My Wish For You

Funny here in animal house. The Lab is sleeping and wagging her tail vigorously against the floor, thump, thump, thump.  The Cat is running from the bedroom, under the dining room table and into the kitchen.  Then back again and back again. Very loud for such a small cat, pound, pound, pound. We, however, are both minding our own business, GG reading a book and me reading and blogging.  Guess tonight is New Year's Eve in the animal kingdom.

We've planned a quiet night at home this year.  Tomorrow night we'll cook Marie's Swedish meatballs and serve them with a pile of GG's sinful mashed potatoes.  I don't watch her make them but I can taste the copious amounts of butter and cream.  What you don't see doesn't count, right?

A friend or two, maybe four, will come by to eat and attempt to and steal GG's Scrabble crown away from her.  I assure you I will be playing for blood and the crown.

And then, oh happy day, I hear it will be in the high 50's maybe low 60's and sunny on the 1st.  This means we can get outside and do some yard work.

Happy New Year to all of you.   Here's hoping in 2011 we all get a chance to get a little closer to living the life we want.  Wishing you all serenity, courage and wisdom.  And a delicious meal.

xo Jane

Your Mother Should Know

So yesterday was the 28th of December.  And after a day of dog walks and lunching out, hair cuts and hair color (for me, some of us are natural blondes) GG asked me, did we ever figure out how many years.
How many years?  A Virgo who never forgets had mislaid the date.  I thought it was the 27th yesterday.

Yes, the 28th of December and 6 years ago I invited the "new girl" in the shop over for dinner.  Though much younger and much taller than I, she seemed worth getting to know.  I made  chicken and barley soup, a green salad with ripe d'anjou pears and french feta cheese served with freshly baked bread.  And we ate and talked and talked and after she did the dishes (I was so loving this part) we made a pot of tea and moved to the couch.

Then, with the most perfect posture I have ever seen, she poured.  That did it for me, I was smitten.

Several years later the Lab moved down from Connecticut and we were complete.  

My mother was totally right on two things: it's important to stand up straight and to know how to make a good  bowl of soup.
 
Happy Anniversary GG. 
xo Jane

Ham I Am

While blogland lies sleeping, there are still a few of us awake and posting.  And judging by the number of hits we get, I'm thinking there are people still reading.  And wanting more.  Hungry for more.

So today I give you a ham.  Actually I wish I could give you  a ham because I don't know what I was thinking  when I bought it.

Did I think I had a large family?  Did I think I was going to have time to cook it and serve it on Christmas Day?

Did I never want to take my rings off again? 

So far we have served cold slices on Christmas night with cheeses and pickles and pickled beets, just nice food to snack on  after a long and filling day.  Then ham and boiled eggs for breakfast yesterday.  A ham sandwich for lunch and potato soup with  with a touch of ham for dinner.

This morning GG made biscuits and a ham hash with eggs.  There is still a mountain to get through. 

The next plan is to bake it and serve it with a potato-kale gratin.  And a lot of water.  I am getting very thirsty.

  If you live locally and would like to eat locally, give us a holler.  Ham mountain awaits you.  Come on up!
.

The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year

Boxing Day 2010.  Snow and sleep are in today's forecast.  Actually 3 out of 4 here are still sleeping, and without GG, the dog or the cat to play with I have turned to you.

Christmas Eve was a long, delicious evening at  Tini and Nirmal's.  With both dogs helping ,Nirmal made a Spanish influenced dinner.  We started with a capatona like appetizer with tuna.

 

  Next were light citrus dressed salads with sliced of avocado and clementines, then the piece de resistance, a seafood paella, full of shrimps and scallops and fava beans, cauliflower and artichokes.  

 After dinner we lit the candles on the tree, destroyed beautifully wrapped presents and hazelnut ice cream with chocolate sauce.  We drank cup after cup of black tea and tried to stay awake just to be together a little longer.

 By midnight we gave in to exhaustion and your very own tired florist removed herself from the couch and was driven home to a warm house and a hungry cat.

Christmas day itself is kind of a blur but I recall Peking duck, coffee and butter stollen and going to see The King's Speech.

Which reminds me, there is more stollen in the kitchen.  Must go eat more sugar and take a nap.

Hope everyone had a delicious love filled holiday and will get to relax today.

xo Jane

And thanks to Nirmal  both for the dinner and the pictures, this blogger arrived with her battery uncharged ( in more ways than one).

We Need A Little Christmas Now

 For me?

If you all experience 50% of the happiness the Lab did today when she received a  present of holiday milk bones, you are going to have the best Christmas of your life.

Let's all remember to wag our tails and open our gifts with our teeth to let our loved ones know how much we appreciate their thoughtfulness

A little gratitude goes a long way.

Merry Christmas and love from our house to yours.

Jane, GG, Nika and Pokey.

Satellite Of Love

Work continues to run on and on like a never ending reality show.  In the midst of the madness, friends drop by to visit, bearing cookies and babies.  Clients come by with vases to be filled and presents for all.  Drivers get lost, coffees get drunk and we get sillier and sillier.

Two more wakes then we can sleep.

I mean we can celebrate Christmas and then we can sleep.

Fresh from the bath and soon to bed. Listening to the songs of Mozart sung by Barbara Bonney.  Quietly celebrating the news that GG made the Deans List.  Now that's a Christmas present.

We'll spend the night of the 24th with Tini and Nirmal ( my computer is underlining both these names) eating seafood risotto and watching the dogs careen about.  Al la family tradition Tini will have candles on her tree. Both beautiful and terrifying when lit.  

I didn't know so many of you this time last year and now here I sit filled with details of your upcoming holidays.  Who is coming, what you will eat, how your houses are decorated for Christmas and whether or not you're dreaming of a white Christmas.

                                                           Me?  I'm always dreaming.

Off With Their Heads

Conversation with a customer:

" Excuse me, excuse me ( voice rising) EXCUSE ME.  Do you work here"  I exit cooler with arms full of flowers.  I am dressed in a dirty apron, covered in glitter and pine sap and  woefully in need of hair cut and color and general cleaning up.  Let's hope I work there.

" Yes, may I help you".

"I want to order a centerpiece".

" If you go to the front counter someone will take your order".

"No I want to talk to a designer".

 " Yes, how may I help you".

"I want a centerpiece, but I hate your centerpieces". " But I don't want to go anywhere else".

" So you want us to make you a centerpiece but you hate our centerpieces?"

" Yours are all squashed down", gestures rather wildly.

" So you want a loose, airy centerpiece?"

"Yes, with those big yellow roses but in red".

 So, you want a loose, airy centerpiece", now I'm gesturing also, " with yellow roses but make them red?

"

" Yes, and white also"

I'm feeling very Alice In Wonderland at this point.

Today is the winter solstice and a full moon.

Definitely a down the rabbit hole kind of day.