Mixed Plate: How Wasabi Got Her Holiday Groove Back

I know what you're thinking. You're looking at the calendar, the dwindling hours left to do all your holiday baking/shopping/social calls are looming like Marley's Ghost, rattling his chains to remind you that the time draws nigh to get that Christmas Spirit in your heart... OR ELSE. Fine, so I realize that's not everyone, but I know it's a few of you out there. And it's the ones who are the real doers of the family and household, the ones who make sure all their loved ones' needs are taken care of, that no one in their life feels left out. These are the Holiday Heroes who literally break their backs for every holiday/birthday/special occasion; they never forget a special date or anniversary, they're always quick with a card or a special little gift, and they are an endless font of heartfelt generosity. Baby, sit back for a spell, this post's for you.

Give yourself the gift of a day, or at least an afternoon to stop and enjoy the holiday lights - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I think of my mother during the holidays. She went into Christmas Mode early in the year, months in advance, whipping out her sewing machine and picking out patterns for some crafty, adorable handmade holiday gift for close friends and relatives. I remember one year she made a dozen or so wreaths decorated with sewn teddy bears made out of holiday quilting fabric. Another year she made these incredible stockings full of little pockets and places to stuff goodies and sweets -- exactly the kind of stocking made for kids. Every photo had the potential to be made into that year's holiday card, which would be sent out by or before the first week of December, and she'd be the one writing notes in all of them. Wasabi Mom is happily enjoying the life of leisure, in retirement on Da Islands with Wasabi Dad in temperate climate, where the Spam Musubi roam freely. She still sends a few cards out, but no photos, since it's been many years since I've lived at home for the yearly family snapshot. She puts up a few things, but nowhere near as much decor as when I was younger. But that incredible holiday spirit stuck with me all these years, and she's remained a great inspiration to stick with that tradition of making sure cards and handmade gifts never go out of style.

Holiday Hectic Mode starting...NOW - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Fast forward a few years, and many consecutive Christmases of never forgetting to send out a holiday card or making some sort of homemade baked sweets, I find myself in that Hectic Holiday mode that my mother probably felt many years ago. I would never give up the opportunity to let my loved ones know how much I appreciate them, whether it's with cards, cookies or some other weird handmade craft monstrosity I thought was a good idea at the time. And I would never consider myself the aforementioned Holiday Hero, but I understand the desire to make sure no one feels left out during the festive season -- because everyone should be reminded that they are thought of and loved! There are many people out there who truly give it their all during this time of year, with volunteering and giving so much of their time to others. If anything, those are the people who need to be remembered and thanked for their efforts, so maybe bake them a batch of cookies or something, why dontcha?

The baked good whirlwind that capsized our kitchen - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The gesture of giving means something, even if it isn't expensive or some diamond studded big screen TV. Oy, what an ugly thing that would be, no? After many weekends baking, sugar-dusting and card-writing, I finally hit the holiday home stretch of having all the goodies packaged to mail or hand-deliver. I was a multitasking queen, prepping shortbread dough, wrapping little parcels of homemade pretzels, cookies and brownies, while catching up on the last few weeks of TV on our iPad and slowly realized, Holy Crap... what about me?

Holiday baking HQ, powered by ugly cookies and iPad with recorded TV shows - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Sounds terribly selfish, I know -- ME, ME, ME. But after all that running around, I had a moment to catch my breath and say, I think I deserve a little break. And I think that goes for anyone else out there who's in the same spot as me: feeling like it's less holiday and more checking off boxes on a list of to-do's. Holiday Fail. In the pursuit of holiday magic, the spirit disappeared. Spending too much time worrying how many misshapen "Homer" cookies had to be sacrificed to a hungry Mister, and not enough time just enjoying the fact that dammit, this really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Relax, like the hookah-smoking caterpillar! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

