Sounds of the Season

Here's one of the things I love about my neighborhood:

Every December, the local public high school's marching band puts on Santa hats and marches up and down the streets, horns a-blaring.

They're in shirtsleeves and shorts, but they're playing "Feliz Navidad" like nobody's business. It's their gift to the neighbors, and we all love it.

And yeah, it's usually in the 70s, maybe 60s if it's chilly, and yeah, those are my neighbor's palm trees in the background. But it's Christmas carols they are playing.

This year they marched right by our brand-new picket fence and didn't say a word about the change! Something to do with keeping time and making music and holding your instrument at the proper angle and being on the right foot, I suppose.

Oh, those Sousaphones! How I love them.

And right after the band comes the drill team, with one impossibly cute girl after another:

Bringing up the rear, the banner gals. I'm not sure how many holidays the girl on the left is celebrating at one time; those look like Easter Bunny ears on top of her Santa hat!

There they go, with their precision candy-cane moves and cute grey track suits:

And of course, bringing up the rear comes the John Deere mini-tractor with the Rudolph nose and antlers:

Because no parade is complete without one.

December Thoughts

Now at last it's December, and--for me, anyway--the holiday season begins in earnest.

Goodbye, Thanksgiving leftovers! They're going into the freezer. I don't want to see them any more. Or at least for a couple of weeks. I need a break from turkey; don't you?

Ugh.

Today the pumpkins are coming off the front porch and side tables and going in the green recycling bin. (Maybe next year into a compost pile.)

Goodbye, pumpkins! Goodbye, autumn leaf garlands! Goodbye, ocher and russet and bittersweet!

Hello, white and blue, silver and crystal! Hello, snowflakes!

Ah, snowflakes: We have a quite a collection. There are crystalline ones and tinsel ones and adorable construction-paper ones made by our children years and years ago.

Today, I'm poking around in our CD collection for anything Baroque or madrigal in nature. December always seems the best time for Baroque.

And now that it's December, my thoughts turn toward the gift-giving portion of this season. There won't be much of this:


Ahem. Not that I don't love gifts.

But this season, I don't want anything. Really!

No, that's not true: I want to be aware. Aware of how lucky I am, every day, every time I turn around.

Somewhere I read a clever essay that said most of our modern annoyances and complaints are really blessings that we're seeing the wrong way. I don't recall who first came up with this thought, but it goes something like this:

Are there dirty dishes in your sink? Say your thanks, because dirty dishes mean you have food for you and your family.
Dirty laundry? = Say thanks for having soap and clean water.
Dog poop in the yard? = Somebody with four feet loves you unconditionally.
Long list of errands? = You are blessed to be able to purchase drugs, groceries, dry cleaning, etc.
Bad news in the paper? = You can read!
Aches and pains? = You are able to feel. You are alive.
Got grey hair? = You have hair!

In that light, there's just not much I want this holiday season.


I want all my loved ones to come home. I want to make them yummy meals.

I'd like to finish my project of turning all of my beautiful leftover bits of yarn into sweet little knitted scarves. And then I'd like to give all those scarves away.

I'd like to whip up extra batches of cookies and candy and hearty soups to give to my sweet neighbors--like the one who lets my son park in front of his yard whenever he wants. And the one who swears she's not bothered when my pugs bark maniacally next to her kitchen window. And the one who urges me to help myself to her roses when she's out of town.

Yeah, they deserve this:

And this:

And maybe a homemade version of this:

This season, I'd like to sit in a sunny corner with my pugs on my lap, a pot of tea next to me, and something good to read.

I'd like to send that wonderful feeling to my new "sister" I'm sponsoring in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, she is still working hard to get enough to eat for her family, and establishing a steady supply of clean water.

The watches and the cashmere scarves and the bling and the designer shoes and the limited-edition DVD collections are all very well and good, I suppose.

But this year, this season, I don't need them. I have all the bliss I can wish for, right now. Right here.

I can only wish the same for you, too.

