Hibachi experience

During the holidays it always seems tough to keep up with friends.  On top of the shopping and cooking madness that comes with the last two months of the year, several of our friends are expecting their first child around the holidays which understandably adds to the chaos.  John and Jess are expecting their baby girl any day now, so it was great to catch up with them.

We decided to try something different so we went to a Japanese restaurant and ate at a hibachi table.  Basically a cook stands right in front of you and cooks your meal with all sorts of tricks much like Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail only with utensils instead of bar glasses.

It was our first hibachi experience, and overall it was pretty good, but the company was better. 

Turkey day

It wasn't my first time as Thanksgiving host, but this year was by far my best attempt.  A few years back I attempted to host Thanksgiving for a group of 'newsies' that all had to work on Thanksgiving.  I took the day off to cook and everyone showed up after the newscast.  I thought I was on top of my game, but when I cut into the turkey - it was still pink.  That was my first lesson: make sure the turkey is completely thawed before cooking lol.  Since then, I've gotten much better. 

This year I brined the turkey overnight.  It turned out great, really moist and it looked like a picture in a magazine lol.  On top of a great turkey, I made all the side dishes including pecan pie.  I even consulted cooks books! Plus, we got to eat on our new kitchen table and I bought cloth napkins for the event!!

My one little mistake was the stuffing.  I made it, but I left it in the turkey!  Whoops.  We had so much stuff on the table I forgot about it.

Homemade Christmas

I feel like I've been neglecting our blog lately.  It's partly because we've been boring lately lol and because some of my free time is eaten up by the upcoming holidays. 

Rather than roaming the over crowded isles of store after store, we're trying to make this a homemade holiday.  I've converted our office into a craft room.  I've got stuff strung all over in there, seriously it's dangerous room, but my projects are coming along.

Typically, I wait until last minute with these kinds of things, and then I'm rushing around, and pay way too much for shipping to make sure gifts arrive right on time.  This year, I'm trying to curb my rushing lol.  Hopefully this little elf can keep working for a few more weeks and have some nice homemade holiday gifts to show for it.

On location

It's been a busy few weeks at 12 News.  After the craziness of election night, we started working on a 'special' newscast.  I'm producing the show, Hometown History, which will air over the holidays.  It's all about local landmarks.  We feature an old town hall, a train depot, a library built in the early 1900's - things like that.

We shot parts of the show 'on location' at a historic farm today.  This ten acre lot is just as it was back in the early 1900's.  It was certainly a chilly morning, a whopping 20 degrees.  It took several hours to get everything done.  We shot in six different spots around the farm.

We even got creative and took a few shots from on top of the live truck. Over the next few days we'll edit everything together.  I'll put up a link to the show once it's finished.

Winter's roar

We had an unseasonable long stretch of warm weather to kick off November.  We got spoiled.  We all knew winter was coming, and yet when we woke up this past Saturday morning we were shocked to find winter had arrived and it arrived with a vengeance.

When we woke up, it was a winter wonderland.  Several inches of snow covered the ground and we had no power.  It was out most of the morning, long enough to remind us just how much we rely on electricity.  

Of course it was time to break out the snow blower....but that didn't go so smoothly.  The snow blower had a few issues.  After a 'few' hours Jason had it running again though.

I guess it's a scene we should get used to.

History repeats itself

We've all heard the saying, history repeats itself.  It just usually doesn't happen so soon. 

In 2008 the race for a U.S. senate seat was so close in Minnesota, all the ballots had to be recounted by hand.  It was a huge undertaking.  It took eight months for the entire process to play out. 

Now, two years later we're in the same boat.  A week after the polls have closed, we still don't know who our next governor will be.  Yet again, the race is too close to call.  What's the deal in MN? 

One of these two:  Republican Tom Emmer (left) or Democrat Mark Dayton will eventually end up as governor.  More than two million ballots statewide will be recounted.  The recount craze starts all over again in a  few weeks.

Halloween mistakes

This year we had about 40 trick-or-treaters, which is a little more than last year. In fact, this year we ran out of candy.  We try not to be one of those houses that skimps on the candy, so we gave little handfuls to every kid who came to the door, and apparently we over did it.  By 8:00pm our lights were out!

That wasn't the highlight of the night though.  Two little kids, about nine years old came bouncing to the door.  They both have long blonde hair, brightly colored wings on their back, and purple face paint.  I go out on a limb, and assume these girls are butterflies.  So I make a comment, "I love the costumes girls."  Do you know what they said, "We're not girls, we're boys!"  Whoops.  I just looked shocked tossed them some candy and shut the door. 

A few minutes later another 'girl' comes to the door.  Picture a small Pocahontas - long black braid, leather vest, and a leather purse that looks like a kid decorated it with pink and purple yarn.  So I say, "I like your purse, did you make it?"  And the kid says, "It's not a purse, I'm Indian Jones!"

After that I stopped talking to the kids and just gave them candy.