Seafood Stew, anyone?

When I was much younger, like in my 20's and 30's,  I thought a New Year's Eve couldn't happen unless I was out there celebrating along with everyone else. I had to go to a New Year's Eve party, for heaven's sake, and of course I HAD to stay at the party until after midnight. If we weren't invited to a party, I was devastated.

Now I wonder where I ever got the energy for such shenanigans.

My idea of a perfect New Year's Eve now is to be tucked in comfortably at my own home and to be in bed by 9:00, 10:00 at the latest. I can watch a video of the ball dropping on Times Square on t.v. the next morning.

So, in the spirit of my new attitude towards New Year's Eve, I've made a seafood stew: fresh lobsters, scallops, shrimp, and haddock. (This is Maine, people. Fresh seafood isn't all that expensive for us.) I forgot the fresh crabmeat, but I can add that later if I decide we need it. This is a once-a-year indulgence for us. We'll have it tomorrow evening with our good friends, Jim and Lynn. We'll eat early, they'll head home to bed, and I'll probably be in bed before they're out of our driveway.

This is what the passage of time does to us.

(The thought of 2009 is a bit daunting, isn't it? I can't decide whether to be darned glad 2008 is almost over or to dread what 2009 might bring. Perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised and pleased at what 2009 brings. I hope so. According to this site, 21 days and 2 hours will be a major step in the right direction.)

Maine Seafood Stew

1/2 lb. butter

4 oz. fresh Maine shrimp

5 oz. fresh haddock or cod fillets

5 oz. fresh scallops

6 oz. fresh crabmeat

2 cups clam broth (I skip this.)

8 cups cream (or use some milk)

Melt butter in a deep pan. Add shrimp, haddock, and scallops; sauté them gently until they are cooked. Mix in the crabmeat.

Add clam broth and cream and simmer gently until stew is piping hot. 

Serves 8.

Christmas Reflections

It was a good Christmas.

The special sweater for a special little girl fit perfectly. And there's no harm in admiring oneself in the mirror, is there? (I like the bit of bare belly peeking out.)  

Violet and Douglas got to spend quality time together. I'm sorry, I mean Aurora and Douglas. Santa had brought a Disney Aurora dress for Violet, so she assumed that character for much of the day. Douglas is always glad to see Violet, I mean Aurora, when she pays a visit here.

The roast beef and Yorkshire pudding came out fine, although I think my meat thermometer is on the fritz.

Good friends from practically next door and as far away as San Francisco stopped in to spend some time with us.

Aurora departed, Violet returned, and she got to spend some quiet time with her Nana. Note the lady-like poses!

It was a good day, indeed.

Tiramisu!

I've finally made a tiramisu. This has been one of my goals for years; finally I've done it. This will be tomorrow's Christmas dinner dessert.

I considered several tiramisu recipes before finally settling on the one I used this morning. At first I was convinced I couldn't go wrong with the Pioneer Woman's recipe. Then I noticed she said to use Marsala wine, and that didn't appeal to me. Granted, she said brandy could be substituted for the wine, but still, I couldn't get the image of the Marsala wine out of my head.

Then I found a tiramisu recipe in a local cookbook. It sounded perfect. But then I noticed there's no mention of cooking the egg yolks. Yuck. I couldn't bear the thought of uncooked egg-yolks in the dessert.

Finally I checked out Old Faithful: Allrecipes.com. I scrolled through all of the tiramisu recipes there, read reviews, and settled on this one. As I read its reviews, I noticed a recommendation for making a mascarpone substitute. That sounded simple enough, and when the recipe also mentioned that the substitute is much less expensive than actual mascarpone, I knew I'd make it. I've never bought mascarpone, but I'm all for saving money when possible.  

Then, in the same reviews, I saw mention of a recipe for making one's own ladyfingers. Mine wouldn't win a beauty contest, as you can see from the photo, but I suspect they taste just fine. (Actually, I know they taste just fine because Ken and I scoffed down the leftover ones, and neither of us complained.)

In the midst of putting together the tiramisu, though, I realized I'd forgotten to buy heavy whipping cream when I did my grocery shopping yesterday. Ken to the rescue; he made a dash to the supermarket and came back not only with the whipping cream, but also with a half dozen fresh roses, so that worked out well for me.

I used strong coffee and rum to brush the ladyfingers before piling on the filling. That combination appealed to me. The finished product now sits in the fridge. I hope it'll be a hit tomorrow.

