Newly Irish

All my life, my family claimed a Scottish heritage through the McDonald clan on my father’s side.  We’ve been to Scotland many times, proudly collected the McDonald tartan (it’s much more attractive than the Dress Stewart you see so often), even stayed in the village where the Campbells massacred the McDonalds hundreds of years ago.  (They are a lot nicer to us now!)

Last year, however, in further pursuit of our genealogical history through DNA testing, we discovered that we’re Irish!  This is my first year as an Irish McDonald, so I’m entirely new to celebrating St. Patrick’s day.  Fortunately, my favorite show and chef came through for me this morning over on National Public Radio ~ Nigella Lawson came onto Morning Edition with recipes for Irish Stew and Chocolate Guinness Cake.  I’ve tried several of her recipes, and they are always quite wonderful.  I’m not sure I’ll have time to make both tonight, but at least now I don’t feel like I’ll have to add green coloring to everything I eat tomorrow.

So, top o’ the mornin’ and Happy Saint Patty’s Day to all my fellow Irishmen!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

P.S. On Mother’s side, we’re pretty sure we’re distant relatives of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury.

Food for Football

Wait, that’s supposed to be Food for Friday ~ who am I kidding, I can think only of the Super Bowl and enjoying a victory!  You can guess that I’ll be wearing the blue and white on Sunday, but I wouldn’t be totally crushed to see the other team win at this point in their NFL existence.  (You’re right again, I’m not yet sure who my hosts for the game will be cheering, no point getting myself thrown out before the commercials even begin to roll ..) 

I plan to make my semi-famous chili ~ recently a friend asked me to try it with pinto beans instead of kidneys, and I think I will always use only pintos in this recipe from now on and forever.  They have a softer but still very pleasant texture, and blend wonderfully with the other ingredients – it’s my new favorite way to make this chili.   And the pintos are close in color to a Saints  gold.  (Oh, come on, just give me that one already!)

Last year I saw Paula Deen prepare a key lime pie, and that’s on my menu for Sunday, too.  She has a couple of pie recipes out there; my favorite is the one that calls for three egg yolks and baking the filling, not the unbaked version.  I expect I can achieve a pleasing Colts-blue coloration for that filling .. sadly, I am indeed likely to attempt that.  I know.  I know.  (Please don’t tell, but I’ll probably be using a pre-made crust, too.  Better and better.)

Okay, for those amoung you who want a real dining experience, I’ll point you to a wonderful story on NPR’s Morning Edition yesterday in which they offered recommendations from two real chefs.  Read or listen to the story here, and the recipes are posted as well.  Shrimp gumbo is really such a lovely dish .. but the roux has to be stirred for an hour, and then there’s more adding of ingredients and skimming for an hour, followed by simmering for an hour.  And plenty of prep and cooking even before that.  I’m afraid that, since I did not start the cooking process on Wednesday, I simply could not be finished by game time on Sunday (not even pre-game time – doesn’t that start at about midnight on Saturday??).  I just might be able to achieve the pork loin sandwich, but I don’t know much about frying things.

Here’s another option, I came across this post with recipes for seven healthy (and surely scrumptious) snack ideas for the game.  I was just a bit intimidated, though, when the first “healthy” snack called for a cup of mayonnaise and 4 ounces of cream cheese.  REally?  Well, they call themselves a clinic ..

Whether you watch the game or not, lay out a big spread or just enjoy some homemade salsa and chips, I hope you make the most of your weekend possibilities!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

“The Truth About Santa Claus”

My favorite morning radio program, Morning Edition on National Public Radio, today interviewed the author of a new book, The Truth About Santa Claus; Wormholes, Robots, and What Really Happens on Christmas Eve.  It was the most charming story I’ve heard all week, and well worth a listen. 

Did you know that Santa doesn’t actually travel across space as you and I understand it from housetop A to housetop B; he warps space to bring point B to point A, and then the reindeer leap through, pulling him and his sleigh to the next housetop.  Who knew!  and what a time saver!  Also, Santa’s red suit is made of an amazing composite material that bends light around him, so we sometimes cannot see him right in the room with us.  Author Gregory Mone explains these and other mysteries about Santa ~ actually, it’s just that Santa’s technology is about 500 years ahead of ours.

