holiday party

People in my department are so busy that we just don't have time to do much other than work. When I first got here last June, there was a potluck--mostly for our student assistants--to mark the end of the school year and graduation. Since then, there hasn't been anything.

When December came and I was beginning to get into holiday mode, I was hearing other departments plan holiday parties, but not a peep from my department. Just when I thought we weren't going to have a celebration, a co-worker mentioned that our other co-worker was leaving soon for her year-long leave of absence and there was no plan for a send-off. So, I volunteered to organize the potluck and turned it into a combination holiday and going-away party.

Here are some pictures of the spread. We had some great food. By special request, I made pumpkin swirl cake again. It turned out so much prettier baked on the cookie sheet.

Unfortunately, people didn't really linger for long--everyone's just too busy--but at least, we got to gather and celebrate and be festive, even if only for a little while.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

For the longest time, my sister used these red wooden beads to decorate her tree. We had gotten these years ago from our sister-in-law whose office was getting rid of them. This year, my sister decided that she was sick of them. So, I took them to work and decided to make my workspace festive.

I hung them around my cubicle entry, and lent some to my friends so they can decorate, too. While they looked cute by themselves, they actually didn't look that festive. I figured they needed stuff to hang onto them, and I thought I'd make paper ornaments and/or snowflakes.

Well, that same afternoon, my friend, Susan, and I took a little break and walked around campus. On the way back, we saw these liquidambar trees (I thought they were maple) with these dried spiky fruits hanging on them. And I thought these would be light enough to hang on to the beads (which in turn were only being supported by pushpins). Susan actually spied some fruits that were not dried up, and they had green and red hues. Perfect! Though these ones were heavier than the dried ones, they looked so much more festive and went much better with the beads. So up they went.

wednesdays are for cooking

Since my sister is now back in the work force, we no longer have the luxury of planned out, home-cooked meals; instead, we have divvied up the work week. My sister is in charge of dinner on Mondays and Thursdays, while my brother-in-law has Tuesdays and Fridays. I have Wednesdays.

I haven't really been cooking much the last couple of years, so my cooking is definitely rusty. But I figured I should take this as an opportunity to brush up on my cooking skills and cook new stuff. I can't say that I've really succeeded.

On December 3rd, I made teriyaki chicken. Both my niece and nephew like teriyaki chicken, so I figured this would be a good dish to try and make. I had actually planned on making this much earlier, but it took me a while to get the mirin and the sake needed for the recipe. So, here's how my dish came out.

It was okay (my sister said it was good), but it tasted nothing like teriyaki chicken in restaurants. As you can see, it looks a bit dry. I think I was waiting for the sauce to look like the restaurant sauce, so I may have overcooked the chicken. Oh well. I may just have to leave this dish to the restaurants, unless I find another recipe to try.

On December 10th, I stuck with the more familiar. I made Filipino bistek and my version of shrimp tempura. I'm actually not that good at making bistek, but this turned out quite good.

As for my tempura, I've made this a lot of times, though not lately (maybe years?). I was going to try to actually make it the Japanese way, but I was too lazy to butterfly the shrimp and everything. So, I just did it my way. This was good, though I think there wasn't enough shrimp. My sister can be such a glutton when it comes to seafood--she could have eaten the whole thing. But i guess it's just as well there wasn't more. All that flour and oil isn't good for us, especially since the bistek also had oil. And, of course, we ate all that rice to go with them.

This has been about it for my non-dessert cooking. Can't say that I've really been too successful. Oh well...

good deal

I get to work by vanpool, and we meet up at a Kmart parking lot. On Friday, the week after Thanksgiving, I got to the parking lot and smelled barbeque. Well, when we got back in the afternoon, it turns out that this company sells smoked meats there on weekends. (They begin smoking the meat at dawn so that they could begin serving at lunch.) I love bbq, so I just had to try some.

I wanted baby back ribs, but they were out of it. So, I got two orders of spareribs instead. However, because it was already 6pm, their closing time, I got a good deal. One order (half-rack) is supposed to be $8 (I think), but I got 2 whole racks plus half a chicken for for $12. The meat (though not the chicken) was definitely fall-of-the-bone soft, and the sauce was yummy. I totally scored!

thanksgiving cooking

Thanksgiving has never really been a big deal to me. I think it's because it's an American holiday, so it wasn't something I grew up with. This wasn't something we celebrated when I was little and living in the Philippines. And, once here in the US, I often lived away from home, and it made no sense--time-wise and money-wise--to go home for Thanksgiving when I was going to go home a couple of weeks later for an extended Christmas vacation anyway. (Plus, the Thanksgiving break has always been a good time to catch up on school and/or work.)

