Sunday Funday

I finished frying the sauerkraut balls. I got all the frozen balls out of the freezer and went crazy. Please remind me to never go that crazy increasing a recipe again. I have a bag for my middle son, a bag for my youngest son, a bag for a friend who has been patiently waiting and a bag for my husband and I for later this week. 

They are a lot better fried in oil. Less Healthy I am sure, but much better. I will reheat them in the air fryer. 

My grandchildren had school on Friday! No weather warnings! Monday, however, is a planned two hour delay for teacher meetings.  I do better with a heads up before they are here.  I am planning a snow theme for tomorrow's breakfast.  I am hoping to make some snowman pancakes, snowman cinnamon rolls (from the tube) and we are serving blue polar frost juice. Doesn't that sound delicious?  And of course we will have the regular menu of eggs, sausage and cereals.  

I am hoping I remember to make hot cocoa for the thermos carafe, too.  And I hope I serve enough foods since I think they go to lunch the minute they finally get to school.  I am not a fan of these announced delays either. I am glad they have grandparents who can care for them and make sure they can get to school two hours late. When I was working with small children, I am not sure what I would have done. 

I would say I have 90% of my Christmas decor stowed away until next year.  The remaining 10% are items I keep spotting as I walk through rooms.  I even had the kids wander around in a circle looking to make sure I didn't miss anything. I guess they are as blind as I am.  There was  an interesting time today when I took all my Christmas dishware and glasses out of my cabinet so I would replace it with pastel dishware and glasses and got distracted and emptied two drawers onto the table, too.  I wondered if I could even catch up to where I started, but I prevailed.  

All the Christmas things are stored in the bottom cupboard (I hope all of it) and all the pastels are behind the glass doors. And it all fit.  I did break one bowl, but I don't think I will miss it. I don't believe it is an heirloom and it isn't the Easter egg colors I have been amassing. I think it was a vintage Goodwill find. It is what it is. 

I have my 100th sinus infection of the season with clogged nose and ears. I think I am on my 99th zpack of drugs which I am sure I am immune to by now. This has been a very long winter for only being January.  In the words of Taylor Swift, It's me, Hi, I'm the problem, It's me.  We messed around and never got our vaccines in time.  We did finally get the covid and the RSV, but it was only 5 days before my grandson was diagnosed with RSV (and who knows how long he had it before the appointment) and it takes two weeks to take effect. That was how we spent Christmas vacation.  We were going to get the flu and pnumonia vaccine that week, but since we were sick, we waited. And I swear we have continued being sick with something every weekend since.  Next year we will be vaccinated against everything in sight by October 1. 

My friend who is battling with breast cancer for the second time was diagnosed this week with Influenza A. It was just days before her chemo and infusion, but due to being vaccinated and approval of Tamiflu from her doctors, she was able to go to her treatment.  Her doctors told her the vaccine meant her case was a mild one (thank goodness). Her son and daughter in law welcomed a new baby girl this week, too, so she is waiting until she is given the all clear to go visit.   

Still Frying Sauerkraut Balls

A quick note of thanks for all the comments on the sauerkraut balls.  I forgot they are kind of a German-Ohio thing. I think our great grandmas were looking for something to disguise yet another leftover dinner from the New Years Day pork roast and sauerkraut and knew deep frying anything carries it an extra day. 

You really can order these in any restaurant from an ice cream stand to a sports bar and even restaurants as an appetizer.  And I hope that no one else did the recipe times 5.  At this point I still have 9 dozen still frozen in my outside freezer. 

My recipe, which is my family's and also in several other families since I see it in church cookbooks, is the cream cheese version. I meant to ask my friend for her family recipe which has sausage, ground up ham, sauerkraut and other items that are not cream cheese, LOL.  

My mother never made sauerkraut balls (her family wasn't German) but she did make "sausage balls" which I can only remember as very dry. 

Anyway.  Last week we had Martin Luther King day -so no school. Then we had snow days on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. This means I had the elementary grandchildren in addition to the preschoolers.  I replenished my cereal, sandwich and snack supplies just in time for today which was a 2 hour delay for my local elementary bus kids and a day off due to ice for my three further away elementary grandchildren whose mother teaches at a school that did not delay or cancel.  

I am hoping that our schools are open the rest of the week. Fingers Crossed. 

Sauerkraut Balls

We love Sauerkraut Balls. We especially love Sauerkraut Balls on New Year's Eve.  When my kids were little I had come up with a way to make enough for five children and two adults for our celebration even though I always had to work the week between Christmas and New Years. 

This is the recipe that I submitted to our 4-H cookbook. And it is the recipe I still use. 

I would work on each step at night when I was washing the supper dishes. Chilling in between the steps is really important. The recipe is easily doubled or tripled. It is messy to bread them all so I always did a huge batch and frozen some before frying so I wouldn't have to make the mess twice (or three or four times).   

