12 Days of Xmas in ’12! Day Eleven!

Happy Christmas Eve, friends!  What are you up to today?  Me?  Well, thanks for asking!  Double S and I are reunited.

We went to see the lights at Tilles Park last night.  Good stuff! There were Christmas unicorns!

And the 12 Days of Christmas!  The leapin’ lords were my fave.

I’m helping my dad smoke a turkey today, as getting a smoker and learning to smoke meat is on my 2013 agenda.  More about my 2013 agenda on my last of these 12 days of xmas posts.  He has an electric smoker.  I’m leaning toward a charcoal smoker, ya know so I can stand around the yard this summer dutifully watching and tending to charcoal whilst I drink beer.  In other words, for the street cred and mainly to say I did I guess.  Anyone have any thoughts about charcoal versus electric smokers?  And have you heard about our Cook the Books Challenge that my homey Meg and I are leading in 2013?  It is gonna be fun!  Send us an email and join us: cookthebookschallenge@gmail.com.  Later in the Spring, we’ll be cooking from the Mile End Cookbook, which is a lot about smoked meat.  There’s the act of smoking meat, like smoking a turkey or a chicken.  Then there is “smoked meat,” which is a Montreal Jewish specialty.  I’m excited to try my hand at both this spring.  So meanwhile today, I’m learning a bit more about smoking.

I won’t be making this model! Double S would say Don’t Give Ohbriggsy Any Ideas!

What else?  Well, tonight there’s xmas eve with the extended ohbriggsy family.  I already told you about our dips.  There will also be wreaths and other desserts.  There will be a ham.  And there will be bourbon slush!  Have you had bourbon slush?  Oh, you are gonna want this.  Maybe, just maybe, if you make this now and have a good freezer, you can be sippin’ on this by Christmas afternoon.

Here’s what you do:

Turn 4 cups of boiling or very hot water into tea by adding 4 regular tea bags.  Add about 1 cup of sugar to this so it dissolves.  Add more or less sugar depending on how sweet you like your drinks.  I added a little less than 1 cup.    Let steep for five minutes or so.  I like to make this tea early so I can add it to the rest of the mixture when its cooled down.

Get a large container that you will freeze this mixture in.  Add 2 large cans of lemonade concentrate, 1 large can of orange juice concentrate, and 10 cups of water.

That blue paper is the tattered recipe, dug out of the Garfield folder I showed you the other day!

Finally add 4 1/2 cups of bourbon of your choice.  Add more to taste!

Add the chilled tea mixture.  Stir well.

Put in the freezer.  This usually takes about 24 hours to freeze thoroughly.

This makes a lot, definitely enough for a party.  If you just want a bit, half the recipe, it’s fine!

For today’s xmas tune, here’s The Decemberists with “Please Daddy Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas.” This is a cover of the John Denver original.  The Decemberists were recently on the Simpsons.  But at this point, who hasn’t been on the Simpsons?

• Play
• Pause
• Mute
• Unmute
• Max Volume

• Shuffle
• Shuffle Off
• Repeat
• Repeat Off

Update Required To Play MediaUpdate your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.

 But you can go ahead and get drunk.  It’s xmas eve!  Big whoop!

Please Daddy Don’t Get Drunk (This Christmas)…The Decemberists

12 Days of Xmas in ’12! Day Ten!

Alright, it’s December 23.  What the hell do you do if it’s Sunday December 23 and your significant other isnt with you (yet), you don’t have any kids, and you’ve already finished all your shopping/present acquiring?  If Double S was here I’d see if she wanted to go catch an afternoon showing of This is 40 or something, but she’s not.  I’ll think I’ll relax, catch some football (when in Rome, and hey!  The Rams weren’t terrible this year), and maybe drink some of these puppies.

Ad some of these.

8% ABV!

After that I’ll probably have to take a nap.  Maybe curl up with Around My French Table, our Cook the Books Challenge cookbook for January.  I made my way through the appetizers section yesterday.  I’m getting a lot of ideas.  Check it out and join us if you want to cook along and have some fun in 2013!

Today’s a good day for “Let Me Sleep It’ Christmas Time,”  a 1991 Pearl Jam b-side.

I love that song.  It’s kind of fitting for yesterday’s post too, I think.

I guess I could whip up more cookies. You know the easiest Xmas treat in the world to throw together, either to eat with your friends in your pjs in front of the tube today, or to take to some kinda soiree?  Christmas wreaths!  Which are basically an xmas rice krispie treat made with corn flakes instead of rice krispies.  Ooh, these things are popular. My family makes them every year and they disappear quick, cuz who in the effing world doesn’t like rice krispie treats?

This is about all you need to make them:

Here’s how to make ‘em!

Like a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper or wax paper.

Melt one stick of butter in a saucepan on medium heat.

Add about 50 regular (not mini) sized marshmallows and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and let it melt over the heat with the butter.

After they’ve melted, add about 1 tsp green food coloring to make them festive.  Keep them on the heat, stirring pretty constantly.  Skip this step for a more natural color scheme, think brown paper grocery bag.  Wait?  Is food coloring bad for you?  Answer: Yes!  Apparently it contains petroleum, acetone, and coal tar.  Well, I added it to mine when I made these the other day and I’m still alive, so make your own decisions.

And, yes, I said I already made these!

Now you’re all like:

And I’m all like, come on!  I’m telling you how to make them!  What more do you want from me?

Ahem, moving on.  Add 3 1/2 cups corn flakes.  Stir them in gently but thoroughly.

After you’ve stirred in the corn flakes gently,  spoon the mixture onto the trays in 1 TBSP piles.

Coat your hands with butter or cooking spray.  Shape the mounds (heh heh) into festive wreath shapes.  The mixture will be hot so watch out.

Add cinnamon red hots, red sprinkles or some other decoration for a holly berry or otherwise xmas fun effect.

Chill.  Then let the tray cool in the fridge for awhile.  See what I did there?  Nice.

Enjoy!