Well Christmas is coming to a close and I figured why not do a Christmas 2006 wrap up post.

This is the first year we’re not with other family members and it’s actually ok with us… nice and relaxing without all the “family fun” and bah humbugs

In the picture, you can see I’m wearing my WordCamp 2006 shirt and yes before you comment, I know that I’m not smiling in the picture… I was barely awake and I’m sporting my Don King morning hair. At least I’m upright and have a shirt on.

Ok, on with the post… for gifts I received the following (not in any special order):

• Handmade scarf (gray in color)
• 2007 Ford Mustang wall calendar
• Tripod for my camera and video recorder
• Trivial Pursuit DVD Pop Culture Board Game
• RC car parts (tires, chrome rims, alignment tools, foam inserts)
• 2007 “Far Side” comic desk calendar
• Black & Decker Auto Wrench
• 2 shot glasses for my ever growing collection
• Duracell Pen Light (with batteries included)
• A wide variety of boxer shorts with fun messages on them
• Woppers candy
• Reeces Pieces candy
• $100.00 USD Visa gift card (w00t. time to buy some clothes)
• Lubriderm Daily Moisture Lotion (perfect for cold weather)

One of the shot glasses says “Hawaii” on it and the other one has a sexy girl posed on it. Hubba hubba.

A couple of the fun messages on the boxer shorts are:

“You shook me all night long” and “I’m smart but I work with nuts”.

Good times. I’m looking forward to wearing them around the house.

Around 1:00 PM we finally made some food for breakfast… ok, a late lunch… we made scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, an entire pound of bacon (I love bacon) and toast with butter and jelly.

All and all it’s been a pretty nice and relaxing low stress day. I plan on taking it easy over the next couple of days as well. I put in a ton of hours for work and personal projects, so now I’m taking some time for myself and my lady… and the dog too

I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday.

For those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you’re having a good day as well.

This time of year we all like warm and tasty deserts, so I figured it was time to share my family secret recipe for apple pie and homemade crust.

As a time saver you can use a pre-made pie crust.

Also, a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of warm pie is always a welcomed addition.

Needed Ingredients For The Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups white flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, broken into small pieces
• 5 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
• 8 tablespoons ice water

Crust Preparation:

Measure the flour, sugar and salt together. Stir to combine.

Add the chilled butter pieces and shortening to the bowl. Cut them in with a pastry cutter or knife. Don’t over mix them.

Add the ice water. Mix until the dough holds together (add a bit more water, if necessary).

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it together, then divide in half.

Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour.

Roll out one of the disks on a lightly floured surface until you have a circle that’s about 12 inches in diameter.

Put the circle in a 9″ pie plate, trimming any extra dough from the edges with a sharp knife. Return it to the refrigerator until you are ready to make the pie.

Add filling (see below).

Roll out the second ball of dough and cover top. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together. Cut a couple slits in the top.

Needed Ingredients For Filling:

• 1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 8 medium sized apples (a medium apple = about 1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons margarine

Filling Preparation:

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel, core and slice the apples. Try to keep the size of the slices even.

Mix sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl. Stir in apples. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with margarine.

Cover with top crust and seal the edges. Cut slits in the top.

OPTIONAL: Cover edge with 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent too much browning. Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.