Footle and Grok

Forgotten food that ends up at the back of the pantry and never gets used really bothers me. I go grocery shopping all the time, and we eat most of the new stuff I buy, which means the stuff in the back languishes. Occasionally I get an urge to finally eat this food. In the past week, I have used a couple of items that I’ve been pushing around for a long time.

Thanks to the internet, it’s easy to find a recipe for any ingredient. For example, we had a bag of rotini pasta that I’m pretty sure we’ve had since we last moved. I have no idea why we bought it, but I finally decided I would use it up. (I do check the expiration dates on anything I use. This one expired the date I decided to use it. It was fate.)

I’m not going to recommend the recipe I chose for this pasta. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t worth making again. However, that wasn’t the point. I just wanted to use up this bag that I’d had in my pantry way too long. I don’t ever intend to buy rotini again (we are medium shell pasta eaters), so it doesn’t matter how great the recipe was.

There is great satisfaction in using up food items you have in your kitchen. Plus, it makes me try new recipes. Hubby and I tend to repeat our meals since we like what we like. So far, my new recipes haven’t been winners, but one could be, and then we’d have something new to add to our rotation of tacos, stirfry, tacos, chicken, and tacos (we love tacos.)

We’ll talk later about decluttering in 2021, but every time I eat something lingering in the pantry, it helps declutter the kitchen, and that is the best reason of all to do it.

Today is National Christmas Card Day.

If you send Christmas cards, either by snail mail or email, the hardest part can be writing the card’s heartfelt message. This article by Good Housekeeping has a lot of great ideas to reduce your stress and increase your holiday spirit.

We made speculaas cookies last night. I’d take pictures, but they didn’t turn out well because I made a mistake. Remarkably, I’ve never made this mistake before, and I’ll never make it again.

I used baking soda instead of baking powder.

Here is a great article about why these two white powders should not be switched. The quote that applies to my mistake is this:

“Since baking powder contains an acid already, it doesn’t need another acidic ingredient in order get a reaction and you don’t have to worry quite so much about a metallic aftertaste.”

Simply Recipes

My cookies have a pronounced metallic aftertaste because of the baking soda. They aren’t inedible, but I can’t give them as gifts. We’ll make another in a week or so, and I’ll be sure to do it right.

I hope your Christmas baking is mistake-free. Doublecheck the recipe and the container when it comes to baking soda and baking powder.

While I was at Mom and Dad’s house for Thanksgiving, we pulled out my old Barbie toys for the grandkids to play with. Here is a list of what I had that my parents kept for over thirty years.

• Mansion
• Pool
• Motorhome
• Corvette
• Two horses
• Three Barbie dolls
• Two Ken dolls
• A big trunk of clothes

All of these items have small parts, so we had to hunt them down. Dad pulled out a bin labeled “Barbie.” Among the kitchen and bathroom Barbie items, there was a bunch of stuff that belonged to me.

Along with my pet rock (Score!) and various stuffed animals was a shoebox filled with cards from high school and college. Since I have been scanning a lot of old postcards, I took this box home to scan and discard.

It was fascinating to look through this box. There were many 16th and 18th birthday cards, Christmas cards given to me in jr. high, and letters from grandparents. I had created a time machine without knowing it.

Today is National Letter Writing Day. In an email era, it is easy to forget the joy of receiving a letter by snail mail. I can tell you that it is not only fun today, but if you tuck it away and find it thirty years later, it is even more enjoyable.

Fewer and fewer people are sending Christmas cards, and I’m okay with that. I send out a lot and create a Christmas newsletter because it makes me happy. If writing a stack of cards stresses you out, then don’t do it.

But it can be enjoyable and meaningful to write one newsy letter to someone special. Perhaps you could do one a week or have the entire family pitch in and write a letter together. You could always photocopy the letter and send it to several people.

I love text and email and think this is a great way to stay in touch, but neither of those will ever be found in a shoebox inside a plastic bin. So, consider adding to someone’s joy by writing a letter, and many thanks to my friend and family who wrote me letters so many years ago.

