my adventures this weekend

I've very excited to be headed to the Renegade Craft Fair : Holiday edition this weekend with some friends. We attempted to make it to the one this past fall but it rained heavily and we stayed home. We're going to grab some good BBQ lunch and check out what the fair has to offer. If you're in the Chicago area, consider stopping by!

The big news for today is that Trader Joe's is finally opening one block away from me. They open at 9am this morning and I plan on being there first thing to see what it has to offer. Maybe they'll have some freebie give aways for the first few customers!? I can only hope.



But first let's make sure I've got everything:
1. Showered and dressed : check. (You'd be amazed how many days this doesn't happen since I work from home)
2. Trash to put in the dumpster on my way out : check.
3. Scarf, mittens, hat, downed vest and winter coat : check. (It's currently a whopping EIGHT degrees here this morning)
4. Purse with money : check.
5. A material grocery bag to fit in with the "eco-friendly" Trader Joe's shoppers : check.
6. A watch to make sure I return in under a hour : check. (Work beckons)

I'm off!

Edited to add:

And I'm back! Wow! Who knew so many people wanted to grocery shop at 9am in the morning?! I got there just before they opened the doors. There was a camera crew, a ceremonious cutting of a lei and more employees to help out than you could imagine. It's a great store inside; not too big - nice and manageable. I walked out with some egg nog, milk, a soft pretzel stick (which was AMAZING) and a tin of peppermint bark for our gift exchange at our Sunday school Christmas party tomorrow evening. Plus, for arriving early I got a free Trader Joe's tote bag for future groceries!

Oh TJ, you're going to spoil me!

december brings with it snow and other tales from the holiday

Well! It's officially December, which I hardly cannot believe. I'm not nearly ready for the Christmas season and it's already underway. We woke up to a fresh layer of snow on the ground this morning! I guess it really is becoming winter.

The holiday went much too quickly and only now am I realizing I hardly took any pictures amidst the flurry of it all! Oh well.

The turkey turned out wonderfully! So good in fact, that I'm tempted to try another. Yea for brining! (see previous post) The results are below:


Our full list included:
Appetizers
Artichoke/Spinach dip with toasted french bread
Party Mix (both thanks to our new friend Beth)
Dinner
Turkey (as seen above) w/ stuffing and gravy
Cranberry sauce (of the lovely gelled in a can variety)
Lancaster County off the cob corn
Green bean casserole (a staple)
Twisted bread sticks
Parmesan Mashed Potatoes (thank you Barefoot Contessa)
Candied Yams
Dessert
Both Pumpkin and Apple pies (thanks to Mel)

Hope yours was just as enjoyable!

PS: I must add that I had wonderful help in the kitchen via my sister in law, who gave me moral support throughout the roasting process AND made the stuffing.

the brining of the turkey

We are in preparation for Thanksgiving! Monday night I put a pot on the stove and mixed together some Worcestershire Sauce, Kosher salt, garlic and brown sugar to make a brine.

Brine (lat. saltus) is water saturated or nearly saturated with salt (NaCl).

Once the solution had cooled (I had heated it to help dissolve the sugar and salt), I added it to the turkey bag with some careful pouring. The turkey now sits in its brine, in my bottom right vegetable drawer in the refrigerator. Quite convenient! It's a nice 12.26 pounder, so it should take about 3 1/2 hours to cook tomorrow.

Hopefully the brine will help it be as moist as possible. The idea is this: "When water flows out of the meat, salt flows in and begins to break down some of the proteins in the cells. In the broken down state, the molecules become more concentrated and the solute levels rise within the meat. This causes additional water to flow into the meat." (Thanks to Cooking For Engineers' site)

I'll keep you posted!

There's Henrietta in all her brining glory.
Because she's being so sacrificial,
I feel the need to take good care of her while she's in our home!
So yes, I named the turkey.

library of congress

Did you know that the Library of Congress has a Flickr account? (For those of you who are wondering what Flickr is: it's a photo sharing website)

Neither did I! (That is until a few days ago.)

It's an amazing collection of early 20th century history, but beware, there are over 4,000 pictures to peruse through! You can easily get carried away - or at least I can!

Check out more.

packages tied up with strings...

I was working on this design last night (before The Office started). I have a feeling I'm going need another supply of embossing powder before this Christmas Card season is over! Let me tell you, while I enjoy it, it is a bit of a tedious process. Tapping the extra powder onto a folded piece of paper, gathering it together, then tapping it back into its container, only to shake it back out again on the next card. Luckily the results keep me motivated.

On a side note: I feel the need to say "my grass is quite green!" You know how people have the tendency to think "grass is always greener on the other side?" Well, I am here to tell you that looking around recently, I think my grass is pretty green (how many times can I use that phrase?).

In all seriousness, I've felt very blessed lately in my current circumstances. I love that my job allows me to work from home (I am currently still in my pjs at the moment), which has benefitted me in numerous ways. It affords me the time to participate in clinical research at the hospital and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's kept me healthier the past two years. There seems to be enough time in the day to do some design work on the side for myself and for other clients. We've found a great little church in town with which we're actually getting involved (I just rewrote that sentence so that it didn't end in a preposition, pet peeve of mine).

So, in summary:
other than the cold winds that have swept into Chicago recently,
life is good and I'm thankful for it.

christmas cards

Here's a sneak peak of the cards I've been working on recently...with embossing!

The original design on computer:



And then, printed and embossed with clear powder:



This is another design I'm working on:

snow!

Last night we walked to the theater to watch Quantum of Solace, the newest installment of 007. We exited the theater a little less than 2 hours later to find ourselves among some of the fattest snowflakes I've seen in a while. It was officially our first snow. It didn't really stay on the ground as I hoped it might, but that's okay. I'm sure there will be more to come.


I realize that the composition is a bit of a no-no, being cut down the middle a bit, but oh well. I like the car lights left behind by someone who crossed the intersection, so I'm forgiving the composition for the moment.