Oh, Oh Oh Oh...The White Stuff!

We've got the White Stuff Baby...
You're the reason why I write this blog.

Oh, Oh, Oh-oh-oh, The White Stuff

All that I needed was a day off ......from dumb worrrrkkkk!
And all that I wanted was yooouuuu......you made all .....the schools close!

(Now cross your arms and swing your legs. Admit it! You know this routine by heart!!)

Ok, I feel your skin cringing and your eyeballs twitching, so I will stop my lyrical genius mid-inspiration. But before you go knocking New Kids on The Block, just remember they gave us Mark Wahlberg, ok? So just..... Hang Tough.

I kid, I kid! Ok, ok I'll stop. Don't close your browser yet!

We've got pictures of snow. Real snow, like 6 whole inches in Eastern NC. And the pictures have captions!! Please stay!

Whew, I thought I had lost you there for a minute. It took a lot of exclamation marks to keep you here!

So on Tuesday, Inauguration Day, we woke up to SNOW. Like several inches worth; 6 to be precise. Which is apparently enough of a winter storm that the Governor of NC had to declare a state of emergency! (I hear you Norwegians laughing, along with other Northern folk. Just think of me next time you are shoveling your driveway, cursing the long winter.)

But let's not banter. The snow is only here for a little while and it's so pretty.

So let's reminiscence with a montage of pictures, shall we?

Although, I cannot promise there won't be more 80's flashbacks. I'm just in that kind of mood.

But I'll try. For all our sakes.



Oohh what's this? The Diesel Monster is silent?! No wait, he tried to crank this noisy beast for a solid 10 mins at 7 am and then let it "warm up" for another 10 minutes. Sshh Diesel Monster!! I'm trying to hear the snow fall dangit! It's supposed to be peacefull!



I'm twacking rabbits. Be bery bery quiet Diesel Monstwer!



Take that Elmer Fudd: Six Inches! See, I'm honest. Plus the only jokes I can think of for this caption are entirely inappropriate. Get your head out of the gutter! My grandmother reads this yall.



Somanna took a walk in the wee hours of the morning, while it was still snowing, so that he could play with his camera toy. I stayed in because snow day = laaaazzzyyy day. Except when you are in college, when snow day = shots + sledding = good times. Until classes are NOT cancelled the next day and you still have to turn in your paper that you wrote hung over.



What?!?!! No that story didn't really happen Mama, honest! Here look at our lovely Christmas tree! It is just so gorgeous, isn't it?!



I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto.
Nope, it's definitely Narnia.



Hmm, I think the Witch went by in her sleigh. Careful, she will turn you into stone!
Which reminds me, I have got to finish that series...



Shut the *#$% up. I am not going outside.



Do I look impressed?
Now let's get back to serving me and my needs...


Later in the day, we ventured out and about, as the Canadians say, for a big, long walk. So that you guessed it, Somanna could take more photos.


Sometimes he lets me take the "little camera." Let's see if you can guess who took which photos.

Documenting the property line...



Documenting that Beth needs new kicks.....



Somanna's artsy fartsy pics...








And then mine...



See it's up to me to balance his high brow ways. It's a responsibility I take very seriously.



The man in action.



Snow Beast in action.



This road is briefly clear long enough to get a shot.
Apparently snow in the South = get your redneck on. Everyone thrusts their car into four wheel drive and suddenly they are qualified to handle icy roads at break neck speeds. That is why I stay home like a conspiracy theorist loony.





And then we headed home. Where I busted out my early 90's techno hits while I did laundry.

He is one lucky husband!
The End.

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God Bless the Scots

Happy New Year!

We rang in 2009 by attending a family oyster roast at my grandmother's house in Columbus County, Nawth Caralina. Columbus County is in fact the only county in the whole entire US of A named after the famed lost explorer. So there. You have a new fun fact to throw in at your next cocktail party.

I'm only here to share the wealth of knowledge.

I hope you like seafood because if you don't, I'm not entirely sure these photos will convert you. Admittedly, seafood is not the most visually appealing food, but it is tasty. And it requires a "hands on / all hands on deck / any hand extremity related cliches" approach.



"The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell." Andrew Carnegie


The term oyster roast, as best I can figure, stems from the days of yore when folks used to dig a big pit, often on the beach, throw in some coals and then place the oysters directly on the heat source to cook them. Along the way, someone figured out that steaming them is a heck of a lot easier than digging a big hole in the ground. But the name sure stuck and today folks in the low country still call it an oyster roast, even though by all technical accounts oysters are more often than not, steamed.


Steamed.





And then hacked open with tiny daggers.





And then gobbled down with homemade cocktail sauce or squeeze of lemon, if that suits your fancy.



"He was a bold man that first eat an oyster." Jonathan Swift


Oysters have long been considered a delicacy. When roasted, they have a slightly salty taste and a moderately fleshy texture. Despite their appearance, oysters do not feel slimy at all. Unless eaten on the half shell. (In which case, well duh, what did you expect.)


Either way these mollusks draw a definitive line in the sand: Ya either love 'em or hate 'em.





