Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday

Some catching up from February................

February is my favorite month of the year. Besides being my birthday month, it is also the time we have the opportunity to repent and give up our evil ways, all after doing everything bad to excess during Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday! The celebrations happen throughout the world (Carnival) but here in the US, we associate Mardi Gras with New Orleans, where it first started in 1699. Go to these links for more history on the event: http://www.eastjeffersonparish.com/culture/MARDIGRA/HISTORY/history.htm
 and http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/history.html

Our friend Nowana, who has a history with New Orleans, threw us a whoopdie-do of a Mardi Gras party out at her place in the woods. Every detail was perfect, right down to the strings of beads, funny hats, traditional New Orleans dishes, music and decorations. Our friends Kris, Bob and Sally were all on hand to celebrate the end of their evil ways too :o)

Of course, the evening was started with bubbly...........

Oh, and traditional New Orleans Sazerac's too! Go here for recipe: http://cocktails.about.com/od/s/r/szrc_cktl.htm
Looks like Rowan is going to have a lot to repent about tomorrow :o)

The food fest started with Oysters Rockefeller, fresh off the grill. YUM!

Sally making something green because it is good for us. We need to have at least one thing that is good for us this evening........teehee.

Jambalaya, red beans, sausage and rice. Authentic fare from New Orleans.

The table.....

......including the crystal king.

Lets hear it for repenting (tomorrow) Cheers! :o)

Oh dear.......now it's on to dessert. Bananas Foster. Here is the actual recipe Nowana used: http://www.brennansneworleans.com/r_bananasfoster.html

A movie of the flambé. This part is always so exciting!

Extremely delicious!.........

....and something that goes right here (guess who?)! But we don't care because we will give it up tomorrow for lent :o)

So, while at Nowana's fabulous country home, she showed us her latest hobby: worm composting.

Yes, she has this fabulous worm condo complex for housing her worm family while they produce the most wonderful composting dirt for her garden. Who knew one could have a farm like this in the comfort of their own home?!  The worm bins can be ordered on-line, and they come with everything one needs to start the farm, even the worms!

 

Just a little shredded newspaper and some good quality vegetable garden dirt (not potting soil), kitchen vegetable trimmings, egg shells, etc. (anything you would normally put in the compost pile), and some red wigglers worms will get you going (don't use night crawlers). Go here for info on the worm bins:     http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Outdoor/Worm-Composting and here for info on how to do it: http://deq.louisiana.gov/portal/default.aspx?tabid=2101 - a hilarious read. You can get the red wiggler worms here: http://www.unclejimswormfarm.com/ - this is where I got mine (500), or you can go to a bait shop and get them in smaller quantities. The more worms you have, the faster you get good composting dirt.

Nowana gave each of us a little to-go worm farm as party gifts before we left. The most unusual gift I have ever received and the most sustainable. This gift will just keep on giving and help make our garden produce better everything. We will also be able to feed our chickens worms once in a while. Yes, we are getting some chickens later this spring..........that will be posted in a later blog, so stay tuned :o) Now, have to get that chicken-coop built!

A Visit From The Left Coast

We were very excited to have a visit from our dear friends Nina and Kim in mid January. They came out from the Left Coast (Monterey, CA) to spend a week visiting us and also Kim's mom, who lives just north of us (wacky coincidence). Leaving the beautiful, mild, central California coast to come east into old man winter isn't the usual choice for most, but Kim's mom was having a BIG birthday, so here they are. Luckily, our old man winter seems to have gone off to Europe this year, so our winter has been pretty mild. However, just not to disappoint, we did have a little snow and an ice storm while the girls were here. Something they never see in Monterey, so it made their visit more exciting :o)

Jenni, Kim Rowan and Nina

Nina and I have spent many years in the kitchen together cooking up great eats, so no time was lost getting right to what was going to be created this time. Home made pasta (butternut squash tortellini with brown butter sauce) and salad nicoise is what will be on tonight's menu.

Nina, the pasta master, preparing the pasta in the flour bowl on the table. As she beats the eggs they absorb the flour and turn into the pasta dough.

 It was so great to spend time with one of my best friends.

 Rowan was all over the pasta making as she will be the one doing it once The Master leaves.

 Cutting the rolled out pasta dough.
The filling: butternut squash, olive oil, herbs de provence, salt, pepper, shallots, garlic, ricotta cheese, nutmeg

Here is the video of all of us making the tortellini. It was a blast.

The perfect tortellini!

 The brown butter sauce: butter, fresh sage leaves, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, kosher salt, pepper,  grated parmesan. YUM!

So, that evening while we were enjoying our fabulous meal, we were unaware of the impending doom of an ice storm taking place outside. Luckily, I went to let the cats out just as we finished dinner and noticed the ice at the edge of the porch. Our two guests, Mary & Sally, who drove to our place decided to giddy-up and get on their way. It was fortunate they only live a stones throw from each other so could follow each other home.

Here is what we found when we woke up the next morning: Every inch of everything was covered in ice. Nina and I had to hold on to each other to get the few steps from the porch to their car in the driveway. While Nina started scraping, I went back in the house to get some water boiling so we could get the frozen doors open.

 The windshield was a sheet of solid ice.

Nina did this to all the windows while I chipped the ice off of the concrete around the car so we could even walk around it.

It's so great to have old friends from the Left Coast come to visit. We cherish these times together as they don't happen often enough. Can't wait till our next trip out west.

