This Is How We Roll

We made our last six dozen tamales yesterday. Since we had a lot of the pork left, we started again (last batch this season, I swear!).  Deejo and Junior didn't get any of the previous batch because those were destined to be Christmas presents. Poor Junior was stuck at work, so he didn't get any fresh-out-of-the-pot tamales, but we froze a dozen for him to enjoy later.

We didn't even bother with plates when the tamales came out of the pot. Nope, we just grabbed a handful of forks and passed them around and dove in. Love Ashinator's photo bomb, but when we were done with our "afternoon snack", we all felt like that.

Grandma's Last Gift

I wasn't sure what to expect from Christmas Eve this year, as it would be the first without Grandma Mary.  We had all pretty much predicted that the family would fall apart when she died.  And it did.  To an extent.  Grandma's last gift to us was to bridge the distance between my dad and my uncle.  They are closer now than they have ever been.  I have to hand it to my dad.  I had little to no respect for the man.  He'd done nothing to earn any of my respect.  He was a narcissistic asshole who made promises he never kept and used people more than he ever helped them.

And then Grandma had her stroke.  We knew that my cousins who had been living off with her for years would not be able to take care of her.  After all, they're the ones who allowed her to stroke for three days before my other cousin and his wife visited and insisted they take Grandma to the hospital.  So the option of her going home to them after her stroke, well, wasn't an option.

Dad stepped up to the plate.  He moved in and cared for her 24/7.  He did an amazing job.  She was more active in the months after her stroke than in the years before.  They went gambling, they went to bingo, they went to dinner.  Dad seriously flourished in his role as a care-giver.  For the first time in 25 years he had purpose in life.

Uncle DeVito, my dad's older brother, went to work fixing up Grandma's house to make it wheelchair accessible and safe for her.

Together, the two of them worked side-by-side day in and day out toward one common goal.  To take care of the woman we all loved.  My heart is so happy to see the new bridge built between Dad and Uncle DeVito.  Thank you, Grandma Mary.

Sadly, my aunt didn't participate.  She retreated and pouted and pointed fingers, but she didn't help.  That's where the family fell apart.  We attempted to reach out to her, but she chose to be the victim in the situation and took her sons and their families with her.  My heart is a little sad over that, but it wasn't at all unexpected.

It was with some trepidation that I approached Christmas Eve.  We'd done Christmas Eve at Grandma's house for my entire life.  There was no question that we'd continue celebrating as a family at her house, but I wasn't sure what to expect.

It was AMAZING!  With my aunt and "her" family choosing to do their own thing and not join us, the stress level was non-existent.  I hadn't realized how much tippy-toeing around we did when my aunt's family was around.  We all contributed to a potluck dinner and spent the evening enjoying each other's company (and a margarita or four).  I can't say that I missed Grandma because she was there.  The love she gave each and every one of us shone that night.

Dad and Uncle DeVito

Digger, RCC, Ashinator, Monster and me

My brother, Junior, and RCC.  And I have no idea what they were doing.  They were the stone-cold sober ones.

Me and Nebalee (1st margarita)

Asset, Nebalee, Kyzzer, Mr. Nebalee, Auto Bot

With Digger.  Yes, I know the picture's tilted.  So was I (marg #3-ish)

With Monster and Ashinator.  Yes, I know the picture's blurry.  So was I (marg #4-ish)

I'm not sure how I managed to miss getting pics of most of my family.  Junior, Nonners, Chris, Uncle DeVito - I'm sorry.  I'm blaming the margaritas for the omission.
 
I hope everyone had as great a time as I did.  Love you all.

2010 Resolution Check-in

Before making my 2011 Resolutions, I thought it would be a bright idea to check in on my 2010 Resolutions to see how I did with them. 

Resolution #1: Be healthier.  I did well on this one for a little while, but overall failed miserably.  Guess what's going on the 2011 list?

