Because Ken Asked...

Because Ken asked and because I care about my readers, here is the recipe for Eggnog Pie, which will be making a debut at my mother's house tomorrow. Please note: The picture above is not of my pie. Please also note: Looking at this recipe, I suppose you could do a similar pie by just mixing the gelatin with store bought egg nog. Ahh, store bought eggnog. That thick-as-shoe-polish nectar that tastes so good. Anne Black likes.

1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp Sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 rounded Tbsp cornstarch
3 cups milk

Combine in a sauce pot and cook until thickened. Add
4 beaten egg yolks
1 envelope plain gelatin dissolved in 2 Tbsp cold water.

Cook until even thicker. Add:
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

Allow to cool slightly and then stir in 1 cup of whipped cream. Pour into a prepared pie shell and sprinkle with nutmeg. Allow to cool and set completely.

Yummy. Did you know Eggnog is a shortened form of the colonial term egg-and-grog, which was a common term for rum in colonial times? I am sure you didn't, because who knows stupid things like that? Someone who writes for wikipedia, obviously.

I have a strong belief that at a Thanksgiving celebration there should be one pie per adult attendee, so that the maximum number and flavours of pies can be sampled. So for my other pie I am bringing Carmel Apple Crisp Pie with Walnuts. My friend Reyna has a recipe for Carmel Apple Walnut Crisp and it is quite possibly the best dessert ever. So I am going to make it and put it in a pie shell.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Leaving...on a jet plane

I don't think this is news to anyone of the three of you that read this blog, but Amy and I are moving. Well, back up. I have a new job in Portland, OR and at some point, hopefully in the next year, we will be moving. Right now we are sitting with our house on the market until it sells and I am commuting to Portland three days a week. Not super-fun, but we can endure it for a while. For some reason, this pending move has inspired me to revamp this blog...again. I don't know why I won't just let it die quietly and slowly in the dark. It has been on life support since about three entries after it's inception. But I just won't let it go. It mocks me from my bookmark bar every day and I think - "DAH! I need to write a blog." I don't know why I feel that way. If I really had something to say, wouldn't I just say it? Evidently not. The TV thing started to seem somewhat trivial to put out into the ethos, even though it is important to me, in a small way. And I didn't want to be one of those blogs that exists to just beeyotch about the negative things in life (like the time the old man sitting next to me on a plane had no idea that I was there and at one point took one of my magazines to read. - What a knob!) So I let it sit and sit and fester with that picture of KG on the top.

So I am back. Maybe. I make no promises. But I spend a lot of time in hotel rooms, and a lot of time on airplanes, and soon (or not soon) we will live 800 miles from most of our friends and family so I thought maybe this would be a good way to keep people up to speed on our lives. Or at least, up to speed on the portions of our lives I choose to share.

So here are some things I almost blogged about, but didn't:

• TV has been a bit of a letdown this fall. Heroes has been boring, Veronica Mars is not on and Project Runway, we needed you a month ago (but welcome back!)
  
• The writers strike sucks and I think it may mean the end of Gossip Girl. Damn.
• Taking my two sons out in public is like taking two wild raccoons out in public. They might sit still and eat crackers, or they might claw their way out of your arms and destroy things.
• I'm bitter that the leaves have fallen, because my house is much less beautiful without its trees and we are trying to sell it!
  
• If you know anyone who needs a lovely 3 bedroom home in the Millcreek area, drop me an email!

So, there it is. More to come, soon. Maybe. Happy Thanksgiving. What are you bringing? We are doing creamed corn, eggnog pie, and apple walnut crisp pie.

My Entourage on the D-List

Do you watch Entourage? Oh, you do? Is it any good? Well, I don't watch it because I don't have HBO because I am a Mormon. Do you watch Kathy Griffin: My Life of the D-List? Well, you should. It is not for the easily offended, but is one of the funniest shows on television. We laugh out loud several time an episode. I had some adventures last week that were a little bit Entourage (ie. I got to follow some celebs around from a screening to an awards show) and a little bit D-List (i.e. the night ended with no awards, an un-adorned canvas tote, and a free veggie tray.)

My friends Chris and Lisa filmed a movie about 14 years ago called Stalking Santa. It was playing last night at the Utah Family Film Festival before its national release this November. We were excited to see the film, as we had been hearing about it for the last 14 years, but my expectations were only moderately high. I knew I would like it, because it is always fun to see friends on the big-screen, and Chris and Lisa are both hilarious, but I didn't think it would be amazing. My friend Eric had given it a positive review, but hadn't really raved about it, and I tend to trust his opinion of movies. But I really, really liked it. The acting was brilliant - funny, subtle, sharp and witty. The narration by William Shatner was intense. The editing was clever and kept the film moving. And it was the right mix of funny and touching. I'll admit, I was a little emotional at the end. I think it is destined to become a family Christmas classic. I'd rather watch this than It's a Wonderful Life. My favorite part is when Lisa character goes to her job at Burgers Supreme, because wouldn't you love to shoot a movie where you had to pretend to work at Burgers Supreme? I don't really want a job there, but if you are pretending to work there and cook burgers, it has to be kind of fun and I bet you get free french fries. (And according to Lisa, it was and you do.) So, do yourself a favor. This November when Stalking Santa comes out, take your family (though not your little little kids if you don't want to have a discussion about why there is a question as to whether Santa is real) and go and see this movie. I think you will have fun. And I want my friends to be the next Napoleon Dynamite.