I think I’d like to find this book under my tree on Christmas morning! 

Speaking of which, I should probably show you my Christmas tree.  It’s like this silver tree, and I haven’t yet figured out just who to blame for it.  I mean, really, pink foil and white garland and green balls with white polka dots?  Who does that??  I made the tree top ornament with a fuzzy snowflake, a beautiful pink glass star with a touch of glitter, and a dab of hot glue (items also from the store).  But, and here’s the important thing, look how much room there is all around it for mountains of presents!  Not that I’m hinting or anything.  Obviously, I have not yet solved the tree skirt dilemma … white, pink, or green?  Anyone have any suggestions for me?  Please!?

 Well, I hope you’ve expressed yourself in the form of a Christmas tree this year, too!  There is still plenty of time to order decorations and gifts for the holidays, but not much.  Check out this weeks deals and specials, and pick up a few stocking stuffers while you’re shopping ~ free freight for orders of $100 or more is still available.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Christmas Book Gifts

Thank you, NPR, for once again feeding my book lust at the holidays!  They’ve released their independent booksellers’ title recommendations for 2008, and it is a long and varied list.  I just love buying books!  and reading them, too, that too!

One title that caught my attention, you won’t be surprised, is The Man Who Invented Christmas, by Les Standiford.  Mr. Standiford contends that it was Charles Dickens’s book, A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, that changed the way we celebrate Christmas even today.

Another that sounds fascinating is The Oxford Project, by Steven G. Bloom and Peter Feldstein.  Mr. Feldstein photographed most of the residents of Oxford, Iowa in 1984, and again 20 years later.  Who were you 20 years ago?  Who will you be 20 years from now?

At the store, we have a nice library of Christmas titles.  One of the cutest is An Irish Night Before Christmas, by Sarah Kirwan Blazek, an amusing Irish take on the classic Christmas poem.  Father Christmas arrives in a donkey cart, accompanied by a staff of elvish assistants, on the Emerald Isle.

Bliss – looking at book lists and typing the blog with Il Divo singing Christmas songs in my ears!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

After the rain…

…the most beautiful mists on the mountains this morning, drifting low into the valleys.  Unfortunately, the wonderful back road I navigate to work is so narrow that there is no spot wide enough to pull over for a photograph.  But I insist on talking about it anyway, don’t I?  Just picture with me dark green mountains and soft white drifting mists, with the glow of yellow morning sun just warming the tops of the clouds.

FreeFoto.com

Yippee!  Another book list from Nancy Pearl on Morning Edition at NPR ~ ”Carry-on Books to Take You Up, Up and Away” ~ in which to lose yourself on an airplane, but not lose your place in the story when the masks drop down and you have to ‘secure your mask first before securing those of children traveling with you’ ~ or when you go to pay the additional fee to get your bags back from the carrier….just kidding, haven’t heard about a pick up fee yet (hope the wrong people aren’t reading this).  I might start with “Metzger’s Dog” and “Chester (Place my award here)”.  Here’s a link to the gianormous complete list of 2008 summer book recommendations from six different reviewers – a great selection to browse.

Just learned about another Vera Bradley bag give-away.  Come by The Boutique before August 8th to enter your name into a drawing for a Puccini Gift set ~ a Morgan handbag and an All-In-One wristlet.  Puccini has been a very popular new color this year.

Since it is almost Monday, I’m feeling rather random today.  Here are some shots I snapped in the courtyard this afternoon:

Ring-neck Parrot - I am continually amazed at the colors of these guys!

