Makin’ a list…and checkin’ it twice!

Sunday afternoon found me clad in flannel pajama pants and YANKEES t-shirt, parked at my kitchen table flipping through catalogs for my annual Christmas Wish List.  Listen, I’m no fool; it took only one holiday of bad (read: utilitarian) gifts from Husban-dito for me to wise up and ask for what I wanted to avoid receiving vacuums or blenders.  After a few years, I learned that photos or links to websites help score exactly the loot I covet.

And so, as I flipped through the Pottery Barn TEEN catalog (from which I selected a jewelry organizer and photo collage frame), I was transported back in time to my childhood.  Each holiday season, Sears would publish a Wish Book–hundreds of pages of toys, clothes, and sugar plum fairies.  My sister and I poured over that catalog as if reading some ancient scroll.  To be honest, we genuflected at the Holy Grail that was the Wish Book. 

We made Christmas Lists that ran several (legal-sized) pages and dog-eared one page after another: Cabbage Patch dolls, rock tumblers, Barbie heads with hair you could style and makeup you could apply, doll houses, cash registers, baby doll strollers, and car seats.  It was an orgy of toys and we wanted them ALL. 

The best part is that the Sears Wish Book list-making tradition wasn’t restricted to my family alone.  Husban-dito has similar memories of the Wish Book that involved reverential treatment usually reserved for high-ranking Papal officials.   He made scores of lists and worked himself into a frothy lather over the Star Wars toys, including the Death Star play set which he owns to this day.

But was the Wish Book limited in its distribution or was it a country-wide phenomenon?  Did children across the country get whipped into a frenzy by the 4 pound catalog just as we did?  Was there a girl my age in Des Moines drooling over the Holly Hobby oven just as I was?  Did she also rejoice on Christmas Day (or Chanukah night) when she opened the box and revealed the navy blue cook stove? 

  

How about YOU?  Did you get the Wish Book by mail?  Were you reduced to tears by the sheer volume of toys that you did NOT own (or even know about!)???  Spill the beans, gang!

Hey, Columbus! How did you get here?!

I love scrolling through the search terms that people use to find their way to Curly Wurly Gurly.  Some terms make me laugh while others make me want to drawn the blinds and never leave my house again!  There are some strange people in the world and search terms can attest to that.

Here are a few of the most popular terms that bring people to CWG.  For your reviewing pleasure, I linked the search terms to my original posts, in case you missed them the first time around.

• CHEETOS: Years after posting a photo of a girl in a bathtub filled with Cheetos, this post continues to be a perennial hit.
• GRUNGE: I wrote a post discussing ‘fashion’ of the 80s and 90s.  Lots of flannel, boxer shorts, and Doc Marten’s…
• BOB ROSS: Bob Ross inspires a zen-like state for me.  Apparently, I’m not alone!
• WALMART:  This is a fluke.  A few months ago, I wrote about the weirdos that lurk at my local Crudmart and recently, a site called People of Walmart went up.  That site gets insane hits and I’m getting some by default.
• WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE: Oh, I rue the day that I learned that ANCHOVIES are in this yummy sauce. 
• I WANT A CAST: Listen, I wanted a cast WHEN I WAS 8!  Thanks to everyone who emailed (and continue to email) me with offers to do ‘recreational casting.’ 

Honorable mentions go to:

hot furry cat suit, Scrappy Doo death, mohair suit, what is that smell, fake it, candy, Curly Wurly bar

So, what search terms are trending on your blog?

Wanderlust or Mid-life Crisis: You decide.

I was born in New Jersey and have lived here for all my 35 years.  Several of my friends have, at some point, lived thousands of miles from home.  But not me.  Even Husban-dito lived in Vermont for a year!  We often talk about moving away, escaping the huge expense that is life in New Jersey.  The state does have proximity to New York and Philly, beaches, and farms, but it’s hard to get around the fact that it’s really crowded and very expensive. 

