More About Cranberry Pudding

For as long as I remember, my family has enjoyed Cranberry Pudding on Christmas Eve. Sometimes in the afternoon before the early service, sometimes in the evening before the midnight service. Sometimes both. It is a hard and fast tradition. In fact, I remember registering for a double boiler on my wedding gift registry (13 years ago!) simply because I had to have it for cranberry pudding. Seriously, I don't use it for anything else. I melt chocolate in the microwave.

Apparently, Grandma Jean made Cranberry Pudding and I think Mom has a recipe card with Grma Jean's hand writing. I do remember Christmases when I was a kid when I passed on dessert. Cranberry Pudding just not too pretty. We've shared it with various friends over the years and everyone agrees that the presentation is not great, but it sure is tasty. The Hornbuckles came over for dessert when we lived in Coronado, CA, before we all had kids. And our last Christmas in Jacksonville, we had dinner at the McCormick's home, went to church together and came back to our home for Cranberry Pudding.

Over the years, various family members have tried to double the recipe, and the consensus is that you can't. It never cooks in the middle. And then it's even more unattractive. I remember one Christmas when mom could not find fresh cranberries. I think someone traipsed all over town looking for cranberries, until we finally called Grandpa Dick and he sent some Fed Ex. Now, I always buy them at Thanksgiving and put them in the freezer. Just in case.

Cranberry Pudding

In a mixing bowl dissolve 2 tsp baking soda in 1/2 cup of boiling water. Add 1/2 cup molasses. Add 1 1/4 cup flour and 1 tsp baking powder. Add 1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries that you had cut in half and mixed with 1/4 cup flour. (Use half of the one pound bag. Save the other half because Jeff will insist on a second batch later in the week.) Place in greased double boiler and steam over water for 2 1/2 hours, covered tightly. Serve warm with sauce.

Ok, here's my revision from last year. (Though I do feel sentimental about the double boiler.) Place the batter in a greased 2.5 quart glass bowl. Wrap tightly with foil. Place in crock pot. Pour enough water in the crock pot to come up an inch or so. Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours. Careful not to steam away all the water. I'm not sure about these times. I'll have to be more scientific this year and keep a record. This allows for a much prettier presentation. You can turn the pudding out of the bowl and decorate with holly or evergreen.

Ok, here's the most important part... the sauce.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup whipping cream (do not whip)
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Heat all ingredients, but do not boil.

Scoop out a bit of the cranberry pudding, top with sauce. Serve on pretty plates with fancy candles clipped to the sides. (That's another part of the tradition. Mom gave me her pretty candle clips last year. Very festive.)

Holiday Menus Planned

Ok... so now I just have to go grocery shopping.

Thursday, December 23: the first evening with Grma K and Grpa J.
Hamburgers with fixings (blue cheese, good mustard, tomatos, avocados, ketchup)
Salad (bag of lettuce, dried cranberries, grape tomatoes, blue cheese, carrots, crunchy chow mein noodles)
Chips

Cookie Plates for as long as they last.
Tasty Toffee Bites
Magic 7 Layer Cookies
Patti Shoenrock Cookies
Floyd Walbretch Fudge
Rum Balls
Sugar Cookies (because it seems a bit excessive for all the above cookies to contain chocolate)

Friday, December 24: Christmas Eve
Blue Cheese Ball with Crackers for an appetizer
Baked Potato Soup, Salad and Paninis (My parents' traditional meal for Christmas Eve was French Onion Soup and Ruben Sandwiches, so we've changed it a bit, but it's still the same idea. I didn't want to have salad, Jeff did. He didn't think we needed sandwiches. Compromise: both. The Paninis will be on Rosemary Olive Oil bread with turkey, salami, pesto, tomatos and fresh mozzerella, grilled and pressed on the George Foreman grill. Just little squares for everyone, not a huge sandwich.)
Cranberry Pudding (I discovered last year that it cooks up great in a tightly covered glass bowl in the crock pot with some water. So much more predicatble than the double boiler.)

Saturday, December 25: Christmas Day
For breakfast: Boschert traditional pull-apart bread and Massie traditional strada. And coffee!
For dinner: Grma K is in charge of this meal. I think it will be lasanga.

Sunday, Deceber 26: Grma M and Grpa T arrive today
Left overs or Chinese take-out or pizza or sandwiches.

Monday, December 27: Big Holiday Meal with the whole family
Fillet of Beef with Bearnaise sauce from the December issue of Real Simple magazine
Rainbow Jello (that Claire and Grma K will make together)
Roasted Potatos
Dilly Bread
Green Beans with Almonds
Minted Chocolate Mousse Bombe (because cranberry pudding, though delicious and traditional, is not chocolate, and it's my house and I want chocolate.)
Cranberry Pudding (because it's Jeff's house too.)

