peskypippi.comBecause I have a lot to say…

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday.

It is the holiday that screams summer, family, yummy food, and celebration.

As a kid, when I spent summers in Missouri, I’d shake my apple bank empty. (I had a bank where you would insert a coin and the worm would grab it and take it to the inside of the apple = coolest bank ever!) I shoved the handfuls of coins into my pockets until they bulged. Then I would climb on my bubble gum-pink Schwinn–with the banana seat–and bolt to the nearest fireworks tent, Famous Dave’s.

Back then, $5 would buy a lot of awesomeness. Smoke bombs, Piccolo Petes, Roman candles, sparklers, snakes (that would make a permanent black mark on my Dad’s driveway), and bottle rockets–my favorite! Those suckers are illegal where we live now. Just the other night, when my 13-year-old son and I were buying fireworks, how you’d balance the glass Coke bottle on the wooden fence, drop in a bottle rocket, light the fuse with your punk, and run.

On the 4th, my Dad always made ice cream. The old-fashioned kind. Always vanilla. With ice and rock salt and a crank. It took way too long.

The street asphalt would bubble under the sweltering heat. I often went shoeless. Coming home after meandering through our neighborhood on my bike–with black-bottomed feet–I just in time to help with the final cranking of the ice cream, and suck on an ice cube laden with salt, until the ice cream was ready.

It was the 4th. And it was a celebration of all of my senses.

Happy 4th of July!

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Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

Whether you are honoring war heroes, remembering someone special, BBQing with friends and family, or just taking the day off, be safe and take care,

Pippi

When it comes to Christmas, my mother-in-law rocks. She cares so much about making a fun family Christmas steeped in traditions and memories. Her heart is in the right place. As are her angel collections, nativity sets, and snowy villages.

I have known my mother-in-law for 24 years. When I first went to meet my boyfriend’s parents at Christmas (my now husband), I was welcomed wholeheartedly. She even bought me my own stocking and hung it alongside the rest of the family’s stockings.

Here are a few of my mother-in-law’s traditions that I have adopted and have passed along to my children:

• Adding Maraschino cherries to fruit salad with chopped apples, oranges, and pineapple. Perfectly yummy and festive for Christmas morning!
• Making “wreath cookies” out of Corn Flakes. They taste like Rice Krispies treats but better. Oh, and add lots of green food coloring.
• Buying each child a new ornament every year and writing the year on it. When they move from home, they’ll have their own start of an ornament collection. It’s a very special tradition.

Making others feel special. Now THAT’S a wonderful Christmas tradition to pass along.

December is a celebratory month. Let’s see…there’s Festivus, Kwanzaa, Santa Claus, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice…

And, oh yeah, Christmas. Whatever your “reason for the season” is, may it be jolly.

In our home, we have a Nativity scene and bake a cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus on December 25. The kids bring home paper dreidels they have made in school and we sing the Barenaked Ladies Hunukkah Oh Hanukkah at the top of our lungs. A giant plastic Frosty from Sears welcomes guests on our porch. The kids learn about Kwanzaa in school and ask if we can light those special candles. A 15-foot Christmas tree stands proudly in the middle of our home, decorated from head-to-toe with ornaments we have collected–and the kids have made–over the years. And we surely welcome Santa Claus with cookies and milk, come midnight Christmas Eve. Oh and I’m a sucker for my annual watching of Rick Steves’s holidays-and-customs-around-the-world special.

If you choose to combine Holidays and beliefs. Why not? That’s OK in my book.

I mean, can’t we all just get along?

OK, so it’s two days until Thankgiving. My workload at work is intense. My mother just flew in last night. Enough said.

Time to start freaking out.

But wait. I just gave a bunch of tips for mellowing out over the Holiday. See here for 12 Don’ts When Hosting Thanksgiving. Maybe I should listen to myself.

So yesterday, I was literally running around like a turkey without its head. Rush off to work. Traffic on the way home. House still not in tip-top shape to welcome Mom. (Why as an adult do I still try so hard to please my own mother and mother -in-law? Yikes.)

Here are the three things that didn’t get done and the three simple solutions for each:

• Ran out of time to give Lucy-the-dog a bath. Solution: lightly spray her with perfume and cover her with a clean blanket.
• Ran out of time to mop. Mop Schmop. Solution: dim the lights and light the candles. (Maybe squeeze in a Midnight Mopping tonight?)
• Ran out of time to fold 12 loads of laundry. No joke. 12 loads. Solution: shut the door to the laundry room. Duh. Why didn’t I think of that?

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for who you are with and to be thankful for what you have. Not a time to put yourself down for all the crap you didn’t get done. I will try to listen to my own words.

So when you join us at Thanksgiving (even in spirit), please ignore the dust balls and enjoy the cheese balls.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Two words: Thank You. Thank you to all the veterans.

Oh, and four words: Don’t Be A Hater.

Today in the United States, we celebrate Veterans Day, where we honor the millions of men and women who have served or are serving in our nation’s armed forces.

