Getting into the Spirit Of Christmas

SNICKERDOODLES

I love this time of year. Even self-proclaimed scrooges get into it a bit. The lights, alvin and the chipmunks doing christmas songs, Bob Dylan doing an entire Christmas album, dreaming up gifts for loved ones, receiving a constant flow of holiday cards --sometimes from folks that you haven't heard from since last christmas--, secret santa gift exchanges, and lots of cookies.

Last weekend, our friends, Rob and Alice, hosted a fantastic Holiday Brunch that included both a secret santa exchange and a white elephant gift swap. Needless to say, we came home with some lovely--and moderately useful--gifts as well as a warm fuzzy feeling from the mimosas and company of such a lovely group of friends.

Since Justin and I won't be traveling to either of our "childhood" homes this year, we are filling our home with lots of holiday cheer. Some of this holiday cheer comes from the fact the we spent much of last week scurrying to get gifts and holiday cards ready to be mailed across the country so that they arrive by the 25th. Almost every evening last week was spent by our wood stove wrapping gifts, diverting Scott from opening the freshly wrapped gifts, and writing and addressing cards while listening to Holiday Music Mixes or watching Elf. It certainly put me in the spirit. What also put me in the spirit was watching justin staple the wrapping paper onto a gift for his brother, Dan. (A technique that the post office worker also found amusing) I cannot imagine anyone receiving one of his handwrapped gifts without a huge grin.



Did I say cookies?! Ah, cookies. We've already received holiday shortbread from our friends brit and clay and a scrumptous variety from Justin's mom. All I can say, people, keep them coming. For some reason, this time of year, if it isn't sweet or bready, I don't want it! So, I had to get on the cookie train too.
I've started of by making some snickerdoodles (I am a big fan of making or using things that are just plain fun to say outloud), shortbread (everything's better with butter), and biscotti (I am also a fan of cookies that nearly demand the company of a cup of coffee). For all of the cookies, I have access to wheat berries from Nash's, so I've gotten to grind it fresh for each batch.


Here's recipe for the biscotti, which I really loved:


CASHEW-ANISE BISCOTTI
Preheat oven to 350

Combine:
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. chopped cashews
1 tsp. ground anise seed
Seperately Combine:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 TBS vanilla
Combine wet with dry until dough is somewhat stiff.
Seperate into 2 balls. Roll each ball into a 14 in. log and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten tops of logs and bake for 25 minutes.

Let cool for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325
Slice the logs into 1 in pieces, cutting at a 45 degree angle.
Bake for 30 minutes more--flipping the pieces halfway through the baking.

Serve with coffee, chai, or cocoa.

Tis' the Season for Comfort Food

Like this....


Tofu Veggie Bake


Chili !


Corn Bread



Honestly, cornbread may be one of my favorite foods in this world. Perhaps, it is because I hail from the land of cornfields. Perhaps, it is the result of a fond college memory when I received a care package (from Illinois to Boston) from my dad that contained a pan of cornbread and an unidentified spice with a note attached : "Guess what I put in this." My dad often played that game with my mom and I when I was growing up; he likes experimenting and taking risks in the kitchen. This may be why I'm not afraid to try odd things--often at the expense of justin's palate. I think the secret ingredient was a habanero pepper, by the way.
I digress, I HEART cornbread. Just before Thanksgiving, Kristy Johnston--one of the owners of Johnston Farm-- gave me some of the farm's freshly grown and ground heirloom cornmeal and her SPECIAL cornbread recipe. I said, "Oh, I have a recipe."
Her reply, "Not this recipe."
Boy was she right. Yum. I used some freshly ground whole wheat from Nash's in it to boot. Bliss. Here's the recipe (Thanks Kristy):

CORN BREAD
9X9 in. pan
Preheat oven to 425
Grease pan with butter or oil ad put it in the oven until its sizzling hot.
Sift:
3/4 c. flour (whole wheat)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1-2 TBS sugar
3/4 tsp salt
Add:
1 1/4 c. yellow corn meal
Beat in a separate bowl:
1 egg
2-3 TBS melted butter
1 c. milk
Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and combine with a few quick strokes.
Place batter in hot pan.
Bake for about 25 minutes.

Serve with chili or by itself with butter and honey.

"Crazy" : a pretty word to hold in your palm for examination.

So, as the holidays approach, I'm spending lots of time attempting to complete gifts and projects. Today, I spent about 3 hours in my favorite Blackbird Coffee Shop in town with my friend, Brit. We worked on knitting and crocheting projects and pondered (half-jokingly) if we were crazy.

My immediate response was: "we're all crazy. its fine, as long as your type of crazy doesn't hurt someone else."

Now, how many of us in our mid-to-late twenties are trying to figure out exactly who we are, who we want to be, and how we want to express that to the world--professionally and personally? I'd venture to say, lots of us. All of that mental hopscotch can make a person feel a little loco.

This conversation was a great reminder that this journey through life is bumpy and imperfect for each of us -- some of us find stability in work, some find stability in a supportive partner or community, some of us find stability in faith--but, in general, life is a little messy and unpredictable. My mom reminded me the other day of one of my favorite mantras, "its the journey, not the destination". So, lets enjoy the bumps and such and remember to share our crazy with others. We are all in this crazy life together, after all.

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown

Last night, we decorated our tree with ornaments that my mom sent from our family Christmas tree, popcorn strings, and lichen from the forest where we cut our tree--its pretty and makes our tree feel more at home since it has to be indoors. Justin's mom is also sending out some family ornaments. It may be a scrawny little thing, but I love it.


