The Great (online) Cookie Exchange

It's been cold here, more so than usual.  So why not before you begin the baking task treat yourself to a little nip of something?  

Ok, perhaps before you start baking isn't the best time...but if you're entertaining a surly group of travel weary types suffering the ill-effects of shopping burn out, this might be just be what you're looking for.  

It does take a little time, but well worth the wait.  

Trust mouse.  

Traditional Tom and Jerry

12 egg(s)

1 cup sugar

1 bottle brandy (or bourbon)

Pinch of ground allspice

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground cloves

1 bottle dark rum

milk

nutmeg

Instructions:

Please remember the average shot glass holds roughly 1.5 or 2oz of liquid so if you're using a shot glass to measure your alcohol adjust the amounts accordingly. 

Separate the 12 eggs, whew.  Beat the whites until they're super stiff, like you can turn the whole bowl upside down...No don't do that.  Lift the beaters, and if the peaks don't bend much, you're good to go.  Usually mouse throws them into the stand mixer and just lets it go while she does the other stuff...

In another bowl take your 12 yolks and add 1 cup of sugar (you can also toss in your spices too, bit of allspice, cinnamon, ground cloves, or whatever you have -- but don't add nutmeg...that's for garnish.  

To that you'll want to add 4oz of brandy the egg yolks will look very thin and pale.  

Fold that into the stiff egg whites, slowly and carefully -- you're making a batter, a nice somewhat stiff batter here.  

You can store it a few hours in the fridge.  

Now to serve it:  

Heat milk on the stove top, do not boil just heat it, so it's good and hot and just about ready to boil.  

Add a tablespoon of the batter to a coffee mug, and to that add one ounce of brandy and one ounce of dark rum.  Stir constantly because you don't want to the batter to curdle.  Now, fill with the hot milk, stir more until frothy and dust with a bit of nutmeg.  

If you find it's too rich, you can cut it with half milk and half water (heated naturally).  Some people just add water, but mouse doesn't care for that.  

A word about eggs.  You'll notice the eggs aren't cooked, ah but they really are when you add the hot milk, the eggs will cook then if your milk is at at least 160 degrees any bacteria in the eggs is destroyed and probably safer than a real Caesar salad.  

Pro tip:  

You can certainly mix the whole thing ahead (with alcohol added) and keep warm in a heat proof bowl or even a thermos.

To future readers this blog was flagged by blogger for some sort of “community guideline violation” the only thing that could possibly be wrong was a problem with a link to a long defunct blog, as such are often usurped by porn sites.  

Other than that possibility we see nothing wrong with this post. 

Chrismakah

We all have our little traditions.  The day after Thanksgiving generally speaking mouse would wake up hideously early, go shopping with her girlfriends, then go home, wrap her gifts and call it a day.  

Why bother with a tree when no one sees it?  Why decorate when there's not a huge reason to do it?  It sounds lonely, doesn't it?  The one thing she always did was unpack her holiday dishes and display them on this little corner hutch. 

When Omega moved into her life, he brought with him a huge china cabinet and dining table that belonged to his grandmother.  He brought other stuff with him...But those two items specifically were wonderful for mouse.  Now she had a proper place to display her china.  When our first holiday season rolled around, just before Thanksgiving mouse swapped out the regular china for the holiday dishes she's cherished for all these years.  Didn't give much thought to Chanukah or Christmas.  

Our second is probably a better example.  Daddy had no issue with a tree, but asked mouse not to display the nativity that had been in her family for years.    Now, it needs to be said mouse only displayed it because it was pretty and it's very sentimental to mouse.  It's not displayed for any other reason.   It's not a religious issue for her at all, which is probably why he felt very comfortable making the request.  

By our third holiday, the nativity was packed away and forgotten and a new tradition emerged.  Thanksgiving we'd host and in the early morning hours following mouse would again go shopping with her girlfriends.  Back at home she'd stash the gifts, cook a huge breakfast and then the best part for mouse was decorating the house.  Daddy would get the boxes of holiday decorations mouse has spent years acquiring...what's that?  Forgot to mention that...

It must be said that her whole life, even when she lived alone and didn't bother decorating, mouse couldn't resist buying anything red and green that spanked of Christmas.  Holiday bazaars, charity events any chance she had to add to an ever growing collection no one would really see.  Pathetic really when you stop and think about it.  Hundreds of ornaments some collected by mouse, others given to mouse as gifts.  For the first time having a reason to decorate and taking everything out,  whole house looked like Santa threw up.  

When we moved here into this home, last year Daddy remarked that it didn't feel so crowded with holiday "junk" and he said with as much love as he could muster.   The holiday's are more of a combination of Chanukah and Christmas.  Now the baby is the older tho and mouse is wondering if we shouldn't make a choice -- one or the other.  

Normally in early November it begins, with mouse swapping the regular china for the holiday dishes she cherishes so.  This year was a little different.  As though she were mentally deciding a clear path, she waited.  How will our daughter be raised?  Without question Jewish so would celebrating or combining the holidays cause confusion?  Daddy solved the issue when he asked if mouse was going to do the china cabinet.  

After spending a few moments blinking mouse asked if it would be ok.  Of course, he said, he expected that we'd be doing both.   This year Chanukah begins the day before Thanksgiving and the day after mouse will be going shopping with her girlfriends, then come home, cook a huge breakfast and then spend the rest of the day listening to holiday music and decorating the house.