Good Morning Friends,
Whoosh! What happened to the weekend? It feels like it went by in a blur. I hope yours was good. Mine included a lot of yoga (which is really helping my back!!). Saturday morning I watered all the house plants and two of my Christmas cacti are really putting on a show now.
These two usually sit on my sewing machine cabinet, but I moved them to Mabel's ledge to get a good shot of them. The one on the left actually has two plants in the pot and I think the second one (which is loaded with buds) will be a different color than the red. If you click to enlarge, you will see all the buds which appear to be white with a light tinge of pink. Time will tell.
The weekend also included some cooking. Saturday I made a delicious salad (new to us) to go with the lamb chops that Fletch grilled. I can't remember where I saw this recipe, but I will be making it again! You chop up 4 beets (cooked), a pear, half a red onion and about a third of a cup of walnuts. Toss all that together. The dressing is 3TBS EVOO, the juice of a lemon, S&P, a quarter cup of chopped parsley. a third of a cup of chopped celery (which I forgot) and a TBS of honey. Mix together and pour over the beets and pear. YUM!!!
On Sunday I got to work making the cranberry-orange relish and the cranberry chutney for Thanksgiving. The cranberry orange relish is from my Mom's recipe files. You just chop up a bag of cranberries and an orange and then add sugar. It is still tart, but a little sweet. The chutney is one of Fletcher's Mom's recipes and includes a chopped up orange, another bag of cranberries, a lb of raisins, some cider vinegar and then cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Everything is dumped in a pan and cooked on the stove till the berries pop. It thickens up nicely.
The chutney's are uncovered to finish cooling. We had a little with dinner last night - I wanted to make sure it was good enough for Thanksgiving. LOL
There is still a pie to be made - that will be done either Wednesday or Thursday morning (depending on what time we need to be at Mailing's parent's home on Thursday). Today and tomorrow I'm caring for Iris and on Wednesday my washing machine is scheduled to be repaired! The days keep zooming by.
This time of year is one I really enjoy - candles at dinner, wrapping up in a warm shawl, etc. But, I know many (Fletch included) are impacted by the diminished amount of sunlight. Just remember, it is less than a month until the Winter Solstice and then our daily dose of sunlight will steadily increase.
Wishing everyone a gentle week. Enjoy!
I just said the same thing about being less than a month from the solstice -- I can't wait for the light to start coming back! I'm delighted to see your cacti putting on a show, and now I'm really looking forward to all the cranberries later this week. I'm glad the repair person is coming to fix your washer, too!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe solstice is so close! I got out Nina MacLaughlin's Winter Solstice this morning so I can read it in December. I am glad you had such a productive weekend (and that salad sounds amazing!!)
ReplyDeleteI kind of enjoy this time of lessening light; it's good for thinking of ways to feel cozy! That is certainly helped by Christmas cactus blossoms, delicious dinners, and lots of cranberries.
ReplyDeleteLike Bonny mentioned, I love finding ways to feel cozy during the dark winter months. Candles, fires in the fireplace, twinkle lights. All of it! XO
ReplyDeleteI'm with Fletch and dislike these long dark days. Snow is in the forecast for the weekend too. We took our turkey out of the freezer this morning. I don't have much to prepare this year so it will be an easy meal.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Betsy