Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
Thanksgiving Dinner and Four Christmases
I didn’t cook today — nothing — not even a morsel……which means I also didn’t have all the mess to clean up! So, why didn’t I cook? I ALWAYS cook a huge meal to feed a crowd — even last year when I scaled it way down from normal, I still cooked!!! This year, I had a few good options to choose from that would keep me out of the kitchen and finally decided to meet a new friend at Cafe 121 for dinner and then go see a movie. I had a GREAT time! The food was, of course, fabulous and I enjoyed the company and conversation over dinner!
Cafe 121, obviously, was open for dinner today and Chef Hamm out-did himself! He put on a Traditional Hamm Family Dinner and it was incredible! He had turkey, ham, and fried chicken breast with a long list of “trimmings”. We couldn’t decide between turkey or ham and what sides to select, so we just asked for a little of everything! ha-ha Chef Hamm fixed us up a plate with a sampling of the works and everything was GREAT! We topped it off with a big cup of hot cinnamon apple cider with caramel and a piece of pie. When we finished, we waddled to our cars and went on our separate ways to finish off the day.
After dinner, I decided to go see Four Christmases at Spring Lane Cinemas. The previews looked very funny and it had a power cast – Reece Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Jon Voigt, Tim McGraw, and Dwight Yoakum. The critics have been slamming it, but you know my opinion of critics – they never like what I like and vice versa! This is a story of an unmarried couple (Reece and Vince) who go out of their way to avoid their disfunctional families during the holidays. When they are interviewed in the airport because all the outbound flights were canceled due to fog, their families start to call expecting them to come for Christmas, since they’ll be in town afterall! Both sets of parents are divorced and don’t speak to each other, hence the need to attend “Four” Christmases! We follow them through the rest of the day full of funny situations and awkward family confrontations! It is a fun story and a good time! Some of the comedy fell a little flat with me – it was funny, but didn’t really make me laugh out loud. But overall it was a cute movie and I found it to be entertaining. Favorite line: When asked by a friend if he lied to his parents about Christmas, Vince Vaughn’s character responded with, “Of course I do! You can’t spell ‘families’ without ‘lies’, think about it!” I give this one a B+…..generally good and entertaining, but with some lame comedy filtered through.
What else did I do to make today special? I spent the morning playing with the girls and watching the beginning of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade before I had to leave for our 11:00 dinner reservation. I set the recorder to get the rest of the parade and the National Dog Show that was on immediately after the parade. I left the TV on while I was gone so that the girls could watch the dog show! ha-ha After dinner and the movie, I came home and cuddled up with the girls for a nap – absolutely necessary after all Chef Hamm’s great food I ate! I watched part of the great Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street, I just got done watching Legally Blonde, which made for a Reece Witherspoon double header for the day, and am now going to watch Christmas With The Kranks! What a day – what a lovely Thanksgiving – what a great kick off of the holiday season – and there are still three days left to the long weekend!
Thomas’ English Muffins
What an odd food item this is… They pull apart easily and the inside is full of holes… I’m not clear why they call them “muffins” — a muffin, from all I have ever known, is a cupcake like breakfast item with nuts or fruit mixed in it! Odd food, for sure!
My Mom used to buy these quite often when we were growing up and I really liked them – I’d toast them nice and golden brown so they were real crispy and then top them with lots of butter and peanut butter to melt into all those cool nooks and crannies…yum! Then, at some point – I’m not exactly sure when or why – I suddenly thought of them as cardboard circles and decided I didn’t like them, afterall. So, I haven’t had them or even thought much about them in years!
