christmas tunes
i decided to just tweak last year’s Christmas mix since I like most of what I put on there + couldn’t bear to simply choose different songs. here’s this year’s version of “tidings of comfort + joy”
O Come O Come Emmanuel Sufjan Stevens
Silent Night Joan Osborne
Joy to the World Sufjan Stevens
Holy, Holy, Holy Sufjan Stevens (totally not a Christmas song, but I don’t care!)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Barenaked Ladies feat. Sarah McLachlan
Mele Kalikimaka Bing Crosby
Sleigh Ride Ella Fitzgerald
Home for the Holidays Perry Como
Baby its Cold Outside Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan
Feliz Navidad Jose Feliciano
Christmas is All Around Love Actually
Last Christmas Jimmy Eat World
All I Want for Christmas is You Love Actually
Maybe this Christmas Ron Sexsmith
All that I Want The Weepies
Santa Baby Eartha Kitt (yes, this goes against my previous objections to this song, but its a new day I guess)
Mistletoe Colbie Calliet
Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year Andy Williams
I’ve Got My Love to Keep me Warm Frank Sinatra
All My Bells are Ringing Lenka
Christmas Wrapping The Waitresses
happy birthday hibachi-style
Our family seems to have a ton of birthdays from the end of Nov. to the end of Dec., so this past weekend we celebrated four of them: Brian (bro-in-law), Gail (my mom), Kevin (my step-dad) and Josh. In addition to a trip to the Mall of America (on a Saturday near Christmas no less), swedish pancakes for Saturday breakfast, watching the four dogs run around together, an impromptu stop at karaoke, a morning of volunteering at church and a cookie exchange we tried a new japanese steakhouse for the birthday meal. After a less than fabulous trip to Sawa Japan two months ago, I wasn’t excited about trying a new teppanyaki place, let alone one in a strip mall in Roseville. But, Josh and Alison told me to keep an open mind and the 15% coupon didn’t hurt, so I agreed with some reservation about just how good of a birthday-celebration meal this was going to be.
Boy was I wrong!
It was busy when we arrived and the new + minimalist decor was a nice change over the old-school feel of a place like ichiban. It was nice to see that the prices were about $5 less per hibachi entree and it was wonderful that they let Brian order off the menu while the rest of us had teppanyaki (its not as exciting for a vegetarian to eat that kind of food when you watch your veggies being cooked on the same griddle as the steak! They also let Alison and I order sushi and the california rolls were a great appetizer. Ah, I don’t have sushi often enough these days! We all got soup as part of our meal and normally I pass on the soup since it usually tastes like bath water with mushrooms, but this time I was a little sad I had already passed it along to Alison as the taste I had of Josh’s showed that the soup was a very nice onion-y broth.
By the time our chef had joined the table we were already chatting with our table-mates, an older couple out on a date. Let’s just say that by the end of the evening, mom had their email address and there were handshakes and I believe a few hugs passed along as we left. Yeah, it was that kind of night.
Our waitress and chef were really nice + as usual we were thoroughly entertained by the amazing knife skills + artistry that makes teppanyaki so much fun! It was a different “show” than we have gotten at Ichiban, so it was fun to see things that were new as well. Two additions: a plastic bottle full of sake that our chef would squirt across the table into the mouth of any willing guest. Its pretty hilarious to watch your mom getting sake splashed all over her face. I unfortunately closed my eyes when it was my turn and accidently turned my head – I ended up with a bit of a sake bath but it made for a big laugh. The second group participation came when our chef tossed shrimp in the air for us to catch in our mouths – we had quite a few takers at our table (I opted out that time since I lack the skill) and Josh was successful in his attempt. Our entire table was cheering for everything and I could sense the looks of envy from other tables – we were seriously bringing the fun. :) Or they were giving us looks indicating they thought we were crazy. Whatever. we were definitely enjoying ourselves.
Alison let them know we were celebrating 4 birthdays and at the end of the meal all of the sudden this strobe light came on along with a bouncing “happy birthday” song – the host and waitress brought out these giant bobblehead masks for the birthday people and a special dessert for each one. It was both super creepy and AMAZING! We got our picture taken for their wall of celebration and the birthday boys and girl got to sign their name – if you check out Osaka in Roseville, we are the pic with the 4 birthday bobbleheads!