I haven't made them since before 2020. Every year my kids beg me to make them.  This year I told them they could come over the week in between Christmas and New Years and help me.  I bought supplies to make the recipe times five.  Yes, 5 lbs of sausage, a case of sauerkraut, etc.  

Then Mr Merry and I had a really bad respiratory infection the week after Christmas and they did not get made. 

I got tired of tripping over the case of sauerkraut and decided I would make them this week. Sunday I thawed the cream cheese and browned the sausage.  After mixing the recipe, it completely filled a Tupperware fix and mix bowl (just so you can estimate quantity).

Our schools have been cancelled for weather for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday I had a house full of children and the recipe remained chilling. Tuesday I began to roll the balls. My ten year old grandson helped for a little bit but it took me HOURS to roll them all. 

I spent all day today breading them. It turned into an endurance test very quickly. I knew if I tried to do half today and half tomorrow, I would never be able to stand and do it tomorrow. I kept estimating when I would be finished. It was almost 2 more hours than I thought.  

Now they are all in more Tupperware waiting to be frozen, fried or packaged for pickup.  I did come up with a science experiment where I tried to use the air fryer. My solution was 7 minutes at 400 degrees.  My middle son took his already and said he sprayed them with cooking oil before cooking and I am going to try that tomorrow.  

I hate to say it, but they are good in the air fryer. But they are GREAT deep fried. So tomorrow I am going to deep fry some for Mr. Merry and I when we watch tv in the evening.

I am also having a stern talk with myself. Between the arthritis in my hands and bone spurs in my back, I cannot stand and roll all those sauerkraut balls. I had a big reality check of Miss Merry in her early 40's vs Miss Merry in her late 60's.  My first thought was never again. But now that I have taken a bunch of meds and am sitting in my chair, maybe the sane choice would be to just make one batch of the recipe. I always overdo!!

I have a funny story and a sad story. 

When I was making the sauerkraut balls, I told my eight year old grandson that a local burger place has sauerkraut balls on the menu at 6 for $15.  He was stunned. He wondered why people would pay that much when they can just ask their Mimi to make them for them! 

Last night was an exciting night on our scanner.  There were reports of a mass shooting at a little country bar, out past us at a crossroads. They have a great fish fry on Fridays and lots of farmers stop there during the day for lunch. Tuesday night was pool league. Evidently a young man had too much of something and got into some arguments. He decided the way to settle it was to shot into the bar.  Two people were seriously wounded and life flight had to come and pick them up. Today's news is better and they are both expected to make it. Unfortunately guns are very prevalent in my state, open carrying is what the cool kids do and in my gun sanctuary county, you can even bring guns into bars. You just aren't supposed to drink if you have one.  I'm pretty sure most of the guys there last night were armed. And yet they took down the gunman with a punch and a whack with a bar stool. 

Behind the Scenes

I thought it would be fun to share my "shopping process" for the Christmas Getaway (30 minutes from my house).  

I was googling Christmas dresses for chubby grandmothers on Amazon and came upon this one. I was thinking I could sew up the vee neckline and wear it as a tunic top over black slacks. It was the only one left, 80% off and 2-3 sizes too big for me, which I liked because I did not want it to cling. I figured it was worth the 9.99 and ordered it. 

This is what arrived: 

It weighs a ton, and is fully lined. The neckline was cut down past my belly button and the length was past my knees. 

It was also slit up to my belly button and the dress only closed with one tiny button. This was not going to work! 

I did not want to try to sew the heavy sequins on my sewing machine. I actually put on the dress and marked the middle.  I did some folding and arranging and sewed up the middle by hand. I put it on again and decided to raise the shoulder seams by 2-3 inches. Every time I put it on, I would pin higher up the neckline. I think the weight kept pulling it down. 

I decided to use the sash to try to change the shape of what was now a red sequin sack into a more fitted look. 

It worked! Just don't look too close at the stitching. 

And here I am in the dress. I was pretty satisfied with my ten dollar creation! 

I think I could have added a few more stitches at the neckline that night, lol. 

Missing in Action in December - Sawmill Creek Resorts Season of Joy

I think I'm realizing I can't participate in activities and document activities at the same time. I am really in awe of how often you all post and all that you share. I love reading your blogs! I wish I could do the same! I do want to share this is not a sponsored post. 

During Covid when I was online way too often I learned that Ohio has several Christmas Inns, you know, like Hallmark! I started decorating my bedrooms for Christmas because I realized my dear husband would never ever go to a Christmas Inn.  A nearby resort even had a special event last year. I was talking to my youngest daughter in September and she mentioned she wished she had gone too! 

Well. I had money burning in the envelope in my undies drawer, earned from working the three elections Ohio decided to have this year plus my money from serving on a practice zoom jury for a law firm. Reservations were made. 

I knew this would be my opportunity to live my Hallmark dream so I spent all my free time drawing up a schedule of our activities, planning meals and outfits, even making several calls to the resort to clarify as they were rolling out the event. 

