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taz_39Merry Christmas, Happy New Year everyone :)
On Christmas Day I had to work. Despite that, I did get to treat myself to one of my homemade cinnamon rolls. Hot damn, they are good! I'm very proud of how they turned out.
Working on Xmas Day wouldn't have been so bad, except we had another system crash that caused us to be unable to end calls for someone if they needed to, say, use the restroom, or had been on a call for over an hour. It was very anxiety-inducing to see calls for help coming in and not being able to do anything about it. This is the second or third time this has happened. It would be really great if it would never happen again.
That aside, it was a pretty normal day. After work I came home to find that Jameson had prepped everything for dinner, everything!! The beef tenderloin, the roasted brussels, and the crescent rolls :) He did an amazing job, especially with that beef...damn, it is so good. If you don't like red meat, look away. We don't like to ruin a beautiful cut with overcooking.
After dinner we opened presents! I felt very spoiled by the number of presents under our tree.
My sister Raven sent us a very expensive(!) bottle of champagne and a bottle of rye whiskey, Sara Bareilles audiobook for Jameson, and a whole lot of stuff for me including socks, strange and interesting snacks, and a subscription to Tokyo Treats!! ARRRGH we have so much candy in the house already but I have to admit, I'm still very excited to get a surprise box of snacks every month for a while! I am DEFINITELY spoiled!
My brother Jonah hand-painted a backpack for me with the "This Is Fine" dog on it! I freaking love it, but it is NOT going outside in Florida until I get it waterproofed!!
He also got me a beautiful chai tea assortment. I love spicy and sweet teas, so this was right up my alley!
I think that Raven, Jonah and Jameson must have coordinated my gifts this year, because there were tie-ins with Rick and Morty and also with tea :) Raven got me this weird Pickle Rick seltzer (which I kept drinking even after deciding I didn't like it, for unknown reasons) and Jameson got me a Morty chia pet! I've never had a chia pet before and am excited to try growing it! Jonah got me the chai tea assortment, and Jameson got me a beautiful double-ended glass tea tumbler! Great collaborations guys! (I don't think they did it on purpose but cool how that worked out!)
Another present that I accidentally opened early was this amazing Ainu-themed scarf from my sister Kate.
It's very rare to find Ainu-anything represented anywhere in the world. When I first opened the box I couldn't figure out why anyone would send me a scarf/bandana, and was mystified until I saw this tiny symbol at one corner and instantly knew it had to be from one of my siblings. It's the Ainu flag.
The full pattern features an Ainu woman with tribal tattoos. Like I said, I don't wear scarves or bandanas really, so I'll have to come up with another way to proudly display this. Of course none of us are full Ainu, and I think most people would say we don't look Asian (Kate got most of those looks with her long dark hair, dark eyes, and cute little Asian build). But the fact is that a quarter of your DNA is actually a pretty large slice, whether it shows on the outside or not. We're not going around saying, "I'm 1/28th Native American" and acting like that entitles us to a connection with that culture. We've simply done the research, taken the DNA tests, and know what is in our bloodlines on the maternal side. One day I hope to visit Hokkaido and find out more. But until then, it's nice to be reminded of our distant roots, and see that Ainu culture does occasionally find a place in the modern world.
After opening those presents we jumped into a video chat with my parents and the O'Malley-side siblings. It was great to see Kayle, very pregnant but looking healthy and happy, Kate just on the start of her pregnancy and excited and nervous about it, My parents smiling and looking happy with themselves for getting us TOO MUCH as usual! This year, it's just good to see everyone's smiling faces. Presents are whatever.
In addition to a huge box of candy and other treats, my parents got us a gift card for Omaha Steaks! I'm excited to make some exceptional meals using this gift. We don't have a grill, but we do have a lot of lovely accessories to make some incredible meat dishes. Looking forward to it!
Although we couldn't be together for the holiday, it was a very nice Christmas. I'm grateful that we could still see each other and make time for each other.
