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Sorry I am a little delayed getting back on here. It has been a busy week!
Our ward Christmas dinner was a phenomenal success. Here's a recap. I went to the church around 10:30 am and began preparing things. First thing that had to get made was Jell-o. Everyone I talked to about having Jell-o was skeptical, but I believe the world loves Jell-o, they just don't remember until they eat it. I made 2 gallons of raspberry Jell-o. With that setting up in the fridge, I panned up our baked beans to be heated later, then began peeling taters for au gratin taters. A few minutes into that, my roommate Aaron showed up to help. We peeled, diced and soaked the taters in salt water to sit until later, then I prepped the yams. Everyone says they hate yams. Reason? Most people eat canned yams. If you want truly delicious yams, here's what you gotta do: get fresh yams! The easiest way to cook them is to bake them like a baked tater. Just put 'em on a pan and bake until they are soft like unto a baked tater. They naturally have lots of sweetness in them, so when they bake, some of that will secrete out, but that's why you have a pan there. When they are done, you pull them out, they will be easy to peel, then dice, lay in a casserole dish, top with butter, brown sugar, and a touch of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, and the real kicker here is not to top with normal old mini mallows. A few places, particularly Wal-Mart, sell gingerbread marshmallows. They are shaped like gingerbread men and taste really, really good when you toast them on top of your yams. Anyway, after I prepped our yams, which I actually diced before cooking and cooked with the spices and topped later (not as quick or easy as the described method), we ran around town finishing our other preparations. We picked up tablecloths from work, centerpieces from work, and 2 insulated cambro boxes to keep our food hot when it was ready. We also picked up a dresser I bought at DI, which I'll talk about later. Back at the church after our trip, we put our au gratin taters together. The secret to a good au gratin tater is lots of bacon, lots of cheese, plenty of seasoning (I used Lawry's seasoned salt), and enough cream. With all those ingredients in, we put them and the yams in the oven and then began setting up the room. We set 12 tables with 8 settings and for decoration, we dimmed the lights, put up a fireplace projected from behind a sheet on the stage, we set the tables and had the gift bags at each spot, and then we played easy listening instrumental Christmas music in the background. The food took longer than anticipated to cook, but in the end, we got it all out in time and everyone ate tons of food. Here are two pictures from the night.
Here is what the table settings looked like.Each gift bag had 3 Hershey's kisses, 3 Hershey's Nuggets, 2 homemade cowboy cookies, and one candy cane, all wrapped in cellophane gift bag and tied with green curling ribbon.
Here is what it looked like with the fireplace and the ward eating.
As you can see in the picture, we had lots of people come. Our last couple meals the numbers seem to have increased. I generally try to get a count, but I was busy changing pans out and such and did not get an exact number this time. We had 96 place settings though and only a few were empty and at least 1 table sat more than 8, so I would estimate we had around 85 or more attend. One funny thing that happened is halfway through setting our tables, another ward showed up. Apparently the building was double booked or someone did something wrong, but thankfully the building we were in was a huge family stake building, so they were able to use the other half of the gym without any problem. Even funnier is that their ward kept coming to peer in on our setup and the high councilor in our ward came in and said, "There's another ward over there...but our stuff looks way better." The food turned out really well. We ended up only having a few servings of a couple things left. The au gratins were scraped completely clean. The most gratifying comment I like hearing is when people say "I usually hate (insert food here), but I had some of those and I loved them." It's a big part of why I love cooking for people. Not for the glory of being able to brag about making people love foods they didn't like before, but just being able to provide them with a meal they truly enjoy, to me, makes it worth it. Seeing my ward go back for seconds and thirds and fourths and with all the thank yous and high fives, and even a hug I got, I know it was mission accomplished. During a week of finals and preparing for all the hustle and bustle that's coming, we all were able to sit down and relax with a good meal and good friends. There is nothing better in life.
Now, about that dresser. I was at DI looking for a sheet for our fireplace projection when I saw a very nice dresser at a very, very nice price. So, I bought it. I would like to sell my current dresser and use this one, but if it doesn't end up fitting, I will just re-sell the one I bought. It is nice enough it will be an easy sell. I had intended for it to go in our new house, but due to the high cost of and stress of moving out right now, even though we got the house and had the lease and just needed to sign, we opted to stay where we are. Here is a picture of the dresser.
It is well built, about 4 and a half feet long, and looks nice.
This is the mirror that attaches to the right side of it.
So that, I believe, is about all I have to talk about today. I will visit my grandparents in Murray this weekend, get new tires Monday, and set off for Virginia in a week. I am beyond ready for a little rest and relaxation.
A couple Songs of the Day. First is my favorite version of "White Christmas", by the Drifters (Home Alone anyone?). Second is "I'm Gettin Nuttin for Christmas" sung by Billy Pressman.
Here's a bonus too. Since this was uploaded while I was writing this post, here is the latest from the Piano Guys. They are going all sorts of awesome places to film now! Enjoy!
