Salivate with me if you will…

Snacks & Appetizers

• Summer sausage, cheese (cheddar, swiss & mozzarella) & crackers (Keebler Club & Town House). And toss in a cheese ball for good measure.
• Deviled eggs. Is there a more tasty, more addictive food that’s not that good for you? I could eat deviled eggs.
• Ham roll ups. My mom has made these for years, usually on New Years Eve.
• Ham salad on tiny pumpernickel bread. Addicting for some reason.

The Main Course

• Turkey and dressing (and possibly stuffing if I’m in the mood). Good tender, juicy & moist turkey with that awesome aroma.
• Spiral sliced, glazed ham. Need I say more?
• Mashed potatoes. The real thing with plenty of butter. Topped with gravy or noodles or just plain, it’s all good.
• Rolls. Warm and soft also with plenty of butter.
• Cranberry Sauce. Yes, I like the stuff that comes out of a can. But if you want to whip your own up, knock me out.

Treats

• Pumpkin pie. I’m not sure what it is about pumpkin pie, but it just hits the spot. And that’s even after being in a pumpkin pie eating contest last year.
• Peanut butter fudge. Truly tasty.
• Bourbon balls. For some reason Jack Daniels laced chocolate treats hit the spot, even for non-drinkers. In the “liquor foods” category these have to be right up there with rum cake and bread pudding (with rum soaked raisins).
• Buckeyes. These aren’t something that are a common staple at functions that I attend, but when I find some you’ll know I’ll dig in.
• Cheap “holiday cookies”. You know what I’m talking about. The box or bag of colored sugar coated cookies that you can pick up for a buck at any grocery store. These aren’t the best thing in the world, but they bring back childhood memories, as my grandma always seemed to have these around. Eat them with a cup of coffee and they suddenly seem a bit more fancy.
• Mint M&M’s. I am so disappointed that these are a seasonal item, but rest assured, there’s an extremely good chance you’ll find a bag of these in my house well into the next fall. Last year I think I bought about a dozen bags and have just now broken into my last one since they’re on the shelves again. (Tip: store these in the refrigerator or freezer.)

So, what makes your personal favorites list? I left a lot of options off of the list, so please chime in.

The kids took in quite a haul last night since the weather was nice and since we took them to my parents neighborhood again this year since people actually give out candy there (including full sized candy bars…and hot dogs)…for some reason most people/households in my neighborhood don’t partake in much of anything that involves decorating, landscaping, mingling, etc.  That’s fine I suppose, but it makes for a boring Halloween through New Years.

(Our first Christmas in our house I lit up the entire roof with Christmas lights…which made it easy for people to find our house (and gave me quite an electric bill)…but lately I’ve just stuck with some “icicle” lights and can tell anyone who hasn’t been to our house to look for the house with Christmas lights…and I’m not exaggerating.)

Anyway, back to Halloween for a moment…

We didn’t get started until around 7 pm (so much for the “official” trick-or-treating hours) and wrapped things up around 8:15 pm or so.  Last year it was so cold that I think the kids might have lasted 45 minutes (probably less), but last night was truly ideal…a little brisk but not too cold, on the brink of raining but not raining, with the wind howling and rustling leaves down the street.  Very ideal indeed.

But Halloween is over and now it’s time to start talking turkeys, pies, football and Christmas and New Years parties.  There are only three weeks until Thanksgiving and eight and a half weeks left in the entire year.  Where, oh where, does the time go?

For New Years Eve we went to the Colts game and bought overpriced “souvenir” popcorn and Cokes. The Colts played the starters the entire game, which made me happy since they hadn’t done so the past few seasons when we’ve locked a playoff berth early. And while not overly dominating, we did pull off the win to go 8-0 at home this season. We’ll have to see how the playoffs go though…because everyone knows how horrible our defense is (thank God for the offense).

Once we got home after figuring out how to hitch a ride out of downtown Indianapolis (for some reason the police decided that it was a good idea to close down just about every street) we had a few friends over to ring in the new year and headed to bed around 1am.

So, New Years Eve 2006 year was definitely more exciting than last year when we had an early morning flight and sat in a hotel room in Jacksonville, Florida. I can say that I’m glad there was football on TV very close to midnight, because I must be so un-hip that I hadn’t clue who half of the “artists” on the various specials were…but frankly, I don’t care all that much, as it seems like I’m really not missing anything.