Happy Independence Day USA!

For the first time in years I was able to go home for the 3rd and 4th of July and spend it with my family. The third of July is probably a bigger deal here than the fourth.  We live near one of the smaller Finger Lakes with tons of lake front cottages.  Every year the houses line the water front with flares and shoot off fireworks during the Ring of Fire.  The Ring of Fire comes with BBQ's by the lake with family and friends and horrible traffic on narrow country roads. I had to dig deep into my memory to figure out the back-roads to get home in any sort of reasonable amount of time.  The Fourth is a more low key day, especially in the 95F and humid heatwave we had. One of the advantages of living out in the country is that a lot of people will shoot off their own fireworks during the encouraged lawlessness of the holiday.  I took advantage of our own firework  display to try out some of the firework photography tips I picked up this week from Bethany (Beers and Beans).

Have You Had Your Cherry Pie?

My last featured holiday tradition was from my father's side of the family.  Today I'm sharing one from my mother's side.  If you went to primary school in the United States you probably heard the fable of George Washington and the cherry tree.

As the story goes, when George Washington was a lad he chopped down his father's cherry tree with an ax.  When confronted about the incident young George said 'I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree.'

Somewhere along the line, my family started having cherry pie on George Washington's birthday.  Since I went away to college I haven't had my cherry pie or at best substituted with one of the cherry pies from Stewart's convenience shop.  Having invested in the equipment to make meat pie earlier this year, I figured cherry pie wouldn't be so difficult. Luckily this pie is pretty simple because I was sorting out some details of my upcoming spring break trip while I was baking.

I attempted my first solo lattice crust.  Free cutting parallel lines and rolling a uniform crust is still more difficult than I think it ought to be. There is definitely a level of finesse to weaving and sealing a lattice.  I think I managed to hide all of the cracks though. I was so nervous that the crust was going to come undone while it was baking.

Completed Lattice

Of course it wouldn't be on this blog if there wasn't some kind of twist.  The recipe I used called for switching the temperature of the oven part way through baking.  Somehow when I was changing over the temperature, I switched on the delayed bake timer and could not figure out how to switch it off.  As a result I had to bake the pie for an extra 15 mins to get the color right.  I can only hope that it didn't make the crust too tough.  I'm taking this pie into my very international lab tomorrow and share a little American culture with everyone.  Hopefully there's enough to go around.

Finished Product

The end of the Holidays: Twelfth Day of Christmas Meat pies

I don't remember which holiday it went with originally but in the Pinto-Beaudet family holiday traditional compromise meat pies became the dinner of choice for the Epiphany while I was growing up.  Over the years the exact date and holiday proximity has changed from the day after Christmas to the nearest weekend to the Epiphany.  Regardless, I always associate them with the twelfth day or Christmas.  Grad school significantly shortened my holidays this year so I missed out on any tradition that takes place after Christmas dinner. 

Never one to settle, especially when food is involved, I asked my mom to send me the recipe. Ground meat in a pie crust. How difficult to it be?  Truth is that it's not terribly difficult, just time consuming.  I had been planning on this dinner all week so when I got out of lab several hours later than anticipated there was no way I wasn't going to make this dinner.  As I was driving home I realized that if I was going to make a pie crust I needed to get a rolling pin. Add in detour to Walmart.

7:30pm: Start making pie crust

I know I have made pie crust in the past.  Usually under the careful supervision of an adult and in a well stocked kitchen.  I can't remember that last time I actually made a crust though and my kitchen is lacking the seasoned cooking tools of my mom's and grandma's kitchens.  The consistency of my dough didn't feel quite right but if I wanted to eat tonight it was going to have to do.

8:00pm: Start the filling

I thought this would be the quickest part of the operation.  Turns out mincing a large onion by hand isn't so quick.  At least I got the pot size right.One mashed potato, ground pork and beef, and 4 pinches from spices bottles that cost almost $20 (McCormick needs some serious competition!). Next step in the recipe, allow to cook and thicken for about one hour. What?!?  Luckily I had more potatoes to peel for mashed potatoes and gravy.

