I Miss My Top Drawer Gal Pals!

That's all. Hope you're all having safe, fun and happy travels.

XOXO

Road Trip!!

The dog and I are getting ready to make our annual pilgrimage to Arizona. Nothing like a 14 hour drive to get in the holiday spirit.

Thank goodness for LibriVox. This website is devoted to recording books that are in the public domain (this means very old books). People volunteer to read chapters, so the end result is a lovely mish-mash of accents and performances. Its not the same as the books on tape recorded by Oscar winners, but its free, and in many ways, more fun.

Little Women, here I come.

Sappy Holidays Redux

This weekend, a lovely snowstorm provided me the opportunity to not only catch up on my Waltons viewing, but conduct additional research in the field of sappy holiday movies.

Since Nancy Drew first addressed the topic, there have been a few additions to the genre.

1. Single career chick learns the true meaning of Christmas, and ultimately, life. I watched a movie where Ally Walker finds true love after her child self, played by a rather young Hayden Panettiere, emerges to show her how to have fun and live life to the fullest. In case anyone is wondering how to live life to the fullest, it means not yelling at your assistant, wearing Christmas tree boxers, and dating the guy you work with.

2. Thieves learn that it is not nice to steal. This may not seem like a major holiday movie theme, but I kid you not, there were at least 3 movies about pickpockets/ bank robbers/ burglars on yesterday. To be fair, I gave up on watching the pickpocket movie about 20 minutes in, but I suspect Mary Stuart Masterson decides not to steal anymore. And I bet that Tony Danza decides not to rob the bank. I'm not as confident that Shannen Doherty decides not to rob houses, but given the genre, I suspect she does the right thing.

As I write, I am watching a movie that combines the best of both genres. Holiday in Handcuffs features Melissa Joan Hart as a single (non-career) chick who steals Mario Lopez for Christmas. (Yes, I know it is hard to imagine anyone wanting to kidnap A.C. Slater, but I guess Mark-Paul Gosselaar wasn't available.) Its not over yet, but I bet they fall in love and she learns that kidnapping is wrong.

'Tis the season.

Merry Stitchmas!

I've been a sew-a-holic this fall/winter.

I wanted to show off the little jacket I made for nephew #1 (I even entered it in an online contest . . . . .)

Gingerbread Bread Pudding

I made gingerbread last week for my Shrek the Halls gathering, and the recipe made a big 13x9 inch pan of the stuff. While it was delicious in its own right, it was getting a little dry after a couple days, and I wanted to find something fun to do with the extra gingerbread. Inspiration hit in the form of bread pudding!

I just cut up the gingerbread into squares and made a simple custard (I didn't bring the custard recipe with me today, but I'll add it in the comments tomorrow!), baked and viola! Fabulous Gingerbread Bread Pudding! It is quite delicious. Next time, I might add some chopped up walnuts in it, and it definitely benefits from a little ice cream (see below) or whipped cream. Oooh, I bet it would be extra extra good with maybe some pumpkin ice cream or maple walnut or something. Hmmmm, things to contemplate for the future.

All in all, a very successful experiment for a Saturday morning.