I am grateful for...

... a Kind Sister who brings me gingerale, orange juice and chicken noodle soup when I am sick, and then stays the night to keep me company.
... scented candles to make the bad smells in the bathroom go away
... a warm and comfortable house and bed
... a snuggly pink bathrobe to wear when I have a fever at 3 am

Wish me a quick recovery.

Winter Wonderland

So I went hiking on my day off!

I hiked to the hot pots with the OAC.
I was the last one up, because I took over 200 pictures.
But the scenery was so lovely.

The hot pots felt great, though we all got ice crystals in our hair!
And it smelled terribly of sulfur.
I had to wash EVERYTHING when I got home.
But I want to go back!

Sunday Dinner

With the weather so cold, I enjoy making stews and meat dishes more. This dish, Baeckhoffe, is a traditional Alsatian dish that I learned to make from visits to France. It takes a long time to cook, but the actual preparing is quite minimal (in fact, it is the nineteenth-century version of a crock pot meal.)
Recipe: take one large earthenware or glass baking dish with a lid (I use my traditional terrine that I bought in Strasbourg)
add 2-4 pounds of meat cut into fist-size chunks (I usually pick out a small beef pot roast and 3 or 4 thick cut boneless pork slices, and cut them up for this)
marinate them overnight (the traditional marinade is Riesling)
chop up 3-4 onions and add them to the meat
bake meat and onions, covered, in a 325 F oven for about 2 hours
peel and chop into large chunks: 4-5 big carrots, 3-6 potatoes
add the vegetables and cook one hour longer, until they are tender
It makes good leftovers, too!


Wonderful Sunday dinner!

More comparisons

Charlotte B had a long post-holiday reign in the dining room (and pretty much everywhere else in the house, too.)

But the beauty of a holiday weekend is that I have time to face energy-requiring projects (like taking down the Christmas tree.) It helped that I got my exercise in that day!

Glorious Timp

Even with Evil Noisy Construction blocking much of my former view, I can still see THIS outside my window!


I am very lucky to live on the Wasatch Front.

Something for Charlotte B

This is the kitchen of Charlotte B.





This is the kitchen of Charlotte A.


Charlotte A is generally too busy working to take time for things like Blogs.
But Charlotte B needs small, quiet projects that provide instant satisfaction. It prevents her from becoming Charlotte C (otherwise known as a puddle.)