Picket Fence

Finally, our picket fence is here!

It was fascinating watching it put up. Things snapped together and fit in precut sockets like giant Tinkertoys.

The oddball little corner bit looks just fine:

The little gate near the hot-colored roses is taking shape here:

Here's the side that runs up the edge of the driveway:

The too-short cinderblock-and-brick wall we share with the neighbors now is capped with a crisp line of pickets:

The white pickets look terrific against the green grass!

Now all we need is fifty bajillion roses.

My Thanksgiving Retrospective

The lovely holiday of giving thanks is over. The guests have returned home. The leftovers are tucked in the fridge. Now we have our memories, and some photos of a wonderful gathering.














I hope to stay aware of our blessings, and to keep an attitude of thankfulness, for days and days to come.

Thanksgiving Food Trends

We're up to our eyeballs over here in turkey, stuffing, roasted veggies, and bottles of wine. Definitely no time to document our meal step-by-step, but I did want to take a moment and share a very cool graphic from the New York Times that shows where in the country people are searching for thanksgiving-related foods. The big surprise to me was pie crust: do people in the southeast search for pie crust recipes less often because they're buying pre-made frozen crusts, or do they already have family recipes and a cultural knowledge of how to make a good pie crust? More data makes more questions, as my father would point out.

Dreaming of Aprons

It's Day #1 of my prepping-for-Thanksgiving drill. Today I'm drawing up "to do" lists, setting the dining-room table, and knocking out some of the early, do-ahead cooking, like making cranberry sauce and corn bread for the stuffing.

I'm a messy--make that an enthusiastic--cook. When I'm in the kitchen, flour falls on the floor, sauces drip on the countertops, and invariably whatever I'm wearing gets smeared.

Enter the apron. Currently most of my aprons are the no-nonsense, chef's-type: a loop around the neck, ties that encircle the waist, and a single panel of fabric that falls roughly from collarbone to kneecaps.

My aprons are practical, rugged, and sort of blah. Except for one. A few years back, Daughter #2 gave me a wonderful chef's apron emblazoned with a photocopy of my pugs' faces. It's beyond adorable.

But Woman can't survive on one adorable apron alone. Not this Woman, anyway, who dons an apron six or seven days a week.

Lately I've been dreaming about cute aprons. Vintage aprons. Or those that look vintage. And of course, polka-dot aprons.

Oh, they're out there, folks. Here are some of my faves. Here's the "Victory Full Apron" from StitchthruTime:

Ya think the fact that I love this apron might have something to do with the seafoam-green storage cabinet and the vintage canisters on top? Yeahhhhh.

From AOL Shopping, I found these cuties made by Jessie Steele:



That black one with white piping SO has my name on it!

I found a number of outstanding aprons on Etsy, the online handmade goods consortium (If you haven't looked at Etsy, go now! I give you permission. It's a wonderland of great stuff.)

This apron is from Etsy provider "Boojiboo." What a great job she's done of styling the shot--check out that red mixer and vintage stove in the background:


This cutie has polka dots as accent fabric. This is Etsy contributor Dianne Designer Aprons. And I want to live in her house. That's a tantalizing glimpse of a little old white house across the street, and look at the turned-work balusters and column on her front porch:

Oh! Front-porch lust!

Okay, back to aprons. This one from Etsy's Leahashley gets my vote because a)It's mostly black, b)It has polka dots, and c)It has a clever, asymmetrical details:

Half-aprons aren't good for me (I always seem to be hugging a batter-drippy bowl to my chest at some point). But if I were in the market, Dapperduds offers this adorable and unusual apron on Etsy:
This one is from Pam Mariutto on Martha Stewart's website:

Eh! Such cuteness, I feel my resolve to stay away from half-aprons beginning to slip. LoverDoversClothing on Etsy, I hold you responsible!:


Enough apron drooling. It's back to the kitchen for me. Next up: baking cupcakes for one of my houseguests, who turns 20 on Friday!