 

Chili Chilies

Sunny sculpture of a butterfly

It’s going to be a warm weekend in East Tennessee, so if you like the heat, I hope you get out and enjoy, and if you don’t, I wish you a well-running air conditioner.  In either case, I believe a frosty cold milkshake should factor into your next two days somewhere!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Summer reading

I love to read all year round, but on a warm afternoon when you’re barely maintaining consciousness, with a cold lemonade and a stack of saltines at hand - mmmm…..  NPR has done its first installment on summer reading, which drives me crazy, because I am compelled with every story to immediately go out and find all these books.  I enjoy haunting second-hand book shops, and I recently discovered an on-line book swapping service which I hope to use to my advantage.  At least I do eventually read all the books I pick up, unlike CDs – which I like to buy but don’t necessarily have to listen to…doesn’t make sense, I know, but there it is.

Anywho, you can go to www.npr.org/booksto find all their recommendations.  I’m going to finish off a light Maeve Binchy and then pick up “The Geography of Bliss” by Eric Weiner to start my summer reading.  I may need to add a hammock to my shopping list for this weekend…

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”  ~ Frederick Douglass

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend.  Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”  ~ Groucho Marx

“The man who does not read good books is no better than the man who can’t.”   ~ Mark Twain

 

Speaking on Memorial Day

NPR had another great StoryCorp entry this morning, about a man who learned about his father’s life through helping him tend the graves of his community.  Go here to listen to the story.

A few quotes in honor of our service men and women this weekend:

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.  ~ Francis A. Walker

The story of America’s quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots.  ~ Randy Vader

These heroes are dead.  They died for liberty – they died for us.  They are at rest.  They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines.  They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest.  Earth may run red with other wars – they are at peace.  In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death.  I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead:  cheers for the living; tears for the dead.  ~ Robert G. Ingersoll

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.  ~ Thucydides

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

NPR

okay, here’s another reason I love National Public Radio and their programs and features so much – where else can I hear the word “palimpsest” not once, but twice within 7 days??

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

She’s Funny That Way, and other reasons to celebrate today

You will figure out that I like to look for funny dates on the calendar to celebrate, and this one seems just right – today is National “She’s funny that way” Day.  Here in the South, we might tweak it to be “Bless her heart, she can’t help that she’s funny that way” Day.  If you have a great “funny lady” in your world, send me a note about her.

It’s also Tater Day in Benson, Kentucky, celebrating the sweet potato.  Now, and this is important and you need to remember it, according to a story I heard on The Spendid Table, a wonderful radio program about food that is broadcast on NPR, we only have sweet potatoes here in the U.S., not yams – yams are grown in Nigeria, a place I happened to live in my youth, and other parts of Africa and Asia.  Yams are white.  Yams are different from sweet potatoes.  Whether they are more red or more yellow, here in the States they are all sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas).  Ignore any signs to the contrary in your local grocery store, and enjoy them in any color.  You’ll find some wonderful recipes at The Splendid Table.

And, in a seemingly unrelated note, though I’m not so sure, it is also Bunsen Burner Day, a day to celebrate the birthday of German chemist Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen, who invented the little plastic caps on the end of shoe laces.  NO, of course I’m kidding, he improved the design of the Bunsen burner, used by scientists and bored school students around the world  to melt ink pens.  Really,  I don’t believe I ever used a Bunsen burner to create any heat or chemical reaction other than breaking down plastic particles.  Could this be why I am not today nor have I ever (yet) been a rocket scientist??  I have, however, found some funny e-cards you can send to your friends in celebration of Bunsen Burner Day.  Sweet!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

P.S.  I learned this on the radio yesterday – the plural of “y’all” is ”all y’all.”  I really should not be allowed to tune my radio away from NPR.

You should hear this story.

I really wanted to send you to this StoryCorp story last Friday, but it wasn’t yet available – please go here and listen to Julio’s story.   I don’t know if I would have had the presence of mind to step outside the situation and to recognize and address the deeper need, but Julio surely did, as you’ll hear in his story.  It’s my hope that you’ll be as encouraged and inspired as I was by his experience, and perhaps think a little differently about the next tough person or situation you find yourself up against.

I’m a huge National Public Radio fan (geek, groupie, buff, enthusiast, devotee, proponent, etc.), and stories like this are just one of the reasons I am an addict. 

~Janet @ The Christmas Place