Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Soup Night!

Okay, after a recent FaceBook poll convinced Karen to try cauliflower one more time for her health's sake, we decided to host Soup Night and make NPR's suggested cauliflower soup recipe!

Brian was our only friend brave enough (or crazy enough!) to navigate the roads for Soup Night since it's been snowing ALL DAY! (Anita, Kirsten, Julie, and "Other Brian"...eat your hearts out!)

Emeril's Senegalese Peanut Soup. (Mom, this one's for YOU! You slung a cravin' on me the other night!) You can find Chef Lagasse's recipe at http://bit.ly/4oQiri .

The cauliflower soup discussed on NPR the other day......get the recipe at http://bit.ly/6Vf3U5 .

Toasting the walnuts in the toaster oven for the Cauliflower Soup garnish...

May Bee took refuge from all the clanking of pots and pans...

...while Ben hovered around Brian, his new best friend.

Molly folded the napkins, dreading the cauliflower experience to come...

Two delicious soups. The cream of cauliflower soup is topped with brown butter, toasted walnuts, and tiny cauliflower florets "blanched in salt water." (Right. As if.)

Anticipation! Will Karen like it? Will she be able to swallow CAULIFLOWER?

Preparing to taste the first spoonful of Cauliflower Soup. Drum roll, please.

Okay! Here she goes!

It's IN! Cauliflower is now coating her taste buds with its cruciferous deliciousness!

RELIEVED! It's actually NOT as awful as expected!

Second bite! Look who's being so brave! (And setting a good example for her new granddaughter, Willow, making her way into the world AT THAT VERY MOMENT. Joelle was in labor throughout dinner, and Karen kept running to check her phone for baby updates. Soup Night was WAY more exciting as we all waited for incoming texts & calls!!)

Third bite...and no "Reversal of Fortune" so far...

In most pitiful Dickensian orphan voice: "Please, mum...may I have some more?"

Love those high-class foil bowls. (You can't hide money.)


The wreckage...

So, Soup Night may not have had lots of participants, but it was still judged to be a HUGE success. Plans are already in the works for next month...so...see you at Soup Night, January Edition! (BYOB!! Bring Your Own Bowl.)

Friday, December 25, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

And may God bless us, every one...


P.S. Thank you to Kirsten, photographer & Christmas card designer extraordinaire!

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Christmas card rejects!

Too blurry.
(HUGE dogfight right after this was snapped, btw.)

Too unruly!

Yikes. Ghost dog! Too scary.

Too smoky.

Hey, finally! A good one! Oh, wait...you can see the package of turkey hot dogs I was using to keep May Bee's attention.

Oh, cute! I'll use THIS one! Wait...hold on. On second thought,
that hot dog package could NOT be more unfortunately placed.


This reject has been so unanimously popular,
it might actually make it onto the card.


That third cup of nog was a mistake.


CUTE! Oh, wait. The stupid hot dog package ruins yet another photo. (Maybe I should put the hot dog bites in my mouth, like the dog trainers in the movie Best in Show!)


WRONG!!!! This will NOT be on anyone's Christmas card.
(This one made Karen laugh hysterically as she tried to sputter, "CANIS!" Remember the SNL commercial for a cologne called Canis? No? Good.)


Argh. May Bee! Quit obsessing with the stupid hot dogs!
They're TURKEY dogs, anyway.


"Okay. Let's call it a wrap. May Bee just ate the ball off the Santa hat."