I can’t believe how much it snowed here, although it is less of a novelty to me since I spent my Christmas in the ultra-wintry conditions of Northern Nevada. After dinner last night with D&D and a fierce game of Halo on their new X-Box, we bundled up and hiked through several inches of snow to see Bubba Ho-Tep at the Laurelhurst.
Ask not what your rest home can do for you, but what you can do for your rest home.
I’ve been wanting to see this movie for ages, and I LOVED IT! Very original, very fun, very engaging. Really made the most of camera angles, suspense, dialogue, and timing. Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis were incredible! Personally, I’d rather see a movie with a low budget and a lot of energy, creativity, originality and talent instead of throwing millions of dollars to special effects and overpaid actors to cover for a shitty script that should never have been greenlighted.
Counting down the days for it to be released on DVD…
My brother, Rob, and his wife, Michelle, had a cute mishap this Christmas.
My mom decided to send Michelle a gift certificate to her favorite mail order shop, and warned Rob that it was coming. It would be addressed to her, but if he could intercept it and wrap it that would be preferable.
Several days later a box showed up addressed to Michelle from the mail order shop. My brother thought my mom decided to send pick something out instead, so he wrapped it and put it under the tree for Michelle. The next day he was confused by an envelope from the same shop addressed to Michelle, but he wrapped that as well.
Meanwhile Michelle is calling the post office and the mail order place looking for a package that had been confirmed as delivered, but she couldn’t find. Did someone in the apartment steal it? Did it really get delivered?
Christmas morning Michelle opened up a box that contained the handsome men’s shirt in my brother’s size that she had ordered for him for Christmas. My brother had accidentally intercepted his own gift and wrapped it up for his wife to open.
I laughed for a long time after I heard this story because it is so easy to imagine my brother wrapping all of the packages with the best of intentions. I can only imagine how hard *they* laughed when they got the mix-up figured out.
Sunday
Packing, cleaning house, dinner party, movies, hanging out with friends, complimentary airport shuttle driver, cheesecake delivery service, etc. Finally made it to bed around 2am.
Monday
5:15 am Left Portland in my trusty Saturn with enough bottled water, PBJ sandwiches, tortilla chips, Mtn. Dew, smokes, music CD’s, and audio books to make it to Mexico, even though I was only driving as far as the Bay Area of California.
6:55 am Rest area in Eugene. First Mtn. Dew. Email to family that I am en route.
7:29 am (129.2 miles) Rest area in Cottage Grove. Roads are foggy but fine.
8:45 am (208.4) Fuel stop in Canyonville. Jet fuel coffee and a microwaved breakfast burrito that I should have never checked the fat content on. Mom called to make sure trip was going well. Finished audio book of Horatio’s Drive.
10:10 am (284.2) Stop in Medford / Phoenix at the outlet malls because there was a craft shop I liked there. Craft shop is gone, but discovered there *was* one of my favorite coffee drive-throughs: Dutch Bros. Their Kahula Kicker drinks are simply amazing. Flirted with baristas and hit the road again. Singing Chris Isaak very poorly and very loudly, but still much fun.
11:15 am (352.7) Rest area in Weed, CA. Happy that I had no problems going over the Siskyou pass.
11:30 am (360.7) Drove through the business loop of Weed looking for a place to sell me postcards and stamps. Could only find the postcards.
1:10 pm (452.7) Rest area in Red Bluff. Email to family that I am more than halfway there. Start listening to “Spy Who Loved Me” on audio book.
2:18 pm (525.0) Rest area in Winters. Check email.
2:50 pm (552.9) Fuel stop in Dunnigan. Love the audio book but attention span is short.
3:38 pm (611.0) Rest area in Vallejo. Realizing I won’t make it by 4 like I was hoping. Hit hellaciously bad traffic through Berkeley on my way to 880.
5:30 pm (688.1) Arrive in Campbell, California desperately wanting a nap and shower. Hooray! I made it! Dad and Karen very happy to see me. LOVE their new home, but their driveway rosebushes bite hard.
This is my favorite holiday cheesecake, and I made one earlier this week. Someone needs to help me finish it, though!
Crust
1 box crumbled gingersnaps or vanilla wafers (blender works great for this!)
3/4 cube butter (melted)
Cheesecake
2 packages cream cheese (softened)
1/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Topping
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cans large sliced pears, drained
1 teaspoon cinnamon
For the crust, combine the cookie crumbs and butter well, using two knives to cut the ingredients together. Pat firmly and evenly into the bottom of a springform pan. Preheat oven to 375 F.
Blend all of the cheesecake ingredients together until very smooth — almost to a whipped consistency. Pour into springform pan over crust and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean out of the center. Allow to cool completely. Do not run a knife around the edge of the pan.
Toss the pears with the cinnamon — set aside. Blend the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Pour topping over cooled cheesecake. Drain pears of excess juice and layer above topping. Bake at 375 F for 8 minutes.
Allow to cool at least twelve hours in the refrigerator before serving. Enjoy!!!
Went to the holiday party for a prominent local company last weekend — just imagine several hundred salespeople and support staff getting bombed and trying to impress one another, and you’ll have a pretty accurate description of the event. The people watching was fantastic… There was one guy who had a combination pompadour mullet and was wearing a baby blue tuxedo jacket, ruffled white shirt with blue trim, and black slacks. I really wish I had been able to get a picture, but all of my energy was focused on not falling down laughing. The karaoke room at the party was enough to make my ears hurt.
I’ve been out for karaoke a number of times over the last couple of weeks, which is pretty astounding since I *know* I can’t sing. Fortunately, my friends can, and it is fun to cheer them on and pick out songs. I actually braved the mic twice to sing “Margaritaville” and “Brown-Eyed Girl” although never by myself.
Thanks to my PA and chef wrangler work on yesterday’s Oregon Cooks show, I get to have chocolate cake for breakfast this morning! Cameo Cafe provided a sinful layered chocolate cake concoction coated with dark ganache for the volunteers, and since there was plenty to go around I was able to take a piece home with me for later.
I love that it is rich and decadent, but not enough so where I can’t finish an entire piece. (”Wait a minute… there are eggs in cake! And milk! Chocolate cake is the perfect food for breakfast!!!”)
As usual, we had to hustle during the show. Timing is everything. Towards the end of the show we had to tighten up the timing, so we had to rush one guest on stage to the hosts table, instead of the kitchen area when she was barely ready to go on and it was a stretch to get all of her materials situated. She coped admirably and was terrific on air.
Loved meeting and working with all the chefs, especially after calling and emailing them for weeks trying to track down their bios and recipes. I used to work with Leather of Noble Rot a few years ago, so this was a terrific opportunity for us to catch up. I’ve been meaning to get over to his restaurant for ages, and now I really need to. Tha man can really cook, and it’s no wonder that his place has been lauded one of the best places to take a date in Portland.
Some of the recipes from the show include:
French Whipped Cream Truffles
Chocolate Mousse
Crab Fritters with Avocado Sauce
Variations on Kale: Frittata, Gratin, and Caldo Verde
Grilled Chanterelle, Arugula and Sheep Milk Cheese Salad
Gorgonzola Dip
Polenta Crostini
Quince Tart
Potato Blinis
Roast Pork Shoulder Arista (To die for!!!)
Olives with Fennel Orange Relish
Copies of the cookbook from Oregon Cooks are available from OPB. (You have to scroll down a bit.) I got my copy yesterday — if you don’t get a copy of the cookbook, you might have to bribe your way into a dinner invitation to my house instead.