Daily Archives: November 16, 2009

Scary Projects

Posted on November 16, 2009 | 2 Comments

Years ago, Jim and I moved halfway across the country to a city we didn’t know at all. We ended up spending a month in a two-star hotel with breakfast on a corporate rate. In the end we found a place to live, even though we only brought one car and Jim worked 1/2 hour away from the hotel. So if I wanted to find a place to live I had at least a two-hour commute every day and otherwise I had no car and there was a really crummy grocery store next door as well as a drycleaner and fast food restaurant. Yuck.

No matter what time of day I decided to take a shower, the maid knocked on the door. We had an apartment-sized frig for sodas and fruit and vegetables, and brought our own herbal tea but the routine got old, fast. When I didn’t have the car I walked to errands like grocery and bank and cleaners for Jim’s shirts. Then I went nuts. So, I got myself a craft project. Christmas was coming up so I got three differently-sized polystyrene balls, a hot glue gun and glue sticks, and found non-dyed pistachios from the grocery.

Also, coming into play was an on-sale melamine bowl with Santa on the bottom and several gold ornaments. I spent hours hot-gluing pistachios to those balls to make a holiday ornament for our “space.” You glue them open-side out and must keep track of sizes. And they all go bad in a month. So at least 12 solid hours went into these temporary ornaments but what else was I supposed to do sitting in a hotel room? Yes, we did bring my computer and sometimes I had internet access.

I say this because I just got a floral foam cone and cranberries. Place a straight pin through the cranberry at the stem, roll in whisked egg whites and roll in sugar. Attach to the cone from the bottom up. Again, sizes are important. I believe this 12″ cone will be our Christmas tree this year. It will be placed on the mantel.

Yes, I go to lengths to please the ones I love. I don’t like crafts because I’m no good at sewing or anything else but have a few I’ve perfected over the years. They’re like snow-people, they disappear because nuts and cranberries go bad. My recipes aren’t difficult, but the techniques to get there may be.

So I cook every day and perhaps do two craft projects per year. I still remember sitting in that corner chair in the hotel room for hours gluing pistachios to a styrofoam ball. That’s when we both knew we had to get a larger place to live, with a real kitchen. Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial

For the Dog Who Has Everything…

Posted on November 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Do you remember your grandmother’s ice cream machine? A big wooden tub that encased a small can, which was hand-cranked (the kids lined up for that one) or electric. She placed ice and rock salt around the metal can inside the wooden enclosure. Why salt? To make the ice colder and freeze the delicious blueberry (or whatever) ice cream was inside.

As we settle into our first long winter of deep snows, one ski resort is already open. We anticipate much plowing will be done and also, the HOA here is salt-happy. What happens when your dog goes out on ice and snow saturated with rock salt? Her paws freeze and she limps until the hurt is gone, then when she arrives home, even after toweling off she licks her paws.

There are two solutions: booties, which most dogs hate and I can’t imagine doing that first thing in the morning; and a new trick we’ve found out from neighbors, paw wax. We can’t find it at the local pet stores so had to get it online, it should arrive later this week. Looks like it’s going to be a very cold but sunny, snow-free week so if we stick to the trails instead of driveways and roads, she should be OK.

So, what do you get for the pup in northern climes? Try paw wax. We ordered a brand called Mushers and will let you know how it works. Zoe didn’t understand why it took me so long to get ready this morning in 13 degree Farenheit weather. It was the boots! Coat, hat, gloves, but my feet were protected by socks and boots and hers aren’t, at least until later this week. Oh, I gave away her grosgrain ribbon jingle bell collar to a pup last year, so we got her a green velvet one with golden bells. She has to be bathed and groomed before we take her photo with that collar!

I’m still trying to find a capon. There’s a new farmers’ market in walking distance, indoors. I bought a “culotte” of lamb, that is frozen. I’m going to thaw it out later in the week, marinate it in good olive oil, garlic, rosemary and perhaps some balsamic vinegar and we’ll grill it. It’s local lamb. I also bought a fresh loaf of artisan cranberry-orange bread that I immediately wrapped and froze for either cranberry trifle or bread pudding. It may become the base of a Thanksgiving dessert.

I made pizza last night, from scratch of course. It was very good and we still have an entire pizza left over to heat up another night. I wanted to make roasted winter squash soup today but may run out of time as I’ve been cleaning and doing loads and loads of laundry, winter jackets and all. Fabric softener in the wash seems to make a difference. Right now inside is 23% humidity, a desert-like environment in which skin dries and cracks and electricity crackles every time I touch something or take off a sweater. Let’s hope this helps.

Thanks for tuning in to the early winter edition of Dee’s mountain cooking blog! Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Pet, Utah

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