We recently went to three restaurants - all new to us. All three were great discoveries.

 

On Friday we were invited to a late evening party, so we looked for a place nearby and found Pazzo Ristorante. The food was great and the staff was very warm and helpful. I was very impressed with our waitress who was very helpful to the people next to us, one a picky vegetarian and the other allergic to shellfish. I had ravioli (not a good weight loss food) and the soup. Rich had a ceasar salad and risotto. It was very good. We had a Sokol Blossor "Pinot Noir/Syrah" that was very tasty also.

 http://www.pazzo.com/

 

We recently went to a new place nearby - Biscuits Cafe. It was in the location of our formerly favorite Italian Restaurant. The food was great. Rich wasn't sure if he wanted eggs benedict or biscuits and gravy - they had a dish that was like a cross. I had corned beef hash red potatoes and eggs. Oh yes a biscuit. Not good weight loss fare either. The corned beef hash was homemade - and wonderful. I only ate about half the meal it was so huge. All but one person at the place were nice. The only drawback was the coffee wa really really bad. Everything else was great - just avoid the coffee.

 

The third is part of a chain I had been to before, we had never been to this location. We went to the Oak Hills BrewPub. It is part of the McMenamin's chain. We weren't sure if we could take Carl in, but it was ok until 10. The food and beer were very good - as with the other locations we have been to. I really liked this one because it was small, had other families dining and really had a neighborhood feel.

 

So now we have three great new restaurants in our eating out rotation.

This year I bought a few new Christmas ornaments, as I always do. This year some are really special.

 

It started in November, maybe event October. I was in Hallmark buying cards and I looked at the Keepsake collection. While all the ornaments are nice, I really prefer more traditional ornaments, most are figures from the nativity, a few from the twelve days of Christmas and the Nutcraker (more on him later) and other traditional Christmas characters as well as the usual collection of balls and other shaped ornaments.

 

I started buying the tiny snowglobe ornaments a few years ago at Meier and Franks. I have a few sets - and am always looking for more now that Macy's has taken over the store and doesn't sell these ornaments. I did find one at Hallmark. It was called "A Gathering of Friends." It wasn't EXACTLY what I wanted, but close enough so I bought it (full retail - I rarely do that for ornaments!) I also found a silver dove with a heart entitled, "Always Remembered." I thought it would be a nice ornament for my mom, since she does her tree in silver and white and I knew Thanksgiving and Christmas would be tough on mom without Grandma. Grandma's 98th birthday would have been early this December, so I thought that would be a nice day to give it to her.

 

It was a hard time for her (and the rest of us too, missing Grandma.) My brother and his wife had Thanksgiving at their house, so mom went there for dinner. Rich and I went to Dad's, so while different, there wasn't this aching that something was so wrong as there would have been at Mom's house. My stepbrother, Eric, is an awesome cook. It did feel odd not to have Nicole (my stepsister) and Troy (her husband) or my nephews Jacob and Logan. Nicole was still in the hospital from the complications from outpatient surgery a few days earlier. Troy was with her of course. The nephews (my other stepsisters boys) were spending Thanksgiving with their fathers family.

 

The hospital Nicole was at was really close to our home. A mile as the crow flies, 2 miles by road. So while she was in ICU, I would stop in with a card or food for Troy - leaving them with the nurse. Judi (my stepmom) said she was really tired and puffy and really just wanted to rest. At thanksgiving dinner. Nicole called to say she was being moved to a regular room. Judi offered to bring Troy some Thanksgiving dinner (when I stopped in that morning I noticed the cafe near ICU was closed that day.) Nicole said that the dining hall was having a dinner and Troy was going to get some there. After dinner we went to visit. Nicole, while not moving much, was starting to look like herself. We asked Troy what he had for Thanksgiving dinner, he looked at me and said, "Beef Jerkey and Grapes." This was in the snack I left that morning. He really didn't want to leave Nicole alone to go get dinner. Not to worry though, HIS mom had a plate for him at his house when he got home.  Anyway, Nicole's close call reminded me that we have a lot for which to be thankful. My other thought is don't forget the spouses when people are in the hospital.

