That’s all.

Oh, happy Christmas-eve.

My stomach hurts and I’m going to bed.

Oh, and I have a sore throat and can’t stop coughing.

And I have a headache.

Here is our $85 tree for 2007.

It better be a darn good Christmas for that price ;-).

Cheers and best wishes to everyone in this holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, a pagan festival, or any other denominational or non-denominational event. Or even if you celebrate absolutely nothing else than good friends and good food. Merry/Happy/Joyous Whatever to you all.

If you’d like to see our tree’s through the ages: 2006, 2005, 2004

A story told in photographs.

Preparing the dessert - mouse filled chocolate cupcakes.

David prepares a special sauce.

Mushroom soup goes into the blender, while green beans and bacon sit idle.

A raspberry vinegarette for the salad option.

The diners bask in the after-dinner warm food feelings, and Heath realizes that there are absolutely no pictures of the actual food items.

Thankfully everyone is too busy playing with their Hawaiian paraphernalia to notice that there are no pictures of the food…(don’t tell David).

Besides, I think you’ll be able to tell from this video that they didn’t really care about the pictures anyway….

Well let’s start out with what _I_ got for Christmas…..and then you can chime in if you want

First off - we don’t really do much of a gift exchange, because frankly, why wait until the end of the year to buy something for someone. If we want something, we get it whenever we want it…so it’s usually more just fun or frivolous stuff that we exchange for the holidays…plus, since we have a white elephant party every year, we usually treat that as our gift exchange.

So what did we find under the tree this year? Let’s see…

Here we have an urn, and a flashlight. The urn is because I’ve got a plant in the kitchen that I’ve been nursing back from the brink of death, and it’s got enough of a root structure now that it needs to be planted.

So it will be going into the urn some time this week.

The flashlight, is because I tend to use David’s flashlights, and he wanted me to have one of my own. Down in the urn are also several D size batteries for me to power the new MagLITE. David reminded me how tough these flashlights are, by telling me that these are what police use to beat people up… :-). That’s a joke all you law enforcement people out there. Sarcasm. Ha. Ha.

Anyway. But that’s not all that we received….David got a book called Your Garagenous Zone, because he’s turning our garage into a workroom. And I also surprised him/us with a Navman Automobile GPS device. But back to what I got…

Here’s the setup for the next item. Several weeks ago, we were watching one of our favourite food shows, Top 5. Bobby Rivers, the fabulous host of the show was telling us all about Chocolate Delights. Well I wanted more information on the things I’d see on that episode, so I went to Food Network and looked up the show. Low and behold, I learned that they haven’t been taping since 2004! What on earth was Bobby Rivers doing now? Google!

Well I discovered that not only is Bobby Rivers alive and well, but he’s got a very entertaining blog too! Well who could stop there? I sent him an email and within a day, had a response. I was so tickled, I forwarded the reply to David, and he and Bobby started an email dialogue of movie and TV trivia…and unbeknownst to me, David and Bobby worked together for one of my Christmas presents…and here it is:

That’s right…Bobby Rivers sent me a signed head shot. And those of you who follow Top 5 closely, will get the reference in what he wrote. How cool is that? If you don’t know of Bobby Rivers, definitely check out his website, and his blog. It’s a fun, famous, and fabulous read! Thanks Bobby!!!

So what did you get?

[ratings]

If you’d like to know how we’re eating in the Buckmaster / Smith household, look no further. Here are the recipes from Christmas 2006 that are sure to please.

Breakfast/Brunch - The Oven Pancake

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 3.5T butter
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4C flour
• 1/4t salt
• 3/4 cup milk (can substitute soy milk, or half-half as desired)
• 1/2C powdered sugar
• cinnamon and nutmeg (or other flavourings)
• maple syrup or honey glaze described below

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 450F. Do not place dish into the oven unless the temperature is at least 425F.
• Melt butter in oven-safe pan (on the stove top), making sure that some amount of butter coats the bottom of the dish.
• Beat eggs, then add flour, salt, and half-half (or milk). Whisk thoroughly. Add melted butter from pan, and continue to mix. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to mixture to taste. You can also add any other kind of flavouring you wish, but avoid pure citrus juice as it will create problems during baking.
• Pour mixture into pan (use a dish that is at least 10″ wide, preferably 12″) and place on middle rack in oven.
• Bake at 450F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake 5 more minutes.



• Remove from oven and quickly sprinkle with powdered sugar. Drizzle syrup or honey glaze onto the dish before cutting.
• Important Note: The magic of this dish is experienced right after bringing it out of the oven. Make sure your guests are in the kitchen to watch how the dish reacts when removed from heat.
• Optional Honey Glaze: mix 1/2C warmed honey with maple flavouring and 2T powdered sugar

Lunch/Dinner - Macadamian Crab Chicken Salad

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 6 chicken tenders, cut into 1-2inch pieces
• 1/4c crab meat (real crab only)
• 2T crushed ginger
• 2-3T peanut butter (or pre-made peanut sauce)
• 2T sesame oil
• 1/4C white vinegar (more or less to taste)
• sour cream (4 heaping T)
• 1/4C soy sauce
• 1/2C finely chopped macadamia nuts

Directions:

• Stir fry cut chicken tenders until mostly cooked. Add ginger and crab meat and continue to stir fry until chicken begins to brown. Add olive oil as desired to brown chicken faster.
• Prepare sauce by thoroughly whisking peanut butter, sesame oil, vinegar, sour cream, soy sauce. Add water to thin/thicken as desired. You may want to gently warm the sauce to thin the peanut butter.
• Just prior to serving, add chopped macadamia nuts to the stir fry and mix completely after removing from heat.
• Serve stir fry over fancy lettuce, drizzle dish with dressing.

[ratings]

Happy Christmas to anyone who celebrates the season!