Winter Shots

It's officially winter today, and that's a good thing. The days start growing longer, the winter birds frequent my feeders, and the landscape is covered in a white mantle of snow.

Yesterday's storm brought over a foot of new snow, so Molly and I set out early with the camera and got some shots for you.

As you can see, the nutcracker finally made it to the front porch after spending several days in the front hallway.

Molly and I decided to take another snowshoeing jaunt into the woods this morning. It was beautiful and peaceful in there. We came across a fresh deer trail, so perhaps we were being watched from a distance.

We passed the fairy house again and noticed signs of activity. Do you see the little fairy footprints leading to their front door? I guess they set out early, too, to check out the beautiful landscape.

OK, You Win

My fussing about my non-Christmasy mood prompted my niece to double-dog dare me to get out on my snowshoes today. That's about the last thing I intended to do this afternoon, but I couldn't buckle under a double-dog dare. 

So Molly, looking slightly chagrined here, and I set out for a little jaunt down the woods road behind our house.

My snowshoes were a bit of a challenge to get on, since I couldn't remember exactly how they were supposed to be laced, but I managed

Molly and I set off on our little jaunt. It's not easy to snowshoe with a 70 lb. dog lunging this way and that. I managed to stay upright, though....for the most part. I took only one tumble in the snow as Molly dashed off to try to find DNA evidence on a small pine sapling.

Here she is checking out something buried in the snow. Probably it's deer droppings or something of that caliber.

We came across the little fairy house of last summer and were pleased to see that the fairies are obviously tucked warmly inside. I'm sure their stockings are hung by their chimney with care.

Here is Molly back home, tired from her adventure, but happy. She got a good workout in the deep snow, and so did I.

Thanks for the double-dog dare, Cheryl. I needed that!

At Least Mother Nature Is Doing Her Part

I'm still struggling to get my Christmas mojo, but at least Mother Nature is doing her part. We got about 6-8" of snow yesterday, and today a major Nor'easter is bearing down on us. We've been told to do any necessary errands this morning, then hunker down for the long haul.

I could post some photos from yesterday's storm, but I think I'll get more dramatic photos tomorrow. 

Meanwhile, see the pileated woodpecker in the tree? He visited us one day last week. I snapped the pictures through the living room window and wasn't sure they would come out at all, so I was surprised when I uploaded them into my computer. I like the crazy pattern of the tree branches in addition to the bird itself.

Most of my Christmas shopping is wrapped. I have a little more of that to do today, and I've GOT to finish addressing cards if they are to have any chance of reaching their destinations in 2008.

I've played some Christmas CDs a couple of times, and that has helped to give me some holiday spirit. Why I'm so not into Christmas this year, I don't know. I'm blaming it on the economy. I'm not being a Scrooge, and I certainly know I have a great deal to be thankful for, but I just wish I could feel some excitement about the holiday season.

Our Local Survivor

I need to brag a little bit here today, and tell you that Bob, the winner of $1,100,000 on Survivor, is a local boy. In fact, I taught with him for about 20 years before I retired. He's definitely a true survivor and is known for his ability to build a helicopter from an elastic band and two Popsicle sticks. Well, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but he does have a clever mind. We Mainers are proud of our guy!

Well, gosh, that was fun.

The ice storm left us without power from Friday morning to Sunday morning, almost 48 hours to the minute.

We got off easily, really. There are still homes in Maine and New Hampshire without power, and they might not get it back for several more days.

Usually it's Ken who goes to check on neighbors in storms like this, making sure they're all right and seeing if they need anything. This time a neighbor actually checked on us, and that was much appreciated. He even brought his generator to us for a few hours on Saturday.
That meant we could run the fridge, freezer, and furnace for awhile, so we didn't lose any food and our house was toasty warm.

We have a wood stove, too. I was able to cook meals on it. We certainly didn't suffer any.

I learned it's possible to knit in the pitch dark. All you need is a flashlight strategically propped on the top of the sofa, positioned so that its beam shines on your hands, your needles, and the yarn. Not a bad deal, really.

The one scary moment occurred at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday. We were brought out of a deep sleep by the blare of our security alarm. My heart was in my throat, but I soon realized it wasn't an intruder because Molly was calm. Had it been an intruder, she'd have been barking madly and lunging at him. Ken and I grabbed flashlights and headed to the basement, where Ken disconnected the security system's batteries. Something about the batteries being affected by the power being off for so long?? I'm not sure what caused the problem, but it got the old adrenaline working for awhile there.

