Random Post

So, yesterday Kelli and I celebrated my birthday (don't worry mom, we're both still straight).  We started out at a Lebanese restaurant that has to die for hummus.  After a wonderful dinner, we went to the Massage Academy for massages.  The Masseuses are students so it's about half or less of what a 1 hour massage costs almost everywhere else (at 35 an hour it's even cheaper than Groupon).  I admit, it was my first massage.  I haven't been leery of getting one, I just have never done it before. Kelli's done it before, but this was her first male masseuse.  Anyway, the massage was lovely.  I had a hard time keeping my eyes open the rest of the night.

When I was home over Christmas, I spent many hours with my niece watching Sesame Street.  I was talking to my brother and sister in law about Sesame Street and they mentioned they hadn't watched this one yet which was her favorite.

Just Peeking In

Iguana at the Uxmal Ruins in Mexico.

I'm alive.  Between getting sick (again), preparing for a trip to the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and being not sure what to blog here, I just let the blog lie dormant for a few weeks.  But I'm back from Mexico and (maybe) back blogging.  Hope this finds you well.

Grandma's Carrot Pudding

I'm not the biggest cake fan.  I think cupcakes are fun, and I like tres leches cake but I'd rather have a birthday pie, bars or even birthday cookies.  So this year when my mom suggested my grandmother's carrot pudding for my birthday today-I said, "great"!  This recipe was perhaps my grandma's signature dessert and I remember eating and loving it as a kid and adult.  In fact, I only found out recently that this recipe is actually English-and there's not much modification from the English recipe that was handed down to my grandma.

Carrot Pudding
1 cup grated apples
1 cup grated potatoes
1 cup grated carrots
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
Lemon Clear Sauce

Shred apples, potatoes and carrots into large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients, mixing well.  Dust raisins with flour to prevent sticking together.
Fill four pint bottles 2/3 full with batter.  Cover loosely with lids.  Place on rack in pan.  Fill pan with water about 2/3 up on bottles.  Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until done.
Serve warm with Lemon Clear Sauce.

Lemon Clear Sauce

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cold water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine sugar, cold water, cornstarch and lemon peel.  Boil until thickened.  Remove from heat.  Add butter and lemon juice.  Serve hot over Carrot pudding.  Serves four.

My mom decided to serve our carrot pudding with Buttermilk Caramel Syrup from "Our Best Bites" , otherwise known as "liquidy crack" in my world.

My grandma True Feild in 1986 looking at a monument in Wyoming. 

Silent Night (Stille Nacht)

Of all Christmas Songs, Silent Night may very well may be my favorite.  Here it is in German

A lil' Bit of Garland

"Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is easily one of my favorite Christmas songs.  Judy Garland introduced this song  during WWII in 1944 (in the clip above).  Enjoy! 

A Dolly Wonderland

My mom has had her car tuned to a "Country Christmas" song on her radio.  Although the radio station has a few duds, this song gets a lot of airplay.


Oh, and her new movie will be out in a month!!  I've posted the trailer before on here---but why not do it again?

All I want for Christmas is Bieber?

This video is....awesomely bad.  It's apparent Mariah Carey updated it with the Biebs to make more money (or show her awesome bod, I'm not sure). I wouldn't post it on here, but I had it in my head from the end of November to the middle of December.  Not to mention, we kept hearing it in NYC three weeks ago.  So enjoy...and here's a fun snarkiesh play by play interpreting the video as a tale of terror and mob rule. 

For the First Day of Hannukah

I love how the little boy's mother is cracking up during the last half of this segment.