Alert the media! The Foils have officially moved back to Seattle! Although they will be gracing South America with their presence for the next three months, let it be known that Jon and Ashley will be kickin' it with the Seattle crew on a regular basis come the end of March. How excited am I? Super excited!!
Maybe another Jumpsuit Pub Crawl is in order to celebrate their return? Oh, I think so. Who's with me? USA?
A couple things I learned while putting together the album:
Another resolution for 2009...... see more live shows. Maybe I'll get to see Pearl Jam again in 2009, lucky number 13.
You're probably saying to yourself...."Huh, I never knew Jess was such an AC/DC fan." Well, you are right. I'm not a huge AC/DC fan, but I think Angus Young is pretty cool. The fact that he wears a schoolboy-uniform on stage all the time is wild, and I dig the look. 
I've found some various images of Angus wearing different color uniforms, usually red, blue, or black. I'm leaning towards a dark blue velvet look, white shirt, striped tie, white socks, newsboy cap. Should be fun.
And yes, I realize that Halloween is a full 10 months away. But if this is going to actually happen, I need to start gathering materials now. I don't think you can find dark blue velvet shorts just anywhere, ya know!
Okay, so here is a shot where you can get an idea of the snow accumulation. The steps to the side door of the house. White, fluffly, loveliness. 
I didn't realize that I was trapped inside my yard until I tried to open the gate. I had to dig my way out. 
It was really fun to walk around the neighborhood and see a ton of people out and about, enjoying the calmness. Is it just me or do things seem a little quieter when there is a snow blanket on the ground? Maybe less traffic, maybe people stopping for a moment to look at the beauty of the snow. There were people sledding down the hills, building snowmen, skiing, cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, walking.....I even saw one guy jogging. It was a really peaceful walk, and a great afternoon break.
It always seems like it is going to be a pain in the ass to make them. The first few always seem to get ruined, but after a couple stinkers it seems to be smooth sailing. 
And there you have it.....krumkake. You can fill the cookie with whipped cream or other filling of your choice, but we eat them plain. Good stuff. 
You know what else is good stuff? This kid!!! He turned seven months old a few days ago, he is quite the handsome man. 
Mmmmmm......stack o' white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Paula makes THE BEST cookies. I'm not sure what her secret is, all I know is that she has the magic cookie touch. She also makes a kick ass traditional chocolate chip cookie. 
Paula and I decided it would be fun to own a cookie-slash-craft shop for about 4 hours, then it would grow tiresome and we would have to shut the place down. 
I think we would have a ton of patrons if we had a cookie stack like that!
Basically all you need is Snyder Pretzel Rods, a couple big Hershey bars, and whatever kind of candy or nut you would like to use as coating. I chose crushed candy canes, for the holidays. All you do is break the chocolate bar into the smaller square chunks and melt the chocolate in a mug in the microwave. Don't let the chocolate melt to the point where it is super runny or it will have a hard time making a nice thick coat on the pretzel. Coat the pretzel in chocolate by dipping it in the mug o' melted chocolate and twisting it around. Then roll the chocolate covered portion of the pretzel in the topping of your choice. 
Let the pretzels dry on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. 
Voila! There you have it, a really simple way to make something a little different for the holidays.
This is a picture of the Mirro cookie press my mom has (picture taken from Google images):
My mom's press has that same exact box, and nifty wooden tray to hold the pieces. I called my mom today for the recipe and she said that the price tag on her Mirro press said $3.25!! Granted, the thing is like 40 years old. It could be even older considering it was given to her by either my grandmother or my great aunt Grace. 
Here are my Spritz cookies, with Maraschino cherries, about to go in the oven.
If you are interested, here is my mom's Spritz cookie recipe, it is super easy:
Little did I know when I woke up this morning at 10am, that I would be drinking a beer an hour later. Good morning Manny's Pale Ale, nice to see you. I barely finished my decaf espresso before starting in on this pint o' libation. Interestingly enough, the place was jumpin' at 11:30am. Two games were on the "telly"..... Manchester United v. Aalborg BK and Arsenal v. Porto. You know my penchant for soccer players.....check out Cristiano Ronaldo. One word: attractive. Casey and I were saying Giggidy Giggidy Giggs all morning for Ryan Giggs, midfielder for Manchester United. Apparently in the world of soccer, 35 years of age is old. He's been playing for MU since 1990, that seems like a LONG time. Both Ronaldo and Giggs weren't playing this game, unfortunately. Check out this dude, Wayne Rooney, he looks like Flea from the Chili Peppers.
One the menu? Shepherd's pie for me, and fish & chips for Casey. I'm not sure if you can see in the photo, but the shepherd's pie had a thick layer of melted cheese over top the mashed potatoes. I had to scrape that away. Not sure if that is shepherd's pie blasphemy, but that cheese shealth was wiggin' me out. Other than that.....delicious.
Casey drizzled his fish & chips with HP sauce, which I had never tasted before. It is like A1 sauce here in the states. On the menu, they had translations for some British terms, it was pretty funny. A couple examples (verbatim, from the menu):
Something else I learned today? Even at 12pm on a Wednesday, a pint of beer goes down incredibly smoothly. And another thing? It's fun to say bangers & mash. 
