Breakfast: a couple of chunks of dark chocolate, 1 fried egg, small amount of sharp cheddar cheese, 1/2 grapefruit, the end of last night's baguette toasted with apricot jam.
Shopping (Safeway): white flour, Corn Chex cereal, can of diced tomatoes, Safeway house blend coffee, Safeway breakfast blend coffee, can of Libby pumpkin, bag of granulated sugar, bag of powdered sugar, can of evaporated milk, Crisco, 4-pack of Perrier (this was a gift for a coworker), spaghetti, sandwich bags, eggnog, honey walnut cream cheese, garlic & herb cream cheese, brown cage-free eggs, whipping cream, salted butter, unsalted butter, frozen peas, organic whole milk, sponges, 6 Safeway-made bagels (assorted flavors), bag of Safeway wheat rolls, bag of Safeway Kaiser rolls, whole pork tenderloin, 1 lb. natural ground beef, nova salmon, 2 russet potatoes, 1 red onion, garlic, 1 bunch kale, 1 white onion, 4 organic yams, 3 organic tomatoes, dried peaches, 6-pack of tiny boxes of Craisins (for Christmas stockings), 2 bags of cranberries, sliced black forest ham, Gruyere cheese. $144.
Lunch: 1/2 grapefruit, Barbara's cheese puffs, Safeway-made wheat roll with butter, pistachios.
In the late afternoon, my daughter and I made Christmas cookies. I will bring most of them to work for gifts, and we will keep some for home as well. We have adopted my stepmother's Christmas cookie recipe that she inherited from her grandmother. (Sorry, Mom, but they are just better than our family's cookies.) Hence, my recipe card reads "Grandma Dore's Cookies," even though I never met Grandma Dore and know nothing about her. The cookies are a basic shortbread dough, just butter, sugar and flour, rolled, cut and baked (carefully), and then frosted, not too heavily, with a simple vanilla frosting. There is nothing complicated about them. Counting both cookie and frosting, they have six ingredients (seven if you count the food coloring). However, making 3 batches at once is something of an endurance test. At the end my daughter and I had about twenty or thirty cookies left to frost, and dinner was ready-- I was prepared to interrupt our project to eat a quick dinner-- and then we looked at each other, said "let's just knock 'em out," and proceeded to frost all those remaining cookies in about 2 minutes. We are not picky about looks.
Dinner: Spaghetti with a sauce made from canned diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, dried herbs, olive oil, and a little sugar. Grated sharp cheddar cheese on top. Eaten while watching Masterchef Junior, mainly because the dining table was too covered with frosted Christmas cookies, spread out on parchment paper, to actually sit down to dinner.
Snacks: various bits of cookie dough and cookie at various stages of baking. A couple of Hershey's kisses while preparing the gift bags for work with cookies and kisses. I am not really sure what else. One thing I've realized, over the past week or so, is that the creeping weight gain of the holidays is partly because we lose track of the snacks we're having. Usually, at the end of the day, I can say precisely what I have eaten. In the past days, not so much. People hand you things and you consume them. Holiday treats are sitting around your house (whether they've been given to you, or you have bought or made them to give to others), and you consume them. There's a thoughtlessness about popping a Hershey's kiss in your mouth while you're wrapping presents that is different from the way I eat chocolate at other times of year. What did I eat today? Who can tell? Oh, I did have 2 cups of regular coffee and 1 cup of decaf, with half and half. Somehow I never got around to having my second cup of decaf.
Even my holiday writing style has become disjointed and wandering.
Shopping (Safeway): white flour, Corn Chex cereal, can of diced tomatoes, Safeway house blend coffee, Safeway breakfast blend coffee, can of Libby pumpkin, bag of granulated sugar, bag of powdered sugar, can of evaporated milk, Crisco, 4-pack of Perrier (this was a gift for a coworker), spaghetti, sandwich bags, eggnog, honey walnut cream cheese, garlic & herb cream cheese, brown cage-free eggs, whipping cream, salted butter, unsalted butter, frozen peas, organic whole milk, sponges, 6 Safeway-made bagels (assorted flavors), bag of Safeway wheat rolls, bag of Safeway Kaiser rolls, whole pork tenderloin, 1 lb. natural ground beef, nova salmon, 2 russet potatoes, 1 red onion, garlic, 1 bunch kale, 1 white onion, 4 organic yams, 3 organic tomatoes, dried peaches, 6-pack of tiny boxes of Craisins (for Christmas stockings), 2 bags of cranberries, sliced black forest ham, Gruyere cheese. $144.
Lunch: 1/2 grapefruit, Barbara's cheese puffs, Safeway-made wheat roll with butter, pistachios.
In the late afternoon, my daughter and I made Christmas cookies. I will bring most of them to work for gifts, and we will keep some for home as well. We have adopted my stepmother's Christmas cookie recipe that she inherited from her grandmother. (Sorry, Mom, but they are just better than our family's cookies.) Hence, my recipe card reads "Grandma Dore's Cookies," even though I never met Grandma Dore and know nothing about her. The cookies are a basic shortbread dough, just butter, sugar and flour, rolled, cut and baked (carefully), and then frosted, not too heavily, with a simple vanilla frosting. There is nothing complicated about them. Counting both cookie and frosting, they have six ingredients (seven if you count the food coloring). However, making 3 batches at once is something of an endurance test. At the end my daughter and I had about twenty or thirty cookies left to frost, and dinner was ready-- I was prepared to interrupt our project to eat a quick dinner-- and then we looked at each other, said "let's just knock 'em out," and proceeded to frost all those remaining cookies in about 2 minutes. We are not picky about looks.
Dinner: Spaghetti with a sauce made from canned diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, dried herbs, olive oil, and a little sugar. Grated sharp cheddar cheese on top. Eaten while watching Masterchef Junior, mainly because the dining table was too covered with frosted Christmas cookies, spread out on parchment paper, to actually sit down to dinner.
Snacks: various bits of cookie dough and cookie at various stages of baking. A couple of Hershey's kisses while preparing the gift bags for work with cookies and kisses. I am not really sure what else. One thing I've realized, over the past week or so, is that the creeping weight gain of the holidays is partly because we lose track of the snacks we're having. Usually, at the end of the day, I can say precisely what I have eaten. In the past days, not so much. People hand you things and you consume them. Holiday treats are sitting around your house (whether they've been given to you, or you have bought or made them to give to others), and you consume them. There's a thoughtlessness about popping a Hershey's kiss in your mouth while you're wrapping presents that is different from the way I eat chocolate at other times of year. What did I eat today? Who can tell? Oh, I did have 2 cups of regular coffee and 1 cup of decaf, with half and half. Somehow I never got around to having my second cup of decaf.
Even my holiday writing style has become disjointed and wandering.