Holiday Cheer

I have had the prime rib aging in the fridge since we bought it Sunday. It makes the meat so much more tender when aged and most stores do not do this anymore. One it takes a lot of refriegrator room hanging the meat to age and it is also shrinks the meat so less profit. Also makes the meat much more expensive for the extra time they take to do it. Learned this tip from friends Kathy and Bob.

Filled bags from the day after Christmas sale. I need to go through everything, log them and box them away for next year.

How cute is this? Cork animal ornaments. A project for me this year using our saved wine and champagne corks. I saw this in the Sac Bee.

I am the archivist and co-owner of a private foodie group on the Internet. In appreication for my archivist duties they sent me this wonderul art book and music CD knowing my love of Native American art, music and history. I have so enjoyed reading this book and admiring the art work from cover to cover and listening to the contmeorary Native American music while I did.

Let's Talk Bubbly

Anyone who personally knows me, and those of you who know me through my blog know that I love bubbly all year round. Prosecco is one of my very favorites. So with New Year's Eve just a day away, here are some tips, facts and gloassary terms as related to sparkling wine.

Blanc de blancs: Sparking wine made from chardonnay grapes.

Blanc de noirs: Sparkling wine made form red grapes, typically pinot noir and pinot meunier.

Chill Out: To get a room temperature bottle to the proper level of cool, fill a bucket half full with ice cubes and the other half with ice-cold water; submerge your bottle in this cold bath for 20 to 30 minutes. You can also run cold water on bottom of bottle and place in freezer.

Rose: A champagne with pinot noir added to the base blend, giving the wine various shades of pink color.

Serving Temperature: 40 to 45 degrees F for non-vintage bottles, 50 degrees for vintage champagne and other prestigious bottles.

Food Pairings: Okay, the experts always say serve sparkling wine with oysters, lobster, mild cheeses, ham (for Rose champagnes), spicy Asian food, dishes with mushrooms and caviar. Salty snacks like popcorn and potato chiops also work. Personally, I like champagne with just about everything.

Stemware: Use a proper wine flute, which will show off the sparkler's fizzy nature. In a pinch, you can use a Bordeaux glass. The distribution of bubbles own;t be n display, but the bouquet will be captured properly. Stemware used for pinot noir/Burgundy, however, is too bulbous. Fill each flute two-thirds of the way with sparkling wine.

Sweetness Levels From Driest to Sweetest: Extra brut, brut, extra dry, sec, demi-sec, doux.

Vintage Champagne: Champagne for which at least 85 percent of its grapes come from a particular year. Non-vintage Champagne blends multiple years in a single bottle. Unlike most wines, non-vintage Champagne can be better than its vintage counterpart.

Cheers!

Sources: "The Wine Bible," "Exploring Wine," "Wine for Dummies."

Getting Ready For New Year's Eve

We are hosting our dinner group on New Year's Eve. Everyone brings something. This is our menu:

Appetizer Course (at the table): Tandoori Shrimp with Pineapple Chutney (Barbara is making these)

Soup Course: Butternut Squash (Barbara is making this too)

Salad Course: Averill and Bob. They haven't mentioned what type salad they are making

Main Course: Prime Rib (us), baked potatoes (us), vegetable gratin or casserole (Paulette, not mentioned exactly what)

Dessert: Verona and Bill - has not mentioned what they are making

I decorated the table and did the place settings this afternoon. I kept changing my mind about the place settings. Above is the first one I did.

This is the second one. I liked the red glass salad plate but not with the blue tablecloth. Unfortunately my black cloth is too short for the table with both leaves in it. If I could have used it I would have most likely stuck with this setting.

The third setting I did. I switched out the red glass salad plates for clear ones. I liked it but wanted something more.

My last setting and the one I am going with. Hand painted and gold trimmed antique salad size plates. On top of that cut glass plates for the appetizer that were my Nana's. I really like the textures and added sparkle they bring to the table as a whole. The dinner plate is my gold trimmed Lenox china and under that a gold charger. All the courses will be plated in the kitchen, so I did not add the soup bowl to the setting but will just bring them out filled when the time comes.

The table centerpiece. A black glitter top hat upside down filled with shimmering streamers, horns and other New Year's Eve type things. It is all surrounded by noise makers.

I sprinkled New Year's Eve confetti in the center length of the table and randomly placed fake colored jewels as other accents. All the jewels, shimmering streamers and crystal sparkle in the light. That's a large red votive holder that has gold inside with bling of it's own adorning it.

The champagne glasses at each place setting are filled with either a gold or silver plastic New Year's Eve necklace and part of them hang out of the glass adding more sparkle.

I wrote a each of our names on horns that areblack, gold and white and used them as place cards, placed on top of the black napkins on each place setting.

I did a little decorating in the guest bath downstairs by putting out a few New Year's things in white, black, gold and silver. The towels are a mixture of black and white, and the black hand towel has a gold trim design.

Gifts

The new computer keyboard is from John, Jen, Jus and Jake. (I do not know why this picture insists on being sideways even though it isn't in my computer photo program.) John used my computer last time they were here and was amazed I was still using it when half the letters had worn off the keys. I think it was all those years of using acrylic on my nails and typing with my nails instead of finger tips. I love that there are multimedia keys and application hot keys on the keyboard. My old one didn't have them.

Debra and Ron gave me this wonderful pottery bowl with a grater in the bottom of it. (On the lines of a Japanese suribachi bowl and pestle.) You grate fresh garlic in the bottom, then add oil and vinegar and use the mini whisk to emulsify your vinaigrette. I love it.

We received this pottery grater from Cathy and Dom along with beautiful lace table linens. You can grate fresh ginger into a paste, or garlic all by rubbing against the plate. You can also grate whole spices such as nutmeg. I love this too!

A beautiful wine stopper from Fran.

John's parents gave us a gift bag full of food goodies; dip mixes, marinade, chocolate and truffles.

Bob and Kathy sent us a box of fresh pears from Harry and David. Beautiful. AND we just received a note from H&D to let us know we will also be receiving 3 more shipments of fresh fruits in 2009! Thank you so much you two - a gift that keeps on giving. We are enjoying it so much!

These cat ornaments for the Christmas trees are just too adorable. They were given to us by Rob, Erin. Steven and Mackenzie. Each of them reminds us of our four cats and make us smile.

The Day After Christmas Holiday Sale

Jen, Jacob and I headed out to Reno Friday morning to hit the after Christmas sales. First stop was Macy's.

Jacob all bundled up against to Mommy. It was 0 degrees when we left the house. Thank goodness Reno is a little warmer than Truckee. It was 18 degrees when we got there.

After shopping Macy's and Home Goods, we went to The Olive Garden for salad, pasta and a glass of wine. Jacob loved the bread sticks, especially if I dipped them in my 5 cheese marinara sauce. We had a blast together as usual and Jacob didn't fuss once. He's a good shopper. After we returned to Truckee, Grandad and I loaded the van and we headed home. Getting out of the neighbourhood streets was a bit tricky since they are not plowed as well as the highways. Needless to say was we got on the freeway it was an easy but slowish drive. The cats were sure glad to see us when we came in the door!

Jen's Holiday Table

The lace runner was given to David and I for Christmas by long-time friends Cathy and Dom. It made our table very special. Thank you!

Jen prepared a whole roasted smoked ham, scored on top, studded with whole cloves, and topped with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries, just like my Mom made it when Ron and I were growing up. It was delicious! I never did get a picture of it, but Jen did before it went into the oven. I am sure it will appear on her blog soon if it hasn't already.

Santa Claus Came to Town!

Santa ate all his cookies and the reindeer did a good job on the carrots.

Jacob received a bopunce bounce type thing but he can walk in it. He was doing well trying to figure out how it works.