After cooking enough oysters to feed a small Roman Army, we headed inside to watch the ball drop in NYC's Times Square, followed by a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne. A song, which cannot possibly be understood sober, much less after consuming several celebratory drinks. I even googled the lyrics to this old folk tune, in part for this post, and in part as a determined effort to learn this song once and for all. But that attempt only left me with a big WTF expression on my face (sorry, parental units. But I gotta be real here.)


Nonetheless, we clumsily chimed in on the first and last lines of the song, mumbled our way through the middle like everyone else in the world (except the Scots) and ended it with a big Happy New Year! So mission accomplished.



Waiting for the New Year is awfully tiring on the little guy.


New Year's Day began with you guessed it, more eats! Our celebratory feast included black eyed peas (to bring good luck) served with rice, a dish commonly referred to as Hoppin' John in the dirty South. Also served were collard greens (for financial prosperity) cooked with ham hock (for, ironically enough, good health.)


At the risk of permanently ostracizing myself from the South (and lest we forget, possible financial ruin) I must confess I do not par take in the bitter collard greens. No siree. No ma'am.


I do not like green collards and ham, Sam I am.


I will not eat them in a house.
I will not eat them with a mouse.
I will not eat them here or there.
I will not eat them anywhere!


You get the point.


But that's OK, because it left more for Brittany, who loves her some collards greens. To the point that my parents' told her when she was little, and dependent upon them for truth and honesty and sustenance, (you know, little things like that,) that all greens were collards. And so little Brittany would literally scarf down my parents' lies, while I shook my head in shame at this monstrosity. But do not fret dear readers! Brittany survived, to only be slightly embarrassed at this story.


That was told, like 100 times in the course of 48 hours.


In front of her boyfriend no less.


And now I'm posting it on the intrawebs.


Good times :-)
She's a tough one, that Brittany. Maybe it was the spinach or were they collards?....but I digress.


Surely you didn't think that was the only food we had did you?


Silly readers! Portion control is for wimps!


My uncle Dick also made a mean vegetarian chili.


Granted, I realize that last sentence is arguably an oxymoron. But seriously this chili was.that.good. And once I get the recipe I promise to post it. Girl Scouts honor. (or something, I don't know. I didn't get into girl scouts. But it sounds honest, so in the meantime I'll just borrow this phrase.)


So we ate. We visited. We conquered the couch.


And then we headed home where we had some super cute visitors until Saturday.



Hurray for Aunt Beth! She rocks!!



Joe is teaching Bennett the fine art of carpentry skills. I plan on employing these laddies to remodel my house once they hit their physical prime of oh, about 19. And since I will be their elder and a relative, I can get away with paying them menial wages.



Hey, paparazzi! I'm on to you!



Angels. Bless 'em.


And that sums up our end to 2008 and the beginning to 2009.


2008 was monumental for us, for which we are very thankful and blessed.


But it also left us a little tired.


So here is to a healthy, relaxed, tasty, prosperous and FUN 2009!

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Merry Christmas!

and Happy New Year! But is it too late to talk about Christmas? Or the tree we got at the farmer's market? Of course not!

So like I said, we headed to the good ole farmer's market. There were a lot of trees from numerous farms, which was a bit surprising and overwhelming at first. It was great though because good deals could be had and it afforded me the chance to haggle a bit, not to mention everything smelled fantastic!

Anyways after about 20 minutes of checking out the trees, we decided to make a choice, since after awhile, they all look the same and we were in danger of pine-peeping (photography pun alert!) the trees.

So here is Beth giving the seal of approval on our choice:




Our tree hailed from Ashe County, woohoo Western N.C.!


The tree was tied to the top of our jalopy wagon by the lumberjack.

Shucks, I miss my beard!

And here I am giving the tree my seal of approval too!

So back to house to put the tree up and then decorate it with ornaments, lights, ribbon, of which we previously had none. (We also got an amazing wreath from the farmer's market, but I can't seem to find the photo anywhere!)

After numerous trips to the store, kind gifts from friends and one boss, the tree finally was ready!






The view from outside:






We played host this year, and had Beth's grandmother, her sister Brittany, her parents and younger bro Andrew over for Christmas and the weekend. It was great to have the house filled with people, although the cats disagree with us on that!

Our main event was Christmas Day lunch, where we started out with spinach stuffed mushrooms topped with cheese, followed by a pear and walnut salad with mustard vinaigrette and blue cheese:






The main course was broiled salmon with garlic lemon pepper crust:




With sides of mashed potato gratin with goat cheese, garlic and scallions:






and steamed fresh asparagus sprinkled with Parmesan cheese:





For dinner, we had honey baked ham, sweet potato casserole, brown rice and stuffing. Of course, the rest of the weekend was spent eating leftovers of all of above.

And wouldn't you know it, after all the preparation and build up, it was all over with too quickly! Luckily, we had New Year's to look forward to, as we were headed to Whiteville for the big family oyster roast!

More on that to follow, hope everyone had a good holiday!

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