Several more days of meals for the rest of Grma M and Grpa T's visit to be planned later.

Pictures of the food and the stuffed bellies will be posted later. Well, maybe not the bellies...

Hey look I can create links.

I started this blog after Melody Johnson sent out an email announcing her redesigned website and her new blog. I had been reading other blogs a bit and I like the idea of keeping a "journal" and having some level of interaction and community with others who might be reading it. I haven't really advertised it much. But, I think I'm about ready to announce it to some of the yahoogroups I belong to (and enjoy). And some of my wonderful quilt friends... I'll look forward to hearing what you think.

Some how I missed dinner.

So I am about to have a can of soup. A couple of weeks ago an old lady in the soup aisle at the grocery store commented to me how nice it is to be able to get really tasty soup out of a can. I agree. Personally, I like Wolfgang Puck's Chicken Tortilla with a dollop of sour cream and hint of lime tortilla chips on the side. Yum. I'm not sure if I actually have any of that in the pantry. I may have to go with the old stand by: Campbell's Bean with Bacon.

We had a pretty good day. Church was fine. Donuts at the drive through on the way home were fine. Cleaning up the kitchen and the rest of the downstairs while Claire and Benjamin ate donuts was fine. Yada yada yada, birthday party, naps, more cleaning and straightening, making those last Christmas presents (which I won't descibe here in the event that the giftees may be reading), back to church for the Advent Spiral, leftovers for the kids, bath, book, bed.

I have a brief to do list for this evening. It includes painting some fabric for The FAZ swap that is due at the end of the month. Must. Resist. Being. Sucked. Into. Crappy. Television.

Jeff comes home tomorrow. Yeah!

Spring In Progress

Here's is the Spring top for the new seasons series. I added that small strip at the bottom right and it didn't get pressed with starch. That's why it's not laying as flat as the rest. I'm pretty pleased with it. I think it's going to be a great foundation for some additional stuff: text, fmq, embellishments.

We love Proflowers.com!

Here's the beautiful "candy cane" bouquet Jeff sent.

And here's the bouquet after I added some evergreen to make it really Christmasy! It's still looking beautiful though I need to add fresh water today.

Winter Quilt In Progress

Hooray! I'm back to the Anthony Avenue style quilts. I enjoyed the previous four I made in this style and technique so much that I really wanted to do more. This will be a series of four: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. The Spring top is actually done too, but I haven't taken a picture yet. I'll be adding lots of text, rubber stamping, heavey quilting and other embellishments. Stocking Stuffers for Deborah? More fabric, please!

Why?

I've been chatting a bit by email with Melody Johnson and I was inspired to post these in progress pieces made with her delicious hand dyed fabric and her fusing techniques. I'm planning to add some wonky borders and a bit of embellishment. I'm really drawn to the graphic quality of letters and text. I'll be doing more exploring of this kind of image, I think.

I missed the recycle truck today.

Oh well. When it was 11 degrees last night and Letterman was already on, I just couldn't get my self out to the curb with the boxes and the trash. When I got out this morning with the trash can, the recycle truck was driving off in the distance. Too bad. I have a huge box of magazines, newspapers and various boxes. It's that time of year. Including the box from Proflowers from the stunning roses Jeff sent yesterday. That was a wonderful welcome moment. There are 2 dozen, red and white roses and baby's breath. There are slightly more red than white. I wondered why they didn't pack an equal amount. I suppose because white are more fragile. At least that's what I've heard. I hope they last a while. It was called the candy cane bouquet. I spend a long time trying to get them arranged really well inthe vase and I was very pleased with the results. I think some ever green would really add a holiday punch. So I may venture out with my scissors and cut some boughs to add to the vase. Then maybe I'll post a picture. Speaking of boxes, that box from Proflowers is an amazing work of engineering. It is one piece of cardboard. I know this because I have to flatten it to get it in the recycle bin. And there are tons of flaps and hinges and slots that create this sturdy box that holdthe flowers in one section and the vase in another and has a nice panel that you see when you open the box with all the care instructions. There is a new book out about constructing fabric boxes. Same idea I think. One well designed shape and seams and folding and stitching and you end up with a smart little container with a lid that hinges. Cool. Ah, one thing at a time.

Benjamin with a big chocolate pudding stain on his shirt!

Here are some Christmas decorations I made recently. They are really too big to be called ornament. There are actually three. We will keep the one that is not pictured. One was to be swapped at the Art Quilts Maine meeting which was cancelled. What will I do with the last one?

