Hanukah and Christmas live side by side

When I saw Sarah's new ornament picture I was inspired to get out our new ornament for 2009. We picked it up on one of our many trips but I cannot remember where. In case you can't tell Santa is with a Dolphin and in a bathing suit. Anyway this being the Festival of Lights season as well I set up this little photo essay of Hanukah and Christmas living side by side...

More pics of the snow

The Shopper Stopper Blizzard of 2009

The snow here is insane. It started at around 11:00 p.m. on Friday and by early morning we had 5 inches. These pictures were taken about 10:00 this morning when Greg
went out to shovel the deck the first time. It is now about 3:00 and we have over 20" of snow and he has shoveled for the third time. The plow guy has come twice so I'm hoping we can get out in the morning to pick Deb up at the airport... if anything is flying. Our dogs got new coats just for the storm so these pictures show them stylin for sure... The green coat is Zeus and the red is Cole. Cassie was probably buried since she is much smaller. Lucky for us the snow is light and fluffy so they can just shake it off when they come in... not too messy. I'm nursing a rotten cold so I'm in by the fire being a couch potato while Greg expends all the energy. Looks like a white Christmas for sure and they are predicting more snow on Friday.

Menu for Hope 6

Is there anything worse than last minute Christmas shopping? That frenzy to find something, anything for your friends and loved ones. Well here's an option that's easy (you can do it in your PJs on your laptop), inexpensive and most of all, good for the world. Instead of getting Grandma another Snuggie, why not make a donation in her name to the Sixth Annual Menu for Hope? This year's drive benefits the World Food Programme's Purchase for Progress.

Per Chez Pim, the organizer of this massive food blogger event: P4P enables smallholder and low-income farmers to supply food to WFP’s global operation. P4P helps farmers improve farming practices and puts more cash directly into their pockets in return for their crops. This will also help buoy local economy by creating jobs and income locally. We food bloggers understand the importance of buying locally and supporting our local farms, P4P helps do the same for farmers in low income countries around the world. More on P4P at http://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress.

And with each $10 donation, you purchase a raffle ticket for ANY food blogger supplied gift - you can win a multi-course meal at a 2-star Michelin restaurant, you can win all kinds of wines and chocolates, you can win stays in beautiful locations around the world (from Santa Barbara to New England to Italy and everywhere in between). Or dozens of other prizes.

But most of all you know that you made a little difference to some farmer out there who's struggling to get by. So rush on over to the handy, dandy donation form and get going.

And did we mention that this is a nice little tax deduction for your '09 taxes? It's the gift that just keeps on giving.

Happy Holidays!

This year's ornament.

CHICKENS!

Hello, Long Weekend! Hello, Minimal Morning Sickness! Hello, Renewed Creative Engery! Hello, Chickens! That's right, there are chickens. Okay, so the cuties pictured here don't live on my urban homestead, which is a total bummer. But they do live on Stacy and Brian's suburban homestead, which we visited last weekend (sidenote - Go Bears! We kept the Axe!). And these are their babies. Above is, I think, Panama Red.
This is Red and either Chicken Hawk, Chica or Cocoa, enjoying some free time out in the yard.
How cute are they? And only six months old. Hopefully there will be eggs soon, but Stacy and Brian might have to wait until the warmer weather this spring. When they start laying, they'll produce an egg every other day or so. A dozen fresh eggs a week. How yummy does that sound?
Red, roosting.
And this is the gorgeous coop that Brian built in their backyard. A month or so back he tore out their entire (beautiful) backyard, because Brian gets bored with things after a while. We saw the rough versions of the beds he's building in the garden now and I can already tell they're going to be even more spectacular. Damn him and his handy/arty-ness. Why can't my brain function like this? And since it can't, how do you think I can bribe him to come down and do something like this for us in LA?

A Creamy Dish for Everyone... Even the Lactose Intolerant

Autumn is a time for fun outdoors... unfortunately while having some of that fun I got Lyme's disease. So this weekend I spent a good bit of it in bed resting and watching the food network. I found this recipe on public TV actually on a program called Everyday Food. It appealed to me not only because I love Porcini mushrooms, but it had a creamy texture without the cream! "Perfect for those who can't handle the cooked cream," I said... So here it is folks... we made it tonight and it was most yummy...

Creamy Orzo with Porcini

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed in cold water

2 TB unsalted butter

1 small onion, chopped

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 1/2 cups orzo

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

3 TB chopped Italian parsley

1. Place mushrooms in a bowl with 2 cups of warm water for about 20 - 30 minutes.

2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, cook, stirring occasionally until softened about 5 minutes.

3. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add orzo; cook stirring often, until orzo is golden brown and fragrant; about 5 minutes.

4. Add porcini, reserved liquid (strain it though so you don't get any grit) and another 2 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer stirring often until orzo has absorbed most liquid and is creamy (15-20 minutes).

5. Put in a lovely bowl and stir in the parmesan

6. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle parsley all over on top.