The Bar 2014 Edition

[lucky420]

3 degrees here this morning.

Making homemade soup and puttering around inside today.

[Elorrum]

Wow, Lucky. Stay in and stay warm. Soup is a great idea. What kind are you making? I bought a turkey on Friday afternoon, and will cook it today. I was at my sister's for Thanksgiving dinner, and didn't get any leftovers. Having the oven on for hours sounds like a plan today. It's not as cold as where you are, but 35 is cold for here.

[lucky420]

Albondigas soup (meatball)

Stay warm to E! Can't wait to see you in January

[unjonharley]

It's 17 degrees here in Salem.. Will warm up to 30.. The city has sanded the steep approach hill to our house. So I wont be sliding into fast traffic..Grandfather has to go to Portland VA Monday.. He has fallen a couple of times.. The VA want X rays..

Staying in today and footballing.. Have to supper clean the kitchen.. The hot air balloon club is having the Dec. meeting at our house..

[Captain Goddammit]

Wow we're up to 21 now.
The First Mate and I bundled up in about 40 layers and went for a walk last night.
I sure wouldn't wanna be out there very long.

[Ratty]

Ellorum! Was that post card I filled out at the M&G from you?! I DID meet you. Thank you. It was a fabulous gift.

[^Rhino!]

5 degrees here. Wind chill at 5 below. First snow of the season, one half inch. Good for a dusting making things look 'clean' but not much else. Not on the main highways, though. Missouri DOT pre-treats with BEET JUICE, the leftovers from sugar been processing. Environmentally sound, too. The one drawback is it will tend to add nutrients to the grass at the shoulder, and then the mowing schedule has to be moved up a week. Not a bad thing.
Just time-consuming.

[theCryptofishist]

My right thumb was so cold it hurt on this morning's walk. I spent the rest stop warming up with breath and body heat. Didn't break a sweat today, which is very rare.

[unjonharley]

I have been dealing with a trigger thumb.. So it was inactive yesterday while blowing snow off the wake and rest of the driveway.. Damn thing got real cold..

If it were the Captain posting this.. I would have some advice to where he should stick it..

[AntiM]

Let's have a cold one:

IMG_20131208_100755_113.jpg

[goathead]

only 265 days left



then it will be festive

[unjonharley]

only 265 days left



then it will be festive

And a round of tin cans for the goats

[MyDearFriend]

Another round of drinks, you say?

This has been such a cold and miserable day here: snow, sleet, freezing rain, more sleet, and more ice expected through the morning. I will be slipping & sliding down the street at dawn.

Right now I am trying to decide what kind of cookies to bake for the holidays. I like to bake the kinds you can't buy anywhere but, I also know my peeps want chocolate chip cookies. And peanut butter cookies. And gingerbread...

*opens another bottle of wine*

[Patsh]

MyDearSweetFriend, I'd love to share some wine with you!
And I've been looking at cookie recipes, thinking how nice it would be to have some real Scotch Shortbreads! They can be cut with cookie cutters, too... Found just the right recipe.
Of course, finding that was just step one of actually making them... here, on Mountain Stranded time, it could take another week or so to actually make them. (here's where we need the little smiley face with a very toothy grin)

Meanwhile, about that wine...

[MyDearFriend]

*clinks glasses with Patsh*

Let's pretend we are going to bake cookies together this year.

[Patsh]

*clinks glasses with Patsh*

Let's pretend we are going to bake cookies together this year.

OK!!! Then we can go share them with Delle and Kenny!

[Elorrum]

oh wow, I just was transported back to the kitchen in the house I grew up in. Icebox cookies. I need to ask my sister if she has the recipe. She has a rusty old index card box with my mother's recipes.
they were square, but looked a little like these. A white cookie with bits of dry fruit (fruitcake citron) and nuts. very rich, as I recall. The women in my mother's family baked and baked. There was a dark fruitcake I did like, milkless eggless butterless cake. I'll sit on the small step ladder here in the corner and talk with you while you bake.