Interior Design Tip #47

In interior decorating, it is always a good idea to toss elegant and casual elements together in a room for extra visual interest.

For an intriguing twist in the family room, try layering kid-friendly denim beanbags...

...on top of a gorgeous, hand-knotted Persian carpet.

And don't forget to include something living in every room.

Like a potted plant.

Canning for the First Time

My mother's post about eco-smart gift wrapping reminded me of the holiday gifts I plan to give this year: jams, jellies, and spiced peaches. (And speaking of green--edible gifts in reusable mason jars are about as good as they get.) This train of thought reminded me that I haven't shared with you my first foray into canning! Sheesh.

My family, while wonderful cooks/bakers/crafters/knitters, has not to my knowledge included canners. But I seem to be falling down the delicious rabbit hole of artisan, local, organic food, and I was determined to try canning for the first time. The Seattle growing season is rather short, and summer produce is fleeting. If I want to eat berries in January, I had to do something to preserve them in September. Imagine the delight of opening a jar of pure summer when you've been eating primarily root vegetables and you'll see what I mean.

Home canning has taken off this year, particularly among younger people. Whether it's the recession or the trend towards homemade goods or the rise of local and organic produce, a lot more people are preserving the harvest than ever before. For example, the Seattle-based website Canning Across America began in August as a small project among a few friends and has ballooned to a national movement. Join the canvolution!

So although I knew I wanted to can, I didn't have any of the knowledge, skills, or tools to do it. The Ball website was a great resource, as was my roommate Torian who has made jam with her mother all her life. In an amazing stroke of luck, I found a complete canning set on Craigslist for $75, including a big pot, a rack, assorted accessories, four dozen jars, and the Ball Blue Book--the holy bible of beginning canning.

A word of caution: Improperly canned food can be very dangerous. Botulism is a deadly neurotoxin that can live even after your food is boiled, so just throwing things willy nilly into a jar and putting it in a water-bath canner is not safe. The only way to stay safe is to process your cans above boiling (i.e., in a pressure canner) or make the food acidic enough to kill the toxin. Never can without a scientifically tested recipe (such as from Ball or a good university), and never change recipes to be less acidic.


My home canning weekend began with a trip to my local farmers market. Many vendors had discounts on large volumes of produce, specifically for canning purposes. Also keep a lookout for "seconds" produce--these have spots, bruises, or other imperfections that make them less expensive. Because if you're turning them into mush, who cares if your fruit is bruised? I'm not big on pickles or pickled vegetables, so I stuck to fruits.

First up: raspberry jam.


Mmm, how I love raspberry jam. And raspberries themselves. And pretty much anything having to do with raspberries.



This was a lot of raspberries. (Are you drooling yet, Lauren?)


The best way to wash delicate berries is to swish them gently in a bowl of water, then scoop them out and let them drain in a colander.


It was a bit emotionally painful to mush up so many perfect raspberries, but Torian has nerves of steel. No berry went unsmushed by her potato masher of death. (Notice how clean the kitchen is at this point! Didn't stay that way for long.)


We followed the recipe for fresh raspberry jam, adding a bit of pectin for the right consistency. Berries are a very high-acid food, so you don't need to worry about acidifying to prevent botulism. This is why most people begin canning with berry jams; they almost do all the work for you.

Our cans went into the boiling water-bath canner...


...and then when they were done Torian fished them out with a special can picker-upper. This rubber-coated metal utensil came with my canning supplies, but I didn't know what it was. I probably would have tried to use tongs to get the cans out if Tor wasn't there to show me how much easier this was.


The finished cans look like shining jewels. It's really hard for me to leave them alone, but you can't touch them as they cool or the lid won't seal right.


We didn't have quite enough raspberry mush to make a full rack of jars, so we smashed some blueberries into the last two to make a combination raspberry-blueberry jam. I think I liked it even more than the pure raspberry! It's also a beautiful deep purple color.