Crazy Critters

We have been taking some great photos of our animals we just must share with everyone. Our cats Fergus (the orange one) and Lulu (the calico) have been bringing us joy for 14 years now. They really are our children and we cherish the love and companionship they give us. Not to mention they are a  continuous source of entertainment.
Fergus will let you do just about anything to him, including putting his mole toy on top of his head like a hat.

Can you see the family resemblance? :o) 

Lulu is engaged in everything. Definitely the curious cat. As soon as anything hits the floor, the bed, just about any surface, she is there to investigate and usually makes a fast nest.

A few boxes were delivered to us over the holidays and Lulu made quick work of claiming them as her fort as soon as they hit the floor.

The dirty laundry isn't even safe. She especially loves the underwear pile. Just how did she get her head through the leg hole?

What she sees in this belt laying on the bed, we just have to wonder.

Here is our new fish, Frederick (named after my great, great grandfather). He is a male beta fish. We will see if we can get him to live over 5 years like our last one did. He is now an endless source of cat television for Fergus and Lulu.

Holiday Cheer

We have been blessed with good cheer and fellowship with good friends over the holiday break. This years holiday season has seen much less snow than last year - getting around town much easier - so we decided to have a  couple of gatherings of friends to our place to celebrate. We also got a chance to get out for a couple of hikes in the woods to enjoy the crisp air and plentiful sunshine.

One of our favorite places to go for hikes is out to Ogle Lake. To find a pristine day like this in December is usually difficult, so we gathered some friends and went for a hike. The temps were still in the 30's and the ground very frozen, but it was just a gorgeous day.

It has been so cold that the water just under the surface of the ground has become frozen and has squeezed itself up and out of the ground. Almost like something one would find on the moon.

We found this on top of a puddle of water......

Our good friends Bob, Kris, Sally and Wayne joined us for some holiday cheer.

Christmas dinner was a very simple relaxed event. Here we are preparing the pears for our poached pear in dark chocolate sauce dessert.

 We shared our dinner with our neighbors Jane and Werner. Roast duck on arugula with wine sauce, lemon potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and home made bread were on the menu.

Rowan's bread making just keeps getting better and better.....YUM!

We wanted to start the new year with a bang, so we invited a group of our favorite neighbors to come over and start the year with a toast on new years day. We spent the afternoon imagining what good things the new year might bring and hoping we would all survive the impending doom of an election year. Oh....and of course there was some college football thrown in there too. Here are photos of some of the group:

Ellen and Jenni

 Bob and Kris (lovely photo of Rowan too :o)

Doug and Patty

 Jeannine and her daughter Ella

 Carol and her son Steve

 .....and of course, there was food!

We had one final gathering of friends on Jan. 7th. We decided we would create a Julia Child dinner for this group of friends. I grew up watching The French Chef on TV and just love everything Julia. We picked dishes from Julia's most famous cookbook,  Mastering The Art Of French Cooking. We started the evening with champagne and cured meats and bruschetta then moved right on to the Salad Nicoise (a meal in itself). The main course was delicious Poulet Saute aux Herbes de Provence, Ratatouille and crusty french bread. We followed all of that with a cheese and fruit course and finished everything off with the ultra delicious poached pears and chocolate sauce. Chefs Note: If you want to try these dishes you must try them the first time by following Julia's recipes. Don't be afraid of the butter (if you must cut down on it, use 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 butter), etc. They are extremely delicious and meant to be cooked the way they are. You will LOVE them! You just may not want to eat this way every day :o)  I only took a few photos as we were having so much fun, I totally forgot about the camera. What a way to start the year :o)

The ultimate su chef's, Sally and Rowan, working on the salad nicoise.

 The chicken is in the pot. Go here for the recipe: http://oneperfectbite.blogspot.com/2011/06/poulet-saute-aux-herbes-de-provence.html

 The FABULOUS Ratatouille. Eggplant, zucchini, onions, olive oil, bell peppers, garlic, chopped tomatoes, parsley. Easy and extremely delicious as a side dish and goes with just about anything. Go here for the recipe: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1029169

You should hear me talk like Julia. It's hysterical :o)

 Nowana, Rowan and Sally giving us their best Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil...........hmmmmmmm, they almost look as good as the monkeys!

 From left, Charlie, Sandy, Mark, Rowan and Chris

 The most incredible salad you will ever eat........Nicoise. Go to this video and watch Julia make the salad. It will bring a smile to your face just to see her as The French Chef. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94UfxllZuVE

The only thing I would change about the salad is using Spanish White Anchovies, if you can find them.
Extremely light and delicate anchovies. Not ultra salty like the canned variety. You can find them at a really good international deli or Whole Foods. They usually don't come in a can, but by the pound or in a  plastic carton in the cold case. Don't skimp on anything. Make her french potato salad, don't buy something from the deli to substitute, and make her dressing. You won't be sorry.

Bon Appetite!

Happy Holidays

To our friends around the world:
Merry Christmas - Happy Kwanza - Happy Hanukkah - Happy Boxing Day - Happy Ashura - Happy Bodhi Day - Happy Makar Sankranti


This holiday season........End a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion, and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Find the time. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen....................
Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Disregard envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Appreciate. Be kind; be gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express your gratitude. Explore spirituality. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Consume less. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth and learn to protect it. Speak your love.........and speak it again.

WISHING YOU PEACE IN THE NEW YEAR!

Love, Jenni and Rowan