My partner in crime, my seven year old granddaughter, was totally on board with the Hallmark magic.  Luckily we already had sequin dresses for our Taylor Swift concert in our car at the drive-in and I was busy shopping sales to outfit us all. Including her four year old brother who is still able to be talked into things. I drew up a complete schedule of events with little Christmas trees to mark our many outfit changes during the two night event. Excessive? Why, yes. Have you ever counted outfits in a Hallmark movie? We even noted necessary accessories. We also made sure her doll had appropriate attire. 

My advice, if you want to plan something like this, is to go into it with the attitude it will be totally magic and wonderful. It will convince everyone else how wonderful it is too! We could not have had a more special experience from the moment we arrived. 

I would recommend Sawmill Creek Resorts "Season of Joy" to everyone of any age group. The vibe is defiantly adult, but with your planning I do believe it is perfect for everyone. 

We started with the most polite and helpful check-in on Friday night when we arrived in our semi casual Christmas outfits. I had made reservations at the Millers Table, their best restaurant. I studied the menu prior to arrival and we did see sandwiches for our first night. We planned to split a plate for the children. We were pleasantly surprised to find they had a children's menu!. We also met the most wonderful server we have ever seen, Laura. She made our whole experience extra special and was so wonderful with the kids, too.  

Our gourmet burgers were delicious and the kids felt very special. During dinner we spotted two elves that we did not know would be part of the experience. As you can see, both Candy and Cane were part of the magic we will never forget! 

I rarely drink alcohol. My children kid me because I buy a six pack of hard cider in the fall and bottles can remain in my refrigerator by the next summer. But, as part of my vision as a sophisticated Hallmark Christmas heroine, we did order the special Christmas Cocktails when we got a chance. 

After dinner we remained in our casual outfits to attend two music events, The Misteltones and the Fireside Family Christmas. My normally shy grandson even answered a call for volunteers, although I think he regretted it the moment he got up in front of people.

We retired to our room to put on our matching pjs (of course) and it turned out the movie "Home Alone" was on television. The kids pretended to watch it as I think it was a little over their heads. 

The next morning we put on our Saturday daytime attire and went to the buffet breakfast. As early risers, I think we were the first ones there. The staff could not have been more friendly and helpful, even serving the kids. As more people came to breakfast we realized we were really getting special service. 

Unfortunately a friend's mother had passed away a few days earlier and I wanted to attend her memorial service. My daughter had found a nearby box store was having a gingerbread house activity so we did leave late morning and returned in the early afternoon. 

The resort offered a series of "Christmas Boot Camp" activities for an additional fees such as cookie decorating, charcuterie board making and cocktail mixing, all geared more toward adults. I did ask the children if they would like to decorate cookies, but they had seen the pool and we spent the afternoon swimming, mostly by ourselves. 

It was a great way to get their wiggles out and I think they enjoyed it more than an organized activity. We toured the entire resort which was decorated to the nines and they posed for us in front of every setup. Later in the afternoon Candy and Cane began to appear in various locations, too. 

The resort offered s'more kits and hot cocoa for an outdoor activity in a decorated terrace. Unfortunately it rained the entire weekend, but we did sneak a peek at the decorations. 

Again we made reservations for the Millers Table for our special Fancy Hallmark Dinner. We retired to our room so we could wear our Fancy Christmas Clothes and headed to the restaurant, attracting lots of looks and smiles from other guests. There was a long line at check-in for some corporate Christmas parties and they were all quite taken with my grandson's tie. 

The hostess greeted us and admired the outfits so much she begged to take our picture in the restaurant lobby. Note for next year - lose the purse. 

We were then seated directly in front of the Christmas tree and discovered our favorite server Laura was assigned to our table again!  

We had studied the menu knew our order. We started with a fabulous charcuterie board. My granddaughter abandoned the children's menu for a big girl meal. Luckily her brother had extra chicken tenders to share since grownup food was not what she had expected. I cannot tell you how delicious the food was. I am still dreaming about it. All leftovers were safely packed and stored in our room's refrigerator. 

After dinner Laura asked if she could take pictures for us and paraded us all over the dining room in front of every Christmas arrangement. We felt like royalty.

We returned to our room for our Saturday evening wardrobe change and then attended three music events, The Carolers, The Mistletones and the Fireside Family Christmas. 

We were pretty tired after all the festivities and slept well. 

Again in the morning we dressed in our Sunday casual Christmas outfits and were first to arrive at the luscious breakfast buffet which we enjoyed greatly.  After breakfast we returned to the pool until shortly before checkout. 

He loved breakfast - this is his "Grinch" face.

Our Christmas getaway was exactly as I had hoped and pictured it and I couldn't wait to make my photos into a scrapbook. I worked on a Shutterfly album and I decided there was no way I could justify the cost. I remade the book at Walgreens and picked it up on Monday.  Then Shutterfly ran a very good special with half off and free extra pages and the price went from unaffordable to astronomical and I ordered it too. 

Hopefully I will be back soon to share the events after December 3rd!  Yes, this was just the very very first of December!