Stacked Heels

Also, my Christmas dilemma has been resolved! Unfortunately my parents won’t be joining us, but they are planning to fly back shortly after Christmas, and once we’ve gotten a few days of snowboarding in, we’ll be heading up to celebrate New Years with them. FUN! I will be hosting Christmas dinner for my husband, my two sisters, one of their boyfriends and the total dog count for about 36 hours over Christmas/Boxing Days will be 3. Sweet! I’m planning a spectacular menu, too, although I’m trying to think of at least one vegetable side dish that’s not gross vegetables cooked beyond recognition into mush. I refuse to have leftovers in my fridge that I won’t eat this year. I think I’m most excited about trying David Leibovitz’s recipe for Salted Butter Caramel ice cream for dessert. I bought his book, The Perfect Scoop, this summer and the ice cream attachment for my KitchenAid and Oh! My! Word! It’s quite possibly the best combination of kitchen supplies in the history of the world! (Unfortunately, his recipe for Salted Butter Caramel ice cream is not in the book, but he posted it on his website here. I’m also wondering if I should serve it with the chocolate truffles mixed in as he suggests or with something else (chocolate cake – not Christmas-y enough? Apple pie or tarte tatin, as suggested at the end of the recipe? Hmm…) or maybe just a big ol’ scoop on its own is just fine.) Anyway, I’m tres excited about the menu, especially now that Homer bought me my birthday present early – voila! My very own cast iron, enamel coated Dutch oven! In bright red! Isn’t it pretty?

I’m so very in the Christmas spirit this year, it’s frightening! I’ve even considered sewing Homer, Tucker and I Christmas stockings – and I’m by no means a sew-er! Scary. I bought some new tree ornaments a month ago at Ikea and since our tree is buried at the back of our storage closet, I decided to just keep them out until we decorate it and every time I look at them, I’m like, “Ooooh, we should put up the tree!” And then I remember it’s not even December yet so that would be a little crazy for me. Usually I leave the tree as an excuse to drink eggnog and booze on my birthday halfway through the month (like you should really need an excuse to drink booze on your birthday, though, seriously!), but I might just get it up this weekend, once it’s finally December!

And my dad came through his double knee replacement beautifully – it’s been just over two weeks and he’s been using his cane instead of a walker for over a week already. I think he’s sleeping a bit better, as well, although he thought he’d be in less pain by now. Nutbar! He just had TWO knees replaced! That shit’s gotta hurt for a while, don’t you think?? My mom sent pictures of his scars the other day but I just can’t bring myself to post that for all those who are a little squeamish about that stuff. Yeesh!

I’ve got so many plans for this weekend, I’m not sure I’ll get everything done. I started an ambitious Christmas baking plan last weekend, shown above, and have 3 more recipes to plow through this weekend to keep on top of it, plus I want to get the tree and outside decorations up and Tucker has a vet appointment for some vaccinations and a consult on when he’s going to get The Big Snip, poor little guy. I also had lunch with my photographer-friend yesterday and she lit a fire under my ass to improve my photography website with iWeb on my iMac at home, so now I’m all anxious to start that, too!!! SHEESH!

Au revoir, Novembre! Seeya next year!

Love,

Diamond Jackie