leder legends

The sun shining, the fireplace is aglow, the music is playing and so it’s a great day to curl up with a good book! Overnight this area got dumped on! Unfortunately our snowblower is out getting fixed!  The plows are very busy trying to clean up the main roads.  It will be awhile!

The best thing about thanksgiving this year was having leftovers the next day! Steak, potatoes and veggies… perfect! Yesterday we had fun! Dinner was at 5 so I had a leisurely day preparing. Quick pickled cucumbers, carrot sticks, garlic bread ( I didn’t burn it this year), grapes for Asher, snow salad with berry sauce, cranberry sauce, some boxed stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, asparagus and great steak—- awesome meal. Unfortunately, most folks had come from a previous gathering so there will be no 5:00 dinner next year since no one was very hungry.  The food was great! The pies were both okay! The apple pie could have been baked much longer so the apples would have been softer.  The pumpkin pie was delicious not that anyone had any except me. Fast scrabble was played by all. I think it’s starting to become a tradition!

I spent the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in the kitchen. I am hoping that life might be a little less hectic this year. Cranberry sauce was first. Sugar and spice plus oranges and zest made the kitchen smell so good.  It tastes great and will be a lovely side for our steak dinner! Snow salad is a permanent side at every holiday whether or not it pairs well with the meal.  It will look so much better once I unmold it and garnish it. I decided to bake some cookies too but not any traditional Christmas ones.  I love oatmeal raisin cookies and now there are 3 dozen in the freezer. They taste wonderful.  Dessert can also be made ahead of time so I baked two pies- apple and pumpkin. I'm not a pie baker but I think they turned out OK.  Everything tastes better with some whipped cream or ice cream. 

  Putting my life in order at my age seems like a strange thing to do. Yet if Marie Kondo, the “famous” cleaning guru is to believed,  “ life truly begins after you have put your house in order”!  She also tells you to examine your clutter carefully and if something does not give you “joy” then you should throw it out. (Donate or trash… either way).  I do not believe that each item that I own needs to bring me joy because some things are too utilitarian for that, but this “test” might help me make decisions about things in the house that really are not useful. Let life begin…I guess.

  It’s that time of year! I clean out the second part of the garage once a year so that the husband can park his car in there before the winter’s cold and snow arrive! Usually  it is filled, by me, with an accumulation of garden stuff. It’s easy for me and he doesn’t mind parking out on the driveway during the spring and summer. This year we both cleaned, tossed, gave away and sold the excess!   Looks awesome!   So much room! ( the snowblower is now in the shop!) The shelf unit is finally on the other side. No need to worry about the car mirror getting bumped! I can even get in by the door while inside the garage! We are motivated by the thought of buying a newer house and that means declutterring and downsizing!

… that she grew up in Alaska! Only in Alaska

  I spent the  entire day cooking ONE pumpkin! It was a big one! I cut it up into a large chunks! The chunks went into the Insta-pot to cook until mushy. One “load” took approximately 45 minutes.  I did it 4 times! The pumpkin was very well cooked and so mushy that the skin came off easily. I used the immersion blender to purée it all! I harvested a total of 6 one pound bags of purée that I will use for pumpkin bisque, pumpkin bread and bars! The “influencer” that I occasionally listen to said that making your own purée was simple and quick! Simple and quick? It was simple but it certainly was not quick! She did say that that the smaller ‘pie’ pumpkins might be ‘sweeter’ and by virtue of their small size I’m sure they would be quicker to cook! One thing I learned was that cooking a large $6 pumpkin instead of buying a $1.99 can of pumpkin is not very cost effective.  I did get 6 packages of homemade pumpkin purée that supposedly will taste much, much better than the ...

  In our search for a new place for lunch last Wednesday, we found K-POT.   We had no idea what they served nor how! Surprised to find a grill at every table plus 4 heating elements. It turns out you cook your own food at KPOT.  It is also an all you can eat restaurant! You choose Korean BBQ or Hotpot! The grill is for the BBQ and  the heating elements are for the Hot-pot.  If one person wants one and the other person wants the other there is a $5 up charge.  We decided on BBQ but we had no idea what to order. We were blessed with a very helpful and friendly waiter who walked us through it.  We got some fish, chicken, pork and beef in various forms.  We got sauces as well seaweed salad from the sauce bar and got to cooking.   The experience was fun and the food tasty.  I’m not sure if I’d do it again without a knowledgeable Korean along side us! 

 Cleome : it seems to be a love it or hate it plant for gardeners. I just let them grow if they come up in random spots and they don’t spoil the view. They come up late and give some needed color to flowerbeds. I prefer them to come up in the front yard because they are more than deer resistant— the deer really don’t eat them.  They are smelly in an odd way and the stems have a thistle resemblance.  One plant can get very tall 5 feet or more and it branches out to produce multiple blooms. It’s quite striking and many want to know what it is called.  One bloom Many blooms in a group. So why would a gardener “hate” it? Lots and lots of seed pods containing lots and lots of seeds which spread when the pod pops! The plant is very easy to recognize when it is small, so it’s easy to cull and you can easily leave a few strategic plants! It’s also easy to see why its nickname is Grandfather’s Whiskers- so cute!

  HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2025 June and Celia in Alaska    The candy haul! Generous neighbors!   No snow this year. A good witch and Jasmine   Storman and Aria in Alaska      Aria, the pirate and friends    Storman the burglar and friends.   Asher in Michigan Asher -at Grandmas Karen’s When the cousins from AK were here, they went to the Zoo Goes Boo.