Two Takes on the Gingerbread Man

My daughter's gingy, with cute little Santa hat.

 99¢ kits at Trader Joe's. So fun! They're about 10 inches tall, so look substantial enough to hop off the pan and run away.

My son's gingy, with fangs.

Christmas Menu in progress

Bone-in ham
Sweet potatoes
Pear + feta salad
Some nice toothy wheat bread, sliced
Dessert: port + Cherry pie + ice cream
Chocolate cream pie

Sound good, Matt?

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Post-meal update:
This was ultra-easy to make, and everything was fabulous. (Hey, it's my blog. I can brag to the 4 of you that read it, right?) If you need a reliable, easy holiday menu, you can't go wrong with this. The potatoes got great reviews from everyone, including mini-marshmallow snobs. 

Are you a freegan?

One thing I love about my work (when wearing the graphic design hat) is coming across niche info. For example, I hit on an article tonight that discussed the existence of the Oxford English Dictionary's "rejected words" vault. This word is apparently among them:

Freegan 


Someone who rejects consumerism - usually by eating discarded food

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/295635#ixzz1gZtmzIVS

I never would have thought this, but I am probably closer to being vegan than freegan. Interesting idea, though.

Kitchen Refuge

My son was standing in the kitchen the other day sticking his tongue out and making horrible faces. I asked him what he was doing. He said, "The elf can't see me in here."

Back story:
We have an "Elf on the Shelf" who was hanging out in the dining room that day. My son had been making faces at his sister who informed him the elf was watching. He sought refuge in the kitchen where he could express himself without risk of being reported to Santa.

The kitchen really is the soul of the house!

Week 108—Salmon are swimming

Mon – Spaghetti, bread, and edemame 

Tues – Steelhead, broiled, with roasted fingerling potatoes and edemame (popular lately!)

Weds – Chicken enchiladas w/tomatillo sauce and corn soup (Simply Mexican)
Thurs – Potroast something with large chunk of beef recently purchased (crock pot?)
Fri – Personal pita pizzas with feta, toms, etc and couscous

Alts – breakfast; Cuban rice and eggs

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So many culinary things happening right now, so little time to write. Child joyfully shooting edemame across the dining room tonight will wake to find St Nick Pez dispenser full of soybeans in his shoes. Cannot wait. And yes, I think I'm a day late on the whole St Nick's day, but the kids don't care.

Happy cooking.