The rest of my work week was all right, the issue with answering calls for help was resolved thankfully, and other issues this week were fairly minor. My work days were made better by my boyfriend's Christmas gifts; the tea tumbler is a very nice thing to bring to work, and honestly I think I hydrate better because I've got such an appealing beverage container haha. The other thing he got me is this reversible octopus: one side is happy, the other is angry. I call it my "mood squid" and have been sticking it on the corner of my computer. I change it's face depending on my mood. Once after a frustrating conversation with my boss I had it on "angry", and went to lunch forgetting to switch it back. When I returned to my desk my concerned coworkers asked, "Why are you mad?" LOL!
Whateverr, I just think it's adorable!
I got Jameson a LEGO build set: a true-to-scale Nintendo with working parts, a controller, and a little vintage TV! I thought this would take him a while to get through, but he finished it in three days!! It's very cool and very impressive!
My parents sent him a 3D wooden puzzle clock, it's supposed to actually run once the build is done but unfortunately one of the main gears was cracked so it can only go for a few seconds :/ We're debating whether to get a fix. In any case it was complicated to build and looks very cool.
I ended up with an extra day off on Tuesday...I had asked for the day off last week and by the time Monday rolled around, I just figured the request had been rejected. Not so! I am very excited to have a three day weekend right before the New Year. I used my extra day mostly for getting caught up on cleaning and chores that had been neglected due to Christmas: laundry, bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, groceries, and organizing some of the kitchen cabinets. I also spent more time with my steno work as there's a scholarship coming up that I'd like to apply for.
On Wednesday I woke up a little early, probably because I'm not used to having real sleep any more, and enjoyed a slow breakfast while writing this blog and goofing off online. When that was done I went out to get pie weights, then spent the rest of my day organizing, playing The Room in VR, and practicing steno.
For dinner I made us salmon filets using a ginger wasabi sauce that my parents sent. The side was hasselback potatoes because I had wanted to make them for Christmas but didn't have time.
We watched three episodes of Fargo Season 2. Damn, what a good show. I especially like the 70s aesthetic for the clothing in this season. Makes me want to go thrifting.
On Thursday Jameson actually had some errands to run, so while he was out I made our special New Year's feast :)
It's just crock pot chili :p
I carmelized the onions and browned the beef, threw it in the crock pot with everything you'd expect in a chili, then forgot about it.
For a while I've been wanting to use our meyer lemons because they're ripe and I'm afraid they'll go bad. So I decided to make a lemon meringue pie! I've never made a custard or a meringue before.
I made sure to assemble all of the ingredients before getting started. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of lemon juice, and I imagine that would be 2-3 store bought lemons, but the meyer lemons are much larger and juicier, so I only needed one lemon for the juice and 1.5 for the zest. I mixed the lemon, sugar, water, salt, and corn starch on the stove until it thickened, then tempered in some egg yolks. A little more cooking and the custard was done.
The most intimidating part of this process was the meringue. We watch Food Network pretty religiously and we are constantly seeing horrors play out related to meringues deflating or getting grainy or burning or weeping. The night before I had cleaned my mixing bowl and the bowl for the egg whites very thoroughly because I'd heard that any fat or oil residue left in the bowl could ruin a meringue. Then I watched an instructional video and watched carefully to make sure my meringue looked just like the one in the video at every step of the process.
And you know what, it was perfect. I knew exactly when to stop: the meringue was thick and fluffy, and shiny in an almost metallic way.
I spread it on the still-warm custard and shaped it as best I could, then popped it in the oven. I over-toasted it a little, but honestly it added texture and flavor and I wasn't mad at it.
By the time Jameson got back home all that was left for me to make was the brown butter cornbread. I've made it before but this time I added some jalapenos from the garden. Needless to say dinner was awesome.
We each had a slice of pie after dinner. Oh my gosh, I could have cried it was so good. Tangy and sweet, and both the custard and meringue were silky smooth. Jameson absolutely loved it. I gotta be honest, I'm proud of this one. So many things could have gone wrong. But it was truly perfect.
