Thirty

I am 30 today. For a long time, I never thought it would bother me. It's just numbers. Aging is a part of life. We can't change it, and we can't stop it. Those little numbers that we fill in on forms will keep getting bigger whether we like it or not.

But today, I am 30. Where did all that time go? It seems like only yesterday I was getting married, and a few days before that I was still in grade school, and I hardly remember much in between any of it. I am feeling a bit old today, but then, 6 kids will do that to a gal. Maybe not getting a full night's sleep in so many years will take it's toll. Makes me glad I'm not 40 though, because I know I couldn't do it then, if I can barely keep up now some days.

In this year before I turned 30, many things have happened. I had a beautiful baby boy, and survived it. I visited my family in Kansas for a month. I got to sit in my cousin's Lotus (and I still rub it in for my husband). I got to see a childhood friend that I hadn't had contact with in 10 years, and got to meet her beautiful little boy. I have made contact with other friends I hadn't seen in years through Facebook. My children have all aged another year, and are healthy and happy. I realized my husband still loves me despite my many shortcomings, and will continue to love me through many more.

While for the most part I'm not too bugged about turning 30, there's still that tiny nagging voice in the back of my head that tells me I'm getting older.

They're Just Mad 'Cuz They Didn't Get Any

Really, a felony? A group of consenting adults gets together to raffle off some consenting prostitutes, make some money, and it's a felony? What isn't a felony anymore?

I'm not saying that prostitution is a good idea, and the idea of raffling them off is not any better, but what happened to this being a free country? Since when can we not make decisions for ourselves? Personally, I think they were mad that they didn't get a cut. That seems to be the case in most of these situations, where money is involved anyway. But that's just my opinion....

Movie Review: Serenity

My husband and I watched Serenity for the first time a few days ago. It was very, very well done in my opinion. The simplicity of the storyline, coupled with decent acting, and not overdone action scenes, lent to a very well rounded movie. It was one of the better ones I'd seen in a long time. I won't give any spoilers here, but I strongly suggest you watch it. It's worth it.

And We Call Ourselves Civilized

Warning: Holiday rant follows

Shopping. Not really one of my favorite things to do. I especially hate Black Friday shopping, or pretty much any shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone is at the store, making it difficult to get around (because they want to leave their cart in the middle of the aisle, making it impossible for anyone to pass, and then shoot you evil stares when you try to politely say excuse me, I'd like to pass). Everyone is crabby and short with each other, and very, very few people are really into the spirit of Christmas. Heck, who cares what this season is about, I'm just here to spend gobs of money on things that no one really needs just so I can feel important.

Three people are dead after yesterday's shopping, and many more I'm sure are injured. I find it absolutely barbaric that we as human beings, in a supposedly Christianized society will trample a man to death, and then continue shopping because our own lusts for "stuff" is more important that the life of one man. And, what idiot brings a gun to go shopping, even if it is Black Friday? Seriously. Barbaric. How can anyone look at us as a nation and think that we are civilized when we act like hungry lions on the Serengeti at feeding time. We are so concerned with getting the best "deal", that we will kill our fellow man to get it. It is amazing to me.

I hear of parents who want to spend $300 to $400 per child, just for Christmas presents. What on earth does a child need that much stuff for? My husband and I don't spend that much on presents for our 6 kids in a whole year, let alone for one day. I hear of parents talking about taking out loans, just so they can spend as much as they want on their children. And then later, wonder why their children are so selfish and self-centered. I've had discussions with people about why my children have to get exactly the same number of toys that all add up to exactly the same amount of money, because "they're counting, really, they're paying attention and they're all going to get jealous of each other". Really? I didn't have any problems with it until it was made a problem by certain family members. When it was made an issue, it became an issue.

For the most part, my kids do pretty well at Christmas. We've tried not to make a big deal out of the presents we give (extended family does what they will and there's not much we can do about it), but we've tried hard to make sure that they understand the meaning of Christmas. From our family, we don't do much in the way of presents, leaning more towards family gifts, which seems to work well for us. I do like to do the stockings, but we don't put a ton in them.

