Snow Drifts

Old Man Winter has been here for weeks. Last week he wrapped himself around every single branch, trunk and twig and held on for days and days. He coated the ground several times with a foot of snow, leaving us with lawns three feet higher than usual and back pain just as thick from shoveling. But it was beautiful. For those who live in the South and watch the sun rise and set on the beach with the palm trees every day, with those warm colors of orange, red, pink and purple...can you beat this?



We had a lovely holiday. The whole season was lovely and we all enjoyed each other, ate tons of delicious food, visited with lots of family and friends and received some wonderful gifts. One of my favorite gifts passed this year was from Jake to Grace. He took time during December in his advanced art class to paint this for her. She loves it and can't wait to have it hanging in her room.



In the fall Grace started a new sewing project. This time, we made the pattern ourselves (from memory of a project I did when I was a kid) and she used my sewing machine to do all the work. She truly made it herself and is so proud - as she should be. Introducing our little lamb, LUMPY...




Me? Well, I've been trying to learn to cook. Who's teaching me? Well, Rachael Ray actually. Yep. I know... "Oh Please." She's driving me crazy in her new Dunkin Donut ads too, but I still can't help it that I just love her recipes. I started getting her magazine early in the fall and found her recipes easy and quick and usually very delicious. Since I couldn't cook a simple hamburger worth space on a plate, her simplicity was much appreciated. I've found that not only can I provide my family with good tasting and healthy meals every night of the week, but we're not rotating the same 10 meals every two weeks and we're trying lots of new things that we would otherwise never thought of ourselves. Am I learning? Yes. I am. I suddenly feel confident in the kitchen. I feel better about making up meals, or adding or subtracting or substituting ingredients if I choose. I am using more fresh ingredients than ever and have come to like several things that I didn't think I liked. It's been eye-opening for me. I do find that I make changes to every one of her recipes - usually because I can't find a particular ingredient in our small local store, or because I know my kids won't eat it just the way she has it prepared. This is one of the meals I made this week: Oregon Pork Chops with Oregon Hash and crusty bread. This recipe came from my new cookbook (a Christmas gift from AJ), Rachael Ray: 365 No Repeats. It has cranberries, nuts, kale and beats - delicious.


This past weekend we made homemade butter. Have you ever done it? It's SO easy, and SO good. I highly recommend trying it. You literally just take a pint of heavy cream and put it into a tightly sealed plastic container, or glass jar with a lid, and shake shake shake until it's butter. That's it. Then you drain it, smash it till the water comes out and wallah! Beautiful, wonderful, tasty, real butter. It takes about 15 minutes. We just passed it around from person to person while we were watching a movie in the evening. Too simple. Why do we buy butter?

This past weekend was the official start of the Girl Scout Cookie Sale here in the Northeast. Grace is on her way to selling lots of boxes as usual. Her troop has set a hefty goal this year, so they need to work hard. They are working toward a very fun and unusual field trip - a "camp-in" at the Museum of Science in Boston (a sleepover IN the musuem with tons of other Girl Scouts from all over the Northeast). They have to sell over 1400 boxes of cookies as a troop to make enough money for all 12 girls to go on this trip. We're off and running.

Looking forward to the weekend and hoping to get together with some friends. Hope you all have a great weekend too!