Again – more stares at us as we clapped and cheered during the birthday song in the other room and as we left, practically skipping out with excitement over our fun night. Alison even told the hostess + manager that she’s been to a lot of teppanyaki places and this one is definitely the BEST.
birthday bobbleheads
our new friends
second sunday in advent
God of the seasons,
God of the years,
God of the eons,
Alpha and Omega,
before us and after us.
You promise and we wait:
We wait with eager longing,
We wait amid doubt and anxiety,
We wait with patience thin
And then doubt,
And then we take life into our own hands.
We wait because you are the one and the only one
We wait for your peace and your mercy,
For your justice and your good rule
Give us your spirit that we may wait
Obediently and with discernment,
Caringly and without passivity,
Trustingly and without cynicism,
Honestly and without utopianism
prayer by walter brueggemann
birthday girl
happy birthday to my mom…
so glad she lives in Minnesota now and we can celebrate her birthday in a couple of days with a fun weekend in the Cities.
love you!
new recipes: the thanksgiving edition
I often break the adage not to try new recipes at events just in case they don’t turn out, but its not as much fun to make a big recipe for just Josh and I to try. So, my guinea pigs end of being family and friends that we share meals with. This Thanksgiving was no exception as I tried making stuffing from scratch (super duper easy for this traditional staple) and tweaked my regular egg bake. I would change a couple of things for next time (the stuffing recipe fed 10 people, so if you have a bigger party or want leftovers, make a bigger batch; plus, I would cut the bread a little smaller, but the changes for items are made below):
Bread Stuffing
Ingredients
2 (1 pound) loaves French bread
1 cup butter
2 yellow onion, chopped
8 stalks celery, chopped
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste (I prefer sea salt and a pepper grinder)
2 cups chicken broth
Directions
Let bread air dry for 1 to 2 hours, then cut into cubes about the size of regular dice.
In large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onion and celery until soft. Season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir in bread cubes until evenly coated. Moisten with chicken broth; mix well.
Chill, and bake in a buttered casserole dish at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.
Sausage & Egg Strata
Ingredients
2 pounds ground pork sausage (hot)
2 teaspoons mustard powder (or yellow mustard if necessary)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
10 eggs, beaten
4 cups milk
1 large loaf french bread, toasted and cut into cubes
1 pound mild Cheddar cheese, shredded
Onions, peppers, mushrooms or other desired veggies (optional)
Butter or pam for sautéing veggies (optional)
Directions
Crumble sausage into a medium skillet. Cook over medium heat until evenly brown; drain well.
If using veggies, sauté in medium skillet until slightly tender but still crisp. Combine with sausage.
In a medium bowl, mix together mustard powder, salt, pepper, onion powder, eggs and milk. Add the sausage, optional veggies, bread cubes, and cheese, and stir to coat evenly.
Pour into a greased 9×13 inch baking dish. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover, and bake 45 to 60 minutes. Uncover, and reduce temperature to 325 degrees F Bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until set. Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.
the first sunday in advent
what a great transition from snarky un-motivational posters to the journey of advent, but that’s the blogging reality here today….
Today marks the start of Advent – the four week period in the Christian church leading up to Christmas. Its a time set aside to wait for the birth of Christ, a time of preparation, of anticipation. But it can be tricky this time of year – we cram it full of things, often good things like holiday concerts and meals, trips and wrapping gifts. We fill our December so full that its hard to be patient and wait, to consider on November 29th that we have something wonderful to celebrate in the next 4 weeks. After all there are cards to write, cookies to bake, menus to plan, family events to orchestrate.
“American culture gives us lots of cues about how to live inside time…we are told, by advertisements and by our Blackberries, to squeeze time dry, to use it well, to maximize it. The church tells us a different story about time – it is God’s and there is enough of it, more than enough. The church’s narrative about time is never clearer than during Advent, when we are invited to spend our time very foolishly indeed. We are invited to wait. Just to wait”…Lauren Winner
But this Advent, I want to invite you to enter into December in a different way – one marked by waiting, expectantly waiting for the birth of Christ. Perhaps that means we par down the calendar a little – take one more “should” off the list and replace it with nothing more than taking a deep breath, uttering a prayer or two of hopefulness and gratitude. Perhaps that means we shift our focus a bit from the task list to the real task at hand during Advent: focusing on the fact that God (the one who created the heavens and the earth) decided to establish a relationship with us by becoming human.
I look forward to this Advent as I do the others, because it is in part another chance to pause and listen, to play and rejoice, to be filled with wonder and the anticipation that only these weeks can bring. I hope the next four weeks will be a time of joy for you as well.
