Zelda's Snow Day

SNOW!!!! It snowed last night and this morning and is currently sleeting. Thats what Matt tells me at least. Not having had much experience with such things I'll have to take his word that that is what is falling from the sky. It actually snowed quite a bit, at least to my eyes. Enough that after consulting with the Sawyers we decided that it was probably a bad idea to drive to Apex today to play D&D. Which means we won't be able to take out the death cultists until next Saturday. *sigh* We were all really looking forward to trying out our new level four characters. Its probably for the best though. The weather channel is saying that it is supposed to turn into a heavier sleet and/or freezing rain as the afternoon progresses. So while it might be ok to drive over there it probably won't be so safe to drive back. Which means all the moms can breathe easier. We will be staying in today and having a snow day.

Since the last time it snowed we didn't take Zelda outside today was her very first romp in the snow. I am not so sure that she liked it very much. Somehow I don't think she's a snow dog. She did eat quite a bit of the snow. When she went off the sidewalk the snow reached past her belly. It was pretty cute. We only took her out for maybe three minutes tops so we didn't cover her up. As soon as we came back inside she ran some laps and is currently napping on my lap. I don't think the experience was too traumatic for her. Here are some pictures to document her time in the snow.

Are you guys related? No...YES!!!! part 2

Oh how I love food. Another place that Chris fell in love with on his last visit was the Barbeque Joint. It is a crazy kind of little place. From what I understand it has the best Carolina BBQ around. Even better than the famed Allen Bros. Knowing this, one would expect that they would have little to offer a veggie like me. Nothing could be further from the truth. Along with their amazing traditional southern foods and BBQ they have a gourmet selection of vegetarian dishes. Weird, right? I usually get their eggplant but they were closing for renevations for a couple of weeks so they were running down the kitchen. I had to make due with their homemade rosemary mac and cheese. It was fantastic. Another night, another set of wonderfully, over full bellies.

Matt and I had decided long before they arrived that we wanted to take them to one of our favorite local eateries, Buns. I'm pretty sure I've posted about Buns before. They use all local ingrediants, bake their buns fresh daily, and have really delicious dipping sauces for their fries. I'm a creature of habit and I always end up getting the veggie burger with goat's cheese and a balsamic reduction. Pretty fancy for a burger joint, huh? I think Matt tried the chicken breast this time which we've heard was really good. It didn't disappoint. Do I need to addthat we went home with happily full tummies? I think its a theme for their visit.

I don't want you all thinking that we only ate out during their visit. Michelle and I are very good cooks and we managed to turn out a couple of good meals. We had a large Christmas Eve dinner, consisting of turkey breast, mashed potatoes, candied yams, gravy, and stuffing. It turned out pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself. Michelle offer to make one of her's and Chris's favorite dinners, tomato and red pepper soup with grilled chesse sandwiches and a carrot salad. I helped by making a rosemary olive oil bread for the sandwiches. The salad was really good. So good that even Matt liked it despite the fact that it was made with ranch dressing and baby carrots. Moe is definitly an excellent cook. For Christmas day Moe and I prepared a buffet for everyone to graze on throughout the day, a tradition stared by my mom, Debbie. There were several kinds of dip and cream cheese spreads, two sweet cream cheese spreads, some cold cuts, a veggie platter, and of course, a cheese array consisting of no less than six kinds of cheese. It was a good day. And in case any of the moms are still unsure, our rag tag group still made it to midnight mass, full tummies or no.

We were sad to see them go. I love having my family around, even my crazy brother ;) teehee. We had a ton of fun while they were here. Even though Chris tried to pretend that he didn't like going shopping with Moe and I. Matt and Chris played a couple of games of Heroscape which Chris, or really the Hulk, won. We watched a couple of movies and took a lot of naps. It was a lovely weekand I wished that it could have been longer.

Are you guys related? No...YES!

It has been brought to our attenion by several parties that Matt and I have been somewhat lax in our blogging. So let me regale you with tales of our Christmas.

In an attempt to save money and because it's getting harder and harder for Matt to take time off of work we did not travel this Christmas. Fear not! My brother and Moe came to stay with us for a week. Although I suspect that their real reason for visiting was to meet our little Zelda-girl. She was very happy to meet her ninos. In fact, she played nearly nonstop with Chris the entire time he was here. Needless to say she slept very well while they were here. They very nearly didn't get here. Their plane was late leaving California and they came close to missing their connecting flight.

I could regale you all with heartwarming stories of our family moments lovingly shared in front of the fire. However we all know the most important part of any trip my family is involved in is the food. Chris, having visited once before, had a small but unchangable list of places he wanted to dine at while he was here. On the very top of the list was Mama Dip's. If you've never been there, on your next (or first) trip to NC, you should make it a priority. Both sets of my parnts love it. Matt and I love it too but, as Steph says, it's the kinda place you should only have once or twice a year. So waitig until people come to visit is pefect. Every single thing I've had there has been delicious and all the meat eaters hav also been in love with their dishes as well. The main reason we really wanted to go was the fried pickles. I am a firm believer that frying foods can only make them taste better. Things that are already tasty come out heavenly. The fried pickle is one of those heavenly items. The pickles at Mama Dip's are fried to a golden brown perfection, they come out warm and have a bit of a spicy bite to them. We got two orders and at first Chris was worried that we wouldn't be able to finish them. They all disappeared, within a matter of moments. The rest of the night we all just kind of laid around the living room. We were too full and extremely happy about it. To be cont.