Our ward Christmas dinner was a phenomenal success. Here's a recap. I went to the church around 10:30 am and began preparing things. First thing that had to get made was Jell-o. Everyone I talked to about having Jell-o was skeptical, but I believe the world loves Jell-o, they just don't remember until they eat it. I made 2 gallons of raspberry Jell-o. With that setting up in the fridge, I panned up our baked beans to be heated later, then began peeling taters for au gratin taters. A few minutes into that, my roommate Aaron showed up to help. We peeled, diced and soaked the taters in salt water to sit until later, then I prepped the yams. Everyone says they hate yams. Reason? Most people eat canned yams. If you want truly delicious yams, here's what you gotta do: get fresh yams! The easiest way to cook them is to bake them like a baked tater. Just put 'em on a pan and bake until they are soft like unto a baked tater. They naturally have lots of sweetness in them, so when they bake, some of that will secrete out, but that's why you have a pan there. When they are done, you pull them out, they will be easy to peel, then dice, lay in a casserole dish, top with butter, brown sugar, and a touch of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, and the real kicker here is not to top with normal old mini mallows. A few places, particularly Wal-Mart, sell gingerbread marshmallows. They are shaped like gingerbread men and taste really, really good when you toast them on top of your yams. Anyway, after I prepped our yams, which I actually diced before cooking and cooked with the spices and topped later (not as quick or easy as the described method), we ran around town finishing our other preparations. We picked up tablecloths from work, centerpieces from work, and 2 insulated cambro boxes to keep our food hot when it was ready. We also picked up a dresser I bought at DI, which I'll talk about later. Back at the church after our trip, we put our au gratin taters together. The secret to a good au gratin tater is lots of bacon, lots of cheese, plenty of seasoning (I used Lawry's seasoned salt), and enough cream. With all those ingredients in, we put them and the yams in the oven and then began setting up the room. We set 12 tables with 8 settings and for decoration, we dimmed the lights, put up a fireplace projected from behind a sheet on the stage, we set the tables and had the gift bags at each spot, and then we played easy listening instrumental Christmas music in the background. The food took longer than anticipated to cook, but in the end, we got it all out in time and everyone ate tons of food. Here are two pictures from the night.
Here is what the table settings looked like.Each gift bag had 3 Hershey's kisses, 3 Hershey's Nuggets, 2 homemade cowboy cookies, and one candy cane, all wrapped in cellophane gift bag and tied with green curling ribbon.
Here is what it looked like with the fireplace and the ward eating.
As you can see in the picture, we had lots of people come. Our last couple meals the numbers seem to have increased. I generally try to get a count, but I was busy changing pans out and such and did not get an exact number this time. We had 96 place settings though and only a few were empty and at least 1 table sat more than 8, so I would estimate we had around 85 or more attend. One funny thing that happened is halfway through setting our tables, another ward showed up. Apparently the building was double booked or someone did something wrong, but thankfully the building we were in was a huge family stake building, so they were able to use the other half of the gym without any problem. Even funnier is that their ward kept coming to peer in on our setup and the high councilor in our ward came in and said, "There's another ward over there...but our stuff looks way better." The food turned out really well. We ended up only having a few servings of a couple things left. The au gratins were scraped completely clean. The most gratifying comment I like hearing is when people say "I usually hate (insert food here), but I had some of those and I loved them." It's a big part of why I love cooking for people. Not for the glory of being able to brag about making people love foods they didn't like before, but just being able to provide them with a meal they truly enjoy, to me, makes it worth it. Seeing my ward go back for seconds and thirds and fourths and with all the thank yous and high fives, and even a hug I got, I know it was mission accomplished. During a week of finals and preparing for all the hustle and bustle that's coming, we all were able to sit down and relax with a good meal and good friends. There is nothing better in life.
Now, about that dresser. I was at DI looking for a sheet for our fireplace projection when I saw a very nice dresser at a very, very nice price. So, I bought it. I would like to sell my current dresser and use this one, but if it doesn't end up fitting, I will just re-sell the one I bought. It is nice enough it will be an easy sell. I had intended for it to go in our new house, but due to the high cost of and stress of moving out right now, even though we got the house and had the lease and just needed to sign, we opted to stay where we are. Here is a picture of the dresser.
It is well built, about 4 and a half feet long, and looks nice.
This is the mirror that attaches to the right side of it.
So that, I believe, is about all I have to talk about today. I will visit my grandparents in Murray this weekend, get new tires Monday, and set off for Virginia in a week. I am beyond ready for a little rest and relaxation.
A couple Songs of the Day. First is my favorite version of "White Christmas", by the Drifters (Home Alone anyone?). Second is "I'm Gettin Nuttin for Christmas" sung by Billy Pressman.
Here's a bonus too. Since this was uploaded while I was writing this post, here is the latest from the Piano Guys. They are going all sorts of awesome places to film now! Enjoy!
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