 

The next weekend we had symphony tickets. Mom took Carl, I was hoping for overnight (we always hope for overnight) but she had plans for the next day, which also happened to be Grandma's birthday. So I took her the ornament a day early. She really liked it. It matched her tree and had a wonderful sentiment behind it. She was so touched she wanted to get ornaments for all of us, if ok with me. I told her it was - but their might be something better. I poked around the internet, but she didn't see anything that she liked more. She had ornaments for each of us this Chrismas.

 

The new snowglobe ornament facinated Carl. I han't found a hook for it, so it was on the table. On the evening of the 21st, Carl was playing with it an it broke. Major mess. I cleaned it up while Rich checked Carl to make sure he wasn't cut. Carl was very upset when we told him Daddy couldn't fix it. (I was really proud of us - we weren't mad but we did let him know that it was going in the garbage.) He went and put some toys in the closet (where we put his toys for a time out.) Then he closed the gate to the great room to put himself in a timeout.

 

When we finally got him calmed down, we went to Target to get a few last items and look for a small snowglobe. While there I talked to Carl about taking care of things - that things do break and Daddy can't fix them. He also talked a little about his feelings on the incident. Some people at the store overheard us. Some people doing last minute shopping took time to help us find a new snowglobe. It was a sweet reminder that there are nice people and really showed Christmas spirit.

 

So I am now checking the Hallmarks for this ornament. No luck so far, but I am not worried. It is just a thing and in its breaking it taught our family a lot. Its lessons are much more valuable to me.

 

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PS - We found the ornament - last one at our nearby Hallmark!

We do enjoy good wine in our household (ok the adults do!) In trips to wine country we usually buy regularly sized bottles of wine. When a wine we really love is sold out of the regularly sized bottles, we will buy a magnum. They are hard to store, and then we seem hesitant to drink them. Somehow we went through both that we had this Christmas season.

 

The first was an Evanstad Reserve Pinot Noir from Domaine Serene. It was the 2001 that we purchased in 2005 at the Thanksgiving open house. Carmen had come over. Rich was working late, so she and I were catching up. We had just finished a bottle of wine (Shea Pinot Noir – also great) when Rich called to let us know he had passed his second and final comprehensive exam towards his PhD. He still has coursework, research and a dissertation to complete, but this is a big hurdle that is done. So I told him we were breaking out the magnum of Evanstad Reserve and he should get home if he wanted any. When he got home, there was still half a bottle left, so he did get to enjoy the wine. It was definitely worth the inconvenience of storing the larger bottle. We ate homemade hummus and vegetables and a Hickory Farms cheese ball (the original flavor – such memories…) and crackers. It was a great combination.

 

The other magnum was Patricia Green Pinot Noir 2004 Whistling Ridge Vineyard. This was also purchased in 2005 at the Thanksgiving open house. We took it to moms for Christmas Eve dinner. She has had Patricia Green wine once or twice and really wanted to try this – she also really wanted to go to the winery this Thanksgiving but that didn’t work out (another story). When we got to moms in the late afternoon, we first drank whatever mom had open. Mom was frazzled, as she always works herself into. I could talk about her ability to micromanage minutia but what good would it do? I am learning to accept her for who she is while not getting sucked into her frazzle. Anyway, she left at the start of the dinner preparation to take the dog to the pet hotel (Mom was leaving Christmas Day for Seattle.)

 

While she was gone my husband and brother started deep frying the Turkey. They finally used the Costco Fryer, which worked great. Mom had made roasted carrots and oven baked stuffing. The carrots were in the warming drawer and the stuffing was cooking. I was boiling the potatoes for mashed potatoes. Paul, Rich and I cracked the magnum. It was so good – another magnum worth the storage. In the meantime, I set the table, made the salad, sliced the bread (olive bread from Grand Café, nummy!) Paul and Rich would alternate coming in to fill their glasses – always leaving someone out there to watch the fryer (good boys!) Carmen came and we poured her a glass (hey I just realized Carmen was involved in both of these wines – lucky girl.)