Once we got the hang of jam, we moved on to harder projects. I attempted a pomegranate champagne jelly, but I didn't put the pectin in on time and it never set. So now I have pomegranate champagne syrup? Oh well, I didn't expect perfection on my first try. I'm sure it will be great for cocktails.

I was pretty pleased, though, at how the spiced peaches turned out. We blanched and peeled the peaches, quartered them, cooked them briefly in a spiced syrup, and then packed them into jars with lemon juice, a cinnamon stick, star anise, and cloves. Don't they look pretty?


I gave my first can away yesterday, to a housemate's friend who was lamenting not having his mom's canned peaches this winter. And the verdict? Delicious.


In total, I canned:
5 pints raspberry jam
2 pints raspberry blueberry jam (one of which my boyfriend has already claimed)
2 pints failed pomegranate champagne jelly
2 pints peach butter (hot damn this is good)
2 quarts whole blueberries
2 quarts tomatoes
8 quarts spiced peaches

Not bad for my first time. Next up: pears!

Eco-Friendly Holiday Gift Tags

Yesterday I discussed alternative ideas to buying holiday gift wrap and ribbon. Today I'm continuing the topic, but this post is all about gift tags. We need gift tags, otherwise your Uncle Bernie can end up opening the lingerie intended for Sister Sue!

What we don't need is to buy gift tags. Using little bits of this 'n' that, you can make beautiful, unique gift tags for almost nothing.

And yes, you could use those adhesive tags you get in the mail from charities. The tags are cute but not very personal. They're also not at all creative on your part. With a little bit of scavenging and planning, you can do far better than this:

First, start collecting paper.

I'm talking leftover bits of gift wrap, clean cardboard, greeting cards, that sort of thing. I found a gold mine at my local independent art store. In the back of the store is the big guillotine of a paper cutter they use to cut customer's orders. Next to the paper cutter, I discovered a treasure trove of beautiful, quality paper. It was all the bits left over after employees cut paper to measure for clients. One polite question later, and I was happily digging through the most beautiful card stock, tag board, and corrugated papers, in a rainbow of colors!

Here's just a small sample of my haul:

The colors boggle the eyes!

Art stores, stationery stores, and office-supply stores all produce paper scrap like this. If you ask, they may be happy to let you riffle through their clean-paper trashcan.

But if you can't find a place that produces paper scrap, look for beautiful boxes and bags at your local mall. This gorgeous, sturdy card stock came from a popular retailer:

Oh, the color! The shine! The possibilities are endless.

This lovely bag, below, came from a local Asian gift shop. Usually I use my own cloth bags when I shop, but when the store is putting my purchases in paper bags this beautiful--and for free!--I take the bag:

This delicate, two-tone scrollwork, below, was on the front page of an annual report. The top part of the brochure is covered with type, but look how pretty this bottom part is:

Sometimes you'll find beautiful paper in the most unexpected places. My cold-weather long johns came in packaging colored a gorgeous grey-blue:

And nothing beats corrugated cardboard for textural interest. This one is a finer corrugate than the usual stuff that boxes are made of. It's perfect for gift-tag projects:

And starting this season, please save all the pretty greeting cards and invites you receive. They are the start of some terrific gift cards for next year:

Okay, here's one thing I bought. But what a deal it was! Several years ago I found this nifty box at Michael's, a craft-store chain. The plastic box is packed with a rainbow of small cards, about an inch and a half square. I've used them for many gift tags, school posters, and other craft projects over the years:

And the edges are decoratively cut in different patterns, for extra visual appeal:

Any good art store carries beautiful, handmade papers for sale. These are pricey, maybe $5 per sheet and up. But if you use the paper sparingly for small things like gift cards or small gifts, one sheet will last you a long time:

So, let's get started!

Gather your tools together. Here I have a cutting mat, a straight edge, an X-Acto knife and fresh blades, a hole punch, rubber cement, scissors, reinforcement circles, and some plain white labels:

Use an X-Acto knife, straight edge, and cutting mat to create perfectly straight-sided squares and rectangles. If you don't have these tools, a good pair of scissors and a steady hand will do just fine.

