Thursday, December 29, 2016

Snippets













(Last year's advent class)

Happy New Year 



warning: opinion ahead

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” Abraham Lincoln.

These men were not perfect - But they had ideals and dignity and the knowledge to 
protect and improve the lives of everyone.

I pray we don't have to endure the next four years,
amid the destruction an ignorant selfish dolt might unleash
 upon our nation and the world.

This elected figure does not even register as a shadow of great men.

When the truth is finally understood by all who voted in hatred and fear,
I pray that it is not too late.




Tuesday, December 27, 2016

All Was Calm








All was bright

Kids were here early, and then began a whirlwind of
flights and drives to NYC, Portland, LA and back 
again twice to Vegas. I still have 2 more trips to airport.
They are travelers.

Christmas Eve was a feast extraordinaire.
Broccoli souffle, roasted vegetables,
ANOTHER deep fried turkey,
mussels, white fish diablo and seared ahi tuna.
After much discussion we all just made
 what we each wanted to eat.
VERY non traditional
but I work to stay flexible.

Movies, music, naps, coffees, wine, food






Friday, December 23, 2016

Happy At Home


While waiting for a friend to stop in for a second
and share holiday hellos, I walked in on
this.

Howie is in heaven when my girl is home.
We three are headed to a fish market 
to round out Christmas dinner
for our pescatarian.
Ben will be donning his chef hat once more.
We were eating sun dried tomato ravioli
 and meatballs at 11 last night!
Lord that guy can cook!

This afternoon we'll wander the stores 
and take in the decorations
 and the music and the crowds,
eat a great lunch at Public School,
and then head home for more
family time.

I'll check in tomorrow with photos and 
Christmas wishes.

Monday, December 12, 2016

A Forest Of Greens









It's only natural



Sunday, December 11, 2016

A Noble Tree


I have not had a real tree in many years.
The kids do not care either way, and I had several 
artificial that I put up each year.


 A few days ago I popped into Lowes 
and entered by the garden and passed
 this cute little noble who was reduced to 15.00.
He was very fresh and I just had to bring him home.

The House of Hatten set I had
 planned to use in this room just like last year
2015
was too large for my little 4 footer so I
just layered on the tin stars and hearts that
go with it, and added some red glitter hearts.
It is so cheerful.
I adore the topper, he is very rare, so even though too 
large for my very noble noble I tossed him up there.

I never use the same stuff in the same 
place from year to year.
This year is a mostly "greens" year once more.
I spent years only doing white
throughout the house,
but now in the family room I'm leaning toward
mustards and reds.

I was only going to do a wee bit 
but with bins full of greens I just kept a 
plunkin' em down and it's a forest in here.

Just like my turkey,
easy to set up and take down.
I'm going easy and "very green" this year.

Adapting to all kinds of change.
Getting old is not for sissies.







Thursday, December 8, 2016

The Virgin Turkey

So I realized that I never told you 
about the turkey.
The fried turkey.
My very first fried turkey.

56 minutes from start to finish
56 minutes people!


So here is the skinny.
The kids were in Toronto, 
it was gonna be just me this year,
so I made a run to Costco
 for their cranberry stuffing, 
and mashed potatoes.
 I add a little cream cheese to the taters 
and they are delicious.

Both of those can be nuked so
 mere minutes of effort.

I heated up the oil in the fryer,
that took about 45 minutes.
Then injected the 14 lb bird with organic chicken broth,
rubbed more broth on the exterior and patted on some
seasoning mix, set the digital info and 
 dunked it in my new indoor fryer.
I then made a sweet potato casserole I have made
for over 30 years and 20 minutes later
 popped it into my perfectly empty and clean stove.
Exactly 56 minutes later I had 
the perfect turkey with all the trimmings.
I've been cooking a LOOONG 
time and I can honestly tell you.
It was the best darn bird ever!
I will never cook one any other way again!

This is an indoor fryer, much safer, 
so easy to drain and clean.
I have told anyone and everyone
who will listen
 that they must get one,
an it does far more than just gobblers.

Maybe the best part is no 
rushing to prep, or loads of dirty pans piled in the sink,
I just had my trusty MS storage containers to fill,
drained and filtered the oil,
then washed out two parts of fryer
and everything else was tossed into recycling.

Remember way back when when I was
doing the happy jig about my blue bucket mop?
This IS better.

so it is Butterball XXL Premium indoor turkey fryer.

I bought on QVC on a special value day
w/ free shipping for 129.00
and used easy pay.
(click QVC to see video)
It is large so I stored the digital part inside the house
and the shell in the garage.

The plan is to have a huge seafood boil for 
the holidays since DD is a pescatarian now.

DD had quick trip home last week 
to do a commercial for her Dad.
She wanted a bloody mary.


I think it was tasty







Friday, December 2, 2016

Maybe With Enough Birds?



Maybe with enough orange/gold loving birds,
we could remove the bad orange/gold
starting with the top down?
Do I hear a hell yeah?