thanksgiving aftermath

since mini and her best friend from college did all the cooking for thanksgiving this time 'round, i thought i'd have time to shoot some shots o' diners who share my DNA all dressed up 'n sitting around my beautifully set table delightfully devouring mini's perfectly prepared offerings while enjoin' my excellent hostessin' skills. i would then share my inspirin' snaps with you just like those who blog beautiful do on a daily basis. as you can see, things didn't work out the way i hoped.

our gathering to give thanks was bumpy from the beginnin'...one group arrived waaay too early, another waaay too late and someone got called away to tend a slight emergency. when everyone was finally seated and appeared to be sufficiently thankful i decided i could begin to properly document the day. i picked up my camera and focused on the head o' the table where my aunt of eighty-eight was seated. i commanded her to 'smile' but instead o' doin so, her eyes rolled back in their hallow sockets and her boney hands went into fierce fists that flew up in the air as she slid down lower 'n lower until she completely vanished under the table. there she joined her granddaughter who had disappeared under the tablecloth upon arrival and refused to reappear unless she was given permission to sleep over.

my aunt's two sons immediately went under and began arguin' over what to do while the four year old screamed for them to all get outta' her 'club house'. our dining room table is very long and the guests toward the other end seemed unaware o' the chaos down below 'cause they just kept on eatin' 'n chattin'. thankfully mini's daddy had eyed the commotion between bites o' mini's tantalizing turkey and managed to dial 911 without ever havin' to put his fork down. within minutes a dashing and well equipped duo darted through the dining room door and ducked into the darkness to rescue my aunt from her sons and grandchild. the duo declared her far from death's door and drove her away with her immediate family - minus the granddaughter - closely following. assuming being left behind meant she had finally gotten her way, our youngest guest climbed into her grandmother's vacant chair at the head o' the table.

when the only guest remaining was the one who refused to leave i decided to peek into the kitchen to see the damage done by mini's day o' cookin'. my mini has always been a messy chef so i didn't expect to blinded by sparkling' clean countertops but what i found was beyond what i could have ever imagined. i do believe this thanksgiving meal preparation puts her at a whole new level - a level few could (or would want to ) compete with. i've always told her that whatever she decided to do, she needed to attempt to do better than anybody else. i'm not sure if you can tell from these photos but i can't imagine ANYBODY doin' this mess better. havin' failed to get beautiful pictures o' our thanksgiving celebration i shot the the aftermath so i'd have somethin'. not quite the pretty pictures i had in mind and certainly not inspirin'…but DEFINITELY entertaining'.

those who blog beautiful would surely shun such a showing. maybe i'll have better luck with the next holiday - maybe not. either way i'll keep trying.

my aunt is fine now. seems she hadn't eaten all day in anticipation of mini's cooking' and fainted. i'll get a good shot o' her at the head of the table next thanksgiving.

i hope your holidays are comin' along exactly like you wanted them to .

xxoxoxoxmo

mini's marvelous minty morsels

i love brownies and it may be 'cause i was born in bangor, maine where supposedly the delicious chocolate treat was invented accidently.

my mom told me that a bangor housewife named betina brown baked a chocolate cake for her husband benjamin brown's brother bob's birthday. seems betina botched up somethin' while bakin' and her plans for a beautiful birthday bundt failed. instead she had something much denser 'n flatter than a cake but taller 'n less cripsy than a cookie.

since benjamin would be bringin' the birthday boy, his brother bob, to their abode before she ould bake another bundt, betina decided to go on and ice the flat cake, cut it into squares 'n serve 'em up on a platter with a big candle pokin' out from the one on top.

betina's accident was a huge success with bob 'n bejamin 'n from that point on betina's 'brownie' was what all members o' the brown family requested for their birthday treat. in no time the betina's brownie started appearin' at everything from birthdays to barmitvahs across the country and quickly became a traditional american desired dessert.

though i am not sure who invented them, i also love junior mints ....mostly eaten in the dark o' a movie theatre but mini's daddy always jams a couple o' boxes in my christmas stockin' so i like eatin' 'em surrounded by ripped up wrappin' paper piles too.

always aimin' to bribe me with her bakin' talents n' aware of my love of chocolate brownies 'n junior mints, mini started bakin' me what she called junior mint brownies not long after her bakin' carreer began. she'd stir up a box o' her favorite brownie mix in two pans and once right outta the oven, she'd dumb boxes o' junior mints on top o' one and then place the layer from the other pan on top, wait just a few minutes for a lil meltin' to take place and then put the whole shabang in the fridge. the result was so delicious she was banned from bakin' them too often.

