The Blender Saga Continues!

I'm very glad last week is over, and the Christmas Bazaar is as well.  I stressed so much about getting ready, and I still didn't get all I wanted done.  Oh well.  The Bazaar went about as well as could be expected in the current economy.  I had a table in a small room in the very back of the church hall, so I didn't get a lot of customers.  But I did alright.  Everyone who stopped by got a laugh from the fact that the priest I was raffling was made to look like their parish priest; most of them bought raffle tickets because of it.  Nick dropped me off in the morning, and then took the boys over to his parents house.  He and his dad apparently had a good time talking about stuff.  Everyone had fun; and I'm glad we don't have to do it again until next year!

The other day I was going through all of the things that people have given us because of something they've read on this blog; and I realized just how blessed we are to have such good friends.  I've told you about the fondue set (that we plan to use again during the holidays) and the bread machine from Katherine; but I don't think I've mentioned the lovely salt and pepper shakers that Nicole gave us.  They are a set of two peas in a pod.  They are so darling;  I've pictured them before, and I will again so keep an eye out for them! 



Our most recent gift was a new blender, from my sister who said she just wasn't using it.  It's from GE and the bowl is glass!  Nick and I are very happy with it.  The first thing he did after it was washed was make chocolate milkshakes.  Homemade chocolate milkshakes . . . .  

Then I made fruit smoothies, or "smoonies" as Thing One calles them.  I'd chopped some ice cubes in the blender, and then added yogurt and a blend of sweetened berries.  They came out a little thin, I should have used more ice and less yogurt.  They were really good, and both the boys devoured theirs. 

Nick had an interesting situation at work last week:  the "Thanksgiving Dinner" that the company provided was at 1pm.  That meant that anyone who worked second shift had to come all the way in, eat, go home and come back an hour later for work.  Understandable, no one from second shift went.  Instead they decided to have a Second Shift Dip-Off; everyone would make or bring their favorite dip and some chips to share.  Nick asked me to make hummus, and he make a crab and spiniach thing (and he wants to tell you about that--so poke him about it!). 

I was impressed with how easily our new blender went through the chick peas!  I'd soaked them for a day, and boiled them for another.  Then I put small amounts of them in the blender with relative amounts of oil, peanut butter (I had chunky this time and it didn't matter), garlic (I had bought a garlic/sea salt grinder, and had to use more than I'd thought to get enough flavor) and paprika.  Then I mixed all of the small amounts of blended hummus together.  It was so simple; and Nick said it was the best batch yet.  His co-workers ate half of it! 

Now that the Bazaar is over, and I'm not stressed about various things I'm going to try to get my house, shop and blog back on track.  I'm sorry that I only had one post last week, I'll try to have more this week.  I'm also going to start the Italian lessons again.  Keep watching for more of our culinary adventures, especially as the holidays are coming!

Ciao! Zizi