A few words about the holidays

No, I haven't become one of those people who calls Christmas "the holidays" (which is disturbingly common, you know) but am referring to the Christmas-New Year's stretch. Which is two holidays, ergo, "the holidays."

Anyway, a few pictures, in no particular order. Two are in Baltimore, with random JS family members and their pets; two will be recognized by my faithful readers as being at Meme's house, or rather in her kitchen. We were all very tired on New Year's Eve, so we ate our chili and went to sleep without so much as a spoonful of ice cream (though I actually think she managed to get us to eat some of Bonnie's famous chocolate pie). The next morning I whipped up some tasty Morning Glory muffins . . . or rather reconstituted them from the mix I bought at Whole Foods. They were very tasty with apple butter.

Later that day a few Smiths came over bearing food - roast beef with assorted trimmings - and we had a lovely supper, after which we enjoyed the traditional New Year's Eve sundaes. Happy 2009 to everyone! It promises to be a terriffic year.

Chili Pouf

So, Christmas morning this year found me away from my normal traditions. The lovely Ginny and Craig made up for it, though, with all sorts of delights (babies, dogs, and a real Christmas tree!), not least of which was Eggy Pouf on Christmas morning. As I ate it, I thought it tasted both delicious and haintingly (ha! meant to type "hauntingly" but as a sort-of-Alabamian, haintingly works too) familiar. It was, it turned out, pretty much the same thing as the old Gilbert Christmas classic, Mexican Eggs, but with cheddar instead of pepper jack and bacon instead of chilies.

I was inspired, then, to make a pan of Mexican eggs for supper the other night. It's easy, tasty, and always pleases. We ate it with some nuked sugar snap peas.

Mexican Eggs

5 eggs, 1/4 cup flour, 8 oz. cottage cheese, 4 oz. canned diced chilies, 2 Tbs. melted butter, 1 tsp. baking powder, 2 cups chredded pepper jack cheese. [I wanted to use up the tail end of some white cheddar so I shredded that and made up the balance with pepper jack. Also, the food processor just goes through cheese so quickly you will not believe it. It's magic!]

Mix it all together and put it in a greased 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 350, and cook for another 20-25 minutes until golden and perfect.

Look!

Behold some of my delightful Christmas presents!  I've already watched the Dexter DVD (thanks to Kenny and an absurd amount of off-work time), and Lewis Agonistes is excellent so far - still in the biographical portion.  However, the prize this year goes to the camera, a gift from the lovely and talented JS . . . everyone can look forward to seeing more pictures on the blog in 2009!