9:20pm: Pie assembled

I do not like the rolling pin I have.  It is the classic style of pin that has been brandished at troublemakers for decades.  But I don't like how narrow the pin is and how abruptly it ends.  I'd love one like my mom's which resembles a thick tapered broomstick and is close to two feet long.  As I rolled out the dough and tried to place it in the pan it kept ripping.  Another sign the consistency was off.  I had to re-roll the top crust  do to a giant rip when I tried to cover the pie.  The second time it came out much better and lay nicely.  I was meant to brush the top with an egg wash.  Brush, another random kitchen gadget I took for granted until I got my own kitchen.  I improvised with the back of spoon and hoped for the best.  The best of making meat pies on my own was not having to share the crust scraps with my brothers and other vultures.

10:30pm: Pie done

So far so good.   Nothing has exploded yet.  Just need to finish up the side dishes.

10:40pm: Dinnertime!!

A day late and hours later than anticipated, I finally got my traditional Beaudet meat pie dinner.

Pass the Latkes!

Lighting the candles

 In between the end of the semester and millions of dollars of corporate advertising, it's easy to be distracted from the rest of the holidays during this time of the year.  The night before my 48-hour escape from Troy, I went to my first Hanukkah party since I was in Mrs. Hunter's pre-school class. The party was one of the most multicultural affairs I've ever been too.  Chinese, Korean, Thai, Irish, South African, and American, everyone showed up to eat latkes and light the Hanukiah on the third night of Hanukkah.  Our hosts were the newly wedded Israeli scholar from my lab and his blushing bride.  Eyal started us off with the picture book version of the story of Hanukkah. 

Hanukiah

To summarize, the Greeks had conquered Jerusalem and taken control of the Second Temple.  The Hebrews rallied and reclaimed their temple.  The Temple was cleaned and repaired but there was only enough oil for the Menorah (lamp) to burn for one day.  The lamp oil took eight days to prepare so the victorious Hebrews were still in a predicament.  Miraculously, one-day's worth of oil continued to burn for the full eight days required to procure more oil.  Eyal made us all chuckle when he went on the quip that every Jewish holiday can be summarized as 'We were few. They were many. We defeated them. Let's eat.' The last part crosses every culture I've encountered.  Even holidays that begin with fasting end with a really good meal. 

B'tey a'von - Hebrew for "Bon Appetit"

We each got a dreidel to take home

We definitely had a good meal..  There were piles of latkes, scalloped corn, and spreads for crackers and latkes.  Dessert featured cookies and cupcakes.  With everyone well fed and watered, everyone started sharing their personal holiday traditions and trying to play dreidel.  Interesting but of Hanukkah trivia: the symbols on the dreidel are an acronym to acknowledge the roots of Hanukkah in the Temple of Jerusalem.  Dreidels in Israel say "a great miracle happened here" and dreidels outside of Israel read "a great miracle happened there."  It's surprisingly difficult to get them spinning correctly. At one point one of the girls was trying to play jacks with the dreidels.  I remember learning how to play the game in school years ago but all I could remember was there's a symbol for putting all your pieces in the pot and one for putting half your pieces in.  What those symbols were or what the other two indicate were beyond me. We stayed out later than anyone was expecting but everyone left full and happy. I personally believe that the best part of the winter holiday season is sharing traditions and becoming a closer community.

Photo Credit: All photos are courtesy of Ang. Thank you!

Keeping in Classy: The Nutcracker Ballet

 

 2011 Proctors Nutcracker Commercial

I can still remember the day when my mother and grandmother took me to see The Nutcracker Ballet as a little girl.  For over a decade, when the holiday football games started I would go in the other room and bust out our VHS copy of the New York City Ballet performance.  The last few holiday seasons I've wanted to see the ballet in theater again.  Last year I tried to get tickets in early November but all of the performances were already sold out.  So when Proctors theater released its schedule over the summer, I quickly sent out a message looking for someone to accompany me.  My friend Erica had never seen the ballet and volunteered to come along.  I bought our tickets in August and I was still pressed to find tickets in the sections I wanted.