All in all,  loss of power for 48 hours was a brief inconvenience and a chance to slow down a bit.

It's Beginning to Look A LITTLE Like Christmas

I've been trying my darnedest to muster up some holiday spirit, but it's a struggle this year, for some reason. 

Maybe it's the economy.

Maybe it's my sore throat, which would win first prize in a Sore Throat Contest, I'm sure.

Maybe it's our lack of snow. Come on, Mother Nature. This is MAINE, for cryin' out loud.

Maybe it's the ice storm that's barreling our way. I've drawn buckets and jugs of water in anticipation of being without electrical power for who-knows-how-long. I've also vacuumed, taken a shower, done my hair, done two loads of laundry....None of these things can be done if the power goes out. (Anyone who lived through Maine's infamous Ice Storm '98 does not take likely the prospect of no electrical power. We lived at our old house then and got off easily: only 24 hours without power. Here in our new neighborhood, though, folks went 14 miserable days without power. Yikes. The prospect makes me weak in the knees.)

I've decorated the mantle, as you can see in the first shot. Ken has brought the life-sized nutcracker downstairs, and he stands patiently in the front hallway, waiting to be taken out onto the porch and placed beside the front door. Every time I catch a glimpse of him from the corner of my eye, I jump, thinking an intruder has sneaked into the house.

I've dug out my carolers. I see they are happily caroling and don't at all sense my glum mood.

Bah-humbug.

(But at least knitting needles don't require electricity, come to think of it.)

Just Like Magic

While at a craft fair a few weeks ago, I noticed one of the crafters was knitting...something huge. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what she was knitting. Then it began to look like a mitten. I could make out what looked to be a thumb. But still, if it was a mitten, why on earth was she making it so huge? I know there are people out there with big hands, but I've never seen a hand large enough to accommodate what she was knitting.

Then I sauntered over to her craft table, where the mystery was solved. On display were several pairs of felted mittens. 

Ah-ha! She was knitting the mittens large enough for Paul Bunyan, then she would felt them down to normal-human size.

So of course I decided to try this myself. I'd had a little experience knitting-and-felting with the handbags I'd made, so I knew at least some of the steps involved.

I knit the above pair of 100% wool mittens a couple of days ago. I'd never before tried knitting mittens, but I found the pattern easy enough to follow. I didn't tell Ken what I was knitting; I simply announced I'd knit a pair of mittens as I handed them to him to try on.

He was speechless, but not with gratitude or admiration. He was wondering how to tell me that the humungous pair of mittens I'd knit were way too big for him. Rather girly-colored, too.

Finally I confessed that my next step was to felt the mittens, and felt them I did: I put hot water and a little soap in my top-loading washing machine, dropped in the huge mittens, started the agitation cycle, checked them every few minutes, and pulled them out of the water once they were my size. It took about 10-12 minutes for them to be "done."

I then rinsed them by hand in cold water, rolled them in a towel, laid them flat to dry, and voila! A pair of super-warm, super-comfy mittens.

P.S. In the top photo, you'll see a little bit of unused yarn. That's all I had left of the skein when I finished the knitting. The directions say these mittens take about 110 yards of worsted weight wool yarn. That has to be a misprint since the pair I knit took about 208 yards of a 210-yard skein. I was really sweating it out as I neared the end of the second mitten.

Santa's Workshop Is Abuzz with Activity: Rachel, Do NOT Read!

I love making gifts. I'm not sure the recipients are always as thrilled to receive my gifts as I was in making them, but I do love making them. There's something satisfying about being able to make a gift for someone you treasure.

This weekend was a dreary one, complete with some snow, so I got to work finishing one of my projects. It's a cardigan for a special little girl, the one who's currently "studying" to become a ballerina.

The yarn is Bella Colour and the pattern is Plymouth Yarn's Baby Afghan and Sweater.

I'm pleased with the finished results. Knitting with cotton isn't as enjoyable as knitting with wool, but I got the job done without major mishaps.

It would be great if the stripes matched at the center of the sweater, but that would be next to impossible with this particular yarn. Even the sample sweater on the pattern doesn't come close in matching the stripes. I'm sure the recipient won't mind.