I recently moved my office from the off site training center into our new admin building, which has a great full service cafeteria! So, I have gotten into the unfortunate habit of grabbing something to munch on every morning when I get in to work. This is odd for me because I am not a breakfast person – at least not that early in the morning! I typically don’t want anything to do with food until at least mid-morning (except, for some odd reason, when I’m traveling)! I have a point and it does relate to Thomas’ English Muffins – I promise…I get to it right now…
Anyway – in the cafeteria, they have a section in the middle that is a salad and soup bar at lunch time and a bread, pastry, and fruit bar at breakfast time! One of the items they have is Thomas’ English Muffins! I noticed them every time I went in, but didn’t give them much thought – at first. Then, I started thinking about how much I used to like them. So, one day, I got one, toasted it the way I like it, and got butter and peanut butter to put on it! And it was good! So, now, every morning I get my bottle of V8, spike it with pepper, and get some little treat to go with it — a couple times a week, that treat is a Thomas’ English Muffin with butter and peanut butter…
Thanksgiving Dinner – ala Charlie Chaplin
Here is a wonderful classic! Thanksgiving dinner alternative as only Charlie Chaplin can offer!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
No Surprises…
Nope – no surprises! Brooke whet home with the DWTS trophy for Season 7! No upsets! The order of how they finished was even predictable!
I need to back slide a tad, though, on my “no surprises” comment — I was surprised that there was NO recap of last night’s show! Uugghh! I snoozed through last night’s show and didn’t get to see the final dances – including my favorite dances of each season – the free style dances! Oh well….
This has been my least favorite season ever — too predictable, not enough anticipation to keep me from snoozing through most of the episodes — I never really got into one or more that I felt like rallying behind and go into “super rooting” mode for! I definitely enjoyed the dances and everyone did well, but there was no real excitement for me! I wonder if it is losing the oomph it used to have for me!
Holiday Recipes
Here are some of my favorite holiday recipes:
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Double Layer Pumpkin Pie
One 3oz package of cream cheese
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp cold milk
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups cool whip
1 graham cracker pie crust
Two 4 serving size packages vanilla instant pudding
One 16 oz can pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
Mix cream cheese, 1 Tbsp milk and sugar until smooth.
Stir in cool whip
Spread on bottom of crust
Pour 1 cup milk into bowl
Add pudding
Beat until blended
Let stand 3 minutes
Stir in pumpkin and spices – mix well
Spread over cream cheese / cool whip mixture
Refrigerate at least 2 hours
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Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups peeled and grated zucchini
1 cup oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup raisins
Mix all together until blended well
Pour into two (2) loaf pans – fill 1/2 full
Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean
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Pumpkin Bread
2/3 cup shortening
2 2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
One 16 oz can pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup raisins
Mix all together until blended well
Pour into two (2) loaf pans – fill 1/2 full
Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean
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This one is more for Christmas and I posted it last year, but thought it was worth including:
Egg Nog
6 eggs separated
3/4 cup sugar
1 quart whole milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 pint heavy whipping cream – whipped
Beat egg whites until stiff
Gradually add sugar
Beat and set aside
Beat egg yolks until thick
Fold into egg white mixture
Stir in milk and vanilla
Fold in whipped cream
Chill and serve
Optional additions:
Cinnamon and/or nutmeg – either add to mixture or sprinkle on each serving
Dollop of cool whip on each serving
Rum to taste
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!
Lovely Day For a Parade!
It was a lovely day for a parade! The Sanford Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the Sanford Christmas Parade this afternoon at 2:30. I was concerned that it might be a bit nippy, as it has been most of the week, but it wasn’t – it was actually quite pleasant! My only regret was that I didn’t take into consideration that I might not be sitting in the sun and left my jacket at home. My sweater was enough and I wasn’t “cold”, but it was a little chilly and the jacket or maybe just a scarf and gloves would have made it just a tad more comfortable! I arrived a little before 2:00 and picked a perfect spot right on the corner of Steele and Carthage – across from the TV cameras and judges table, so the entries all paused and performed right where I was sitting!
All the entries looked great — there was everything from marching bands to professional floats to cars to home made floats! I took several pictures and they all came out good! Here are a few that I thought came out especially good – not necessarily my favorite entries cause they were all so good! Click on the image to get a bigger view, if you need to!
