Hey That’s A Nice Life

Don came up to bed shortly after midnight. “It’s Christmas Eve,” he whispered.  And, in fact, I realized with surprise, it felt like Christmas Eve.

In the refrigerator, chocolate chip cookie dough was chilling overnight.  There are an obscene number of packages under the tree and my parents have yet to arrive to add to the collection.  We bundled up the packages for Don’s family and sent them to Miami.  The tree looks especially lovely (I know, I say that every year). There’s eggnog waiting to be consumed this evening and tomorrow. As I type, a gingerbread cake is cooling in the kitchen.  

There is even - shockingly - snow on the ground. Lots of snow on the ground.

Christmas came fast this year and my enthusiasm for it came slow.  But, it’s arrived.  And I’m welcoming it with open arms. 

Happy Christmas.

Shortly after my birthday last year, I wrote about turning 34 (When I was 34, it was a Very Good Year). I was sentimental about it because I was going to get married the year I was 34.  Everything we did for a whole year, I kept telling myself, happened “the year we were engaged.”  I’m a sap, okay?  I’ve grown accustomed to it and so should you.

Even Don has been mildly impacted by this sentimentality.  Shortly after the wedding, he started pointing out things we did for the first time as a married couple.  Like when we got ready for his birthday party he said, “This is the first time we’ve thrown a party at the house since we were married.”  Considering that we’d been married for six weeks at the time (and two of them were spent on our honeymoon in Costa Rica), it wasn’t too surprising.  A few weeks ago when Don’s family visited, we were sure to point out to one another that it was the first time that Mr. & Mrs. Whiteside had visited Mr. & Mrs. Whiteside … and the first Thanksgiving we’d celebrated as a married couple.

So, I was right when I named that post last year.  When I was 34, it was, in fact, a very good year.

But today I turn 35.  A year older than I was when I got married.  Part of me is a little sad.  My 34th year is going to be pretty hard to top.  Then I think about all the great things our future holds, and I couldn’t be more excited to be 35.  As great as 34 was, I have a feeling 35 is going to be even better.

After a house full of Thanksgiving company and our third trip to Dulles, Don and I decided to head a little further out and cut down our Christmas tree in Middleburg, VA.  This is the third year we have cut a fresh tree and we really enjoy it.  Not only are the tree farms usually in pretty areas and a lot of fun, but the trees last a lot longer.

The tree farm we picked this year had a lot of cute animals.

Like donkeys:

 And goats:

And buffalo:

But, the real reason we were there was to cut down a tree.  We ended up getting a fluffy, long needle tree which is a very different style for us.

As we left, the sun was slipping down beyond the mountains.

 See the pictures from the day on Flickr.

Take a look at our new dining room furnture.  Whee!  Storage!

We live in a house that was built in 1929 and, like a lot of houses from that era, there’s not so much in the way of built-in storage.  We have a lot of stuff so this poses an additional problem for us.  We received so many wonderful gifts for the wedding - things we really wanted and will use for a long, long time - but we don’t really have handy space to store them.  Sure, we could load up the basement, but if the items aren’t handy we won’t use them.

Lately, the dining room has been driving me crazy.    We have a separate, formal dining room and I love to have that space.  Don and I eat dinner in there most nights (only occasionally parking our plates in front of the living room TV).   The dining room table seats six most of the time, but can be made into a four-square or expanded to seat eight.  

Besides the table and chairs, however, there are six other pieces of furniture in the dining room and the space just can’t accommodate it.  It’s too crowded and there’s still not enough practical and attractive storage. 

I decided a little redecorating was in order. First we tackled a long, narrow console table that we’ve basically used as a bar.  My grandfather made it for me back when I lived in Silver Spring with the smallest kitchen ever. I gave him some measurements - including the height of the counter - and he producded a piece that served as extra work room and a little extra storage (three drawers for cooking utensils and a shelf for pots and pans). I didn’t want to part with it because it has sentimental value, but it was no longer useful.  We brought the table into the living room, but the table was just too high to be functional.