This year, I'm actually living close to family, and I still didn't celebrate Thanksgiving. My mom went off with her sisters to vegas, while my sister and her family went to her sister-in-law's. Though my sister invited me, I preferred having the house to myself instead.

I did try to get into Thanksgiving mode by doing some cooking. On Thanksgiving evening, I made bourbon pumpkin cheesecake (again with the pumpkin. lol). Actually, I used Jack Daniel's instead of bourbon, so maybe it should be just be called whiskey pumpkin cheesecake (hmm... that doesn't quite have the same ring to it.) Everything was made from scratch, including the crust.

I didn't realize how long it takes to make a cheesecake. I first had to make the crust (by grinding graham crackers and pecans and mixing these with brown sugar and butter). After forming the crust, I had to chill it for an hour before I can pour in the cheesecake mixture. I then had to bake it for about an hour.

I then had to take it out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes, while I made the sour cream topping. After putting the topping and more pecans, it was back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Then, it had to be cooled for 3 hours. By that time it was 11pm, and it still had to be chilled for at least 4 hours. So I couldn't even eat my creation on Thanksgiving. It wasn't until after lunch the next day that we got to eat the final product.

This was really good. My nephew, who loves cheesecake--but only the plain kind, loved it. He even said that he'd give me $5 to make it again. Everyone else liked it, too. We finished this in 2 days.

That friday, I also decided to make mushroomkopita (like spanakopita, but with mushrooms instead of spinach). I've made this before, but with intervals of years in between. (I probably last made it over 10 years ago.) Each time I make it, I remember why: working with phyllo dough can be difficult and is a lot of work--what with the buttering of each layer and all. Here's how they looked before baked them:

Here are the finished products. They were crunchy and tasty. Even the kids liked it. They're probably not that good for you, though, with all that butter. Good thing I only make them every few years.

more pumpkin

On November 12, I continued with my pumpkin theme and made pumpkin swirl brownies. I'm not so sure about this recipe. It turned out good, but not great. There definitely wasn't enough brownie to it. My sister and my niece were only eating the sides, which had more of the brownie part, and I was left to eat the more pumpkin-y middle.

I'm not sure if this would be better if baked in a smaller container, so that the brownie part would be thicker. but then again, that would also make the pumpkin thicker. I think the recipe just calls for too much pumpkin in it. Maybe if i double the brownie part. Hmm...

pumpkin fever

Ever since I baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from Sharon's recipe, I've really been in the baking mood. And, since it's fall, I've especially been in the pumpkin-baking mood.

It was easy to decide to bake the aforementioned cookies, since the name alone sounded good, and all I had to do was ask for the recipe. It's been a lot harder trying to find other recipes on my own. Pumpkin pie is out since I'm actually not a big fan. I really should have already made pumpkin cheesecake but I haven't.

Today, I finally baked something with pumpkin. I made pumpkin swirl bars. I found the recipe a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to making it. But I finally found the time today.

I asked my niece to see if we had all the ingredients on hand, and she said we did. When I finally started baking, I found out that we did not have the right amount of cream cheese. So, I had to go to the store to get some since I already started mixing some of the stuff. (It gave me an excuse to do a couple of my other errands, too.)

I messed up when I was doing this because I didn't soften the cream cheese before mixing it. I eventually had to microwave it a little.

The recipe said that it should be baked in a jelly roll pan. I don't know about that. I think it would have been better if it was in a larger cookie sheet, as that would have made for thinner bars and perhaps, the swirls would have turned out better.

The recipe didn't call for chocolate chips, but I added some on top anyway. (Gotta have the chocolate.) I think it turned out good. The pumpkin part was certainly good, and the chocolate chips were good additions. I'm not so sure about the cream cheese part, though. I think if it had been spread out more (as it would be if baked on a cookie sheet), then there wouldn't be the cream cheese chunks. I would definitely have to remember that next time...