Wrapping up the holidays and 2009

Our 2009 and Christmas holiday zipped by in such a flurry that we've begun to wonder Does time speed up as you get older, or does it just disappear? We had a very cozy Christmas Eve together in Fredericksburg before heading down on Christmas day to Richmond to spend time with Nick's parents and then to Amelia to spend some time with mine. Our longstanding Christmas Eve tradition is to fix dinner together and gulp it down with lots of good wine, and this year accordingly followed suit.


We made roast chicken (whole, fresh and local, stuffed with an orange, fresh thyme, onion, and several garlic cloves and with a little guidance from here), a crock of mac and cheese with creamy sharp cheddar and Gruyere, roasted Brussels sprouts with local apples, and roasted carrots with smoked paprika. (I think the carrot dish is now my new fave side dish.) We capped off our peasanty dinner with two slices of the *the* most delicious chocolate mousse-topped pumpkin cake from our fave little bakery downtown. My mouth is totally watering just typing this up.


How a plus-size, bilious, ironic-bow-wearing, ten-year-old calico housecat named Birdie celebrates Christmas in our house: How a wistful Westie with cabin fever celebrates almost a foot and a half of snow (when he's not terrorizing a certain surly, graying, foul-breathed Chihuahua) :

We're on "staycation" next week with lots of fun things in the bloggy hopper, to include local feasting (I have a secret day trip planned filled local eating and drinking for Nick...ssshhh!), mushroom growing adventures (thanks, Grandma Betty!), and my new favorite obsession: Southern Exposure Seed Exchange's 2010 Catalog and Garden Guide.

Happy New Year! :)

Let It Snow

The idyllic, pristine white stuff has yielded to the better-late-than-never city snow pushers and has become that disgusting, bleakly gray, sandy mess piled high at the sides of the roads. White Christmas? Probably not. It's supposed to rain here on Friday, too, which will likely melt what's left of our winter wonderland. Still, the snow was a picturesque treat, and it made for a relaxing weekend for us.

We were mindful of our sweet feathered friends and tried to keep our feeders full. We saw tons of Cardinals this weekend. Nick called me a species feminist because I happen to like the female Cardinals better than the male Cardinals. Whatever, right? I sat in the windows with the cats and watched these guys for a long time:
Saturday while I was birdwatching, a hawk landed on our front porch, which kinda freaked me out. I wanted to snap a picture of it, but was afraid I'd spook it off before Nick had a chance to see it. I freaked out because I once heard this story on NPR about this man whose pet Chihuahua was scooped away by some kind of big bird. The dog eventually made its way back to its owner, but he did have a few puncture marks from the big bird's claws. Edison is one surly, foul-breathed ingrate, but I'd be horrified if a hawk dognapped him. I pity the big bird that tries to steal our stinky and grumpy little Chihuahua.

More Cardinals! They were thankful for their snowy seed feast.

Our backyard:

There's some raised bed goodness under here somewhere!

The only thing whiter than the snow is this dude's legs. That's right, the man I married shovels snow in soccer shorts. What a goof.
Nick shoveled a little path for the dogs so that they could get around the yard to do their business. Jordan loved racing back and forth through his little tunnel. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever?

Here's Jordan doing his version of the breast-stroke through the snow. It totally cracked us up. Edison would have NOTHING of the snow.

We went for a walk Sunday morning after the snow stopped to check on a couple of our elderly neighbors to make sure they were doing well. One was a bit grumpy over the lack of delivery of the Sunday paper, so we walked a couple of blocks to a nearby grocery store to grab him a paper. Nothing like making a 90 year old's day with a small gesture.

Heading to the canal path to take a peek around. Thankfully Nick opted to wear more weather-appropriate attire for this.

The canal in all its early morning quiet and icy glory:

And the place that puts money in my bank account every two weeks. Apparently there's some good sledding to be had there on the back side of the hospital:

It really was a beautiful weekend. I hope the snow hangs in there for Christmas!

Garden in the Snow

We were just whomped by a pretty big snow storm--well, big for our little corner of the map. At last measure yesterday afternoon we had gotten 15 inches, but it had continued to snow for a few more hours after that. I'd heard that snow was falling at a rate of about 2 inches per hour earlier in the day...

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we had our first little dusting of snow of the year. It was pretty, but after this weekend's snow slam, that first dusting seems...quaint.

The square foot beds a couple of weeks ago: (Pardon a certain indiscrete Westie who slyly punked us while we were trying to capture our favorite little spot covered in snow.)

The rainbow chard that grows by our back porch:

We took a walk through our neighborhood this morning and snapped a few pictures of this weekend's massive snow. We hope to post those soon!

Off to finish baking our 10th dozen of cookies! (What else is being snowed in good for besides a marathon of holiday cooking baking?)

Bon Anniversaire

December is full of sparkle and celebration, and, for us, the kick-off is my birthday on December 1. This year Nick and I celebrated with a quiet, intimate dinner at our fave downtown spot, Bistro Bethem. The staff gave us complimentary glasses of champagne for the occasion, and, with the fall semester pulling to a merciful close, I drank mine in quick, mighty gulps. We also had cocktails made with the yummiest and spiciest ginger brew and candied ginger. We started with a deelish cheese board of Cypress Grove goat cheeses--Truffle Tremore, Midnight Moon and Humboldt Fog with jams, walnut brittle, chestnut honey, dijon mustard and toast points. I had the brioche-cranberry-pancetta stuffed quail, house made game sausage, and sauteed root vegetables. Nick had organic free-range chicken breast, three cheese mac 'n' cheese and braised greens. We split a vanilla bean creme brulee for heavenly dessert. My mouth is watering just recalling the menu. Mmm.... Lots of happy calls and cards from friends and family rounded out a lovely, peaceful birthday. I did receive several gifts that will assuredly be a boost in both the skill and inspiration departments for our next garden chapter: