Reading & Risotto...

I totally forgot to give you the recipe for my Shrimp & Pea Risotto the other day. We got to talking... 

I made this the other day. 

Shrimp & Pea Risotto
4 c. water
2 Knorr Veggie cubes
1/4 t. salt
Black pepper to taste
Penzey's Tuscan Sunset Blend (about 1 tsp.)
1 c. frozen peas
1 c. chopped leeks or shallots
2 c. shrimp, cooked, cut into pieces
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese, divided*
2 c. Arborio rice
3 T. butter
1 T. bottled garlic
1/4 c. cream or half-and-half

Heat the 4 c. of water to boiling and add the Knorr cubes. Give it a stir and set aside.

In a heavy 3-qt. saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Turn the heat to medium, and add the leeks (or shallots), stirring and allowing them to cook till translucent. Don't brown them! 

Add the Arborio rice, and stir to coat with the butter. Add 1 c. (about) of the broth and stir, keeping the rice at a simmer, and stirring consistently (not necessary to keep stirring, but you do have to stir quite frequently). 

When the rice has absorbed about 90% of that water, add another cup or so. Keep stirring. Watch your heat; you don't want it to boil - just staying at simmer. 

Before you add the 3rd cup of water, add the salt, pepper, and Penzey's spices. Stir, and then add the garlic. 

Add the 3rd cup of water, keep stirring. This is a good time to meditate or talk on the phone with someone, but don't forget to keep stirring!

By now, you'll start to get a feel for how it's thickening up. Taste the rice; is it al dente - I mean, does it have a bit of chew, but tastes done? Probably not, but that's ok - you need to know what it tastes like at a couple of stages. 

Add the 4th cup of water when 90% of the prior cup is absorbed. See where we're going here? It's about letting the rice fatten up and absorb the water. 

You MAY need a 5th cup - it will depend upon your rice. If you do, heat up water (don't add cold!), and add it, about 1/2 cup at a time, at this point. 

Add the peas and stir around for a few minutes. Add the shrimp, stirring around. Add the cream, stirring around. Taste, and adjust seasonings now, but wait on salt (if you think it needs it). 

Add 1 c. of the shredded cheese and (yes, again) stir around, to get it all melty and lovely. 

One more stir, then top with the rest of the cheese. Let it sit for 3 minutes and serve. 

I like to add a bit of pepper to my dish, and the other night, we had fresh French bread.

This is really great the next day, heated up. For us, it serves about 6 people. 

Now, the asterisks... The cheese we use is a blend of a couple of them. I had Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano. You can use whatever you want, but please use REAL cheese, not the stuff in the green cardboard thingie. 

You can shake it up: use asparagus instead of peas. Use mushrooms instead of shrimp. 

Enjoy experimenting with it. 

Reading...

Still working on that Marilla of Green Gables book. It's really addictive, so I'm thinking I'll finish it this weekend, while waiting for cookies to be done. Kid #2 is coming over to make the Pineapple Crescents - I'm late, because I've already given out two trays... 

I'm also trying to find the birthday card I had for Kid #2. It was a good one, and I haven't been able to find it. I'd bought it months ago, when I saw it. Of course. 

And I think this weekend, I'll start the Christmas cards. 

Knitting...

The Terribly Simple is plodding along. It's going to be nice; and I'm happy that I'm plowing through to the finish, but I do wish it was done already. 

First off, I do want to wear it. 

Second off, I want to go back to socks. 

Not sure what I'll do next; finish a pair, probably. I need to get that moving because I want to start wearing some of the ones I have that are singles. 

Random Picture...

The tray for my guitar teacher. The plate for the eye doctor was already handed out. 

Let's see... 4 cookies of each type. Starting at top left, ginger snaps, brown butter salted caramel, white chocolate cranberry. 

Next row is date balls, chocolate shortbread (under the red bow) and oatmeal. 

Next row is potica, Snow on the Mountain and Lemon Cherry.

Next row is an errant date ball, filled cookies and fruity oatmeal. 

Last row is Jewish Honey Cookies, M & M cookies and chocolate chunk cookies. 

My guitar teacher was very happy. I got a thumbs-up on the brown butter salted caramel. And a thumbs-up on the chewy version of the Lemon Cherry cookies. 

Once I make the Pineapple Crescents, I'm done. Baking for Christmas 2018 will be officially over. Hubby forgot about the Apple Bread... I don't think my teacher noticed. 

What's on your baking list? My teacher said that he feels like my cookies are my own ministry. His granny did "the ministry of the potica." Bakers know what this means. 

What I'm Reading, and What's Finished...

Having survived my first (and hopefully ONLY) root canal, I decided to treat myself. Well, I did have to go to B & N for a bible. It's kind of a story...