over the years she has perfected her minty brownie recipe and it is too good not to share with you. it's perfect for all celebrations as the minty layer can be made any color with a bit o' food colorin'.

for the brownies:
use your favorite brownie recipe or even bake up a batch from a box. the ones i like best are dense and fudgy. mini uses her cream cheese brownie recipe most often and you can find oodles o' those online. mini lines her brownie pans with foil - one piece arcoss the bottom n' up the sides one way n' another piece the other way. she then pops 'em in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the brownies start to pull away from the sides n' the edges just begin to brown. if you poke a toothpick in the center it will come out just about clean. when all that happens, she takes 'em outta the oven n' puts the pan on a wire rack to cool. they will stay in the pan until they are ready to cut n' serve.

once you've baked the batch o' brownies, it's time to concoct the marvelous minty layer:
you're gonna need....
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract or 1-2 tablespoons creme de menthe
your choice o' food colorin'

dump everything but the food colorin' of your choice into a bowl....with an electric mixer , beat all the ingredients until smooth. NOW a few drops of food coloring n' swirl around 'til you are happy with the result. if the frosting is too thick, add a little extra cream - it needs to be just thick but thin enough to spread...now spread it evenly over your COOLED brownie layer and put in the refrigerator until firm...this should take about 10 minutes...just enough time for you to make the glaze!

the chocolate glaze:
for the glorious glaze you'll need...
4 oz Semisweet Chocolate
1/4 cup Heavy Cream

this time you'll need a heatproof bowl...dump your chopped chocolate 'n butter in it and melt 'em over pan of simmerin' water n' the whisk until creamy smooth...then spread it over the minty layered brownies and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

and finally...they are ready to serve!
to remove the brownies from the pan, just lift ends of the foil and transfer the whole shabang to a cutting board. cut into lil squares with your sharpest knife, wipin' the blade with a damp cloth between cuts. if you don't eat them all within the hour, you can store them in the fridge or even freeze 'em. but be aware that freezin' 'em won't keep you from eatin' 'em...i have tried that thinkin' it would make it harder for me to gobble them down...but they are just as easy to eat frozen!

if you bake up a batch o' these delicious desserts, please take a picture n' send it to me along with how long it took for them to disappear! and if you are new to my blog n' like chocolate chip cookies, please give mini's recipe a try....you can find it here!

fire fightin

i had my sunday all planned out...i have a number o big doo dad doins i have been workin on for almost a year and that are just about ready to upload for delivery via download. i thought that before i sat down and started the finishin i would get up bright and early and don my lovely gardenin clothes and travel the whole property to snatch up all the flowers in bloom to fill every room o the house. i had no sooner got a good start on the snippin when i heard quite a commotion comin from the house. it was in spanish which meant it was marina - the housekeeper that is so bad at anything havin to do with keepin house that i have her work only when i know i am around to make sure she doesn't do anything that is too damagin. i should'a let her go as soon as i realized she had chosen the wrong profession which was soon into the first hour of her first day...but cause she has four lil boys under the age of 4 and a husband who has been missin in action shortly after number four arrived, i keep puttin it off.

before i could work up into a sprint to see what was up, mini was yellin for me to come quick cause the kitchen was on fire. seems she had decided to make me my favorite childhood breakfast - toast with lots o butter smothered in cinnamon and sugar, cooked on my mom's oldest cookie sheet in the oven usin the broil setting. i had just last night been tellin mini how we never had a toaster growin up and this is how we always made our toast. mini wakin up and settin about makin this for me was quite touchin...only problem was that it seems the oven had not been cleaned out in a while and all that butter and sugar turned to big ol flames when it hit the bottom.

this wasn't any lil ol fire - there were the biggest flames i have ever seen in person, pourin outta the lower oven. i needed to find the fire extinguisher fast....BUT...if you have been a reader o this blog for a while, you might recall that fire extinguishers have been a problem in my marriage since the very beginnin. mini's daddy, mr. safety first, likes to have one or two in every room - dependin on the quantity rec'ommeded in one o his safety books, per square footage of the room and feels they should be prominently displayed as if they were some object of art. i, on the other hand, agree that there should be the presence of the rec'ommended safety equipment but prefer it tucked away until it is needed for whatever emergency pops up. it was never my intention to HIDE the fire extinguishers so well that they could never be uncovered...but it seems that after 14 years o him draggin em out and placin em where he thought they should be and then me followin closely behind to put them someplace a bit more outta sight, my hidin places had gotten further and further away from where they might be needed for fetchin in time to do any good.

