use real butter

Recipe: bouillabaisse

By now, just about everyone is nearly done with Christmas. I hope it was a good day for all. Just an update on Menu for Hope: Pim has extended the deadline to purchase raffle tickets to December 31, 2008. If you haven’t bid yet, I implore you to head over and have a looksee at the awesome prize offerings and perhaps purchase a few tickets. All of the pertinent links are listed on the header of my blog until the 31st. So get on it, kids! And thank you!

kaweah enjoys a christmas apple

While we don’t make a big deal of Christmas, I do like to prepare a nice meal on Christmas Day. I try to avoid spending all day in the kitchen, but unfortunately another project had me spending a couple of days in the kitchen, including Christmas (getting pretty cheesed off to boot – but more on that at a later date). I personally cannot stand the feeling of being stuffed, so I relish the thought of preparing a delicious treat of a meal that leaves me feeling satisfied, but able to run in an hour.

our simple christmas spread

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Recipe: green chile stew

We got over a foot of snow this weekend, which makes for a happy Jen. Catching some bloody 24-hour flu bug was not so happy-making, but I kicked it by 2:00 this morning and we were on the slopes by 8:30 am. Wow! There was a lot of snow and some wacky conditions. I got up close and personal with the snow several times.

the morning scene at the hill

shortly after i shot this picture, i bit it big time

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Recipe: roasted butternut squash soup simplified

I know a lot of people are traveling today. I hope everyone got to or gets to their destination safely and without incident. We are staying put – the way we like it. Keeps things low key and stress free. I went to the dentist this morning to get fitted for a crown and realized that after an hour, I could feel my gums again. So I think that may be why I suffered such immense pain yesterday because my dentist was jamming the posts down my root canals about 2 hours after she numbed my mouth. *Great* I love it when that happens! Today was a walk in the park by comparison.

While most folks are preparing their turkeys, we have been contemplating the leftovers (there are a lot) as well as eating them. Those potatoes au gratin really do get better with time.

turkey reuben, anyone?

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