Bible Study Commences...

As a cradle Catholic, I am woefully unfamiliar with the Bible. Seriously, if you could answer the questions in the Baltimore Catechism, you were golden, as far as the Church was concerned. The less you thought, the better. The less you delved into the Bible, the happier the priests were, I think. 

Our church has started a Bible Study, and I thought I'd give it a whirl. Except I couldn't find my Bible. Granted, it's a Catholic Bible, and I attend an Episcopal Church...but according to the person hosting the group, that was fine, because "I'm going to use about a dozen Bibles anyway, and it's all interpretation." 

I went downstairs to look in the boxes of books for my Bible. I did purchase a Study Bible when I worked for the nuns, and practically never cracked it open, honestly. And I couldn't find the thing for the life of me! I even had Hubby go downstairs to see if I was missing it. He couldn't find it, but he did point out, "You have 2 of them on the top of the red cabinet." Which I did. And I suspect the kids put them there, because they're both Gideon Bibles. They'd do that, figuring, "Mom wants another Bible." I have all the funeral bibles that were given to the family when people died. It's a funeral home thing, and the crucifixes and bibles somehow ended up with me. I have a crucifix in every room except the bathrooms... Each from a relative. 

Anyway... No bible. So I trotted over to Barnes & Noble to peruse the Bible section. I was given a couple different editions to review. 

And I ended up buying another St. Joseph Bible. Sorry; it's habit. I bought tabs, too, and a case to carry it around, since it's a paperback and will get shabby. 

I was going to knit tonight - instead, I tabbed a Bible. Talk about futzy, picky work...the pages are thin, so you have to be careful to get the tabs lined up. 

So far, we haven't even cracked the bibles, but it's only going on the 3rd meeting this coming week. Our facilitator is a noted Biblical scholar - we're talking someone who's taught in seminaries, and can read two versions of Hebrew, Aramaic, and 2 versions of Greek. We're very lucky to have someone of that caliber here in our area. 

Last Tuesday was Mary Magdalene. Quick lesson: No, she wasn't a prostitute. She was a woman who believed in the ministry of Jesus, and if you delve into it, while the guys were off preaching, the women were back home making sure they had food, shelter, and honestly? Cash. So to disregard their contribution is remarkably short-sighted. 

But then again, most organized religions always do discount the women. The feminist in me is coming out more and more. 

So what was the treat? It wasn't the Bible. It was books. This is the one I started today at lunch, and boy was that a mistake! I wanted to keep reading. I'll be reading tonight; when I should be sleeping, probably!

I loved the series "Anne of Green Gables," and I eventually bought the books. I read all of them. This is a "prequel," I suppose, written by another author, not Lucy Maude Montgomery. It's Marilla's backstory. 

So far, it's lovely. The same kinds of lyrical descriptions in the original. It reinforces my desire to go, someday, to Prince Edward Island. Which I'm sure is kind of a tourist trap now, but I'd love to tromp around where this story originated. 

I also picked up a couple boxes of Christmas cards, and two books - one for each kid - as a stocking stuffer. 

Speaking of the kids, it's also time for The Annual Ornaments... 

2018 Ornament Project...

As is my wont, it's ornament time. I ended up, earlier this year, ordering some over the internet because I could no longer get the plaster ornaments at Michael's. Well, I could find some, but they were - honestly - stupid... Squares of plaster. What the heck??? I need ornaments in different shapes for the kids. I had a couple years of those idiotic squares, and then I found a bunch of cool ones.

For those who might be newbies to this tradition, it's about, oh, almost 35 years old. I started it right after Kid #1 was born. Born of necessity (not a lot of $$ to throw around on gifts and my siblings and I all had our kids around the same time), I became "The Aunt Who Paints Your Ornaments." 

Each nephew got 18 years of ornaments, one a year. Mostly, I was able to stick with "themes." One kid got all Santas. One kid got cats. One got gingerbread houses. Honestly, I still make them for MY kids...What can I say??

Now, I'm on to the great-kids: my siblings' grandkids. There are only a few of the original nieces & nephews left. I keep a spreadsheet. It's necessary for my own sanity! 

I do still have to paint my kids' ornaments, but this is what's done so far. I still have to finish them, but it was too cold to spray the finishing on them. This weekend, I think I can get it on. 

So: the trees go to Seattle. The pink snowflake, wreath and "Joy" go to Michigan, and the mitten, snowman and two name tags go here in town. 

Finishing includes spraying them with a sealant, adding "fake snow" texture and glitter, and for the name tags, I'll write the recipient's names on them, "From Santa" perhaps. Not sure yet.  Oh, and sometimes, I gild the ornaments, when appropriate. I tie on ribbons for hanging and we mail out what goes elsewhere. The remainder go to my Mom's house for Christmas Eve dinner. 

