thisnthatwithatwist

I realize, both from comments I’ve received as well as from my own thoughts after rereading it, that yesterday’s post made me sound really pathetic.

Now don’t feel bad for me, sitting around watching TV and toasting the dawn of a New Year with my BFF, while trying not to make too much noise so we don’t wake the kids. It’s not a lack of a social life that leads me to do this year after year but rather simple common sense. I can, and frankly do, make a killing babysitting on holidays. On the flip side, if you go out on that night everything is overcrowded and overpriced which means very little fun.

I choose instead to have my social life peak other nights. So to all of you who brave the crowds and come home with empty pockets, have fun!

Aside from the fact that it is providing income for me while I try and ride out the current economic climate, it is also going to be a big help this coming New Years Eve.

Every year I watch Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve which I know makes me sound really old, but with Ryan Secrest hosting it’s really not as anchint as it was when Clark hosted. Also, it’s what I grew up on so it’s kind of tradition.

However, Anderson Cooper also has a NYE special, which I quite enjoy especially since Kathy Griffin has started co-hosting. This is why I love TIVO.  This year, though, I was faced with a problem because David Cook will be performing on the otherwise worthless Fox NYE special and my TIVO only tapes two programs at a time. Luckily, I was asked to work on that night so I can now watch one and DVR the other 2.

SO HERE’S ANOTHER POEM I WROTE, ENJOY. 

Blank verse poem

He was so beautiful that summer

The sun lit his eyes like stars in the sky

We thought that it would always be that way

There was no way to know how wrong we were

The air turned cold and soon the winter came

Jingle bells began to chime all around town

The roads were wet and I said stay home

Soon the phone rang, he’d never come back

Spring came in, bringing flowers and sunlight

It went out and summer took its place

But the beach was not the same without him

I just saw on E! News that there is a drag queen named Queen Jasmine who is teaching classes on how to walk in high heels, I could not have make that up if I tried. I suppose it is something that could come in handy if you never wore a pair and needed to wear, say a seven inch stiletto. It didn’t say how much she charges, perhaps it is a free service offered to the community, but either way they showed people learning from her so it is apparently a successful business. 

 I just found this so absurd I had to share.

So last night was fun, as I knew it would be. My cousin’s boyfriend’s parents joined us and they come all the way from Ohio so it was interesting to have people who are kind of really different as they’d never really experienced this kind of group before (I suppose I mean loud Irish family that believe that no topic is off limits).

There was one awkward moment when one uncouth guest left his son and puppy in my aunts care for two hours while he and his wife when shopping, I’m sorry that’s crass. Furthermore, the puppy peed all over a rug and the kid fed the family dog half of the ham. 

So this was our night.

Merry Christmas!

So every year I go to my cousins’ house for Christmas Eve and I must say it really is nice to spend some time surrounded by so many loved ones, even if it is hell for a diet. Between cocktails and pasta I don’t think I want to weigh myself for a while, but I digress.

We always have so much fun laughing about years gone by as well as discussing what has been going on in all of our lives this past year. Two of my cousins will be graduating college this coming year (knock wood) and one will be going to college in the fall.  Aside from laughing, we open presents, a lot of which have inside stories.

It might sound dull but I figured I’d share our tradition with you.

I’m hoping this works.

Here is a cookie sent in by reader not4ureyes2c 

Take a whole package of Oreos and smash them in a large bowl. Get a box of cream cheese and mix the whole thing in with the oreos. Make sure it’s all mixed together really well. Let them cool in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight. Then roll them into little balls. You may want to let them cool again in the fridge after making them into balls because they get sticky.

In a double broiler melt some chocolate. Take the Oreo/cream cheese balls and cover them with melted chocolate than place back in the fridge. One chocolate has hardened you can melt some white chocolate and dribble it over the tops of them to add character.
They taste yummy!

So Cookies have been a big topic of conversation this week (well that and my sinus infection) but I managed to forget another kind of Cookie. Yesterday was David Cook’s 26^th birthday. It has been a great year for David and his family, what with the winning American Idol, the now Gold record David Cook (the album), Time of my Life Going platinum, and most importantly his brother Adam’s tumor stopped growing in July.  

I just want to take the time now to wish David a happy belated birthday and hopes for an even better year for him as a 26 year old rocker.

I want to start by saying that I’m feeling a lot better today. Also, as I stated earlier this week (or maybe last week) my family is very into making Christmas cookies and, even with my illness of late, I’ve been hard at work making all different types of them all week.  That being said I thought I’d share another easy one that you could add your own spin to.  

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup butter
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange zest*

·          DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and egg yolk; beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla and orange zest. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Fill a cookie press or pastry bag with dough, and form cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cookies are golden brown on the peaks and on the bottoms. Remove from cookie sheets at once to cool on wire racks.

*Can be replaced with lemon or completely ignored if you desire. **try food coloring for extra fun