A move to New York State or Vermont is what we contemplate most, but the idea seems so daunting that I usually pack it up and tuck it in the back of my brain.  My family!  My job!  No OCEAN!  It’s COLD!  I won’t know anyone!  No one will visit us!  What if we hate it?  How can we buy a house if we don’t have jobs to get a mortgage?  What if we can’t find jobs?  What if we end up living in a bus depot?!

Ant and I live about an hour from our respective childhood homes.  96% of our family members live within a 90-mile radius.  This makes for convenient holidays and non-holiday visiting.   But it does nothing for my niggling desire to try living somewhere else for a while.  (Ant is only interested in living somewhere in Vermont or upstate NY.)  We have friends who are about to move to London for a year for work.  My oldest friend up and moved to San Francisco almost ten years ago to go to school.  She met a man, got married, had a baby, and bought a house in the city.  Other friends traveled with the military, moving where the Navy stationed them.

Every summer, when Husban-dito and I travel America by car, I find myself imagining life in the small towns or big cities we visit.  I see us living in an Arts and Crafts bungalow in downtown Bozeman, MT, a loft in San Francisco, a historic home in the Garden District of New Orleans, an old farmhouse on 100 acres in upstate New York, a Victorian in Burlington or Woodstock, VT.  When I feel really daring, I imagine life abroad–an apartment in Venice or a villa in Tuscany.

But the reality is that I’d be the same person I am in all of these places but wouldn’t have a job I love or the family that means so much to me (even if they drive me a bit crazy sometimes!).  It’s a catch-22.  I know I could visit my family if I moved away, but I couldn’t drop by on the spur of the moment for pizza and a game of Scrabble.   

Have you moved away from home?  How far are you from your family and do you wish you were closer?  If you’re still local, WHY haven’t you left?  Am I romanticizing moving away?  Help!  I’m having a mid-life crisis or something!!!

Satan’s Wearing Snowpants: Curly’s Cooking!

Cooking isn’t my strong suit–I’ll be the first to admit this little factoid (and you won’t get an argument from Husban-dito, either).  My culinary repertoire consists of 5 meals: tacos, fajitas, pasta, ‘breakfast for dinner’, and Shepherd’s Pie.  It should come as no surprise that we eat out a lot.   

Before we go any further, I’d like to state that when it comes to trying new things, I’m not your girl.  I never ate a turkey burger until I was 34 and have yet to try a veggie burger.  Converting from ground beef to ground turkey was monumental; sometimes I can’t believe that I actually made the switch.  Until you’ve dined with me, you don’t know from picky eaters.  The moral?  If I can eat and LOVE this turkey chili, so can anyone! 

I prepared this chili–my signature dish–for our annual Halloween party and it received rave reviews–included one party-goer who refused to believe it was turkey chili because “…it has REAL flavor!”  So many people asked for the recipe that I decided to do a step-by-step with photos on the old bloggaroo.  Let’s get started, shall we?

It’s a simple recipe that even a princess like moi can make–you only need 9 ingredients–most of which you may already have in your pantry.  Raid the larder for the following:

First things first.  Roughly dice a medium white onion and three green bell peppers.  Toss them into a frying pan (mine is 14″) with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Saute until soft and just a bit brown. 

Transfer onions and peppers to either a crockpot or bowl (if you plan to cook the chili in a pot on the stove).  Crank up the heat to high and get ready to fry up some turkey meat.  This is where the MAGIC happens–but only if you follow my instructions.  (I go through the ground turkey meat by hand before tossing it into the frying pan just to make sure there aren’t any weird textures or mysterious crunchy/gristly things that will cause me to vomit while eating.  You can skip this step if you’re daring.)  For this recipe, I use approximately 3 pounds of turkey meat and season it with salt and pepper.

