I am *finally* starting to feel like I've beaten the cold/flu illness I've had for the past 2 weeks or so. Between being home for the holiday, being sick and being snowed in for a day or so, I was starting to feel a bit shut in and in need of a good outing.
Today, we went to Garden City and enjoyed walking around outside in the sunshine and moderate temps. Thankfully, all the walkways were clear of ice and snow there so we could stride around normally and get a little exercise. We did some browsing in stores too. At the bookstore, I treated myself to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cookbook. I don't need any encouragement to learn to cook, but the recipes look quick and flavorful and I know I will especially enjoy the Indian inspired ones. Then, after a yummy lunch at Chipotle, we headed for home via DSW. I was on a mission to quickly find some new clogs like I wear almost all the time (and tend to wear out) and I found 3 pairs in just a few minutes. I walked in, 'scanned the horizon' in there (low shelving is great!) and made a beeline to some that looked promising. Luckily, the two on the left were 40% off!! I like them all so much, it's hard to know which pair to wear! They may actually be my favorite clogs ever! It's kind of fun to be starting the New Year with some new shoes.
It's been snowing steadily since about 9am and we are staying snug at home, but it is fun to venture out to the yard with the dogs. Saffy races at top speed to get out behind the barn to the play area. (Btw, I forgot to blog it on the day, but Saffy turned 11 years old this week! Not that you would guess that from her behaviour--like you see in the pics!) They can find the balls in the snow and they they race and crash and slide around. Sometimes when you see the photos after, it takes a moment or two to figure out where the legs are and what direction they are going! Silas often looks like a silhouette on snowy days. There is one sunflower I left standing in the garden. After it had been there awhile, Jeff and I realized that it reminded both of us of a lamppost...kind of like the lone lamppost in Narnia! Speaking of the garden, I have been spending some of today browsing through seed catalogs for the new year. Soon, I will get out a pad of paper and work out a few seed orders and think about starting seeds and this year's garden layout.
It is hard to be sick on Christmas! But we usually have a laid back xmas, so we don't feel like we were are really missing out, we are just tired of being sick and tired! I tried to give us healing food for dinner last night: soup! It's made with tomatoes from our garden, spinach and tortellini. We sprinkled parm on top. We had zucchini bread for breakfast.
We all opened our pressies this morning. Bandit got treats and catnip. Saffy got a 'funky chicken' and Silas got a rope toy with some leather braided into it. In this video, Saffy takes the rope from Silas and then if you are watching closely, you will see that Silas sneaks in and grabs the chicken! They always want what the other one gets!
Of course, I took a lot of stills too. Here is Silas opening his present. He needs encouragement, but eventually gets it open! Saffy is excited when it is her turn. She needs no help or encouragement at all! Before she plays with 'funky chicken', she has to finish shredding the paper. Paper is the 'enemy'!!! Destroy!!! Later, one has to see what the other dog has and steal it. Saffy with the rope. Silas with the funky chicken. Jeff gave me some really special Emma Bridgewater pottery for Christmas. The little jug is so sweet and will match some cherry plates and cereal bowls exactly and mix and match with some other motifs. This is the Hellebore comport for serving up some sweet treats. I have a lot of other Hellebore pieces to use this with. I love this pattern and was so surprised to get a comport as they are discontinued in this motif. And, meet Pip and Penny!! My beautiful spotty terriers!!! They are placed on top of my computer cabinet where I see them all the time. I love them--in fact I want to squeal with happiness when I look at them =) I was so lucky to get these and some other lovely things like fleece mitts, lotion/lip gloss, soaps, stove top espresso maker, and two knitting books. They are both Rowan books. One of them is a collection of Studio designs from issues I don't have...a kind of 'best of' and they are actually the ones I like a lot. And the other is a Martin Storey book called Nordic Knits. I think this is probably a compilation too, as one or two patterns are familiar, but all the others are new to me for sure.
Jeff mostly got books along with a couple CD's and video games, so he is happy too! Best of all, he has a nice long vacation. I'm sure he will spend some of it mastering the new games.
Normally, we would go biking or hiking today, but with the sickness, I think we will stay warm and cozy indoors. I hope everyone else is having a good time and I look forward to seeing what Santa brought you!
Despite having some sort of flu, we are ready here. Today, Saffy had a little 'warm up' paper tearing session, so she will be all set for xmas morning. She *loves* the paper!!! After it's all torn, it should be rolled in. It's much better with huge amounts of paper though! Note the vacuum cleaner in the background......!
I *love* these cookies! The cornmeal makes a lovely crunch and they are flavored with a bit of orange zest. They are incredibly easy to make. You form the dough into a log which you chill in the fridge. Then, you slice the log into cookies. And bake! (I added some extra chopped cherries.) You can find the recipe here.
I love manicotti--and I probably could eat it everyday! This recipe, from the current issue of Everyday Food magazine, is festive red and green (tomato and spinach) for Christmastime and quick and easy to assemble.
I had plenty of filling for 9 tubes and therefore used a bigger baking dish than the 8"x8" called for. I was happy to be able to use my polka baker again! A few of my tubes split a little, but the filling held them together pretty well. There aren't many ingredients and although I think lemon zest is usually great, it kind of dominated the filling. Perhaps I had an extra potent lemon?! Also, I think the tomato sauce could make or break it. I made up my own batch of marinara as the bottled ones generally taste too processed for me--I am too spoiled by fresh, garden sauces. If I'd had some, I'd have topped it with some cubes of fresh mozzarella before baking. I used the parm called for by the recipe, which is good, but I missed stretchy cheese. At the point shown in the next picture, I fridged the assembled dish for a few hours until I was ready to bake it for dinner. Here it is all baked and ready to serve. It was good, but not super amazing. I'll make some variation of it again though. Jeff says, '4 stars', LOL!
The old spritz press has 'character'--like one little broken off 'leg' on the end. It is fun and brings back memories, but I do wonder if the new presses are a little easier to use? I made up a batch of delicious almond dough which was like marzipan when raw. Most of the dough did get baked into little trees and camels. Don't laugh too hard at the camels. I think I needed to press a little more dough out for them or maybe have things a different temperature. Anyway, it doesn't really matter how they look when they are SO yummy!!!
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