Country Style New Years

It's become a tradition over the past six years or so to drive up to the Central Valley for New Years. We spend the evening with my Great Aunt and Uncle and have a big dinner (fried turkey, normally; cioppino this year) and a huge breakfast to ring in the New Year. Every year, for reasons even I don't understand, I dread going. I guess it's just that a long car ride + an uneventful evening = a seemingly unpleasant trip. But every year I end up loving it. I spend at least an hour walking around the house taking pictures, reminiscing about all the summers I spent there as a child. No matter how much I pretend to hate going, it always feels like home when I'm there. This year was especially fun because my mom took me to the Feed & Seed to try on cowboy boots and then to some of my favorite antique shops (who knew a little nothing town like Oakdale could have some of the best antiques?) I scored an adorable vintage Valentine's Day card and a Brownie Holiday Flash circa 1960! 

Aldous in her car seat... what a cutie!

  

Black walnuts tree; I love the way the branches look.

China Doll - I remember when she was just a puppy... I think it was 1999? 

The beginnings of cioppinno...

Delicious pot o' crab!

Finished product... steamy cioppino!

My Brownie Holiday Flash! (Sorry for the poor quality... taken with an iTouch.)

Christmas Time

Christmas is a really huge deal in my house. It begins weeks before Christmas when we get the tree - it's a whole family affair. My mom and I decorate our house with tons of silvery, wintery decorations and plenty of glitter. Then on the 23rd we make sauces for tamales and my Grandma dedicates some time to slicing cheese into perfect-sized slivers. We wake up ridiculously early on Christmas Eve and run to La Finca for fresh masa. Since I was little I have loved carrying the bag of masa (a whopping 25 pounds!) because it's so warm when we buy it. It takes a few hours to whip out four dozen chicken tamales, and about two dozen sweet tamales. This year my dad, step-mom and little brother stayed with us so in the evening we drove around looking at pretty Christmas lights with Kai while Santa dropped off gifts at the house. The look on his face when we got home to a living room full of presents was priceless. 

Tamale ingredients: Chile verde with chicken, melty cheese, and sweet masa (for cinnamon-pineaple sweet tamales!) 

Steamy tamale time! Yummy yummy.

Gumdrop candles in the windows - so cute. The "curtains" were my brother's creative discretion (:

Ginger bread houses are so lovely... don't they just feel like Christmas?