Do You Hear the Chorus of Angels?

Both of my children are asleep in their own beds and have been for nearly an hour! Wonders never cease. I am keeping low expectations for nap time and bed time tomorrow.

So, I've been keeping this blog for a few days. Is the point that I should be sharing it? If so, I guess I need to sent out some notification. If I share it will I begin to censor myself? Am I so self-absorbed that I think that anyone might care?

Ah, it's a whim. I guess I let some folks now. At least the grandparents would be happy to see pictures of the kids. I'll add some more soon.

Benjamin definetely had his own plan for the design of his house. He only instructed me where to squirt the "glue" (icing). 

We really had a fun time! 

Gingerbread houses underway! 

A little more here... 

Gingerbread House Making

Claire decided to try one of the starlight peppermints. You know, with the red or green swirl in the center. She knows she does not like mint. So she tried one and then she got herself a cup of water to try to wash away the minty taste. Then I realized she still had the candy in her mouth. She was convinced she could just wash away the color and the minty taste would go with it and then the remaining white part of the candy would be a tasty treat. Not so much.

The houses went together really well. It was fun. I bought the ready made kit which came with tons of different pieces of candy for decoration. Claire was able to work the icing bag by herself and Benjamin directed me in squirting the icing then he stuck the candies on. He put all the red candies on one side of the roof. (Which of course, he called yellow.) And all the green pieces on the other side. Then he lost interest. But it is a totally cool house!

Claire is gaining lots more detail.

In progress pictures coming soon.

Time Stamp mystery?

I have not figured out how to change the time zone for my settings. So, it says I've posted at 11 am or somthing, when it's actually 2 pm. Oh well... I'll just ignore it for now. I mean it's not that important for the content.

Claire and Ben with Santa at the base Christmas party for kids. Santa brought Claire a fuzzy black velvet coloring set and Benjamin got the play dough set called "Doh Doh Island." Big hits! 

Our house on Anthony Ave decked out for Christmas 

I figured out how to post pictures... kinda

Attic Window fiber collage, submitted to Somerset Studio for their issue with the theme "portals."

So, here is my first picture. I wish this text was about the photo rather than below. Oh well. This is a 12 x 6 inch fiber collage I made last week. I submitted it to Somerset Studio for their May/June 2005 issue for which the theme is "portals." I am pretty pleased with the results. I like this fiber collage style that I've explored lately. The binding is pretty sucky. I just zig zagged the edges, which is ok for the casual feel of the piece. But it distorts a bit and the corners are a bitch. Someone at the local quilt guild mentioned doing slightly rounded corners if you plan to zig zag the edges, then you just ease around the corner rather an try to make an angle. Brilliant. You will see that on my next piece. I don't necessarily expect it to be published. But SS has recently changed their sub title to include "mixed media" so that definetely includes fiber and I think if they want to publish quilts, I will have a better chance since I suspect they get tons of paper art with rubber stamping and other such techniques, but probably not so much quilting. We'll see. I put the quilt together in a bit of a rush. I really wanted to say I had submitted a piece. But I don't know that it is truly my best work. I could have spent more time on it and presented it in a more creative professional way -- I mean as far as the packaging and everything. Next time.

My First Post (an uninspired title)

Well... we'll see how this goes.
I've been spending entirely too much time reading yahoogroups, other blogs and endless quiltart digests. So, I thought I'd start my own in hopes of being more proactive and less "zombie zone computer head." Melody Johnson, one of my favorite quilt artists, recently started a blog and it really fun to read, so I'm diving in. Now, as I get more proficient, obviously I would make that bit about Melody a link to her own blog. Ah, one thing at a time. And I'll be posting pictures too. (?)
I am so disappointed that the Art Quilts Maine meeting was cancelled today. Hellooooo... the weather isn't that bad. And I had a sitter all lined up and I was ready to completely blow the entire monthly babysitting budget on it. And I had my show and tell ready, handmade Christmas ornament ready for exchange, delicious Chicken Artichoke Tarts ready for the pot luck lunch. Bummer. (Again, this would be a good place for a picture of the show and tell item, the ornament and a link to the recipe. Check back for that later.)
But, Lisa and Ali came over to play instead and that was super fun. She brought me a Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks! It was as if a choir of angels walked in the door with her when I saw it. Delicious! And in such a pretty red cup with snowflakes. And guess what we had for lunch? Chicken Artichoke Tarts.
Ok, I'm off to explore a little more about blogging. Take some pictures to post later and maybe work on the winter quilt.