 

Mom then got home (over an hour later) just as we discovered the potatoes were over boiled – I stuck a fork in them and they fell apart. Mom then tasted the store-bought gravy. It was not good – so we worked to improve that. We had boiled the neck and used that and some dried chicken broth to improve the flavor. I would not recommend purchased gravy or dried chicken broth, neither taste very good. Mom then asked for a glass of wine. She got the last glass out of the magnum. My brother and husband had drank the bottle! So Rich and Paul went to get another bottle of wine from Mom’s collection. They selected a Domaine Serene Fleur de Lis Pinot Noir – it was too was a wonderful wine.

So in this last month we enjoyed our two wine magnums. They were wonderful and good purchases.

 

Domaine Serene website:
http://www.domaineserene.com/

Notes from Domaine Serene purchase:
http://leslieaross.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!703CE4E2B8C01089!231.entry

Patricia Green Website:
http://www.patriciagreencellars.com/

Notes from Patricia Green purchase:
http://leslieaross.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!703CE4E2B8C01089!229.entry

I found a new wine this Christmas season.

 

Bolton Cellars out of Dufur Oregon has a Red Table Wine called Meristem, I bought some from the 2005 bottling. I gave one away and heard raves about how good it was. We will have to crack the bottle tommorow.

 

 

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PS - We tried our bottle. It was very good. It had a full pleasing flavor that would work on its own or with a meal.

I have mentioned my son's love of Disney Pixar's Cars - the movie, the video games and the houseful of toys. Last Christmas my dad and stepmom started my son on his prized posessions - the small metal Cars characters. The thing with these toys is they are never ending. Just when I think we have all of them, they release new characters. Why is it my son only seems to break or loose the cars that are hard to find? Ok he never trully looses them - they are SOMEWHERE in this house.

 

So I have been trying to figure out what is available out there. I found this website with various lists and release rumors, this is the closest I have seen to a comprehensive list of Disney Pixar Cars:

 

I also found a lot of pictures and photos of the cars on these sites:

I use these sites for reference - you can find the cars cheaper (or more strongly DO NOT BUY THEM ON THE INTERNET). I have bought them at Target (best price for single pack cars), Toys R Us and Walgreens (the most expensive at full list price, but still cheaper than the above websites.) I have seen them at Fred Meyer (same price as Walgreens) and Walmart (priced higher than Target, lower than Toys R Us). It looked like Kmart carries them, but when I shopped there, they were out. Walmart was a bit of a disappointment. They were advertising that they had lots in stock, including their exclusive models, when I went there, all they had were 47 Sallys and 3 Sheriffs (both of which we had multiples.) They did have a good price on Certo - so the stop was worth it (it was on the way to my Dad's house, it would not have been worth the price if I was driving there just to shop).

 

One of Carl's gifts this year is a twin bed.  Yes his sheets and such will be Cars themed.

 

My son is going to be a wise man in the preschool christmas pagent. When I heard from the teacher who would be the other wise man, she sighed and said, "my three wise guys..." 

 

I have been working to teach him the wise men part of the Christmas Story (the real one, not the red rider bb gun one).  We have a great claymation movie of the Christmas story, plus the school lent us the Arch Book of the wise men story.  I received this email from a member of the Oregon JCI senate - I have to print it:

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Gold, Fur and Common Sense  

 

My husband and I had been happily married (most of the time) for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with  all my heart and raise it with His word as my guide.

 

God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son.

 

The next year God blessed us with another son.

 

The following year, He blessed us with  yet another son.

 

The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.

 

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old.

 

I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a minister once told me, 'If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella.'

 

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children  each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint Him.

 

I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks.

 

I tried to be understanding...

when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs.

when my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and  rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.

 

In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot meal  and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children.

 

While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I didn't even come close... I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God.