To begin, cut up a bunch of squares and rectangles to create the "base" of your cards. Use a fairly stiff card stock so the tags won't crumple or wrinkle.

Next, use a punch to create the hole in the card, before you start decorating. That way you can plan your design around the hole:

NOTE: If you have children, they can make these gift tags, too. Just pre-cut the card stock and pre-punch the holes, so they aren't using dangerous X-Acto knives or getting frustrated if they don't have the hand strength to use the hole punch.

Now, cut out little bits of this and that, and just start gluing! Here's an evergreen made out of a bit of aluminum foil, accented with a bit of silver star twistie stuff. The star stuff is pricey, but you only need five or six inches to make a tie that will fasten the card to any package you want:

By the way, all the cards I'm showing you are blank on the back side, so you can write your "To" and "From" sentiments there.

Egad! The orangey Thumb of Death has showed up again. But I love the card, which is just nine reinforcement circles in a grid. On the blue card, they remind me of snowballs or a modern take on snowflakes. I added a pale ribbon to keep in the same color family, which makes the gift tag look more modern, too:

Here's a little bit of that expensive, hand-made Japanese paper, which I've torn on two sides and cut on the other two, with a bit of coordinating cord to form the tie:

For this card, I cut out a bit of the Christmas invitation you saw above, and glued it to a card stock with a pearly sheen. Instead of the expected red or green ribbon, I used a bit of sage green satin:

If you have stickers, or if you have kids (who invariably have stickers!), you can create some fun and easy gift cards in a snap. Here, I glued a skinny green ribbon down the length of one of those little pre-cut cards from Michael's. Then I just pressed the menorah sticker on top of it all:

I love this idea, below: Cut out a series of triangle shapes in one color (here I'm using green) and arrange them on a piece of card stock, gluing them down just at the fat part of the triangle. Overlap them, and you get a stylized evergreen forest. Not gluing the tops down gives the "forest" a slightly 3-D look. I paired a quiet, light-green ribbon with the card, but a bright green or dark green would be beautiful, too.


So, put on some holiday music. Gather all your materials around you. Pour yourself a cup of something soothing to drink. In 30 minutes, you can turn out a flurry of beautiful, unique, and festive gift tags for all your gifts.

If you work for 30 minutes more, you can turn out enough of these tags to give as a gift to somebody else!

Eco-Smart Holiday Gift-Wrapping Ideas

Five million tons.

Five MILLION TONS! That's how much trash we Americans produce between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That's 25 percent more than we generate during a similar chunk of time, the rest of the year.

Some of that trash might not be avoidable. I mean, if your kids want the hottest new robotic hamster complete with his three pals and their plastic habitat, and if it all comes wrapped in cardboard and shrink-wrapped cellophane, what are you going to do? You've got to buy it, packaging and all.

You can lessen your guilt by recycling the cardboard. That's a start.

But consider, also, not buying any new wrapping paper, ribbon, or gift tags this year. That's right: none!

With a little creative thinking and planning ahead, you can do it, whether you are the typical American household with 2.3 children, or a starving graduate student, or a senior citizen.

Here's how:

First of all, start collecting cloth ribbons--not paper ribbons. I'm talking satin, velvet, grosgrain, French-wired, embroidered and so on. Unlike paper ones, cloth ribbons can be used over and over and over again. If they are wrinkled, all they need is a little touch with the iron, or a little steaming over a teakettle, to make them like new again.

So start looking for real ribbons. Look at yard sales and estate sales, craft stores and yardage shops. Beautiful cloth ribbons come free if you receive a premium box of chocolates (like Godiva or Fran's--Mrs. Obama's favorite), or upscale jewelry (like Tiffany's), or if you have friends with really good taste. Save the ribbons! Soon you'll have a boxful to choose from:


Also, start looking at stuff around your house with a new eye. Ask yourself, Could I package something in this? Could I wrap this around a present? Would this be a fun bit of bling on the top of a bow?

