Roast Beast Dinner

The gardening efforts of late have been restricted to plugging in lights at dusk and unplugging them before bed.  But life goes on through the holidays and there's time to cook.  Earlier in the month were rounds of Scottish shortbread, homemade chocolate candies, and several batched of Chex mix.  With the heart of the Christmas holidays, it's time for the savory specials.

We planned a special Christmas dinner, but by Christmas day we were too tired to cook it.  So we held off for a couple more days and last Friday I cooked our slightly delayed Christmas dinner.

The Menu

Standing Rib Roast

Asparagus with Dried Tomato Pesto

Sauteed Mushrooms

Mashed Potatoes

Pan Gravy

Scottish Shortbread & Homemade Candy

We picked up the roast about a week early and put it (unwrapped) in the spare refrigerator to let it age for a week before I cooked it.  I used Alton Brown's recipe for standing rib roast and it was very successful.

 Successful - OMG Delicious! It was tender and moist with a great crust.  The aging had intensified the flavor of the meat by letting some of the water in the roast evaporate.  Then it was cooked in a very slow oven, 200 degrees for about 5 hours in a stoneware covered roaster. Finally it was put into a 500 degree oven (still in the stoneware) for 15 minutes to develop the crust.  After the high heat, it was placed on the cutting board and covered with foil and allowed to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

The asparagus is a recipe I came up with last summer.  I melt some butter and oil in a large pan. Once it's melted I stir in a couple tablespoons of sun dried tomato pesto sauce.  Add the asparagus and toss and let it saute in the pan.  We like ours to still have some body, not overcooked and limp.  For this thin asparagus it took about five minutes.

The mushrooms were sauteed in butter and when they were brown I added some brandy and let them sit in the sauce while I turned my attention to the other side dishes. I added a little espresso salt after they were done to round out the flavor. They absorbed the butter and brandy while they were sitting.

The mashed potatoes and gravy were not given a lot of attention - I had too many other pots on the stove - but they were good.

I didn't get any pictures of the shortbread or the candy, maybe next year - there won't be anymore this year.

For next year - who knows.  But we have been making it a tradition for the last couple of years to have a crown  rack of lamb on New Years Day.  Here's a picture from 2 years ago. This is on my parent's wedding china.  Each of the kids have two place settings and we divided up the serving pieces.  It only come out for very special dinners with the love of my life

I don't want anyone to forget that this blog is not only about gardening and dogs, it's about cooking too.  

You can wipe the drool off your chin now.

December Snow

I heard someone this week say, "Any other time of year everyone would be cursing the weather, but in December it's 'Christmasy.'" We had our first snow storm, and the government was nice enough to close for the day, so I was able to get out with my camera before the early sunset of mid December.

I love the colors of the season, so I had to capture the red berries on a couple different Nandina bushes around the yard.

But I couldn't let the Nandina upstage the holly grove.

That's 4 of the six trees we had planted a couple years ago.  I'm giving serious thought to adding holly berry bushes (probably about 5 [4 female and a male] and in a few years we can start decorating with fresh holly cuttings and berries in the house.)

But now it's time for the close-ups outside. :-) 

Looking around the yard brought a few more colors popping out of the snow.

And a few more stark shots.

And for a chuckle, I had to do a double check when I looked at the way the snow was settling on the grill. He didn't look happy at being left out in the cold.

The Garden Glows

The phenomenon started on Veterans Day weekend (prompted by fine weather for November.  It spread on Black Friday and has taken over the yard and garden.

Before the infestation, there were simple natural decorations in place:

Then the lights started making an appearance. They'taken over the backyard. It's sent tendrils out all over the yard and has taken root at the outside outlets. The whole house is surrounded from rooftop on down.

We've added more lights to the backyard than we've done before.  All the work on the garden this year makes me want to add to what we've done before.  We usually use a lot of white lights around the side and front and save the color lights for the backyard. So we've kept with that color scheme and I've made several trips out for more colored lights.

Here is the front and side. In the forefront is a weeping cherry tree.  Until we bought the house I had never heard of a weeping cherry tree. It is so stately that I reserve simple white lights for it; even though our general plan is anything close to the house is done in white while trees and shrubs farther out in the yard get colored lights.