I guess my point is, we as a nation tend to focus far too much on material aquisition (especially of cheap crap that breaks easily), and we don't focus much on each other, or our relationships. We are so much more interested in getting what we want, that killing a person in a stampede is deemed less important than shopping for the ultimate gift. We are so much more interested in getting our kid the latest toy so we can be perceived as the "cool" parents, that we will bring guns to a toy store to get what we want.

And we call ourselves civilized.

I am working on something, an idea for Christmas. I will get it up in the next week, so stay tuned.

Dessert

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake. This has been one of my favorites for forever. My grandma made it when I was a kid, and while I'm reluctant to say it's my most favorite, it definitely ranks up there. It's such an easy recipe too, and then there's all that ganache, I think I need a piece for breakfast.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake

1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) devil’s food cake mix (with or without pudding)
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)
Chocolate Glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350* F. Lightly spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside. Place the cake mix, cherry pie filling, eggs and almond extract in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula. Place in the oven. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack while you prepare the glaze. For the glaze, place the sugar, butter, and milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips. When the chips have melted and the glaze is smooth, pour it over the warm cake sot that it covers the entire surface. The glaze will be thin, but will firm up. Cool the cake for 20 minutes more before cutting.

**Store this cake, covered in aluminum foil, at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or freeze the cake, wrapped in foil, for up to 6 mos. Thaw the cake overnight on the counter before serving.

Then of course, there's pumpkin pie. Now, for some reason, mine didn't turn out too pretty. But here's an idea....

Let's Talk Turkey

I am going to tell you today how to make my absolutely awesome Garlic Rosemary Turkey Breast. I based this off a recipe for a whole turkey, but no one in our family likes dark meat so we switched over to turkey breast. I am never going back. It is so easy to do just a breast, and you have tons of juicy white meat.

Garlic Rosemary Turkey Breast

• One 8-10 lb. deboned turkey breast with skin (you can order this through a butcher, usually about a week ahead of time)
• 1 lemon, halved
• 6-8 cloves garlic, peeled
  
• 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely minced
  
• 3-4 leaves fresh sage, finely minced
  
• coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Prepare your turkey breast, skin side up, in a large baking pan. Cut 6-8 small slits in the skin, and insert the garlic. Push them in a little so they are covered by the skin. Squeeze one half to one whole lemon over the turkey breast, covering the skin with the juice. Sprinkle generously with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Sprinkle with the fresh sage and rosemary.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for about 15-20 minutes per pound. I am aiming for about 3 1/2 hours or so. I will start checking the internal temperature after about 2 1/2 hours.

Let it cool for about 20 minutes before carving.

You can also try to find half of a turkey breast, for a smaller amount of meat. I like the whole breast because it leaves me lots of leftover turkey for sandwhiches and recipes, like chicken pot pie and soup using the turkey as a substitute.

Here's how the garlic works:

Here's the turkey before cooking:

And here's the turkey after cooking:



Mmmmm......

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Today is a busy day, but I will try to get a few pictures in here and there.

Today our menu is:

• Garlic Rosemary Turkey Breast (no one will let me make anything else, it's that good.
• Golden Au Gratin Potatoes (it might not be mashed potatoes, but again, they won't let me take it off the menu!)
• Creamed Sweet Corn (I don't know if it's exactly creamed, but it's really good)
• Cottage Cheese (storebought, I'm not that good)
• Some sort of rolls or biscuits. I don't know yet.
  
• Pumpkin Pie
• Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake

That should about cover it. There will probably be a few things tossed in at the last minute, but I chose to keep things very simple this year. We are celebrating by ourselves, and the opportunity to scale back a lot was rather welcome. I thought about having the kids make some sugar cookies this afternoon too, to keep them out of my hair, but we'll see.

Have a great day everyone, and I'll be hopefully posting pictures tonight or tomorrow!