So the screening ended and Chris and Lisa invited us to go to an Awards Ceremony with them. Our kids were with the sitter, so we though "Shure!" and we headed into the lobby - where Chris and Lisa were BOMBARDED by fans looking for autographs and making insightful insights into the movie like "You were funny." In the parking lot, we met a crazy lady who told us she loved the movie, she was glad none of us were those "crazy, lying Mormons" (What about us made her think we weren't Mormons? Was it my sleeveless shirt? And would the Utah County Family Film Festival be the place you would go to meet other angry non-Mormons?) and then gave us a half-eaten veggie tray. Chris and Amy ate some of the veggies and then caught scurvy.

The awards ceremony was awful (except the all you can eat pot stickers.) Way too long and self-congratulatory. And Chris and Lisa didn't win ANYTHING!!! There were only three awards, which took about 2 hours to give out, none of which were acting awards, but still!!! Chris totally lost it. It was pretty embarrassing. He started yelling about how he was robbed, told everyone some things that he thought they should do with their mothers, and stormed out of there. But not before I got my first official Swag Bag. Here were the contents:

Utah County Family Film Festival T-shirt: I have already worn it to the gym several times
Utah County Family Film Festival Poster: In the trash already. Do they think I am going to hang that up in my house?
Epic - cavity free kit - mouthwash, toothpaste, gum and mints: It makes the revolutionary claim that THIS toothpaste will prevent cavities!! Don't they all make that claim?
Lehi Pride Pancake Mix from Lehi Roller Mills - Yum. Footloose was filmed there, you know?
Lehman's Strawberry Preserve - Also yum. I haven't actually tasted it, but I would never say no to a free Jam or Preserve.
Wax Beads from HomeStyle - they smell good. Do I eat them?

Not a bad haul for one evenings work. And did I mention all you can eat Pot Stickers?

It was a joy. And it was fun to see my good friends on the big screen. So go see the movie. And maybe you, too, can get a free veggie tray.

Read It! The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I am adding a new feature to this blog called "Read It!" for you, my 3 or 4 faithful readers. I am a multidimensional person who not only watches TV, but also loves reading. Lately I have been reading a lot of that nerdy sci-fi fantasy stuff, which I won't recommend to the general population. (Even though there is a lot of amazing stuff out there. When you are ready to ride down the nerd slide, let me know.) But I came across a lovely title that I want to share with you.

As a point of cultural reference, the title of this feature comes from my personal past. One day I was reading through a journal that I had kept for about three weeks when I was in my early teens. One entry I had decided to list all of my "favorites" since my life was too uninteresting to write about at the time. Under "Favorite Book" I had written: "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites by Chris Heimerdinger. READ IT!" I am not sure who I was admonishing to read it - was it future me? Or my posterity? I'm not sure. And I hope this recommendation holds a little more weight than that.

I am here to recommend The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Sure, I know, Oprah already recommended it. And sure I know, the people at Pulitzer already recommended it. But don't you care more about my opinion? I thought so.

The Road is basically the story of a man and his son. They are heading south down the road in some sort of post-apocalyptic world where there is very little food and very few survivors. They are trying to get to a warmer climate so they can survive the winter, and avoid other travelers, who will more than likely kill them to get their supplies.

It is incredibly moving and sad and awful and powerful, all at once. There were nights that I was reading it that I wanted to stay up and finish it just so it would be OVER so I could stop worrying about the man and his son. Did you see the movie Children of Men? Didn't you just want it to end so that you could have peace in your heart again? That is how I felt about this book. It was so gut-wrenchingly sad to read about a father trying to provide a life for his son in a world where your survival is at stake every day.

I think it was especially poignant because I have sons of my own. But I think anyone who is human would be touched by this story. And it is written in sparse, beautiful prose. So sparse that there are no apostrophes or quotation marks. What's up with that McCarthy? I remember that from All the Pretty Horses but why is anyone too cool for punctuation? Maybe all of the above the line punctuation marks were destroyed in the bomb blast...Who knows.

So I give this book a hearty recommendation. It is short and you will get through it in a couple of days, and you will love it. Is it as good as Heimerdinger's Opus Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites? I cannot promise that. But still, READ IT!!!