Scott loves the tree too! So, we've be practicing how to control urges to climb the exciting new addition to our home. As you can see, meditation is one tactic that Scott has be attempting with minimal success.

New Traditions

For the first time in 27 years, I will not be spending Christmas with my family in Illinois. The holiday begins on Christmas Eve; my parents and I go out for Chinese food while Santa makes a visit to our house. We return from dinner to open gifts and listen to Willie Nelson's Christmas album, Pretty Paper. We usually have to flip the record 3 times as we leisurely open gifts. Then, while my mom finishes wrapping gifts in flurry and pumpkins pies bake in the oven, I go to bed early. Christmas morning is up up and away. My dad and I go for a rosey run before we load the van full of gifts and food to visit first my mom's parents home and then my dad's brother's. At each place, we eat lots of great food--Mashed potatoes, casseroles, oyster crackers, deviled eggs--, drink lots of coffee, visit with my parents,their brothers and sisters, and our grandparents and open gifts for sometimes hours. We make it home by dark and crash. I love this family, food, intensity filled holiday. Justin talks of family Christmas gatherings at his aunt's house that last well into the night with similar nostalgia.
This year, newly married and figuring out how to navigate the Holiday, Justin and I have decided that its just not in the cards to travel to St. Louis or Pittsburgh. A few years ago, he got stuck in Vegas for a few days when he was trying to get home. Flying is stressful and crazy. Its makes landing and going to our childhood homes all the more satisfying, but the journey there is not the most enjoyable. So, this year, we have decided to put off holiday travels for a visit at a slower travel time.
We will be here, creating new traditions.

I'm excited! Yesterday, we began this journey by cutting down our first Christmas tree together. The Northwest's most bountiful renewable natural resource is lumber (trees), so the forest service sells 5 dollar permits around the holidays to cut down Christmas Trees from the national forest. So, that's what we did. Our first lesson, trees don't grow that same way that they do on tree farms. But, we found a sweet smelling little douglas fir that will soon be decorated in our family room--much to the amusement of our kitten, Scott.

The Farmstore

I spend each Saturday at Nash's Farm store; selling produce and enjoying conversations with "the regulars" and those folks who just happen upon the place for the first time. I'd like to become a "regular" and do my meal planning and shopping on the same day each week, but I'm more of a inspired chef--what do Justin and I want to eat right now? What do I have on hand to make it? Do I have the energy to go to the market to obtain the missing ingredients right now? What can I substitute?
This style usually works out just fine, but I have aspirations of a more organized kitchen-life that will eventually melt into a more organized life-life.




What's your kitchen style?

Last night, I made vegetable pot pie. The filling was great: delicata squash, carrots, potatoes, peas, parsnips, shiitake mushrooms, sage, thyme...the flavors of fall. The crust, well, that left a little something to be desired. However, I made enough to freeze for a future dinner. I hope the crust tastes better the second time around.

Women Can't be Beet!

The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is the more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious. --Tom Robbins

So, yesterday was a sign from the universe that I am right where I'm supposed to be--if you believe in that sort of thing.

I attended a Women Farmer's Round table Discussion that was hosted by the WSU extension office in Jefferson County. Apparently, he number of females becoming farmers is growing fast--how rad is that? Intuitively, it makes sense, because women have long been know to be stewards of the earth, but in the realm of the current state of the world, its really really exciting.
I went as a part-time farm worker from two farms --Nash's Organic Produce and Johnston's Family Farm. There were about 20 female farmers present. I have to say, I felt really lucky to be included in such a gathering of movers and shakers and little like a voyeur who snuck into the event. I wondered--with my limited involvement in decisions and outcomes at the farms on which I work--what role can I play in this process? But, I tucked those thoughts aside and imbibed in the rich and inspiring company of the day.
A lot of the conversation focused on getting local food into our local schools. Its seems so simple and logical, but the amount of red tape that separates actually putting fresh food onto the school breakfast and lunch tables is incredible. Its as if we need a catapoult to launch the food over the red tape fences into the cafeterias...and that would certainly compromise the quality of the food. Regardless of these hurdles, the momentum and energy is there. Inspiring.
On a personal note, I've been getting twinkles of urges to start putting a cookbook together. And wouldn't you know it, just last week, I started a blog entitled "Tasting the Landscape". Thanks for the tap on the shoulder universe. It came up in discussion that I could use this blog as a forum to highlight the people, farms, and food of the Olympic Peninsula. Who knows what the audience may be, but getting our communities excited about the foods that grow here is one step closer to communities demanding that these foods need to be in the schools that their children attend.

Stay tuned!

A Pie-ous Occasion

Goodbye. Love yous. See you soon. Thanks for being here.

All the words that signify the conclusion of time well spent. A sincere occasion.
We crowded in a kitchen between the box of wine and the table covered in casseroles or hot dishes (depending on your vernacular)that were waiting in queue for oven space. Pumpkin pies of various shapes and sizes donning different hats and the gorgeous German chocolate cake smiled from the corner. Faces- so familiar - from childhood and work-world and previous gatherings of love and food. Red stained teeth.
To step back and observe this moment (in the moment) I felt my spirit being deeply nourished. I felt my roots and heart sinking deeply into this "home" of people and mountains and oceans and root vegetables.
I've never seen root vegetables take so many fantastic shapes and flavors. Root souffle, root casserole, root soup, root pie, roasted with garlic. ROOTS. What a perfect mascot to represent this day dedicated to slowing down, gathering, and giving thanks.
A celebration of grounding. A celebration of nourishment.
What a lovely family we have in this corner of the country!