May God bless you this Advent…
for the workplace
my brother in law reminded me of these funny anti-motivational pictures at despair, inc. while we were visiting him in Chicago – they are a satire of the actual motivational posters that you often see in cubicles…thought I would post a few of my “favorites” for a little post-thanksgiving silliness…
Tradition: just because you’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean its not incredibly stupid.
Blogging: never before have so many people had so little to say said so much to so few.
Consulting: If you’re not part of the solution, there’s good money to be made in prolonging the problem.
Dysfunction: the only consistent feature of all of your disastifying relationships is you.
Goals: It’s best to avoid standing directly between a competitive jerk and his goals.
Individuality: always remember that you are unique. Just like everybody else.
Potential: not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up.
a little thanksgiving humor
this thanksgiving it is good to give thanks and be grateful – because I am grateful for family + friends, our silly puppies, for health and home, for work and opportunities to play, for our faith community and circles of facebook friends.
this thanksgiving it is also good to be silly and sarcastic (sometimes!) and laugh…for a few laughs on this Thanksgiving day:
droid
on Friday night I was beginning to feel a little better – or at least was willing to attempt a trip outside (my first in days) to go look at new phones. I’ve been eyeing smartphones for a while and if we were willing to switch to AT&T our decision would have been easy with the iphone. However, we like Verizon and were put off by some of the carrier problems that AT&T seems to have. So, I checked out blackberrys but don’t like the tiny keyboards and other smartphones (but wanted more than some of them were offering)…at last I decided on the new Motorola Droid and after a long visit at the Verizon store I left with my shiny new phone:
I’m quite fond of this new phone…I love that its bigger than my current enV and even more so I love that with the Android operating system I have quick access to email and the web – fast browser speeds…I’m happy to have a full sized keyboard as an option and think its fabulously fun to have a video camera (downside: the regular camera has such a lag time that its a big disappointment – hopefully something they’ll fix for the second generation version), a gps navigator and love that it tells me when i have email + twitter updates in a computerized voice saying “DROID”…normally i check email more than a person should, but just in the 2 days that I’ve had the phone I’ve found it nice to know i don’t have to constantly check my email…I just do the rest of life and if my phone says “DROID” then i can check it if I want to. Super fun!
Josh was hoping to get one too, but the silly family plan only lets us upgrade one ahead of our schedule date, so Josh had the choice of either paying $70 extra or waiting 2 more months. Needless to say he is waiting until January 5, but also isn’t wasting any opportunities reminding me how lucky I am to have a new, fun phone. 
grump
warning: these are the rambling crabby thoughts by a girl who is sick, but really not sick enough for this kind of rant…you might want to find something more uplifting and less whiney to read. just know, you’ve been warned.
i’ve been diligent about germs lately – no shaking hands, avoiding places where people were obviously sick, using hand sanitizer like it was going out of style. I’m never around kids, don’t live in a dorm, work out of my home + rarely get sick anyway. All that to say that yesterday morning I awoke to the flu…not the H1N1 version (I think) since I don’t have that many symptoms, but I am still ache-y + headache-y, congested + weak.
I will admit it – I am not a great sick person…yes, I know people who have been and are dealing with illness more severe than I have ever had to deal with – and I know better than to be a grump with those folks about my own aches and pains. That said, in my own home, when I am tossing and turning with no real sleep in sight and a mess of flu-ness, I am a pathetic being indeed. I text Josh a lot, asking him when he’s coming home – I look to Bex + Lucy for some kind of dog comfort, and I mostly sit here and feel sorry for myself. i watch stupid reruns of One Tree Hill and 90210 (and they are currently playing the irritating episodes with crazy Emily Valentine).
I am tired of all my usual time-wasters…those things I love to do when I actually don’t have the time to do them…i don’t want to play WordWorm on my iPod, i don’t want to be on facebook, i don’t want to take a nap. seems the only thing i found tonight that makes me marginally happy are reruns of Funniest Home Videos – for some reason watching people fall down and dogs run on ice helps me escape to a happy place and I’m not ashamed to thank ABC Family for giving me a few moments where I am not Little Miss Grumpy…oh, and a reminder that we will never own a large trampoline.
its me…
conveyor-belt sushi restaurants.
ministry life and worship songs.
beautiful cake platters.
silly bex and lucy.
life as a 30-something married lady who loves to sing karaoke.
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