six

It's funny to realize that our little household, as established as it is, is still relatively young.  During the holiday season, everything that we've done once or twice seems to be "a tradition."  For instance, spiced pecans.

To be fair, I grew up with spiced nuts at Christmas.  There's a passed-down recipe in the family recipe box at my parents' house and everything.  I don't particularly recall eating them during the holidays, though--cookies seem to play a bigger role in my childhood memories, for some reason.

In recent years, though, I've been experimenting with different spiced pecan recipes.  I don't think I've settled on one "traditional" recipe yet, but when I do, this one will definitely be in the running.

It's Martha's, of course, so there isn't a lot of explanation required.  I did use a locally-made honey chipotle chili sauce--which complemented the chipotle chili powder I tossed in, I think.  I'm also of the opinion that you could get away with less salt than the recipe calls for, but that's just me...

I made a few batches of these yesterday to share with some of our favorite neighbors, but now that I've given them all away, I'm realizing that I should probably make more, just because.

fresh

We've been cleaning the kitchen, and it feels good.  Washing down the walls, replacing the shelf liners, and rearranging the contents of the cabinets kind of makes it seem like we've acquired a brand-new kitchen.  We even moved the refrigerator.

This was all incredibly over-due.  My man generally does a pretty good job of taking care of the daily kitchen cleaning--see how I'm not even pretending to take care of business?--but sometimes you just need to make a fresh start.  This is my favorite kind of cleaning.  Not washing a dish--washing all of the dishes.  Not mopping up a spill--mopping the entire floor.  I won't lie; I have to be in the mood to get into a project like this, but once I'm there, don't try to stop me...

When I first moved to Seattle, I lived in a co-op--a group house where all eight housemates contributed to running the household.  Twice each year, we scheduled a day for everyone to pitch in and clean the house, top to bottom.  It might sound funny, but I really looked forward to Fall Clean and Spring Clean.  Maybe it was because we'd order takeout for dinner and sit around chatting when all the cleaning was done, but at least part of it was the cleansing--and cathartic--process of putting each room in order.

Now that it's just the two of us, cleaning the house is less like a big, messy party, but I still like it.  It gives me the--temporary--illusion that my life is neat and organized.  It makes me feel like I'm in control of the chaos.  And, in a way, it makes me feel like a successful homemaker.

Which, by the way, I'm not.  Lately, I've kind of turned into a slob.  I've blamed it on the stressful nature of my job and the crazy months of the wedding year, but now that I don't have those excuses anymore, I'm going to have to get my act into gear.  If I don't start pitching in, this marriage might turn out to be an incredibly short one.

I have good intentions.  I can spend hours flipping through the pages of Martha's Homekeeping Handbook.  (I don't have a hanging pot rack, but if I ever do, I'll know the proper way to clean it...)  I understand what a clean house looks like.  I just need to make a commitment and then stick to it.  

Sooner or later, I'll get around to straightening up my craft mess and organizing the closets, but for now, my commitment is to the kitchen.

Wish me luck.

to market

If you've been reading awhile, you might recall one teeny tiny detail about our wedding that I haven't made much mention of here: My partner-in-crime and I are making most of the food for our seventy-some guests.

Before you start wringing your hands on our behalf, I'll stress the word most.  We are hiring someone else to roast the pig.  The original plan there was for my man and my foodie brother to roast the pig in a giant hole in my parents' backyard.  Somehow, my folks managed to talk us out of that one.

And dessert is definitely going to be a group effort.  My brother--off the hook with the whole pig thing now--is bringing a few pies.  My Aunt Kathy has pledged two sheet cakes.  "Our" cake--the one that will feature the little cake toppers I've been yammering on and on about--will be made my littlest sister.

Which mostly just leaves the easy stuff to us.  Potato salad, coleslaw, and corn muffins.  And a yet-to-be-determined vegetarian option.  (Yes, we know, the clock is definitely ticking on that one...)

We're using an old family stand-by for the slaw recipe, making the cornbread recipe from the 1976 edition of Joy of Cooking, and looking to Martha for some All-American Potato Salad.

So today, we hit the road with a battle plan, lots of spare shopping bags, and maybe a little bit of trepidation.  Our list looked something like this:

32 lbs potatoes

9 medium heads of cabbage

24 stalks celery

17 bell peppers

And so on.  I'm sure you get the idea.  In all honesty, the food shopping went better than I'd imagined.  We put the priority on local and organic and only had to make a few tough calls.  

