It's Been an AWESOME Christmas!

View from the bedroom window of my cousins' beautiful home where we spent Christmas! No wonder everything in their yard is beautiful ... check out their website!

A gorgeous hike.

Me and D in front of the 1844 Meeting House in Eaton, NH.  

What (Else) Has Your Winter Coat Done For You Lately? The Many Uses of My Beloved Cheapo Winter Coat From Target

Introducing the amazing, spectacular, multipurpose, brown quilted puffy coat -- for the low, low price of ... well, I don't remember, but it was definitely cheap, from Target, winter 2008-9.

 Great for:  Keeping me warm. And making me look like Nanook of the North (maybe a slightly cuter version of Nanook).

Photo (2009) by one of my wonderful undergrad students when I was working at American University. 

And, wait, there's more!  My faithful Brown Puffy Winter Coat (BPWC) provided a soft, warm seat for my 8 1/2 months-pregnant friend when I was photographing her last month, having her sit on the cold November ground.  You can see it (BPWC) just below her left forearm.  BPWC blends seamlessly into the mulch at the base of the cherry tree in my friend's front yard.  
(BTW, Doesn't she look amazing? And baby Matty is two weeks old today!)

And wait, there's more!  Brown Puffy Winter Coat, left on a couch, is great for nesting!

And even more!  No other puffy coat can beat this one for performing cat headstands.

Or as a prop for gratuitous cute kitty shots.  This is Junebug, one of our rescue babies.

And more!  Brown Puffy Winter Coat On The Couch is also great for napping, lounging, lollygagging and even more napping.  
This is our other kitty.  He's the big cat.  Well, wide cat, to be more specific.  He is well loved and well fed, as you can see. We adopted him in early 2005 from DC's NY Ave Animal Shelter, part of the wonderful Washington Animal Rescue League.

 Not gonna lie, I have napped under the Brown Puffy Winter Coat the couch when heading upstairs to the bedroom, or finding a blanket did not support my immediate napping needs.

Look at your winter coat ... is ther anything else it could be doing for you right now?  
Like the dishes, maybe?

Yours, in cuddly warmth,

Julia

P.S.  Yes, this coat is totally machine washable.

The Weekly Holiday Wreath Wrap -- Hope You Enjoy the View!

Starting with a shot of a few of the beautiful garlands by my fave wreath artists at the Old Town Alexandria Farmers Market over the weekend.  Each is a mix of evergreen including boxwood and pine, as well as juniper with its magical looking tiny blue-gray berries and red berries, also (I have to ask Anne what everything is on Saturday) -- gorgeous!

I am already planning how I want to decorate and when for November-December 2012! Before late this year, I had no idea how incredible and way affordable Anne's work is.  And next year she's going to open and Etsy shop -- Yay!  Will definitely let you know when that happens.

Left:  Burgundy sprayed pinecones on boxwood with cool natural fiber rope detail.  Right:  Wow! (I think those are lotus pods sprayed red -- but I'll have to ask Anne on Saturday).

Closeup: so beautiful!

Closeup of pinecone and boxwood wreath.

Crisp and sunny December morning at the Old Town farmers market.

I'm really in love with this one -- silvery pine cones and clusters of deep violet juniper berries, all nestled in deep, textured greens. *sigh*

Delta wreath (No, I was never in a sorority, undergrad was like three percent Greek, if that, but my bff was a Tri-Delt).  I thought square wreaths were big rule breakers ... clearly, I am behind the times.

Detail of square wreath.

 

New candle wreath.

Evergreen and holly greens and berries.

 All by the talented European Floriculturalists of natural-designs.net.

I didn't buy anything this week, but am plotting my holiday gift haul for this Saturday.

The market starts earlier than I wake up.  But I'm going to try to make it earlier than usual to see everything Anne brings with her!  

If I had the discipline of these amazing farmers and artisans, I'd still be running every morning at 6 a.m.  Ah-hah!  I feel a resolution coming on that will certainly be discarded by Valentine's Day.

Happy Hump Day!  Halfway there!

Yours, in evergreen with blue juniper berries,

JPV

 P.S. Hey, Blogger spell check, quit telling me "pinecone" is incorrect.  It is not.  It may be used as one or two words.  I understand how you would get confused and think "bff" is an incorrect spelling, but get off my back about "pinecone."

Busy Girl's Fancy Ravioli in Brown Butter and Sage Sauce

I could rename this blog "I Love Fungus. And Other Stuff."  If my husband had a blog he could name it "The Smell of Fungus Cooking Makes Me Retch." Ergo, I boiled up a lovely ready made mushroom ravioli, for one, and not from scratch (so there would be no fungus fumes from filling-making to upset hubby’s sensitive nostrils). You know I like to make my own rav filling and use wonton wrappers like I did this summer when we had all that leftover lobster (oh Lordy, my photography sucked! Guess I'll just have to make it again and rephotograph!).