The Southern Lee HS ROTC:
The Knights of Columbus Bag Pipe Band and Color Guard:
Smith Realty — how cute — leave it to Elizabeth to come up with something clever!
One of the five HS marching bands – I think this one was from North Durham!
Southern Lee HS Marching Band
One of the many professional floats – this one is Lee County YMCA
And what is a NC parade without a Tar Heels entry – this one full of fans, Santa in a Tar Heel football outfit, and a Carolina Blue Christmas Tree with a Ram topper!
Jammin’ out the Christmas tunes for the parade viewers…
Noah’s Arc…right here in Sanford!
Lee County HS Marching Band and Color Guard
And the grand finale — Santa riding in on Old Betsy!
I took the next two photos on my way home – I drove past Depot Park and noticed the red bows and kids playing on the train and families starting to gather for the evening’s festivities of lighting the Depot Park Christmas Tree. I didn’t make it back to attend the event, but know it must have been a huge success!
Watch out for falling prices
Nope – I am not referring to Wal-Mart and their catch phrase! I am referring to the gas prices! They are dropping like bricks all over town! I was thrilled to see them approaching $2.00 and BAM they were under $2.00! My tank was full of little more than fumes on Thursday, so I popped in at Kelly’s full service station on 15/501 on the way home from work — they had it for $1.98 and it only took $28.00 to fill the tank!!! Today, I noticed most station were at about $1.94!
Other thoughts:
A favorite cold day treat for me is grilled peanut butter sandwiches with chicken noodle soup! I really enjoy grilling a thick layer of peanut butter between two slices of fresh bread – the peanut butter melts out and the combination of the sticky PB and fresh bread makes the broth in the chicken noodle soup so special…I like to dunk the sandwich in the broth. YUM!!! That is what I decided to have for dinner tonight and it really hit the spot!!!
Check out the new pages I added to my blog – click either the tabs across the top or the links to the right.
Where are all my fellow bloggers — I miss having several different interesting or fun things to read every day! Come out, come out, wherever you are…. I’ve been guilty of “blog slow down” myself!
Remember the Sanford Christmas Parade this Sunday – tomorrow! It starts at 2:30 – click here for the route and more info. Then, at 5:00, join the Christmas Tree Lighting event at Depot Park for food, music, and mingling with your neighbors – click here for more info.
A few weeks ago, I had a pedicure and made the very serious mistake of not speaking up and refusing to allow the technician to use one of those razor things to shave the dead skin off my heels. It is actually illegal to use them and I know that! I was concerned when I saw he was going use one, but thought about how rough my heels were and thought that it would probably be OK, so I didn’t say anything. Well — ever since then, my heels have been super sore – they ache and burn – and they are rougher now than they were before he shaved them! I won’t mention the salon cause I don’t like bashing local businesses on here. But, I will say that I won’t ever go there again! The first time I went, I was very impressed – I got a girl that did a GREAT job! The second time I went, I was happy to get the same girl. But, just after she got started, a couple came in that were obvious regulars – everyone perked up, called them by name, and acknowledged them. All the technicians were working on other customers, so the manager reassigned the girl that was doing my pedicure to them and I sat there for quite a while waiting for someone else to get freed up to finish – it was the guy who used the shaver! This was NOT the way to impress new customers!!!
Oh – My Cousin Vinny just came on A&E — gonna go watch it — one of the best comedies, ever!!!
Hump Day
“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God.” ~ Anne Frank
It has been a very long, challenging week! I can’t believe it is only Weds – it seems like a couple weeks have passed instead of only 3 days!!! I could be selfishly thankful that I wasn’t impacted, but my thoughts are with those that were! Thank you to all who have sent emails or left messages asking if I am OK – I am….. I won’t go into it here because that isn’t appropriate – if you don’t know what I’m referring to, read the top front page article in Thursday’s Sanford Herald. I mainly wanted to thank those who have expressed their concern – I appreciate it!
