Happy New Year!!!

Happy 2010 everyone! I had a relaxed New Year's Eve, first joining my
folks for a party with their friends and then went to a great bar that
used to be a bank for midnight festivities. New Year's Day we
watched the Tournament of Roses parade and made fondue. Then mom and
I worked on the cute pattern she found for me at the swanky fabric
store the other day.

Today we drove to OKC for my cousin's wedding and to meet her baby
boy. Grandma refuses to share him:

Spice Nerds

Yesterday mom and dad took me to some of our favorite shops around the
KC area. We started out at Penzy's Spices where mom sat in the corner
and knitted and dad and I smelled every spice in the store.

Merry Christmas from Lawrence

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I've got a lot of stuff I want to finish before the end of the year, but I took a few minutes the other night to set up our tiny tree complete with newly made tree skirt.



Hank promptly sniffed and swatted at it. Can't you see it in her eyes, that tree is a gonner. Luckily, almost all of the ornaments on the tree are the felt ornaments I made last year and red snowflakes my mom gave me last year that she crocheted to match the ones she made years ago when she and my dad didn't have money for Christmas ornaments. Sweet, huh?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas outside as well. We got hit with about 6 inches of snow over the last week and I don't think it is going anywhere for a while.



I mentioned last post that my CSA is over but I did get an e-mail from them this week announcing that a great local farm had lost their lease on their meat locker. This is unfortunate for them, but great for me since it meant that they had to sell off a huge amount of meat very quickly. So I bought ten pounds of locally produced, pasture raised, organic meat for $40. So I bought pork stew meat for posole, beef stew meat for, uh, beef stew, bologna because I don't like bologna but I want to try really good bologna, bacon because it is awesome, short ribs for braising, and fresh chorizo. Sweet deal and I got to go back out to Tait Farms one more time. They are gearing up for Christmas tree cutting season.



Back soon (I know I keep promising that).

p.s. Notice how the sun is setting over the mountains in that photo? That was taken at 3:30 in the afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I love Thanksgiving. Cooking, eating, friends and family. What could be better? I couldn't make it home (if I did, I would have been having dinner with 60 people instead of 6), but I did get to spend the evening with this wonderful band of people.

The food was delicious and the company was even better. I am so grateful to have this amazing group of friends when I can't be with my family. (Even better, all my friends are great cooks!)

This week was my last pick up of the CSA. Since we won’t be here come next August, we haven’t signed up for next year. So no more fresh, local, organic veggies for us for a while. I’m sure none of you need to be lectured on the ecological benefits of not using pesticides or eating food transported thousands of miles, but the thing I really got from the CSA was veggies younger and more tender than could ever be kept fresh long enough to make it to the store. My favorite part was the sense of place that I got from it. Plants tend to die when left in my care (anything capable of crying does fine), so I don’t really know what grows when or where. So when I finally sign up for a new one once we move, I’ll get to learn about what can be grown there!

Anyway, the contents of my bags this week clearly show that winter is near:
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme (seriously)
Carrots
Potatoes
Parsnips
Kale
Leeks
Butternut squash

From these I want to make:
Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce with Cumin Spiced Carrots, and Chipotle Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Devilish Chicken Thighs with Braised Leeks (this is sooooo good, you have to make it)

Since I have left you all without much in the way of menu reports recently, I thought I would mention a couple of my favorite things I made recently with CSA goodies:
Acorn Squash Quesadillas
Barley Risotto with Roasted Squash and Mascarpone Cheese
Pasta with Broccoli and Carrots in Feta Sauce
Potatoes, Escarole, and Leek Soup
Tony Luke Inspired Pork Cheesesteak with Broccoli Raab
Southwestern Stuffed Acorn Squash with Homemade Tortillas

p.s. Much to Hank’s pleasure, I did not bring home from the farm the adorable orphaned kitten that they were trying to find a home for.