An Extravagant and Fun Gadget

For Christmas Dorrie gave me this very chic and snazzy battery operated Oster bottle opener.  Such a great gift because it is not something I would by myself but is such a fun gadget to own.  We charged it in December and have used it maybe 4 times since.  It still has life - no need to charge yet.  The directions said you could open 32 bottles on one battery charge!  That is a lot of wine.  Woo-hoo!

Love it.  Thanks, Dorrie.

February Snow

I took a little hiatus from writing.  Last night I was trying to figure out why.  We've been busy, but not more than normal.  I've kept taking pictures for the blog and have been forming ideas, but didn't sit down to write either on the computer or in my spiral.  We have all been fighting the flu and cold season.  Tired by 9 pm most nights, I hit the sack early to try to stay healthy.  Today, though, we get an unexpected break from our daily schedule due to snow!  So, here I sit to try to catch up.

This morning we went out into our neighborhood to find a great sledding hill and found several.  We started out in the woods where the slushy puddles kept the kids from long sledding runs.  Then we ventured to the end of the street and a couple of friendly drive ways.  Even I got on the sled a couple of times.  Very speedy in today's snow.

 For lunch we are going to trek into town and eat at the Bee Hive Restaurant.  Such a relaxing break!  Thank you, snow!

My favorite Salmon Recipe

I can't remember if I've written this recipe in this blog before.  We found this recipe many years ago.  It is a mainstay in our cooking repetoire.  As a grateful inhabitant of the northwest, we eat as much salmon as possible - especially when friends gift us with big, beautiful, meaty lengths of salmon. Our children even appreciate seafood.  They especially appreciate salmon, although this is one of the foods that they still put ketchup on.  Funny.  Tonight I baked salmon topped with green onions and tomato.  Healthy and delectable and filling.





This is a rather elegant and simple dish.  It is easy to prepare, cooks within a half hour, and looks beautiful going to the table.  I wish I had taken a picture of it, but oh well, I think the recipe creates a picture in your head just because it is so simple!

Salmon Fresca

Salmon fillet, 1 pound
juice from 1/2 a lemon
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place salmon on parchment paper on a shallow baking pan or spray or oil the pan.  Fold under the thinner edges of the salmon for even cooking.  Season with salt and pepper.  In a bowl, stir together tomatoes, onions, lemon juice.  Evenly top the salmon with the tomato mixture.  Bake salmon for 20 - 30 minutes, until salmon is flaky.

A New Year and A New Decade

 Wow.  I love New Year's Eve.  We are, however, not so adventurous on New Year's Eve.  We watch the fun on the TV!  Maybe when the kids are older we will travel to a big city celebration somewhere, but for now, staying in is what it's all about.  This year we added some excitement to our night by staying overnight at Auntie Rochelle's house in Port Townsend.

The one really big New Year's tradition we have is that everyone picks an "appetizer".  We make each one and eat all night long.  Every year someone picks pigs in a blanket!  This year was no exception.  Of course we serve them with ketchup! Auntie Rochelle liked them with ketchup, too!  We also had summer sausage, pepperoni, cheese, and crackers.  Katie picked out a smoked mozzarella and I picked out a Havarti.  Robby picked a sharp cheddar.  Let's see.  Auntie Rochelle served Chex mix and we drank 2 bottles of sparkling cider.

We had pretty plastic champagne glasses and fun hats and glasses.  The Lewises rang in the New Year in style, I tell you.  Ketchup and all.

Making Pizza Together

My sister-in-law and brother encourage their children to be involved in food, too.  Okay, all my siblings do.  Since my mom and dad tried to involve us in the kitchen, we are passing that along.  Like most families, food is always a big part of our gatherings.  I have sweet pictures of the cousins making bread sticks with my older sister at an Easter gathering when they were toddlers. This week, my niece turned 9, so we went up to Seattle to make pizza and celebrate her birthday.

My creative sister-in-law made 7 small rounds of dough and everyone got to top their own pizza.  Della, the birthday girl, had chosen cheese and pepperoni for the pizzas.  The kids had a great time building their own pie.  The youngest, Hank, had a little too much encouragement from his big cousins and got a little carried away with the pepperoni.  He doesn't actually eat much pepperoni, so his mom helped him take some off.

The pizzas were great fun to make and eat!  These memories go a long way.  I know these four will talk about Della's birthday for a long time.  I included a picture of Della and Hank's dog, Otis.  He is a sweetie.

