I desperately want Chinese food for dinner. It would be super yummy in my tummy. Actually I just want to be naked with a plate of 600 egg rolls and a bib. However, because I'm trying (like a good girl) to not spend money where I don't need to, I am going to cook dinner at home tonight.

The Collective has wipe off boards all over it. In the living room, on peoples bedroom doors. Two of them are in the kitchen. One is a 'Buy Me' board (which usually has clever things like cabana boys and puppies written on it) and the other is the 'Sam N' Ella's Diner Menu' which lists the next three days dinners. I do this so:

A) The roommates know what I'm cooking for dinner if I'm cooking.

B) We have some sort of plan and we know if we need to put stuff on the 'Buy Me' board.

C) People can plan on cooking and can let everyone know they're cooking, what and when.

Sometimes we follow the menu, sometimes we move them around, sometimes they vanish forever (potato soup, anyone?). Usually though, if I have the stuff to make something and I feel up to it, I'll make it. Secretly I like to cook, please don't tell anyone, it'll ruin my street cred.

Today's menu has absolutely no ingredients in the house for it. So I'm going to move stuff around and make Chicken and Vegetable Soup for dinner. As you know, Figs, my idea of cooking is pretty much throwing stuff in a pot and hoping it doesn't taste like the sole of a pig farmers shoe. Usually it doesn't, and even if it does, they'll eat it and they'll like it.

I've got a ton of veggies that need to be used up - carrots, celery, potatoes, corn, green beans, mushrooms, broccoli. So what's a better way to use them then to make a huge pot of soup on a rainy cold day? I mean, other then letting them rot and throwing them at passing cars.

Since Christmas dinner was at Robin's house this year, I didn't have to mess with cooking. As sexy as having flour smeared all over your face, and getting burned by splattering fluids from the stove are, it was a nice change, as often I do dinners at my house. Not cooking, Figments, means I don't have to do the dishes, and that is sexy.

When Robin finally gave me the boot from her house, she sent me home with quite a bit of leftovers. Some ham, some turkey (she made both), a whole pumpkin pie (hello ten pounds I lost since October! I missed you so) and a bunch of other side dishes.

I've done the obligatory turkey and ham sandwiches, and I was looking for something different, so I whipped out all the veggies that are otherwise going to rot in the crisper drawer of my fridge, made some biscuit batter, and made turkey and dumplings for dinner. It turned out pretty good Figs, want some?

It only took 30 minutes, Rachel Ray would be proud. It's got potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, carrots, and green beans in it. Of course it has turkey and biscuits in it too. My oven didn't even burn it, which is a shock to me, because usually my oven burns everything within ten minutes of putting it in there. I really need to have it looked at, because it has no temperature control whatsoever.

Since it's just little old me, I don't really cook very often. I don't eat very often, to be honest. I have a horrible habit of buying groceries and then letting them go to sludge in my fridge. It's a habit I'm trying to break, but with all the rushing I do all the time, it's hard for me to come home at night and want to cook for myself. I like myself and all, but sometimes it would be nice to cook for somebody else for a change. Plus, I have horrible table manners, and I often dribble my food all over me, which is just plain rude.

So I'm almost completely done with disk 2 of the first season of Supernatural, loaned to me by Savvy because it's sooo Christmasy to watch while baking. My cakes, biscuits and about one dozen of my cookies are done, and are turning out nicely. I only burnt myself once!

I have about two dozen cookies left (I have more dough then I thought I did) and then all I need to do is let everything cool and pack it up.

This years cookies are topped with the leftover orange chocolate on the cake, crushed peppermint, and sprinkles of course. I'll totally share if anyone wants some.

I need to finish wrapping up presents, but I ran out of paper and won't be able to pick some up until tomorrow. I hate it when that happens, because it makes me feel really behind. I feel like I should have been done with wrapping days ago. I have about six peoples worth of stuff to wrap, and it's killing me. I also need to finish packing my bags so I can get out of here in the morning, but other then that, I'm good to go.

I want to wish all my Figments a very Merry Christmas and I hope your holiday this year is the best it's ever been.

Merry Christmas!

So I've got a ton of baking to do, because tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I'm skippin' out of Dodge pretty early in the morning to head to relatives until Monday night. I love my relatives, and I suspect they love me a teensy bit, but probably not enough to allow me to completely take over their kitchens and dirty every dish in their house.

I've got two cakes (one devils food orange cake with orange chocolate icing, and one peppermint cake) trays of about a dozen honey biscuits, almond roca cookie bars (they were a big hit at Thanksgiving) and about two dozen sugar cookies. I like baking lots, which is funny because I don't eat dessert type foods because I think they're icky. But I still love to bake and I like baking for the holidays the best. I finished my gingerbread house yesterday, and I have to say, it looks awfully cute.

Here is my current problem - somehow something got spilt in my oven (which I have no idea what it possibly could have been) and now my oven is smoking. When I opened it, there were flames. Yeah, you heard me right: flames. I set my kitchen on fire. Gold star for me!

My smoke alarms (all of them) went off and everything. They are those hard wired into the electrical system alarms, so they sound worse then normal battery ones. Luckily with them being electronical system type things, when one turns off, they all turn off, unfortunately they work the same way, when one alarm goes off they all do.

No cute firemen in cute suits visited me though. A thing that I am both highly disappointed and deeply thankful for.

Everything is fine, it's just a little smokey, but now I have to clean my entire oven to get whatever the crap it is spilt in there off so that I can finish my baking, because I have trays and pans and what have you sitting on counters (and in the freezer, in the case of my sugar cookie dough) waiting to get all toasty yum golden brown.

I can't clean the oven however, until it cools off, so I'm sitting in my living room with the door open (and it's cold outside Figs) writing a post instead. Oh, and semi-listening to whatever movie is on TNT right now...um...one of the LOTR movies.

I suppose I should go see if the oven has cooled off enough to let me scrub it. Bleech, anyone want to come clean my oven for me? Next to the toilet and the fridge, it's always one of the worst things to clean.

HotD:

Christmas cooking time.
Butter and milk, eggs and more,
Missing from the store.