Right before opening curtain

Two weeks before Christmas, we put on our nice clothes and set off for the theater.  This was one of the reasons I was psyched to go to the ballet.  With my lack of natural grace I avoid wearing clothes I like to lab for risk of acid stains, and make-up is a big no-no in the clean room (rouge and lithography don't go together).  As nice as we looked, we had nothing on the young girls in their Christmas dresses.  It's really hard to beat the excitement of a girl in a velvet dress with a big ribbon at her first ballet.

Theater draped in garlands

Proctors is an ornate old 1920s theater which vividly reminds me of the Auditorium theater in Rochester, NY. The walls and balconies are decorated with red seats reminiscent of skinnier days.  We had awesome seats in center orchestra about half way back (buy holiday show tickets during the summer!).  We had a perfect view of the stage but we weren't going anywhere quickly.  The Northeast Ballet Company with Wendy Whelan and Charles Askegard  from the New York City Ballet preformed the classic childhood tale.  It took me a minute to adjust to the director's vision of the ballet which differed from the 1993 VHS of the NYCB I grew up watching. The Nutcracker character played a fairly minor role, compared to other versions I've seen, and only appeared during the opening scenes.  One especially nostalgic thing for me was watching Wendy Whelan as the Sugar Plum Fairy.  She was Arabian Coffee in my trusting recording and one of my favorite dancers.  To see her preform live after all of these years was a really treat.  The kids throughout the performance were adorable. This one little boy, who couldn't be more than 4 years old, was completely adorable.  He was tiny compared to the rest of the kids and always appeared the be where he was supposed to be but in that clumsy grace of very small child.  He easily could have stolen the show.

                                                                                              

Keepsake from the Ballet with my Grandma

After a two hour ballet highlighting the sweets of the holidays, the only logical thing to do was go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It's like of law of the Cheesecake Factory that if you eat there you much order cheesecake.  So after a decent-sized meals, we both ordered chocolatey cheesecake and managed to take about two bites before admitting defeat and wrapping up the rest. At the end of the day we felt like happy, well-sugared munchkins excited for the Christmas season which is all I could ask for on a Sunday two weeks before Christmas.

Lights in the Park

Every businesses in the Capital Region sponsor an all-out display of Christmas lights in Albany's Washington Park.  The week before Christmas, my old roommate, Gracie, and I wet for a  boost of "good will" after several frustrating work days.  Two peppermint hot chocolates and a few dollars later, we driving down the enchanted trail with the rest of the minivans, SUVs, and a party bus(!?!) admiring the giant displays.  During the weekend the line of traffic is bumper to bumper.  However, things were moving along at a good clip making it really difficult to photography the displays. Here are some of my favorite shots that came out - ish:

Santa's workshop

Horton helping to pass out presents

Friendly Dragon

Snow Palace

Demonic Hockey Players

Life Lessons in multicolored LEDs

12 trees of Christmas

Chemist-tree, C60 Christmas Social 2008

Hall Hall 212 Tree, Freshman Year RPI (2006)

Christmas tree at Brighton Pier, 2008

De Delftse Pauw Christmas Ornament tree, Delft 2008

Dam Square, Amsterdam 2008

Trafalgar Square Tree, London 2008

Delft City Hall, Netherlands 2008

My first real Christmas tree, 2011

Pantheon, Paris, Christmas Day 2008

Christmas in the Alps, Geneva 2008

Piazza del Duomo, Milan 2008

Notre Dame, Paris, Christmas Eve 2008

Oh Christmas Tree!!

