Next Steps

For more than two months now, this evening's been marked in my calendar as "Mandatory Parent Mtg @ OPRF, 7pm."  That short note in my calendar doesn't begin to tell the story.

Baird attended the meeting tonight, since it fell on a Wednesday and I was busy with Commander duties for Awana.  When I returned home, I was greeted at the door by a very enthusiastic Erin, who couldn't wait to show me OPRF's academic catalog, her placement test results, and a plethora of other papers included in the packet Baird brought home:

Even tho it was getting late, Erin and I spent almost an hour together, going over the papers and her class preferences.  She's even begun to fill out the worksheet at the back of the catalog that spells out her four-year academic plan.  Her excitement over this next phase of her life is palpable.  She's focused.  She's thrilled.  She's more than ready.

I can't believe in just a few short months, I'll have one daughter halfway thru her high school career, and another one just beginning.  As I fell asleep last night, I found myself wondering, once again, how it's gone this fast.  The days may be long, but certainly, the years are short.

Weekday Dinner with Friends

Given the craziness of modern family schedules, it can sometimes be difficult to plan a get together with friends.  We're in close contact with our friends, the Rennys, but it seems like forever since we had them over for a meal.  This afternoon, Erin invited the Renny girls to come over and hang out for awhile after school.  As JRenny and I were making the arrangements for the playdate, I said, "Why don't you guys just come over and join us for supper?"

The Renny girls love our pets, and K especially likes it when Erin takes out the birds:

I served one of Erin's favorite dishes, chicken and rice casserole.  It sat alongside fresh bread, green beans, and a salad featuring cucumbers and avocados.  Yum.  Good food + great friends = fantastic homemade week night fun.

Thanks, J, for the beautiful flowers, the good company, and the tasty salad!

What Goes Up...

...must come down.

After hosting a casual meal with friends from church after service, Baird and I looked at each other and knew the time had come to kick the Christmas tree to the alley.  This is one of my least favorite activities.  As much as I love Christmas, I hate taking down the decorations.  I usually put it off far longer than I should.  This year, however, our tree was looking a bit lopsided and droopy, and we both figured we should put it out of its misery before it started making its post-Christmas protest by dropping every single one of its needles.

So, in the course of about an hour, our tree from went this:

to this:

{Big Sigh}

Just eleven more months until we do it all again.

New Year's 2011

We rang in the new year with poppers and sparkling red grape juice.  It was fun and low key and just perfect.  I, for one, am thrilled to death to put 2010 behind me.  I actually can't remember when I've looked forward to a new year quite this much.

H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R ! ! !

Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon

I was first introduced to boeuf bourguignon in my high school home ec class when I found a recipe for a short-cut version of Julia Child's famous dish.  It's the version I've always made since I didn't have that Le Creuset piece that has, in my mind, seemed a necessary component to making Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon.  It seemed only fitting, then, that I christen my new 7-qt. pot by making Julia's orignal.

I started the process yseterday. I browned the meat for just over an hour, coaxing those little hunks of beef to turn from pink to gray to light brown to a deep, rich, caramel color on all sides.  I tossed with flour and seasonings.  I added real pork belly.  I slow cooked it all in a low temp oven.  I skimmed fat.  I added nicely-browned mushrooms and pearl onions.  The smells floating around in my kitchen were so amazing, they almost made me dizzy.  I waited for it to cool properly before placing it in my fridge overnight.

I don't know when I've looked forward to a New Year's Eve meal quite as much as I looked forward to this one.  I woke up this morning to the residual scent of yesterday's efforts.  Honestly, I thought for a moment about heating it up and serving it for breakfast.  I did manage to show restraint and serve the meal at a respectable 7:30pm with boiled baby potatoes, buttered peas and French bread.

I felt like I'd died and gone to foodie heaven.  It was incredible.  All I can say is this:

Best.Beef.Gravy.Ever.

The Missing Piece

Being a Pampered Chef consultant, I own almost every kitchen tool known to man. That is, except for the very special, very expensive, Le Creuset 7.25-qt. Dutch oven.  It's the gold standard.  It's been missing from my kitchen.  I want one.  Now I have one!

This afternoon, Baird took me out to Oak Brook for a little post-Christmas shopping.  We came home with this not-so-small piece of kitchen equipment.  It's a little heavy.  It weighs more than my children did when they were born.  It came with a fabulous, equally large green reusable shopping bag.  In honor of my new Dutch oven, I'm making Boeuf Bourguignon tomorrow.  Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon.  I plan on serving it New Year's Eve.  Stay turned!

Post-Christmas Play

We woke up this morning to what can only be described as a work of awe-inspiring art.  With ten inches of new snow over Christmas Eve, then rising temperatures that reached above freezing yesterday but plummeted during the night, everything within sight that was beautiful when we went to sleep, was now jaw-dropping gorgeous, with layers of frost mixed in with the new-fallen snow that was still stubbornly clinging to to the surfaces upon which it landed on Christmas Eve.  It reminded me of the descriptions of winter in C.S. Lewis's Narnia book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it.

The cousins enjoyed a morning of playing in the snow and sledding behind the tractor before we headed the Wrede's in Cedar Falls.

Kris and her kids met us at the Wrede's (Brad had to work all day), and our three families collaborated on a six-course Asian feast.  Getting together with the Hunters and Wredes is an annual post-Christmas event; however, this was the first year we decided to cook our own meal instead of going out.  We spent the afternoon chopping, slicing and dicing, and eating ourselves silly.  What fun!  The only problem?  I was so busy cooking and supervising, I neglected to record our event for posterity (or at least my blog), with the exception of the potstickers:

Such fun!