As far as I know, the nephews have used their ornaments on their trees. And Kid #2 asked me, "As long as you're doing the ornaments this year, can you paint me 5 or 6 more ornaments?" What??? I asked him why and he said, "I don't have mine."

Well... They're here in a box. Somewhere. I'm going to pull them out for him. This is what the bottom of our tree looks like. We have exactly 4 ornaments on the tree - maybe we'll get the rest on over the weekend. 

Hubby has become enamored of my Frosty Friends theme, and he's gotten a bunch of the animated thingies. 

He pushed all the buttons the other day, and honestly, I wanted to take a hammer to the whole thing... I had a 2-day migraine, with a 1-day rebound headache. I really didn't want to hear all the cacophony of 5 different carols playing. These things go round the entire tree. It's adorable. As long as it's silent...

Knitting...

Yes, there's knitting. I was at the gastro doc the other day and I was knitting. And knitting. And knitting. 

He wondered why my BP was high. Well, he was nearly an hour late, and I had to be somewhere (I was late). Not cool, dude, but he's a doctor I'll wait for. 

For my Terribly Simple Shawl, I found A Knot. I do not like Knots... 

I knitted through it, and it's for me, so I wasn't going to splice it. If this was a gift, I might cut away the knot, double knit a few stitches, and weave the ends in. 

It's a pain. 

The shawl, however, is coming along. 

Remember the other day when I said I was "monogamous" when I was coming close to the end of a project? I'm kinda there with this. I'm close enough to the last third or so of the yarn, and I want to get it done and wear it. 

I still have a sausage. The Precious Metals scarf will, I'm afraid, perpetually "sausage." It's not the yarn, not the blocking - it's the pattern. I thought, knitting this, that I'd do it again. 

I will not. I had to block the living daylights out of this scarf, and I think I blocked out the texture of the yarn. It was a nice fluffy 4-ply but now it's...flat. I feel like I blocked out the "warmth" of the yarn, if that makes any sense. And as you can see when you click on the picture, it's still sausaging. I wore it today, wrapped around my neck; it wasn't as warm as I thought it would be, but it was long enough for me. 

I'll live with the sausage. 

By the way, the gastro guy says my gut is messed up with the food poisoning and then the antibiotic for my tooth. He gave me a rather expensive probiotic (Rx only) used for folks with IBS. I have 90 days to get my gut in order. And in January (happy birthday me), I get an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. Joy. But it's time; I can't complain about that. 

I hope my gut settles down. I'll tell you - the probiotic has 950 BILLION bugs... I took the first dose at lunch. I've been burping all afternoon, and belly is gurgling. Those side effects were noted in the leaflet. Teaching my yoga class tomorrow night ought to be interesting, to say the least.

I'm excited because, between work commitments and The Root Canal, I've not taught for 2 weeks. I miss it and miss my students. They're not going to know what to do in my class anymore! 

Random Picture...

I did get a little bit more Christmas up in the house. This is a Lizzie*Kate cross stitch I did years ago. I have a few more in the series, but I'm not sure I can find those metal frames again. I love the way they look, for these in particular. 

What I also love is the hand-dyed floss. I have the box full of them, and my goal in 2019 is to finish at least one more snowman, finish my mother's angel (finally) and find a way to get back to doing more of the cross stitch along with knitting. 

My friend J and I did these together. I think she framed hers in a rustic kind of barnwood frame. I know I fiddled with the clay buttons on mine. And she did an ivory fabric. Mine is Lugano, tan with gold flecks in it. I think I should have doubled up on the white floss, because even in person, it's not easy to see. 

I have to find the December snowman - he's in the closet, I think. And get him hung up too. He's on linen. 

What's on your needles? What have you been making for this holiday season? And what decorations do you put out year after year that are "musts" for your holiday? 

Ding, dong, the tooth is dead...

Well. Eventful it's been. And painful. And expensive. 

And that's not even counting the crap that's going on in Michigan and Wisconsin...

So. One thing at a time. Top to bottom...

The Vicar Is Installed...

It's done and she's ours... Our vicar has finally been installed. I got the banner done (no picture - I'll grab one this week, I promise), and it turned out ok. The cake? The cake was, in my opinion, FANTASTIC. And no, I didn't taste it - I'm not all that fond of cake, actually. I do love this frosting, though. Now to remember what I did to it...

This is the cake; a spice cake for 70 people, which was, once again, far too much. The Hospitality Ladies told me it was all going to be "finger food" - and I believed them. Silly me. It was a literal banquet. Way tons of food, enough for several Coffee Hours. 

