Berries in a Dutch Baby

A recent breakfast that Sweetie and I shared. 

What's Up?

 Sometimes I don't have a recipe for you, just some info on what's current in my world. This post is one of them, so snow day for you if that is of no interest to you.

Sweetie and I just finished a project and it turned out really well. He and I sometimes have differing visions when we do these projects, but this time he had me pick the vanity for the downstairs bath and pick the top and basin and the spout, handles and drain. He got to pick the kind of plumbing stuff he wanted to use, what he wanted to do with the old vanity, how he wanted to get the heavy (about 250 pounds!) new vanity inside and how he wanted to trim out the gap between the vanity sides and the wall. Seems like a good division to me.

The photo at the top is of the new vanity, installed. You can't see it, but many of those marvelous new soft-close drawers are filled, outfitted with bamboo dividers in some cases. The old vanity had one large drawer, so everything was easily jumbled. This is so much better! The quartz countertop is also easily cleaned. The sink is oval and porcelain so it's easy to clean, too. One of the best things is that there is no longer tile, so no grout! My sister likes that it is also taller. I think the counter top is about three inches higher than the old one. Since most of the folks in my family are tall, this is a good thing.

Thanks go to Straight Shooter for helping to get the new vanity up some stairs and into the house, and to our great neighbor G who helped move the new vanity into the space created for it when it was time, and for later helping to bring in the new countertop and basin. His most crucial help was in loosening a piece of plumbing. None of the rest would have happened without his help!

G's wife invited us to dinner during the project and she served a family appetizer, which she described as chunks of bread dipped in a cheese batter, pan fried, then sprinkled with paprika. It was delicious and I'm hoping to get the recipe to share with you. The photo is below.

Squash and Peanut Stew For A Chilly Night

I don't know about you, but I love to find new recipes that I can almost taste just reading them. That happened when I saw this one for a lovely began stew that's based on winter squash, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes and peanut butter. Although I'm not a big fan of cumin (so I used far less than the recipe calls for) I knew that it was a necessary component of the big flavors that this dish brings to the bowl.

This Washington Post recipe by food writer Joy Manning as given to us by Washington Post writer G Daniela Galarza is a tribute to President Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who was our President when times were a bit simpler. Daniela calls it "a squash and peanut stew: packed with vegetables, seasoned with warm spices and easy to adapt." I know the adapt part is correct because I swapped out the kabocha squash for butternut squash and I changed the spices a bit, too.  I love the ginger especially...it adds a lot of oomph. Sweetie loved this (which is huge for a guy who wants meat in every meal) and said it was surprisingly filling...and to keep the recipe on rotation!

Kabocha Squash and Peanut Stew

Storage: Refrigerate for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat gently over low heat and do not let the stew come to a boil, as it may separate.

Servings: 6 to 8
Total time: 50 mins

Ingredients

·        1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed

·        1 large yellow onion (12 ounces), chopped

·        1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into small dice (1 cup)

·        1 medium green bell pepper (I used orange bell pepper), cored, seeded and cut into small dice (1 cup)

·        1 tablespoon tomato paste

·        One (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

·        3 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated

·        1 teaspoon cumin seeds

·        1 teaspoon ground coriander

·        1/4 teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed

·        2 cups (10 ounces) peeled, cubed kabocha squash (from one 14- to 16-ounce squash)(I used butternut squash)

·        4 cups chicken or vegetable broth, preferably no-salt-added

·        One (14.5-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, with their juices

·        1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

·        1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped, plus more for serving

·        2 jalapeños (seeded or not), ground to a paste with the flat side of a knife or mortar and pestle, for serving

·        1/4 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped, for serving

Steps

1. In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion and bell peppers, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 8 minutes.

2. Add the tomato paste, ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander and salt, and cook until the mixture is aromatic and the tomato paste darkens slightly, about 1 minute. Add the squash and stir to coat.

