The best eggnog recipe

Happy New Year to y'all! Before I do my official New Year's post, I wanted to share this recipe with you...but first, I have this comic that shows you how I feel about eggnog...

 

For the past couple of years, I've been looking for a perfect eggnog recipe, because I love it, and anything that helps it seem more holiday-y around here is always welcome!  Last year there was the nog that was more like Egg Drop Soup than anything else.  But this year I found the one.


A word of caution: this recipe doesn't have you cook the eggs (= raw eggs), but I like to live on the edge so I just went with it. 

Separate the egg whites and yolks into two separate bowls. Use the bigger bowl for the whites, and beat them until fluffy.

Once the egg whites are fluffly beat in 1\2 cup of sugar

In the separate bowl, beat yolks until creamy then add another 1\2 cup sugar

Fold the yolks into the egg whites, stirring gently. Or if the raw eggs on their own wasn't wild enough for you, you can stir it roughly. Either way.

Stir in the milk...

...cream...

...vanilla...

...and spices.

Pour into a bowl or pitcher, and chill.

Oh yeah.

Ingredients:

6 fresh eggs

1 cup granulated sugar - divided use

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups milk

1 TB vanilla extract

1\2 -1 tsp ground cinnamon

1\2 -1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

dash salt

Start with these measurements of the spices, but you can play around with them to get the exact taste you want.  I ended up adding a few dashes of each one more than it called for, because I like to taste all the different spices in my eggnog.  Don't forget to add the bit of salt! If it's still too sweet for your liking, add just a bit more of the salt to offset the sweetness.

Happy Day that celebrates Mothers!

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've posted. {Ahem}  Nothing like a holiday to get another post out!

Ah, Mother's Day. Where would any of us be without our mothers? Yep, you said it!

I realized that somewhere along the way I refer to her exclusively as "The Mom" (or sometimes "Mum").  Never plain "Mom", but The Mom.  She loves me, she always has, and always will.  She's The Mom.  

(Hi The Mom!)

Dear The Mom,

Thank you for all you do for everyone every single day.  You're such a wonderful example in so many ways - I hope that someday I can be half the person that you are. Thanks for being my parent for all my life, you're definitely firstly that, but now you're also my friend. I love you. Thanks for always making me laugh and smile, teaching me and loving me, even though I do strange things like try to waltz around the kitchen with you every other day.

Love, Linz

She feeds us, cares for us, and wipes our foreheads and gives us water when we're sick...the list goes on and on.  And all the while loving us, even with our weirdness quirks.

I mean, she puts up with us every day!

Even when we do things like wear cowboy hats just because we're watching a Western movie. 

  (I think we learned it from you, Mom!)

So today, I'm singing along with Mr. T..."Mother, I'll always love her...there is no other!"

 

(And mine's the best. You can't have her! Heh heh. Sorry.)

Welcome, 2011!

Happy New Year everyone!

This year, like last year, we counted down until exactly 12am, and this is what happened:

Luke: Was playing Auld Lang Syne on my bass plugged into an amp.

Jacob:  Was honking the air horn on our Land Cruiser, and blowing on his giant sea shell (He does that last one every year, haha).

Dad:  Was standing on our picnic table playing his trumpet. 

I:  Was screaming, yelling and "woohoo!!"-ing at the top of my lungs, and doubling over with laughter at the boys.  This last one happens ever year, too.

Mom:  Was standing on our porch wearing shooting ear muffs.  

Every year some of the young people in our neighborhood go up on the big hill by our house, light a bonfire, and make a huge ruckus.  They absolutely love it when we go out and make our ruckus, too.  We all share a New Year's yelling at each other bond.

After we did all the honking the horns, bass playing, and yelling, we sang the National Anthem.  I'm pretty sure it was the loudest it's ever been wailed sung in the history of America.  

To wrap it all up, we stood outside Dad and Mom's door, and serenaded them with "Auld Lang Syne".  It's a new tradition we made up last year.  

Christmas

We opened the presents we got for each other on Christmas Eve.  I made hot chocolate.  We skyped with Julia and Lee, and took turns opening our presents.  It was really fun to open them "together".  

- Luke made Dad a tool pouch.

- Dad made Mom a beautiful wooden spoon and spatula.

- Mom made Luke a computer case.

- Jake gave me a wonderful beeswax candle called "Queen of the Night", and it smells so, so good.

- I made Jake a book.  It was called...."The Adventures of Jacob".  I can't post any pictures because I don't think he would be pleased with me putting it online for you all to see, because let's just say that the illustrations are a bit - dramatized.  Heh heh!

Christmas morning, the Samfords came over for breakfast, then we had stockings and presents for the kids.  They were so precious opening them all up, and getting so excited.  

