This one's good because it's bad for you

But it's oh-so tasty! Here's one of the recipes that we had for Thanksgiving dinner, courtesy of DH's uncle the gourmet (gourmand?).

Sweet Potato Soufflé

Ingredients:

• four sweet potatoes, peeled


• 3/4 cup white sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature


• 1 tsp vanilla


• 1/2 cup milk

Topping

• 1 cup brown sugar


• 1/3 cup flour


• 1/4 cup cold butter


• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Boil peeled sweet potatoes until soft.


2. Beat together the sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, 1/2 cup butter, vanilla, and milk; pour into a buttered casserole dish (or spray it with non-stick spray if you're not loving all this butter -- but let's be serious, lol, that's what makes it good).


3. Mix topping ingredients -- brown sugar, flour, 1/4 cup cold butter, and pecans -- together and sprinkle on top of the sweet potato mixture.


4. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Aaaaaaah! Delicious! :-)


~RCH~

The perks

Apparently one of the perks of being Christmastown celebrities is that our children get the star treatment by the local press. (Either that or the townspeople are tired of seeing them out and about with unkempt hair, and hoped to give me a reason to comb it.) We got a phone call from the town's only newspaper yesterday, asking if they could come over to our house and photograph the girls coloring pictures to announce the annual Christmas coloring contest sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. I said sure; we are, after all, at the mercy of our adoring fans.

I won't see the newspaper photos until next week, but here are a couple shots I took: The first one shows Numero Uno coloring a page of mencrackers (she knows they're nutcrackers, but we both prefer Dos's version). The second one is of Numero Dos bursting into tears after I told her sharply to stop coloring on the window. Please note the nicely coiffed hair on both.





This is not, of course, the first perk we've had as The New Doctor's Family. (At the library: "Oh no, you don't need proof of address and a reference to get a library card! That's for the little people!" Writing a check at the grocery store: "Oh heavens, I don't need to see your I.D. -- I know exactly who you are!") It's not even the first time we've been in the paper. DH warned me that I wouldn't be able to remain anonymous in such a small town, and he's been right.

Still. Antisocial though I may be, I'm also a bit of an attention whore. So it all works out in the end. ;-)

~RCH~

Attention newlyweds!

My most recently married sisters, both of whom looooooove pink, need to scootch on down to Michael's craft store for one of these. Your holiday decor will simply not be complete without a lovely pink feather tree.




~RCH~

My daughter, the budding artist

Numero Uno, who will be 4 in January, has only begun drawing representational art in the last couple months. But she's brilliant at it, if I do say so my completely unbiased self! Here are a couple of her recent pieces for your viewing pleasure. The first one is entitled "My Friend Daddy." The second one (which you can tell is of me because of the long hair) is simply called "Mom." (Should I be hurt by that, lol?)

~RCH~

Expletives deleted

My girls have potty mouths. Lucky for me, though, they've made up their own curse words that aren't likely to offend the random, non-family eavesdropper.

"Nah Gobbit!" the baby yells when she's upset. And then she stomps her foot.

"Quit off," the toddler says, in a voice dripping with contempt and worthy of the most sullen teenage drama queen. (Boy, it'll be fun when we hit that age for real!)

On the one hand, I should probably discourage all this salty talk: Even if the words are nonsense, the intent shines through in their tone; they ought to learn to speak civilly. On the other hand, I like that they don't hold things in. I always did.

Still. There must be a happy medium around here somewhere that doesn't involve swearing, lol.


~RCH~

Home On the Range

I dragged the girls with me to Cache Valley today for a little fake bridesmaid dress shopping, and we listened to their CD of old timey cowboy music all the way there. I got all misty eyed, thinking of my former home, at the following verse:

Where the air is so pure
and the Zephyrs so free
and the breezes so bonny and light
that I would not exchange
my home on the range
for all of your cities so bright!

Which is kind of funny, considering that we lived in a city of 200k before and we're in a rural county of 6k now. Still, my home on the range was there -- on the beautiful prairies, the high plains of West Texas -- however suburban it may have been. Not here.

Maybe someday songs about living in the Shadow of the Everlasting Hills will make me well with nostalgic tears for our current home. I do love it here. But right now I kind of miss Texas.


~RCH~

Lookin' for love in all the wrong places

I've found new art sites to pour over in my endless quest for the perfect living room adornment. Problem is, I'm looking at all the wrong stuff: DH (who wants mass produced religious prints handsomely framed) and I (who want original, unique abstract or non-literal paintings) have allegedly compromised; I'm supposed to be hunting up original, unique art that is at the same time religious or at least spiritual in nature.

But I keep getting sidetracked by the Natasha Wescoats and the Pamela Brookes and the adorable Wendy Ryans of the world.

D'oh.

And even that is me being restrained. There are plenty of non-figurative abstracts I'm drawn to -- huge canvases of color -- that I don't even stop to drool over because I know they won't find a place in my house. These, while they probably won't end up in my living room (hey wait, nuns are religious!) might someday find a niche here. Maybe.

*Sigh!*


~RCH~