Chicken BBQ Tonight and You're All Invited

I don't mean to dwell on it, I really don't. But I just got back from Scolaris Grocery and when I walked in the gate the temperature on the thermometer read 81 degrees.Sorry.It is hot. We are in a Heat Wave. I thought about getting out the fan for Buddy, but he seems o.k. for now. All the doors and windows are wide open. We decided to bbq chicken tonight and I wish you were all here with me.I am sauteeing spinach and making couscous. After the holidays we are burnt out on Christmas Food.

The cosmos are coming up on the side of the fence. Those big green stalks against the shed are sunflowers. Sorry, again. The other plants are basil...and me in my sandals today.Wish you were here.

75 Degrees on January 3rd

This is just plain strange. The rest of the country is frozen solid and I am strolling in my garden in flip flops. And I am not kidding you, either. The temperature gauge says 75. To tell you the truth, it might actually be hotter than that.It feels nice, I guess, but it just doesn't seem right. It's January...but that's California.

I'm glad the Christmas tree is gone..the thought of looking at that tree melting in the sun. No thanks.My "berries and cream" rose is blooming, the pineapple sage is in full bloom and the hummingbirds love it, the daffodils are pushing up and my spring showers are popping open too. Is this it? Have we gone from Christmas to Spring?

I don't know what to think. The weatherman says warming up by the end of the week. Warming up? Huh?

Making pizza tonight, but we should be bbqing.......

New Years Breakfast at Farmhouse

It's all quiet and cloudy here this morning at Farmhouse.
Last night on New Year's Eve we sat around the fire like 2 mice dipping little cubes of french bread into melting cheese fondue, sipping champagne, Buddy tucked in a snowman blanket between the two of us.After supper we added another log to the fire and nibbled on raspberries in cream and shortbread cookies. We had a wonderful, cozy New Years Eve, even though we were fast alseep upstairs when the New Year arrived.

New Years Morning Breakfast at Farmhouse

Scrambled Eggs in Butter
Roasted New Potatoes
Chicken and Sage Sausages

Toast
Tea

Happy New Years Day

New Years Eve at Farmhouse

New Years Eve Supper at Farmhouse

Menu

Champagne

Alaskan King Crab steamed served with Farmhouse Butter and Meyer Lemon

Gruyere and Emmenthal Cheese Fondue with Nutmeg and Kirsch

French Bread, Cubed
Assorted Sausages
Steamed White Rose Potatoes

Mache Salad with Hass Avacado

Raspberries and Cream
Shortbread Cookies with Walnuts and Apricots

Wishing all of you were here with me by the fire for New Years Eve. I know we'd have a good time. I just know we would. You have brightened my world this year with your love, laughter in good times, support in tough times,kindness and that wonderful feeling of community. I Love All of You and treasure each and every friendship. You mean the world to me and I wish you all a happy and peaceful NEW YEAR !

With Love and Friendship,
Kary
xxx

Cannelloni al Forno

Over Christmas here we thought it would be nice to make some cannelloni. We did the one out of Mario Batali... Molto Italiano Cookbook. We made the pasta, rolled it out, made the filing with the veal and pork, made a red tomato sauce and a white besciamella sauce, cut the pasta into squares, filled them, rolled them and layered on the two sauces. I took us five hours from start to finish. And John helped me with most of it, helping out with all the dishes and cleaning up. If I did it alone I would probably still be in the kitchen.

But we had them for dinner that night and it was worth all the effort...they were good.

my christmas tree

my christmas tree
Originally uploaded by Gregor Halbwedl

Wishing all my dear friends a Merry Christmas Eve of Eve

Frosty The Snowman Cake

Only 3 days to go and it's been pretty busy around here at Farmhouse. This morning was kid's baking day. I got this snowman cake pan years ago from Williams-Sonoma and have never used it. Every year we say we are and then the season comes and goes...and Frosty is still sitting in the pantry. So this year we made a point of it. I made the cake yesterday..thank you to my new best friend, Mr. Duncan Hines.... I think if I would have made the recipe on the Frosty The Snowman box we could have stood the cake upright like the picture. That recipe seems like it would make a dense gingerbread-like cake. But time was running short..so we did the best we could....and the cake is pretty fragile..so we just left it flat in the pan...but the whole idea was to let the little ones do the decorating. We had all kinds of frostings, sprinkles, gumdrops, candies, jelly beans, coconut, sanding sugars...so we just let the fun begin..and we had a ball. And Frosty turned out pretty good....

Merry Christmas, Frosty