'Cooking is a very good way to decompress'

Colin Firth, who portrayed the stuttering King George VI in "The King's Speech," completed his sweep of best actor honors with the Oscar win. "I have a feeling my career has just peaked," said Firth, who also won a Golden Globe and the SAG award.

Firth was asked backstage what he would now do since the hectic film award season has ended.

"I think I'm going to cook a lot," Firth said. Cooking is "a very good way to decompress," he said.

I couldn't have said it better myself Mr. Firth. That is why I choose to cook or bake as study breaks, time permitting.

Christmas

I wanted to document our Christmas Day meal with the parents because it was something I always looked forward to as a kid. Some years a few of us would volunteer to wake up early to help put the bird in the oven. As we got older, this stopped as all us kids, with the exception of Julie who was an early bird, love sleeping in. The pictures that are to follow are of the food we had this past Christmas vacation.

This is the original food list for the week. (We crossed off items as we went along.) We did everything except for the lasagna. This year we tried some new things (wings and lamb) so there was no time for lasagna this year.

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream! My parents have an awesome ice cream maker that they used a few times while on our visit.

Wonderful chocolate!

Orange frozen yogurt

This was breakfast one morning. Each tin contains half a slice of salami, broccoli, onion, egg and topped with a little bit of mozzarella cheese. It was quite tasty and almost dairy free with the exception of the cheese.

This deep dish is covered with cheese, salami, sausage and chunks of tomato. Can you smell it?

We love our carbs!

This family has always loved pizza. We had it almost every Friday night growing up. You had to eat what you wanted the night it arrived, otherwise by the time you woke up on Saturday, Julie had usually finished it off.

Christmas Day
We always have our shrimp with our kicked up cocktail sauce! (Lindsie is keeping guard.)

I'm seriously addicted to this treat. Carr crackers topped with cream cheese, caviar and a cocktail onion. It isn't Christmas (or Thanksgiving) without it!

Here is Greg mixing the cranberry relish which consists of freshly ground up cranberries, pineapple chunks and/or mandarin oranges, sugar/splenda and cool whip.

Turkey with stuffing

Christmas Day Spread: mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, gravy, stuffing (oyster & Stove Top), turkey, yams and rolls

Cheers!

Apple pie! (before baking)
After

This pumpkin ice cream tasted exactly like pumpkin pie. It was really good.

Uses for leftover turkey
Pot pies!

This fried pickle was amazing! Our dad also fried up fries, wings and mac & cheese my mom & I made. It was a pain to take pictures while eating finger foods so I only took a picture of the pickle.Lindsie will love me for this picture. :)

Parents had ground lamb so we had a Greek night complete with pita bread, feta cheese and Greek salad.

Lindsie and I actually made a successful batch of snickerdoodle cookies! This is quite an accomplishment for us as baking together is not our forte. I didn't take any pictures as the cookies did not last long.

We always ate well growing up so that leads people to think we are 'snobs' when it comes to food as adults. I wouldn't say we are snobs, we just know what's good. :-)

Irish Soda Bread

My mom sent a picture of some bread she baked over the weekend and it looked amazing. Feeling inspired, I wanted to make some to go along with the chicken crock pot meal we had for dinner. I looked at several recipes but finally decided on Grandpa McAndrew's recipe, mostly because it looked the easiest. What made it quick is that it does not have yeast, so you don't have to wait for the dough to proof.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 cup raisins (I omitted this as I do not have raisins at the moment)
  
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk (I placed a tablespoon of lemon juice into a cup of milk and let sit for 10 minutes for it to get 'tangy')
  
• 2 tablespoons margarine, melted (I used 3 tablespoons of olive oil, as I read that as a suggestion from one of the reviews of this recipe)
• 1 egg for egg wash
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and sugar. Make a well in the center and add the egg, buttermilk, and melted margarine. Stir until all of the dry ingredients are absorbed. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few quick turns just to even out the dough. Handle the dough as little as possible. Pat into a flat circle, and place onto the prepared sheet. (I read a review that someone used their mixer so that is what I did as well to incorporate the wet & dry ingredients, then I kneaded it a little.) Cut an 'X' over the top and cover with egg wash to ensure a nice browning while baking.
   
3. Bake the bread for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden.

Now I have something to go along with our corned beef & cabbage come March 17th! That day I will be turning in my last final for the quarter!!