Back Safely

I always forget that on the way back from Europe the airplanes have to fly against the crosswinds; so what was 8.5 hours from DFW to Frankfurt was 11.5 hours the other way.
Agh. I iz sore, but otherwise healthy and still trying to recover from the insane amount of food my family decided I needed. Now some rest before I return to work on Friday.

Happy New Year, y'all!

Greetings from Hungary!

Briefly online; made it fine, except for the 30-minute storm over the Atlantic that almost made me lose whatever I had to eat up to that point. Lufthansa is still the best, except maybe Austrian Airlines for long-haul flights.
Everything is good, my family is convinced I am made of glass now, so I am mostly confined to rooms warm and cozy, waiting for my dad to take me to places full of other family members and Christmas decor, and insane amounts of food. Got a feeling I will not see much of anyone else this year.
Gotta go grab something to eat again... might not have a chance to post again unless after Christmas proper--so have a Blessed Holy Days, y'all!

One Less Thing To Worry About

As if I don't have a gazillion others or, this is one of those occassional preggers updates:

Okay, childbirth ed classes are registered for in January (weekend classes were available, oh joy!) and supplemental classes in February (Basic Baby Care, Baby CPR and suchlike). Luckily, the same hospital at which I am to deliver had them all, so yay for us.

::ducks back to her usual Monday::

The Right Book For The Season

My friend Mexalapotis gave me this book two weks ago (THANK YOU!!) and I finally got around starting it as it came to the top of my bookpile (I have a big one, right next to my bed) this weekend: Mark Ferrari's The Book of Joby.

It's his first book--but it's hard to believe. I am not going to spoil it for you-here is M's review of it from her blog. But together with the movie Hogfather and its book original from Mr. Pratchett, I think I'll keep this as a yearly Advent/Christmas reading and as a reminder of all the good things in this world, all the hopes, beauties and why it's good to be human.

It's not an easy read in an emotional sense, and it manages it without being emo, preachy or overly chicklit, which The H actually asked me about as he noticed how my reading pattern of this differed from other books I got in The Pile. I literally can't do more than about ten-fifteen pages in one sitting without putting it down and starting to think and get lost in my thoughts or actually break down in tears. But oh, it's worth it.

Simple But Amazing Apple Pie

Okay, this was GONE within an hour of pulling it out of the oven.
And yes, I cheat with the crust. Sue me...;)

You'll need:
1 package ready-made frozen pie crust (this is a double crust pie)
4-5 large apples (I used Honeycrisps), peeled, cored, sliced thin
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of Ceylon cinnamon (sold as Mexican cinnamon or 'canela' in a lot of grocery stores)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, grated
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup raisins, plumped in hot water, drained of water

Place one crust in 9-inch pie form. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place apples, sugar, spices and flour in a medium bowl, toss so apples are coated. Add drained raisins, toss to distribute.
Arrange apple slices on crust; they, inevitably, will form a little mound, higher on top. Ignore this.
Pour almost all the butter over apple slices, reserving a bit of it for the top crust.
Place top crust on top. Crimp edges together. Cut 4 slits on top crust for ventillation. Brush top with remaining butter
Bake in 400 degrees F oven for 45 minutes.
This particular pie is best when still hot or warm. I am a purist, so no ice cream--but it's so mooist that it's really not necessary.

The Dark Side

So it took an email from my old alma mater's departmental alumni group, but I am now officially on the Dark Side: joined Facebook and trying hard not go into ferret shock by finding all these cool people already on it! Bear with me guys if I am slow responding to y'all, I get there eventually.