Somebody might have asked this question in Germany in the 1880s. I’ll come back to it in a bit.

My parents bought their first artificial tree this year. This ends a 53-year tradition of buying a tree from a lot or cutting it down in a national forest. I think that all Christmas trees are great, but this change in my family made me wonder when the first artificial Christmas tree was made. It turned out it was a lot earlier than I thought.

Cultures have had evergreens in their houses for centuries, but the first trees used to celebrate Christmas appeared in the 12th century. Martin Luther added candles to Christmas trees in the 16th century. All the Christmas trees at this time were real.

In the 1800s, the practice, of having a Christmas tree took off in Germany, and by the 1880s, deforestation was a real problem. As a solution, the first artificial tree was created.

It was made out of goose feathers painted green, split and attached to wires for the branches. These wires were attached to a wooden pole. Many Germans might have asked the question that I titled this post. It sounds weird, but you can see a picture here, and it doesn’t look bad at all.

Goose feathers are not sturdy, so these artificial trees didn’t last long, and the wires didn’t hold many ornaments. But the desire for artificial trees didn’t diminish.

The Addis Brush Company in Britain made the first toilet brush. In the early 1900s, they figured out how to make artificial trees by dying their toilet brush bristles green. These trees were much sturdier than the goose feather trees.

In the 1950s, everything futuristic was in, so aluminum trees in various colors became popular. Lights were attached to the base and reflected off the branches. These trees’ success led to other artificial tree designs, and today you can get fake trees that look almost real or fake trees that look totally fake (would anyone like a purple tree?)

There are many reasons to love real Christmas trees, and there are many reasons to love artificial trees. Do whatever makes you happy and stress-free. I don’t do a Christmas tree at all, but I still display lights and ornaments. This makes me happy. (I’d take a picture, but the ornaments hang in a big window, and it is impossible to get a good photo.)

Today is Sinterklaas Day. (Or, as I just learned from Holland.com, the last day of Sinterklaas, which goes from November 15 to December 5.)

Sinterklaas is Dutch for Santa Claus, (We got the name from when the Dutch came to the colonies.) On this day, Dutch people exchange presents, eat chocolate letters, write poetry about their relatives, and make Speculass cookies.

These spice cookies are often made in a wooden seculaaspop board, which forms the cookies into the shapes of dolls or other figures. My mother-in-law has one that makes a ten-inch tall Sinterklaas on his horse. I like the small one I have that makes cookies in the shape of windmills. It’s not always easy to get the dough out of the larger board impressions.

For a real treat, I spread vanilla frosting on the cookies, but I don’t think that is a very Dutch thing to do. It is delicious, though.

I’m making mine tonight (for Sinterklaas Day) and will show pictures in a future post. Whether you use a board or just make round balls that you press down with a fork like peanut butter cookies, these taste great and are easy to make.

Happy Sinterklaas Day

Dutch Spice Dolls (Speculaas Poppen)

From Let’s Go Dutch by Johanna (van der Zeijst) Bates

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. ground cloves
• 1 Tbsp. allspice
• ½ cup warm milk OR water
• 4 cups self-rising flour

Directions:

1. Mix the unsalted butter and the brown sugar until they are completely blended. Mix together the cinnamon, cloves, and allspice to make the speculaas spices. Add the spices and the warm milk or water well into the brown sugar and butter mixture. Add the flour last and work the mixture into a nice moist dough ball.
2. Get your seculaaspop board out and dust the configuration with flour. Press the dough well into your speculaas form and cut any excess dough off. Decorate according to your own artistic tastes.
3. You can also spread the dough onto a cookie sheet, bake and cut the speculaas into squares.

Jennifer’s note: I like to roll the dough into small balls and then press them down lightly with a fork.

Temperature: 350 F

Baking time: 25-30 minutes (this may vary according to the thickness of your speculaas form – please use your “baker’s” discretion.)

Yield: 6 large dolls

In my house, the radio plays Christmas songs 24/7, so I am always singing, although not always on key. Luckily for my hubby who has to hear me, I do know most of the words.