Justin received the skate board he asked for.

A water elmo for the bath tub.

Dockers and mathing shirt for Justin. He likes to dress nice this boy. We love it!

Sing and hum Elmo. Okay, so Gram-Gram and Grandad went crazy with the Elmo's. Jacob loves them though, expecially the kiss me Elmo. He even slept with it which he has never slept with anything before.

This Christmas ribbon is fun to play with.

A warm wool short for John.

Wii MarioKart for Jus. He was excited.

All the controls for the Wii; a tennis racket, steering wheel, golf club, baseball bat........

The clean-up crew.

Grandad, a well-seasoned light engineer.

Jacobs toys....

We recieved this from Mom Rose, Fran, Sue and Beth. How unique and fun is this? We love it! It was a joyous holiday. I hope the same for you.

I'm Dreaming of A White Christmas

We woke up Christmas morning to find it had snowed a good 14 inches during the night......

I am sure glad this isn't my job everyday!

Our van was snowed in. We drove home the next afternoon and the last piece of ice, except for a soft ball size piece, fell off a few blocks from our house.

Christmas Eve Moments

During the day we had a variety of appetizers to nosh on. John made his famous guac live.

The tradition in the Hoekman home is that all gifts are opened on Cristmas morning. However, Justin and Jacob can open 1 gift on Christmas Eve of their choice. That is unless the gift giver says they have to wait to open it on Chrisdtams Day andf then they choose another. Jus picked the biggest gift with his name on it. (Of course!)

It was a 6' x 3' framed picture of him winning the IKF race this year to hang in his room in the new house.

Gram-Gram picked what Jacob opened. Grandad and I got him a talking Elmo who loves to throw kisses as well.

He loves Elmo so we were all excited to see how he would react.

He loves it and even took a nap with him this morning. Jacob kisses Elmo back. It is just too sweet. We all went to bed early. The week of fun had caught up with everyone.

Holiday Week Fun

Justin with an icicle he pulled off the front of the house.

More icicles.

Baskets of home baked and canned goodies for the neighbors.

The Hoekman's just don;t go out and play in the snow. Nope. They do it near the blazing fire pit.

They are building large snow volcanoes.

John is actually burning wood scraps from building the house.

Bowls of hot, steaming potato cheese soup for dinner with hot baked French bread.

Special Moments with Jacob

Eating lunch.

I can't get over the big people foods he eats now! Some of his very favorites are mashed sweet potato, chicken breast and cheese. He also loves rice cakes too.

He really enjoys eating.

Bath time is always fun time!

We love watching him splash the water. You need to wear a rubber suit when bathing him!

Lots of bath toys too.

He sits and plays with his toys n the floor now. He is growing so fast!

Sharting toys with Grandad.

I love watching Jacob's face during these serious moments he has. It's like you can see what he is thinking, taking things in around him.

Mommy and Jacob playing on the floor.

That's my handsome boy.

Fun with Gram-Gram.

These are the moments I will take home with me and hold in my heart.

Playing in his bounce bounce.

Feliz Navidad

Saturday night we went out to dinner at Casa Beiza. It's a facvorite of all of ours. It's some of the best mexican food you will ever eat.

Jacob wanted a menu too. He made us laugh. He was smiling and as you see in the oicture he actually pointed at something on the menu as if to say, "This is what I want to order!"

Justin decided on 2 tamale with rice and beans.

Click on this picture to make it bigger. You will see that Jacob is very excited viewing the maragarita menu!

A quiet moment.

Teething. He has so many teeth now and you can see every tooth on the top coming in!

Me and Jen. I went with 2 chile rellanos and she with one chile rellano and one enchilada suiza.

David and me. David went with his favorite, pork burrito with green sauce.

Wearing Daddy's glove.

Christms Baking Marathon

Yesterday Jen and I spent much of the day baking to fill holiday baskets for their neighbors, and of course for Justin and the rest of us.

