The Day After

Our Thanksgiving dinner was glorious. The house smells heavenly again this morning, because we are using our turkey carcass to make stock. (It's too bad there's no way to upload smells.) Bryan had a moment of distress this morning because there was "no breakfast". However, I quickly reminded him that there was pie...what else would one have for breakfast on the day after Thanksgiving?

There will be no shopping for us today. The thought of going to the mall, or any store, is nauseating. Maybe we'll walk downtown to mail letters and go to the library. We'll spend the rest of the weekend relaxing, and delving into the leftovers whenever we are hungry. I can't think of anything better.

When I picked up all our vegetables last week, I put the onions in a blue pottery bowl, because I didn't have another place for them at that point. I really like the way they looked in the bowl, so I took a picture.

For those of you looking for bizarre, slightly sinister yet remarkable crafts to keep you busy over the weekend, check out these! (A warning to the faint of heart: these crafters are irreverent, to say the least...but their ideas are very cool.)

I started knitting last night while we were sitting around with our guests. I have some recycled cashmere yarn that, so far, only other people have knit with, so I cast some on some 16" size 10 round needles and just started going. It will be a round thing when it's done. Maybe a headband, maybe the neck of a turtle neck. We'll see. The yarn is lovely to knit with!


Last weekend, I finished and posted the Christmas tree skirt that I made for Bryan's aunt Jan. She's not a quilter, so please don't anyone point out to her that my corners don't match.

Is it time for second breakfast yet?

CSA blog

Rather than sending an e-mail each week with our CSA newsletters, our farmers have started a blog. If you like to read about farms and vegetables, you may want to add this one to your list:
http://massaudubonblogs.typepad.com/views_from_drumlin/
Our first pick-up for the winter share is this Thursday, and Bryan and I are sharing a full share with our friends Becky and Peter. We'll let you know whether we decide to do the bread share!

Bus Trip to Branson

I had an interesting trip to Branson, Missouri last week.  I went with my girlfriends Jennifer & Marian on a bus trip sponsored by the Hospital 's "retirees" organization.  We were the youngest ones on the bus, and they made us sit in the back seat because we were too noisy and laughed too much.  But it was a good time, and the shows were fun to see!  It's kind of a "Wisconsin Dells" place - with lots of fudge shops and roller coasters scattered  between all these fancy theaters and hotels.  

The Ozarks and the lakes are beautiful - a very pretty part of the country.  But I could sure tell I was in one of the RED states!  Give me those New England liberals any day (Amanda & Bryan?).   I've only ever driven through a part of Missouri before, but this time I had a little more of a taste of it - although I realize Branson is a rather  an artificial taste.  It just takes traveling to make you realize home is best.  Pete asked me if they had indoor plumbing there - yes, they do. And you can even flush.  And no, it's not where they filmed "Deliverance" (another one of Pete's questions).

But on the long bus ride I read a whole book and paper-pieced a new quilt I'm working on.  So that was fun.  Vacations are a good thing.  Now it's back to work!  

More Polls?

I wanted to play with the gadgets on the Blogger template. The only poll I could think of was favorite Thanksgiving foods. So... vote for your favorites. Sorry the template doesn't give me color changing options for the percentage numbers or the ability to have a "write in" vote. If you are adamant about a food that I neglected to list, you will have to email me!

Minnesota Nice

That's us all over the place.

Well Joe darn went and did it and I am sure glad he did. He went out yesterday afternoon and got a buck. It has long spikes and seems to be good sized. I am so glad. When you think about all of that meat for around $25.00, you can't beat it. Anyway, now comes the butchering and all of that. I plan on canning a bunch of it and freezing the rest.

We had some snow over the last couple of days, a little on the ground, but nothing to write home about. I keep threatening to move to the UP where I would be pretty much guaranteed snow. Guess that would be quite a commute for Joe, however. Maybe we will have to find a nice retirement cottage up there some day.

Ta-ta for now.

love

hi everybody,
now this my first try. it's snowing here. thats the news of the day. watch for a blog someday when i can really think this through. emily, i want to tell you that ardi and ed's is closed is closed for the winter. and mandy, i am so proud of your food processing . and andrew, don;t drink all the beer. deanna and i want some. and rachel, you turned 16 , and that that is a milestone. be happy everybody. talk to you later. gramma.

Our Night at the Brewpub

Jeff, Rachel and I were going to a favorite restaurant in Mineral Point that brews their own beer and Bryan's post about beers made me want to try some. Bryan said that many places offer small "samplers" of their beers so I was hopeful. But, I should have know... this is Wisconsin... "Land of Supersize It."

Brewery Creek is so wonderful with locally grown products and everything made from scratch ....the owner even goes out into the woods and picks his own mushrooms. But no "samplers" offered here. Instead they offered something with a cute name (which I already forgot) and it turned out to be 1/2 gallon of beer. Obviously I didn't order that!

I had Krista Weiss. It smelled nice, like fruit and bubblegum. It was a pretty golden color. Unfortunately I didn't taste fruit or bubble gum when I drank it. I didn't like the flavor it left in my mouth when I ate the wonderfully fresh, mixed greens salad with raspberry horseradish dressing or my entree of Sesame Ginger Chicken. I soon switched to water and coffee and Jeff drank most of my beer.

Jeff had the Irish Stout and enjoyed it a lot. He actually liked my Krista Weiss too. I was attracted to the creaminess of the Stout. Jeff had a red wine and shallot bistro steak. Followed by Bourbon Pecan Pie. I should mention out hotel was close so we knowingly chose to walk to the restaurant!

Rachel was the real winner in the event. She ordered home brewed root beer. She liked it so much she followed it with a glass of home brewed cream soda. She loved her Pasta Alfredo and the two of us shared a piece of tres leches cake with raspberry sauce. Divine.

HI

HI, I'm new to this blogging stuff!! The skies look like snow but, we've got to drop a few degrees before it comes ... anyway, I just found my long underwear! Bring it on!!

Wrap Rage

All these years Jeff and I have toiled and suffered without knowing the name of our condition. We have used scissors, knives and yes, even our teeth to try and solve the problem. Today I found out we have "Wrap Rage."

As if they already didn't carry everything, Amazon has the cure (and with less waste). Click HERE to go to the site and then click on the black arrow in the yellow circle to watch the video. Don't you just love the pirate ship? Wish I had someone to buy it for.

Christmas Names

Rachel has the Christmas Names for 2008 on her desk. (Actually she has several former years there also if you are curious)

If you can wait until about 9:00 PM every night Rachel can take care of it. If it is an "emergency" request, Rachel has given me permission to look at the list and email the appropriate name out.

Just email. It is probably better to email me and I will verbally forward the request to Rachel.