Happy Herbs

This afternoon I was shopping at a small Middle Eastern market near my house.  After I gathered the things on my list I wandered over to the produce section to see what was there.  The only thing that caught my eye today was the cilantro.  This store always have the best price on the herb; the bunches are cheaper and twice as large as the ones at the grocery store down the block.  Even though I didn't have a specific use for it, two bunches jumped into my shopping bag...a whole dollar's worth!

 There's no way I'll use up all that cilantro before it goes bad, and I hate to waste food.  I chopped and froze one of the bunches to use in cooked dishes, but that still left one bunch.

Like most herbs, cilantro's really best when it's fresh.  I used to have a problem with fresh herbs going bad before someone told me they'd last much longer if I'd treat them like cut flowers. It sounded crazy, but I tried it and it really works!

It's easy to do. The first step is to snip off the bottom of the stems. (I throw them in my freezer stock bag.) Next, fill a glass with a couple of inches of water and place the stem ends of the herbs into the water in the jar. Cover them loosely with a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator. Change the water after every couple of days or if the water starts to discolor.

Using this method, I've had fresh herbs last for more than a week.  That's plenty of time to make a Mexican dinner.  Or Indian.  Or maybe Vietnamese.  I wonder if I'll be making another trip to an ethnic grocery store?

Make It Easy

Following our family tradition, the extended family celebrated Christmas at our house.  I had to work on the morning of Christmas Eve, so I planned an easy dinner.  The main dish was a spiral-cut ham.  I asked Hubby Tony and each of the kids to be in charge of a dish--cole slaw, a veggie tray with two types of dips, a bread tray, and desserts.  I made pans of macaroni and cheese and Baked Brown Rice.  It was easy to put the pans in the oven; all I had to do is remember to take them out at the right time!

BAKED BROWN RICE (Alton Brown)
1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

Busted!

I received a call today at the mall Customer Service desk from an elderly woman asking for the number for our Discovery Channel store.  She explained she'd received one of their electronic chess games for a Christmas present and had a question about it.  I had to break the news to her that we don't have that store, nor does any other mall in town.

The woman started laughing and guessed that the person who'd given it to her must have had the game in their closet for a while or had received it and regifted it. I suggested that perhaps it had been ordered online (a process which seemed foreign to her), but she was positive she was correct. The woman was a good sport about the whole thing, and thanked me before she hung up.  Her biggest concern seemed to be how to write a thank you note that wouldn't reveal she knew the background of the present.

Later in the day I was curious, so I went to the Discovery Channel Website and searched for "chess". There were no matching results.  According to Wikipedia, the Discovery Channel closed all its retail stores in 2007.

The woman WAS right!

From Our House To Yours

Vintage Holiday Crafts

I Guess You're Never Too Old

Our church has two Masses on Christmas Eve--4:00 and 6:00.  Traditionally we've gone to the later one, but this year the kids had left on a road trip and were returning to the house mid-evening, so Hubby Tony and I decided to go at 4.

I knew the Mass was very popular.  On a normal Sunday we allow 15 minutes to get to church.  Today we doubled that, and still didn't get a seat.  Tony and I stood immediately behind the last pew in the center right section.  By the time the priest walked down the aisle there were people standing six and seven deep along the back wall, and lines snaked down the side aisles.   Right before Mass started a seat opened up immediately in front of me and I grabbed it.  Tony could have squeezed in, too, but he chose to continue standing.

During the opening hymn I observed the people in the pew in front of me, and decided it held several generations of one family.  There was an older woman (the matriarch) in the center of the group, surrounded by the family groups of her children, their spouses, and grandchildren ranging in age from teens to babies.  The youngest baby was being passed up and down the row, but she eventually ended up directly in front of me; I couldn't help but smile at her until I realized I was paying more attention to her than I was to the sermon and stopped.

Later, while the collection was being taken, most of the people in front of me were singing.  However, one of the adult children (who looked to be about my age) was holding an extended conversation with his spouse.  After several minutes,  his mom turned his way and gave him a withering stare.  At first he didn't notice, but when the stare continued she got his attention; he stopped talking and grabbed a hymnal.

A Poem For The First Day Of Winter

Winter Dark

Winter dark comes early

mixing afternoon

and night.

Soon

there's a comma of a moon,

and each street light

along the

way

puts its period

to the end of day.

Now

a neon sign

punctuates the

dark with a bright blinking

breathless

exclamation mark!

Lilian Moore

On The Case

The past few days have been a flurry of activity because the Christmas holiday begins at our house tonight when the first of the boys arrives at the airport.  Between now and the big day they'll rotate in and out, spending time with the parentals and each other. While they're here every bedroom will be filled.


Last night I finished the last of the wrapping.  There will be a couple of bulky presents under our tree this year. I hate using massive amounts of wrapping paper for large boxes.  The past few years I've solved the problem by making bags out of fabric or using pillowcases from the thrift store. There was one present, though, that was the wrong size for anything I had on hand.  It only takes a few minutes to sew a bag if you have material that doesn't ravel.  I didn't.  I added "go to Goodwill and find pillowcase to hold big present" to my list of errands.