Like this plastic vegetable netting, below. Originally, this stuff held cherry tomatoes and shallots. Cut off the ends of the netting, and toss it in a closet or a box you've set aside for gift wrapping.

If you knit or crochet, you'll have leftover bits of yarn. If you sew, you'll have leftover cloth. Don't toss it--save it for making bows or wrapping gifts:

If you can't bear to be without a new spool or two of sparkle for the holidays, then buy something reeeeeally sparkly and use it in small amounts, like a condiment and not a main course. I bought the silvery stuff and the blue/gold stuff several years ago, and they're still going strong! The gold skinny ribbon, btw, is from a box of See's chocolates. Eat the chocolates, save the stretchy gold thingies!

Start looking at magazine ads and circulars with a new set of eyes. These will make beautiful wrapping paper for small gifts. What fun would it be to give somebody a watch, wrapped in that gold wristwatch paper! Watch for all three of these ads, appearing below, totally tranformed:

Newspaper is a very cheap source of wrapping paper. (Just be careful not to smear the ink.) Hang on to certain sections with eye-catching colors. Or set aside the sports page for your football nut, the food section for your chef friend:

All these ideas I'm giving you require nothing much more to pull off than a pair of scissors, some tape, and--if you want to spare your manicure--a nifty tool called a bone folder, which is used for making knife-sharp creases in wrapping paper and such. That's my bone folder, below:

Oops! Not pictured above is a hole punch, essential to one of my favorite wrapping jobs. Take a plain paper lunch bag, pop your gift inside it, fold over the top and punch two holes. Thread a pretty cloth ribbon through the holes, like this:

Tie a bow, add a little something sparkly (this is where my spool of silver stars comes in handy), and you've got a festive look for practically nothing:

Remember the magazine ad with the gold watches, above? Here it is, wrapped around a small gift, with a bit of ribbon in matching shades to underscore the bling. If you have it, tuck a tiny fabric flower in the bow:

Remember the ad from a Mexican fast-food place, a couple photos above? I reinforced the red and green in the ad for a Christmas-y look. That's fresh rosemary, tucked into the red satin bow. It smells divine. Many woody herbs work well for this, as would fresh lavender (for those of you in sunny climates) or a sprig of an evergreen (for those of you in colder lands).

Sometimes the magazine ads are so arresting, a little restraint is in order. Here I used one of those stretchy gold ribbons off a See's candy box as the only adornment. Wouldn't want to cover up that gorgeous...wrapping paper:

And the veggie bags, shown near the top of this post? Wrap one around a small package, add some sparkly twists to tie them shut, plus one on top for extra bling, and you're done:

Once you start re-using things like vegetable mesh, suddenly all sorts of things look like potential gift wrap/containers. Think of toilet paper or paper-towel tubes, empty oatmeal boxes, and cannisters from mixed nuts. Or carefully wash out an empty ice cream carton, and you have a great package for a small gift. The graphics are so good, all you need to do is tie on a ribbon:

I've given out many home-made cookies and candies in these beautiful tea tins, below. Of course, it helps that I drink tea frequently, and that I save every empty cannister. But start now, and you'll have a number by this time next year:

Here, all I did was add a French-wired ribbon in a coordinating shade. How pretty is that?

Some other wrapping-paper ideas: Brown-paper grocery bags, turned inside out. The tissue paper that gifts usually nestle in. Old maps--either those languishing in your car's glove box, or dusty ones available for a song at used-book stores and garage sales. Scarves--new or used. Tea towels for medium-sized gifts. Beach towels for big gifts. Children's art--but be SURE the child agrees to this first, so you don't accidentally use a beloved masterpiece.

So, here's today's gift-wrapping haul. It's beginning to look festive around here:

Tomorrow: Some ideas for almost-no-cost gift tags!

Maple-Baked Squash

When hiking in the Canadian Rockies last summer with a group of fellow Nature-lovers, we stayed at the Mt. Engadine Lodge, a beautiful little gem of a place set in the midst of a pristine meadow. The chef, Brenda, turned out amazing things from her little kitchen on a daily basis.

