Since when do I like turnips?

More cooking! I suppose some wouldn't consider it noteworthy that we cooked a real meal, but for us, it's front page news.

Tonight we dipped back into the simple Williams-Sonoma cookbook for roasted vegetables with sage butter. Beets, turnips, butternut squash, fennel, parsnips, carrots. I wasn't sure how into this one I'd be, but I learned an important lesson: Never underestimate the power of butter. (Also, it's worth it to buy the pre-peeled and cubed butternut squash.)

And for dessert: The Ritz-Carlton's mueseli, recipe courtesy of Tom & Linda. This is usually served for breakfast, but it was so cool and sweet that we couldn't wait until morning.

Cooking = fun. Who knew?

Hail Yes.

I'm in danger of sounding like an old person. Last post was about food and this one is about the weather. But...

We had a week of rain! A whole week. Given that we usually go months at a time without so much as a drop, this was a real treat. And we even got hail on Friday!

A few weeks ago we noticed a hummingbird building a nest in one of our trees. She would bring some fuzzy piece, poke into the nest, and then sit in it and scooch back and forth to get it just the right shape. We were worried that the rain might have messed up her nest, but this morning she is nested in it, and all looks well. It's the tiniest nest you've ever seen. We're on the watch for baby birds.

Mothers Would Be Proud

We were griping over the Christmas break that we rarely fix meals and eat mostly ingredients. Tonight, we decided to do it up right; we had a couple of friends over for dinner, and we prepared a darn good meal.

Main dish: Wild mushroom risotto from our new 30 minutes or less Williams-Sonoma cookbook (Thanks, Mom!).

Side dish: Williams-Sonoma (see the pattern?) Waldorf salad with mustard dressing.

Dessert: Spice cake baked in my new acorn-shaped tin (Thank you, Linda!).

All were a hit!

Holiday Catch-Up

We turned the lights off the tree,

sent the babies to bunny camp,

and headed home to Georgia and Tennessee.

At The Hanks Headquarters we were greeted with our favorite Christmas food, and I had Linda's eggnog for the first time. I'm a convert! Zach got to visit with the buddies, everyone played on Tom's new Wii, and the ladies had our annual lunch and pedi, cut short by an unpleasant batch of mu**els (I think just seeing the word might induce flashbacks, so I've censored :) )

At The Simms, we held a requisite grilling session in the freezing cold, complete with two favorites, Janis and Jack. We did not have an "Indian dinner" from my childhood, but we did spread the elk skins on the floor and watch the stars through a skylight. Mom made much appreciated veggie friendly meals, and we all went to visit with Gran. Another highlight was visiting with Zorro; he had better manners than I anticipated, and he and Dad showed me the "searching the pockets for grapes" routine.

I spent New Years with Beckers, and we had a wonderful roomie visit. She noted that we rang in the new year in 2000, and now in 2010, and that we should plan for 2020 together! Zach was at home, and it sounds like they got into some shenanigans.

More pictures are in the Forest of Friends online album.

New Year, here we are!