Joyful things

At the “late” hour of 6:00 p.m., it is now full dark.

But, this morning and all day, the sun did shine…

I tell the herbies to stand tall and look to the sun and take it in. The real thing is always the best and it is in short supply at 48 North in the Winter!.

With the sun shining, I mixed a bit of my new favorite condiment: pickled stuff. I started with pickled onions. Last week I added some fennel and this morning some english cucumber. The “pickling juice” is apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and mustard seeds. It is a difficult recipe…mix the juice, pour it over thinly sliced stuff, let sit for several hours – stirring it every time you walk past it.

After awhile, I put it in a jar and stick it in the refrigerator.

It is great on a sandwich…I mean GREAT! Everything softens, sweetens, tangs and intensifies.

It is also good on greens. I like to massage some olive oil into a bit of kale, throw in some quinoa, toss on the pickled mix and let it sit in the frig. When I’m ready to eat it I add some avocado and apples, peaches or berries…maybe some sunflower or pumpkin seeds. It is good.

Bob aka Mr. Grumpy – took his sun with a bit of dryer heat.

Bear had his partial sun with a treat after a morning walk.

Sunshine, good food, time shared, joyful things.

Our Thanksgiving Day

Yep, I completely wrecked the turkey. I’ve had and made great turkey and ok turkey and it is really pretty hard to wreck one…overcooking is one way and that is what I did. It was a smallish, fresh turkey and I prepped it like I do a fresh chicken and set the timer at what I thought would be the halfway mark. But the halfway mark was already too late. Bob, Bear and I all had some of it – I actually roasted the bird the day before TDay…and although it certainly didn’t taste “off” as in tainted, it just did not taste good and I realized it had never smelled good and I dithered about what to do. Thinking I was just disappointed and my taste might be off I thought: gravy! But eventually in some moment of angst, I wrapped the whole bird up and put it in the trash. And I wasn’t sorry the next day! And the thought of turkey did not appeal.

Plan B.

Plan B was actually my original Plan A. Looking at the turkeys when I first went to buy and thinking about the lack of room in both my refrigerator and budget – and it was just me so I could have what I wanted…I thought buffalo (bison technically) – VERY American West. My mother had just given me a recipe for a buffalo meat loaf that she and Bill liked. AND – I recently purchased a meatloaf cookbook:

The Meatloaf Bakery is a restaurant in Chicago and most of the loaves are shaped into individual servings in pastry shapes: cupcakes, pie wedges, etc. and topped (decorated) with pipped mashed potatoes.

The change from turkey dinner back to meatloaf was easy to accomplish, but I admit to an initial loss of confidence. If I could wreck something as simple as a roast turkey, could I still make meatloaf….or pie???

I relaxed, got my kitchen mojo on…

…enjoyed the process…

And all was well.

It was a balmy (for late November) 44F.

We were all outside most of the afternoon

I didn’t make meatloaf cupcakes but I did make cheesy-garlic red mashers, smothered my piece of meatloaf with them and browned the potatoes under the broiler. Garden green beans with cherry-basil-balsamic syrup on the side. I was happy and full.

Bob, Bear and I hope all had a Happy Day.

Let the season of holiday madness begin :) !!

Beardog approved

I love the wood floors in this little house but they are not so good for Bob and Bear, especially when there is something urgent that must be done. Post-surgery (Bear) we will need to be especially careful.

I ordered 4 VERY inexpensive 5 x 8 rug-mats and they arrived yesterday.

These rugs won’t make it to ‘House Beautiful’, but they are not bad and more important, they are Beardog approved!

Sunday before Thanksgiving Day

The Sunday before Thanksgiving Day…

visions of the meal…

From the summer garden: Cherry Basil syrup thawed for a cherry-basil balsamic reduction. Pumpkin thawing for pie and ???. Spinach thawing for a before TDay soup!

This is the first year that I have had such wonderful bounty in my own freezer.

Vegetable remnants simmer to make vegetable broth. In previous years, I spent a small fortune on organic vegetable broth. And while those boxes of broth were convenient, they were not only spendy but even the best of them had a lot of sodium. This summer, as I prepped veg from the garden (CSA), I saved bits and pieces and stems. Now, they simmer to make a wonderful, salt-free broth.

On Sunday morning, in the midst of cooking…one must have a treat!

It turns out that cashew cream will also whip!

Caramel latte – the cashew cream version: Peet’s Italian Roast with Summers’ cashew vanilla bean caramel and cashew whipped cream.

Meanwhile…Bob and Bear enjoy their Sunday morning in bed…a dog and cat kind of Sunday morning decadence.

Back in the kitchen…

I clarified butter…my second go at this and as I re-read the process and thought and I GOT it! The process removes the moisture at low heat. When the butter stops sputtering, it is “done”!

This version – perfect!

The weather this weekend was better than advertised with sun more often than not.

So, we enjoyed.

Each in our own way, we enjoyed.

The moon. The sliver of the waxing crescent moon.

And finally…

Sunday supper: Cream of Tomato soup with grilled cheese. The soup…puree of Roma tomatoes with red pepper “cheese” (cashew) sauce plus fresh basil, garlic and coarse ground black pepper.

Sunday before Thankgsiving Day.

Just after sunset

Sunset today was 4:59 p.m.

Bob on the front porch, Bear in the yard.

I stopped a work session at 4:30 so I could get us all outside for a time before it got dark. …priorities, you know!

Some clear sky to the East, gray to the West, beautiful in the front yard…just after sunset.