Friday, November 27, Mayor Mark Funkhouser and Kansas City native Eric Stonestreet, of Modern Family, flipped the switch lighting the Mayor’s Christmas tree in Crown Center Square. The ceremony began at 5:20 p.m. and was open to all. The tree will remain lit from November 27 to January 1; dusk to dawn.
Since 1878 the Mayor’s Christmas tree has been a symbol of Kansas City holiday charity. That’s the year Mayor George Shelley began the fund as a way to help thousands of citizens struggling to care for their families during the holidays. The fund helps provide gifts for elderly shut ins and hospital patients, food and clothing for the needy, parties for needy children and much more.
The giant tree has been a holiday staple in Crown Center Square since 1973. At 100 feet tall it is one of the tallest Christmas trees in the nation; taller than the White House or Rockefeller Center trees. It is decorated with more than 7,200 lights and 1,200 ornaments. An additional 47,000 white lights decorate the square.
Tis the Day of Christmas... and All Through the House... Pretty Quiet Here
~ Merry Christmas to All... and to All a Good Night! ~
~ Thursday December 24, 2009 ~
~ Christmas Eve! ~
~ A Little Christmas Music? ~
Twas the Night before Christmas... and All Through the House... What is going on There?
~ Merry Christmas to All... and to All a Good Night! ~
~ Wednesday December 23, 2009 ~ Addendum ~
~ Oh Yeah That Dentist Appointment! ~
~ But then... Smoked BBQ Sparerib! ~
Yeah, that dentist, seems more of an ordeal every year but just a cleaning and check-up... Have to keep up with that... And the grit afterward wasn't as bad or long lasting... Seems to have a better final rinse or something... And he gave me a free sample bottle of Listerine... I was fresh out of that.. And a new kind, it's purple and supposed to do everything that's good for you
So then a long and tedious afternoon and what's for dinner? HAH! I found a nice big BBQ sparerib in the freezer, just ONE but it was a big full sized one... I don't buy those dinky baby backs or the St Louis cut.. A lot of good meat in in that part they cut off to make the St Louis style... So I buy the entire whole sparerib... So one rib from the thick end is plenty for me with some taters or BBQ beans...
And that big rib was sure good, I put on some more KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce and warmed it in the oven for an hour os so... And when did I smoke ribs last anyway? HAH!... I looked it up... That was the Labor Day cook-out double slab of ribs... Guess I will have to do that again if we get a day over 55 degrees...
~ So What Now? It's the Day Before the Day Before Christmas? ~
~ Wednesday December 23, 2009 ~
~ The Stereo System in My St Joseph House ~
Back in my Saint Joseph house I had a super stereo system... Well actually 4 channel quad... 1,000 watts and 13 speakers with a 30 inch Sub-woofer.. yeah... and I had the complete works of the Nutcracker Suite... and I would go down to the Music Room and play it.. all the way through.. Once a year... But that is all gone now... But this kinda brings back memories of those times... And I could play some of the Nutcracker on my Lowrey Holiday chord organ, a beautiful instrument... But for now this is the best I can do...
~Reel to Reel Tape Decks and Amps ~ Front 15 and 30 Inch Woofers and Tweeters ~ Rear Speakers ~
~ The Nutcracker Suite ~
~ Now, TWO More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Tuesday December 22, 2009 ~
~ Viva Italia!! ~
~ Thatsa Summa Spicy Meata Ball! ~
But it isn't spaghetti anda meata ball .. itsa Meata saucesa... A break from Thanksgiving and Christmas fare... Back to Christmas countdown tomorrow...
I finally downed all the Thanksgiving turkey except for one lonely turkey leg in the freezer, that will serve as a snack someday when I get in the turkey mood again... That won't be for some time now.. I have all that pork loin to go through and whatever is lurking in the freezer... Every time I think I have it cleared out, here comes another food project... Happily none in sight at the moment
Well, all day a Monday seeming like a Sunday, several people apparently didn't go to work, and I wish they had.. James, upstairs playing some thump-thump music way too loud and way too long, finally silencing in the afternoon... No cooking all day... Just making a salad and numing up a plate of pretty good spaghetti, last of that batch...
Now today.. not anticipating a pleasant morning, Dentist appointment at 9:30... Just s check-up but that is no fun, seems less fun now every time... Oh well... has to be done...