I have to say that I had fun last week on one of my trips to Lowes for more lights when another shopper asked me if I knew much about putting up lights and if I could give her some help picking out what she needed. She said it was their first year getting serious about lights...

I guess I've been serious about lights for a few years (decades?)

While I was busy outside, Gloria was busy inside, more pictures to follow. But here's one of my collection that only comes out for the holidays.

Sub freezing temps, beef stew,soda bread, and a bottle of red

It finally started getting seriously cold today. The weather forcast said we'd get up to 33 degrees today, so most of the day was at or below freezing, before the wind chill. So we had to make plans for cold weather.  We had some stew meat in the freezer, so we opted for a pot of beef stew, to warm the house during the day, and our tummies this evening.

I started it last night, browning the meat and cutting up the vegetables, so this morning it just needed to go into the crock pot and simmer through the day.

By this evening it was a bowl of warmth and comfort waiting to be dished up.  We were in Gettysburg yesterday, at one of our favorite wineries - Adam's County Winery; we visited a Irish shop and picked up a fresh loaf of Irish Soda Bread. While we at Adam's County Winery we tasted and picked up a bottle of their Nouveau. For dinner we had hot stew, fresh bread, and a glass of red.  And plenty of curious attention from the four legged kids.

The big outing yesterday took us to a big produce market where we got some great apple cider, some relishes, and hoemmade baked goods.  From there we headed to the winery and then we headed into Gettysburg to just be spontaneous and see what we would find. We stopped for lunch at a place called The Pub and Gloria got some of the best tomato bisque that either of us have ever tasted.  We got a quart to take home and split it for dinner last night.  After lunch we wandered down the street to the Irish shop, A Little Irish Too is the shop, and we had fun picking up some Christmas presents, I was able to get Gloria some Irish silver jewelry (she helped pick it out so it's not too much of a surprise, but it's something special because we found it together and she has Irish roots.)

We had a good day yesterday, 

Today was a big trip to the grocery store to get ready for Thanksgiving on Thursday. So I'm sitting here on a Sunday evening sipping on my wine from dinner, thinking about the blessings I have in my life, mostly about Gloria.  When we were married, the preacher told us that we were God's gift to each other.  This March will be 23 years that I've been able to cherish God's gift to me and my life.  Tonight it is a simple time to give thanks for a warm meal in our home.  After the activities of the weekend, we nestled down to break bread together and share a glass of wine before a busy week pushes into the schedule.

In this blog I've spent a lot of words on the yard, and the dogs, and different foods, I have not spenf nearly enough simply sharing the blessings brough into my life by Gloria.  We'll have a busy week getting ready for a big dinner on Thursday, and a houseful of company helping us give thanks; but tonight is a simpler sharing of the blessing who has chosen to share her life with me. My Love; My Life; My Wife.

Rabbi Ben Ezra

BY ROBERT BROWNING

Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be,

The last of life, for which the first was made:

Our times are in His hand

Who saith "A whole I planned,

Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!''

Christmas Photo Day with the family

Well, the outside lights are up, not plugged in yet, but they're up.  I took advantage of the weather last weekend to get the outdoor portion done.  All that's left is getting some pine roping and finishing the front patio and hanging the big wreath on the outside of the garage.  That will be done (weather permitting) on the Friday after Thanksgiving so that evertything is ready to be plugged in on that evening.

Today if was time for a family Christmas photo.  We haven't done one before, but decided this year we needed some pictures with the new kids.  And since I'm not going to be able to be Santa at PetSmart (they changes how they're doing pet photos with Santa this year) I wanted to get my Father Christmas gown out and get some pictures with our kids.  You can't really see it, but the Father Christmas outfit is a floor length red velvet gown (for lack of a better word) with oversized sleeves and plush fur trim.  It's very impressive when I'm standing up (especially since I'm 6'4" tall.)

For the last few years I've been able to be Santa at a local PetSmart and have lots of fun showing off the outfit, but not this year.

So instead, I'll share some pictures with the kids.

From the left: Buddy Bear, Jacques, me, Truman, and Precious.

The bear over my right shoulder is wearing an outfit that my mother saved that used to be mine many many moons ago, a red plaid vest and shorts.  The bunnies over my left shoulder hang out on the couch when they're not filling in for the Easter Bunny.

