Christmas Party + Blogiversary

On December 15, 2007, our humble little blog had its first little post. Hard to believe I've had that camera for a whole year now. I'd say I've put it to good use.

This weekend, I dragged Steven to the firm's Christmas Brunch at Lansdowne Resort. He had a blast. (Tell them how much fun you had, dear.)



See? He loved it.

It was actually quite fun to see all the decor and to watch the kids lining up for Santa. I thought about putting in a few of my own requests, but I had a shady experience last year with an overzealous Santa, so I declined. (Awkward!)



(For the record, I would have asked him for stainless steel appliances. A little elf tells me they might be coming down the chimney on December 29, care of a Best Buy delivery truck.)



The brunch spread at Lansdowne is not to be missed. They had all manner of delicious desserts, including a martini-glass butter pecan mousse that was glorious.



This photo was probably taken after my third or fourth cup of coffee, combined with several sugary desserts. Woo! Christmas!



They also had tiny little creme brulees in individual espresso cups. (I might have had two. Don't tell anyone.)



I didn't try the mince pies, but they looked lovely.



The view of the tree from the top of the staircase was my favorite part.



No, wait. I lied. The tiny gingerbread village was my absolute number one favorite part.



It was just so perfect and wee. Look at the little pretzles as the bridge railings.



And the thatched roof is painfully cute. And jellybean bricks! Oh little candy houses of heaven.



Happy one year blogiversary to me, and Merry Christmas to all of you. Here's to another year of filling your computer screens with cooking, knitting, ranting about work, and various other sundry ramblings.



Now back to packing.

Pack It Up

Closing is Friday.

Let me repeat that. We are closing on the house this Friday.

OMG I HAVE PACKED NOTHING.

The realization of how soon we will need to move has hit me full force this weekend.

My first official packing task was to frantically file all our loose paperwork. Steven found it amusing that I was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a ring of papers spread around me, and he grabbed the camera.



After a full two days' worth of packing, I am beginning to realize that we really just don't own very much stuff.



I've packed all the books, I've packed everything but our clothes in the closet, and I've packed everything in the kitchen but our dishes and the various other breakable items. (I meant to buy a few newspapers this weekend to pack the dishes, but I kept forgetting. Blah. I'll get them later.)



Once we get the keys on Friday, we'll start taking boxes over to the new place so the movers won't have much left to move once they get here.

I can tell you that someone was not being very helpful with the whole packing thing. (He kept jumping into the boxes.)



Who me? Hey, did you pack the kibble yet?

Just Like Mom Used to Make

You know those meals that remind you of your childhood? This is mine.



We called it "Poppyseed Chicken," although I rarely remember the dish actually having poppyseeds in it. (We were rather picky eaters as kids, and there was probably some protest over the "weird black bits" in the food.)

The recipe is extremely simple. I have no idea where Mom found it, but it was a staple in our household, and often requested for birthday dinners and the like. And given that it is a quick recipe with very few ingredients, I added it into our weekly meal rotation last week.



It is my never ending quest to try to cook dinner at home instead of dining out every single weeknight, but (as I've previously complained), it is really tough to whip a dinner together when you walk in the door at 7 PM. I literally drop my bag on the kitchen table and turn on the burners.

So to have a meal that comes together in about twenty-five minutes, I'm totally thrilled. And with that, I give you a brief glimpse into the Steele kitchen. This is my little culinary workspace, replete with spice rack, stand mixer, and my cutting board that I put over the sink to give me more counter space. Also, please note the time on the microwave clock. That's right -- its 7:26 PM and I am plating up the dinner. Sweet.



Poppyseed chicken is a definite keeper. I ended up boiling the chicken per the recipe instructions, but I think an equally delicious version could be made with roasted chicken pulled from one of those store-bought rotisserie birds. Mmm.



Thanks for the recipe, Mom. Twenty-something years later, its still delicious.

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 chicken boullion cubes
small container of sour cream
1 can of cream of chicken soup
Ritz crackers
butter and poppyseeds (optional)

Boil chicken until cooked through and place in casserole dish. Microwave 1/4 c. water with boullion cubes for 1 minute. Mix with sour cream and cream of chicken soup. Pour mixture over chicken cubes and top with crumbled Ritz crackers. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes to crisp topping. (To add poppyseeds, mix poppyseeds with small dab of melted butter, then mix crumbled crackers with butter mixture before topping casserole.)

First Snow

It feels strange to tell you about our first snow, given that it was a freakish 65 degrees out today. But last weekend, we had our first real snowfall of the season.



It wasn't much, and its certainly gone now, but to this southern-born girl, any accumulation whatsoever is cause for celebration.



Pringles and Carlie weren't cold; they were just intrigued by the thin layer of white fluff.



