Fidget

Compared to this one…

…The scene in A Christmas Story where they go to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve and have whole roast goose and are serenaded by a quartet of waiters mispronouncing the chorus of Deck the Halls may not be the most memorable. But I sure was reminded of it this Christmas Eve. I had spent the afternoon in the kitchen making Figgy Pudding so BN suggested we go out for dinner. A perfectly reasonable and good idea, other things being equal. But it was Christmas Eve, and not very many restaurants are open then. And this is Eugene, where there really aren’t very many good restaurants to begin with. BN called and found that “Kabuki Japanese Steakhouse” was in fact open. We hadn’t been there before, but we like Japanese, so we hoped for the best. It turned out fine except:

1. We were the only ones there, which felt sort of dismal - it’s one of those chef-cooks-at-your-table kind of places, where you’re supposed to have a crowd of friends in a busy restaurant with lots of excitement.

2. As a result our waitress was very attentive, and there was a 1-to-2 chef-to-diner ratio. That contributed to the awkwardness. Plus, the two of them were identical twin sisters and probably about 19. (Not Japanese, of course.) They were chatty and friendly, but it wasn’t our idea of a romantic date to make conversation with a couple of people waiting on us hand and foot. Something about the whole thing felt really surreal and like, are we being filmed? isn’t this a scene in a movie?

3. Because of the service-intensive nature of the restaurant, the food was very expensive.

4. But, it was not at all what I would call Good Food. Certainly not worth what we paid for it. The portion sizes weren’t even large. The rice was chewy, not fluffy. The vegetables were boring. The chicken and shrimp were not impressively flavored or textured.

On the whole, we wished we’d taken the money and bought groceries and cooked our own dinner. I coulda stir-fried way better than that.

Nevertheless! Our Christmas Eve was far from ruined. I will block yet another restaurant fiasco from my mind with memories of sitting cozy on the futon, lights dimmed except for candles and our tiny tree, playing Trivial Pursuit with my dear husband. We eschewed the board and chips and just took turns reading the cards to each other, if you get three or more right you keep the card. Everybody wins. We even had cocktails - BN invented a mix with the brandy bought for the Figgy Pudding, pomegranate juice, etc. Life is good.

My family is very tradition-oriented. Not that we do everything in a very culturally traditional way (though in some cases we do), but rather we tend to do the same things the same way every year and feel a bit sad if something’s different. This year was pretty different since BN and I stayed in Eugene for the holiday. But, I was mostly very glad for the chance to break out of the mold and try new things this year. I thought, I should find some classic Christmas food that I’ve never tried and make that, and what more obvious choice than Figgy Pudding. “Oh bring us a figgy pudding…and bring it right here! We won’t go until we get some…” When I was little I always thought it was Piggy pudding because Piggy was a real word, whereas Figgy? not so much. Though a pork-based pudding doesn’t appeal to me, then or now. Anyways. Whenever I want to find a recipe for something like this, I look online. I can pick and choose and even combine recipes. (I also tend to check Joy of Cooking so I can see if there is any Definitive American Way to prepare the food in question.) So I discovered that the thing to do is base one’s Figgy Pudding on a carrot-cake mix and go from there. The whole thing seemed quite straightforward and also, figgy pudding being British, “pudding” really means more of a cake-like substance. So there was no tricky milk-scalding, egg-white-stiffening, or gelatin-firming to be done. Just baking, or rather steaming, for a very long time. (and yes, GC, it’s baked in a pudding basin!) I have to confess I haven’t had a very good track record with baking recently. I used to bake cakes and cookies quite a bit when I was a teen, with reasonable success, but recently I have gotten way over into the other camp, of gourmet cooking, mostly savory Asian entrees rather than sweet European desserts. Which is all very fine for our waistlines. I just like to experiment and substitute ingredients to suit my taste or convenience, and that doesn’t always work out so well in baking. Another thing is, I don’t even own an electric mixer. (I got a lot of mileage out of this Figgy Pudding thing talking to ladies at church and they all gasped and said you have to have an electric mixer to make cake!!!) Luckily I actually ended up making a figgy muffin, which doesn’t need much stirring at all, let alone beating in a mixer… See, I was in the grocery store (actually, the grocery palace - more about that another time) and the Betty Crocker type of cake mix had trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup. And I needed carrot… the only other carrot option was an organic, all-natural muffin mix. So I figured, I can adapt and substitute. It’ll be fine. I took note that the cake mix called for more oil and eggs than the muffin mix. And off I went. Christmas Eve was Figgy Pudding day, so that afternoon I got right down to work. I brought dried figs and water to cover to a boil, took them off the heat and soaked several hours until softened. Chopped the figs and boiled the fragrant liquid down a ways with some sugar. I used 3 eggs and whirled the liquid ingredients in my blender because I figured that couldn’t hurt. But I stirred until just combined with the muffin mix (plus golden raisins soaked in brandy, orange zest, sliced almonds and spices.) I also used melted butter rather than oil, cause it’s way yummier.

