Holiday Review 2010

• This was the first year that I wasn't in Wyoming (or stuck in the Salt Lake City Airport) for Christmas and it was one of the best holidays I have had in a very long time. Christmas always makes me really sad. It's the biggest reminder to me of what my family's life used to be like before my mom got sick. She would make sure we had the most special Christmas we could and it was awesome. This was the first Christmas I got to spend with Z.! I also spent it with his family, who I adore. They remind me so much of my family, just a little classier and a little less hillbilly. 
• Z.'s mom and grandma asked me if there was a special dish that my family always has at Christmas. Well, there always is Grandma's jello salad. I think she finally stopped putting carrots and celery in it a few years ago. It still may have cottage cheese. I have never tried it and don't plan on it, so I don't think that would be what I want at Z.'s family meal. My other Grandma makes a salad that we call Papa's Salad. It was my Grandpa's favorite salad and we always had to have it. I loved it, too. This is going to sound gross but it works out to be tasty. Papa's salad involves orange jello, cool-whip, canned mandarin oranges and fruit salad, tapioca, and I don't know what else. Food changes is strange ways when you move from the Pacific Northwest towards the mid-west I couldn't think of anything that I liked that Z.'s family wouldn't already be serving. Then, it was like the angels started singing and you know what they sang, "Sweet-and-sour meatballs" to the first three notes in Strauss' opera, Elektra. I had my meatballs at Christmas dinner, made by Z.'s mom! They were really good and hit the spot.
• Growler the Cat went to cat camp while we were gone (i.e., boarding). I am convinced he got a bath. He is soft and fluffy in a way he never has been before, and he smells like pet shampoo. And, he lost three pounds. This is great! He's such a brat when he doesn't get the amount of food he thinks he should get, so I'm glad they could do it.
• The last week or so has been an amazing time for food. On the way up to Z.'s family we stopped at the Flying Pie Pizzeria for their lunchtime special. Yummy and awesome deal. 
• Z.'s mom always has goodies waiting for us. It's all the junk food we each enjoy but our too cheap to buy for ourselves. Plus, her homemade fudge is great. Loved the peanut butter fudge the most! 
• Besides my beloved meatballs, one of the most exciting things I ate was fresh crab that had been caught just a few days earlier. I have never had crab that fresh. It was the most delicious and rich crab I have ever had. Me, the bottomless abyss, who always has room for more food, only ate a couple legs and one of those things the legs attach to and I was completely satisfied, it was that rich.
• I made Apple Cake for Christmas dinner. I thought I was being clever when I used extra apples. When I tried to remove the cake from the pan, only the bottom half came out! Z.'s mom and I had to do a little prying to get the top half out of the pan. I think I tried removing the cake from the pan when it was too warm. I was so embarrassed. Z.'s mom was so sweet about it and lined up the two halves as best we could. My Apple Cake may have been a little funny looking but everyone thought it was delicious.
• I also had a Salumi sandwich made with mole salami that I purchased from the Metropolitan Market. Salumi is a restaurant in Seattle owned my Mario Batali's dad that specializes in Italian cured meats. Z. had one before and has been raving about it ever since. It's the kind of sandwich I love: simple with a few high-quality ingredients. Besides crusty bread brushed with olive oil, it had three thin slices of salami and two slices of provolone. Amazing.
• Messing up this timeline, I have to mention the few days before we left for Christmas. Z. got me a spice grinder for Christmas! I'm super excited. Before we left, we found the deal of the month at Devi, the Indian market we love so much, a fourteen ounce package of cumin seeds for $5.99. We just recently started cooking with whole cumin seeds and there is no turning back. They add another layer of deliciousness.
• We both got lots of kitchen gadgets from Z.'s family for Christmas! A rubber spatula is a very effective discipline device for misbehaving boyfriends. Okay, he was sitting there quietly opening his presents, I had to see if it would work.
• Once Z. and I got back to Corvallis, we had some awesome market adventures. The first adventure involved procuring noodles and sesame oil. We first started out at Trader Joe's. They didn't have what I wanted, so Z. suggested we go to Rice 'n' Spice on Van Buren. We've been wanting to go there for awhile and it comes highly recommended but the outside is rather frightening. We used to make a point of going to new markets on a regular basis. Not necessarily to buy anything, just to see what it's like. We went and it was a great experience. I found the ingredients I wanted, which by the way, we made an awesome dinner with last night, and we will definitely be going back.
• After we left the store, we decided to continue our culinary adventure by going to Bazaar International Market which is a part of Al-Jebal's. Here is a nice article about the place. We didn't eat at the restaurant, I had just eaten lunch before we left home but we will definitely be going there soon. The menu had everything on it that I love and at reasonable prices. Most telling, there were other people eating there, who looked like they had a nice meal. I am in love with the market. I left with a package of cardamom tea and two pounds of moong dal. My Go Ducks! Curry uses yellow split peas but Aarti's Beatnik Spinach actually uses moong dal. When spinach goes on sale, I will make her recipe! I've never cooked with moong dal but I'm super excited to start trying recipes. Bazaar had a very nice selection of dals, very similar to what you can get at Devi. The prices on the dals and besan flour were some of the lowest I have seen. They carry the same brand of curry powder as Devi, for $1.09 a box but not nearly as many as Devi. Then there is the meat. Oh my goodness. The owner supplies the meat at the store from his own farm. The nice and helpful cashier was telling us how the owner had just recently delivered the beef and it probably wasn't completely frozen, yet because it was so fresh. I can't wait to get some lamb. I definitely recommend going here.