Christmas Punch Update
AdventureMan awoke this morning with a cough and some sniffles. We are both awake early these days, which I love because I get to step out on my balcony while it is still dark and no one can see me, and watch the shoowi (old fashioned Gulf fishing boats) lights bobbing a couple hundred yards off the coast, sip my coffee, and shiver a little for a change, and then we get to watch the sun rise.
While I was on the balcony, the microwave was warming up a cup of Christmas Punch for AdventureMan. When he gets a tickle in his throat, there is nothing that makes him feel healthier than a cup of this punch to start the day.
The Christmas / Eid season is upon us! Make it for your friends, serve it hot – and then save the leftovers to be warmed up later. With the cranberry juice and the pineapple juice – it’s even good for you. π
Christmas Rum Punch – and Rumless
2 32 oz. jars Cranberry Juice
1 32 oz. can Pineapple Juice (or 2 (1) litre containers of Fresh Pineapple juice from the Co-op or Sultan Center)
1 cup brown sugar (I often use a half cup)
12 inches cinnamon stick
3 Tablespoons whole cloves
1 orange peel
Original recipe: In 30 cup coffeemaker, put cranberry and pineapple juice in bottom, and place coffee basket with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and orange peel in top. Perk juices through basket. When ready light comes on, add 1 quart Meyerβs Dark Rum.
In Kuwait – don’t add the rum!
When you don’t have a 30 cup coffee pot – Put juices into large kettle, add cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peel, sugar and bring to simmer. When hot, use strainer to fish out cinnamon sticks, cloves and orange peel – Do this sooner, rather than later, or the juice will get too spicy.
Add 1 quart of rum – or not! This is perfect for these chilly winter days, it’s good for you, and it gives your house a wonderful smell.
This is what it looks like if you use a pot, before you scoop out the spices and orange peel:
After scooping, you can transfer punch to a beautiful pitcher for pouring, or to a hot-drink container, or you can serve it using a ladle, straight out of the pot. To your good health and happy holidays! *raises a glass*
Christmas Party Cheese Crisps
Cheese Crisps are SO easy, and so good.
Beat together until mixture just holds together:
3/4 cup butter
1 1/ 4 cups flour
Add and mix in with spoon:
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Stir into above:
1 1/4 cups oven toasted rice krispies cereal
Shape into 3/4 inch balls, place on greased baking sheets.
Bake at 400 degrees, about 12 minutes.
Store airtight, in single layer, if they last long enough to store! When people smell these cooking, they come running. You might want to double the recipe!
Starbuck’s Holiday
Waiting in line to order some coffee, I saw these on a bottom shelf. I haven’t seen these in any of the other Starbuck’s. I think they need to do an Eid Mubarak mug and special coffee, don’t you?
Christmas Parties: Make Your Own Boursin
You can do it! You will be astonished at how easy it is, especially if you have a food processor. This is SO good, and also very fattening. You can make it ahead of time, and it will last quite a while – weeks – in the refrigerator.
8 ounces unsalted butter, room temp
16 ounces cream cheese, room temp
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon oregano
1/3 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dill weed
Mix together until all is well blended. Serve in ramekin or form into a ball.
May be rolled in (choose one):
coarsely ground pepper
chopped walnuts
chopped almonds
chopped olives
as a variation. Serve with crackers.
Discovering the truth about St. Nicholas
There is a most wonderful website that is a perfect place to explore on this, the Feast of St. Nicholas. It is called The St. Nicholas Center and it has the stories, and all kinds of art work depicting the life and works of St. Nicholas of Bari.
No, the St. Nicholas that we all think of, the big roly-poly guy with eight tiny reindeer – he’s a modern creation. The real St. Nicholas is revered for his generousity, his love of giving, his loving protection of children, and his care for sailors and those at sea. He is believed to have lived in what was a part of Greece, and is now Turkey.
One of the things I love the best about this good man is that he did his good deeds in secret, not wanting any earthly reward. You can read more about him The Legends of St. Nicholas, HERE. In the last photo, he even looks Greek, or Turkish, or . . . Arab!
There are many many more images of St. Nicholas at the website above. What I love about them is that they are a far cry from that fat guy who thinks Christmas is all about getting what you want. St. Nicholas understands that the joy is in the GIVING.
Have your own secret St. Nicholas celebration – do something nice for someone and DON’T TELL ANYONE! π Happy, Happy St. Nicholas Day!
Winter Wonderland
Snowstorms make for dangerous driving, but oh, so beautiful moments. I wanted to share some with you:
Christmas Card Santa
It’s time for that old tradition, sitting on Santa’s lap for the annual Christmas card. It’s funny, you warn your kid about strangers, and then once a year you stand in line waiting, and then plop your kid on this total stranger’s lap and expect him/her to smile for the camera. And some of those Santas are very scary looking! This one had a kindly look, and I didn’t hear any of the kids screaming. π
Note to Error – this is also taken at the Alderwood Mall.
Seattle Shopping Nirvana
Seattle is a shopper’s paradise. You can find almost anything. One of the pinnacles of Seattle shopping has always been Nordstrom’s.
Busloads of Canadians are coming in for shopping sprees, and this is where they start. The stronger Canadian dollar has made shopping in the US a gleeful experience.
Airport Non-Adventure
Thanksgiving weekend is actually about ten travel intense days of crowded roads and nightmarish scenes at the airport. With Adventure Man coming coming in to meet me in Seattle, I head for the airport a little early. With all the college football games on, the roads are surprisingly clear. I get to the airport early, and . . . there is no crowd! I even get rock-star parking, right by the overhead walkway to the airport.
I can’t always remember where I parked, so I take a photo.
It’s a good thing I am early, even with no crowd at all – his flight also arrives early, the bags come, and we are out of the airport in good time. It’s not your Kuwait airport, either, with the reasonable parking fees. Here, we pay $7.00 for one hour.
It must have been an anomaly, but the airport was nearly empty. Here is the traffic – imagine!
This airport is normally a madhouse. They have done one really smart thing, though. They have a cell phone waiting lot, where people picking up arriving passengers can wait until they get that call, and then just drive up to arrivals, pick up their passenger and depart. It’s not really that fast, usually there are thousands of people so you just crawl along, but once you pick up the person you’re there to pick up, it’s a fairly fast get-away.
We were glad to have a non-adventure.
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