The trickiest part of the whole process was lining my large metal bowl with foil. I tried to use one piece to go all the way around but it was just not working. So I had to use several pieces. What a concept. The main thing is to have a “collar” of foil around the top of the cake to fold down over it and steam rather than just dry out your pudding.

And it came out great - not soggy, not dry or hard, but just a nice dense, fruity cake. Served warmed with the fig syrup drizzled on and whipped cream, it was a unique holiday treat to write home about.

The invitation said “light hors d’oeuvres will be served.” Unfortunately we ate a sizeable dinner right before we came and were unable to partake of most of the 10 or 12 desserts (including a cranberry party mix I brought which was pretty much lost in all the decadence) and hardly any of the astonishing array of appetizers, cheese, dips, etc. Oh, well. We always enjoy a good chat with our church friends, and we met a new friend - the host’s Devon Rex cat, a breed perfect for allergic cat lovers. I’m allergic, and both BN and I love cats so this was an interesting idea to us - a cat that doesn’t have the typical allergens. (They have very short, dry fur.) Maybe there’s hope for us getting a cat someday after all - we’d have to save our pennies since these unusual kitties are quite spendy. The P’s have 3 and Opal, the little gray one, was very social and went around to each lap that was open in the living room, including mine and I enjoyed petting her without sneezing! But, once she found BN, she knew she’d come across one of her own. Recognizing a true cat-whisperer, she snuggled right up onto his shoulder and took a snooze for the rest of the evening. We had to wake her up to leave. So cute! But the Devons are kind of unusual-looking. Something between a sphinx and Yoda… I thought Opal looked a little bit like a gargoyle. But in a friendly way.

Hi, everybody! It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post. I have been frantically at work on all my Christmas projects. A significant bulk mailing (multi-piece Christmas card) and lots of surprises for gifts. Today I mustered up my courage and took my packages to the “po” and mailed ‘em off. Wow, that feels good! (And let me tell you, I wasn’t the only resident of South Eugene that did the same) This year is exactly the same as other years in the amount of work I’ve made for myself getting ready. But this year the deadline was today, Mailing Day (Heck with Boxing day! Today was the last day to box everything up and check-box it right off of one’s To Do list. That’s a big deal!) instead of Christmas Eve at midnight or so. But this year I was forced to get done early so now I have a week to relax. That’s pretty cool.

I’ll post photos of my Christmas card soon, and the surprise projects after the 25th. For now, check out this funky version of an elf hat that I made awhile back, right after Thanksgiving when the Christmas projects were mostly still brewing on my brain’s back burner. That’s the problem - I usually don’t get my bright ideas until just before T-day, and then I just have to go ahead and bite off more than I can chew because the ideas are too good to pass up. And I truly do enjoy the projects, don’t get me wrong. Time just gets a little tight, that’s all. Like a few years ago… I think it was 2002. I had a new book about making handmade journals and memory boxes. So I dove right into making a hand-bound book or box for everyone in my immediate family plus BN and another friend (That’s 10 projects). It took way more materials than I thought and way, way more time than I’d planned on. I was living alone in my studio apartment and I stayed up ALL NIGHT on December 23rd, finishing them up. That was the pinacle of my tradition of last-minute Christmas frenzy. I sure was tired on Christmas that year!