The music was great, the service was beautiful. Her wife preached an amazing sermon. And now we start to do the work she was hired to do: rebuild the church. Shades of St. Francis of Assisi, right? 

Pickle Soup for a Toothache...

About a week ago, I started to have a toothache. At times, my teeth will get a bit more sensitive, usually when the weather changes. Didn't think too much about it, except this wasn't fading. It was actually getting more painful. 


It was a tooth I'd had crowned about 10 years ago, and frankly, I'd forgotten that that crown was that old! I was finally reduced to eating liquid food - and at that, only at room temperature, because it was starting to hurt up into my ear. 

I went, one day, to the Polish Deli, down the way from the office, and thankfully - PICKLE SOUP!! There are a couple of recipes out there, and this one is a blessed marvel! Zupa Ogorkowa - the stuff of the gods. The link here is just about the closest I can get to what this deli does. 

The pickles in this soup here are shredded. The celery and carrots are chunked, and it uses a chicken broth. You could go veggie stock, and have it all vegetarian. But it's a sweet + sour sort of creamy soup that just hits the spot. 

Hubby thought I was nuts, but it felt good. On this day, however, I bit into a cracker, touched the bum tooth and wanted to barf. 

I finally "bit the bullet" (go ahead - groan) and called my dentist. Got an appointment that night - and it was bad enough that I got a sub for my yoga class. The nausea came in waves all afternoon, and no - not because of the soup (I'm telling you - try this. It's amazing.) - but because of the tooth. It felt like I'd been punched in the jaw. 

Long story short: It was determined that I had to have a root canal. 

There's a special kind of terror to me on the very thought of "root canal." And of course, everyone has a "nasty root canal" story. I had the first appointment Thursday, got steroids and antibiotics - mainly to "calm down the hot tooth." And the RC was scheduled for this past Monday. 

As an aside, because I have to work late this Thursday and next Monday, that will be a cumulative TWO WEEKS of not teaching yoga... I'm not happy with my dental dealings... 

Come Monday, the tooth is still insanely painful. Root canal it is. Back story: I give my dentist (who's also a dear friend) a huge - I'm talking VERY LARGE - cookie tray for him and his staff. I told him last Thursday that I wasn't happy about the RC and he promised it would be "the best root canal you'll ever have." I told him, "Your 2018 Cookie Tray is resting on the success of this treatment. No pressure." 

I have a "nasty root canal story." Well, sort of. I had 4 shots to numb me. And one of them gave me a pretty rotten reaction - my heart went all tachy on me and I was shaking like, well, like a huge whack of epinephrine entered my system. Which it did. And it still wasn't numb. I'm not sure what exactly was done on Shot #4, but finally, I was numb. They were saying that if they couldn't do the whole procedure, they'd just "pack the tooth and have me come back." Nope. Do it now or don't do it. 

They did it. Honestly? That 4-shots-and-awful-reaction thing was the worst thing that happened. I did feel some slight tugging. But I got a bad verdict. 

I need an implant. See, here's the thing. The tooth is dead, and cracked all the way through. It was a big filling and the crown was supposed to hold it together. It did its job till the tooth started to die. I've got a referral to have the tooth extracted (there goes about $3,000) and then 6 months later, the final "pretty tooth" gets put on (there goes another $3,000 or so). 

The alternative is a bridge. Which would affect THREE teeth: the dead one, and the teeth on either side. I've just got done paying for braces to fix my teeth. I don't want to whack up the alignment now. 

The referral is in January. Lucky me - I'll make my deductible, for sure. 

The Generosity of People...

This is a story about how good people are. I wanted to tell you about the patients at the clinic where I work (backstory: I have 3 part-time jobs; I don't talk about 2 of them, having learned the hard way that you really shouldn't talk about your jobs, especially if you're not having a great day). We did a month-long food drive. And people really got into it. We filled the doctor's SUV. Almost to where he couldn't fit anything more in it. 

I was very proud of our patients. They gave so that people could have food and other necessities. And today, they were asking if we were going to do something for Christmas... I've got to talk to him about perhaps doing a sock drive for the local homeless shelter. They get hats, gloves & scarves, but socks... Socks could be gold. 

I decorated the office for Christmas; keeping it from looking like the elves barfed in the place. Kept it a little classy, with nice touches. People seem to like it. 

The Charlie Brown tree, complete with blue fleece for Linus's blanket, sits next to our Premium Starter Kit, just in case someone wants to buy a kit for Christmas. Ask me - they make great gifts! 