 This pasta was amazing! It is the first time first time I had it retail. I recognize it from some DC area restaurants. It’s a DC based pasta maker/supplier called LaPasta. I went to their website and you gotta check out how beautiful this is – it’s like the periodic table of ravioli. I want it as a poster for my kitchen. I tried to pin it but you can only pin the individual raviolis, not all 36 at once. And that's JUST the ravioli, they also have gnocchi, totellini/tortelloni, and agnolotti. (Curse you, Spellcheck, for thinking the three preceding words are incorrect, clearly you have no taste for Italian food.)

 Got it from MOM’s organic market in Alexandria.  I was there to buy ginger chews, and walked out with ravioli and gnocchi. 

Last night was the first night it was going to dip way down to 20 degrees, so I went out to the bare garden and cut the last of my brave and stunningly hardy sage and parsley.   

 Here is pretty parsley extracted on the same mission this evening as the brave little sage plants.  Parsley will soon become pesto and get frozen. (The veggie giclees in the background were a kitchen-warming gift from mom by a Boston artist. The top print is a pretty one of asparagus.)

 Now the sage is drying on every surface in the kitchen (I mean EVERY SURFACE, note this one is on the stove, a well utilized work surface in a tiny kitchen. Please do not note how badly I need my shellac mani redone.).  I thought it was a great idea to lay some out in the bright sunshine to dry. Joke was on me as I came home to paper towels and sage scattered all over the porch and backyard.

Perfect for Browned Butter and fried sage sauce.

Luxurious, delicious, easy.  If you’re in DC (I mean you, Jessica L.) and need sage to do this, let me know… I have lots and can drop some by your office. J

I used unsalted butter, about 4 tablespoons (2-3 would have been fine).   

I put them in the pan cold and heated it to medium high. 

I slid 15 sage leave in as the butter just fully melted.  

 Watch it carefully because the browning can turn to burned very quickly.   

As soon as I see browning, I turn off the heat.   

I put a few ravioli, well drained into the butter an quickly cover with the splatter shield, just in case.  Then I pour it all over the rest of the ravioli.

Everyone in the bowl!

It was so exquisite.  Definitely try some soon.  Friday night?  Home watching Grimm?  Perfect!

Early morning at the Farmers' Markets Saturday.  Can't wait to see what they've got.

Yours, in mushroom love,

Julia

Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup -- My Favorite

I love this soup.  It is based on this Cooking Light recipe I found two years ago.  I say based on it because I only guesstimate the measurements and it always turns out great.

The three main ingredients are:  Carrots, sweet potatoes, onion.
The secret ingredient is:  ginger.
And it has special super powers:
1.  It can survive just fine for a few hours without refrigeration (read:  sit on my desk til lunch);
2.  Awesome way to get my veggies rather than a side of broccoli;
3.  It's a puree so it can travel well (see # 1, to the office without seeping out);
4.  Freezes well.

All veggies from Del Ray and Old Town farmers' markets except small onions which are organic from Trader Joe's.

These are the enormous carrots from Lopez Farms at the Old Town farmers' market.  I asked a nice fellow shopper to model the monster carrot for me. Amazingly sweet for being so large.  Probably because they are organic and fresh out of the ground a few miles from where I bought them.

One carrot, chopped, weighed 13 ounces!  (My million year old scale is on the left.)

Two sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped into big chunks. (BOWL: Blue and white dragon design purchased in my favorite supply store in DC's Chinatown.)

Toss potatoes (peeled and chopped), onion (one medium or a few small  ones) and carrots (1/2 - 1 pound, washed, but no need to peel if they are organic) with a few drizzles of olive oil to coat. 13x9" in baking dish (any size is fine, so is a cookie sheet, or in tin foil on the grill).

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.  Roast for 30-45 minutes.  Toss once at 15-20 minutes (these are just going in the oven).

Perfect!  Just out of the oven, browning around the edges, olive oil prevents everything from drying out.  House smells awesome.

Add four cups of low sodium chicken or veggie stock. More or less by half a cup depending on whether you use more or less vegetables.

I love this stuff.  I grew up on Wyler's bouillon, could eat it straight (Gross, I know, but I used to make a salt pile and dunk my fries in it, too, when I was a kid). While I don't always have my own broth on hand (not much room for it in the tiny kitchen), I always have some of this stuff on hand. USDA organic and it is the perfect way to stock stock in a minuscule kitchen.  I use 1/2-3/4 teaspoon per cup of water.

Fresh ginger made easy. 

Everybody in da pot.  Bring to a boil.

Turn down to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

I've done this step in a blender, in batches, many times. It works for sure, and is totally worth it. I just started making soups often enough in the tiny kitchen that I invested in a nice stick blender. I love concocting soups, and especially in the tiny kitchen, the immersion blender saves my space, time and mess.  It took about 90 seconds.

 

Perfection!

Back on the stove* for serving and measuring out for freezing.
* Our incredibly well laid out tiny kitchen does not have an outlet on the stove side, so I put the pot on a trivet on the opposite counter, blend it (very fun) and then move it back to the stove top.

Yours, in soup joy,

Julia

Click here for printable version