Christmas Cactus

 When it comes to exotic looking flowers, I think Christmas cactus is pretty hard to beat. It’s a plant I usually associate with my paternal grandmother during the holidays, along with Amaryllis.

I bought this little beauty early this month. It was an impulse purchase from a local nursery. The trip I made there was originally for some herb plants. After I found the ones needed to refurbish my herb bed, I made the mistake of letting my eyes wander while on the way to the cash register. Since it had been several years that a Christmas cactus had graced my house, I just had to add it to my purchase.

Christmas cactus can make very long lived houseplants. With excellent care, they can grow to become rather large plants. (Watering must be done carefully, and amount varies throughout the year.) When they reach a larger size, they can be hanging plants or allowed to trail down a pedestal. The best part? No nasty, impossible-to-remove thorns. For those hoping for Christmas bloom, if you buy at the beginning of December, look for plants with tiny little flower buds at the end of the leaves. The plant I bought started blooming the weekend before Christmas. It still has several buds that are preparing to open, so I should be able to enjoy the flowers for at least a month.

Did you buy a Christmas cactus and are now wondering how to take care of it? Instructions for year round care and re-blooming can be found here: http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Christmas-Cactus. And here’s something to think about. Now that Christmas is over, leftover plants will be sold at a discount. It’s a good time to collect a variety of colors. Provided the plants were cared for properly at the nursery or big box store, they may still be blooming, allowing you to enjoy the flowers for a little while.

Don’t have a Christmas cactus? No matter its name, or what you celebrate, they make charming additions to plant collections. And who doesn’t need an exotic flower to admire in the dead of winter?

The Project Queen

Christmas Vacation Ugly Christmas Sweater

Many years ago I owned a holiday sweater; a beautiful, black sweater edged in metallic red and gold trim and covered with beaded poinsettias. As often happens with such things, it became unfashionable, so I wouldn’t be caught dead in it. It was donated to a thrift store.

Then I wished I still owned it. Two years ago, the middle school where I worked had a holiday contest for the faculty, sponsored by the Student Council; an ugly Christmas Sweater contest. I wasn’t going to let my lack of said sweater keep me from participating. Besides the opportunity to wear jeans to work, I didn’t want to miss the chance to win a prize. Though many people think I’m shy and quiet, I have a competitive streak. And a warped sense of humor.

At first, I was just going to try my luck at the thrift stores. Surely, an ugly holiday sweater wouldn’t be hard to find. But just in case, I had a back-up theme in mind, a nebulous plan based on my favorite holiday movie. Well, it turns out ugly sweaters are highly prized and difficult to find. Plan B it was. The trip to the thrift store wasn’t a waste. I found a solid red sweater for $5 that suited my purposes perfectly. That particular store was also in the same shopping center as a craft store. It was almost one-stop shopping.

So, how do you decide what elements should be on your ugly sweater when it’s based on a movie? Unless you have lots of time for construction, keep it simple. Pick the most iconic images and go from there. I chose to feature the movie’s biggest stars. And a few quotes that seemed appropriate.

Turns out Plan B was the best option. I won first place, but I was the only one with working lights.

 My hubby took this a few days ago when we were picking out

the GrisDeJong Christmas Tree.

The decorations are out, and we're almost ready for a

fun, old fashioned family Christmas!

 A close-up of the movie's biggest stars.

The squirrel is felt with a faux fur tail. His features are drawn with a black sharpie.

He's angled not only to make it look like he's jumping from the tree,

but to make sure his googly eyes are looking at Snots.

Snots was a photo printed out on a t-shirt iron-on from my stash.

He was ironed onto a piece of the brown felt and cut out.

Tacky Glue was used to secure all the felt pieces to the sweater.

 This is the back of the sweater.

The bubble quotes were created on the computer, printed on t-shirt iron-ons

and applied to white felt.

I probably should have re-thought the positioning of that last one.

Exterior sweater illumination doesn't need to be complicated.

My battery-operated strand of LED lights has 15 bulbs.

I marked their placement on the tree with the sharpie, cut a small hole at each mark,

and starting at the top of the tree with the bulb at the end of the strand,

poked them through to the front.

To secure the wires and make them lie flat, I used scrap yarn and a large tapestry needle.

After all the bulbs were inserted, there was still enough wire on the strand that

I can put the battery pack in my front jeans pocket.

The sweater is long enough to conceal it.

By the way, if you own a black turtleneck dicky, feel free to wear it with your sweater.

I prefer a real turtleneck or long sleeved t-shirt since I don't want the wires next

to my skin.

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Kiss his a**, Kiss his a**, Happy Chanukah!

The Project Queen

Bargain Roses

I rarely buy cut flowers at the supermarket, especially roses. They usually don’t have much fragrance, and despite my best efforts, don’t always last more than a couple of days. But I saw these in the floral dept. and fell in love with the colors. I’m a sucker for multi-hued roses.

The wrapper they came in had a label identifying the variety as “Big Fun”. It seems to be a rose plant that is only available to commercial growers, which is fine by me. When I spend money on rose bushes, I want something I can smell. Still, at $10 a dozen for some visual eye candy, Big Fun is living up to its name. I bought my bouquet almost a week ago. The flowers opened up quite nicely and look like they may last at least a couple more days.