Resoluction #2:  Continue writing.  Call this one a draw.  RCC and I did NOT manage to do weekly write-ins, but I did manage to get TALES FROM THE TRAIL queried.  I didn't even get a form rejection for that one, but in 2011, I'll research more publishers who I feel might fit my niche and query even more.  In addition to querying TALES, I'm going to finish HUNTED LYON and begin the edit process on that.

Resolution #3:  More time with my little girl.  Again, a draw.  I did make it up to spend time with her every week, but she got lamed up after HCR and I didn't get much riding done.  However, thanks to my followers, we managed to figure out what was causing her lameness and get her healed up enough that I could again get back up on her for the fall.

Resolution #4: Start my Master's program in Public Health.  Technically a fail, by one month.  I wanted to start by the May mod and didn't get started until June.  But I did get started and currently have a 4.0 (woo-hoo!).  Unfortunately, we ran into a snag getting my official transcripts from CSU (when I consolidated my student loans, my Perkins loans were not included, which I had no idea about), so until I get my officials I'm stalled out on my program. 

I suspect that my 2011 list will look pretty much like my 2010 list, since I didn't complete them.  No sense beating myself up over it; I'll just dust myself off and have another go.

Food Network, Part Two

I meant to add this to yesterday's post but forgot.

It seems like all of the cooking shows we watch are impacting more than just my palate.  Since I'd crowded my protein, I decided I'd just dump my stuff into the larger cast iron skillet that RockCrawlinChef was using.  He was deglazing the pan with merlot (getting the yummy crunchies off the bottom of the pan) to add to the Shepherd's Pie he was making and I told him, "I'm just going to dump this hamburger in there when you're done.  I'm not even going to rinse it [the pan] out, it'll give the chili a nice depth of flavor."

WTH?  Since when did "depth of flavor" become part of my speaking vocabulary?

It's time for me to put down the remote and step away from Food Network.

You Know You Watch Too Much Food Network When...

...the first thing that runs through your mind when you do this...

...is think, Damn, I've crowded the protein.  Now I'm just steaming the meat.

And you wait for the judge to ding your dish and lower your overall score.

Merry Christmas!

I had a big post all planned out in my little brain, but then decided that *everyone* is as short on time as I am.  So *crumbling mental paper and throwing it in the trash can* out goes the post.

Instead, I'm just going to wish all of my bloggy friends a Merry Christmas.

Love to you all.

Cheesy Pictures

I normally wouldn't take up two days' worth of posts for one subject, but we got such cool pictures that I had to share them.  And I'm still completely amazed at how easy the whole project was.

We started off by breaking down two heads of garlic into individual cloves...

Then it was a family effort to peel all of the cloves...

Asset ended up chewing on her clove, so we left that one out of this beautiful bowl...

RockCrawlinChef put them in a pan of vegetable oil and set them on the stove to simmer and roast...

We opened our big block of curd...

Got our ice bath ready for the completed bococini (also very handy for cooling off burning hands - the gloves only protect from so much heat)...

We broke down the curd from the big block to little manageable curd and mixed in some coarse salt...

Added some hot water and began working the curds...

And if, say Nebalee GunDiva someone was to screw up, it was easy enough to pull the curd out of the hot water, pack it onto a plate, strain the water and have another go at it...

A quick check on the roasting garlic...

Finally, the curd begins to cook in the scalding water (along with our fingers) and becomes workable cheese...

Pulling the cheese is a lot like pulling taffy...

A small bit of cheese is squeezed and twisted off of the cheese to form the bococini...

And then it's immediately dumped in the ice bath to help firm it up...



Our not-so-perfectly-round bococinis all nestled in a zip-lock to await their final packaging...

The garlic's all roasted and ready to be strained...



We poured the oil, sans garlic, back into the jug with the other oil so the flavor could infuse throughout and let it sit for a few hours.  The cheese got packed in water in the fridge to chill and finish firming up.

To package them as gifts, I put three in each jar...



Added the roasted garlic and thyme...



And a pinch of red pepper flakes...

Added the garlic-infused oil...

Capped them and voila! Christmas gifts for my co-workers...