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Miscellaneous

Trailer Trash Tater Tots

February 7, 2014
Kitchen, Miscellaneous, Savory
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Yup. Trailer. Trash. Tater. Tots. I’m not trying to insult anyone, I’m just stealing the name of a dish from The Shore (in San Clemente — I’d link to their page, but they don’t have one). They have Trailer Trash Fries (french fries, melted cheese, hot wing sauce [or Tabasco … can’t remember, it’s been a while!], pickled jalapenos, bacon and sour cream), which is my guilty pleasure (especially on a Sunday morning after staying up late drinking too much wine with the hubs). Well, today I was craving something greasy and cheesy (thanks, Aunt Flo! sorry, TMI), opened up the freezer and out popped the opened bag of tater tots with exactly just the right amount of taters for a single serving. I think I giggled with glee. Now, I didn’t take the time to fry up any bacon, and we prefer La Guacamaya over Tabasco, but I did have FRESH jalapenos and cilantro (both a staple in our fridge).

Yes. I. did. And I texted the hubs to gloat. Because this is what he missed out on:

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Wipe the saliva off your chin and go turn your oven on to 450 so you can delight in this sinful little snack yourself!

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The Magic Wassail Machine

January 31, 2014
Drink, Kitchen, Miscellaneous, Ramblings
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Wassail Recipe: A Hot Toddy punch that keeps you nice and cozy during the winter months.

My mom’s old coffee percolator. When she offered it to me I knew I needed it for one thing and one thing only: WASSAIL!

OK, so I’m sure you’re thinking, “No, not really, Wendy. I don’t need a coffee percolator. A 12-cup Mr. Coffee (or for you upscale fancy schmancy folks, a Keurig) works just fine, thank you very much.”

I totally get it. I balked at first. I knew the hubs would argue we’d have nowhere to store it (true!) and when we have parties our guests don’t exactly look for a fresh-brewed cup o’ joe because we’re consuming wine, beer or cocktails. But when I explained to him that this was the magic Wassail machine, he quickly did an about face and told me to throw it in the back of the car.

I can’t remember how long ago that was. What I do know is that when it’s cold and rainy and usually Thanksgiving or Christmas time (though not this past year because it was too warm for such Hot Toddy goodness), our good ol’ buddy my mom was so nice enough to pass down to us gets pulled down from the garage rafters (now from the upper cabinets — today was the first time I didn’t have to check for rat poop! but I digress …) and put to use.

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Lazy, Lazy, Crazy Lady

January 16, 2014
Life, Miscellaneous, Ramblings
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Well, I started 2013 off to a good start. No, that’s not a typo — two thousand THIRTEEN. I created an About page, posted a recipe and even posted a follow up to the recipe. That’s three — count ’em: one, two, THREE posts I made at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, that was a year ago (I could get all technical and say it was 11 months, 23 days, X minutes and X seconds, but I’m a giver, so I’ll say a year).

Now, I must say that in the span of the last year I got pregnant with my fourth child (which started as twins and had us FREAKING OUT for about two weeks), experienced polyhydramnios (that’s extra fluid in the placenta for those of you who want to know) while chasing after my insane energetic son, working full time, carting around my then-kindergarten and pre-k daughters, and fighting the school district to allow my second-oldest to enter into Kindergarten instead of Transitional Kindergarten for the 2013-2014 school year (that ordeal is for another post … hope I can get that done before 2015).

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Hello, large pregnant lady! I still had two months to go until my scheduled C.

I vowed to myself that I’d get something posted during my maternity leave, but then the week after I came home from the hospital we had our kitchen cabinets and island FINALLY being installed. Yes, FINALLY deserves all caps because I didn’t have a kitchen for the past 6.5 years. No, I didn’t have old cabinets that were replaced. I didn’t have ANYTHING. For Christ’s sake, I didn’t have a kitchen sink or an oven/stovetop for the first year we lived here (let alone hot water for the first three months … but I digress and now I’m just sounding like a whiney little bitch). So that was sorta a distraction, given the newborn that needed my attention and all (good thing I don’t breastfeed — GASP! — or I’d have been cooped up in my bedroom for a week, which I guess could have been sorta nice if the pocket door facing the family room where our cabinet installer was entering and exiting actually closed shut for some privacy).

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