Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and soon to be 2014.  Hard to believe, like into the future.

Honey Baked Ham?

I did all of my Christmas Shopping Online this year and the presents are arriving every day!
The "Honeybaked Ham" arrived 2 days ago and my daughters arrived yesterday!  We got into the ham last night and now I remember what the big deal is about "this ham"!  I started thinking about ham a month or so ago and read a lot of reviews on wikipedia  They were interesting and a $20 ham from Walmart got a close second in raves from reviewers.  Enough that I went out and bought one and yes, it was really good!  However, a "Honeybaked Ham" is just in a different category entirely.  These hams, if you anticipate buying one, will require an investment of $8 dollars a month for a year and are well worth the money.  These are not "cooking hams", not something you would want to cut up and add to a bean soup.  These are melt in your mouth perfect hams that are best accompanied with cheese and crackers or maybe later in the week, the perfect ham sandwich.  Once a year it is a nice treat and for a short time you can eat like a millionaire!  I will freeze some so this summer I will have it with my tomatoes!  Nothing could be better than that!
   The other packages are put in the pantry, unopened until Christmas day.  Mostly fancy marzipan candies and European Chocolates.  It will be decadent, eaten up and gone and then back to reality!
Today we will get a Christmas Tree, a local Douglas Fir.  I am looking forward to that, one of the smells I associate with this season.    Mostly all year long with just the two of us we do not do "fancy cooking" but now with my daughters home there will be plenty of cooking smells in the house and I always look forward to that.  On Christmas Eve my youngest daughter always makes Sausage Rolls.
You can't get those even if you were a millionaire!  They need to be homemade and hot, fresh out of the oven!  Rich!  Yes, I am!  Are you cooking for Christmas?  What is on the stove or in the oven?

Do you know the way to San Jose?

Or Atlanta Georgia?  I am sure I have friends in both these cities!  I will be checking Ancestry.com.  I know I have relatives everywhere!  Two people, one from each of these cities 2,000 miles apart have won the latest MegaMillions and now they have to share it!  Can you imagine the disappointment in having to share a little over half a Billion Dollars!  There were stories on the news, advice on how to invest this large sum of money, like it wouldn't be enough.  Human nature, I guess, when is it ever enough?  I was going to wait until after Christmas when, had no one won the prize was expected to top a Billion Dollars!  I confess though I did buy 3 tickets, my $3 investment to a fantacy!  That is cheap entertainment really, a dollar only to dream big and pretend!   The prize was something close to 685,000,000 which sounds like a lot of money and is.  After taxes, and there are a lot of taxes and getting far less if you decide on cash now instead of payments dragged over 30 years, it is closer to $200,000,000 and then, dividing that in two leaves "only" $100,000,000 or so.  You would have to be careful with your money, I guess.
It would be far easier to win a million dollars, that divided up and after taxes would be about $30,000 a year for 30 years and no one would expect you to be a saint with that paltry sum!  Winning a huge, obscene amount of money would be a job!  It might be fun for the first week or two but can you imagine the letters pouring in?  The whole entourage you would have to hire?  There would be trust issues.
Most people, when they make a list of the ten things they would do if they were wealthy, could do 7 of them without much money at all... Even giving away that kind of money would create enemies and ill will.  Even with that much money someone would not get some and there would be resentment.
Problems, problems. At east I do not have that problem!

Minus Eight Degrees!

Wow, it it ever cold!  My garden pool is frozen solid and the vegetable garden is a frozen sheet of ice.

It is snowing!

Black Friday!

Black Friday started Thursday this year!  It is so sad to believe that it is so easy to market to our greed!
I would rather have a loaf of homemade bread, hand kneaded, not machine processed, than any store bought  discounted item off the shelf.  Over 35 Billion Dollars will be spent this year on Christmas presents!  That is just insane!  That is more money than a trip to Mars!
   Last year I bought everyone on my Christmas list Socks.  I refused to purchase items imported and mostly boycott anything made in China.  With "Amazon" it is easy to find anything you want "made in USA" and you can avoid the scary crowds.
   This year I am going to buy Food!  I really don't know anyone who "needs" food so I am on a search for celebratory food, unusually food, extravagant purchases not on the usual grocery list.
   Several years ago my cousin visited us and he is always generous with his gift giving.  That year he brought a huge spiral cut "Honey Baked Ham", the type that just melts in your mouth.  A normal ham is less than $20 dollars and a Honey Baked one is close to a hundred dollars!  That is at the top of my Christmas List!  Also, I am after Belgian Chocolates!  Marmite from England and maybe Marzipan!
  It is early yet and there is plenty of time to order something extravagant and I am after suggestions!
What is your favorite most outlandish food item that you only purchase for special occasions?
   I have a neighbor who weekly on Sundays feeds the homeless at a nearby park.  Normally this is spaghetti or a giant casserole with bread and salad, enough to feed the 20 or so who show up every week.  He was recently given 3 turkeys and intends to cook them for a feast for this Sunday.  I am contributing the stuffing and it should be the best meal ever!  Here is what is in my stuffing, enough for one turkey:              

                                         1 package stuffing mix (bread crumbs)
                                          1 large onion, diced and sauteed
                                          celery, chopped and sauteed
                                          almond slivers, also sauteed, nicely browned
                                          mushrooms, also browned
                                          Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage, cooked
                                          1 can mandarin oranges, juice and all
                                          1 can water chestnuts, sauteed
                                          and, the song, of course!
                                          "Parsley,  Sage, Rosemary and Thyme"
                                          I add these spices every time I am sauteing each item.

It is really good stuffing and there are never any leftovers!  So, what are great, unusual foods I should add to my Christmas list?

It is just like painting...

...except you frame it first.  This is the gate I am working on, the double arches, the entire frame are finished.  It is about 13' wide and 5' tall, on the smaller side for entry gates.  Between the arches will be a cobweb of vines, seriously adding to the strength and creating a truss along the top.  This is what makes the gate strong and prevents it from sagging.  The interior lower field of the gate will be made up of wavy round bars, like rain, maybe.  The top section between the arches and overlapping here and there (think "splash of paint") will have nine grape clusters with copper leaves.  These will be powder
coated clear and the gate itself a textured black satin powder coated finish.

 Pieces on the floor! I will pick them up tomorrow and turn them into table legs for the bar.

I have 2 projects at the same time going in my shop!  I have to build 15 table legs for a new beer bar!

Nine of these, all different, should be stunning once clear coated.

having fun!

 the center piece you see is just a brace to be removed.

I admit this is a little heavier than paint but the idea is the same:  create something never seen before!  I will be 67 years old in a couple weeks.  I was almost dead a short four years ago!  It is pretty incredible that I can still do this!  Loving it!