December | 2011 | Auntie B's Wax

Archive for December, 2011

Make A Joyful Noise

Posted in Holidays, tagged Christmas, DeLaSalle on December 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

One of the best things about Christmastime is the music. Husby and I have been to two Christmas concerts this year. The first was Katie McMahon’s Celtic Christmas. It was such a relaxing and lovely concert featuring talented musicians and dancers honoring Celtic traditions.

The second is especially endearing as it features someone we know. It used to feature two people we know but one of them graduated. It’s the DeLaSalle Christmas concert ~ a majestic presentation by the choir, band, and orchestra of DeLaSalle High School.

I’m always so impressed with the talent of these young musicians. I’m equally impressed with the one man who takes charge of directing all three groups, the band, the choir, and the orchestra. He’s a man with a passion for music and getting young people excited about it, that’s for sure.

Every year they conclude the concert with a performance of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus and invite anyone from the audience to join them to sing on stage to perform. Some of them are alumni, some might be parents of the students who performed this piece at some point in their lives. It’s a very impressive gathering, and they make a joyful noise.

This video was taken in 2008 when both of my most talented nephews, Paenney and Fojo, were in the band. Three cheers for the baritone and saxophone and two guys who play them with gusto!

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Wordless Wednesday

Posted in Holidays, Wordless Wednesday, tagged Christmas on December 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

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Delicious And Easy

Posted in Food, Recipes, tagged Rolo on December 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Who says something delicious has to be difficult to make? OK, so there are lots of complicated recipes and cooking techniques out there that yield terrific results, but let’s face it, most of us don’t have the talent or time to make this stuff.

At Christmastime I love to bake, and there is one thing I like to make that tastes so good and takes hardly any time to make. I usually make these right after baking a batch of cookies because I need the oven, but only for an additional two minutes. Yes, you heard me, two minutes.

What you’ll need:

One bag of Rolo candies (about 55)

Same number of prezel “Snaps” as there are Rolos in the package (about 55)

Same number of pecan halves as Rolos and Snaps (about 55)

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. This is very important, especially if you don’t want to wash the pan. If you don’t mind washing a pan this isn’t necessary.

2. Place the Snaps on the lined pan. I like to put the salted side up because I’m a little OCD.

3. Place one Rolo on top of each Snap.

4. Place pan of Rolo/Snaps in a 350-degree oven for two minutes.

5. Remove from oven. Take a pecan half and squish it into one of the semi-melted Rolo/Snap things. Repeat with remaining pecans.

6. All done. Let set at room temperature until the chocolate is done being melty.

Once the chocolate is set up you can store them in a cookie tin or sealed plastic container. They’re great treats to take to the office Christmas party or to give as little presents to teachers or neighbors or the mailman.

Oh, and another thing, what if you don’t like nuts? (Charlotte, I’m looking at you.) Instead of topping the melty Rolo with a pecan, top it with an M & M. Nut-free and just as delicious. Enjoy!

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Dive Night ~ Our House

Posted in Dive Night, Food on December 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Since switching my blog to this new platform I haven’t had any real Dive Night posts. If you were a follower of my last blog you might be familiar with the monthly Dive Night adventure Husby and I partake in with our friends Ruthie and Ray. If not, you can find the history of Dive Night here.

As has become tradition the four of us celebrate Dive Night in December in our homes, alternating each year. No, neither home is a dive, but it’s a good time to put our own culinary talents to work and to try new and exciting things. This year the evening was at the Auntie B’s Wax World Headquarters.

When we have our yearly Dive Night at home it consists of hors d’oeuvres only. Some pretty heavy, but small food nonetheless, and we all contribute something. Because we were not being served in restaurant I was somewhat remiss in taking pictures of every food we had. I had to broil the English muffin crab things for cryin out loud.

Here’s a rundown of what we had: Ruthie brought/made shrimp and cocktail sauce, stuffed mushrooms (al a Pioneer Woman) and bacon bites. Ray brought smoked oysters, pickled herring and crackers. Husby contributed a most unusual treat of head cheese. I made some Pepsi beef sandwiches, English muffin crab things, a yummy little chipotle dip with bagel chips and pretzels and sweet after-dinner cookies/candies.

Shrimp and cocktail sauce. Did you know you can eat as much shrimp as you want and never feel full? It's true.

Pretzel "Snaps" with chipotle dip.

Smoked oysters. Half of them have been eaten. Ruthie didn't have any because they make her gag. Silly Ruthie.

Pickled herring, a holiday must. Ruthie doesn't eat this either. She's got a neurotic fear of slippery fish things I guess.

A very bad picture of some really good stuffed mushrooms. Guyere cheese, man. Fab!

Mini Pepsi beef sandwiches and English muffin crab things.

Ruthie's famous bacon bites.

Little Clementines are always a nice winter treat. So easy to peel!

I’m really sorry I didn’t get a picture of the head cheese. I’m also sorry I completely overlooked it while filling my plate and didn’t try it. No worries, there are leftovers in the fridge. Guess what? I had no idea head cheese isn’t cheese at all. It’s meat!

After filling up with all of the delicious food we exchanged gifts and had a lovely evening chatting and laughing quite a bit. We rounded out another year of Dive Nights with the glory of Christmas cheer and look forward to another year of discovering the great food served by the city’s “dives.”

Merry Christmas, all you foodies!