Yesterday I made chicken fried rice for us for lunch.  I thawed 2 chicken breasts and chopped them into small pieces and sauteed them and added the rest of the food.  The kids loved it and ate several plates of it, and I had a plate of it and thought it was pretty darn good, myself.  Except for this one piece.  It just wasn’t right.  I could tell just as I was about to swallow it that it wasn’t cooked all the way, but what do you do, spit it out?

The correct answer is: HELL YES.

The incorrect answer is: What I Did.

I have never gotten food poisoning before so I figured I was, I don’t know, immune? or something? But boy oh boy, was I wrong.  About an hour after I ate the rice, things went downhill fast and I have spent the last 30 hours in misery.

We’d planned a nice dinner of pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and rice pudding for dessert, followed by a fun time out in Rota eating our 12 grapes at midnight, and instead I get chicken soup and water, and the thought of anything else makes me feel a little queasy.

I hope this isn’t a sign of how things will be in 2009, or I’ll need to get a year’s supply of Tuck’s pads, STAT.

One of the icky parts of living here has been the mold.  The mold on the walls.  In our bedrooms.  The first year there didn’t seem to be any, but every year that we’ve been here it has gotten worse.  This year, it is completely disgusting and ridiculous, and I’m getting really fed up with it.  There are commercials on AFN now on controlling mold, and I’m thinking - should this even be a problem?  Do normal people have mold in their homes?  Like wall-covering mold from the floor to the ceiling?  It’s on the same wall in both Anja’s and our rooms, the wall that faces the street that doesn’t get any sunlight, and in the winter it’s so much worse than in the summer.  We have one dehumidifier - they wouldn’t give us two (they have given other people 2, just not us?) and it hasn’t done anything to limit the mold on the northwest-facing wall of the house.

Despite the commercials telling us to use soap and water, which basically does nothing, we’ve been using bleach because I’d read that it is effective in killing mold, but today I read that borax works even better and is less harmful.  I cleaned what I could in Anja’s room and as I went to my room to clean more, I got really quite upset about it.  Should we even have mold like this in our house?  I was also reading about health problems caused by mold and am starting to suspect that this is why I have horrible nasal congestion and subsequent headaches at home but never when I sleep elsewhere.

So I’m asking: what’s normal?  We’ve (ahem, B has) gone through this clean-up process at least 3 times in the last 2 years, and it’s only getting worse faster.

See this look on B’s face?  This look is reserved only for a traditional Icelandic Christmas dinner of smoked lamb (hangikjöt), potatoes in bechamel sauce, Icelandic peas (yes, they’re different), pickled beets and sweet and sour cabbage.

Just so you know, I don’t get this look.  Unless I wrap myself in smoked lamb.

I did get some newfound respect for coming up with a (surprisingly good) idea to make jólaöl, or “Christmas beer”.  Jólaöl is made of malt liquor and appelsin - orange soda.  It sounds weird, and well, it is, but it’s actually pretty good.  The dilemma for us is that a. we don’t have malt liquor here, and b. we don’t have real appelsin here, either.  However, I suggested an alternative that was a close imitation.  Behold:

Happy Holidays from the Sigs!

Isak’s gift to everyone:

and Anja’s:

A politically correct holiday song:

And for all you atheists out there, I didn’t forget you, either:

While it wasn’t a failure, it wasn’t the best it could’ve been - but I will be making this again (to use up the pesto!) with a few minor modifications next time.

The ingredients, before I get any further:

1 puff pastry sheet
1 container cream cheese, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and 1T vanilla, mixed together.
Pistachio pesto
Raspberry preserves

I assembled the ingredients - it made for a pretty picture but next time I’ll put the jam on the cream cheese and the pesto on top of the jam instead of next to it.  When I was eating it, I didn’t like how one side was one flavor and the other side another - I would’ve liked the flavors mixed together.

I rolled out the pastry sheet on a (well floured) piece of parchment paper, and then cut diagonally down each third so there were strips.

I then braided the dough.  That little blurry glob was leftover pieces that I mushed together with the filling to make an individual piece, since I knew I’d have to eat some before I could take a picture.  Smart thinking!

I couldn’t help but peek in while it was baking.  I started the oven out at 400°, but it seemed to be browning quickly while the overlapping parts didn’t appear to be cooking as well, so I lowered it to 350°.  Next time, I think I’ll bake it at 375° for 25-30 minutes.

The finished product…like I said, next time I’ll layer the filling instead of making it look pretty for the picture. :)  At any rate, it was very yummy.  I would’ve liked it just a bit sweeter; I think next time I’ll brush an egg wash on top with some sugar sprinkled on it.

A few weeks ago, one of the stores on base was selling imported Italian goodies - honey, nuts in honey, nuts…all good stuff.  One in particular caught my eye - pesto di pistacchio.  I missed the small writing on top that says condimento per pasta.  I probably wouldn’t have bought it because I like my pesto with lots of garlic, and I couldn’t see pistachio being what I’m looking for on a pasta.  Nevertheless, I bought it thinking it would be more … dessert-y.

I got home and stirred it up and gave it a taste and was surprised how salty it was.

What will I do with this salty pistachio muck, I thought. I certainly can’t throw $7 in the garbage.

So tonight I set out to make something good with it - something sweet.  Something to counter the salty.  And I came up with something, something that hopefully will be a hit but peeking in the oven I’m just a wee bit scared.

If it turns out, it will be magnificent.  If not, well, maybe I should start a pot of pasta.

We are booking a week-long vacation in Italy next month.  It’s a dual-purpose vacation - 6 days of fun, 1 day of swimming!  Anja is having a meet in Naples in January which sparked this whole vacay and has turned into the most exciting event of…2009!  Well, at least this will set up the year into hopefully a fabulous one.

As our time in Spain starts to dwindle down, we’ve been thinking about how little of Europe we’ve gotten to see.  Mind you, we have done a lot in 3 years - as a family, we’ve gone to Portugal, Iceland, and the U.S., as well as around a lot of southern Spain, but as close as we are to so many amazing places in Europe, I’ve been regretting not doing more.  So Italy is our first stop.

The thing that has surprised me the most is how reasonable the cost will be for us.  For the 4 of us, for roundtrip airfare and a week-long rental car (4 door!), we are paying under $400.  Total.  The hotels I’m finding on Expedia are great, too - about $85/night for the ones I’m looking at.  The hotels we found through Expedia on our Portugal trip were great, so I’m confident they will be adequate for a week in Italy.

Our plan is to fly into Pisa on a Thursday; B would like to “piss on the leaning tower thingy.”  We drive all the way down to Naples on Thursday, arriving in the evening.  Friday we will hit up Pompeii; Saturday we will gorge ourselves on incredible Italian food.  Sunday is Anja’s swim meet where she will kick ass with all the carb loading she’ll have done the day before.  Snort! After the meet, we’ll drive up to Rome, arriving Sunday evening.  Monday we will tour the Colosseum and perhaps the Pantheon, maybe some other major sites if they’re close and won’t take too long, and then drive up to Florence that evening.  We’ll spend Tuesday and Wednesday in Florence, gawking at the incredible art and architecture.  We’ll fly back Thursday morning.

I’ve got ants in my pants from all the excitement - the most excitement coming from the air fare and rental car price!  Zippedeedoodah, zippedeeay!