We had so much fun together. It has been a while since we have done a baking marathon together.

Here Jen is scooping out chocolate chip cookies.

We do work well together in the kitchen.

High altitude cookies are flat! At first I was worried and then John told us that is how they always look here in Truckee. We baked the chocolate chip, peanut blossoms, gingersnaps, oatmeal, sandwich coolies, and gingerbread.

Jen and I with some of our goodies.

The day before we had FoodTV on and caught an episode of Down Home with The Neely's. They were making edible ornaments and both Jen and I liked these stained glass looking ornaments that you make with hard candy. They didn't give full instructions, like baking temperature and time. Jen saw on Facebook that her friend Julia has made them so she asked her exactly what she did.

We followed what she did but we did change a few things. We lined our baking sheet with waxed paper and then we heavily (I mean heavily) sprayed it with non-stick cooking spray. Set metal cookie cutters on the sprayed waxed paper. Jen's cookie cutters bend a little which we found is a must to help get them out after baking. Spray the cookie heavily with non-stick cooking spray. Then fill the cookie cutters with hard candy. We used original flavor/colors Jolly Ranchers. Place in a 350 degree F preheated oven. Watch closely. You want the candy to melt, but not boil. It will take between 7 and 10 minutes. Let cool. We actually paced them out in the snow for 5 minutes and they were perfect to release from the cookie cutter molds. John heated the end of a small pair of scissors and made the holes at the tops to put ribbon to hang on the tree. The heat melted through the hard candy with ease. They really are pretty on the tree and family and friends can eat them!

Winter Wonderland

It has been a winter wonderlnd here in Truckee. We drove up Satursay because it was the one day that there was to be no snow.

We have had snow every day since then.

Every time we look out the window it is like looking at a picture perfect postcard.

It's just beautiful here. Quite magical really.

And we are having a wonderful time with Jen, John, Justin and Jacob.

David and I have both been captivated by the sights and snapping both cameras.

With more new snow yesterday morning, we decided to give Justin one of his presents early so he could go outside and play with it.

A snowball blaster!

Big fun in the snow!

Jingling Them Bells

The holiday spirit abounds in our neck of the woods as the Christmas count down continues.

Festive towels gifted to us by Bob and Maggie. Maggie did the crochete work on them. I love that there is a pair for the holidays........

and a pair to use all year round. Thank you!

While in Truckee next week, one of the things planned is for Jen, Justin and I to bake and make gift baskets for their neighbors.

Today I made Sarah's recipe for Pumpkin-Pineapple bread for some of our neighbors and made some and froze them to bring to add to the Truckee baskets.

Speaking of gifts. What I would like for Christmas is for people to stop being so readily judgemental and prejudice of others. World peace could certainly be a reality then.

And while we are on the gift wish list, a massage and equal civil rights for all Americans would be wonderful too.

I finished gifts for our daughters today that I made and got them wrapped. Can't show and tell these for obvious reasons.

David has been craving ginger cookies so I made him a small batch today. He ate half of them as soon as they came out of the oven!

This gift basket I put together for the neighbors across the street.

The rain has stopped and the last few days it has been very cold here for us. Last night it went down into the 20's so I covered the jade plants with burlap. This plant was started from a piece of jade plant that came from my Nana's house in San Francisco in the early 1950's. My parents had it in a large pot in the garden in San Bruno, Sonoma and here in Mather. I inherited it and it sits on my patio next to the slider so I can always see it. Last year it froze one night and we were not prepared and we lost the top half of this large plant. It protected the bottom areas of the plant thank goodness and it is still thriving.

We started one for Jen and John and we will bring it up when they move into their new house. It is snug under it's burlap house as well.

Well, there is not a creature stirring in the house but me, so I am heading to bed with a good book. Until next time..........................

Happy 40th Birthday Sarah!!!