We're moving

To the Biltmore Estate.  I think with that many rooms they won't even notice us there.  Well, maybe they'll notice Zelda, but I can be real quiet when I need to.  Matt gave me my Christmas present early this year and took me to see the Biltmore Estate all done up for Christmas.  It was a lovely little trip.  We had lunch at Sheetz and then we got to Asheville a little too early to check into our hotel so we browsed a local pet store.  They had this nylabone rib toy that I was thinking of getting Zelda.  I didn't end up getting it but I still want to, I'm pretty sure she would have loved it.  We stayed at the cutest little hotel and the lady who checked us in was nice as could be.  We didn't have time to stay and admire our spacious room though, our reservations for the Biltmore were at 5:30pm.  A couple of years ago Chris and I were watching a program on the Travel Channel about "The most" McDonalds.  The one that they showed at the fanciest McDonalds was located in Asheville.  I promised Chris ahead of time that we would go and take pictures.  The place is pretty ridiculous.  It has a two sided fireplace, a vaulted ceiling, player piano, and wrought iron dividers.  Even the employees were fancier than normal.  It was pretty amazing.  Did I mention how cold it was?  It was freezing outside, literally.  It was snowing when we got into Milo to drive down to Biltmore Village, nothing major, just a few flurries.  Still, it was super cold and windy.  Luckily Matt and I had planned ahead and packed lots of warm accessories to help us through.  I can't possibly describe the Biltmore Estate so I'm not even going to try.  But it is beautiful and if you ever get a chance to, I would go.

Thanksgiving is gone but the leftovers are not

I wouldn't say our Thanksgiving went off without a hitch but I think it was a pretty smooth ride.  It took a little while longer to get the turkey in the oven than we had anticipated which turned out ok because Steph and Linda were also running a little behind too.  The group agreed that Catarina's candied yam recipe was amazing.  Linda stuffing was delicious, really delicious.  And I can't say enough about Steph's filling.  I could have just eaten that.  Matt's turkey got rave reviews.  There was so much food.  S&L also made a veggie platter, brussel sprouts, and green beans.  We all ate way too much and then lazed on the couches and watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, ordered special from netflix since Matt had never seen it.  Before we got to taste the apple pie, which was pretty beautiful, Zelda managed to pull the pie off the table.  Luckily the pie tin landed on the bottom corner so the pie wasn't ruined, just smooshed.  So it became more of a apple crumble than a pie.  I guess she figured that since we had allowed her some turkey with her dinner she would just serve her own pie.  The pie was delicious, crumbled or not, and the ice cream was fantastic.  The pumpkin pie was also wonderful and so was the cheesecake that Linda made.  At one point, Linda fell alseep on the futon and Zelda mirrored her position and fell asleep too.  As you would expect, we had a lot of leftovers.  I love Thanksgiving leftovers, I could eat them for weeks if I could.  As it is we had them at least one meal every day since Thursday.  I wish there were more, but we're slowly running out of them, dish by dish.  Now we're starting to gear up for Christmas.

The night before Thanksgiving and no one was stirring not even the puppy

Its the night before and we have things a rollin.  I baked up the pumpkin this morning but I haven't gotten around to the seeds yet.  I baked the pumpkin pie already and it looks delicious.  I still have to make the apple pie in a little while.  The cheddar cheese ice cream is getting frozen right now.  I tasted teh base though and its amazing.  I love cheese.  I think its going to go wonderfully with the apple pie.  I also already baked the yams so that I only have to mix them up tomorrow when its their time.  Zelda has been lending me her support all day by sleeping for most of it.  When we took the turkey out of the fridge it was still frozen so we are doing what Alton Brown suggested and it seems to be working.  I still don't fully trust him but he's on a trial period now.  I'm not really in charge of the turkey though, thats all Matt's work.  I'm just here for moral support.  I think it'll work out just fine.  Its going to be a low stress day tomorrow.  At least thats what we're hoping for.  Hope you all have a great day tomorrow!!!

The bird is in the fridge

Our Thanksgiving shopping is officially done, except for two things that I want to wait on.  I got the yams for 25¢ a pound.  Steph and Linda joined us last Saturday night for some chocolate peanut butter bread pudding and Thanksgiving planning.  3/4s of us are very in to cooking so it was an excited session.  Thankfully Steph usually has a level head and was realistic about how much food four people can actually eat.  I believe it narrowed down to four appetizers, a turkey, a tofurkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, filling, yams, a vegetable dish, cranberry sauce, gravy, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, and apple pie with cheddar cheese ice cream.  There will also be drinks for merry making; Steph is bringing a warm cider type drink and there will be wine.  Matt did such an amazing job with last year's turkey that he is in charge of this year's as well.  Luckily this year its a much more manageable eleven pounds.  This is the first year I'll be using Catarina's candied yams recipe.  It was so delicious last year that I got the recipe from her.  We're going to be having dinner at about one in the afternoon.  That way we can eat, lounge around and go in for round two.  It promises to be a wonderful day with our surrogate family since we can't be with our actual families this year.