Closure~Out with the old, in with the new

What's Mike doing?
It's something about the new year that makes me want to start fresh, it's a new beginning; a clean slate. Each year, my mom would make us all clean the house and make sure all the clothes was washed before the new year. So this is my closure for the end of the year.

I FINALLY took care of all the paperwork associated with changing my last name. I trekked over to the Champaign SSN office and got that changed, then I found out that I could mail in a request to the Honolulu DMV to have my license changed. After that, I changed all my credit cards. I will start the new year with a wallet full of new IDs and credit cards.

Second thing to clear up...Thank you for all your comments about the pros and cons of living in Hawaii. I appreciate all of your responses and will use them in the decision-making process.

We are still in the process of figuring things out about Hawaii and the mainland. The fact that I did not do my homework and that there is no August graduation/deposit deadlines for doctoral students means that I cannot receive my degree until mid-October. And to defend my thesis by April 17th is out of the question for various reasons. That put a wrench in our plans so I'll be in Champaign longer than expected. I made a mistake by posting on this blog about it. We ended up hearing back from people in Hawaii about all sorts of things that we did not even know about ourselves.

He's feeding the squirrels. FYI, the trash bag was already there. He was trying to feed the squirrels Kibbles and Bits, but they didn't like the dog food.

And in case you were wondering, this is what Champaign looked like last week. This is what it looked like today. All the snow is gone and it's the middle of winter!

Daring Bakers~December Challenge~Yule Log (Skipping It)

No time to make this cake, especially during this busy season of the year. This is my first skip since I joined the Daring Bakers this past May.
I cannot wait to see all the french yule logs everyone else made!

In case anyone else wants to try the challenge, here's the information:

NAME OF THE COOKBOOK or the WEBSITE LINK: http://plaisirgourmand.perso.cegetel.net/index.html.
NAME OF THE AUTHOR: Flore.
DECEMBER'S HOSTS: Hilda of Saffron & Blueberry and Marion of Il en faut peu pour etre heureux

Happy Holidays!

Okay, this post was originally set for Christmas, but I got lazy and forgot to post it. Merry belated Christmas and Happy Early New Year!

We hope your holidays have been spectacular!
We went to a few holiday dinners this week, but forgot to bring our camera to the events.
So we'll leave you with some of our Christmas "feast." One of our friends took us to Sam's Club and we went a bit crazy shopping.
Mike drinks sparkling cider like its water. So that's why we bought 2 4-packs of Martinelli's cider. At the moment, we're down to 3 bottles. Oh he also drinks beer like its water too, so that whole case is his. I don't drink beer.
*Random Note*If you ever are at a loss of what to buy Mike for a gift, you can never go wrong with sparkling cider (any kind, apple, grape, mixed berry, etc) or lobsters. Every time I ask him what he wants, he replies with "a hundred billion lobsters." I roll my eyes at him and then he says, "A hundred billion dollars." So trust me, sparkling cider works well for him.
Mmmmm.....crab cakes, my seafood weakness. These were actually pretty good. Better than crab cakes sold in restaurants in Champaign (since most of them make crab cakes from canned crab meat).
Mike's lobster tails. He's lucky I'm not a fan of lobsters. Yeah, my mom said my sister and I are cheap dates since we're not big fans of lobster, shrimp, and crab. We'll eat those crustaceans, but we're not big fans of them.
Fresh mozzarella and goat cheese.

We will post pictures of our dinner later on. But here's a funny story to tide you over...today we decided to go into my lab to get some work done and then end the day with working out at the gym. Mike forgets his running shoes at home, so he goes home in the afternoon to get his shoes. He spends a couple of hours at home, then walks to the gym. I receive a phone call from him saying that he walked to the gym and then realized that he forgot his running shoes again. I guess he's getting his workout in by walking up back and forth from the slippery icy sidewalks.

I resisted and did not go "after-Christmas" shopping. I was like a "real person" who actually went into work instead of had the day off.