And so I did it -- I gave myself the best possible gift one could give onself: Time. Take an afternoon or a morning -- a whole day if you can swing it. I sought out the holiday spirit in downtown Seattle, doing some simple pleasures that I'd done before, but were in danger of being sacrificed due to a busy schedule. Perish the thought! I was prompted by some appointments that went sideways, but stuck with the original plan to head into Seattle for the morning. I wanted to see the annual gingerbread village at the downtown Sheraton Hotel, near the Seattle Convention Center, now in their 20th year. They annually task local sugar artists to make these incredible gingerbread and candied creations. I saw it last year and it was such a blood sugar sight to behold, I couldn't imagine skipping it this year. This year's theme was Disney movies, or as near as I could tell, based on each gingerbread castle's design.

Sea Monkey palace never looked this great - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Right in the lobby of the Sheraton, you can tour the underwater Neptune's kingdom from The Little Mermaid, the sultan's palace from Aladdin, the Red Queen's castle from Alice in Wonderland, The Beast's rose-decorated castle from Beauty and the Beast, and even the land of Narnia. Kind of a fairy tale/Disney mashup, it's an impressive sight to see, and the display is up right now through the holidays. It's free to view, but they are accepting donations to benefit the Northwest chapter of JDRF, which focuses on the fight against diabetes. I admit, there's a part of me that finds a little irony in a charity for diabetes being involved in a sugar-coated gingerbread village display, but hey -- it's the holidays, I have to keep my snark to a minimum, lest I be given nothing but coal this year.

Ooh... ahhh... dazzled yet? - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Let's just take a moment to admire the fact that a lot of people went through some crazy-painstaking work to put these sweet sculptures on display, shall we? Cheshire Cat agrees, kick back and enjoy.

Disney movies and sugar -- what's not to love? - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I had a nougat-filled soft spot for the Beauty and the Beast castle. I'd say of all the more recent classic hand-drawn animated films of Disney, that is by far my favorite. I'm inclined to watch it with a big plate of pasta and a bottle of wine, like so many viewings of 50 Dresses or Pretty in Pink. Another gift of Me Time I look forward to indulging in.

Market shopping done right - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Another gift to myself was taking a walk through Pike Place Market. It's in its holiday finery, with the fresh tree mini-lot at the entrance. You get a lovely whiff of fresh evergreen, then likely another whiff of delivery truck exhaust, as I went during the middle of the day. Well, it is a working market after all. But I always love coming here, rain or shine, as cheesy/touristy as that sounds -- especially during the week, since weekends can get extra busy. It's a gorgeous historic market with some of my favorite shops -- I did a quick run-through of DeLaurenti to pick up some food gifts, admired the fresh mushrooms and loved seeing the winter fruit like pomegranates stacked high. There's always something to admire and marvel at, and a walk through Pike Place Market was a reminder to do so, every day.

Holiday Sanity Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself - Photo by Wasabi Prime

So if you're feeling the pressure of the holiday season, take a moment to breathe. Better yet, take a whole afternoon, if you can. Appreciate someone else's exuberance for the holidays, as that will reinvigorate your own spirit. If you're not certain you've gone mad with harried holiday to-do's, take one look at the four-foot high pile of boxes set for delivery, and the extremely worried look on your dog's face, wondering why silly hoomins gotta be so weird. Thanks for the reality check, Indy.

This is also my holiday post for the week, as I'm taking some time to just relax, so I hope you all have a very Happy Holidays, a Merry Christmas, survived another wild Hannukah, and looking forward rocking out the family love and fellowship of Kwanzaa. Merry-merry, y'all.

FoodTrek: Christmas in Seattle

I know we're not supposed to say "Merry Christmas," because we're supposed to be nondenominationally-sensitive to all cultures, religions, etc. At the risk of turning the holiday spirit upside down - forget that noise, Christmas is here, and I'm ready to jingle bell rock-it all the way till December 25th.