Last year, I'd purchased about 50 snowflakes of different sizes, glittered on one side. I had them all over the office. This year, I did it a little differently. There are small Christmas stockings on each treatment room doorway, and a snowflake in each room. And then over the PT tables, and down the hall, are the other snowflakes. We have a small tree, to which the doctor added about 200 more lights, and I wrapped the pictures in the front waiting area. Those seem to be getting the most comments. People like them. It's the closest I'm coming to wrapping packages, that's for sure! Oh, and see the ribbon on the tree? One of our patients did that as my tutorial in How to Make a Pretty Bow. 

Of course, not much is done at home. I'll be lucky if we get our tree up this weekend. 

Hand-Dyed Holiday and Finished Objects...

OK, I finished the Precious Metals scarf. That's getting blocked tomorrow night. I'll run it in a bath, pin it out and see if I have to steam it. I think I will have to. I've ordered a new ironing board pad - ours got toasted with the church banner... 

I was really close to the end of the yarn. The Grapevine Lace pattern was supposed to end on the 12th row, but this ended up at Row 7 - close enough. I had to have enough yarn for the 5-row Rice Stitch finish + the bind off.  This is a worsted weight yarn, and the pattern was written for a more lightweight yarn. Perhaps it wouldn't have "sausaged" if I'd used the lighter weight yarn. But maybe it would have. 

It's a bit shorter than I thought it'd be, but then this seriously needs a blocking to pop that lace. Anyway, this pic is all the yarn I had left. Yarn Chicken, anyone?? 

I picked up the Terribly Simple shawl, hoping to get cracking on that one. It's kind of a boring knit, but it's something I'd like to use soon, so off I go. Great lunchtime knitting, for sure. I can watch a movie and knit at the same time. The Terribly Simple is on Ravelry - every link I've seen sends you there. If you haven't joined Ravelry? Well. You're missing out on a ton of patterns and wealth upon wealth of knitting/crocheting knowledge. 

Again, this pattern is for fingering weight, but the designer says, basically, "go for it" with any yarn you want. This is Indulgence, it's a DK weight. It's going to be interesting. That's all I can say right now. 

It's not laying out quite like I'd like the colors to lay out. But it's mostly shades I wear (minus the green; I don't wear a lot of green, so I'm still not sure why I purchased this colorway...). I figure that it's got enough grey and black in it to go with the many things I wear that are -- grey. Or black. 

I was supposed to go to the Hand-Dyed Holiday with my friend R. We'd planned it for at least a month, if not more. But life gets in the way and she couldn't go. I went anyway. I'd been looking forward to spending the time with her, yes. But I was also looking forward to seeing Kelly at Le Mouton Rouge, and honestly, disconnecting from my routine for a while. 

It was wild. This is me in the line to check out. It was so tight in there that I was actually glad that R couldn't go. She's got some mobility issues and the tight quarters would've been problematic. 

The goodies... Oh my. Must say at the outset that I didn't like Kelly's "Christmas colors" this year. It's me. Not her. They were based on vintage Christmas cards, but it just didn't flutter my wings. 

Beer and yarn? Hmmmmmmm. I didn't buy this, but it did look intriguing. A Harry Potter based project, including a "letter of acceptance" to Hogwarts. I don't know what it was supposed to make, but I did love those colors. 

Didn't love 'em enough to buy it, though. I had other plans. 

I got some new DPNs. I'm going to try these. Got a new crochet hook, and got 2 different 9" circulars to try socks on those. I'd still switch to DPNs for the heel flap anyway. 

I got my new stash of Eucalan, my preferred wool wash/rinse product. I got the unscented - not that the "scented" smells like much, at least to me. But I was running low, so I got a couple bottles. And then I got a bag that says, "My house is wool insulated." Pretty much. 

Found a "sheepish" infinity cowl that's light, but remarkably warm. I've already worn it. It came with me to the root canal party... Ten bucks - not a ton of money. Kelly  had red ones, too, but again: grey is my basic color. 

Of course, I got sock yarn. The Opal is just a fun colorway. The other one in the middle is kind of interesting - I've never used it. 

And the one on the right there? Sweet Georgia again, and yes, it'll be socks, not a shawl. I need to have some brown/beige socks. Probably a Vanilla Latte or maybe I'll try Jaywalker, though I've heard those can be a bit tight for someone with "biker calves" like me. 



And finally, a shawl with a new kind of blend: merino + linen. It's a wide shawl, like a drape, which is cool. Could be a scarf, sort of. 

A little bit of lace in it, and it should be interesting to knit. I'm a bit disappointed in the colorways of the yarn, though. This is a steel blue, which is fine; I was looking for stronger colors, but I liked the feel of the yarn, so I'm going with that. 

I also got a few stitch markers and a little alpaca pin. Just for fun. And a "purple Tribble" (a/k/a a pom pom) for my hat. I'll get a shot of that soon. It's adorable. Oh, and coupons, so R and I are going back there later this month. 

