Hoar Frost

When we went out to begin our rounds for Christmas Eve, we were greeted with a strange sight:

That's hoar frost. It was very humid out, and very still, and just below freezing. I've never seen anything like it before- some of the ice needles were more than an inch long, and they were incredibly delicate.


All the stems of the trees, the dried grasses and weeds, even the needles on the white pine trees were covered in spikes. It was only like this on the mountain where my parents live; once you went down to the valley it disappeared.

mmmcookies

On Monday my best friend came over and we made Christmas cookies. I started out with Magic Cookie Bars, also known as death-on-a-plate for my husband. These are delicious, but really rich and cholesterol-inducing.
1/2 c butter
1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 c chocolate chips
1 1/3 c flaked coconut
1 c chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. melt the butter in a casserole dish in the oven while its preheating. Mix the crumbs in and press them down evenly in the bottom of the pan. Drizzle the condensed milk over the crumbs, then layer on the chocolate, coconut, and nuts. Bake for 25 minutes, then cool.
My friend made the oatmeal ones from a recipe I used a lot in high school. It makes very fluffy, almost cake-like cookies that are really filling. You can eat them for breakfast without feeling bad (hey, it has oatmeal and fruit, which is more than can be said for doughnuts). If anyone wants the recipe I'll be happy to post it.
We finished up with a big batch of peanut butter blossoms, which is definitely a two-person job due to all of the rolling and sugaring involved. But oh, are they good warm out of the oven.
I also put all the lights on the tree, a job which my mother has traditionally held but which she also loathes with a deep and abiding passion. I got a lot of pine sap in my hair, but I think it turned out pretty nicely.

Christmas Spirit

Due to my grandmother breaking her ankle, I decided to leave early for New York to help out my family. Poor Grandma was stuck in the hospital sans Christmas cheer, so we decided to get her a little tree and make some decorations for it.
First, I made a tree skirt out of felt with ribbons to tie it together. My mother sewed on yellow fringe around the edge, and it looked very cute, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it all finished. I also made ornaments out of beads, bells, and metallic star stickers.

I also made paper cranes out of wrapping paper, and hung them around the tree. The tree had lights already on it, and I made sure to tie on all the ornaments, so it was pretty easy to get it to the hospital.
It was a pretty big hit with her room-mate and the nurses. If she sends me a picture of it finished I'll try to post it.

Homemade Cornish Pasties

I made Cornish Pasties a few months ago, and had a lot of filling left over, so I froze it. Nathan requested that I make some pasties to tide him over while I'm out of town, and I agreed (as long as he would help me make them). First of all, here's roughly what I put in my pasty filling:

1 lb bulk sausage
1 lb ground beef
1 large minced potato
1 medium minced rutabaga/turnip
2 minced carrots
1 minced onion
1 cup peas
salt
pepper
thyme
parsley
gravy mix powder

You can really put almost anything in, this list is just what I used. You can see why I had a lot left over. After you've made the filling, take pastry dough and cut it into circles (half large for the bottoms, half smaller for the tops) that will fit a muffin tin. I've also made these by stuffing filling into pastry dough envelopes, but I like this method better.

my able assistant

Line the muffin cup bottoms with the larger circles, pressing into place and making sure the pastry reaches the top edges. Next, fill with the meat.


Once the bottoms are all filled, brush the edges of the pastry bottoms with water and place a small pastry circle on each one. Push the dough down onto the filling, and press the edges of the dough together so that it's sealed.


After the tops have all been sealed on, cut vents in the top crust with a sharp knife, and brush the dough with beaten egg. This is optional, but I find that it keeps the pasty from being too crumbly during eating.



Once all of the pasties are made, put the tin into a 350 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the tops are a dark golden-brown. Check early to make sure your crusts aren't burning, especially if your oven is unreliable like mine is.


Meanwhile, if you enjoy the tasty things in life, make or heat up some gravy. I'm lazy and use gravy powder, but I'm sure homemade gravy would be yummy. This isn't the healthiest meal in the world, but it makes great comfort food. You can be pretty flexible with the ingredients as well, if you want less meat, or to substitute the kinds of meat and vegetables used. If you cut out the sausage and/or use low fat ground beef, add in a bit of butter or margarine to the filling so it's not dry.

yummy

Garden news

So today Nathan went outside, and found this:


In case it's not obvious, that brown and white blur that Finn's looking at is a small dove that somehow managed to get inside the bird netting. It was pretty scared, and Finn almost got trapped in the netting himself trying to get to it. We eventually fended him off and got the sides of the netting up enough for the poor thing to get out. This is not what I thought they meant by the name bird netting.

After that fiasco, I decided that since I was out there I might as well pick some of the larger squash. With pattypans it's better to eat them when they are small, and I didn't want these ones to get tough. I think that there will be enough small ones ready for another harvest in a few days.

I cut them up and steamed them together with some wax beans and peas from the garden. There's something extra delicious about eating food that you've grown yourself.

Going to the Art Festival

So, on Friday night Nathan told me about this burger place that was opening on Mill that was supposed to be delicious (arguably better than In'n'out). He made the burgers sound so good that we scrapped our plans for roast chicken and instead went out to try this paragon of fast food: Five Guys Burgers and Fries. And you know what? It was delicious (though they didn't have the special sauce that In'n'Out has). But the important part of that evening was that we realized that this was the weekend for the Tempe Festival of the Arts that's held biannually on Mill.

Because it was getting dark and cold out, we decided to come back the next day, and bring Finnegan as well. For some reason it seemed to be three times as big as normal, and they had a lot of really good artisans and vendors this year. We got some really delicious meadowfoam honey, and a beautiful hand blown glass ornament. The honey lady had dozens of different kinds, and we asked for one that she considered unusual. The meadowfoam (a type of flower) gives it a yummy almost marshmallow-like flavor, and it's amazing in tea.


Finn was a little skittish at first, but he calmed down and was actually really good around all the people. For some reason he gets a lot of attention, even at a place like the art festival where there are a ton of dogs. I suspect it's because everyone's used to attractive purebreds, but scruffy little hobo dogs like Finn are more exotic.
I hope that the festival in the spring is just as good. Next time, we should try to remember to go, instead of accidentally stumbling upon it. The organizers did a great job this year.

Tired scruffy little hobo dog.

Collard greens

While shopping at Sunflower today I spied collard greens on sale, and decided it would be a good time to break out a recipe I've been wanting to try (recipe here). Collard greens are good for you, and can often be found very cheaply. You can use broccoli and turnip greens interchangeably, as well.

The most difficult part of this recipe is cutting up the greens. The stems are tough, so your best bet is to fold the leaf in half and slice it out.
Next, fold the de-veined leaves together and slice into ribbons. It's easiest to wash the leaves after slicing them. I used my colander for this.

Slice up an onion (I had a lot of greens, so I increased all the rest of the ingredients) and garlic, if you're not using bottled garlic.


Next, slice the bacon into 1 inch pieces. You could probably use ham instead, but come on, who doesn't love bacon? Warning: this step will make your hands shiny.

mmmbacon

Fry the bacon in a deep pot until it's crispy (add some dried red pepper if you like), take it out with a slotted spoon, and sautee the onion and garlic in the bacon grease. This step will smell delicious.


Add the bacon back in, and then the greens. Stir them around until they're wilted, then add the chicken broth and wine. I used non-alcoholic wine, but you could use the regular stuff, or more chicken broth, interchangeably.
Let this all cook with a lid on for half an hour, and you'll end up with a delicious pot of collard greens. We ate it as a side dish, but I bet it would be great on rice as well.