Looking Back: November 2015

The month of November began as it always does, with Granddad's birthday.

He celebrated 96 with balloons and company,

and complete disbelief that he was that old.

And he enjoyed the company and the celebration,

but the candy really got his attention!

Then there was the traditional Guy Fawkes bonfire,

with spectacular sparks flying high over our heads.

In fact, November is a month of traditional celebrations, isn't it?

We celebrated the Beaujolais Nouveau with a wine party,

a taste of the brash new wine and a glass of good old wine.

It's good to have traditions.

HoosierKitty added a new one to Thanksgiving: cranberry cordial.

It was a lovely addition to the usual feast,

which we enjoyed all the more for the Indy Duo who shared it with us.

There was even more storytelling, with PC at the IU Art Museum.

and snow, actual cold wet snow, made a very brief appearance.

But mostly November was bright and clear,

so busy and so full of parties and events and work

that I made little record of it beyond a few photos.

The critic

Some lovely pale beans came in the farm share.

 I'm not sure what variety they are but they are tender and tasty.

I fixed a savory salad with them, blanched just to the right texture and tossed with shallot in a vinaigrette.

Yummy!

Sat down to enjoy a bowlful and realized that I wanted something to drink with it.

As I opened the refrigerator door, I heard a delicate jingle and soft thump behind me.

Oh no!  That Sidekick Cat was on the counter  -- he would eat my beans!

I turned around, 

expecting to catch him with his nose in my bowl.

No.

Not him.

Not eating my beans.

He was industrially scraping the heck out of the counter trying to bury them.

"I have discriminating taste," says the Sidekick Cat.

There's a first time for...

This is the time of year when, honestly, we've been inside far too long.  We're tired of weather and predicted weather and talking about the weather.  We've done all the usual passing time activities and we're bored.

 We need novelty!

So it was absolutely the perfect time for me to attempt to make sushi for the first time.

Got to work on my veggie slicing techniques, but I do think the rice turned out perfectly.

The ones where the filling fell out?  No problem, I just ate all of those so...

the platter looked pretty good!

Of course sea weed, cucumber and avocado made for a rather monochromatic presentation,

so the red cabbage salad with miso-sesame dressing livened up the plate.

The afternoon cooking went quickly, I enjoyed trying something completely new...

and Granddad even asked for seconds!

Now there is a lot of dull February yet to come --

 what shall I attempt next?

Granddad's been having fun

Yes, the Old Guy has been living it up.

He got to dress up and stay out late.

He got to entertain visitors.

He got presents.

He had lots of fun with company.

And Mimi showed up with a picnic featuring honey baked ham sandwiches.

As he says,

"Pretty good, for an old duck!"

The More We Get Together

In storytime we sing it, and in my heart I feel it:

"The more we get together...

together...

together,

the more we get together,

 -the happier we'll be!"

August Outside

I'll continue my August retrospective with some happy outdoor memories.

One would be hiking with my brother by the "lake" that isn't currently a lake -- I know that looks like water behind him but it is actually dense deep weeds in the sun.

We did find some water on that hike, off the trail and down to the creek that fed the lake.  There was almost enough to skip stones...and I was with a champion stone skipper!

On the hottest afternoon of the whole week we took off for a real lake,  racing across the burning beach to get to the --ahhhh--cool water.

We floated up and down with the gentle waves and wondered where everyone else was.

Wouldn't you think on a fine hot afternoon like this that the water would be full of folks?  We swam, waded, built sandy structures, and pretty much had the place to ourselves.  One of us sat in the shade up on the hill with a good book, and I am NOT sharing the picture of the chair that ripped apart when I joined her and sat down in it. 

Hot?  You need something cold.  Cold and sweet.  So many choices, it was hard to decide...

but, YUM, when you got exactly the best flavor ever!

Maybe it was the way I cooked them?

Mimi stayed with us for a while, as she is adjusting to increasing vision loss.  And so we got to share this:

golden forest chanterelles picked for her by a friend in the Indiana woods.

 I carefully followed instructions, washing and drying them before sauteing in butter and white wine.

 Granddad was worried about eating wild mushrooms, despite my showing him the description in the mushroom ID book. 

They did indeed have a distinctive almost fruitlike odor, they were indeed lovely to look at... but the taste?  We all decided to prefer morels.  So we added pesto to the pasta,  finished off the white wine, and it was delicious.

One weekend, many celebrations -- not enough pictures

One quick weekend...

it was Mother's Day weekend (note the balloon, now on its second year of celebration)

and there were fabulous flowers.

(lots more pictures of flowers than people!)

It was a weekend for Company and getting together and eating.

A weekend for presents

and sharing.

It was also someone's birthday, and the Wy Cowgirl took his picture but no one took a picture of cake and candles and so forth. 

There was time for conversation

and time for a walk in the woods.

One quick weekend, not enough pictures,  lots of good memories.

Stinky Cheese

Mimi introduced us to raclette long ago.

She talked about being in Switzerland, where the rounds of raclette cheese were heated on stones in front of a fire and the melty parts scraped off onto a plate with warm potatoes, small sour Cornichons, and little white pickled onions.  Ideally one would be in the Alps, after a day of hiking or skiing, when one settled down in front of the fire to a plate of this tasty hot oozy cheese.

We have not yet made it to Switzerland to experience this (I borrowed the photo of the authentic method of making raclette from this blog.)

However Mimi has made sure that we have experienced raclette!  With real raclette cheese.
For a long time she couldn't get the right cheese here and we heard much about her search for authentic raclette cheese.  This search often involved driving to distant large cities.  Now she finds it at Krogers.

 

Her little red raclette maker has served many a meal. 

We've gathered at her house, where raclette was on the menu for special occasions over many years.

But not just at Mimi's house - the little red raclette maker has been carried to many other spots.

Mimi has a careful list of things to remember to bring when she travels with raclette.

We all loved raclette on the porch at the farm.

Here the raclette maker is shiny and new -

And here it has become a bit battered.

But it still produces that wonderful treat.

I was delighted when Mimi arrived with the old raclette maker and four chunks of odoriferous cheese for my birthday.  I like a meal with a history!

 The traditional wooden plates, the bowl of warm potatoes, the slices of baguette, farm-fresh ripe tomatoes, sour pickles and Italian red wine graced the table.

Keep on serving, Mimi -

Viva la Raclette!!!