(Forgive me, fellow hikers, for not posting this recipe 'til now! It's not easy to think about flavors like squash and maple syrup when it's still 102 degrees in my city. But at last Autumn has come, even to Los Angeles, and my mind--and taste buds--turn to All Things Roasty and Cozy.)

Chef Brenda notes this recipe, Maple-Roasted Squash, is one of her most popular with the lodge guests. She says, "People who thought they never liked squash love this dish. And people who like squash looooove this dish!"

Ooooh, Brenda, you are so right; this recipe is the food of the gods. It is Squash's gift to Mankind. It is...well, you just have to try it, people. It's going to be a favorite of yours. I just know it.

So, here it is, just in time for Thanksgiving!

Please note: This recipe is very much subject to taste. There are few hard-and-fast requirements in it; a little less butter, a little more sweet potato, substituting cinnamon for cardamom--it's all probably fine. Think of this more as a a suggested guideline than a recipe in the strict sense of the word.

I've printed the recipe at the bottom of this post. In the meantime, I'll give you the step-by-step version. Here is our Cast of Characters:

Begin by roasting a whole butternut squash and a sweet potato until nicely done and squishy:

Cut them in half, scoop out the squash's seeds, and plop the flesh of both veggies into a large mixing bowl:
Toss in some butter and ground cardamom and stir until the butter melts:

Taste, and if you like more sweetness, add some maple syrup or brown sugar:

Salt and pepper to taste:

Then add two eggs and beat the mixture until it gets light and fluffy. This is most easily done with an electric mixer, but if you don't have one, you can approximate the fluffiness with a wire whisk and a whole lot of upper-arm workout:

Pour the whipped mixture into a buttered casserole dish:

And pop it in the oven to bake. While it's baking, make a topping out of bread crumbs or ginger snaps crumbs, combined with a little freshly grated nutmeg:

Combine the crumbs and nutmeg in a small bowl, and add some melted butter:

Oh, lordy! At this point it's all I can do, not to eat the topping as is! Anyhow, mix the butter into the crumbs:
About 15 minutes before the casserole is fully cooked, take it out of the oven. It will look something like this:
Sprinkle the crumbs over the top, and return the casserole to the oven:

Remove from the oven and dig in!


Mt. Engadine Lodge's
Maple-Baked Squash
(Yields 3 or 4 servings)

1 butternut squash
1 small-to-medium sweet potato
1/3 C. butter (plus another 1/4 C., melted and reserved for the topping)
1 tsp. cardamom
brown sugar or maple syrup, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
2 eggs
1/2 to 3/4 C. bread crumbs or crushed ginger snaps
grated fresh nutmeg, to taste

Preheat oven to about 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the whole squash and sweet potato in the preheated oven and roast for about an hour (both take the same time to cook).

Remove from oven, cut each in half, scoop the seeds out of the squash, and place the flesh of both in a large mixing bowl. Add 1/3 C. butter and the cardamom and stir until butter melts. Taste to see how sweet the mixture is; if needed, add a little brown sugar or maple syrup. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add two eggs, and beat entire mixture with an electric mixer until it gets light and fluffy.

Pour the mixture into a buttered casserole dish (if you are doubling this recipe, an 11x7 dish or a 13x9 should do; if you aren't doubling it, an 8x8 dish works). Bake about 45 - 60 minutes. Fifteen minutes before finishing, mix together in a small bowl the 1/4 C. melted butter with the bread crumbs or ginger snaps and nutmeg. Sprinkle over top of casserole and let it finish baking, about 15 minutes more.

A Rose By Any Other Name

So, I'm researching what roses we want to put in the new rose garden. We have 75 linear feet, with roses on both sides of the fence (yup, putting that in, too). Staggering roses on both sides of the fence, with a bush about every three feet, we need about 50 rose bushes.

That's a lot of roses!

And that means lots of research.