Prairie Fruit Farms Dinner

On the Sunday after our 24-24-24 feat, we attended Dinner on the Farm at Prairie Fruit Farms. I've been meaning to post about this experience for a while, but was blogged out after the 24 meals in 24-hour post from that weekend. I had been looking forward to this dinner for a while and was fortunate enough to nab some highly sought after seats to the event. I first read about it on Champaign Taste and quickly emailed Leslie Cooperfield (the owner of Prairie Fruit Farms) asking for seats. She was sold out, but a few days later I found out there was space available.
I've heard the dinners are AMAZING and everything is just wonderful . All the dishes are prepared by Alisa DeMarco and are made from locally produced meats and produce.
Homemade warm apple cider. I think Mike drank more than his share.
Moore Family Fresh Deviled Eggs
Prairie Fruit Farm Roasted Organic Red Beet Bruschetta with goat's milk Ricotta Salata and mint
Miniature Biscuits with Triple S Farms Ham and Prairie Fruits Farm Pepper JellyThe cute goats at the farm. There are over 50 goats there and they all have nametags. How cute is that? Leslie and Wes treat their goats well and almost like their pets. No wonder their goat cheeses taste great. Happy goats-->good goat milk-->tasty goat cheese?
Mike and I attended this event with A. and E. They were both troopers too, because they had joined us for some of the restaurants the day/night before during our 24-hour food event.

Moore Family Farm French pumpkin soup with Toasted Curry Cream
Blue Moon Farm Organic Green Salad, warmed fresh Chevre croquette, edible flowers and house-dried Juliet tomatoes
Triple S Farms Roasted Porchetta with Fennel and Sausage
Prairie Fruits Farm Organic Apple Sauce, Three Sisters Garden Flageolet Beans with Herbs
Prairie Fruits Farm Cheese Board
Honeyed Carrot Cake with Goat Cheese Frosting

If you ever are in Champaign, IL during the late Spring to Fall months (May-October), definitely check out Prairie Fruit Farms.

Gingerbread Cookies!

Since I can remember, every Christmas season I've decorated and baked gingerbread cookies. There's something about the smell of gingerbread that makes me think, "Christmas is here!" On Sunday, Mike and I held a gingerbread baking and decorating social for the residents in our apartment complex. He was in charge of the icing, while I was in charge of the dough. We made two batches of dough, and baked over 150 cookies!
I follow my mom's foolproof gingerbread cookie recipe. It's not too sweet, so it's a perfect base for adding oodles of frosting and candies too. Plus, the dough is very forgiving, so you can handle it a lot and will still end up with a nice texture. It's an excellent dough for little kids to play/shape cookies from.
Here's the Foolproof recipe:
Part A
1 1/8cup margarine
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses

Part B
5 1/4 cup AP flour
3 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 1/4 t. ground ginger
1 1/4 f. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 375F. Cream all the ingredients in Part A. Combine all the ingredients in Part B. Mix the two parts together. Shape the gingerbread and decorate with candy (m&m's, sprinkles, candy bits, etc). Place on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes in oven. (I rolled out the dough and used cookie cutters, but you can shape the gingerbread by hand. Also, I baked some plain gingerbread and decorated them with frosting after they came out of the oven).

Mike's decorating skills (see above).
My decorating skills (see above).
I had to highlight one resident's super meticulous cookie decorating skills (see above).

Randomness & our new favorite product

The semester is winding to a close and it's been a hectic month. Just gave my research presentation in seminar class yesterday (it's mandatory prior to graduation). Isn't this crane mobile pretty? It's hanging from the ceiling in the corner of my office. When I'm taking a break from my work, I sometimes just stare at it and relax. Mike made it for me a few Christmases ago.

My basil plant is dying. Mike said I should not have starting growing it during the winter months. Today the weather report said it was 13F, but it feels like -1F. Welcome winter! I'll be bundled up in down jackets, mittens, hats, and scarfs until late March.

Our new favorite product. Oreo Sipahh straws! Yes, they are geared towards little kids who like to drink flavored milk. But they are yummy! If you have not seen them before, I'll give you a lowdown about the product.
Instead of adding chocolate syrup or mix into a cup of milk, you drink a cup of milk through a straw filled with chocolate and cream flavored pellets.
It's not too sweet, but flavors the milk. Plus it's innovative and it's fun for kids (and adults) to watch the milk and pellets travel up and down the straw.
Well Mike and I are off to the AFT progressive dinner tonight. I'll post about that too!