Grrrawwwwrrr - It's Christmas, so deal with it, Political Correctness Police! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The holidays have a special place in my memory because over ten years ago, my first view of Seattle was right around early December, touring the city with my mother, wondering if this would be the place I would call home. The Space Needle had the string of lights atop, making it look like a big Christmas tree, and Macys hadn't co-opted the local department store yet and it was still the Bonmarche Star that continues to hang all bright n' twinkly on the building corner in Westlake Center. All the halls were decked, all the streets were merry with holiday decor, and it really felt like a city ready for festivities. And it was a welcome sight for someone who was parting ways with family, off to a strange new place with an unknown economic future. Not too far from where a lot of us are today, I suppose.

A very sweet and edible Christmas in New Zealand - Photos by Wasabi Prime

But current affairs notwithstanding, Christmas in Seattle continues to hold a little piece of my heart, so despite the total stressball I become during the holidays, I try to take a day to at least enjoy some of it, walk the main downtown blocks to relive some of those decade-old memories and take in the city's way of celebrating. I recently used an afternoon to join the masses of holiday shoppers and muster up some Christmas Spirit patience as I dove into the fray. If you're unfamiliar with Seattle's main downtown area, there's a pretty concentrated block of shopping and large retailers, all near the Westlake Center area, pretty much smack-dab in the middle of the Needle and Pioneer Square/South Downtown. I mostly wanted to admire the store window displays and see the special decorations that come out for Christmas, like the gingerbread house displays at the Sheraton Hotel on 6th Avenue. This year's theme was trains and railroads, with each of the gingerbread structures representing stations from around the world, as well as imaginary ones. The display is open to the public, benefitting a local charity, so do remember to drop a few bucks into the collection box, as it's all for a good cause.

If only travel by rail could be this sweet... Photos by Wasabi Prime

The one from Britain had, of course, a Harry Potter theme. And then some were just too cute for words, like the New Zealand station swarming with adorable wide-eyed kiwi birds wandering around, and little lambs singing carols at the doorstep. For whatever reason, Grand Central Station had been overrun by the weird little cyclops creatures from that animated movie, Despicable Me. Maybe if I'd seen the movie, I'd have gotten the reference, but hey, the kids seemed to love it, and the cyclops creatures were cute, so who am I to complain?

I get a sugar high just looking at it - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It was a lot of walking about, and looking at all that sugary sweetness helps towards building an appetite, so it got me thinking about nearby spots to get a holiday nosh or two. I wound up at Sullivan's Steakhouse on 6th and Union, really close to the shops, but not right in the thick of it to where it's too busy to get a seat. They're in a great location since they're close to the retailers but also nearby the theaters, so it's a good spot to drop by before or after a show. The Mister and his workmates have dropped by here for happy hour before -- they do these crazy-good specials every Thursday, where their signature cocktails and bar food is $6 each. The place gets super-packed, but they run the special until closing, so if you're a happy hour-crawler and work in the area, you need to put that on your list of places to visit on a Thursday.

Tastebuds are partying it up at Sullivan's - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It was totally cocktail-o'-clock for my friend and I, so after a day of holiday wanderings, imbibed several of Sullivan's holiday-themed offerings, along with a big plate of their spicy-sweet calamari, which is one of my new favorite snacks. I have to say the most refreshing was the pineapple-vodka Knockout, and the Merry Berry, which had several different fruit juices like strawberry, pomegranate, lemon and lime juice, with Chambord. The most rich and holiday-decadent was the Chocolate Christmas, which is a perfect Seattle cocktail with its use of espresso liqueur. With the cream and chocolate syrup-decorated glass, it's dessert in a glass, to be sure. It was an indulgent way to spend the day, since these aren't drinks I'd normally have outside of a party, but hey, it's the holidays, and sometimes the best gifts are the ones you give yourself. In my case, it was a day to enjoy the pretty decorations and time to enjoy some pretty cocktails. Consider this your list of to-do's the next time you're on a holiday shopping mission in downtown Seattle.

What about you? What are some of your favorite things you like to do when the holidays come a-calling?