But I know what I want in a rose:

1.) It has to smell great. I think a bloom with no scent is a cheat, a letdown. The waste of a perfectly good rose.

2.) The rose must stick to a restricted palette of colors. (See a glimpse of the color palette in the photo, above.) Now, roses are so beautiful, they can get away with being any color they want. Even colors I don't gravitate towards--orange, brown, apricot--look great when rendered in roses. But too many colors in a garden can look haphazard, chaotic, messy. And so, I want to limit the rose bed to colors that look good with the outside of my house (gray with white trim).

Time for a disclaimer: My husband likes roses of all colors. If it were entirely up to him, he'd plant every color of the rainbow. Multiple colors of flowers have always made him happy. So we reached a compromise. Against the house, there's a pre-exisiting patch of colorful rose bushes with bare spots where a few bushes died. We've agreed to put in some wild colors there, in deference to the hubby. He gets the house-side roses; I get the fence-side ones.

Okay, back to my demands!

3.) The blooms must have lots of petals. The simplest of all roses have only five petals; the fancier ones can have upwards of 50, 60, even more. Me, I like petals. Lots and lots of petals. Luckily, rose catalogs carry this info, so I can steer my search toward the big, jam-packed blooms.

4.) The bushes should be happy growing along a fence. No climbers, because the fence will be fairly low, and no ramblers, because I don't want them to. Ramble, that is. No miniatures, because the scale of the yard and house don't lend themselves to it.

5.) Finally, the rose bush must rate nothing less than a "7" on the American Rose Society's 10-point scale. I don't have the talent or patience to coddle along a beautiful but needy rose that only measures a 4.6 on the ARS scale.

There are more than 3,000 rose varieties out there, and I think I researched them all! I pored over coffee-table books and grower's catalogs.

While doing the research, I ran across lots of roses with simply wonderful names. If I were picking roses on name alone, these would be among my finalists:

I found roses with names of food I love, like Buttercream, Butterscotch, Candy Cane , Cupcake, Gourmet Popcorn, Hot Cocoa, Lemon Zest. I can feel my hips spreading, just reading the names! Here is Candy Cane:

There were roses with dance-related names, such as Ballerina, Dancer, Pas de Deux, Prima Ballerina, Salsa, Swan Lake. Here is Pas de Deux:

And roses named after some of my favorite celebrities: Audrey Hepburn, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Diana, Princess of Wales, Princesse de Monaco, Mozart. This is Audrey Hepburn. I saw this variety of rose growing over her grave in Switzerland a few years ago:

A few make the name list simply because their names are so unusual!: Earthquake, Four Inch Heels, X-Rated. I was almost afraid to Google X-Rated, but look how sweet it is!:

I found lots of roses named after things I love: Eiffel Tower, English Garden, French Perfume, Grey Pearl, Tiffany, Jacaranda, Laughter Lines, Lavender Lace, Lavender Pearl, Moonlight, Night, Pearl, Pegasus, Puppy Love, Sea Pearl, Tea Party, Teddy Bear, and a lot with "Silver" in the name: Silver Cloud/Dawn/Lining/Moon/Shadows, and Silver Star, not to mention, Sterling Silver. Here is Moonlight:

I found roses named for admirable qualities and things to strive for: Elegance and Freedom and Chuckles and Giggles and Glad Tidings and Glamour and Glee, Hope for Humanity, Hope and Joy, Love, Make Believe, Peace, Quietness, Simplicity. This is Glad Tidings:

There were roses that reminded me of my beloved mountains: Mount Shasta, Rushing Stream, Sequoia Gold, Sierra Sunrise, Snowcap. This is Sierra Sunrise. It's a miniature:

And I even found roses with my family's names: Grace and Sheer Bliss, Ruthie, and Sexy Rexy. This is Sexy Rexy:

And this is Sheer Bliss:

These last two actually meet all the other requirements. Sheer Bliss is going in the garden for sure. And I'll put in Sexy Rexy, too--but I'm going to giggle every time somebody asks me what its name is.