Things on the drinks front, though, was a little more challenging.  Everyone on the Internet has advice for you on figuring out how much alcohol to buy to entertain a crowd of seventy people.  Nobody can help you calculate, though, how many people will prefer wine to beer, whether the Pinot Grigio will go down better than the Chardonnay, or who will turn their nose up at a perfectly good IPA.  There was a lot of guessing going on today.  A little bit of arguing and desperation, but mostly guessing.  And we're really, really hoping we guessed right.

We did get a little excited about the beer shopping, though, once we found the "Local Beer" section.  We bought a few "sampler" packs from Great Lakes Brewing Company, some Buckeye Beer, and a Cincinnati classic called Burger to help wrap things up at the end of the night.  We're happy to have lots of Ohio beer to serve at the party.

We were thrilled to see, though, when we finally returned from our shopping market extravaganza, that a nice little treat from Washington was waiting for us.

Our much-anticipated case of cider from Wildfire Cider has arrived! Ohio beer is great, but we're excited to be able to share a real taste of Washington with our wedding guests.  In fact, I very nearly cracked open the first bottle when I opened the box, but I managed to restrain myself.  I'll have to be very, very good about not sampling the wares before Saturday evening rolls around...

Tomorrow, we make the coleslaw.  Wednesday, the potato salad.  The corn muffins don't come until Friday.  Oh, and a vegetarian entree will have to get crammed in there somewhere, too.  Also, there's the pinata. And the pennants.  And I have an awesome new idea for the table numbers.

Nobody panic.  We've got a plan.  Really.

girls

I spent most of the day this past Saturday surrounded by smart, funny women.  We had a lovely brunch here and then went to watch these ladies perform amazing feats of female athleticism.   

It was a good day.  There were no stripteases or cakes shaped like male genitalia.  There were no feather boas or plastic tiaras--although I did rock this great tin-foil crown my friend made for me.  I wasn't playing a role or a part.  I was just being me.

And those smart, funny women I mentioned earlier?  They were all of that and more.  I felt lucky to be around them.  I don't spend a lot of time with other girls.  Usually, I'm at work with a bunch of guys or at home with that one special fellow.  Being out last weekend made me think that maybe I've been missing out on some quality girl-time.  I'll have to make a post-wedding resolution to do something about that...

(You might recall that, along with some bachelorette-goodness, another weekend highlight I was anticipating was my last ever issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.  I'm sorry to report that while the bachelorette-goodness exceeded my expectations, the MSW definitely did not.  I thought about trying to explain my general disappointment here, but instead, I think I'll just let Mouse at Souris Mariage speak for us all.)

happy couple

If I'm going to spend days locked in the house, I'm at least going to get something done.  Here's the latest incarnation of our cake toppers.*  There are still some things I would do differently, if I had the project to do over again, but I've put some good work in, and I'm almost ready to call these kids done.  I'll varnish them with a clear coat, and they'll be dry by the time we tuck them into a suitcase at the end of next week.

There are going to be a lot of things going into suitcases over the next few days.  And maybe a few things shipped, too.  When we first talked about having a wedding two thousand miles away from the place where we live, I don't think we really considered some of the details involved.

We've got most of it figured out, I'm happy to say.  Not all of it, of course.  Where would be the fun in that?  We've still got another twenty-two days to kill, right?

If you've got time to kill, might I recommend a visit to A Practical Wedding?  A few posts in the past week or two have really gotten my brain going.  Like this one about dealing with in-laws (an area I've been particularly lucky in...) or this one about Waiting to Do It.  I'm choosy about my wedding blogs, and I do like the ones with lots of pretty pictures and cute diy projects, but I really think Meg over at APW has got it going on.

I hope you all have a happy weekend.  I've got a lot planned, including some mild bridal/bachelorette celebrating and the inevitable purchase of my final issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.*  Hopefully, you're up to something fun, too.  See you on Monday!

*If you squint, you can see my little blue shoes!
**Yes, I know.  It's a bit too late to be gleaning menu ideas or decorating tips, but this is the very last issue I'll ever be able to rationalize purchasing.  I just want to look at all the pictures.  After this, it's over.  I promise.  I can quit anytime I want to...