A Trip to the Movies

We went to see the new Muppet movie as part of our family Thanksgiving, and it was delightful. The jokes were just the right mix of pop culture references, harkening back to previous Muppet movies and TV shows, and just plain funny stuff, that you could enjoy it whether you knew the Muppets before or not (and whether you recognized the celebrities or not). The plot did head to the expected happy ending, but I couldn't predict the path it took along the way, which is what I want from family fare, and which is often hard to find. The music was upbeat and catchy; I find myself humming the tunes or trying to remember the words so I can sing them to baby girl. And the costumes (for those of you who care about clothes) were thoughtful and character appropriate.
It seems like a strong come-back for the Muppets, just as cute, clever, and funny, but without those ribald jokes that you sometimes got on Muppets Tonight.
As for baby girl, she ate and napped through a lot of it (as nearly-two-month-old babies are want to do) but she was awake for a dance number and seemed to like the music and the colorful moving images one the screen (then she started sucking vigorously on her fist, so I fed her some more). It was a good choice for baby's first movie outing, not only because we enjoyed it enough to tide us over (since we won't be going to the movies again for a while) but also because it's a movie we can tell her she went to and let her watch when she's a little older without being embarrassed about the content or anything, or having to explain how we thought a baby could sleep through a movie with -insert objectionable noises here- ( that many explosions, so much yelling, so many car horns, etc.).

Tips for a Wheat-free / Gluten-free Thanksgiving

Last year we did a gluten-free Thanksgiving because one of our guests had an allergy.  Here is what I learned:

1. You can thicken gravy with teff flour (used in Ethiopian cooking and available at Wegmans) and it will be very nice, with a pleasant mild nuttiness, so we're doing that again this year.  NOTE: When it cools to room temperature this gravy becomes a little more solid than Jello.
2. You can use your normal pumpkin pie filling recipe to make a crustless pie by pouring the filling directly in to a lightly greased glass or ceramic pie pan (or cassarole dish I would guess) and baking it as usual (maybe check it a little early just in case).  I would, however, avoid replacing the sugar in the pie filling with honey, because the difference is very noticable.   If the idea of crustless pie might anger your guests you can call it a pumpkin pudding or something like that.
3. You can use gluten-free bread to make stuffing from scratch, however, some types of gluten-free bread (and hopefully you're gluten-sensitive friend or family member can let you know if the loaf your using is one of these) need to be toasted until the look burnt before they taste or act like toasted bread.
4. Some ingredients that do not themselves contain any glutenous grains can still be cross contaminated with gluten.  The ones mentioned to me were oats and nuts, but as I understand it there are others.  This is not my area of expertise, so your gluten-sensitive guest may have to fill you in on products they have had issues with.

Good luck to everyone responsible for Thanksgiving cooking!  It's a big job whether the meal contains gluten or not.

Greetings from the Budgie Tree

As I prepare to relaunch my Etsy shop, I thought I'd start a blog to post about my crafting and inspirations, as well as what I'm up to in general, from household projects to new recipes to book and movie reviews.  I'm also planning to document the process of getting my Etsy shop up and running for the grand re-opening I have planned for January 2012.  This entails setting up my work space, tweaking the listings I had previously written, creating new items and doing their listings, and raising the profile of BudgieTree within the Etsy community and beyond.  Writing it all down here will help me track my progress and see how far I have left to go, and give me a little accountability so I don't let myself get too busy with the holidays and the baby and push the reopening to February.  As I go along, I'd be happy to hear any tips or suggestions you have for whatever I'm working on, and hopefully my readers will find some useful tidbits in what I have to say.