Well — I was right on with my prediction for DWTS this week! Cody went home — Brooke, Warren, and Lance are going to the finals!!! My prediction for the winner stands — it will likely be Brooke! Although, Lance has really blossomed and took over the top of the leader board this week! Is there perhaps an upset in the works???? Hhhhmmmm….
Baby, it is COLD outside!!! I had to crank up the heat tonight cause it wasn’t warm enough in the house, either! My office at work was like a refrigerator today and hoped to come home to a toasty house, but had to make some adjustments to the thermostat before that could be a reality!
I had a nice, quiet dinner at Myra’s tonight — the parking lot was PACKED!!! I thought I might have to just get something to take home and eat, but there was an open table! So, I stayed and had some fantastic fried chicken, rice, and corn nuggets – and, of course, a moist and sweet corn muffin! I also took home a slice of some absolutely delicious home made carrot cake that was so moist it simply melted in my mouth!!! YUM!!!
Well — I’m off to get some much needed sleep!
Movie Review and a Coming Attraction
I went to see Appaloosa at Spring Lane today. This is a western starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, and Renee Zellweger. The story is pretty standard: Small old west town is being taken over by super bad guy (played by Jeremy Irons) and his gang. Well known traveling professional lawmen, Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Mortensen) are hired to get things under control and get rid of the bad guys. A beautiful woman (Zellweger) catches Cole’s attention and distracts him. Things get personal when another pair of gun fighters that have a past with Cole and Hitch are hired by the bad guys and come to town to go up against Cole and Hitch. It was OK – of course, Harris, Mortensen, and Zellweger were all great in their roles. But, the story was all too deja vu and predictable – there were some good scenes, some “ok, let’s move it along” scenes, and some that left me thinking “huh??”… I’m not necessarily sorry I went, but I am really glad I didn’t pay full price and would have liked it better if I had waited to get it on NetFlix and not have to pay so much to see it! I give it a C+. Not bad and I wouldn’t discourage anyone from seeing it, but not something I would recommend you rush out to see!
On Dec 5th, Cadillac Records will be released! I am really looking forward to this one! This is based on the true story of the rise and fall of Chess Records, which launched the careers of Muddy Waters, Etta James, and Chuck Berry. Stars include Adrien Brody, Beyonce Knowles, and Jeffrey Wright. Click here for the trailer — it looks soooooooooo good!!!
Well, the corned beef brisket that I put in the crock pot this morning is smelling absolutely wonderful, so I think I’ll go fix a plate and settle in for the night!
ER
I used to be an avid ER fan – never missed a show from the day it debuted to the season that I felt like it went down hill – the season that Dr. Greene (played by the wonderful Anthony Edwards) died! And I haven’t watched it since – not even in passing!
But – I read that Dr. Greene was gonna be back for tonight’s episode in a flash back segment. Angela Bassett is a doctor in the ER now, but tonight’s story tells about her experience some years earlier when she brought her 5 year old son into that ER and Dr. Greene worked on him in Trauma Room 1 – he died on the table!
The episode was one of the best I’ve ever seen — I just composed myself after crying my eyes out!!! They flashed back and forth between Angela Bassett’s character working on a young girl about the same age as her son and her flash back thoughts about the similarities of the night her son died just down the hall….it was heart wrenching to say the least!!! She ended up saving the girl because she remembered something that Dr. Greene asked her when he was working on her son – so, this case had a happy ending! But it still had a devastating affect on her – she literally relived the night her son died! And, I do believe Angela Bassett had the best line ever – when she talked to another doctor after the little girl was removed from the trauma room – she told him about her son and said “When your parents die, you’re an orphan. When your spouse dies, you’re a widow or widower. When you lose your baby……….there is no word for that!” I was already in tears – that pushed me over the edge – I lost it!!!!
I’m so glad I remembered reading about Dr. Greene’s return and made sure I watched just to get to see him in action again….
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