Since it is coming from the radio, I don’t know which song will come next, and there are some that I wish were never played (I’m looking at you “The Christmas Shoes.”) But there are also ones that excite me whenever they play.

Below I am listing my favorite Christmas songs. (The list became much larger than I expected, and I’m sure it isn’t complete.) I would like to know your favorites. Post them below, and we’ll see if there are any overlaps. And remember, there is a song for everyone, so no negativity (although, if “The Christmas Shoes” is your favorite song, I’m going to assume you like to cry.)

Jennifer’s Favorite Christmas Songs (In No Order)*

• (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays by Perry Como
• Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt
• Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Ann-Margret and Al Hirt
• Sleigh Ride by Spike Jones
• Jingle Bells by Frank Sinatra
• Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives
• The Christmas Hippo Song by Gayla Peevey
• The 12 Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser
• Here Comes Santa Claus by Elvis Presley
• The Christmas Song by Bing Crosby
• Mistletoe and Holly by Frank Sinatra
• Must By Santa by Mitch Miller
• Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer by Dr. Elmo

*This list got so long that I limited it to secular music. Perhaps I’ll do another post with religious Christmas music. You can list whatever makes you happy.

I’ve been home from vacation for three days now, and I don’t have my rhythm back. My to-do list is long, and I’m still unpacking. I need a vacation from my vacation.

Don’t get me wrong. We had a fantastic vacation, and it was wonderful to spend time with family and friends, but my everyday life continued while I was gone, and now I’m playing catch up. I figure I’ll be back in the groove by Saturday.

Do you ever feel like this when you get home from vacation? Does it take a while for you to get back up to the speed of daily living after relaxing for a while?

I love vacations, and I love to travel. I just need to work on the transition from vacation to normal life. I think I will make a list of everything waiting for me when I got home, and next time, I’ll find a way to manage them better. Then returning to normality  be smoother.

“No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.”

Elbert Hubbard

When I look for a monthly poem, I try to find one that is not about any holiday but only relates to the month or season. This time I chose the first one I found. It isn’t the happiest poem ever, but I like the way it rhymes. Also, it’s short, which I think all poems should be.

In Drear-Nighted December by John Keats

IN drear-nighted December,
Too happy, happy tree,
Thy branches ne’er remember
Their green felicity:
The north cannot undo them
With a sleety whistle through them;
Nor frozen thawings glue them
From budding at the prime.

In drear-nighted December,
Too happy, happy brook,
Thy bubblings ne’er remember
Apollo’s summer look;
But with a sweet forgetting,
They stay their crystal fretting,
Never, never petting
About the frozen time.

Ah! would ’twere so with many
A gentle girl and boy!
But were there ever any
Writhed not at passed joy?
The feel of not to feel it,
When there is none to heal it
Nor numbed sense to steel it,
Was never said in rhyme.

Happy Eat A Red Apple Day!

I have no idea why this holiday is today, but since I like apples, I figured it would be easy to celebrate. If this holiday were in September or October, I would understand because that’s apple harvest season. But someone wanted it to be today, and so it is.

When I was a kid, my mom put a Red Delicious or Yellow Delicious apple in my lunch box every day. I never ate it. Usually, I brought it home only to find it in my lunch the next day. These apples were mushy and tasteless. I’d have rather eaten Twinkies.

Nowadays, there are thousands of varieties of apples, and even the most basic grocery stores have five or six tasty ones. Red and Yellow Delicious are still out there, but now you can have Fuji, Gala, Honey Crisps, Pink Ladies, or Cosmic Crisps. It is a good time to eat an apple.

Today might be Eat a Red Apple Day, but my favorite apple is Granny Smith. I love them sliced and lightly salted or in cobblers. I make apple cobblers or apple crisps occasionally, but I’ve never found the perfect recipe. If you have a good one, I’d love to try it.

Another way I like apples is as a single serving apple sauce snack. It’s a simple, sweet, portable snack that doesn’t require a knife. If I had had these in my lunch as a kid, I’d never brought them back home.