i must say it seemed to take me forever to remember where the ones for the kitchen were....as i watched those flames gettin bigger and bigger....i was tempted to pitch some water on em but i remembered there was some kitchen type fire that this was bad for but couldn't recall if this was it or not....all the while, mini and marina just stood there waitin for my super hero skills to kick in and for me to perform. i was relieved when i finally got my hands on that ugly bright red thing i had come to view as a menace to my marriage....but now the problem was...all those times i had moved em to and fro, i had never once bothered to read the instructions for makin one work! maybe it's cause i was always in such a hurry so i wouldn't bein caught tuckin em away...whatever the excuse, i was sorry now and even sorrier that i had my sun deflectin peepers on and had no way of readin words appearin at anything less than about a foot tall which meant even the lil pictures of how to use it didn't help. but thankfully, by some incredible miracle, marina, who up til that point could speak or read absolutely no english, was granted by some divine intervention the ability to read them to me in perfect english! my first attempt at pullin the handle resulted in sprayin my feet with the powdery stuff but my second was quite successful and within seconds the danger was gone and we were left with just a room full o smoke.

i will try again in the mornin to fill the house with flowers - for now my family will just have to settle for the scent of burned cinnamon toast and whatever chemicals are in those bright red canisters i never appreciated enough. i went through every room and figured out where my current hidin places for all of em were and moved em a bit further into sight in case somethin like this ever happens again....and i will now have this added to the list o things mini's daddy uses to poke fun at me. i even had mini take this picture of me to frame, holdin one o the damn things, and put it on his desk to let him know he had been right all along. unfortunately, whatever miracle occurred that allowed marina to read and speak perfect english was short lived as the rest o the day she was unable to understand anything i said to her.

i also realized it may just be time for me to sign up for some class on safety and first aid.....the one i had in bluebirds when i was in the first grade was quite good but this experience made me realize it might be time for a refresher course....hmmm...seems i can hear my family callin for me to don my super cape again to help with yet one more disaster...this one appears to involve that damn squirrel! sigh...i'll go on and get this round blogged up. hopefully
i'll get goin on the doo dad designin soon...thanks for stoppin by again to see what's been goin on in my life... i hope your sunday has been much less excitin than ours!

mini mo's sugar baby brownies versus wacom's intuos 3

sorry it has taken me so very long to get this first ever product review up and blogged. i promise it wasn't so i could see how many of you poked your heads in for just that .53 minute to see if it had indeed appeared only to click on the little 'return' arrow to leave in a huff when only the same ol' stuff popped up on your screen.

one of the reasons it took so long was that i had promised mini mo that she could do the work to prepare for the baking portion of the first ever product review and she had trouble fittin' me in to her new schedule. overnight, the mini mo i have known and adored up and left and in her place appeared a daughter i am having to familiarize myself with and i've been a little hesitant to use that stern mean mother voice i have perfected over the last 12 and a half years with the new girl. but the body snatcher finally pulled herself away from the mirror and yanked off her ipod long enough to whip up the necessary goods.

i started considerin' the wacom tablet not long after i first started doing daily digital doo dads for delivery via download. i had never used the png format before and i was certainly fooled by what DIDN'T appear on the screen! i had no idea that the were oodles of pixels i was just GIVIN' away - not charging a cent extra for them! who knew that they were there, lurking behind all that see-thru area? i didn't. add to that the fact that i was long overdue for a new prescription for my blue cat eye rhinestone decorated fancy glasses and you've got a recipe for the thing a digital doo dadder dreads most - a COMPLAINT! oh my - before this any complaining about me or something i'd done had been behind my back so this was new for me and was a dire day for this digital designer.

i removed the free pixels from my doo dads but just the thought of it makes me delirious - all those serious scrap bookers saying i sent them second quality stuff. i am certainly thankful they gave me another chance! how horrible it would be to make digital doo dads and there be no one to deliver them to via download! shortly after these dubious day, i got my new glasses prescription (as well as replacement rhinestones for the ones that were knocked out during one of my rougher garage sale escapades) and a big ol' 30 inch digital screen which helped quite a bit. but there had to be a better way to get all those petite pixels to leave my screen!

