Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins

I started to make these muffins yesterday, and finished them today.  No, it was not my plan for this recipe to be a two-day process.

My gas oven, however, had other plans.  It didn't feel like heating up yesterday.  I was gathering my ingredients, snapping my blog pictures, starting to combine my ingredients, oblivious to the fact that my oven was not preheating.

Just before I combined the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients I realized that not only hadn't my oven beeped to let me know it was preheated, it hadn't even ignited (being gas, I can hear a "whoosh" when it ignites and then a soft purr from the flame).

I'd have to get my oven repaired.

What to do with all the ingredients?  I had the bowl of wet ingredients, the bowl of dry ingredients, the bowl with the berries tossed with flour, and the "buttermilk" that I made with milk and lemon juice.  I didn't want to toss everything.  But I was in a frustrated state of mind and wasn't thrilled at the thought of finishing the preparations, freezing the batter in the muffin tin to be thawed and baked at a later date when I had an oven that was operational.

So instead, I entered a state of denial and decided that if I covered and refrigerated everything and waited until the morning, I would have just-baked (instead of merely reheated) muffins for breakfast if my oven would only magically decide to work this morning.

And it did.

I'm still going to call my handy repairman tomorrow (who used to be a lot more at-hand when he lived around the corner; I didn't even have to pick up the phone to call him if I timed it right and caught him as he was walking his pugs, Dunkin' and Donut, past my house).  

Until it's repaired, I'm not going to plan on cooking anything that needs to be cooked in the oven.  I'm just grateful that I was able to get one last gasp from the dying ignition and finish baking these muffins!

Daily doggy photos:

Gus runs to the back door because he hears the gate on our deck open and close (it was windy).  He's excited because he thinks we have a visitor.  Clyde follows him, because he copies everything Gus does.

Gus gets tired waiting for the non-existent visitor to show up, so he lies down.  Clyde lies down as well, because he copies everything Gus does.  Then he notices that I am there, with something in my hand (the camera)...

and decides to investigate, ending the photo session.

Crock Pot Boneless Beef Short Ribs

The inspiration for this recipe came about as I was wandering through Whole Foods.  It was Friday afternoon, just as the snow from our latest storm was starting to fall, and I was making one last trip to the market before I got snowed in.

Yeah, THAT storm.  Here's a picture of my dogs on Saturday morning, as they woke up to more snow than they have ever seen before.  We dug tunnels across the deck and through the yard so they could get around.

Gus was having a good gosh-darn time for himself.  He stuck to the pathways.  Clyde, not so much.  He started to leap through uncharted territories........

...and ended up "swimming" through the snow.

He was happy to come back in, dry off and warm up.

We were snowed in for a couple of days, which was not a problem at all since I had bought enough food for a week's worth of snowed-in meals.  First on the list were the boneless beef ribs in today's post--boy did my house smell good with these ribs simmering in the slow cooker while the snow was falling!

Writing Imaginary Blogposts....and Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

Every day I write a blogpost in my mind.

It just doesn't make it onto the blog.

A few days ago, I wrote "Boston-Speak."  (Yeah, I even give TITLES to the imaginary posts.  Is that a problem?)

You see, we were gathered at my sister-in-law's house, and someone mentioned a new reality series that is set here in Boston, and then someone else said that it was ridiculous that they used subtitles, "as if people can't understand English when it's spoken with a Boston accent."  And I had to speak up (I am the only non-Boston/non-Massachusetts native in the family)...."I had trouble understanding the Boston accent for at least a year when I first came up here."

And as the looks of "really?" "are you serious?" "for real?" crossed their faces, I wrote the blogpost in my mind.

I remembered my first night here, when a girl in my dorm said, "We need to find a paahty" and I pointed her to the bathroom as I'm thinking how strange it is that an 18-year-old still calls a toilet a potty.  And when she questioned, "in the bahhhthroom?  It cahhhn't be in there" (hint: bahhthroom rhymes with "mothroom", and cahhhn't rhymes with "want") I said, "where else would it be?"

And she looked at me as if I'd lost my mind and I looked at her as if she was speaking in tongues (which she WAS) and then at the same time that I realized that she meant "party," she realized that I thought that she meant "potty."

And that was just the beginning of my navigation of the Boston lexicon.  There were many misunderstandings (on my part) back then.  About a year after I came here, I started dating my husband, and he said something that I didn't understand (I can't recall what it was), and I unleashed my pent-up frustration, "For crying out loud, when you were in first grade and your teacher was teaching your class how to sound out the alphabet, did she say, 'oh, don't worry about that one, you don't ever have to pronounce it' when she taught you the letter 'R'? "

Well I think I will stop right here, because after 31 years in Boston I have a lot of accent stories to tell and I will save them for another time.  The point of my rambling is that yes, there might have been a lot of people watching that Boston reality show that needed those subtitles in order to understand what was being said.

Another imaginary blogpost that I wrote a few days ago was "Ode To Gayle."  Like Oprah, I have a friend named Gayle.  You DO know that Oprah has a friend, Gayle, right?  Anytime I watched her show, Oprah was always talking about Gayle: Gayle this, Gayle that........well, I am blessed to have amazing friends and my friend Gayle is right at the top of that heap.

