Winter Flowers

Last year my aunt gave my mother a “Christmas Cactus” – nearly every one I’ve seen had red blooms, but this one has white/pink blooms. Normally giving my mother a plant is a risky proposition, but she does well with the succulents and the cactus bloomed like crazy this year. It’s a very pretty accent in their kitchen.

My in-laws sent my husband and me paperwhite bulbs this year. I dutifully watered the container and lo and behold, up they popped. I’m sorry to know that since they were forced to bloom out of season (technically not a winter flower) this is probably it. But I’ll give it a go to see if I can keep them alive. In the meantime:

Best wishes to all of you and yours for a happy, safe, and prosperous new year!

Fly like the wind

We had a big windstorm here Sunday night/Monday morning. I’ve lived here over a decade, and I’ve lived in windier places than this. This windstorm was the strongest I’ve been through. At 3am or so, I went to the backyard to try to secure items as best I could (the grill was walking across the deck). The furniture is all over the place, but we sustained no damage.

At this house.

We have some rental properties. For one of them, the chimney cap was blown off the house – I found it two lots away while I was out walking (I wasn’t looking for it; I did recognize it because we installed it). Then I got an email from our other renters. The shed in the backyard had been lifted entirely off the ground and blown into the neighbor’s yard.

These items were once stored in the shed. The shed is behind the fence.

There are items that were stored in the shed that got taken for a ride.

We’re very fortunate it didn’t take out the power line. I haven’t had a chance to talk to our neighbor yet but I’m hoping there is no damage other than it being unsightly. My husband and I will deal with it this weekend. Being a silver-lining person, I immediately noted this was an ideal opportunity to put in a better shed on a proper concrete pad.

You cannot overdecorate the gingerbread

A few years back my mom bought a gingerbread house kit on a lark and we collaborated in decorating it. This started a tradition not unlike the pumpkin carving that is a bit out of hand. This year she got a kit that had four little houses. I got one that I thought had three little houses but it turns out it was one big house (the box was deceiving, trust me). Then my husband, being helpful, got a Home Depot gingerbread kit.

HOME. DEPOT.

Gamely, mom and I decided we were going all the way from the commercial district to the expensive house-on-the-hill. The first step is putting together the parts. Turns out the Home Depot one was the most difficult to do. The one I got came pre-assembled.

I win.

Putting together the houses. Mom cursed her son-in-law for buying the Home Depot kit.

The house I bought came pre-assembled. Winning!

Because my husband bought it, I was tasked with the Home Depot decorations. Let me tell you, that is a lot of orange frosting. And I was very skeptical that this would look like anything useful once done. Especially seeing it midway:

Fortunately, throughout the year we end up buying extra candies and such to add to our gingerbread houses. This saved me in the completion of the Home Depot. In fact, the tiny little necco wafers (at least, that’s what they looked like to me and mom) turned out to be pretty great as lights on the building. Or perhaps I was just pleased because dad brought us each margaritas.

In fact, I finished the Home Depot (or I was done with it, which has a slightly different connotation) while mom continued her work on the tasteful “house on the hill”. So I grabbed a small house and went to town with the tiny necco wafers. Fast and adorable.

Mom finally finished her big house. This had to be tasteful, because people in this size of house would pay a decorator. I rolled out yellow gumdrops for her to use as the windows. If you decide to do this, use sugar on the rolling pin and board to prevent sticking (or lessen it, anyway).

Mom is ridiculously good at the icicles. You’ll note the items I did do not have icicles.

We were tired of the process by this point so left the remaining three houses for a couple of days later. I had bought some cookie frosting so picked the house with a flat-ish roof so I could use it (very liquid, but then hardens). The tilt to the structure is on mom because she put it together. The fact that it looks like it’s staring at you is all my fault. We named it the “stalker house”.

Meanwhile mom did this adorable little house. She would prefer it if you just admire the roof and skip looking at anything else.

We had one left and collaborated. I picked a Denver Broncos color scheme and we went with it in a big way. It’s our favorite.

You have your reasons, we have ours.

Finally we had to put it all together into a scene. We have mirrors to be ponds and step-stones, little strands of lights, some old bits of garland made into trees…. and marauding polar bears.

My husband is no longer allowed to purchase a gingerbread kit unless he puts it together and decorates it himself. (this will not happen).

Merry Christmas! Stay out of the path of marauding polar bears!

Black Bean Soup is good food

When the weather gets colder soup becomes a very attractive meal. I love making soup for guests because I make it the day before and then have very little prep when people come over. This week I made black bean soup and I thought I’d share it because it’s ridiculously simple and tastes wonderful.

1 cup (ish) chopped onion

1 cup (ish) chopped carrot

1 cup (ish) chopped celery

1 seeded/chopped red bell pepper (can be yellow or orange)

1 seeded/chopped jalapeno (optional)

1 seeded/chopped habanero pepper (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 cans black beans (sure, you can go to the trouble of soaking your own beans, but I don’t)

2-4 cups chicken stock (use vegetable stock to keep this a vegetarian dish) – amount depends on consistency you want

I happened to have matchstick carrots on hand for my salads-in-a-jar that I make for lunch at work, so I used those this time.

I like it spicy, so I use both the jalapeno and habanero peppers. The usual warnings about handling hot peppers apply! Carrots/onion/celery are a standard mirepoix that is a great start to any soup. After all the veggies are chopped, saute them in a large pot with about 4 tablespoons of butter (don’t forget the garlic!):

Once the veggies soften (this smells divine, by the way) add the black beans (do not drain) and stock:

Let this simmer a while (there is not a specific amount of time; you just want the veggies nice and soft). While it’s simmering, taste the broth – if you feel a need you can add red pepper flakes or ground pepper, but honestly I rarely need to do that. There is plenty of great flavor in the base ingredients.

This is a pureed soup. While you can now transfer to a food processor/blender to puree that is really kind of a pain. I highly recommend a stick blender so you can puree it right in the pot:

After pureeing, I let it simmer a bit longer so I can again sample for flavor. Then remove from heat, let the pot cool a bit, and cover and put in the refrigerator overnight. This really helps the flavors meld, plus it makes the next day’s meal a snap. Just reheat on the stove, and serve with some nice bread and fresh avocado (or sour cream, or whatever sounds good to you!).

Bon appetit!

Decorations Nobody Else Has

Admittedly, I have not checked every other house on the planet. I’m pretty comfortable making this assumption though. We built a planter box in our entryway. We have a bunch of small palms planted in it and it provides a nice bit of green and breaks up the open space well. In years past I have not done any holiday decorating on or in the planter, but this year I had the brilliant idea to add my large solar Christmas bulbs to the planter box. It is stupendous, if I do say so myself. And I did.

In the back you can see General Principle peeking over the top. He was also dressed for the season. He took it stoically, as he does everything.

@KellyOSullivan

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Monthly Archives for December 2012