Not that I need yarn, and not that I'm going to drive 200 miles - well, 180 at least - for yarn. But I like Kelly; she's a friend, and since she's moved to Bloomington, I don't get to talk to her often. 

And it will be nice to get together for lunch with R. We may go to Rosie's Pub... It's kind of a cool place I found when I was on the way home. Good Reuben sandwich. 

What's with Michigan & Wisconsin...

Ok, so we know that we recently had midterm elections. Seems that some of the Republicans are sore losers. In both states, outgoing Republican administrations are doing things like stripping early voting hours/locations, gutting legislation trying to fix gerrymandering and otherwise basically uttering a strong "screw you" to the Democrats who were duly elected. 

As a friend, a woman who lives in Michigan, says, "This is chicanery at an extreme level." And it does fly in the face of what the voters want. And it should be illegal. News stories are telling the tale. One proposal on the floor in Michigan will basically repeal a constitutional issue - which, by Michigan law, CANNOT be done in the Legislature. 

But they're going to do it. Because they can. 

Is there no level to which they won't stoop? 

Apparently not. Votes don't count. Power is the ultimate. The be-all and end-all. And they're determined to keep that power at all costs. 

What they're doing should be illegal. They're emboldened by the Orange Idiot. 

It's got to stop. Before we're all screwed. 

Random Picture...

Tippi had a problem recently...She had an infected anal gland. Ugly and smelly, honestly. So she got antibiotics and a shot in the butt. As well as having her glands expressed, which she dislikes intensely. 

I was able to take her to the college for her visit. And when I got there, I found that they'd closed the campus because of an outbreak of mumps! Thanks for telling me. At least I've had them and Tippi can't get them! 

So here's my girl next to the "fireplace" in the library, where we visit. She's got the Christmas scarf on that the vet gave her. Small recompense, in her opinion, for the indignity of having her butt probed and poked. But she liked the visit and we had a good time. We're done for the semester, so we've got a month of rest for her. And Tuesdays off for me for the next 4-ish weeks. 

What's on your needles? What are you reading? Let's chat!

It's a Blizzard...

...a blizzard of knitting, I guess. Finished some things, and am thinking that I'm leaning toward "monogamy." Explanation below. First, Thanksgiving...

It was just the two of us for dinner. Hubby cooked a turkey breast; I did the potatoes and Brussels sprouts and he did the Apple Cranberry Chutney. 

It was nice; the potatoes and Brussels Sprouts we roasted in small cast iron pans. The chutney took about 40 minutes, but served warm, it was lovely. 

The Sprouts did get a "bit caramelized" - a tad more than I usually like them, but they were still pretty good. The potatoes were kind of cool: slice them thinly, fan them out and arrange them in a pan that's been brushed with olive oil. Season however you like, dot with butter and cover with foil. Bake at 350* till fork tender. Remove, sprinkle with Parm and stick 'em back in for 10-ish minutes. Imagine this picture only in a cast iron skillet. I used 4 potatoes, and we had leftovers to have with another meal. 

You can use however many potatoes you like. I seasoned with an Italian blend, salt & pepper. I should have used some more of our fresh Rosemary, but I used several stalks in the turkey breast, so I didn't want to overwhelm the taste buds with only one note of flavor. We used Yukon gold potatoes, and they cook up nice and tender. 

I've done that before, with a whole baking potato: cut it in slices, almost all the way through, drizzle with olive oil, put a couple of bay leaves in there, wrap it in foil and stick it on the grill. 

Christmas Baking has commenced...

I had an early dismissal on Wednesday (thanks, doc!) from work and got my list in order. On Friday I started baking. And baking. And baking. 

Here's the list. Here are the check-marks. That's what's done. The rest is Hubby's except I'll do the Honey Cookies. I may do Kolachky (sometimes spelled Kolache), if we think we need more. 

This year, I've done one batch of each; usually I double them, but Hubby and I talked and thought that perhaps singles would do. We shall see... 


We did the usual: Snow on the Mountain - Kid #2 is doing his version with a dash of chili powder and cinnamon + sugar to roll them in (also to let people know which are plain and which are a little on the spicy side! This mix killed a cookie scoop. Ended up molding them by hand, which is always fun. And I should have dredged them more in the powdered sugar. Either way, this is an outstanding fudgy cookie. Look for them as Mexican Crinkles or the like on Google. 

This was supposed to be Pear Bread. I had some pears that were "leaning toward death" and I thought I'd make a bread so that I could use it as a filler on cookie trays. Well. Pears crapped out. So, "plot twist!" -- we went to Apple Bread. Used 2 large Granny Smith apples, mace, and powdered ginger (spices from Penzey's - I don't get anything out of this endorsement, but they deserve the shout-out because they've got fantastic spices!). 

