use real butter

out of the box
I made pumpkin bread with cranberries and walnuts last night. It’s actually from a mix – but this mix is a Trader Joe’s brand which came in a care package from bodacious babes Erin and Caroline in Seattle. It’s really good, although a tad fluffy for a quick bread. Highly recommended.

comfort dinner
I made meatloaf tonight with kale and mashies. And even though the title of this here blog is one of the prime directives, I do try to make healthy meals so we might live long enough to enjoy our retirement savings. The meatloaf was made with ground turkey and the sauce is not ketchup but a mix of red currant jelly and chili sauce. That’s not necessarily healthier, but I think it tastes better than ketchup. The mashies are baked russets with skin on, green onions, canola margarine, and nonfat plain yogurt. The kale is half stir-fried half steamed.

One of the food blog memes going around is listing your favorite recipes from the year. I’m not nearly so organized that I have kept track of all the recipes I tried, although I am OCD enough that I’ve photographed about half of them. So in lieu of my favorite recipes, I compiled some of my favorite food and outdoor photos from the past year.

Every time the power goes out and we must light candles, I think of what it must have been like in the days predating electricity. Candlelight is romantic, but it sucks when you want to read without eye strain. Our power went out last night around 7:30. At first, the electric company said it would restored by 10 pm. Jeremy was hoping so since his observation runs began around 10 pm. We lit candles and gathered ourselves into the office, which remains warmer than the rest of the house with the door shut. We were prepared to spend the night there anyway due to the racket caused by the windstorm. I used my headlamp for reading up on sights to see in Australia.