3. Add the broth and crushed tomatoes, increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium or medium-low — enough heat to maintain a simmer — and cook, uncovered, until the squash is so tender it breaks apart easily, about 20 minutes,

4. In a medium bowl, thin the peanut butter with a ladleful of the stew, stirring until smooth and pourable. Scrape the peanut butter mixture into the pot, and stir to combine. Add the cilantro leaves.

5. Use a potato masher to break up the squash, leaving some pieces intact for a chunky texture.

6. Serve with the jalapeño paste, chopped peanuts and more cilantro leaves.

Full Moon Yam and Garlic Bread

 Happy Lunar New Year! It's the Year of the Snake, symbol of resilience and wisdom, so I wish you both. I recently joined a book club and we had a feast today, almost all dishes with a Lunar New Year theme. 

I brought a round loaf of yam and garlic bread that looks like a full moon and tastes devine. It is a soft bread, moist and golden from the yams, with a subtle garlic flavor. We had it warm, with butter for those who wanted it, and there was only a little bit left at the end of lunch.

If you use oil instead of butter to grease the pan the bread is baked in, it's a vegan bread.

 

Except for putting the dough into a ball shape, there is no fancy shaping and you can bake it in a cast iron skillet, round casserole dish, or a round cake pan. I started the dough yesterday, let it rise, punched it down, covered it and put it in the fridge until this morning. After letting the dough warm up, I punched it down on a floured board, shaped it into the ball, put it in the greased pan, and let it rise, then baked it. No topping, slashing, etc. needed. Hope you enjoy making it!

Full Moon Yam and Garlic Bread
By Narsai David

 1 cup warm water (preferably the water the yams were boiled in)

1 cup mashed yams (boil until tender, then peel and mash)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 package yeast, or 1 tablespoon dry yeast

2 small cloves garlic, crushed

3 cups white bread or all-purpose flour (about)

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, softened or salad oil

 Place the water, sweet potatoes sugar, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, flour and salt. Mix well with a dough hook or heavy paddle. The dough will be quite soft and sticky. If using a dough hook, you may need to add a little more to keep the dough around the hook. Continue mixing for 2-3 minutes if you are using a mixing machine, 3 to 4 minutes by hand. Spread 1 tablespoon of butter or oil over the dough.

 Place the dough in a warm plate to rise, covered with a dish towel. When the dough has doubled in volume, anywhere between 1 and 2 hours, turn it out onto a floured surface and punch it down to get out the air that has inflated it. Kneading a few times also helps in this step. (This is where you can stop and put it back onto the plate, cover it, and put in fridge overnight.)  Shape the deflated dough into a ball. This is a very soft dough, so handle it gently and use plenty of flour to keep it from sticking to the board.

 Butter or oil a 10-inch skillet. Put the dough in the skillet, and set aside, uncovered, in a warm place until double in volume.

 About halfway through the rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

 When the dough has doubled, bake for 35 to 40 minutes to brown well. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Makes 1 round loaf.

Joe Matos Cheese Factory Closing Down

 Back in November of 2014 I blogged about a local cheese producer who makes Portuguese cheese. The cows that give the milk for the cheese are right there at the site of the cheese store, so as local as you can get. A bonus is that it's fairly close to home for me. The sad news is that the Dad of the family is having health issues, so they will close the cheese business at the end of this month! 

Here is the address in case you can stop by in the next couple of days and buys some really delicious cheese. The less aged cheese is great for melty cheese and the more aged cheese is a bit crumbly and wonderful to eat as is, with crackers, baguette slices, apple slices, etc.

Of course this post is useless to you, dear reader, if you don't live in the San Francisco area, but I just want to salute this wonderful local business for their years of producing a fantastic product at a reasonable price.

 Joe Matos Cheese Factory
3669 Llano Rd
Santa Rosa, CA 95407                          

 (707) 584-5283

The Wonderful Lemons of January

I'm so glad that I planted a Myer lemon shrub years ago. For a few years it lived in a large pot and did OK, but once I found a place for it in a warm spot near the barn it thrived. This year it probably has produced 60 or 70 lemons, many of them pretty large. Last year there were only a few, so next year might not be as productive...we'll see.

