Coming soon to the Food Network, Shayne and Jo.

Greetings,

We've spent the last few days getting ready for Christmas. The official Christmas countdown began as per usual on the first of August but now as we approach the ten day mark, the Robinson/Groves household is really aflutter with the spirit of the season.

We've been attending mass on a daily basis and our two person nativity play is almost ready to unveil to the public. Yep, there's nothing better than the pre-Christmas rush.

For us it all started with the arrival of the Christmas packages. Back home getting mail was usually a moment of great sadness, as we basically received only bills and weekly requests for donations from Jenny Kwan and Jack Layton themselves (those cads took many a penny). But here getting mail is like winning the lottery. So when we received packages from our respective parents, we felt like Bill Gates (or at least someone with a lot of Kraft Dinner and chicken noodle soup).


Here's Jo opening a box. Look as her eyes twinkle with glee at the delights she's about to receive.

Ahhh...licorice, chicken noodle soup, Christmas decorations and candy. Could you ask for anything more? Well actually you could, and we did. So without further adieu, let's cut to the star of this post....

Sweet, sweet glorious cheese sauce.

Anyway. After receiving some decorations from home (shouts out to the moms and pops) we were ready to decorate and made a day of it. Although Jo didn't appreciate the 5 hours I scheduled for carol singing and chestnut roasting, she did appreciate decorating the tree. Last weekend we took a trip to the famous Ulsan Forest, and with the help of our lumberjack friend, Kim Bum Suk, we managed to cut down one of the finest and tallest Korean trees available.

Behold! Little Charlie Brown would be proud. She's a real bute, and she'll last for a lifetime. One benefit of having a two foot tree is that it's a lot easier to put the angel on top - Shayne didn't even have to get off his butt once.

Of course, being connoisseurs of Christmas, we didn't stop with just the tree. Oh no. We also decorated the clock... yes, the clock.

Glory in all its Christmas majesty. You'll also notice that we affixed our three Christmas cards to the wall. If you're reading this and your name isn't attached to one of those cards, shame on you. Shame. However, it's not too late to send us an envelope with Christmas cash.

Nothing says Christmas like a fiber optic tree surrounded by gingerbread men (Jo's note, first off it's gingerbread people you sexist swine, and secondly I'd hardly say they're surrounding the tree).

Aside from opening packages and decorating coffee tables, clocks and trees, we've also been busy in the kitchen. We spent all day Sunday baking up a storm. Some recipes worked better than others.

Here's one that went well: the classic Robinson sugar cookies. Mmmmm...We're salivating just looking at these bad boys. One of things we're going to miss most about not being home for Christmas is our Moms' baking.


Ahhhh...one of our absolute favourite Christmas treats: nuts n' bolts. The recipe called for the mix to bake for an hour and a half, so with just a small convection-toaster oven it took about 16 hours to make one batch.

Unfortunately, to quote Brett Michaels, every rose has its thorn, and every day has its dawn, just like every cowboy sings a sad sad song. Meaning, that you can't always get what you want and you just can't quote enough popular music in your blog entries. Being without a reliable chocolate chip cookie recipe, we went to the trusty internet. Nothing on the internet is ever wrong....

Damn the internet...damn it to hell. Look at these!! I mean, look at these!!! We searched for a chocolate chip cookie recipe and instead discovered how to make fake vomit. Of course, being the geniuses that we are, it only took us three failed batches to realise that maybe the recipe was flawed. So we did what any sensible cook with a bowl full of useless cookie batter would do - we threw it all in a pan and tried to bake a cake....mmmm, cake.


Voila! From our oven to you with love. Children don't try this at home. After nearly starting a fire in our toaster oven we decided maybe we should have just thrown the whole thing out. But where's the Christmas spirit in that?

Cheers,
Shayne and Jo

P.S. Two weeks until C-Day.