After a quick cost/benefit analysis, I decided it was a better choice to get a real Christmas tree for the next couple years than an artificial tree.  Immediately around the holidays I'm flitting from one city to the next in an effort to see the family so I decided to get the tree set up early for maximum holiday enjoyment.

When I was growing up, going to cut down the Christmas tree meant a five minute ride and loading the tree in a full-size pickup truck and any required tools available in the garage. I should have known I was getting myself into trouble when the closest Christmas tree farm I could find was 30 minutes away. Nevertheless, Saturday afternoon the Dave and I set out on the Northway in my Toyota Corolla to retrieve my Christmas tree. The drive to Ellm's tree farm was uneventful save the encouraging sight of minivans and SUVs (you know cars with roof racks) carrying their prize evergreens away from the direction we were headed.  Did I mention I have a corolla?  At this point, I was mildly concerned by how we were going to transport this tree to my apartment with reenacting an Allstate Mayhem commercial.  I'm hoping an engineer and a Ph.D. candidate can figure something out.

Committing to the Tree

 The farm was much busier than I was expecting for the first weekend of December.  The tree farm was humming like a well-oiled machine.  Hayrides shuttled tree hunters twenty tree-hunters to and from the lots.  We hopped on the trolley and set-off to find the perfect Fraser fir.  I may have dragged Dave around half of the tree farm to look at every Fraser fir I could find.  Too tall.  Too fat.  Crooked trunk.  Too short.  Not enough branches.  Too many dead needles.  Finally, as the sun was setting, we found THE tree.  Not too tall with plenty of strong branches.  Dave kindly cut it while I was distracted by the golden retriever puppy in the next row.  I did help get the tree over to the trolley stop where the fluffy puppy was trying to trying to kill a stick larger than it.  It was so cute barking and jumping at the stick as it tried to pick it up but it was too big.

The farmhands were great. An assembly line unloaded the trees, shook off the loose needles and leaves, measured, tagged, and baled the trees within minutes of the trolleys arriving.  I was so charmed by being away from Troy and being helped by people in worn Carhartts and Timberlands that I did a double take when the girl had me use a cash register app on an iPad to pay for the tree.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that enough a rustic looking tree farm is online these days.

Complimentary hot chocolate was part of the tree package and it was chilly.  We decided to put the tree in the car and then go after our refreshments.  Walking to the car I noticed my keys weren't in the pocket I usually stick them in.  I stepped aside to properly dig through my purse when I glanced in the driver-side window and say my lanyard.  Not only had I left my car unlocked...I had left the keys in the ignition.  Good thing we weren't in Troy.  Feeling a little foolish, the next question was how to get the tree home.  Thankfully I erred on the side of short and the baled tree fit inside the car, stretching from boot to gear-shifter but inside.  (It still smells like Christmas tree.)

At my apartment, we needed to shorten the trunk a little bit more.  I don't own a saw.  I did manage to borrow one, a dulling hacksaw.  Not the ideal tool for the job. With a little teamwork and trading off at sawing, we were able to cut through the massive four inch trunk. Dave had the idea to put the tree in the stand before taking it inside.  At least we didn't have to deal with the ceiling for that part.  I cut the baling twine and the tree sprung open.  I also didn't have clippers to trim the top for the star, so we improvised with kitchen shears. Putting on the lights was probably the easiest they will ever be since they came straight out of the box.  Dave and I decorated the tree with ornaments from my childhood to ornaments I made special for this tree.  When we finished, Dave put the star up.  

Finished Product

Adding the Final Touches

I plugged in the lights and we gazed at our handy work for a minute before half of the string of blinking lights stopped blinking.  At that point I didn't care.  Everything was finally on the tree and staying there.  Now, every once in a while, the whole strand will blink for a minute before the one half gives up again.  I'm still so glad we ventured out to get a real tree.  It makes the apartment feel so much more festive and homey.  The technical difficulties just makes the story that much more memorable.

Happy with Our Tree