Experiencing Christmas Traditions

As adventurers, the kids and I love to hear about the traditions of families.  My sister-in-law, Heather, comes from an English family in which they drink ginger wine on Christmas.  Her English cousins sent her a bottle, so she brought it to share with us on Christmas. 

Of course, this adventure in food was only for the adults.  I happily took part!  Apparently in the English/Scottish tradition, ginger wine is a grand sharing experience.  It definitely had a spicy, ginger-ale taste.  I tried it mixed with ginger ale which was very smooth and relaxing.  I also tried it on ice.  It was a little spicier and left a stronger after taste.  I recommend it with the ginger ale for a more relaxed drink.  Apparently the Scots make a drink called the Ginger Mac with a splash of ginger wine in whiskey.  Not really my style, either, since we don't keep whiskey in the house.

I'm very pleased to have had the opportunity to try ginger wine.  Bloody good stuff!

That reminds me to clear my calendar for the upcoming Burn's Supper.  I shall report about haggis afterward!  Have you tried haggis?  I did last year, before I started my blog.  Maybe I will suggest that they serve ginger wine at the Burn's Supper to help us wash down the haggis.

Gift Giving (and receiving) is My Favorite Part of Christmas

I realize how improper that title sounds coming from a traditional Catholic.  All my life elders have tried to teach me that giving of ourselves is what matters most.  We aren't supposed to get caught up in the materialism of Christmas. However, I find thinking about a person you love for weeks, trying to choose what to give them, a satisfying and spiritual experience.  It is a time for being considerate - even if we are on a budget - and bringing those people close to your heart.  I love this process and have been teaching my children to love it, too.  We spend a few days discussing their cousins and coming up with ideas before we go shopping for them. 

Mara and Della are a lot like Katie.  In fact they are all within three years of each other, so usually Katie has a handle on what they might want.  This year, she wanted to shop for them at Justice.  If you have a young lady in your life between the ages of 6 and 14, this is the store for you.  We picked out a cute t-shirt for each of them.  Della's was a beautiful mixture of blues with a subtle ruffle at the bottom.  Very appropriate for Della's quiet but strong demeanor. For Mara, on the other hand, we picked out a sparkle-filled, spunky light blue shirt.  She is the older and more boisterous of the three girl cousins.  We also bought Della a draw your own Star Wars book - she received two different drawing books at Christmas.  I love the feeling you get when it is obvious that you hit the target with your gift.  She was excited about the books, holding each up to show her mother.

Erik and Hank are the boy cousins that we buy for.  Hank is 5.  He is a riot to buy for.  We couldn't decide but knew we wanted to buy from the toy aisle.  We finally settled on a Hot Wheel toy that had a gorilla attached to it.  The gorilla holds cars in his hands and swipes at the cars flying past him off the track.  Cool.  He opened the box immediately and made his dad help him put it together in the middle of the present-opening circle.  Cute.  And Erik, the thirteen year old.  We searched for gifts for Erik, but always came back to iTunes.  Erik is very musical and technological.  iTunes made sense for him.  He opened it with a smile and said to his mom, "Cool.  iTunes to spend."

My turn.  I had my big sister's name.  She is a single mother who doesn't really think about herself much.  I shopped for her in Seattle, looking for something unique and personal that she could have to herself.  At Pike's Place Market, I found pretty and pint size ring bowls and jars for her dresser.  They were a pretty green color and had a dragonfly on them.  She liked them.  I also found a really pretty rosary for her and wrapped it inside one of the jars.

Since I hosted, she brought me a gift even though she didn't have my name.  A very fun and meaningful bottle of Merlot from Middle Sister's winery in California.  Hopefully you made that connection.  I am the middle sister.  I immediately posted a picture of it on Facebook.  So fun.  She was even nice and picked the Merlot which was called "forever cool."

My sister-in-law had my name.  Awesome.  She knows me well.  I got this beautiful purse.  She is like a mind-reader.  I switch my purses often, depending upon my mood, clothes, the weather...I love purses.  Last week I was wishing that I had a light brown purse to accent some of my more colorful clothes.  Now I have one!  It's a great, roomy but manageable sized purse.

In support of my blog, she also gave me a dutch oven.  I'm so excited.  I have all kinds of recipes that I could make in a dutch oven, but didn't have one!  Hey!  Cyberspace, share your dutch oven recipes with me!  I'd love to see some in the comments.  Merry Christmas to everyone.  I hope you felt as gratified about gift giving as my family did.  I'm sure that Jesus appreciates how much we think about each other during the gifting process.