Then what? No plans for today but ....
~ Now, THREE More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Monday December 21, 2009 ~
~ The Last Day of Thanksgiving! ~
~ Turkey ~ Dressing ~ Candied Sweet Potatoes ~
~ Cranberry Sauce ~ Soda Bread ~ Rhubard Pie ~
~ Pumpkin Pie ~ Pork Loin Roast ~ Mince Meat Pie ~
~ Well, I Started on November 22 with the Turkey... ~
~
Yeah Sigi, See I make the Holidays Last! ~
And when did I start on Christmas? Have to check when I put my Christmas tree on MY PAGE... But last night I had my LAST full sized Turkey Dinner so T-Day is officially over for another year... for me... Defrosted the last slices of turkey breast, but had made new dressing and sweet potatoes, but it tasted just as good as way back when?
But a break from the seasonal dinners tonight, It will be Italian spaghetti with meat sauce... Maybe tomorrow I can get back into the Christmas routine... I have seven slices of that Pork roast left... and some roast chicken in the freezer... Lots of dressing, sweet potatoes and still have some cranberry sauce... Most of that mince pie and about half of the Fruitcake the Director brought... No one around here going hungry for a while anyway...
~ What Now? Four More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Sunday December 20, 2009 ~
~ What A Busy Day! ~
~ And the Pig was Great! ~
Just one long, busy and successful day, when I am cooking I am happy... HAH! And that visit from Santa with a gorgeous cake that I will sample this morning... I tried the Mince pie last night... And Herr Wulle griped at me, even said it was ~DUMB~ to have Christmas Dinner on the 19th of December.. like I am tied to ANY date... HAH! I celebrate the season... not the date! And this coming from a German... where they start the Oktoberfest in September and run it for 16 days!... Get with the program Sigi!...
So, everything worked out great... I baked the Mince pie, roasted the candied sweet potatoes... Put the Pork in the oven at 500F for 20 minutes, then gave it almost two hours more at 300F... and after resting for a half hour or so, sliced it up, looking great! I just lifted it off the bone and onto the serving dish... And I wrapped up that bone to use for something else, quite a bit of meatstill on that... Then I made gravy from all those herbed laced drippings and that turned out good too...
So then after a manhattan and a glass of wine I assembled the FIRST feast on a plate... A slice of pork, generous helping of dressing with gravy,, and sweet potatoes that came out just right, such good luck on this dinner... And then a slice of that Mince pie and it was tasty too... Should have remembered to put some Cool Whip on top...
One Pork Loin dinner down, seven more to go... And I still have one more turkey dinner in reserve... Now... what's for New Years Day?
~ Now, (after today)... FOUR More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Saturday Afternoon December 19, 2009 ~
~ Addendum ~ Santa was Here! ~
~ And Look What he Brought! ~
Well.. Pleasant and busy day today and a lot going on... (for me that is) I headed to the Price Chopper for some Sweet Potatoes and Orange juice... And saw apples on sale.. Hmmm, Apple Pie? No, let's make a Mince pie for Christmas... I usually make One a year... So, apples and sweet potatoes and then some Mince Meat... Hey where is my usual jar... They don't stock NoneSuch anymore... The store manager was right there and told me the warehouse discontinued it... SO, the jar that replaced it was two dollars more, maybe the jar a bit larger? Anyway it was $8.99 for 29 ounces.. kinda expensive pie.. But it IS Christmas.. is it not? So then I picked up a couple Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts, they were on sale at least, then I got some orange juice and stopped by for some Choco Chip Ice crean and a full $1.50 off regular price!... On to the check-out and back to the ranch...
So then I started on my pie, put the crusts out to warm up some then chopped up two apples, added that to the Mince Meat, added a few drops of Angostura bitters, then poured that in to a crust and topped it with another, then into the oven...
Then, started on my syrup for the Sweet Taters, and peeled and sliced a couple taters, then into the pot to simmer a bit... Mixed some orange juice and brown sugar, added butter, then cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves to make my syrup...
