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baked
December 07, 2015
Work is hellish. Every December is different, but every December is hell. For 27 years and counting. FML, right?
But it was a very productive weekend. After going through a ghastly morning at work on
Friday, and went home. I stopped to stock up on some baking supplies at Festival on my way, and as soon as I had the stuff put away, I heated up a bowl of stew for a quick lunch and then crashed. Even though I had only intended to take a short nap, the rough week I'd had took its toll and I ended up sleeping for three solid hours. Got up just in time to bake a quick batch of sugar cookies before getting started on dinner. Spouse's special request: meatloaf, mashed potatoes & gravy, peas, and biscuits. He let me off "easy", though. Well, actually--he decided that if the choice was between helping me, and doing without gravy...he'd skip the gravy. (And here's funny thing--when he cooks, I do the dishes. But when I cook--I do the dishes.)
That three hour nap didn't stop me from crashing hard for an early bedtime.
Saturday, Spouse and I got up and dressed fairly early, so we could run to Panera for a bite before getting the shopping done. Costco was a very pleasant surprise--they had PLUS SIZE Calvin Klein sweaters for $19.99. A nice, simple, classic v-neck cable knit, eminently practical. I found a pretty silvery-grey and a navy blue that fit, and snapped those babies UP. Meijer was a zoo, though, They were having the "shop with a hero" event, and the place was crazy.
Once we got all the shopping done, we headed home. It was a beautiful day, so while I put away the shopping, Spouse...well, he mowed the front yard! And did the weekly maintenance check on the cars. After I got everything stowed, I worked on the laundry, then made a pan of fudge, put it in the fridge to set, cleaned up the little bit of mess, then went online and ordered another gift for Spouse. He decided that after about 20 years, it was time to replace his faithful leather and fur "Mad Bomber" winter hat. I ordered what is basically the same hat, except that I had to get it in black, as they were out of his size in the brown. That does it for him--the Chicago Blackhawks hooded sweatshirt and the bomber hat come to right where I wanted to be on his gift, dollar-wise.
He mentioned that he had ordered my gift and was having it sent to his work address (like I'm gonna snoop. hmph.). He wants me to be all guessy and agitated, but I never am. It must be very disappointing. But I don't believe in getting all worked up with Christmas anticipation, because it invariably ends in disappointment. (Or any kind of anticipation, really, if it is based on the actions of someone other than myself.) But you heard it here first: if I have to guess, I'm going to guess that he's having a custom-turned pen made for me. I know he's been fishing for my opinion on those, and he's been looking online at pen-related stuff. I'm not telling him that, though--as much as he wants me to try to guess, he would be absolutely crushed if I guessed right.
Everyone had a bit of a lie-down on Saturday afternoon, then we had an early dinner of charcoal-grilled bratwurst, potato salad and coleslaw. After dinner I cut up the fudge, boxed it up, and stowed it in the basement fridge to keep. I did what few dishes there were, and we relaxed in the evening, watching Bob's Burgers episodes off the DVR. He's really started to love that show. He says Louise reminds him of Niece/God-daughter.
Sunday was a a long march: As soon as I got up--and I mean before pills, coffee, or anything--I tackled my living room and gave it a serious cleaning and de-cluttering. I may decide to put the tree up, and there was no way that was going to happen without the whole room getting a good, thorough clean. Now it is ready, and awaiting my whim. And the dining room is next!
While I was doing that, Spouse made a lovely breakfast of french toast and sausage, which completely up to his usual ridiculously high standard. Once we had put ourselves on the outside of that deliciousness, he went outside to do some outdoor things he wanted to get taken care of--including mowing the BACK yard. Me--I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, and that was pretty much the beginning of a whole day in the kitchen.
I got Bertha out and mixed up my linzer dough so it could chill, then grabbed a quick shower before making 3 dozen of various gingerbread-y cookies (gingersnaps, plain and sugar-sprinkled, and some iced gingerbread), and 30 pfeffernüsse.
Once those were completely done and packed up, it was time to go on to the next stage of the raspberry linzer. The dough was giving me a problem, but I kajiggered a cold board out of my trusty ice mat and a cookie sheet, and things went much better after that. I cut them with my maternal grandmother's cookie cutter that she gave em when I was a little girl. It is a 50s-style aluminum cutter, about 2.5 inches, in the shape of a scalloped heart. Perfect for linzer, I thought--and a hell of a good old cookie cutter. I used the bismark filler tip from my pastry bag set to make a round "peekaboo" hole in the tops. Linzers have to have a "peekaboo"! Baked on parchment, the almond shortbread came out quite well, and once they had all cooled, I filled them with Bonne Maman raspberry preserves Between using a piping bag for the jam and spreading with my mini offset spatula, that part went super quick. I gave them a dusting of powedered sugar to finish. I got the yield the recipe stated (20 sandwich cookies), and they came out quite beautifully.
He chose the jam for the filling, and I have to say that the imported French stuff was worth every penny. Not too sweet, all-natural, and full of the flavor of the fruit. Even has that elusive floral note you get from good raspberries. Tastes like really good (Grammy's) homemade, actually. Spouse had one last night, and just said "Don't make those anymore. I can't afford to have a habit like that." By which, I took it to mean that he loved them.
Thank goodness. That was an awful lot of time and effort and expense to go to for them to have been disappointing.
I was exhausted by the time I was all done. It was 3:30, and Spouse wanted to start on the Sunday dinner he was making: roasted turky breast, mashed potatoes, peas & carrots, and the pan of stuffing he had stashed in the freezer. I had a bit of a rest on my bed (didn't sleep) while he cooked, then got up and fed the dog and took some aspirin, because OMG did I ache. He'd done a load of wash earlier, so I went down to hang it up and put it away, but I was plumb knackered by the time we got through dinner and I did up the sizable pile of dishes. We spent a quiet evening relaxing and preparing for the week, and I was off to bed by 9:30.
Oh--and the two dozen sugar cookies I made on Friday? Just about gone by Sunday evening. I married the cookie monster! And tonight, I tried an experiment when I got home from work. I took some of my sugar ccokie dough and made a quick half-dozen cookies with raspberry jam filling, just to see how the jam played with the dough. Verdict: Not astonishingly brilliant, but a decent cookie. He certainly had the opportunity to make up his mind on them--they're gone, too.
Reading: "Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies, Or: The Missing Pearl Necklace" (1915), by Alice B. Emerson
Listening: Still going strong with my thumb drive full o' Christmas. (And Chanukah, and New Year's, and "vaguely winterish", too!) Right now, it is Chris Isaak.
Inked Up: Very little time for such right at the moment--but I will be inking up something with red or green soon, because I have Christmas cards I need to sign. I use printed labels for the addresses and return addresses, so I don't need to get too concerned about water resistance.
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