Its a nostalgic thing, the idea of snow and winter and Christmas. Just tonight, we drove through our soon-to-be new neighborhood and looked at all the lights on everyone's houses. It was beautiful, and I am still in shock that its nearly mid-December already.

We've just booked a flight home to see my family, and I'm very much looking forward to hugging each and every one of them. Sometimes the holiday season can be a trying time, but we'll circle the wagons and carry on.



Happy December to all, and especially to one of my brothers who happens to love winter and tiny snow accumulations just as much as I do. This one's for you, Matt.

Turkey Gumbo

Emeril's Creole Seasoning

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried leaf thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight container. Makes about 2/3 cup.

6 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup water
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (with juices)
1 (10.5 ounce) can chicken stock
2 bay leaves
½ lb dried andouille sausage, sliced into ¼-inch pieces
2 cups cooked dark meat turkey, diced
1 (10-ounce) package frozen okra, thawed
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
3 cups hot cooked rice

Equipment

Large Dutch oven

Preparation

Prepare the browned flour:
Place the flour in the Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat for about 7, minutes or until the flour is very brown. Stir constantly with a wire whisk to keep the flour from sticking to the bottom. When the flour is completely browned, remove from the Dutch oven and set aside.

[Chef’s Note: The browning of the flour takes patience but is an important step in achieving the gumbo’s classic rich flavor].

Prepare the gumbo:
Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, green bell pepper and garlic. Sauté for about 8 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Sprinkle the vegetables with the browned flour and cook for another minute, stirring constantly. Add the water, the tomatoes and their juice, the chicken stock and bay leaves. Bring the gumbo to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the andouille sausage and simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes. Add the cooked turkey, okra and Cajun spice seasoning and cook for another few minutes.

[Chef’s Note: Andouille sausage is a spicy, smoked Cajun pork sausage. There are two varieties: fresh and dried. This recipe calls for the dried version, which is typically found near the gourmet cheese and deli meat area of your grocery store. If you can only find the fresh sausage, you will need to precook it in a separate skillet before adding it to the gumbo.]

Service

Serve the turkey gumbo over fluffy white rice.

Variations

If dark turkey meat is not readily available, turkey breast meat or chicken are both adequate substitutes. Traditional gumbo also contains about ½ lb of medium-sized, peeled, deveined shrimp. If you choose to include the shrimp in your recipe, add them in at the very end with the turkey and okra. Cook them just until they turn pink.

Shilla Bakery

Near our house, a new bakery just opened, and I've been dying to try it out. It just so happens to be next-door to our local Five Guys Burgers & Fries, and since we go there fairly often, I asked Steven if we could pop into the bakery on our way to the Burger Mecca.

We bought a couple of little desserts to try, including what looked like a tiny layered cake with an icing flower piped onto the top.



It tasted like tiramisu and it was delish, if altogether a bit dry.

We also bought a tiny chocolate cake, mostly because it was so wee that I had to have it.



It, also, was delicious.



And then, because the bakery is still trying to get the word out about its grand opening, the owners gave us a third dessert to try.

This one was a Boston Creme Pie with teeny sprinkles around the edges. So cute.



And to top off the cuteness factor, the bakery packaged up all of our little one-person cakes in a little origami fold-up box.



I especially appreciated the nod to Van Gogh. Classic. The place also serves lunch wraps and frozen yogurt, and those bubble tea drinks with the enormous straws. I am not a fan (it is extremely horrific to sip your drink and have some huge awful thing come up the straw), but if its your cup of tea (pun intended), they have a bunch of different flavors.

Overall, I'd give them a B+ for the pastries. We'll probably go back, if only to get another cute little carrying box.

Shilla Bakery
3250 Old Lee Hwy
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 352-1446

Pigs In A Blanket

For all of you who are planning to throw holiday parties requiring the ubiquitous "finger foods," may I present one of my favorite appetizer recipes?



It isn't even a recipe, per se -- its just sort of "put together instructions."

Step One: Purchase mini crescent rolls and Lil' Smokies. (You can also get regular size crescent rolls and just cut the triangles in half down the middle.)

Step Two: Roll the Lil' Smokies up into the crescent roll dough.

Step Three: Place them on a cookie sheet, heat up that oven, and bake according to crescent roll instructions.



Step Four: Devour.



If you take these to your next holiday event, don't expect to bring any back home with you. In a table full of sugary cookies and fruit-and-cheese trays, these little guys get grabbed up pretty quick.



These are so simple and they always manage to get the "wow" from people. If you make these for a party, you should totally tell everyone that you slaved over them for hours. I won't tell, I promise. It can be our little secret.

(And for all of you keeping track on the home-buying front -- the home inspection went fabulously! Of course, our garage door opener doesn't work, but that's really the worst of it. Hallelujah.)