Goodwill didn't have much on the racks, and I didn't have time to check the other thrift stores in the area, so I settled on a warm brown-colored case, hoping I had some ribbon I could tie around it that would make it look Christmasy.

A couple of weeks ago when the weather got cold I got out the flannel sheets. However, I didn't have enough for all the beds.  Yesterday I purchased an inexpensive set, washed them, and this morning I put them on the bed.  I think they look appropriately masculine, don't you?

The only problem with twin sheet sets is they only come with one pillow case, and there are two pillows on the bed.  The extra pillow had been encased with a blue case which coordinated with the  bright green, yellow, and blue striped percale sheets.  Even by my low decorating standards it wouldn't work with the new set, but the case I'd bought earlier in the day would.  Problem solved.  (Can you see it peeking out from behind the flannel?)

So what did I wrap the gift in?  A pillowcase from the bottom of my linen drawer.  It doesn't look remotely holidayish, but as long as there's a present in there I don't think the recipient will mind too much.

No Covers Allowed

My post at the mall Customer Service desk gives me a front row seat to a piped-in music Christmas concert, which starts the moment I come in from the parking garage and ends when I walk out at the end of the day.

I hear a lot of holiday tunes, but I NEVER get tired of this one.  (Only this original version, though.  No covers.)

It's On Us

On Friday Hubby Tony and I had made tentative plans to meet at the gym after he got off work. In the middle of the afternoon, though, I decided that there'd be no workout for me.  I had some vague cold-like symptoms and a nap sounded like a better plan.

I relayed the information to Tony, and encouraged him to go to the gym anyway.  His normal time to get home came and went, and I was pleased that he'd decided to take care of himself.  When he got home I asked him how his workout was.  He had a sheepish look on his face, and said he had a story to tell me.

Instead of going to the gym, he'd worked a little later and went to Kohl's to do some Christmas shopping.  He made his purchase, then ran into a friend and spent a few minutes talking.  On the way out of the store, he was stopped by an official-looking person who asked him a few questions, then told Tony "your purchase is on us today."

Wow!

I vaguely remembered hearing about the Kohl's Dream Receipts Sweepstakes on the radio. They're picking one shopper at random every day in every Kohl’s store, and Tony was our local store's lucky winner for the day.  In addition to refunding the money he'd spent, the store also gave him a $10 gift card to give to someone else.  He chose me; I have a good idea what I'm going to do with my little bonus.

Five Star Day

I read my horoscope in the newspaper every day while I'm eating breakfast, but don't take it seriously. This morning, though, I was pleased to see that I was slated to have a five-star day!  The horoscope said:

"In the morning you could have a case of the lazies or seem a bit passive.  By midafternoon, you'll start acting like the Energizer bunny, and few can hop as fast as you.  What you initially had resisted doing becomes a piece of cake." (Jacqueline Bigar)

I needed that bit of positive information with my cup of coffee. This week the mall I work at started its extended holiday hours.  My alarm's been going off at 5:30, an hour earlier than normal.  I wake up, shower, and eat breakfast in the dark.  Because I'm getting up so early, every evening I'm exhausted and falling asleep on the couch before 9:00.

The day did begin slowly.  My shift today started at 8:30, which meant I was on the road in the thick of the morning rush hour.  When I got to the interstate I inched along.  The traffic was so annoying I got off one exit early and drove on surface streets until I got to the mall.  To add insult to injury, I had the sun in my eyes most of the trip.

I set the Customer Service desk up for the day, then spent the time before the mall opened walking around and seeing which stores had updated their displays since yesterday.  Some days I enjoy walking in the mall, but today wasn't one of them. My back ached, my feet hurt, and I had a headache.  I returned to the desk just in time to turn on the lights and wait for the first customer to arrive.

The regular pace of the Customer Service desk has been ramping up; in early November we'd sell three or four gift cards a day.  Now it's more like 60 or 70 each day, and rising. Although many orders are just for one or two cards, there are also the people who want to get eight, nine, or ten--one for each of their children's teachers, or everyone in their office.

I answered a few questions before the first person came and asked about gift cards, but after that there was a steady stream of orders.  I don't know if my horoscope was actually coming true or it had turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I was moving through the people with ease.  There's a rhythm to selling large quantities of gift cards.  Swipe the card in the reader, load it, then set it to one side.  Swipe the customer's charge card and while you're waiting for the receipt write the amount on the back of the card and the sleeve. Assemble everything while the receipt is being signed then hand the order to the customer.  All the while making small talk.

There's usually only one person working at the desk at a time, but during the holidays two people are scheduled.  My co-worker and I helped each other out, which made the time go even faster.  Before I knew it my shift was over and it was time to clock out.  I didn't exactly hop to my car, but since I don't have to work for a few days there was certainly a spring in my step as I left the mall.