Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We were jolted awake at 2am by a screaming 8 yr old. She was so excited that Santa had arrived. She woke her older sister who pulled the covers over her head and told her to go to bed. But insanity prevailed and we rolled out of bed and opened the gifts. The most played with in my house are Magnetix and 20 Q. We then went back to sleep.

Pork Chops with beer, cabbage and apples

Made this the other day. Very easy and very tasty. I rounded it our with dinner rolls.


4 center-cut pork chops, about 1-1/2 inches thick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbs. Dijon-style mustard
1/2 head Savoy cabbage (about 1 lb.), cored and thinly sliced
2 tart apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch slices
(see "How to core an apple")
1 cup beer or ale
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried
1/2 cup homemade or low-salt canned chicken stock

how to make

Season the chops on both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the chops and cook on one side until well browned; turn and brown other side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Put the onion in the pan and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 min. Stir in the mustard and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Add the cabbage and apples, season lightly with more salt, and cook, stirring, for another minute. Add the beer, thyme, and stock. Bring to a boil and cook for about 5 min. to intensify the flavors.

Return the chops to the skillet, burying them in the cabbage mixture. Cover the pan and simmer until the pork is just cooked through, about 15 min. Season to taste. Arrange the chops on plates and top with the cabbage.

from Fine Cooking #25, pp. 90

How was the Processional?

Glad you asked. Well my camera pooped out on me when I tried to take a picture of the kids in their cute outfits at Epcot. After dinner at Restuarant Marrakesh, which was pretty good, we had time to kill till 8:15 which was our processional time. The only thing I have a gripe about is our waiter Youssef, kept reminding us that 18% gratuity was standard and he did us the favor of not including it on the bill. Well, we did him a favor by leaving him a tip after his service. After all, tis the season.

As we are walking around, and mind you this is at 7pm, the adults in the family hit a new low. I look at Snark and yawn which he then imitates. "I feel like going home." I just put it out there. He looks guilty and chides me. The girls hear me and Isabelle says "I guess I can go home and watch tv." Anni says "NO WAY! I want to see the processional."

Being the horrible person I am I say "Aren't you tired? You did get up at 530 today."

"I am a little." she admits.

"Wowee, let's get home and go to bed." I start off toward the exit.

"You are bad. We paid for this." Snark got a conscience, which stemmed from the fact he realized he just put out some cash for this occasion.

"Yeah and....." I am still running for the exit. Unfortunately, Disney's Beatles tribute band was playing in England. So the melody of "Twist and Shout" pulled me over (I am a Beatles junkie). We stayed for the set and finally left.

How was the Processional? The choir sounded great as we dashed past them.

Get this

Costco, if you are lucky enough to be near one, and get Costco's 10 year old Tawny Port!! Yum. Tastes of dried fruit and caramel. I'm slightly addicted to it and at 16 bucks a bottle it's a steal.

Rionda Prosecco- tastes of flowers and spring at a nice price of 8.99 a bottle. I order it by the case every May.

Goose Island Demolition. Small batch beer that Goose Island Brewery, out of Chi-town, makes. Makes a beer hater turn to beer.

Toot! Toot!

I'm going to give Snark some props here. He is going for his MBA and finally took his GMAT today after toiling over prep-books and the like. What a pain in the ass that has been. So today he got a 730 on it. How good is a 730 you ask? Well the average MBA grad from Yale gets in with a 703

Wharton-713
Harvard-708

Well you get the picture. I am very proud of him and hopefully one of the above three come knocking with a scholarship and a job that enables me to buy a Tods purse at will.

Ham, Bean and Escarole Soup

Olive oil--2-3 TB
Ham-1/2 lb, thick sliced and cut into cubes
Onion-1 chopped fine
Garlic- 4 cloves minced
Chicken broth 7 cups
Escarole or another other green 1 head or 1 pkg spinach
2 cans white beans rinsed and drained( I use 1 1/2 cans)
rosemary fresh 2 TB minced
Red pepper flakes 1/4 tsp
parmesan 1/2 cup

In lg saucepan heat 2 TB oil saute ham till golden add onions and saute till soft then add garlic and saute for 30 sec. Set aside.

Bring 7 cups broth to a simmer and throw in greens and beans with rosemary and pepper flakes. When greens are wilted add the ham mixture and simmer about 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle on Parmesan.

Kitty Crack and other Christmas Musings...

I'm sorry I put Christmas. Actually, I'm not! I respect other religions but this is Christmas for me so I say "Merry Christmas" unless you're the one Jewish friend I have, and really the woman puts up a Christmas tree in addition to celebrating Hanukkah so I don't think she sweats it too much if I slip up and say "Merry Christmas."

The picture to the side here is my cat and her cocaine. The tree!! Never mind that it is fake. She nestles in it and when I stuck it up her big hiney was stuck underneath it. I tried to stop her but she's fourteen and it's one of the few pleasures she has left.

I was stuck on the Turnpike Saturday. There was an accident that caused mental distress for me since Snark and the kids were in the car. We all waited for it to clear. We stayed in the car because we're on the highway duh!! Stupid me, it was a cause for a party. Just imagine a bunch of morbid people getting out and staring at the accident(dead person) discussing what happened.

"Oh look, they're carting the body away."

"Where? Where?"

"Was he old?"

"Does someone have matches, I need a smoke."

Yes, there was a party and yours truly stuck her head out the window and asked if they were enjoying the view of the blood. Snark yanked me back in and told me if I got lynched he'd wait at least a year to get married again. I snapped a picture of the on-lookers but Sprint wanted to charge me five bucks to e-mail it so just picture it in your heads.

Speaking of Sprint, I cashed in on my 7+ years of customer loyalty and got them to give me two brand spankin new Treo 700p's for 50 a phone. Snark is singing his love for me. This is the geek phone and he's all about it. I like it but really, do I need organization in my life? I do use the internet on it. It's so great my friend Amy asked me to get a phone number so I looked it up on the internet and by the time I got the number she called 1800-Free-411 and got it. So I think it's wasted on me.

I was hand-slapped today by the above friend for neglecting this blog. She said "You didn't even post a recipe." I know, but might I add this is the same chick that said she "has never made any of the recipes."

Christmas is here because

Neiman Marcus has their purses on sale.
Starbucks has put Peppermint Mocha on the menu
Bath and Body is selling spice candles
Snowman Shop at school was a hit with the kids and wore me out
I'm running around the house keeping the kids away from the closets
75 degrees is sweater weather down here.
"A Christmas Story" is on
Snark is playing "Charlie Brown Christmas" in the car
My favorite Christmas song "Merry Christmas Darling" sung by Karen Carpenter is on
Jingle Bell Bark is on
Salvation Army is ringing bells(but not outside Target!)
The candlelight processional at Epcot is going on and I will have picture from that. Hopefully, someone as hot as Jim Caveziel is there this year.