Looking back at posts from January over the years I see that this month is the one where I use lemons the most. One of my favorite treats that use fresh lemons is lemon curd, the soft and creamy sort of lemon jam that is perfect on a scone or English muffin for a tea party. I made a batch this past week and realized that you might want the recipe if you would like to make some yourself. Store bought lemon curd is OK, but the curd you make yourself is worlds better! You can also make curd with any other kind of citrus...lime, orange, blood orange, grapefruit...or even with pomegranate juice as I did HERE. Lots of choices, lots of fun.

The finished curd, put into sterilized jars, keeps up to three months in the fridge...if it lasts that long.

Zesty Lemon Curd Yields 3 Cups
Stores up to 3 months in fridge

3-4 fragrant, bright-skinned lemons
1/2 Cup (1 stick) plus 2 Tablespoons butter, cut up
Pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 1/4 Cups sugar

1) Run 2 inches of water into the base pan of a double boiler and set over medium heat to come to a brisk simmer.
2) Grate or shred enough lemon zest from washed & dried lemons to make 1 1/2 tablespoons, packed, lemon zest. Place the zest in the top pan of the double boiler. Juice the lemons and strain juice to make 1/2 Cup; add to the zest. Add the cut up butter & salt to the pan. Set aside.
3) Beat the egg yolks and whole egg together at high speed in the large bowl of an electric mixer until they are foamy; gradually add the sugar, continuing to beat the mixture until it is pale, fluffy, & very thick, about 5 minutes.
4) Scrape the egg mixture into the double-boiler top and set the top into the base containing simmering water. At once begin whisking the mixture; cook it, whisking constantly, until it has thickened smoothly and is steaming hot, about 15 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the curd; it is done when it will coat a metal or wooden spoon heavily. Remove the upper pan from the hot water.
5) Pour the curd into a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl and press it through with a rubber spatula, leaving the shreds of zest behind (discard shreds). (It is o.k. to leave the zest in the curd, but the texture is different.) Scrape the curd into sterilized jars. Let it cool uncovered. Cap jars of cooled curd with sterilized lids. Refrigerate the curd.

Note: This can be made with lime zest & juice. Use 1 Tablespoon lime zest and 1/2 Cup lime juice and follow the recipe the same way for everything else.

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake

 I have a dear friend who is a vegan. We recently had coffee and we were talking about baking. She said that she had tried a couple of recipes for lemon poppy seed cake but that they turned out like bread, not cake. I told her that I would see if I could find a good recipe for her that was truly cake.

I found a number of recipes that might work but settled on one in the Great British Baking Show Perfect Cakes book. It used yogurt, eggs and olive oil. I knew that I could buy plant based yogurt and I got a beautiful bottle of lemon olive oil for Christmas, plus I've used an egg replacement powder before in baking so it seemed like the best recipe to start off with.

The cake was for a loaf cake but it didn't have poppy seeds, but those were easy to add. I did make a number of changes: replace the three eggs with the equivalent in egg replacer powder mixed with warm water, use Silk vanilla non-dairy yogurt, use the lemon olive oil, mix the sugar and lemon zest together before adding it to the other dry ingredients, and add some poppy seeds. I also buttered the pan with a non-dairy margarine.

The cake turned out really well. It rose up some in the pan, but sank a bit while cooling. It smelled wonderful and had a lovely dark golden brown crust. I brought it to my friend around dinner time, still warm, along with the recipe. That way she and her husband could enjoy it after dinner. Of course that meant that I didn't taste it or see it's texture, but they both texted and said that it was delicious and very much a cake. Success!

