Amazing Gingerbread House

I wish I a)was this good at making food look amazing and b)had the time to do it. This is an absolutely amazing gingerbread house. Everything is edible except for the chef and the flames.

Never trust a quietly playing child…

Paul gave me a bit of a scare this morning. He'd slept in til about 9 or so and was quietly playing in his crib. Since he seemed happy, I let him play for a bit on his own. I was tidying up a few things on the coffee table to prepare for gaming night when I heard him start screaming. I ran up the stairs, and he was half out of his crib. I don't know how he managed it, but he managed to get about halfway out of the crib. He was balanced on his stomach, but his feet couldn't touch anything to push off of. I was just very glad that he was ok. I told him not to do that again, but he gave me his intentionally cute look. Read more »

I love cookies and the 80s!

We decided to make icebox cookies this weekend, and acquired cherries, golden raisins, pecans, and other stuff. Clayton did all the really annoying parts (chopping cherries and raisins), and I was going to do the rest. Except.. I sorta forgot to take the butter out to soften, because I was watching I love the 80s...

So I've been waiting for it to really snow, but so far I have been out of town when it snows, or it turns into this icky snow/ice/rain/mud slush before I get a chance to make a snowman. It snow/iced last night, and as I was getting on to 495 from 66, some idiot in an suv had taken the ramp too fast and flipped over. No one was hurt and it didn't end up in the path of traffic at least.

Random Newspaper Recipes

I was going through some of my things, and discovered an old newspaper clipping with a few recipes.

Rice soupy thing...
2 cups of white rice
2 pints chicken soup
3 pints water
1 stalk scallion (minced)
1 teaspoon salt
0.25 lb of pork, minced

Pour all ingredients into a large pot. Turn on the stove to the highest setting. When water boils, change to low heat and heat for 2- 2.5 hours. Add water every 30 minutes, or as necessary, until you almost cannot see the individual rice particles and it looks like thick soup. Serve warm.

Green Pepper Steak
(everything must be chopped into 1"x0.25" pieces)
0.5lb beef steak
2 green bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
2 stalks of celery
2 stalks scallion
0.5 stalk carrot
3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cooking wine

Pour oil into a pan. Heat for a minute. Put in scallions, fry until slightly brown. Add beef, toss until well done. Add everything else. Toss again for a minute or two. Serve hot.

I haven't tried either of these, so try them at your own risk.