This is not a day for naysayers and haters to rant about their political views, share their anti-war sentiments, or put down those honorable men and women who are doing their best. Save it. At least save it for another day.

And, really, should this be a day in America where we shop for mattress sales and attack all of the other Veterans Day sales in our department stores nationwide? Ugh.

Nah, it’s not about that.

11-11-11 only comes once every one hundred years. Many of us won’t be around to celebrate the next one.

So, save the hating and the naysaying.

How about making today a peaceful day?

Don’t host. Just kidding!

I have been around the Thanksgiving table, so to speak, many times. I have hosted Thanksgiving many times. Even to my own mother and to my in-laws (gasp!) And they are particular….wonder where I get it from?

I have learned a few things that you probably do NOT want to do when hosting Thanksgiving.

• Don’t try to channel Martha Stewart. But do steal some of her tips and recipes. Martha is a kitchen fairy with lots of helpers. We copied her last year with her Pureed Butternut Squash recipe. And let me tell you, it was delicious and tasty. But it was a lot of work and you had to stir it constantly. And it took up a whole burner on the stove for hours. And ya know what, the kids hated it. Said it looked like throw up. It just was not worth the hassle for the few compliments it did generate. But if you are stubborn–and I know some of you are–here is the recipe.

http://www.marthastewart.com/312415/pureed-butternut-squash-soup

• Don’t skimp on the pie. If you just have one pumpkin pie to share among everyone at the table: you suck. My motto and ratio for hosting: one pie per person. And who says only apple? We did apple and pecan and I just might do chocolate cream. Who says? Here’s Pesky Pippi’s Perfect Pecan Pie–I mean Martha’s recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/312503/pecan-pie

• Don’t forget to take OUT the bag of giblets before cook your turkey. And don’t try to hide them in the stuffing or the gravy. I’ll heat them up for my dog, Lucy, but they are still simply repulsive to look at and eat. In my book.
• Don’t guess how long to cook a turkey; be precise. Buy a thermometer. This is not a good time to spread salmonella or E. coli. We have gone for years guessing. Hmmm, done yet? How about now? And then we have wound up with some well-cooked turkey, that’s for sure. Pass me a glass of water to wash it down (choking).
• Don’t dis the orange-carrot-pineapple Jell-O mold. Traditions are awesome. And this colorful dish kicks ass.
• Don’t be shy about offering several kinds of cranberry. My husband and kids love the smooth, formed kind from the can. My father-in-law likes the chunky kind from the can. My mother and I like the cranberry relish my grandmother used to make. You chop up a bag of fresh cranberries, add bits of fresh oranges, chopped pecans, and sugar to taste. Set it aside the morning of (or the night before). It’s beautiful and fresh. I cannot have Thanksgiving without it.
• Don’t forget to let the rolls rise…early. Craptastic: last year I bought fancy rolls instead of the crescent rolls that you bake in like seven minutes. I thought, oh, I’ll just throw them in the oven at the last minute. Come to find out, they required rising and sitting and rising and… So at Thanksgiving last year? No rolls.
• Don’t dump flour into the turkey drippings and expect beautiful, lumpless gravy. Now, this I learned from–again–Martha. She told me to make a roux. As in, take a little bit of turkey drippings into a separate bowl, add a bit flour to help thicken, stir, THEN add into the pan of drippings and heat. I have made Pesky Pippi’s Perfect Gravy without fail every time. So good, just give me a straw! Oh, and throw in onions, parsnips, turnips, carrots, celery in with the turkey while baking. And the flavors sorta ooze into the drippings. (Another Martha tip.)
• Don’t send guests home with leftovers. Hello, turkey sandwiches on Friday!
• Don’t stress too hard. I actually HATE when people tell me this, because I am a stresser. But you are not Martha Stewart–unless Ms. Stewart, you are reading this–and it’s more about togetherness than if the gravy has horrific lumps.
• Don’t forget to partake. Anything goes great with turkey: wine, beer, beer, wine. And with the pressures of cooking and serving and worrying, “Dang, did I overcook the turkey AGAIN?” it’s also time to chill and be with family and friends.
• Don’t forget to lighten up. The most important thing: be thankful that you have food on the table and you have loved ones to share it with. Regardless of how it looks or how it tastes. Remember how Charlie Brown had toast at his Thanksgiving spread?

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 1 marks el Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a holiday celebrated in Mexico and beyond. It’s a time to remember, honor, and celebrate friends and family members who have died. The skeleton is likely the most recognized symbol for death. And in Mexican traditional culture, people make skulls out of white sugar. These are considered thoughtful offerings to the returning spirits.

But around my house, sugar skulls might get dissolved into the morning tea.

A safer–and more permanent–way for me to honor el Día de los Muertos, is to display my Mexican folk art paintings. These portray the joy and the sadness associated with the dead. I purchased these paintings in Oaxaca, Mexico…  Nah, psych, I bought these paintings on canvas on eBay. They are still hand-painted, one-of-a-kind pieces that celebrate the richness and color of traditional Mexican culture and artwork.

I, for one, have an appreciation for skeletons and their symbolism. Do you?