Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

May all the residents of the U.S.A. participating in festivities today, enjoy their food, not fight with their family too much, and be thankful. I'm off today, and will be spending it with my Angry Husband, Angry Toddler, and my Husband. I think, we may try to organize some Christmas stuff early in the afternoon. Our HOA (Homeowner's Association) allows to officially decorate outside today! Yippee!!

P.S. Picture was from Angry Toddler's Thanksgiving Feast earlier this week. They sang cute songs that I videotaped, but umm, Mr. Angry wasn't singing...I guess he only likes classics like Lady Ga Ga..

It's Turkey Time!

I'm trying to be a bit more organized lately. I love decorating for the Holidays, but sometimes I need a bit more organization. We recently got a new dining room table, which I need to post about soon. Maybe I'll post once I get an awesome centerpiece for it. But I saw this display at Pottery Barn yesterday, and swoon, isn't it lovely. Not that I would decorate this extravagent, cause Angry Toddler would probably thrash it, but it did give me ideas.

We usually have Thanksgiving at our place, with just my immediate family. I'm an only child, so it's just my parents, Angry Husband, and Angry Toddler. My stove/oven are unpredictable and we are quite lazy. We have pre-purchased a Thanksgiving meal at Claim Jumper for the past two years, and it's quite delicious. It's also cheaper than preparing everything on our own. We do add some extra side dishes, like this Watergate Salad. And really, is it considered a salad when there's marshmallows in it?

In 2006, we headed to Disneyland for Thanksgiving. They have the BEST Buffet EVER in their Grand Ballroom at The Disneyland Hotel (call (714) 781-DINE for info). Angry Toddler was eighteen months old at the time. My friend, Ruth, suggested this event, as we were looking for something fun to do. The food was to-die-for, the desserts were over the top. I could have feasted all day long. One of the best parts of that day, was the character interaction. They had a ton of characters there where you could take pictures. They also had beautiful decorations, but of course they did, it's Disney! Angry Toddler was a bit skeptical of the Chip and Dale. Would you be too? Chipmunks aren't supposed to be six foot tall.

Orange County Fare: Pumpkin Muffins

I'm a member of the Junior League of Orange County, CA. We had a new cookbook come out last month, Orange County Fare. I was finally able to get my hands on a hardbound copy of it, a few weeks ago at a general meeting. This is the second recipe that I've made from the cookbook. I made the Raspberry Oatmeal Bars last year, when I received the recipe as a preview.

I made a complete mess in our kitchen as usual. I could not locate any of the proper tools. We do have some cooking utensils. I had to improvise, but they turned out AWESOME! I made Angry Husband try the first one. He's my test dummy...I mean victim...I mean taster. He said they were very good, but sweet.

Makes 18 to 24

Ingredients for muffins:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups canned pumpkin
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Ingredients for Orange Glaze:
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Muffins
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Combine the pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and oil in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the muffins pans for 15 minutes and remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze
Combine the confectioners' sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a small bowl, stir to mix well. Place waxed paper under the muffins on the wire rack. Spoon the glaze over the cooled muffins, letting the excess run down the sides. Garnish with additional walnuts before the glaze becomes firm.

Disclosure: This recipe is from the Junior League of Orange County's Cookbook, Orange County Fare. I'm a member of the JLOCC. My opinions and rants have nothing to do with the JLOCC, but they have a pretty swell cookbook that I paid for, with my very own checkbook. Oh yea, that's right, I wrote a check.

Angry Turkeys and Other Things

So ya, Angry Julie attempted to bake, yet again. At least I tried. I made these Pillsbury Cookies that Jennifer posted. I couldn't find any blue candies, so I had to use red candies for the eyes. I also made a mistake and gave the turkeys angry faces, instead of happy ones. Seriously, I didn't do it on purpose. Angry Husband called them Angry Turkeys from Hell.

We had a pretty good Thanksgiving. My parents came over so it was the five of us. Angry Toddler was being pretty good. He was actually awake to eat this year. Last year, he was taking a five hour power nap. He liked the food. We didn't bake the food from scratch. We ordered a meal from Claim Jumper. We did that last year too. It was quite yummy. My stove is inconsistent and it never cooks things properly.

I went shopping on Black Friday. It was the quietest year ever. We took Angry Toddler to Stacey's The Little Gym for Parent's Day Out. He had a great time. There wasn't anything particular that my mom and I were looking for. We did make some purchases though. I went to Costco last night and spent over $500 on gifts though. I just want to get this all done.

I placed an Amazon order last night too. I finally got my Garmin 305. It was my birthday present from Angry Husband. This was the best price I've ever seen on the Garmin. I also purchased some things from Amy at Tote and Tee.
I just lounged with Angry Toddler today. We watched some TV and hung out. I'm at work now just trying to catch up with life.

Almost Thanksgiving

Seriously, November is almost done. I can't believe it. It's gone by soo quickly. It seems like last week we were dressing up for Halloween and now it's Thanksgiving. It's been soo busy at work and here at home lately, I've barely had time to get my thoughts together.

I attended Angry Toddler Thanksgiving Feast earlier this afternoon. All the kids were wild and crazy. They sang some cute songs, I say they, because Angry Toddler was hanging in the corner. We ate some sugar free, no taste food, and then it was time to go.

All the mommies at Angry Toddler's school want to have playdates with us. We keep getting phone numbers on post-its in his folder. I'm barely awake on the weekends. I don't even know if I'm the playdate type. Seriously, it's kinda hard to bring up the fact that ya, umm, I'm barely awake with three hours sleep. The other mommy will be like, we watched some family oriented movies last night. Oh, ya, Angry Julie took pictures of some assault or traffic accident. I find it very hard to converse with normal people most times. Maybe I should try being a little less snarky, but hey that's what you get.

I'm quite excited though for tonight. Tonight is the premiere of the new season of The Real Housewives of Orange County. I can't wait.