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Caught up in the first real warmth of the year, however desperate for green. I love my full shade hat!
It had been ages since we’d enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich! This was smoked gouda on rye with my homemade spicy tomato chutney for dipping. The word is splendid.
Our first burger of the season, also with spicy tomato chutney and a homemade brioche bun. Summer on a plate!
Does anyone else remember the 80s t-shirt of Richard Nixon – Tan, Rested, & Ready? Well, I’m not exactly tan, but am feeling refreshed, thank goodness. Could be the dazzle of sunlight on my keyboard or maybe something else. Whatever it is, I’ll take it!
Biscuits two ways! With crunchy-sugary blanched almonds and and ye olde gravy topped version with left over smoked chicken and mushrooms. Small luxuries.
Homemade minestrone, damn good. When I was a teen and bussing tables at the Italian joint, I ate this all the time, dunking crispy hunks of garlic bread like there was no tomorrow. It didn’t have zucchini noodles but did have tortellini, which was better, truth be told, but I made do.
Sunday is raw marrow bone day for the Juper-dog, and darn it if she doesn’t know. She gets it in place of her usual afternoon snack and is positively wild with anticipation. She works herself into a lather for about half an hour, utterly cleaning it of any doggy desirable, before collapsing with exhaustion on the couch. It is ALL the things and keeps her teeth clean, too.
In a strange reversal, my constant coldness pre-menopause has turned to coziness or straight up hot flashing, barefoot on the frozen porch and loving it! Poor Greg is often left shivering. So this started as a joke, a weird contraption from Poler called a Napsack that had me chuckling. It’s basically a sleeping bag with arm and leg holes! Then the genius of it sunk in, and here we are, peeps. The hubster loves it!
In an attempt to be less wasteful, instead of donating a sheet that got a small tear (Juniper and her bed hopping!), I repaired it. Looks nifty, I think.
Aloha, dear reader! It’s been a minute since I posted a talkie type. Not gonna lie, I was a little stuck in a rut. None of the thoughts I was having seemed share worthy. Simple as that.
During that time, I did, however, make some delicious foodstuffs, and here we are with them. It had been a long while since I’d made pizza or drank wine, so why not? There were many sounds indicative of gustatory pleasure in that meal, boy howdy! In all of them, truth be told. We’ve got our system down here.
Save this past weekend, where we were out sans coats in the near seventy-degree garden doing our final rake up, it’s been feeling rather wintry. Several storms have brought actual accumulation, which has yet to fully melt. YAY! Unless something biblical occurs, we are always in need of moisture in the high desert. I will make no complaints. No, ma’am.
Hope life in your corner of the world is aces. Until next time…
Tags: Cooking and Baking
My aunt and uncle (Hi Betty and Phil!) have family in Arizona, and on their holiday trip picked pounds upon pounds of grapefruits, lemons, and oranges, generously sharing the bounty. We ate many, many and had plenty more grapefruits to make marmalade! Delightfully delicious. I added some rye whiskey to a few and wow-ie, best friends in a jar.
I love me a gyro, but, for the longest time, struggled to make my own taste like the twirl on a spit restaurant variety. I am pleased to report I finally got it right. The key? Add waaaay more oregano and thyme than you think will do the trick. I also pulverized some almond flour crackers to nail the texture. A Greek salad win!
Way back in our first apartment days, we loved to eat at this little local joint called Z-Teca (It is now Q-Doba and not at all the same). My favorite all-the-things burrito thereabouts was a poblano pesto. We had ample frozen poblanos from Farmer Greg’s summer season, and I got to making my closest (and runniest) memory of it.
We simmered it with cauliflower rice and topped it with smoked scallops for a Mexican flag beautiful lunch, accompanied by roasted pepper tomato soup. Um, y e s.
Barely visible white bean and green chile soup, topped with cilantro, green onion, and jalapeno.
Smoked pork shoulder (with whizzed red & green poblanos and a touch of o.j.), pintos, and cilantro lime slaw. Southwestern flavors pretty much rule our roost, friends.
Ground chicken, zaatar, golden raisin, dried cherry, jalapeno, and carrot skillet. We served it over spinach and red lettuce.
A similar blend of Mediterranean flavors, mixed with zoodles and cabbage, with homemade pitas. Sometimes you just gotta.
More Southwestern foodstuffs: butternut squash “queso”, cauliflower lime rice, pintos, and pulled chicken. Oh, and prickly pear margaritas (scroll here for the recipe) from the fruits I harvested this fall. Woot!
Smoked chicken tacos and smoky white beans!
I’ve never seen a goose poop mid-flight, but can you imagine?
How about that for a beginning to mark the end of 2021? All told, it was a pretty great year for us, thank goodness. Not that shitty things didn’t happen. Nearly six hundred family homes are mere ashes after burning rapid-fire near my childhood home. People we care about died (one from COVID) and got brain cancer, while others got married and had beautiful, healthy babies. Two had successful surgeries! Relationships ended and others flourished. Good and bad, how life always is. There’s probably a more eloquent saying for that, but I’m too lazy to look at the moment.
Two of my favorite people, hanging out for Christmas! We spent three nights at my parents, where Greg and my dad laughed and played ample pool while sipping adult beverages. I did not document my mom and I making tamales, some of the best ever, or us eating them, but I assure you it happened. We also listened to holiday songs, watched movies, admired the glow of Christmas lights, and played Farkle with my Aunt Mari. All the good things. Y-E-S, yes!
Juniper played and played in the yard of my childhood, and, as always, how fun it was to see the place of my burgeoning imagination run riot with her joy.
Shuttling about, we spent a grand evening at Michael and Mary’s, and another under the twinkle of holiday lights and the roar of laughter with our dear, dear, Andie Card. On the afternoon we went home, we stopped by my cousin Stephanie’s for treats and conversation and to see Stella grow stronger and stronger. An abundance of riches.
Yesterday, before the snow. Last night, after first noticing the arrival, I dashed onto the porch in my bare feet and shouted with glee. We awoke to several inches and it continues to fall. My word, how long in coming that was. Here’s hoping we get heaps and tons more this 2022.
And finally, the last of the 2021 food photos. For our holiday treats, I made: biscochitos (and created my best iteration, yet), peanut butter fudge (also my own recipe, which tastes like a PayDay!), toasted walnut fudge, cherry mashers (thank you, Joanna Gaines, though I used butter), red chile pecan brittle, butterscotch potato chip shortbread, peppermint slice, and brownie cups (peppermint chip and not-so-plain).
Our New Year’s Eve meal was zoodles with a fabulous Italian sausage and mushroom red sauce (homemade, duh!) and extra cheesy garlic bread. We live large!!
Here’s hoping this is the year we really bust through COVID and make every sweet dream come true! HUGS…