I’m sorry for the disturbingly close shot of the turkey, but I don’t want you to miss the most VITAL step of this chili recipe.  After you toss the turkey into a flaming hot pan, DO NOT TOUCH IT until it burns/browns/caramelizes.  Caramelizing is what gives the chili a nutty, red-meat flavor! In the picture, note how the meat gets a bit foamy and is almost cooked through.  Only flip the meat when it resembles this image (approximately 7-8 minutes).  I flipped the middle piece so you can see what properly browned turkey looks like.

If you’re keeping up, this is what your turkey meat should look like.  I usually break up the pieces of turkey into bite-sized pieces before moving on.

While the turkey is browning, mix together the remaining ingredients in the crockpot (or bowl if you’re cooking the chili on the stove).  I use a box (26 oz.) of chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of chili powder, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 can of crushed tomatoes (28 oz), and 2 cans of dark red kidney beans–RINSED and drained.  Toss in about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the cooked turkey meat. 

The longer I cook my chili, the better it is.  I cook it for two hours on high with the lid on and then I turn the lid so it’s ajar, allowing steam to escape, for the last hour or two.  This helps to evaporate some of the liquid and thicken the chili.  If you want to cook this for longer, I advise turning it down to low so the sugar doesn’t burn.

Here’s a shot of the chili after about 4 hours of cooking on high in the crockpot.  Husban-dito was kind enough to hold the spoon for me as I snapped this picture.  Look how the flavors have melded and the chili has developed a deep color…oh, yum.  Come to mama.

Feel free to dish up the chili after it has cooked for a few hours.  You can serve it naked…or dress it up with some cheese, crackers, and sour cream.  If you’re really audacious, you can toss in some jalepenos or red pepper flakes because the chili is mild, not spicy.

Now, let’s eat!

Nat’s Turkey Chili (adapted from The Canyon Ranch Turkey Chili recipe)

• 3lbs. ground turkey breast
• 28oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 26oz. chicken broth (Swanson box has 26oz.)
• 2 cans dark red kidney beans, RINSED
• 3 green peppers
• 1 medium white onion
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• olive oil for the pan

1.  Roughly dice onion and peppers.  Saute in pan with olive oil until soft; transfer to crockpot or pot.

2.  Turn up heat to high and brown/burn/caramelize turkey on one side.  DO NOT FLIP IT TOO SOON…it must caramelize for flavor!

3.  Rinse kidney beans and add to crockpot.  Toss in peppers and onions.  Add box of chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt, and chili powder.

4.  After meat is completely cooked, add to crockpot.  Set on high and cook for at least 3 hours.  The longer you cook it, the better the flavor!  If you want to cook it longer, watch to make sure it doesn’t burn.  Turn to low after 3 hours.  I leave my crockpot lid ajar during the last hour of cooking to help the liquid evaporate a bit so the chili can thicken.

5.  Dish up with cheese, sour cream, crackers, peppers, or whatever floats your boat.  ENJOY! 

Halloween Greetings from the SLOBs

A few of the remaining SLOBs (sassy ladies of blogdom) wanted to stop by and wish everyone a very happy Halloween.  I’ll allow them to speak for themselves.

Well, Bouncer wishes she could offer holiday greetings, but ever since her beloved Bailey went a bit Cujo and ripped out her larynx she’s been on the quiet side.

Connie is getting sick and tired of being a witch–I made her one last year too.  She’s green with envy over Dishy’s costume…and I think her black cat’s got her tongue so she’s not saying much either…

Lately, this one’s been yammering on nonstop about her new house and all the work she’s doing on it.  Don’t believe this blood sucker for a red hot minute.  See her here?  She’s on the phone with her contractor…trying to get him to come over and change a lightbulb for her. 

Hayden’s no help either–not only is her only online photo TINY, but her fangs are getting in the way of wishing everyone a Happy Halloween. 

For the second year running, Panny’s picture is MIA and so is she, for the most part!

Guess I’ll have to do the heavy lifting after all. 

WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY AND SPOOKY HALLOWEEEN!!!