I asked Don to cut off the legs and really make it into a table we can use.  I think he was surprised that I wanted to alter something my grandfather made - but given the options of either getting rid of it or making it seven inches shorter,  the choice was clear.  He trimmed down the legs and sanded the bottoms and now that table fits perfectly in front of the window alcove that overlooks our backyard.  See for yourself:

We picked out a couple of other pieces to edit as well, and I bought a few new items with better storage, but those are for another post.  For now, I’m going to drink my coffee and admire my newly re-purposed table.

Don shed his colander for a photo shoot with the Washingtonian Web staff this weekend.  WeLoveDC.com is being featured in the magazine’s Blogger Beat section and Don was photographed for the article along with fellow writers Jenn and Shannon. 

It was a rainy day in our fair city, but Shannon brought along her awesome Metro umbrella and all three of them gathered underneath while Chris Leaman took their photograph. 

*And by famous, I mean MORE famous.  As you know, he was featured in Out magazine a few years ago talking about some gross homophobic ad campaign.  Oh, and a photo he took at a Lyle Lovett concert was used in an ad in Bass Player magazine last spring.

As I have mentioned before, Don and I are not religious people.  However, I am a believer in ritual and traditions.  I also try to be thankful for my blessings - whatever the source of those blessing may be. 

For years, I have been thinking that I want to declare my gratitude before our dinner meal, but we never seem to get around to incorporating this tradition.

Don once forwarded me a link from Ask Metafilter about non-specific graces.  It may have been this one, although I’m sure the topic has been addressed on their forums many times.

I like the shorter Buddhist gatha offered by one contributor:

We receive this food in gratitude to all beings
Who have helped to bring it to our table,
And vow to respond in turn to those in need
With wisdom and compassion.

I also like the very simple but very accurate, “For what we are about to receive we are thankful”.

Gretchen (L) and Grace outside the American Indian Museum early this month.

It had been some time since I revisited my desire to show how thankful we are to the earth for continuing to provide our food, to the farmers who grow and harvest it, to our employers who pay us enough to afford it and to our parents who taught us how to cook and enjoy it.  Then my friends Dawn and Chuck visited with their two little girls, pictured at the left during their visit to DC.  Before dinner their youngest, Gretchen, offered grace.  She’s three, so the first part was hard to understand - though it was probably something along the lines of “God is Great, God is Good”.  Instead of ending with the traditional and expected, “Amen”, little Gretchen said:

“Bon Appetit.  Now you may eat … and drink.”

I found it utterly charming and I told Don that if we have a child I want to teach her say that before every meal.  BUT that means that we’ll have to start working the tradition into our own meals.  So, I’m contemplating what our grace should be.

Any thoughts?

Here’s another picture of Grace and Gretchen on their trip to DC.  It’s not really related to this post, but they are so darn cute I couldn’t help it.

Grace (L) and Gretchen with a SCARY lion (thanks, Tom!) at the National Zoo.

Lately, Don and I have been half-heartedly looking at real estate.  This creates lots of problems for me - money angst, house stalking, etc.  But the main challenge is that I start imagining how I would decorate this room or that, and before you know it I spend hours looking at kitchen remodelling Web sites (we rent) or new furniture (we already have too much furniture and there’s nothing wrong with any of it).

One of the biggest reasons I’d like to move and would like to buy a house is that I love to cook and our kitchen is just not designed for a cook.  I’d still like to keep the cottage kitchen look, though.  White cabinets, exposed plate racks, big sink and cozy decor.  However, I’d add slate floors, stone counters, stainless appliances, an island and a gas range.

Something more like these examples:

*sigh*  Someday.

A lot of wedding blogs that I read when planning our wedding were somewhat anti-wedding favor.  I get that.  They can cost a lot of money and their usefulness is often questionable. 

However, we decided to include them.  I gave a lot of thought to the personal touches of our wedding.  From the salt water taffy in the gift bags (an Ocean City hometown favorite), to the post cards we used as table decor at the Welcome Picnic (vintage postcards from Miami, Don’s hometown, and Ocean City), to the sea glass that lined the wedding aisle (same stuff we use to make lamps for Nice Mirror).   The wedding favors were no different. 

Our wedding favors. We bought the glass containers from World Market and the Old Bay in big tubs from Costco. Don and my Dad filled each container and tied my recipe card on with raffia.

Growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland means learning to love Old Bay seafood seasoning at a very young age.  They practically put it right into the baby formula.  I am lucky enough to have married a man who enjoys Old Bay as much as any native.  We knew we would serve crab cakes at our wedding before we even knew we were getting married. 

I had originally planned to make starfish wine corks for the wedding favors, but I kept reading that the best wedding favors are edible.  That’s when I had the idea to give out Old Bay.  Within days I had purchased the containers we would use, and decided to include my recipe for crab cakes. 

I love to cook, and learned to do a pretty good job of it from my Dad, Larry.  There are a thousand places where you can get a good crab cake recipe, but if you give mine a shot, I think you’ll like as well as any you have tried (and maybe even more!). 

Susan’s Eastern Shore Crab Cakes

1 lb jumbo lump crab meat
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp chopped parsley
4 saltine crackers

Pick the crab meat over to remove excess shell.  Combine the mayo, Worcestershire, Old Bay, mustard and parsley until smooth.  Add the mayo mixture to the crab meat and mix, being careful not to break up the lumps of meat.  Break the saltines in very fine pieces and and add to the crab mixture. Form crab into 4 - 6 patties and broil under golden brown.

This is actually an adaptation from the way my Dad makes crab cakes.  His recipe is basically the same as this, only he uses one egg.  I find that the meat holds together well enough without the egg, but try it both ways and see what you think.  Keep in mind that my Dad doesn’t cook with recipes, and so I do not either.  Therefore, the ratios here are merely guidelines.  I usually use a lot more Old Bay than this … but that can make it too salty, so be careful. 

Here are the essentials according to both Larry and me:

• Saltines make this recipe.  Don’t use bread crumbs or panko or anything else you might read in other recipes.  A couple of saltines provide just the right filler - which is to say, barely any.
• Worcestershire sauce is also critical.  My mother claims not to like Worcestershire sauce and we worried that she would finally know we sneak it into her crab cakes when I decided to publish our recipe as part of the wedding favors. 
• Sprinkle some parsley on the top before serving.  This does not impact the flavor, but it looks pretty.

What's For Dinner? Crab cakes, cucs and onions, ratatouille and skillet fried potatoes.

I made a batch of these crab cakes tonight and served them with cucumber and onion salad (also a favorite that my Dad taught me - the secret is rice wine vinegar), fried potatoes (done in a skillet with a little oil and a lot of onion - a recipe from my Mom’s mother, my Oma) and my very own version of ratatouille (which features all the usual ingredients along with garlic scapes and sweet peppers).  It’s my favorite summer meal … but the crab cake is the star of the plate.

This is one of the tomatoes from our garden. In the background you can see some of the heirlooms from the farm - one is bright yellow and shaped liked a pumpkin, the other is almost purple.

It sounds gross, right? 

Last week, Don commented that there was no trash to take to the curb at the end of the week.  We concluded there are two reasons this happened. 

The first is that Arlington County recently modernized its recycling program and we can recycle so much more than we could before.  Plastics up to #7.  All paper.  All cardboard.  Tin foil!

The second reason is that everything is fresh in the summer and most of our ”trash” is compostable.

So because of those two earth friendly reasons we just didn’t manage to fill a trash can last week.  Yay us! 

Speaking of earth friendly, we’ve been pretty happy with our farm share this year.  The quality is excellent and each week brings a huge bag of produce.  The ONLY downside is that there is not a lot of variety.  We’ve pretty much had a bag of tomatoes (TONS of heirloom tomatoes), onions, corn, cucumbers and green beans every week for the last month.  I wouldn’t mind a squash, eggplant or pepper mixed in.

Another thing we’ve noticed is that all these fresh veggies - with leaves, a bits of dirt and corn silk - have a tendency to get all over place and we find ourselves sweeping the floor a lot more than in the winter when the veggies are often frozen or otherwise less fresh.

BUT - and this is where I am asking for some input - the other thing we’ve noticed that changes in the summer is the presence of fruit flies.  It’s directly attributable to the amount of tomatoes we have in the house.  Our farmer sends some every week and every day I am picking ripe tomatoes from our own garden. 

I just don’t know how to store them.  You’re not supposed to put them in the fridge, but how do you store them without attracting fruit flies?   How do you store an abundance of tomatoes?