For our first stay-in-Eugene Christmas, I bought a little potted tree - a Dwarf Alberta Spruce, to be exact. I’m so proud of myself because I transplanted it into a nice big pot, all by myself. I made a fabric tree-apron (a tree-skirt would be trouble for watering a live plant!) and got a set of tiny rice-lights for it. We do have some ornaments but they are mostly too big and heavy for the tiny tannenbaum, so I hung them around the edge of the pot. I folded some mini-origami stars; they are more size-appropriate to actually hang on the tree. I placed the whole setup on a sturdy little low table, that has a shelf so that presents can actually go under the tree! Altogether the display is 52″ high, so it has quite a presence in the corner of our living room. Now, if only it would snow outside - it’s white out there, but white with fog!

How was your Thanksgiving holiday? We enjoyed ours, spending the long weekend with family in Tahoe. There wasn’t much snow this year, but we kept ourselves very well entertained all the same.

We played lots of games: video games, card games, board games, table games, field games…

And an Alderbranch family specialty: diverting rivers!

Philosophical discussions (some more heated than others…), a beautiful day spent hanging out near the Lake,

And plenty of shenanigans!

Hey, today’s my birthday!

I’m 29. It’s my last year in the twenties. Looking back, for the first time, on a decade of adulthood. (When I turned 19, I was looking back at my childhood…) Ten years ago I had just gotten home from a summer of working at Mount Hermon. I was still recovering from my summer crush, a nice boy who played guitar and liked vegetables, and appreciated my sense of humor. (Now I’m married to a great guy with those same qualities, and many more.) I was in my second semester of community college, but not yet in my first “real” job. I got my driver’s license when I was 19, better late than never! On my recent visit home to SJ I drove, for the first time in 5 years, the 1970 VW Bug that I started driving when I was finally licensed. Vroom, vroom!

Nowadays I’m fine with looking much younger than my real age. It was the bane of my existence growing up. Kids on the playground would call me a liar, but it wasn’t my fault that I looked about 7 when I was really 10. Worse when I was 16 but looked twelve, and had to dress like it too, because stores such as Limited Too hadn’t been invented yet. (Not that I approve of 12-year-olds dressing like they are high school seniors…) Nowadays, I just get carded, and that’s no problem!

On my Bay Area visit, at BN’s mom’s wedding, I met a little girl who was 3 but turning 4 soon: when’s your birthday, sweetie? October 18th, she lisped proudly. I was thrilled, and excitedly explained that’s my birthday, too. She gave me a confused and displeased look - Young children don’t like to share, remember?

My birthday gift from BN is a high-performance but cute-cuddly blue fleece jacket - hooded, full-zip. With sort of a shearling aesthetic. I love having a husband with such good taste. It’s a perfect and timely replacement for my slouchy cotton sweatshirt. Cotton is not my friend during winter. I’m gradually building up my non-cotton winter wardrobe, now that I live where fall temps are firmly in the 60’s and below…

I did it! The 10k was so much fun. The start is just down the street from us, and right before we walked out the door, a small but juicy rainstorm rained briefly down. That was bizarre but actually quite welcome because I’d been worried it would be really hot - we had record breaking high temps last week. So, I stayed cool, managed not to choke myself at the water stations, and just kept running! My finishing time was 1:10:40. That’s an 11.4-minute-mile pace, so I had a lot of people passing me, especially at the start since BN and I stood in the 8-minute mile starting zone. However, I was passing people on the hill, and not just the ones who dropped down to a walk. I trained on that hill 2 or 3 times a week for several months, and today I totally breezed up it. Rock on!

I enjoyed being in the festive, 4th-of-July crowd, though I wouldn’t want that many people around every time I run, especially since I’m slow and much of the route was clogged with the “4.5 mile mayor’s fitness walk” contingent who didn’t seem to realize that there were runners wanting to sidle by on the side of the road.

The city seems a lot smaller when you run across it rather than driving…

Can we do it again next weekend?