Heeiiy! If you read this post, this blog, my word vomit, would you mind commenting on this one? I’d like to know if anyone other than my dear mother and my brother come around. Muchas gracias!

Mira and I have a new neighbor. Well two to be accurate. We have a new neighbor in the apartment across the hall. We also have a new neighbor living somewhere near one of our favorite trees in the yard. At night I let Mira out just quickly in the yard outside our building. She usually walks directly to this one tree, pees near it, and inside we go. About a month ago, out we walked as usual around 11 p.m, right over to that tree. I was hardly paying attention, bracing myself against the frigid night air. Mira had her eyes on the ground as she sniffed for the perfect spot. Somehow both of us managed to miss the GIANT MOTHER EFFING POSSUM sitting by our favorite tree, frozen/”playing dead” (like we were stupid enough to think it was dead, it was standing up on its hind legs!), and staring right at us with its beady little eyes and tiny pink nose. I’m pretty sure I screamed, I dragged Mira in the other direction, and then continued to scream and curse loudly as Mira found a new spot to water. We hurried upstairs and, from the safety of my apartment, I peeked out the kitchen window. The offender was still by the tree, only it’d unfrozen and was starting to waddle around now that the coast was clear. Possums are seriously ugly, seriously gross, and even worse when you suddenly find yourself standing three feet from them. Trust me.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist…) Anyway, I think the possum has officially taken up residence somewhere near our tree. I’ll be on guard from now on.

In kitchen news, I have two family recipes for you. The first is Oma Macaroni. My grandmother (we call her Oma) always made this when we would visit her and Opa in Holland. It’s one of those foods that will always have memories attached to it of sitting in their kitchen, which somehow never seemed brightly lit, eating at the long table, my grandfather at the head, Ian, Oma, and I on the long side, and Mom at the other end, two casserole dishes of macaroni on the table. Ian, picky eater that he was, required a small casserole dish all to himself with only the pasta and tomato paste baked up together. I like making this in the winter because it’s nice and warm, and really pretty flavorful. The second recipe is for my dad’s banana bread with a few additions. Pappy made this always and I could eat slices upon slices in one day. When I was a junior in college and finally figured out that I had a kitchen, I asked him for the recipe. I added the chocolate chips and cranberries two goes ago, and with those additions, I prefer this in muffin form. As just straight banana bread, I like it in a loaf pan. Fair warning: the batter is seriously tasty, and the bread itself can be consumed within hours if you’re not paying attention.

1 cup elbow macaroni
1 cube beef bullion
butter to saute + 2 tablespoons
1 large onion
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 pound ham
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons Worcheshire sauce
bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350°. Bring one cup of water and the beef bullion cube to a boil. Meanwhile, chop up the onions. Cook the macaroni in the boiling water. While the pasta’s cooking, heat up some butter in a skillet and saute the onion until golden brown. Dice the ham. Mix the macaroni, onion, ham, 2/3 of the can of tomato paste, cheese, and worcheshire sauce together (I say in the pot you cooked the mac in to reduce dishes…). Pour the mixture into a greased 9×13 casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs and dots of the 2 tablespoons of butter. Bake for 45 minutes, or until it’s bubbly and the top is golden brown.

Pappy’s Banana Bread/Choco-Cran-Banan Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup (or 2) bananas, mashed
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9×9 loaf pan or two muffin pans. With an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and mix well. Add the sour cream, baking soda, vanilla, bananas, cinnamon, and flour, and mix. With a spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, or fill each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake for 45 minutes for a loaf, 20 for muffins, or until a knife comes out clean.