And we don't want to forget:

Simba

I'll have plenty more pictures of the lights after Thanksgiving when I have them plugged in.  The tree will have to wait until December.  It doesn't go up until the first weekend in December.

TRADITION - can't mess with it.

This week I get to finalize the plans for various holiday activities at work, it will probably include a gift exchange, a wall to share pictures of holiday traditions, a giving tree with gifts for local children, a holiday sweater contest and maybe an extra surprise or two. (We've got to do something with homemade cookies so that I can make my Scottish Shortbread (As far as I'm concerned it's not really Christmas until I smell shortbread baking.)

Our Family is Growing

This year has been over taken with issues with the four legged members of the family.  Between Jume and October we lost four dogs, one to dementia and 3 to cancer,  There are earlier posts on this blog to each of them written as we had to say goodbye.

Now I am able to post about the healing we have found as new four legged children have entered the family.

Truman has been with us for about 2 years and has gone through all this with us.  I don't know what he is thinking about all of it, with familiar dogs leaving and new dogs coming into the house.

Shortly after Labor day we welcomed Precious to the family.

She came in as a foster for Oldies But Goodies Cocker Rescue, but we realized very quickly that she had found her forever home.  I am very clearly her person, and she is my dog (but don't tell Gloria - it's a secret.)

Precious has lots of energy and has lightened up the household with her youth and excitement. Every time we open the back door she races out, even if she was just out 2 minutes earlier.

About a week ago we picked up anothe Foster for OBG, his name is Buddy Bear.

He's found a home here as well, we just haven't done the paperwork yet.  We hope he'll get the collar off on Tuesday when he has an appointment with the vet.  He had a minor lesion removed from his eyelid and we don't want him scratching.

And on Friday we picked up Jacque from Tired Dog Rescue. He was transported up here from Mississippi by Rescue Road Trip.  We were told he has a wonderful temperament, and it's true.  Even though he's the newcomer to the pack, he is fitting in well.

It's a time of healing and filling the lonely places we were left with over the summer of losses. We have been fortunate to be introduced to these lovely new members of our family.

Autumn comes to Bowie

It's been getting cooler and the autumnal finery is on display.  I was talking to a friend just back from Texas about the joy in seeing different seasons.  So, for my friends in Texas I put together a collection of shots from our yard that I took this morning.

The former owners left us a Red Maple on the back hill.

Another shot of the Maple.

One last shot for this collection.

We still have some Foxglove blooming in the side yard.  I haven't seen any bees lately, it's getting too cold.

This beauty is in our neighbor's yard, but about a third of the canopy is over our yard.  If I have to rake the leaves (in a couple weeks) I'm going to claim it as being in our yard.  We get to enjoy the early day shade in the summer and have a protected refuge for birds and chipmunks during the whole year.

Another angle of our shared tree.

I haven't had to rake the leaves yet, but that will probably have to be done in the next couple of weeks.  After that I'll start working on the Christmas lights.  I want to have them all up by Thanksgiving (at least the outdoor lights) so that we can turn them on the day after Thanksgiving.

Happy Layla

We lost another dog to cancer last night. Here is a post written by Gloria.

Happy Layla – that is who she was. She touched so many hearts in her short time in OBG. Shortly after coming into OBG it was discovered that she was a very sick little girl, but without looking at her labwork, you would never know it. She stole your heart immediately. She was such a happy little girl. Her little nub was constantly going at a speed that couldn’t be clocked. Despite being blind, it didn’t slow her down. She would practically beat me down the hall to the bedroom or into the kitchen. She was right at my feet. She enjoyed simple things, ear scratches, belly rubs, sleeping in a pile of clean clothes, squeaky stuffed toys, and homemade pumpkin treats. Her favorite thing to do was get up in bed and nuzzle up next to us on her back and have her belly rubbed. She didn’t like being alone and would let you know it immediately if you left the room. She enjoyed evenings in front of the TV where she would go to sleep in my lap as we were winding down for the night. All that mattered to her was that she was loved. She passed to Rainbow Bridge last night in her sleep. She was a beautiful little girl. We are honored to have had the opportunity to love her and be loved by her for her last weeks. To be able to be that content and happy despite everything that has been going on in life is a gift. Thank you Layla, for sharing your precious little life with us, you will forever be in our hearts and home.