Lemon-Poppy Seed Yogurt Loaf Cake
based on a recipe in The Great British Bake Off Perfect Cakes 

 150g all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder
good pinch of salt
50g almond flour
200g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large unwaxed lemon
125 ml Silk plant based yogurt, vanilla
125 ml mild olive oil (I used lemon olive oil)
equivalent of 3 medium eggs, at room temperature. I used Ener-G egg substitute powder prepared with warm water as directed on the box (3 1/2 teaspoons powder + 6 tablespoons warm water)
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1) Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and ground almonds in a mixing bowl.  Butter the bottom and sides of an 8x4-inch loaf pan and line across the bottom and up the short sides with a piece of parchment.  (This helps you remove the cake from the pan easily.

2) in a small bowl use your clean fingertips to rub the lemon zest into the sugar until it resembles wet sand. There may be some of the sugar that doesn't get mixed with the zest...that's OK.

3) add the sugar/zest mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until well combined. Make a well in the mixture (an indentation in the center).

4) In another bowl  whisk the olive oil and yogurt together until well combined. Add the egg substitute and whisk again to combine. Pour this mixture into the well in the dry ingredients. Sprinkle the poppy seeds on top. Us a wooden spoon or large spoon shaped spatula to stir it all together , only stirring until just combined.

5) Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly, making sure the corners are well filled 

6) Bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 until well-risen and a deep golden brown. A skewer inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean.

7) Once  baked, put on a wire rack on the counter for five minutes to firm up. Run a round-bladed knife (like a butter knife) around the inside of the loaf pan to  loosen the loaf, then carefully lift it out, using the ends of the lining paper strip, and set the cake on the wire rack to cool. Serves best if completely cool.

8) Serve in thick slices. Store, wrapped in foil, in an airtight container and eat within 4 days. Flavors and aromas will be even more pronounced a day or so after baking.

 

Challah For My Neighbor

Our neighbor down the road, Wally,  celebrates the Jewish holidays and Sweetie and I knew that this year was going to be hard for him since he is a new widower of only a few months. That first holiday season is really tough. I also wasn't sure if his dear departed wife had baked for him at holiday time. It seemed like a good gift for him would be a home baked challah loaf...plus it gave me a reason to bake bread. That might sound strange, but Sweetie has been losing weight and has asked that I not bake bread very often if at all because the fragrance is so tantalizing! This way the bread was going out of the house untasted and so we were not tempted...or so I thought!

I brought the loaf, wrapped in plastic wrap and tied with a blue ribbon, to a neighborhood bar that also serves great breakfast. We were joined for brunch by Wally and another couple who are also neighbors. We didn't get to see each other over Christmas because of some illnesses and visiting families, so the brunch was a gift exchange, too. I had made the bread the day before and shaped it, then put it in the fridge overnight. That way I could bake it early in the morning and still have a warm loaf by brunch time.

Wally was delighted with the loaf, but was concerned because he is the only one at home and it was a big loaf. His solution was to use his pocketknife to cut pieces, which he handed around to each of us! We had coffee but our orders were being prepared, so this was a treat to have something to nibble on while we waited for our meals. We had just started to taste the bread when the owner arrived. Sweetie gave him a piece of bread and he, in turn, brought out some homemade butter to enjoy with the bread. Made our treat even better! Sweetie and I have eaten breakfast and some other meals there for many years and have gotten to know the owner, so we figured that he wouldn't mind the outsourced bread, but adding butter was such a charming gesture.

It was really good bread! I used a King Arthur Baking recipe, which I'm giving below. The only change I made was to add a decent amount (about 1/2 cup) additional flour. I think that my eggs were extra large, so that increased the moisture, which meant more flour.

Wishing you a magical year...and lots of good bread!

Classic Challah
from King Arthur Baking Company
makes 1 braided loaf

Ingredients

Dough

• 4 to 4 1/4 cups (480g to 510g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 cup (170g) water, lukewarm
• 6 tablespoons (74g) vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons (63g) honey
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk (white reserved for topping)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (9g) table salt
• 4 teaspoons (12g) instant yeast

Topping

• 1 large egg white (reserved from above), beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
• poppy seeds or sesame seeds, for sprinkling; optional

 

·         To make the dough: Weigh 480g of flour; or measure 4 cups by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. 