 

I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God, and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to 'wash up' Jesus, too.

 

Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his 'last wife.'

 

My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant.

 

My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to shine. My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, 'We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.'  But he was nervous and said, 'The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes.'  My four-year-old 'Mary' said, 'That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly.  That's dirty, rotten clothes.' A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing.

 

I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying,  'Mama-mama.' Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived.

 

My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, 'We are the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts of gold,  common sense and fur.' The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation.

 

'I've never enjoyed a Christmas  program as much as this one,' laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes.  'For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of  gold,  common sense  and fur.' 'My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing,' I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.

 

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

 

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I hope Carl's pagent runs a little more smoothly.

 

Christmas is slowly starting in our household. A tradition is starting that we don't really focus on Christmas until finals are over. Today they are over.  Yeah. This was a rough term, and I wasn't the one taking the class.

 

I have started a little shopping. I picked up a few fun things for Carl - musical instruments, a set of his little Cars (half he has, half I can't find anywhere else) and some books. We have the photo with Santa.  There is still a lot to do, some things would be nice, others need to get done.

 

At preschool I have been helping with the gingerbread houses. It is a three day process. They start with forms from small milk cartons - with special cuts and folds so the box is shaped like a house. Using frosting, the children glued them to a carboard base and then glued on gingerbread to the sides. After that had dried the kids decorated the roof. That was enough for one day. On days two and three they decorated (will decorate) the sides. Each side has something special - candy canes, a gingerbread man, a snowman and a Christmas tree. It has been a lot of fun helping.

 

I wrote up our Christmas idea lists. Rich was requested by my mother to write up his list early. His would usually like very obscure physics books that can only be found online or at a technical book store. I think the first year we were married my mom tried to find these at the mall Barnes and Noble. That was pretty funny. Mom now has discovered the technical book store in the Powells chain and is learning about Amazon and ordering online.

 

For some reason my family thinks they should argue with me about everything on my list. One year they seemed to feel the need to debate my request for a cape, last year they questioned my list to fill out our stainless service. I guess my family doesn't know me - I don't need or want much. I have loved capes - and I also have discovered that long wool coats do not last long with me - I rip them out in the shoulders after about two years. Last year was a doozy - they argued over my request for butter knives and cosmetics and skin care (I did spend time getting the exact colors I wanted, and products for my skin type). I was even offered by my mother some stuff that she had and didn't want anymore. I told her "if that is what you wish to give me, thank you." If there is arguing this year, I will pull out of the gift exchange. Or ask that they donate money in my name to a society for the prevention of tormentation of daughters.

 

One funny thing about our gift giving - beware if you ask for something, you may get a lot of it.  One year grandma asked for a plastic rainbonnet - she got one from everyone, including mom's cat. We gave her other things too. The next year she asked for vanilla and cinnamon. Not flavored candles or anything, but for cooking. Mom gave her a big ole quart of vanilla and I gave a Costco sized container of cinnamon. Mom has flossers on her list this year. I wonder how many packs fill a stocking?

 

Okay I got that demented part of Christmas out of my system.

 

Now we have the search for the cars for Carl. Last Christmas my Dad and Stepmom started Carl on the little Disney/Pixar metal Cars (from the movie). These have been great rewards throughout the year - they helped in toilet training and sleeping in his bed and other things. The problem is we have most of the cars. When we get all that I know of, Mattel and Disney release more. They are hard to find. To top it off, Mattel/Disney has released the old cars in new packaging (I think this is the third time for this.) Fortunately Carl doesn't care if they are "World of Cars" or "Supercharged." I am sure there are collectors out there that do care. I have learned more about the line of toys than I care too. I also had to explain to my son about Chinese imports, lead and why this happened (Sarge). So we have many cars on his list.

 

We do have some fun Christmas events coming - there is Breakfast with Santa at husbands office. There is also a Little Man and Mommy Dinner/Dance at our Rec Center. This is our second year for the dinner/dance. I am really looking forward to it.