We'll be home on New Year's Eve this year as we are every other year. And, of course we will be drinking!
We hope all of our family and friends have a safe and happy New Year's Eve and wonderful year ahead!
All the very best from the South Coast of Ohio!
Lois
Just before Christmas this beautiful Kalanchoe jumped into my cart at Meijer. Yes, that has happened before with other plants. They seem to know they will be loved and well cared for here so they make the leap into my cart.
So pretty!
:),
Lois
Yesterday I featured Stehlin's Meat Market where we purchased a pork belly with skin on for Kjell to make Jule Ribbe for the holidays.
Above you see the pork belly, skin side up, on a cutting board where Kjell has sliced through the skin before baking until the skin is crispy.
Also on the plate are sour kraut, baked potato with sour cream, and my home make cranberry sauce. Ah, yes, foodie heaven!
Yum!
Lois
We make an annual journey to Stehlin's Meat Market to purchase a pork belly with the skin on. Since this isn't a commonly purchased cut of meat, we call ahead and order the cut we need. Kjell makes a tasty Norwegian Christmas treat, Jule Ribbe. There will be more on that in another post soon.
In addition to the pork belly, we purchased some ground pork that Kjell used to make another Norwegian Christmas treat, Medisterkaker (pork meat balls with Norwegian spices).
The breakfast bread a few days ago was so good that I made another. This time I made it in a loaf pan instead of a round baking dish.
Yes, this one hit the spot, too! It didn't last long either.
:),
Lois
Our Red Christmas Cactus bloomed just in time this week.
So pretty, so delicate!
:),
Lois
Merry Christmas!
Elsa and all the rest of us here in the Evensen Household wish you a
Blessed Happy Merry Christmas!
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of doggie cookies danc'd in their heads...
While making bread recently, I made enough extra dough to make a special breakfast bread. This particular batch featured cream cheese that gave the bread a very smooth texture. Above you see my breakfast bread after the first rise. I have kneaded it once again and pressed it back into the bowl so that I could place dried cranberries in the center.
...placing the loaf into a medium size oven proof dish.
...some really GOOD stuff!
I placed about 3/4 cup powdered sugar in a bowl and added enough cognac to get the consistency I wanted for the frosting. I stirred with the whisk until it was smooth.
I then "drizzled" the frosting over the breakfast bread.
Cognac for breakfast! ;)
I also made some traditional loaves out of the same batch of bread:
Yum!
Lois
Catherine is so very clever with her gifts for business clients of her CPA practice. This year she put together a cutting board, cheeses, meats, crackers, and fruit. She puts it all together and I make and add the bows.
We have made these nearly every day for a week and she delivers them as we finish them so that the items are fresh when received.
This is another Christmas tradition here that is fun and so very special each year.
Merry Christmas!
Lois
It is the season ... for Peppermint Icecream!
Oh, yes, very good!
;),
Lois
This was fun to find. We've disconnected our garden hoses before the first freeze. We had a very short freeze with a dusting of snow. It was just cold enough for this icicle to form. I took the picture when I closed the gate as we were going out for a short trip. The icicle was gone when we returned.
The painting is finished on the white part of this side of the house. We have just been getting the vines removed from the blue part at the at the bottom. Eventually, it will all be finished on this side and it'll be time to start over on the other side of the house. Such is life. ;)
All the best,
Lois
We have been celebrating my birthday all month. I snapped this picture of the sunset as we arrived at a local casino that has an excellent steak and seafood restaurant.
We celebrated three birthdays at the same time: Aunt Carol's, friend Bill's, and mine. Of course we donated a couple of dollars to the slots before we left, too.
It was a delightful evening.
Thanks, everyone!
Lois
It's a good thing we kept our old recliner and chair when we bought new recliners.
Wendy has taken ownership of this one and it fits her perfectly.
:)
Lois
No good bread goes to waste (although it DOES go to waist) around here.
I made blueberry bread with cream cheese a few days ago. As we so often do, we had breakfast for dinner so I made french toast with it.
Oh, my goodness, this was great.
Yum!
What is your favorite breakfast specialty?
Lois
There is a huge section of bark missing from the base of an old Honeysuckle bush in the corner of our back yard. I'm convinced it was neighborhood deer who did this.
It's interesting to see the dogs tracking when they go outside after we suspect critters have been on our property. We didn't see the deer this time, but I'm pretty sure they were here.
Lois
Edited to add: Please see comment from Steve Willson. It seems it is more likely that the bark damage is from Gray Squirrels. We certainly have plenty of those around here! Thank you, Steve.
If you look carefully just above the center of this image, you'll be able to see one of our neighborhood hawks.
These beautiful graceful creatures are a joy to watch as they swoop through the sky.
Now that many of the leaves are gone from the trees, we are able to see these birds more easily.
Cold weather isn't all that bad....
:),
Lois
I'm a sucker for pretty flowers. I saw this one when shopping at Meijer recently and it jumped into my cart all by itself.
This lovely African Violet has joined the indoor table garden in my dining room. Since purchasing it has already produced even more flowers. What a lovely sight each morning when I go downstairs.
;),
Lois
Here's our handsome Erik in his bathrobe after his bath. He looks good in red, doesn't he. ;)
What a handsome fellow!
;),
Lois
It's looking more and more like Christmas around here!
Our friend, Erica, brought us this lovely centerpiece. How sweet!
Thank you, Erica!
Lois
This time we enjoyed the blueberry pancakes without the ice cream and whipped cream. They were delicious. But, then, so was that ice cream and whipped cream.
These are our diet pancakes.
;),
Lois
It is fun to have more than one variety of Fall flowers so that the blooming periods are staggered.
We now have these beautiful bright yellow blossoms blooming on our front porch. They return year after year. Lovely! These are the beautiful flowers that inspired me to make this afghan:
All the best,
Lois
We celebrated Thanksgiving shortly after the actual holiday. Here's Catherine feeding some hard ale to the bird in the pan as Wendy looks on. Of course, everything prepared in our kitchen is Lab supervised and Lab tested.
Lois