Continue to kick it up during your month long celebrating. I tell you, it just gets better and better. Wish I was there with you to celebrate, though we did a good job of that earlier at the holiday party. Love you!

Birthday Crab

Every year for David's birthday dinner at home I serve him fresh Dungeness crabs as a special treat.

This year we had wait until now to find beautiful crabs at a good price.

I found these two big gorgeous babies at Costco.

David in food heaven. (Yes, both huge crabs were for him. )

Happy belated birthday crab feed David.

Cork 'n Fork Holiday Open House

The annual Cork 'n Fork holiday Open House is held at Verona and Bill's home and co-hosted by Barbara.

Admission to the party is an appetizer.

They provide the wine, soda's and coffee.

It's always a lovely evening and lots of fun sampling what everyone brings.

It's also fun for David and I because we see people from Newcomer's and Friends that we do not see too often. I see many of them when I go to a luncheon, but am not in any sub-groups with most of them.

Veron the hostess with the mostest.

Everyone having a good time..................

Newcomer's Luncheon at Frasinetti's Winery

Wednesday was the annual Newcomer's Christmas luncheon. The last few years it has been held at Frasinetti's Winery in Elk Grove.

It's become one of my favorite holiday celebrations with friends.

Above is sistyer friends Verona and Barbara.

Everyone is spreading holiday cheer.

We donated gifts for a local convalexcent hospital and canned goods to the Sacramento Food Bank. There was also a gift exchange.

This year we had entertainment. Jim and his daughter did a cute Christams program with lots of singing. Helen, Jim's wife is first vice-president of the Newcomer's group.

Most of the songs were sing-alongs. Most of us can't sing, but we had a fun time doing it anyway.

A very enjoyable afternoon.

Hearts of Gold

A big Thank You and hug to all of you who brought bags of groceries to the party to donate to Food for Families. It is such a bad year. At Thanksgiving there were lines of people to get a turkey and food from the food banks in the Sacramento area. Together we made a difference to people in our area. God bless.

Family Portraits

It is not often that we are together with both David's brothers and all our children. The only two missing in this shot is Jacob who was already sleeping and Derek who could not make it this year. From the left: Fred, Katrina, Jessica, Shawn, Theresa, Jason, Justin, Jen, John, me, David and Bob.

David and his brothers

Bob, David, Fred

The cousins: Katrina, Jessica, Theresa, Jason and Jen

Mistletoe Fun

Jen planted herself under the mistletoe and here is some of the fun that took place....

Cathy steps in for a biggie kiss.......

And Kathy

And Deb (BTW - we celebrated Ron and Deb's 39th wedding anniversary too. Ron sadly was in Iowa and not with us)

And Scrooge (Dom)

Party On................

Santa's Little Helper and Scrooge.

My famous homemade egg nog and the rest of the bar area.

A picture that actually has some of the food on it. We are always so busy to take pictures. We have Sarah to thank for the majority of these pictures. Thanks Sarah so much!

The dessert buffet.

Me and my honorary Mom Rose.

Fran my honorary sister, me and Rose. (Fran's real mom)

Barbara having wine and deciding to have a little taste of egg nog too!

Dyan my honorary daughter, Wayne my honorary son, Mackenzie, nephew Rob and son in law John.

My sister friends.

Jen and Santa's little helper.

Sarah and I.

David and Averill.

Kelli and Jeff.

Sarah and Wayne.

Holiday Party Time

David and I do a random gift draw at our party each year. It's always fun for everyone. Cathy's name had just been drawn.

Hanging around the bar...........

Ralph's name is drawn this time for a gift.

We did a wine exchange this year for anyone who wanted to participate. It was fun. Wayne drew the names since he wasn't participating in the exchange. Everyone cried "fixed" (in fun) when my name was called first to choose a bottle from those submitted.

I chose a bottle of Morgan Cab that Cathy and Dom brought for the exchange. I had never heard of it so I am looking forward to trying it.