Here are a couple of things that may have helped their longevity. Though these are long-stemmed roses, I wanted to put them in my blue vase. To do so, I needed to cut at least 8 inches from the bottom of the stem, which is not such a bad thing because it takes less time for the water to reach the flowers. I also removed all the remaining leaves. When sitting in the water, they foul it up rather quickly meaning frequent water changes. Even when above the water they compete with the flowers for a drink. Put your roses in a vase with a flared neck. When they open up, empty spaces between the flowers will be filled. So you won’t miss the leaves. Keep your bouquet in a cool place. Mine has been in my studio most of time. The room is on the north side of the house and tends to be the coldest when we have chilly weather. I only heat it when I’m working there. The bouquet came downstairs for Thanksgiving, then returned to my studio. If you’re making floral arrangements part of the holiday decorations, keep those rooms cooler when not in use. A cooler room also means a real Christmas tree won’t dry out quite so fast. Last, don’t throw out the flowers just because a petal or two is starting to turn brown. Locate the base of that petal and gently remove it. You won’t miss them on flowers with lots of petals and may get to enjoy the bouquet a little longer.

The Project Queen

 It's just an inexpensive florist's vase I received several years ago.

But I love the color, and it does show a dozen large flowered roses off quite nicely

when they are cut at the proper length.

Best SOS Ever!

Yes, I know Thanksgiving is almost upon us, so it may seem strange not to post a recipe for the upcoming holiday. What can I say? There are thousands of recipes for Thanksgiving, and I don’t feel the need to add anything unless I can provide something new and unique. (Or time saving. See the Dressing Corn Bread Muffin recipe posted last year.)

But why SOS? And what is it anyway? Many people know it as creamed chip beef. If you’ve been in the military you may know what SOS stands for. As for the why, when done right, it’s an easy, soul-satisfying meal you may want to enjoy while making preps for the big feast, or after all the T-day leftovers are gone.

Before I get to directions, here are some suggestions that will help elevate what most people probably think is a somewhat ho-hum dish, especially if they’ve only had the frozen stuff sold in a small red box. Quality ingredients really do count here, and they will take a bit of work to obtain. (Making it from grocery store ingredients is still better than the frozen chipped beef.)

First, let’s start with the dried beef. If you have an old-school meat market in your vicinity, they may be making what is known as home-cured dried beef. It will not be tiny pieces of compressed mystery meat sold in a jar. (Those do make cute juice glasses, though.) Nope, it will be a large chunk of beef cured and smoked on their premises. They will take it out of the case and slice to your specifications. Alas, I know of only 2 places to obtain this kind of dried beef. One is New Braunfels (TX) Smoke house. The other is Woudstra Meat Market in Orange City, IA. (http://www.woudstrameatmarket.com/) We used to live in Orange City and get it from Woudstra. In moments of desperation, we will order it and have it shipped. But since our daughter is attending college about an hour away and there is family in the area, we make a dried beef run when we’re up there. Don’t be afraid to order a couple of pounds. When vacuumed sealed or in a tightly wrapped package, it keeps in the freezer quite well. Feel you have no option but to use the dried beef in a jar? The stuff is horrendously salty. Do yourself a favor by removing some salt. Fill the jar with water before starting the cream sauce. Drain off the water when ready to add the dried beef to the sauce.

Now for the milk. Since my husband has MS we need to eliminate processed foods (Good dried beef is an exception) and animals products that have been exposed to all the hormones and antibiotics (plus any other “icks” in commercial feed.) Hubby is not ready to give up dairy yet. Our solution right now is to buy grass fed raw milk directly from the dairy that produces it. It’s super delicious and doesn’t come any fresher. Cows get milked at least twice a day. Depending on herd size and demand for that farm’s product, your milk will probably be from the previous evening’s milking or that morning’s. Corporate dairy will never match that. Want to try it and don’t know how to locate a local dairy? Go to www.realmilk.com.

For those who aren’t bread bakers, if you’re going to source great ingredients for the creamed beef, splurge on good bread. Not in the mood for bread? Try it on a baked sweet potato or your favorite veggie mash.

4 tbsp. Unsalted Butter

4 tbsp. AP Flour

2 c. Milk, warmed (You can add more or less. How thick do you like your sauce?)

1 tbsp. Dried, Minced Onion

Freshly Ground Pepper

Easy melting cheese, to taste (optional)

8 oz. Dried Beef, shredded

Melt butter in a large, non-stick skillet over low-medium heat. Whisk in flour to create a roux. Stir for a couple of minutes to make sure the flour isn’t raw. Pour milk in a little at a time, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Once all milk is in the skillet, add onion, pepper and cheese. Keep stirring until the sauce begins to thicken. Stir in the dried beef and keep to a low simmer until the beef is warm, and its flavor permeates the sauce. Put a heaping spoonful on toast.

A few tips: If you have never made a dairy based gravy or sauce, keep your cooking temp. low to moderate. Dairy can scorch quite easily. It’s not fun to scrub out of the cookware. Why a skillet instead of a sauce pan? It speeds up cooking time when your sauce is spread over a larger surface area. Did you notice this recipe doesn’t have salt? Don’t add it. Like other cured meats, dried beef has salt in it. However, the good stuff won’t need to be rinsed unless you can’t tolerate salt. The cheese does add a little something extra. In the event that you’re like our household, and must eliminate processed foods, you might add something else in its place. I might try some garlic powder or a bit of roasted garlic the next time I make it. On the other hand, I may continue to make it just the way we like it, since this dish is an occasional treat.

The Project Queen