Partway through the night there was a knock on our door. Jameson's friend Lea had dropped off Queen-themed cookies for his (very belated) birthday! Also, did I mention my former boss's wife from the circus sent us each one of her infamous chocolate pumpkin bread loaves? Oh, and my first Tokyo Treats box arrived from Raven!
We have WAY too much food in this house right now!
Tomorrow I'll be bringing cornbread and lemon meringue pie to some of my coworkers.
I've put my pumpkin loaf in the fridge. Luckily most of the candy I got for Christmas and the Japanese snacks from Raven are sealed and will keep for a long time. But I'm definitely going to have to lay off baking any desserts for at least a month, probably more! That's ok, in the new year I plan to make my own wheat bread, but haven't made any baking plans beyond that.
I know I post lots of food pics, and I'm sorry if that's annoying. This year has been a big change for me when it comes to cooking. Please keep in mind that cooking was not a pleasant experience for me as a child, and in college I had zero interest or money for cooking. After college I always had at least two jobs and was a workaholic, I never left time in my day for cooking or learning to cook. And then once I joined the circus, I was living in a train car for five years and didn't have access to an oven or stovetop, only a hot plate. When the circus closed and when I moved in with Jameson, that was the first time I was able to even consider trying to cook, and even then it took forever because I was so nervous and stressed about it from the little experience I'd had as a child.
So all of that said, this year was a big cooking explosion for me. I learned SO many new techniques, and made things I never thought I could. I also had my own "garden" for the first time using the planter Jameson got me last Christmas, successfully grew my own produce, and used it in my cooking. Doing this has been a lot of fun (and a lot of work!) and has been very satisfying. I'm very, very grateful to have a job, and time, and a patient boyfriend, and the space, and all the other things that together allowed me to have a garden and learn to cook this year. With everything going on, it's been an amazing blessing and one truly, actually good thing about 2020.
As I finish typing this it's about 11pm. I have to get up early for work tomorrow, but we want to stay up until midnight and see 2020 come to a close. I wonder what will happen in the new year. I hope things get better, for everyone.
Peace, love, health, and safety to you all. Let's welcome 2021 :)
On Christmas Day I had to work. Despite that, I did get to treat myself to one of my homemade cinnamon rolls. Hot damn, they are good! I'm very proud of how they turned out.
Working on Xmas Day wouldn't have been so bad, except we had another system crash that caused us to be unable to end calls for someone if they needed to, say, use the restroom, or had been on a call for over an hour. It was very anxiety-inducing to see calls for help coming in and not being able to do anything about it. This is the second or third time this has happened. It would be really great if it would never happen again.
That aside, it was a pretty normal day. After work I came home to find that Jameson had prepped everything for dinner, everything!! The beef tenderloin, the roasted brussels, and the crescent rolls :) He did an amazing job, especially with that beef...damn, it is so good. If you don't like red meat, look away. We don't like to ruin a beautiful cut with overcooking.
After dinner we opened presents! I felt very spoiled by the number of presents under our tree.
My sister Raven sent us a very expensive(!) bottle of champagne and a bottle of rye whiskey, Sara Bareilles audiobook for Jameson, and a whole lot of stuff for me including socks, strange and interesting snacks, and a subscription to Tokyo Treats!! ARRRGH we have so much candy in the house already but I have to admit, I'm still very excited to get a surprise box of snacks every month for a while! I am DEFINITELY spoiled!
My brother Jonah hand-painted a backpack for me with the "This Is Fine" dog on it! I freaking love it, but it is NOT going outside in Florida until I get it waterproofed!!
He also got me a beautiful chai tea assortment. I love spicy and sweet teas, so this was right up my alley!
I think that Raven, Jonah and Jameson must have coordinated my gifts this year, because there were tie-ins with Rick and Morty and also with tea :) Raven got me this weird Pickle Rick seltzer (which I kept drinking even after deciding I didn't like it, for unknown reasons) and Jameson got me a Morty chia pet! I've never had a chia pet before and am excited to try growing it! Jonah got me the chai tea assortment, and Jameson got me a beautiful double-ended glass tea tumbler! Great collaborations guys! (I don't think they did it on purpose but cool how that worked out!)