·         Combine the flour with the rest of the dough ingredients. Mix and knead them by hand, mixer, or bread machine, until you have a soft, smooth dough. If the dough is very sticky, add an additional 1/4 cup (30g) of flour.

·         Allow the dough to rise in a plastic wrap-covered bowl for about 2 hours, or until it's puffy; it won't necessarily double in bulk.

·         Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface.

·         Divide the dough into pieces, the number depending on what kind of braid you want to make. You may braid the challah the traditional way, into a three-strand braid. For a fancier presentation, make a six-strand braid.  

·         Once you've decided which braid you're doing, divide the dough into the appropriate number of pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 20" long. If the dough starts to shrink back as you roll, cover it and let it rest for about 10 minutes, then resume rolling. The short rest gives the gluten a chance to relax.

·         Braid the loaf. I made a three strand braid, which is easy, but you can go for four - or six-strand braids. King Arthur Baking has videos on each type of braiding. 

·         Gently pick up the braided loaf, and place it on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

·         Cover the loaf with lightly greased plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until it's very puffy, 60 to 90 minutes. Toward the end of the rising time, place a rack in the upper third of your oven and preheat the oven to 375°F.

·         To make the topping: Whisk together the reserved egg white and water. Brush the mixture over the risen loaf. Sprinkle generously with poppy seeds or sesame seeds, if desired.

·         Bake the challah on the oven's upper rack for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it's a deep golden brown and a digital thermometer inserted into the center reads 190°F.

·         Remove the challah from the oven and transfer it to a rack to cool.

·         Storage information: Store any leftover challah, well wrapped, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage. While challah does tend to dry out after a day or so, it's always good toasted, or made into grilled sandwiches or French toast.

A Good Save

 I'm often asked to bring dessert when we go to someone's home for dinner because my friends know that I love to bake and to share what I bake. A couple days after Christmas we were going to a family dinner for nine, so I decided to bake a Bundt cake since that can serve a good number of people. I found a recipe for a Gingerbread Bundt Cake on King Arthur Baking website and I even had the ingredients for it.

It really did make a delicious cake, but the texture was pretty delicate, not the usual fairly solid and sturdy texture that a Bundt cake needs. Since I baked it in a snowflake Bundt pan it wasn't surprising, given the texture, that it didn't come out of the pan in one piece. So, here I was a few hours before leaving for the dinner with no cake to take and not enough time to make another...what to do??

I suspect that I had read somewhere that you can create a dessert with broken cake, but I really have no memory of it. I just had this brainstorm to combine the cake pieces with softened vanilla ice cream and with whipped cream and then pack it into a cake pan and to freeze it so that it became a dessert rather than a cake. To tie it all together I made my Mom's recipe for Fresh Lemon Sauce to drizzle over each serving. It was a hit! The photo I took was of what was left after the first servings...not a great photo, but the only one I have. Trust me, it tastes far better than it looks.

Because I only had a pint of vanilla ice cream and a half pint of whipping cream, I didn't use the whole cake...I used about 3/4 of it. I lined a 9x13-inch pan with heavy duty foil, added the ice cream-whipped cream-cake mixture and leveled it, then put that into the freezer. Sweetie found our old ice chest and so it traveled with ice below and above the dessert. It didn't really look that pretty, but the lemon sauce helped a little to dress it up and really added to the flavor. If you've never had gingerbread and lemon sauce, do try it. The recipe for the Lemon Sauce is HERE.

I'm not going to give the recipe for the Gingerbread Bundt because you can get it from the King Arthur baking website. I suspect that this would work with gingerbread made from a mix from the grocery store, too. Hope that your family loves it as much as mine did!

A Good Save Gingerbread Dessert

About 3/4 of a 10-12 cup Bundt cake that is Gingerbread
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1/2 pint whipping cream, cold

Tear the gingerbread cake into chunks and tiny pieces, mixed and put into a large mixing bowl.

Let the vanilla ice cream soften slightly.

In a cold bowl with cold beaters, whip the cream until firm peaks form.