Last week, Gayle was feeling guilty about not having room in her schedule to help someone and as I was telling her that she had no reason to feel guilty, I was mentally writing my Ode To Gayle blogpost, thinking about how many times she has managed things for me, during the 4 1/2 years of my daughter's illness there were many hospitalizations when Gayle made sure that my family had meals and my kids had rides and she sent out countless emails and regularly communicated status and health updates to my family and friends.  If it's possible to bank karma through good deeds, Gayle has several lifetime's worth!

Today's recipe is the soup I prepared when Gayle was over for lunch last week.  It's from the book "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes" by Todd Wilbur (seen in my past post for Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken).

And before I forget...here's the usual gratuitous doggy photo:

Clyde is getting so big!  I can't believe he's already four months old.

Before long, he will be bigger than Gus.

Grilled Molasses-Marinated Flank Steak

Caitie and Sean went back to school last week.  It was wonderful to have everyone under one roof, if only for a month.

Boy, do I miss them when they aren't here.

 It was nice that they were able to spend significant time with Clyde while he is still a puppy.  I mean, it would be almost cruel for us to have a new puppy if they didn't get a chance to enjoy his puppyhood.  Is that even a word?  Puppyness.  Puppydom.  Hmmm.  I think you know the point I'm trying to make.

His puppy-ish-ness is fading fast.  He's 40 pounds and TODAY he finally decided he can walk down stairs by himself.

Yes, that's right, I've been carrying him.  Downstairs every morning.  I consider myself quite strong and capable, but as I'm approaching the end of my fifth decade I'd be lying if I said my bones aren't a little creaky when I wake up in the morning.  

One of the few good things I can say about the freezing temperatures today is that I am certain that all of my neighbors had their windows closed because of the cold, so they couldn't hear me enthusiastically praising him as he ran down the steps of our deck each time I took him out today.  "Yay!  Look at you! Good boy, going down the stairs all by yourself! Way to go!"  Of course, if they happened to be looking out of their windows, they might have been wondering why I was clapping and raising my arms in triumph.

Anyhow......I got the inspiration for today's recipe as I was making a batch of  Snow-Capped Molasses Cookies last week.  As I was pouring the molasses I was thinking to myself that it would make a nice marinade.  So I decided to give it a try, and it's a keeper!

Raspberry-Vanilla Champagne Cocktails.....or Raspberry Vanilla Ice Cream Soda with Champagne?

Caitie suggested making champagne cocktails with raspberries and vanilla ice cream.  She said the champagne brings out the sweetness in the raspberries.

And then I remembered that scene in the movie Pretty Woman, the scene where Richard Gere tells Julia Roberts that eating a strawberry will bring out the flavor of champagne.  

I really don't know whether strawberries really do bring out the flavor of champagne, or if champagne really does bring out the sweetness of the raspberries or if it was just our imagination.

I do know that this drink was so good that I decided to turn it into a sort of ice cream soda (with champagne in place of the soda) instead!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Are you as obsessed with Buffalo chicken as we are in this house?

This spicy dip is sure to warm you up after your next romp in the snow.

You do spend time romping in the snow, don't you?

(Gratuitous photo of Clyde.  He's getting huge! 14 weeks old and just over 30 pounds.)

2012 Blog Review

I just compared the numbers on my dashboard to last year's stats and I'm totally astounded by how much this li'l old blog has grown!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that there would be over 43,000 page views, a more than four-fold increase over last year.  I do imagine there are a lot of people having a good laugh over my horrible photography skills.

Most Page Views

Crock Pot Boneless Country-Style Ribs

With over 12,000 page views (!!!) this was by far the most popular post.  The next most-viewed post, Prosciutto & Mozzarella Asparagus Wraps was a very distant second, with just over 600 page views.

Audience

Just like last year, the majority of page views are from the U.S.  But unlike last year--when the second greatest amount of page views came from Russia--the country with the second-most page views this year was

France.  Ooh-la-la!

My Personal Favorite Post

This was an easy choice for me.  Hands-down, my favorite post was

Dogs: Past, Present and Future .  If my kids were younger, they would be a great source of inspiration for my blog posts; since they are of an age where they would be mortified if I told the world any details of their lives, however, I have to settle for writing about my next-favorite subject:  my dogs.  Lucky for me that they don't object!

Happy 2013!!!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Whatever your plans are, have fun and stay safe!

Mr. Terrific and I will be staying in tonight as our kids go out with friends. 

Tomorrow will be my undecorating day.  These snowflakes by the back door make me smile every time I pass by.

 Goodbye to the jolly snowmen.  See you next year.

There Are No Words

I have been attempting to write a post for the last few days but I quite simply can not find the words to express the profound sadness that I am feeling since learning of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

I am just sitting here staring at the screen, trying to convey the deep sympathy I feel toward a community and people that I have never met.  The sweet, innocent children; the heroic teachers and administrators who sacrificed their lives trying to protect them; the loved ones left behind; the once-peaceful community, now shattered........I pray that they will all somehow find peace and comfort, knowing that so many of us whom they will never meet are grieving with them.

Enjoying The Season!

The decorating is done!  My shopping is almost complete.  I'm enjoying every minute of this wonderful season.

Caitie flies home on Friday, Sean will be home on Monday, and then everything will be right with the world.

Before then, I've got a gazillion things to do.  But I'll still find the time

 to get lots of baking in,

(Snow-Capped Molasses Cookies)

and I'll also find the time

to simply stare at Clyde.  He's growing so fast!

Okay, I feel bad that I cropped Gus out of this picture.  But the light reflecting in his eyes made him look possessed.