No more posts from me until 2007.

Happy New Year everybody!!!

John

Celebration

A gigantic candy cane float arrived on the village green. It was led in by reindeer. Penguins were waving to everyone and tossing candy.

Then the top blew off, everyone looked around no santa but a lot of snow. The count-down for santa started, 10, 9, 8, 7..... BOOM!!! a santa flew threw the air over everyone's heads, shot out of the candy cane,

And then a spot light on a near-by roof, It was Santa, Everyone was cheering,

Merry Christmas.

After lots of talking and hugging and greeting we walked home.
and sat down to a feast.
The end.

Fran stealing a Parmesan Black-Pepper Biscotti. Pretty easy to make.

Gougeres cooling. Easy.

Baking

The pizzelle are finished. I was laughing to myself about the "recipe" that I use. It's a list of ingredients written on a postcard covered in a few years of sticky dough. I can hardly read it, if anyone is feeling adventurous.3 cups flour 1/2 cup more maybe?
1 box confectioner's sugar
6 large eggs
2 sticks melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp anise flavor
1 tsp anise seed
About 6 dozen

So that's what I had to work with.
I do know that I got the recipe over the telephone from my sister. We always called the pizzelle made this way, with the confectioner's sugar, Joe and Terry's recipe. That would mean we have probably had the recipe for over 30 years. Terry died sometime in the 1970's. That's something I love about cooking and food. It is a part of that line between the past and the present, I always think of Terry when I make these even though my memory of her is very faded.

To the making,

I mix together the eggs and the sugar and the melted butter(cooled), then I add the flavorings and the anise seed. I always add an extra tsp of the seeds. I mix that all together and then add the flour. This year I needed to add the extra 1/2 cup I think the eggs were extra large.

Anyway it's that simple. What you end up with is a very soft dough.

you put a teaspoon of the dough for each cookie and press for about 30 seconds. They cool really fast and when they're all cooled I sprinkle them with powdered sugar.
That's the pizzelle story. Oh and yeah it was about 6 dozen.

I'm trying to hold on to

that feeling I have when I am walking through this.....

No pizzelle were made yesterday. It became a day of running errands, and everything seemed to take just a little bit longer.
Today off to Connecticut to set up our new selling space. Then home and I'm hoping the cookies get made on Friday. gotta run...

A quick get away

On monday we had some business in Massachusetts so we decided that we needed a little bit of a break, A place that would relax us, a place that we love. So we went to Provincetown for one night.

The Holiday food binge continued there. With , well, all kinds of seafood. We even brought lobster and oysters home for a little bit of a Provincetown dinner once we got back.
We had heard that there were 2 whales off of the coast last week, but we didn't see them.
We did have a great time walking on the deserted and rainy beach with 50 degree temps in December.

We're home now and the final holiday prep is going into full swing. The shopping for ingredients starts today and I'll be making the pizzelles. Photos of them (I hope) later.

More holiday eating

The Xmas Tree has been decorated.

Just in time for the 2nd holiday dinner.

It was great having Cynthia around to help with the cooking.



A roast chicken and latkes once again, this time made with blue potatoes and parsnips. Oh, and yes we did drink a little bit of wine.



Tonight will be a little break from the week of feasting, while we plan the menu for xmas eve, west coasters welcome. It looks like a fish pie for the main dish. An orange flavored crust with vegetables, swordfish, sultanas, olives, I forget what else .... a little bit of 19th century sicilian cooking. What kind of sides would go with that?

There is still a ton of food shopping to do, oh and We have planned a bit of baking.

Holiday Season

The latkes are cooking and the xmas tree decorating has begun. Later we'll be at Magic Meadow to celebrate the solstice.

This was last weekend

I survived the in-laws visit despite the statement "You Liberals are trying to outlaw Christmas", yep Fran's Dad actually said that. There are tons of reasons why this is funny.... a few

1. he is a UU, Yep, a good old inclusive New England Unitarian Universalist, fighters for gay marriage, in other words a Liberal.

2. We happened to have been subjected to very similar rants while in NJ at My families.... All coming from FOX television.

3.Fran's family never was a big Christmas celebrating clan. They do save this time of year though for the biggest, long simmering fueds/battles.

That was only the tip of the iceberg of last weekend.

I am recovered. I'm ready to have some fun for the holidays...
You all know that with Fran holidays are not his thing. He might even be said to be against them.
I've been mentioning getting a tree and decorating it for about a week, with the response, No , not yet, too early. For a little greenery I made a boxwood wreath yesterday, yes very Mid-Atlantic elite of me.

Now I'm over it and moving on to the next thing which is the Xmas eve dinner.

I happen to love doing this. It all is planned around the big eve celebration in Woodstock.

I invite the group (friends) and you all know who you are. over for cocktails and some nibbles in the late afternoon. It's got to be early because the santa arrival on the village green is at 5:30, so we need a little lift before we head out into the cold to see what transportation Santa will arrive in... Here's someone's story from last year. As you can see it is a very elaborate affair and the entire town is there.

After that we all head to the house and start the feast. I like to loosely base it on the Italian vigili. In other words.... lots of seafood.

So that is where my head it at this morning. hope to update you all soon. with a menu once the planning is done.
There will be something with baccala and .... I'm not quite sure what else yet.

strange pattern ceiling dirt

If you got here by googling the above...

Congratulations on your poetic ability.

Sorry I can't help though, maybe it's mold?

Just when I thought that i would be able to relax and have a little bit of time to myself.... The In-Laws arrive.

A recap

We were in New Jersey to see my Mother and Sister for the holiday. They remain as crazy as ever. Fran thought worse I thought slightly, ever so slightly better. If we had tons of money it would be grey gardens...

So we're there for Fran's birthday, and we all go to Philadelphia to see this amazing show. and we have a great lunch at Delilah's, a place we manage to get to every time we are in Philly. We survive the trip and get home, and it's time to prepare for the arrival of Fran's parents. They come every year at this time. For Fran's birthday and guess what... it's both parents birthdays , too. and we celebrate xmas. So this will be a party weekend.

Some how I have manged to make enough room in my studio, they'll be sleeping here. I might not get to the computer while they have my space. I'll try to sneak away though.

Time for me to have a drink or two. Happy Holiday.

I have given up on editing my posts. I'm just happy that I manage to get something written with a minimal amount of whining.

how I have been spending my time

It seems like I have been spending weeks trying to fit the things from the shop into the new room. This week I think I have nearly finished. Well, finished enough so that people can actually come over and see stuff.


Some how I managed to do all of this while barely able to move because I totally twisted my back and pulled a muscle while unloading from the last Pier show.

All of that is past now. I'm still sore, but my mood has improved ever so slightly.

My next goal is getting the studio into functional shape. I really haven't had the time or been in the mood to even knit a hat. no knitting for 3 weeks. wow.

Somehow I have also gotten it into my head that it's time for us to have a pet. I found a cat online (it's at the local shelter) and then there is one who has been visiting from the neighbors house.... I thought of catnapping him before he's eaten by the coyotes. But then I start to itch. So even though Fran says if I want a cat I should get one, I think maybe I don't really want that itchiness in my life right now.

So.... I started looking at dogs. Everyone who knows me will realize this a big deal. But wait, what if we do go to Mexico for a month or two..... Would we drive down with the dog? I'm so confused. So unless the perfect dog falls into my lap no pet in the near future.

Thanks for putting up with this little yakkity yak post. I'm going to NJ for a couple of days (family visit) and I hope my mood improves.