Then a knock at the door, who be that?.. Well lookee here, Santa Claus from the Nature Center, Director Jim Reed with a card and a fruit cake that his lovely wife Diane had baked for a few ~ Special People ~... Don't that look tasty? Well I got one last year too and it was scrumptious! And, lucky he came by, I gave him 5 DVDs of the Santa Trail walk that I made for a few ~Special People~... Well, Jim was on the way to play Santa Claus somewhere and Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas... Into his Sleigh (pick-up truck) ... and Off into the mist... Yeah, it's cold and looks like snow today..
So a quick photo of the cake for this addendum, then took the pie out of the oven, got a photo of that and then drained the sweet taters, into a baking dish, poured the syrup on top and then baked them for a half hour or so, they are done now.. Got a photo of the finished product and now...
All missions accomplished except to roast the pork loin later when the mood hits... And it isn't quite time for that yet, but I think I deserve an early Manhattan for all that rustling around this morning...
NEXT.... We'll see what that Roast looks like when I take it out later and slice it up and have the first Feast with it!.. How Sweet it Really IS!.
~ And Still (after today)... FIVE More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Saturday Morning, December 19, 2009 ~
~ More ANTICIPATION! ~
~ Herb Marinade Applied ~
6:00 a.m. Saturday Morning... Pork loin out of the fridge, out of the package, rinsed and dried... I removed the bone... Olive oil and herb marinade brushed on all sides liberally... The loin placed back on top of the bone and back in the fridge... Now sometime this afternoon, into the oven and the aroma of roast pork will dominate the atmosphere... and begin to smell like Christmas here...
The rule is to tie the roast back on the bone when roasting... I am not sure that will be necessary, just rest the roast on top of the bone and that should work fine with no tying... and then no untying afterward either... VOILA! I make my own cooking rules...
I had an excellent 'next to last' turkey dinner last night... One to go... And that Irish Soda bread really goes good with butter and cranberry sauce on top! Now I have to run up to the Price Chopper for a couple more sweet potatoes, those, candied, along with some dressing should go good, maybe I can make some gravy from the pork drippings for the dressing... And I still have some cranberry sauce, that goes good with pork as well as turkey...
Then maybe tonight... the parade of Roast Pork Loin dinners will proceed until Christmas day... Ah How Sweet it IS!
BUT.... Secret Star commented on my Keyboard photo, says looks like I gained weight... HAH! Checked on that and I sure did.. 5 pounds! And I can see why, someone around here cooks too much good stuff... Have to do something about that... but ~AFTER~ the Holidays... HUH?
.
~ NOW (after today)... FIVE More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Friday, December 18, 2009 ~
~ ANTICIPATION! ~
~ Bone-In Pork Loin Roast ~ Before! ~
As usual getting an early start on Christmas dinner... Been trying to decide on just what.. Not ready yet for another ham and still have turkey from T-Day.. another turkey dinner slated for tonight... And so I was at the Price Chopper cashing in a $20 scratcher winner and checked out the Christmas sales... Not on a big sale but this nice 4 pound pork loin roast looked good... Been wanting to do another one for quite a while...
So, I made a marinade of Extra virgin Olive oil, Sage and Rosemary and course ground black pepper and that is chilling and melding in the fridge... I will prep the roast overnight and roast it sometime tomorrow.. there will be about 6 to 8 dinners out of this one I believe...
Now sipping my afternoon Manhattan cocktail after talking to Sigi on IM... Then some TV and then next to the last Turkey dinner with some sweet taters and some newly made sage dressing I made yesterday... And that dressing will go good with the pork also... Yeah!... Anticipation!... I love to cook... and then brag about it...
~ What? SIX More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Thursday, December 17, 2009 ~
~ El Pato at the Keyboard! ~
~ No... I ain't Serious.. This is a Joke, Son! ~
Actually I CAN play this a little but here I am using the 'Songbook' in the keyboard to help out.. You can play along with the output and I can actually get in a few right notes... But if I practice I can do some good on some of the recorded ~rythms~... Have to try a better one sometime...
Oh yes, I heard somewhere that Herr Sigi Wulle (Thomas, my German Chat Friend) is actually an accomplished pianist of sorts... of course I have to take his word, I have not heard him play anything... But then Herr Wulle... maybe you could make us a video of your prodigious ability at the piano.... Nein?