Another present that I accidentally opened early was this amazing Ainu-themed scarf from my sister Kate.
It's very rare to find Ainu-anything represented anywhere in the world. When I first opened the box I couldn't figure out why anyone would send me a scarf/bandana, and was mystified until I saw this tiny symbol at one corner and instantly knew it had to be from one of my siblings. It's the Ainu flag.
The full pattern features an Ainu woman with tribal tattoos. Like I said, I don't wear scarves or bandanas really, so I'll have to come up with another way to proudly display this. Of course none of us are full Ainu, and I think most people would say we don't look Asian (Kate got most of those looks with her long dark hair, dark eyes, and cute little Asian build). But the fact is that a quarter of your DNA is actually a pretty large slice, whether it shows on the outside or not. We're not going around saying, "I'm 1/28th Native American" and acting like that entitles us to a connection with that culture. We've simply done the research, taken the DNA tests, and know what is in our bloodlines on the maternal side. One day I hope to visit Hokkaido and find out more. But until then, it's nice to be reminded of our distant roots, and see that Ainu culture does occasionally find a place in the modern world.
After opening those presents we jumped into a video chat with my parents and the O'Malley-side siblings. It was great to see Kayle, very pregnant but looking healthy and happy, Kate just on the start of her pregnancy and excited and nervous about it, My parents smiling and looking happy with themselves for getting us TOO MUCH as usual! This year, it's just good to see everyone's smiling faces. Presents are whatever.
In addition to a huge box of candy and other treats, my parents got us a gift card for Omaha Steaks! I'm excited to make some exceptional meals using this gift. We don't have a grill, but we do have a lot of lovely accessories to make some incredible meat dishes. Looking forward to it!
Although we couldn't be together for the holiday, it was a very nice Christmas. I'm grateful that we could still see each other and make time for each other.
The rest of my work week was all right, the issue with answering calls for help was resolved thankfully, and other issues this week were fairly minor. My work days were made better by my boyfriend's Christmas gifts; the tea tumbler is a very nice thing to bring to work, and honestly I think I hydrate better because I've got such an appealing beverage container haha. The other thing he got me is this reversible octopus: one side is happy, the other is angry. I call it my "mood squid" and have been sticking it on the corner of my computer. I change it's face depending on my mood. Once after a frustrating conversation with my boss I had it on "angry", and went to lunch forgetting to switch it back. When I returned to my desk my concerned coworkers asked, "Why are you mad?" LOL!
Whateverr, I just think it's adorable!
I got Jameson a LEGO build set: a true-to-scale Nintendo with working parts, a controller, and a little vintage TV! I thought this would take him a while to get through, but he finished it in three days!! It's very cool and very impressive!
My parents sent him a 3D wooden puzzle clock, it's supposed to actually run once the build is done but unfortunately one of the main gears was cracked so it can only go for a few seconds :/ We're debating whether to get a fix. In any case it was complicated to build and looks very cool.
I ended up with an extra day off on Tuesday...I had asked for the day off last week and by the time Monday rolled around, I just figured the request had been rejected. Not so! I am very excited to have a three day weekend right before the New Year. I used my extra day mostly for getting caught up on cleaning and chores that had been neglected due to Christmas: laundry, bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, groceries, and organizing some of the kitchen cabinets. I also spent more time with my steno work as there's a scholarship coming up that I'd like to apply for.
On Wednesday I woke up a little early, probably because I'm not used to having real sleep any more, and enjoyed a slow breakfast while writing this blog and goofing off online. When that was done I went out to get pie weights, then spent the rest of my day organizing, playing The Room in VR, and practicing steno.
For dinner I made us salmon filets using a ginger wasabi sauce that my parents sent. The side was hasselback potatoes because I had wanted to make them for Christmas but didn't have time.
We watched three episodes of Fargo Season 2. Damn, what a good show. I especially like the 70s aesthetic for the clothing in this season. Makes me want to go thrifting.