Having fun and enjoying one another................

Who's that bearded man? Why it's my brother-in-law Fred!

Shawn and Dom fixing the world.

Scrooge.

My honorary son Wayne and friend Sarah...................

Kathy and Erin. Kathy was Erin's angel while she was at Stanford.

Erin and Jen celebrating....wooohoooo!

Justin playing with his party gifts.

Saturday Morning & Afternoon - One Little Gift Bundle

I finished making up the cold appetizers. This is a quick and delicious one. Slice English cucumbers, drain on paper towels to get water out. Spread with a bit of Boursin then top with a small piece of smoked salmon. They look colorful and beautiful and are very tasty.

My precious gift comes in the early afternoon. Look at him! I can't believe that he is old enough to sit in a high chair and eat people food.

He was eating chicken breast and sweet potatoes and loving every bite.

Making sure he gets it all stuffed in there........

And look....I drink out of my very own sippy cup now too!

"Talking" to Gram Gram.

MMMMMM, tasty biscuit.

Jacob and his new teddy bear/cloth book.

It went right into his mouth. A sure sign that he loves it. He is such a delight!

Friday - The Celebrating Begins

I spent the morning Friday preparing what I could a day a head of the party. Above is a round of brie topped with minced fresh garlic, white pepper and pine nuts. I "baked" it in the microwave the night of the party. simple, quick and always the hit of the party.

Hard boiling eggs for deviled or stuffed eggs as I call them. It isn't a celebration without stuffed eggs to David.

David's job; peeling the eggs. I made the stuffed eggs the following morning.

Shrimp ready to marinate.

After marinating a few hours I grilled them indoors on the George Foreman grill. so fast and easy this way, instead of dealing with the outdoor grill.

Set and ready for the buffet table the next evening.

I spent the afternoon visiting with my friend Sarah who flew in from Arizona that morning. It was alot of fun to spend time together instead of emailing. We were celebrating Sarah's 40th birthday this weekend as well. She helped me with the first step of the egg nog. Yeah, we did sample some of the Seagram's 7 with 7-Up earlier.

That evening Rob, Erin, Steven, Mackenzie and Deb arrived at their hotel and came over to hang out a bit and share some pizza and wine. Everyone was so thrilled that Erin had recovered enough to come to the party. We celebrated her recovery too.

Glimpses Of My Week

Simple to make sandwich cookies the kids love. I also have a following of adults who look forward to these as well. Take Pillsbury premade snowmen cookies and bake as directed. Sandwich them together with store-bought chocolate fudge frosting and get ready to pig out.

A few goodies for Toys For Tots.

Riley and Poopie hard at work at what they do best. Nap.

Dessert buffet table ready for the food tomorrow.

PArty Favor Basket of Home Canned Foods.

Food buffet table ready and waiting.

A small seating group I put together in front of the lighted forest scene.

David getting intot he wine room.

Choosing wines to serve at the party......

Give as gifts.............

And some for party presents given out by random draw during the party. We are also having a wine exchange this year, so we chose the bottles we are using to participate in that. We are getting excited!

Christmas Lights - A Welcome For Our Guests

David has been busy this week as well getting ready for our annual holiday party tomorrow by putting up the outside lights and decorations.

Pictures (at least mine) never do justice to outdoor lights at night.

This has been a challenging week for me preparing for the party because I have been fighting a nasty sore throat, achiness all over and lack of energy. I have been working, napping, working, napping............I am happy that today I actually am starting to feel human again.

Today our friend Sarah arrives from Arizona. Erin, the kids, Deb and Rob later in the day arrive as well. So looking forward to seeing everyone! We sure do wish Ron could be with us as well. (Love you Ron!)

Jen and her family arrive tomorrow as well as our long-time friends from the Bay Area. We so look forward to this each year!

Well, if this party is to happen, I had better get along with blogging and get to it. Today will be fun -- food prep for tomorrow.