Aubrie loved her jumper and bracelet, Ayden's favorite was the little toy truck, and Ryan's favorites were definitely the crackers and candy.  He would go around the room, wanting each person to open up another candy for him!  I have some pictures that I can hopefully put up a little later.

Hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday!

Tis the season to be jolly

Hello friends!  

Happy day before Christmas Eve!

We've been getting ready for our little Christmas here.  We drew names, and are making presents for each other.  I got Jacob.  Why in the world is it so hard to think of something to make for that guy?  It's not like he's hard to please!  I think I was just having a mental block {that lasted a few weeks, aka - from the time I drew his name until my gift was finished}.  I can't tell you what it is yet, though!

I thought about tying little antlers onto Panya's head like the Grinch did:

 

But had to settle for a bow instead

 If I keep this up, I'm going to have to rename my site, "Life with Panya"...

 

Eggnog

Just thought I'd share this little comic with you all!

(Just a little disclaimer that not every single one of these comics are the best, I just came across this particular one)

 

An update...and the Christmas spirit

It's been quite a while since I posted last, but I was waiting until I had some more news to share before I actually did one. 

Most of you already know that our family will be moving to southern Tanzania to finish out our five year commitment.  There's been a lot of work done up here in the North, but there's been hardly any done down South.  We're really hoping to be able to encourage and share the Gospel with the people in Iringa.

Dad, Mom, Mr. Carey, and Mwakalonge (a graduate from the school who will be working with us) got back this morning after being in Iringa for nine days.  It took longer than initially thought, but they were able to find a house for us!  The houses are simple, but nice, and perfectly suitable for what we need.  We're hoping to go down on January 3rd.  Hopefully, some pictures will come soon! :)

I can't believe that it's almost Christmas!  I need to get back to playing Christmas music...it helps me get in the Christmas spirit.  And I need to get back to making Christmasy foods (without charring the end of my finger like I did when I made almond roca...).  It helps the Christmas spirit.  Unfortunately, Christmasy foods also helps you get the Christmas waistline.  Just joking, I don't really gain weight during the holidays.  I just wanted to say "Chrismas" a few more times.

What are you doing to get ready for Christmas?

Happy December!

Hello friends!  A post is long overdue, but I haven't had too much to blog about lately.  

I love the holidays.  You get to decorate the house with little christmas trees, and twinkly lights, and make yummy spice foods that make the house smell like a bakery in the North Pole.  Plus it's the only time of year that I can play and hum christmas music without someone asking me why!

It's a bit hard to feel like doing anything when every holiday feels like the 4th of July, but we manage! :)  It's especially the best at night, when it's dark and chilly {And you don't sweat if you drink a mug of hot chocolate!}.

Happy December first, everyone!

 Make sure to be checking out Cookie Monster for some holiday recipes

Don't look at me like that!

Look at that face!  {And this is nothing compared to when she wrinkles her forehead and looks all worried.} I can't resist it!

Now that I have that off my chest...

Dad and Jacob left for Nairobi at about 3am this morning,  so Jake can get some dental work done.  Hopefully they'll be back either tonight or tomorrow morning.

I'd like to thank Mum for sharing the link for my last post on facebook!  Since you all enjoyed it so much, I thought I'd give you a couple more quotes from when we did pilates next.

TV: "Make sure you engage your abdominals for this segment..."

Us: "This sure is a good neck exercise!"

...

TV: "...Now, rest with your head face-down on the mat..."

Me: "*bonk* I can't - that squishes my nose!"

I feel like I should inform you that we do spend some time working out when we work out.  

I need to come up with a halloween costume.  We're having the Gees over for a party, and everyone has to dress up!  Bwahaha, we'll see what everyone comes up with. 

 ~

Don't forget to go check out Cookie Monster for some new recipes!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Oh Christmas!  

It brings visions of...

           Pretty, twinkling lights on houses

Presents wrapped and waiting under the tree

Hot cocoa enjoyed with friends and family

It's a time of -

~

laughter and fellowship

 ~

 Giving presents

 ~

Trying to weasel your gift early

~

Visiting cranky old relatives

~

Feeling like you should let your belt out a notch after Christmas dinner

~

  Inspecting all the presents under the tree

~

Listening to Christmas music

~

We should count our blessings all year 'round, but it happens to be a convenient time to do so during holidays.  We have roofs over our heads, food in our stomachs and nice soft beds to lay down in at night.

-

Having Christmas in Africa is more like having a Fourth of July party.  In fact, every holiday is.  But that doesn't mean I'm not going to at least try to make it special.  Sure it's over 85 degrees outside, but I can still plug in the one string of lights, and put up our baby Christmas trees!  It was cloudy and cool for a small bit this afternoon, so I took advantage of it and made hot cocoa (And yes, it was a bit too strong).  I suspect there's even a pecan pie somewhere in the house!

~

!MeRrY cHrIsTmAs!