The apples were supposed to be peeled, but, lazy baker that I am living dangerously, I just diced them up pretty fine. The bread smelled fantastic, and I was able to get two loaves, nicely browned. They're in the new freezer. 

Yeah. Hubby says, "Maybe we need a freezer just for cookies, and we could unplug it after the season..." I said, "Have you been thinking about that a lot?" He claims not, but then again... 

So - this is now set in the basement, next to the ElliptiKILL. It's got a slight dent in the bottom left corner, but who cares? For under $200, I can deal with it. He was aiming at an upright, but we ended up with a chest. That's ok. I can reach the bottom without falling in (!) and chest freezers are more efficient, anyway. 

Next up, the mix that almost killed my Kitchen Aid. It was a double batch of the Vanishing Oatmeal Cookie recipe which is on the lid of the Quaker Oats tube/box, to which I added pecans, golden raisins, and dried blueberries. Oh, and about 1 1/2 c. of dried cherries. I kept it simple. It's a great basic recipe in itself. You can use it as a base for chocolate oatmeal, white chocolate + cranberry, or stick with dates + nuts. 

Usually, my oatmeal cookies are "garbage cookies" - remnants of dates, candied cherries, raisins, etc. This time, I narrowed it down to the 3 kinds of dried fruit I had on hand. 

The dough needed to be kneaded. That's a first for me! I didn't even bother to use one of the scoops that Hubby got to replace the dead one (which was one of my favorites, with a padded handle). I went straight to a spoon. 

I think I also added minced candied ginger to these. It's a trick I use to make the cookies a little chewy but with a tad bit of "heat" from the ginger. It's a "sparkly" heat, and I love to use it. I'll even put a piece of it in tea when I need a little digestive boost. 

Next up, Chocolate Shortbread. In this recipe, three ingredients: butter and powdered sugar, with cocoa. Here, we had a little miscommunication. Hubby had to run to the store for a few things, and I asked him to get me a small bottle of "Cinnamon Red Hots" -- only it came out like this:

Cinnamon
Red Hots

Well... I didn't explain, and to be honest, I rarely use them. He didn't quite know what "red hots" were, and bought me yet another bottle of cinnamon. He said, "Why do we need this much cinnamon?" which I thought was odd... Turns out that after all this time, I still need to translate for him! 

Last year, these were stars. This year, I went with bells. The recipe is really rather stiff, and so I tend to stick with shapes that are simple. I put small snowflake sprinkles on the clappers of the bells. These freeze well, but boy are they fragile! So they went on the top shelf of the new freezer. 

Lemon Cherry cookies are Hubby's absolute, every year, must-have favorites, and I admit they're pretty good. My guitar teacher also loves them. This time, we did it in 2 versions, because when I did the first ones and he tasted them, he asked, "could we make this more chewy with some cream cheese?" Sure, why not? 

The first pic is the original recipe. Except that I tweaked it. I used more lemon rind than they asked for, and I used 2 drops of Young Living Essential Oil Lemon Vitality(TM) which I added right into the mix to zip up the lemon flavor. The cherries are from Traverse Bay Farms - again, no silver crosses my palm for this recommendation; I'm just telling you, for your own use, that if you want really good stuff, this is what I use. 

Hubby uses cream cheese for his Soft & Chewy M & M Cookies (my sister's fave). So he figured, "why not?" and re-did the recipe (minus the essential oil), using the cream cheese. 


The result was soft and chewy, but "rough" as you can see. These were more of a soft dough, too, so I used a scoop and made them a drop cookie. 

I think he added more cherries - because I had to kind of finagle the dough to make sure there were enough cherries in each cookie. 

These are such a bright, fresh alternative to all the chocolate and other rich ingredients during Christmas. 

I like to spark it up because we do get a surfeit of sweets and while these do have sugar, the lemon and tart cherry seems to "cut through" the sometimes cloying sweetness of everything we have handed to us. 

Not that we have to actually CONSUME everything we're handed. But we do "eat with our eyes" and that does affect our system just as much as if we did eat the stuff. 

Sometimes, a nice, refreshing bite of something tart can also stave off any urges to consume vast amounts of chocolate, too. Nice thought, right? 

Last up in my Baking Bonanza are new cookies. I'm not sure I like them. Hubby is deciding. These are Brown Butter Salted Caramel cookies. Look them up under that name - I'm pretty sure they're called something else, but this is close. 

