December tidbits

I suppose one of the most remarkable things about this week is how unremarkable it was. Like, you mean there are actually moments after I've done my chores and exercised that I don't have to be editing stuff, or decorating for a holiday, or attending a conference, or anything else? Wild!

Here are some of the minor things that have happened this week.

• My feelings of being a professional are continuing to trickle in. My state colleagues and I were guests on a (not super interesting) podcast that will be coming out in January. And I also got an email asking for my address to send my author's copy of my Pioneer Day article. So I guess that is coming soon!
• I was able to use the last of the garden tomatoes for sauce for homemade pizza, and I also put the last yellow squash on said pizza.
  
  
  
• However, we still have a lot of apples from our tree. Regular readers of this blog know that I enjoy making crisps with whatever fruit we have on hand. And I think I made my very best one ever this week: cranberry apple gingerbread crisp! I nailed the gingerbread flavor, and I love how the cranberries cut through the sweetness of the apples.

  

  My mom thankfully helped cut and peel the apples

  I like to make variations on the recipe in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and I think this was my most creative and most successful variation. So I'm going to put the recipe here so I have it in the future, and in case you want to try it. It's different enough from the regular recipe that I'm counting it as my own.

Ingredients:

Topping:

1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup molasses

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup whole wheat flour (all-purpose flour works too)

pinch salt

1 cup rolled oats

Fruit:

6 to 8 cups apples, peeled and cut

2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rub the stick of butter on the inside of a 9x13" baking dish.

2. Cut the stick of butter into smaller pieces. Cream it with the brown sugar and molasses. (A food processor makes this step quite easy.)

3. Mix in the lemon juice, spices, flour, and salt. 

4. By hand, mix in the oats. (Don't use a food processor for this step, unless you want the oats to be all ground up.)

5. Combine the apples, cranberries, and sugar in the baking dish.

6. Put the topping on the fruit.

7. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

• I continue to make my way through my Christmas playlist. I first compiled this playlist in 2013, and every year I add new stuff to the end of the playlist. Then when it's Christmastime, I start at the beginning and make my way to the end. (I still buy music, especially since there's some that's not available on streaming services.) I've been balancing listening to the playlist from the beginning along with the new additions to my collection (Christina Perri, Cher, Mark Tremonti, Joel Paterson, Greg Laswell, the National Parks, Mat Kearney). A decade ago, I was more interested in quantity in my playlist versus quality, and my playlist has every Christmas song I own, even the ones I don't like. There are some really terrible songs early in the playlist. But I've made it into the 2016 section, so the rest of the playlist will be more enjoyable. (2017, 2018, and 2020 are some of my favorite sections.) And then later in the season, after I've made it through the playlist chronologically, I'll put the whole thing on shuffle. It's one of my favorite things about this time of year. Currently my playlist is up to 2,045 tracks.
• In November, I bought the new game Super Mario Bros. Wonder for Nintendo Switch, even though I'm not a gamer. (Please don't assume that about me!) When I was a child playing Super Mario Bros. All-Stars on Super Nintendo, I loved to look at the backgrounds and wish they were levels. And in Wonder, there are moments where you do play in the background! It took more than twenty-five years for my wish to come true.
• It has been almost two years since we put my cat Jimmy down, but yesterday I had a flashback that made me realize how Reggie is different. Reggie was sitting on me on my bed for some loving, and then he got off me. I thought, "Time to move my feet so he doesn't bite my ankles." But then I remembered that Reggie doesn't do that (thankfully!), even though Jimmy did. Reggie is the most laid-back cat we have had.
• I attended North Salt Lake's tree lighting festivities and the Festival of Trees, but I don't know what to say about them other than that I attended.