[fernley1]

Man it was cold this weekend. Stayed inside both days, even fired up the fireplace, and drank wine to keep warm.
1 degree tonight, 22 for the high tomorrow.

[Patsh]

oh wow, I just was transported back to the kitchen in the house I grew up in. Icebox cookies. I need to ask my sister if she has the recipe. She has a rusty old index card box with my mother's recipes.
they were square, but looked a little like these. A white cookie with bits of dry fruit (fruitcake citron) and nuts. very rich, as I recall. The women in my mother's family baked and baked. There was a dark fruitcake I did like, milkless eggless butterless cake. I'll sit on the small step ladder here in the corner and talk with you while you bake.

Elorrum, you could ask your sister if you could borrow the whole box for a week or so, and copy all the best recipes... I'm sure there are more super faves in there!

[goathead]

cookies?
ear perk up!!!!

[theCryptofishist]

My mother used to bake Springerli. And we had a lot of german christmas cookies as well. I've never seen the ones that are in the shape of letters. Liebkuchen show up at Trader Joe's this time of year. And there were windmill cookies. Pfeffernusse. And little frosted squishy ones, those might have been chocolate.

[MyDearFriend]

These are from, not last year but the year before I think.



The pinwheels are fun but they don't taste as good as they should, considering how much work they are. Maybe I should dip them in chocolate...

[Patsh]

ooohhhhh, I can almost smell those cookies!

now, I'm way hungry for cookies! (yum)

[fernley1]

MDF, your cookies look wonderfully delicious.
Would go good with your favorite cocktail.

[MyDearFriend]

Thanks! I am popping in here now for a cuppa before I head out into rain & ice. Wish me luck!

[Elorrum]

Thanks! I am popping in here now for a cuppa before I head out into rain & ice. Wish me luck!

Be careful! Good luck!

[Simon of the Playa]

coffee coffee coffee coffee and then work work work work.





i am resigned to being a very tall, gangly elf.

[AntiM]

Six degrees here. That's not a temperature, that's a movie.

I made whole wheat chocolate chip for Larry. He was home for an entire five hours. I do love to make cookies, but the neighbors get them, and fancy is a waste. The base commissary carries a lot of German and European treats over the holidays, I got some marzipan lucky shapes for Genius, and always eye the pretty golden chests of liebkuchen. I tried making some one year, tasty, but what a process.

I have a Scottish shortbread mold, I pretend I'm taking it out of the drawer any day now!

Elf, huh? Pass the maple syrup.

[trilobyte]

The temps are right around freezing here in the bay area - that's nothing compared to what a lot of you are getting, but it's unusually chilly for around these parts. Those doing the commuter/drive thing watch yourselves, in every city I've ever lived there are more knuckleheads bumping into things when the weather is wetter or colder than usual. They're saying that things will be improving for us over the course of the week, and by Thursday we should be back to normal.

Pandorra and I had fun at a holiday party on Saturday night, and had the pleasure of running into a bunch of ePlayans. Eric, MagicMarty, CrispyDave, Backbone, Chromatest, Oxygen, RetroPsycho, and someone else whose name escapes me comes to mind. Pandorra made some of her jelly cookies for the cookie potluck, and it took a lot of restraint on my part to not just camp in front of that table wolfing down cookies all night. On Sunday we relaxed, and did a bit of cooking. Pani made a couple batches of ice cream, and then I dialed up some high tech cheese fries. Following some stuff I'd picked up on some modernist cuisine/molecular gastronomy site, I made a really nice beer and cheddar sauce. Next time I want to try a good irish cheddar :::drool:::

I'm starting to get somewhere with my playa dust textures and renders. Still not quit where I want it, but it's definitely coming along. Maybe I'll get to work on that some more today. Have a good Monday everybody!

[unjonharley]

12 degrees.. I,m up and out for a 100 mile round trip..