Retiring this blog, but...

I've been meaning to retire this blog, the concept having pretty much run its course (what I made for dinner, for those who remember). I'll keep online, of course, and I may even get around to tagging everything to make it more search-able. Here is the last photo for this blog, our Christmas dinner of roast leg of lamb, polenta, and Swiss chard malfatti (which I make every Christmas).

At any rate, I'm up to other online projects these days. I'm posting random anythings via Tumblr and I'm on Pinterest, in case you Pinter. And of course, I write all day, every day for The Stir. So you see, there is way more than enough of me on the Internets these days. Let us not say goodbye. Let us say hasta luego.

I Am So Over Holiday Baking

There's something I need to come to terms with. I don't love baking. Why do I compulsively fritter away my precious spare time doing shit like this? It ends in 2012. I will make my son a birthday cake and maybe a few cookies, but no more death by baking. See this thing? It's a from-scratch instrument of torture. 

I don't even LIKE cake.

It is cute, though, isn't it.

We Three Gnomes

I based this project on these felt trolls. We happened to have a shrunken cashmere sweater handy (long story) and each of us did our own riff on the stuffed Christmas creature. We used marbles to add a little weight. You could almost use these as doorstops.

From left to right: Jasper, me, Lane.

Happy holidaying!

The Party, After You Left

After dinner, after the pie, after the dancing

Lane on clean-up duty

Falling asleep to Watcher in the Woods

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

This year we squeezed in some friends with their two little boys into our home for dinner. To go with the more casual theme I covered our drop-leaf table with craft paper and set mis-matched napkins out -- which you can do if all your plates are white. One of our trees out front produces gorgeous, bright-hued, waxy leaves which I used in lieu of flowers.

Olives, nuts, and cheese -- which we didn't really need because we all went up on the roof for oyster slurping. I was especially impressed by our friends' 7-year-old son, who showed enthusiasm for both oysters and vinaigrette.

Salad of spinach, fennel bulb, and apple with an apple cider vinegar and delicata squash seed oil dressing, topped with a bit of saffron fennel salt. And from that point on we were having so much fun I neglected to take any more pictures! No turkey shot this year. Oh well. We had a bourbon red (or maybe a blue slate, not positive) which I overcooked a bit. I can't help thinking these heritage breed turkeys would be better served braised. I think I'll have to try that next year. Hope your Thanksgiving was tasty and convivial!