So. Kraft Caramels. Soft sugar cookie dough bolstered by browned butter, pinch a hunk, stuff a caramel in it, and top with another hunk of dough. No chilling of this buttery dough required, though you do have to "pad the bottom" so as to avoid caramel leakage. If I was going to really spiff this up, I'd use my friend Alice's caramels (who am I kidding? I save those for ME!) or another good, home-made caramel, maybe from Dan's Candies here in town. They've been in town forever, since I was a kid. They have new owners. The caramels are still ok. Thank God. I'd be very upset if the new owners screw up the caramels. My mom used to send them to me when I lived in VA. 

Anyhow, you sprinkle the tops of these with sea salt. I tried Grey Sea Salt, Pink Sea Salt, and Kosher Salt. I don't have the correct balance of salt + caramel. Gotta work on that. I mean, I'd make these again. 

And then, because I hadn't baked enough, we had the Church Greening today. So we were having a soup lunch and I was asked to bring cornbread. 

Not totally jazzed with this. I used Jiffy mix, which I rarely do. But I also added about 3 T. of chopped pimiento for color, a couple handfuls of a Mexican Cheese blend (Kraft, I think), and 1 1/2 c. of sweet corn. 

They weren't quite done in the time allotted, and when I checked, the middles were still uncooked. So - I had to nuke them for about a minute each. 

That messed with the texture, so I'm not pleased. But people ate it. 

Young Living Essential Oils...

Black Friday - that sale that lasted 2 days. And we have Cyber Monday yet. Yikes. Anyway, this was one gift that I'd gotten for Hubby. 

I'm learning to use the Vitality(TM) oils in various ways, and this had a cookbook, which has some really nice recipes in it. And the bowl was pretty cool - Hubby decreed, "This is great to raise bread!" And the silicone bottom? I love those mixing bowls because they stay put!

I'm being honest here - I'm trying to build a business, tied in with my yoga studio. I use these products, and I love them. And I suck at "selling." I can only tell you my opinion and give you the option to do your own research. 

If you're interested, and you want to sign on - here's a link you can use: https://tinyurl.com/yljustbreathe

This link will direct you to the enrollment page, and you can go from there. I'm available to help you - just comment here. Or find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/yogapatperrier/

That's where you'll find inspiration, comments on living a well-rounded life, and events for the studio. Recipes, occasionally, too - on the healthier side! 

Anyway, that's my pitch. Come find me out there on social media. 

Knitting monogamy...

So here's what I meant by that. I've been in a dead heat to finish the Christmas knitting, and I think it's done. I've noticed a trend in myself. I tend to buckle down and finish "the thing" and lately, instead of starting something else new, I've been plucking something out of "the closet" and charging forth to finish THAT thing. 

It's like the Knitting Fairies have decreed that I waddle through some of the WIPs that have lingered almost into antiquity. 

So I think I actually showed you this hat... but here it is again. I'll spare you the other pics of it. And yeah, I need to get a larger "wig head" but I'm not sure that I want to...I've got this one. 

I turned into my office/dumping ground/one-of-these-days-a-yoga-room, and found again this lovely Precious Metals scarf. Precious Metals is the colorway of the yarn and the pattern is the Grapevine Scarf. 


Nope. Not cables, but boy do they look like it! 

Here's the front - and when you click on it, you can see the lovely pattern. I'm looking forward to blocking this and wearing it. 

The yarn is from Rembrandt Yarns, my friend Sandy. 

It's a great place to shop. Give it a look. 

Anyway, you can see the cable-like structure, but you can also see the "sausage tube" that's happening. 

I'm not sure about this...

See here? Will this block out, you think? It's superwash wool, which I believe I can steam-block. 

But it's been ages since I took an iron to my wool... I'm kind of scared. One part of me thinks, "It's a scarf. Deal with it."

Another part says, "Yeah, but it looks like CABLES and will be awesome!" 

Soooooooooo - I've got a bit left; probably a week's worth of dedicated knitting. And then I'll pin block it first. See how that works. 

But I'm betting that I'll be pulling out the iron and steam blocking it. 

Anyone have experience doing this? Help!!! 

Random Picture...

This is absolutely one of my favorite pictures of our River (RIP). She was such a dignified dog; very sure of her own beauty and a gentle personality. 


She would never do something as undignified as going belly-up... Till she did. I guess the Elkhounds taught her a few things about "sleeping in comfort." She did that several times in her later years, and it was always stinkin' adorable! 

She had such a beautiful coat, even after the diagnosis of Cushing's Disease. Her belly was so fluffy. She learned, after she retired from the show ring, about the Joys of the Belly Rub. 

She learned to love sardines, our "special treat" for their birthdays and "gotcha" days. 

She learned to poop in the street - and enjoyed the ability to poop whenever she wanted to. Small thing, maybe, but it took her a while to act like a "normal dog," and not a "show dog." Though she could put on the show when she wanted to, for sure. 

I still miss her.