~ and Now... Eight More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Wednesday, December 16, 2009 ~
~ A Van Club Diversion Today ~
~ A Member Window Decal for the Van Club ~
Memories again... Digging around in the desk drawer again and ran into these mementoes of the Van Club... After being voted in as Club President I set about getting us some ID material... I designed an ID Card, then this window decal like the other clubs had to show their affiliation...
Then this nice gold colored metal Dash Plaque for Inside the vans... The background was a mirror finish gold and doesn't show up well in this photo but was quite impressive...
It was also customary to furnish Dash Plaques for the people that came to the various truck-ins held during the year... Along with T-Shirts of the Event... For our First several Poker Runs - Truck-ins we held... we had this Deck of Cards on our Dash Plaques as well as on the Commemorative T-Shirts... This Dash Plaque also had a reflective gold background... And then if you remember, there was a gas shortage in the 70s and to save the Vanners some gas I decided to have our Poker Run... on foot and inside the park.. So I designed this Dash Plaque and tracing my own big foot for the pattern...
So now... What else is there to do on this long Cold Wednesday?...
~ Well NOW... NINE More Days til Christmas? ~
~ Sunday December 13, 2009 ~
~ A Trail Walk with Santa! ~
~ And a Better Video than Last Year... ~
~
A busy day yesterday... No one in Chat.... Sigi not Online... ~
But the weather wasn't too bad, looked like we might get some sun and it was about 30 degrees... I headed over to the Sanctuary where a couple early birds were setting up the pine cone and peanut butter makings... Then here comes Santa and then the New Director Bob Fluchen... Then just at 10:00 a.m. a few started filtering in for the trail walk.. First to peanut butter and seed up some pine cones to hang in the trees to feed the birds... It was a bit chilly and it didn't look like very many were showing up.. But a few minutes later there was a nice group and after making some seed cones, making a snow man and getting a few snaps of the kids with Santa.. Off down the trail they went... to hang the cones and walk the trail just far enough to tire out Santa Claus...
And then Santa invited the group to join him in the 'Pie Room' at Hawthorne House, just up the road from my place... I stopped in at my apartment on the way to change out of my boots but it felt so cozy and warm then that I decided to skip the pie and coffee, just stay home and start editing my video... And that didn't take all that long so I made a Blu-ray DVD and then rendered a .mpg file and uploaded that to Vimeo... I mixed my manhattan and watched my DVD and have to say I was much more pleased with this year's try than last year's disaster...
Now to make some DVDs for the Committee members that might like to have a copy... and on to another Pre-Christmas day...
AND,,, Another late T-Day turkey dinner.. Yum! The sweet potatoes were better than the first try.. also the home made dressing I whipped up from scratch... And the turrkey was OK,.. but the store gravy not as good as the stuff I made on T-Day... And the cranberry sauce really went well with the soda bread I made earlier, that stuff turmed out really tasty...
Now.. what can possibly top that for Christmas dinner? Have some time left to decide on that...
Super Cold day Thursday and not much going on... Was at 1 degree at 6 a.m. Thursday Morning... So a just re-run of the Snow Scene last year... With Antonio... Since then returned to Guatamala or wherever.. He was a lot of fun when helping out here...
So, I did run up to the Price Chopper for a jar of cherries... (for my Manhattans) And a stop to check the snail mail at the top of the hill... Other than that, nothing going on most all day... Later I thought of making some Irish soda bread to go with my soup... But I needed more flour and some buttermilk but didn't want to go back to the Chopper to get it.. Maybe I will do that today... And maybe I won't do that today... I did have a bowl of that veggie soup in the afternoon... very tasty if just a bit on the peppery side.. good to warm you up on a cold day...
Then later a burger and chips to finish out the day... Now to finish up Friday.. and not as cold this morning at 16F degrees... HEAT WAVE!
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Hey Mom... It's Christmas!
Then this nice gold colored metal Dash Plaque for Inside the vans... The background was a mirror finish gold and doesn't show up well in this photo but was quite impressive...
It was also customary to furnish Dash Plaques for the people that came to the various truck-ins held during the year... Along with T-Shirts of the Event... For our First several Poker Runs - Truck-ins we held... we had this Deck of Cards on our Dash Plaques as well as on the Commemorative T-Shirts... This Dash Plaque also had a reflective gold background...
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