around this time, there was quite a bit of chit chat among digital doo dad designers about the different wacoms and if newer was better or payin' a hundred dollars for the top of the line was worth the money blah blah blah. it was then that i realized i must be the only livin' human that spends as many hours as i do in front of a screen still pushing around a little mouse and NOT using a wacom.

as you might be able to see in the photo under all the necessary testin' materials, the first ever mo product review pitted three different wacom tablets against each other. they were the oldest one i could find in the computer cemetery but that would still attach via usb and two brand spanking new ones i discovered in mini mo's stash. i call this area 'the many things my father has purchased for me but i have yet to get around to using'. this discovery was a bit upsettin' to me since i have deliberated long and hard over which wacom tablet would be best for designing my digital doo dads and damn it if the dad hadn't already delivered the daughter a duo while i was dithering over which one would do best for doo dads!

which one did i like the best? well, first let me say they all passed with flyin' colors - at least for the things i needed them to do, but the one i'll be keeping around is the wacom intuos 3. as for the oldest one (a intuos 2 i think) and the newest lower range wacom (the just plain wacom) - well, there wasn't much difference between the two of them to speak of. so all of you who have said there was no need to be spending your hard earned money on a newer model until your old one dies - well, you have been right in your thinking. but when it does come time to retire that beloved first one, you just gotta dig up the extra hundred or so the intuos 3 costs because it works a zillion times better than the one you're scooting your pen across presently.

forget all the PR about the added buttons etc. etc. on the intuos 3 - it's just worth the extra money for the way the thing works before i even discovered those. and i don't know about you but i haven't exercised my hand writing muscles much over the last couple of years and when i held that pen my hand got so tired it was slowing down the doo dad production. but there's SOMETHING about the pen from the expensive model that keeps that from happening. i can't see the difference and even had a parade of mini mo's hip huggin' jean attired, ipodded, mirror staring friends inspect it and no one could figure out what makes it FEEL better in your hand but it sure does.

the only thing i don't like about any of wacoms is the more PC like way the mouse has all those clicky areas - they work great and a hard core PCer won't complain - but as a die hard mac-er, i am having a time getting used to extra clickers.

if you are a lefty but use the mouse right-handed, like i do, there is an added bonus and some bad news.i am now a double fisted doo dadder with the pen in one hand and the mouse in the other and have found my doo dad production just humming along. the bad part is those pesky buttons on the left side get in the way and make my work zoom off to infinity - so if you are of the age where you learned to write with your left hand upside down, you might want to tape over those buttons before you get started.

and for those of you who read all the directions from the first word to the last and set up all the fancy bells and whistles right away, you'll be even more delighted with this digital dynamite. for me, if all it had was that good feelin' pen and the tablet, i'd still think it was worth the money to have the better model.

now, those of you who are very neat and organized with lots of rules about how you take care of your equipment stop reading now...go on...nothing else here will benefit you.

okay - for all us others who can pretty much confess to doing a little of everything in front of the computer, let me say you are safe with any of these models. they all can crash to the floor from pretty high up and they'll just keep right on working. they are sturdy enough to use sort of like a tray to carry a number of things away from where you're working - like if your dirty dishes have piled too high in front of the screen to have a place for your keyboard. best of all is they clean up really nice and easy. as you can see from the picture taken in the mo lab during the test, i tried eating just about everything you might crave while sitting in front of your screen to see if the wacom could hold up to what's dropped on 'em. that's where mini mo's incredible bakin' skills really came in handy. her sugar baby, caramel and marshmallow topped brownies are to die for and were perfect for testing out different cleaning techniques on the wacoms. they all wiped off with either a dry or damp cloth like a dream. it was a little harder with the intuos 3 to get melted caramel or pixie stick bits out of of those buttons on the sides. but still, it's worth the extra little bit of work in my opinion. and ya' know, i found they all work almost as well with the caramel still on them.

so that's about it. if you need a little bit more 'mo' type info on these, feel free email me at mojackson@mac.com. i'd be happy to help you out. if you need more technical type info, go to the wacom site for that. and if there's any interest in mini mo's mega cinabuns, sugar baby brownies or her incredible oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, i'll have her blog on up the recipes. they'd all be great wrapped up in one of those collage boxes i assigned as your homework last week!

come back soon - it could end up bein be complete waste of your time - but you'll never know until you come back and check it out.