On Thursday Jameson actually had some errands to run, so while he was out I made our special New Year's feast :)
It's just crock pot chili :p
I carmelized the onions and browned the beef, threw it in the crock pot with everything you'd expect in a chili, then forgot about it.
For a while I've been wanting to use our meyer lemons because they're ripe and I'm afraid they'll go bad. So I decided to make a lemon meringue pie! I've never made a custard or a meringue before.
I made sure to assemble all of the ingredients before getting started. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of lemon juice, and I imagine that would be 2-3 store bought lemons, but the meyer lemons are much larger and juicier, so I only needed one lemon for the juice and 1.5 for the zest. I mixed the lemon, sugar, water, salt, and corn starch on the stove until it thickened, then tempered in some egg yolks. A little more cooking and the custard was done.
The most intimidating part of this process was the meringue. We watch Food Network pretty religiously and we are constantly seeing horrors play out related to meringues deflating or getting grainy or burning or weeping. The night before I had cleaned my mixing bowl and the bowl for the egg whites very thoroughly because I'd heard that any fat or oil residue left in the bowl could ruin a meringue. Then I watched an instructional video and watched carefully to make sure my meringue looked just like the one in the video at every step of the process.
And you know what, it was perfect. I knew exactly when to stop: the meringue was thick and fluffy, and shiny in an almost metallic way.
I spread it on the still-warm custard and shaped it as best I could, then popped it in the oven. I over-toasted it a little, but honestly it added texture and flavor and I wasn't mad at it.
By the time Jameson got back home all that was left for me to make was the brown butter cornbread. I've made it before but this time I added some jalapenos from the garden. Needless to say dinner was awesome.
We each had a slice of pie after dinner. Oh my gosh, I could have cried it was so good. Tangy and sweet, and both the custard and meringue were silky smooth. Jameson absolutely loved it. I gotta be honest, I'm proud of this one. So many things could have gone wrong. But it was truly perfect.
Partway through the night there was a knock on our door. Jameson's friend Lea had dropped off Queen-themed cookies for his (very belated) birthday! Also, did I mention my former boss's wife from the circus sent us each one of her infamous chocolate pumpkin bread loaves? Oh, and my first Tokyo Treats box arrived from Raven!
We have WAY too much food in this house right now!
Tomorrow I'll be bringing cornbread and lemon meringue pie to some of my coworkers.
I've put my pumpkin loaf in the fridge. Luckily most of the candy I got for Christmas and the Japanese snacks from Raven are sealed and will keep for a long time. But I'm definitely going to have to lay off baking any desserts for at least a month, probably more! That's ok, in the new year I plan to make my own wheat bread, but haven't made any baking plans beyond that.
I know I post lots of food pics, and I'm sorry if that's annoying. This year has been a big change for me when it comes to cooking. Please keep in mind that cooking was not a pleasant experience for me as a child, and in college I had zero interest or money for cooking. After college I always had at least two jobs and was a workaholic, I never left time in my day for cooking or learning to cook. And then once I joined the circus, I was living in a train car for five years and didn't have access to an oven or stovetop, only a hot plate. When the circus closed and when I moved in with Jameson, that was the first time I was able to even consider trying to cook, and even then it took forever because I was so nervous and stressed about it from the little experience I'd had as a child.
So all of that said, this year was a big cooking explosion for me. I learned SO many new techniques, and made things I never thought I could. I also had my own "garden" for the first time using the planter Jameson got me last Christmas, successfully grew my own produce, and used it in my cooking. Doing this has been a lot of fun (and a lot of work!) and has been very satisfying. I'm very, very grateful to have a job, and time, and a patient boyfriend, and the space, and all the other things that together allowed me to have a garden and learn to cook this year. With everything going on, it's been an amazing blessing and one truly, actually good thing about 2020.
As I finish typing this it's about 11pm. I have to get up early for work tomorrow, but we want to stay up until midnight and see 2020 come to a close. I wonder what will happen in the new year. I hope things get better, for everyone.
Peace, love, health, and safety to you all. Let's welcome 2021 :)