Combine the softened ice cream, the whipping cream and the cake pieces. Most of the cake should have at least a little of the dairy in/on the pieces.

Line a 9x13-inch cake pan with foil. Add the cake mixture and use a spatula to level the mixture. Cover with more foil and freeze for up to two hours.

To serve, use a sharp knife to cut the dessert into squares about 3x3-inches each. Serve on a plate and drizzle (optional but really good) with Lemon Sauce. Serve at once.

Eggnog Overnight Waffles

I've loved a recipe for overnight waffles for ages...I even created a gingerbread variation. It was  based on a recipe from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe' Cookbook. 

This eggnog one sounded interesting, although it was based on a Marion Cunningham recipe instead, so we made it one morning while the family was here...and ate them all in one sitting, so I have no idea if the batter actually does keep in the fridge.

I found the eggnog flavor very weak in these waffles, but if you enjoy a mild eggnog flavor in your waffles, these are the ones to try. The waffles came out of the Belgian waffle iron very crisp and light and a lovely golden brown.

I've changed the directions slightly. My additions are in italics. 

Eggnog Waffles
Makes about 16 waffles, or 8 Belgian waffles
An adaptation, in the Press Democrat (12/11/24), of Marion Cunningham's Overnight waffles
in the Fanny Farmer cookbook

1 1/4 oz. dry active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups eggnog, gently warmed
8 tablespoons butter, melted (and cooled to room temperature)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Dissolve yeast in water in a large mixing bowl and let sit until foamy, about 8-10 minutes.

Gradually stir in the flour into the yeast mixture. Add eggnog, butter, salt, and sugar and mix to combine. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap (or a clean shower cap) and allow batter to sit at room temperature overnight.

The next morning, preheat an electric waffle iron. Warm the eggs if straight from the fridge in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes. Whisk the eggs and baking soda in a small bowl, then whisk into the batter until thoroughly combined.

Pour about a 1/2 cup of the batter into a hot waffle iron (see endnote) and bake until the waffle is crisp and golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter. Keep waffles warm in a 200-degree oven until ready to serve.

Serve with maple syrup and butter.

Batter will keep, refrigerated, for several days.

Endnote: 1/2 cup will fill a conventional waffle iron. Belgian waffle irons may need up to 1/4 cup more per waffle. If using a mini single serve waffle iron, us 1/4 cup of batter.

A Grazing Board Christmas

 

In our family we have a tradition of a big breakfast on Christmas morning (sorry, no photos this year), followed by snacking the rest of the day. On Christmas Eve we usually have a fairly fancy meal, but this year it wasn't terribly fancy since Sweetie was getting over a cold and had little appetite. Still sliced ham, steamed sweet potatoes (red yams) and a big salad was pretty nice.

For some of the snacking on Christmas evening I put together my version of a charcuterie board. We had purchased some lovely cheese well before Christmas, plus thinly sliced salami and an assortment of crackers. A favorite on Christmas was the French Comte' from Costco that is the biggest cheese on the board, but the aged Gouda was also a hit. 

Sweetie bought a great dried fruit and nut assortment at Costco a couple of days before Christmas and we had some smoked salmon in the freezer, which I thawed. Once thawed I rolled individual slices...they looked a bit like rose buds. I had also bought some macaron almonds in advance as well as black olives.

I didn't photograph it, but an additional plate held Honeycrisp apple slices, walnuts, and mandarin oranges. It all went together fairly quickly and we really enjoyed relaxed conversation while we sampled different combinations of meats, cheeses, crackers, nuts and fruits...and dark chocolate squares.

Hope that you and yours had a great Christmas, too!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Greetings of the Season to all of you, dear reader! We are now officially into the Winter Season since the Solstice has passed. The days will begin to get longer as we head to Summer. In nature this is a season of calm, of resting, of renewal, so I wish you a time of rest and relaxation, too. Time to enjoy yourself and your time with family and friends if you like. And, of course, plenty of good food and drink, especially baked goods!

XO, Elle