Buddy's Going To Be O.K.

We just got GOOD NEWS ! ! ! I might as well tell all of you, I have been sitting here holding Buddy crying all morning....thinking the worst..and the vet just called...Buddy will be fine. All little old dogs have this. I asked her, is he going to die? She said, no, Buddy is not dying..He will be just fine. She is prescribing a medication that will help him, said it might just be an episode...

I have to tell all of you how much I love you and am so very thankful for each and everyone of you. It's just me and Buddy here on the farm most of the time..and I find so much comfort knowing I have all of you. Thank you all so much for the kind words, thoughts and prayers.It means more to me than you'll ever know.....

On Hold

I am in a situation with Buddy right now....he started coughing yesterday and I freaked out...was at the vet all day..it is not life threatening...but am waiting for a call from the vet about how to proceed with some medication..he has a collapsed trachea...very common in older toy poodles...so I can't think about anything else except Buddy .....just so you know.....

Getting Things Out

We went and got 2 Christmas trees last night. But before that we went to Pepe's Restaurant and had a real enchilada...and this one was good. So we've got that out of our system.
I got a few of my decorations out. The old book is from my collection of vintage Christmas books...this one..."The Birds Christmas Carol" was a gift from my dear friend, Julie.

The little tin Christmas box was also a gift from Julie...I just love it..I leave it out all year....just sitting in my bookshelves...but at Christmas I set it out for all to see...

The candy canes are old..I scored them one year from an antique shop up in Cambria called "Birds of a Feather". They were used to decorate a Christmas tree lot...love them too.....

And the little wreaths in my kitchen window are part of my vintage Christmas collection.

I'll start decorating the house and trees this weekend....

Rain is in the forecast.....

Mushroom, Pine Nuts,Leek and Tomato Tagliatelle

The other day I told you that I was going to make this pasta for supper and would post the recipe if it was good. Well, it was good...so good that it was all gone before I could get a picture of it. I wondered if I should post the recipe with no picture...but decided I had to...it is just too good not to share. It is from an old cookbook I have ...vintage date 1984. I just love this book. The recipes are seasonal. This one is under the Fall pasta section. It calls for wild mushrooms,I didn't have any so I used baby brown mushrooms instead, and it also called for chicken..I didn't have any so I just skipped it.I bought a leek after Thanksgiving cause it lookes so good and added it here. John has to have meat so I thawed out some sweet italian sausage and just cooked it in a skillet.

Today I am making gnocchi...I'll try and get a picture before we eat it all...


Mushroom,Pine Nuts, Leek and Tomato Tagliatelle

Adapted From Chez Panisse Pasta, Pizza and Calzone Cookbook
by Alice Waters (the beloved)

1 cup brown buttom mushooms,sliced
1 leek, sliced
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
2 tomatoes, chopped
Italian Parsley..a handfull,chopped
Thyme leaves...a few, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Parmesan, grated....use the good stuff
Tagliatelle, cooked and drained for 2

Saute the mushrooms in the olive oil till soft and brown
Remove from pan and set aside

Saute the leek in olive oil till soft

Add mushrooms back to the pan

Add the chicken stock

Add the chopped tomatoes, pine nuts and the herbs, salt and pepper to taste

Add the cooked tagliatelle to the pan ...splash in some of the pasta cooking water if the sauce seems dry. Stir. Plate the pasta and sprinkle parmesan on top

Cozy Morning

Whiskey Sour has got it pretty good around here. He sleeps between John and me every night. Sometimes he is on his back with his head on the pillow and paws over the top sheet. We look like 3 kittens all sleeping in a row...Dandelion comes and goes..she is more interested in the outdoor cats...so she is patroling the doors downstairs...and Buddy..well, he is curled up right in the middle of it all....

Sweet Dreams here at Farmhouse....

Simple and Sweet

First off...remember those old cake toppers that they put on cakes way back when.Bakeries like "Delight" and "Carlocks" and "The Cream Puff" always had them on the cakes at Christmas. I love them. I started collecting them years ago...The Santa and his sleigh was always my favorite one. I like to line them up in my kitchen window at Christmastime...

In Cambria there is Hospitality Night. This year it is tomorrow night.We're not going, but John works in Cambria and asked me to make some cupcakes for it. It is the night when all the local businesses are open...they light the town tree, Santa and Mrs. Claus wander the village, they have caroling,all the shops are open and offer treats and hot cider but my favorite is the live nativity...One year they had a baby camel. Julie and I must have gone by and checked that out about every 5 minutes. He was so cute, we just couldn't get enough of him...

So this morning I decided to make some simple, plain white cupcakes....

Morning Light-December 1st

It was frosty rooftops here this morning on our walk with Buddy so it got me in the mood to do some Christmas decorating. I got out the red windowpane tablecloth that I got at an antique shop up in Paso Robles with Sharon years ago. I love how it looks with the red quilt hanging on the wall behind it.I prefer getting my Christmas decorations up See Canyon...pine boughs, berries, walnuts, acorns...nature... really try to keep a Maine Woodland theme here. I like the quiet of Christmas. I am really not an up-at-3-in-the-morning-looking-for-a-bargain-type person.I like the way the sun turns red as it sinks low in the west late in the afternoon...and the way the moon looks as it rises up over Terrace Hill in the east. Big and bright and white against the purple-blue December sky.

John and I come in the gate at Farmhouse ,gather firewood from under the apple trees and come inside to build a fire in "little woodstove." We light our candles, put on some Christmas music and start our supper.Tonight I am making Mushroom, Leek & Pine Nut Tagliatelle out of my Chez Panisse Pasta Cookbook by Alice Waters...

If it's good, I'll post the recipe tomorrow....hoping for better luck than I had the other night....oh and yeah...those are all cookbooks..and that's only half of it.....