Merry and Bright

Yo ho ho, and eggnog filled with rum.

Hope Christmas was all it was chracked up to be, for all of you who celebrate it. Mamma Sauce had to work 3-8:30, so we celebrated early. I was impressed that Odie (official brother of Special Sauce) took my hint, and I'm the proud owner of the Nirvana box set. Mmm. Flannely, time-machine-like goodness.

Football Ranting:

Boy, do I hate the Ravens. And it's a darned good thing that the swell Bawlmur fella I have taken a fancy just happens to like the Eagles more than the Ravens, or I'd have to seriously rethink this whole thing. On a whole, I think the Eagles chomp it, and their fans are obnoxious dicks. The Ravens, however, are evil incarnate, injured Roethlisberger, and generally make my teeth itch on principle. Their fans aren't total jerks though.

Yes. Roethlisberger left the game with a rib injury today, but the team still managed to win. Take that, stupid Ravens. Purple uniforms? Puh-leez.

Congrats to Peyton Manning for breaking Marino's single-season record. I still say domed stadiums are for wusses, but hella playin' there Peyton.

Work Ranting:

So, apparently, the reason the heater hasn't been working very well at my office is that it caught fire at some point. When, I have no idea, I just figured it had always been ass. Oh, and the melty plastic smell, that I attributed to the fact that it shouldn't be running all the time... that was apparently propane. Who knew? So, that explains the headaches and nausea I'd been experiencing. Heh. Luckily, it's being fixed during the week I'm stuck at home because my PC doesn't work. (I took it in to be fixed and it should be ready Tuesday.)

Holy Holiday Partying Batman:

Wow. I haven't had that much fun in a while. We had enough food to feed an army, including Rachael Ray's Christmas Pasta (search the food network website "christmas pasta" you'll find it). Holy cow- it makes a lot, it tastes delicious, and if you're lazy, like me, try this:

Make the recipe a couple of hours before your party, or even the morning of- I used a little extra meat, because of the packaging of the products. I also couldn't find meatloaf mix, and used plain extra-lean ground beef to no ill effect.

When you get to the point that the recipe instructs you to simmer for 15 minutes, throw it into your crock pot. Set it on low, and let it go until you're ready to serve. Egads, it was tasty. Everyone loved it, and like I said, it feeds an army.

We played some Christmas Mad Libs, by subbing out words from "T'was the Night Before Christmas". Lets just say our friends are quite sick, twisted, and demented. We had a blast.

If you're having some friends over for New Years, I humbly present my 2 favorite appetizer recipes. They're easy as hell, and quite tasty.

World's Easiest Appetizer

Vodka Soaked Tomatoes

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 skewer
1 cup good vodka (nothing you wouldn't drink)
coarse salt and black pepper

Poke holes into the tomatoes with a skewer. Cover with 1 cup of vodka. Soak for an hour or more. Mix the pepper and salt together. Drain off most of the vodka, serve with toothpicks, and encourage guests to dip the tomatoes into the salt mixture and eat. Tasty!

Also, do not throw out the vodka! We used it to make wicked tasty bloody marys.

Pita Triangles with Tappenade

1 package pitas (preferably pocketless, but any will do)
1 package cherry tomatoes, or several roma tomatoes (Small Dice)
1 container hummus (any flavor)
1 small container Kalamata olives, diced
1 clove garlic minced (or dried garlic)
Salt and pepper to taste


Combine the tomatoes, olives, garlic, salt and pepper, set aside. (The pieces should be chunkier than salsa, but not so large you can't manage them easily) refrigerate for an hour or so to blend the flavors.

Cut the pitas into triangles, and toast in the oven. Allow to cool, then spread with a dollop of hummus (2 sheiks cracked chile pepper is the bomb). Arrange on your serving plate, and then top each wedge with a spoonful of the olive and tomato mixture. (That can be made with feta instead of olives, if your friends are anti-olive) serve relatively quickly, because the tomatoes will make the pita soggy.

Whee.

No ranting today, but I will have some more recipes as we get closer to New Year's.