes and let it boil for 5 min. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO SCALD!
4) While you are GRADUALLY heating the milk, combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk thoroughly.
5) Reduce the boiling milk to medium heat and the yolk mixture gradually. Continue to stir it for 3 minutes, keeping it from thickening.
6) Remove from heat and let stand for an hour.
*7) Add the nutmeg, remaining vanilla, the rest of the half & half (or the light cream) stir together.
8) Bottle and let sit overnight. (It can be chilled in freezer and served an hour later, but if you let it sit for at least 6 hours in the fridge, it gets so much more creamy and flavorful!)
9) Serve directly from the refrdigerator!


*1-2 shots of Sailor Jerry's per 12 oz can be added after the chilling stage (1 shot = rummy overtones, 2 shots = grandpa's favorite eggnog) OR
you can add 1-2.5 c of a light rum in the 7th step. I don't like the rum to overwhelm the flavor of the eggnog (which is delicious without it) so I recommend only 1 cup for the whole recipe.

I made a biscuit wreath.

I love biscuits and I love wreaths so this was a ridiculously and easy joyful craft for me!

I first saw the idea on A Semi-Homemade Thanksgiving, but after scouring downtown San Luis Obispo for leaf shaped cookie cutters, I settled on some fun shapes that the Sheean household already had at hand.

The only ingredient needed for this quick n' easy, pretty biscuit wreath is Pillsbury/Trader Joe's pre-made grand biscuits.