The Blog: Spellbound by our own imperfect lives...

When I signed in this morning I noticed that I have written 1,221 posts. That's a lot of blah blah blah, I'd say. But I've had 18,483 hits on my main page which even accounting for me going back to read what I wrote myself and family who like to see their own pictures and friends who want to make sure I haven't moved to Poland, that is a lot of readers. Here's where the current readers come from: 457 91.40% Minnesota 9 1.80% New Mexico 5 1.00% Colorado 5 1.00% New York 5 1.00% Wisconsin 4 0.80% Massachusetts 3 0.60% Kentucky 3 0.60% Illinois 3 0.60% South Carolina 1 0.20% North Carolina 1 0.20% Texas 1 0.20% Georgia I don't think it means much. I'm just saying is all. Regis is watching the squirrels and birds in the front yard. They've been really active lately, building up their reserves for winter, I suppose. We have quite the fat squirrel population and they're fun t...

Regis and I got the most immediate aftermath cleaned up yesterday. I made some turkey stock with the wings, we froze the left-over turkey in small packages, and froze the bread. Too good to throw out, you know. There are dishes all over the table but those will be put away tomorrow. Today is a day for fun. I went to the Pulse this morning after a two day hiatus. I was beating myself mentally for being a slug lately and worried that I was losing my motivation. I have meticulous records of my exercise going back to August 2008 when I started so when I got home, I dug them out and analyzed the data. Here's what I learned: September 2009 = 19 times/month with an average 226 minutes/week September 2010 =  15 times/month with an average 234 minutes/week October 2009 = 22 times/month with an average 220 minutes/week October 2010 = 14 times/month with an average 213 minutes/week November 2009 = 21 times/month with an average 188 minutes/week November 2010 = 15 times/month with a...

Jalapeno Cranberry Compote Onion Tartlets Alton Brown's Turke y Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Traditional Stuffing Andouille and Cornbread Stuffing Green Bean Casserole Roasted Root Vegetables Cranberry Chutney Lefse Italian Country Bread Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Pumpkin Truffles

We use Alton Brown's turkey recipe. The bird brines in a bath of salt water, aromatics, and citrus fruit. It smells wonderful! One nice lookin' pie. The chocolate one is disappointing. I don't make it often enough and forget the minor details like you can't make ganache in the microwave. Ella came over to help make the pumpkin pie with tofu since she is allergic to dairy. She's a good helper in the kitchen and she especially liked pushing the pulse button on the food processor. My black market lefse made it from Fargo, thank God. I pay six dollars a package for Freddy's lefse from Fargo and they sell it for twelve at the coffee shop. My lefse agent said when he was in the store, someone was ordering two packages to be delivered overnight for 90 dollars. Holy crap. But it is lefse, after all, and it's only money. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Looks like the roads will be passable around here. I'm glad nobody has to travel too far.

Upon Discovering My Entire Solution to the Attainment of Immortality Erased from the Blackboard Except the Word Save by  Dobby Gibson If you have seen the snow somewhere slowly fall on a bicycle, then you understand all beauty will be lost and that even the loss can be beautiful. And if you have looked at a winter garden and seen not a winter garden but a meditation on shape, then you know why this season is not known for its words, the cold too much about the slowing of matter, not enough about the making of it. So you are blessed to forget this way: a jump rope in the ice melt, a mitten that has lost its hand, a sun that shines as if it doesn't mean it. And if in another season you see a beautiful woman use her bare hands to smooth wrinkles from her expensive dress for the sake of dignity, but in so doing trace the outlines of her thighs, then you will remember surprise assumes a space that has first been forgotten, especially here, where we ra...

A few random pictures with no explanation needed. I took a personal day yesterday to prepare for Thanksgiving. Regis and I bought our groceries at 6 a.m. in Mankato. Our friends at the HyVee were preparing for the onslaught of customers. With Monday's icy road conditions, people were not out shopping and all we've heard since Monday night is the icy conditions anticipated for today. That leaves yesterday. Cars were streaming into the parking lot by the time we left at 7:30. It was gonna be ugly. I went to the Pulse to exercise, then spent the rest of the day puttering in the house and cooking. The cooking part is what I love. These are the things we did yesterday: Made a stop at the Co-op for nutmeg and ginger Picked up flowers at the greenhouse Made cornbread for the Andouille sausage stuffing Baked my Italian country bread Made spicy cranberry sauce with jalapenos and apples Got the ingredients ready for the onion tartlets Caramelized onions for the tartlets an...

I'm awake at 3 a.m. worrying about icy roads and how I will get to the store for my Thanksgiving groceries. Finally decided to get up and check the weather. Like that will make a difference. And after all of that, I forgot to check. Also worried about not having enough time to thaw my turkey if I buy it tomorrow. Is it the full moon that does this? Ella came over Sunday afternoon to bake a pumpkin that we got at Living Land Farm this fall. She wants to make a pie so we baked the pumpkin and she'll come over on Wednesday to finish the pie. Scooping out the pumpkin guts as she calls them. Almost five years old! The finished product. She liked the pumpkin with a little brown sugar on it. We sat in the chair with the hula girl lights around our necks. Snuggling. Looking stylish. The forecast doesn't look too bad for tomorrow. Icy rain today. Ugh. I have to find my yak trax. Of all things, I found the ones Regis never even put on last year but now I can't f...

Regis and I were sitting at the bar of one of our favorite restaurants last night, drinking wine and sniffing my perfume. It's Obsession by Calvin Klein and we both love it. We get our perfume and cologne samples from magazines...cardboard perfume we call it. We remembered how there was a time we scorned smelly stuff and ripped them out and threw them away without a second glance. A couple weeks ago, we splurged and bought a bottle of Obsession, thinking it would be complicated to collect enough samples to get us through the winter. Yesterday I ordered a bottle of Yves Saint Laurent called   La Nuit De L'Homme .  So, what's the difference? I think as we've gotten older and our kids have fled the nest, we've made a conscious effort to enjoy ourselves and do things we didn't do in the past. Getting old is in the head, for the most part. Mom commented on the post below. She wondered if the old people we were teaching were a little over 60. Ha! Hard to tell. So...

Get up and drink coffee in front of the faux fireplace. Wear warm slippers. Finalize grocery list for Thanksgiving dinner.  Read over recipes and think about cooking. Go to Whiskey River for breakfast. Have a Mexican omelet with bacon and lots of spicy salsa. Drink lots of coffee. Watch the wild turkeys and the deer. Think about our float in the fish house parade.  Go for a long walk in the sunshine. Buy stuff to make pumpkin truffles. Take a nap. Take a long bath with bubbles, a candle, and a cup of coffee. Meet friends for dinner at Suzette's in Jordan. Notice there is a lot of thinking and not much doing on this list. My favorite kind of day. I have a long list of  things to do for Thanksgiving Day but I'm ahead of schedule and none of them needs to be done today. That's good. I can revert back to my hedonistic ways and pursue pleasure/avoid pain. We stopped at the bar last night to help our friend, Vickie, celebrate the first anniversary of her divorce. I ...

Elliot and Tiffany came to dinner last night. Elliot reminds me of Peter when he was little. He's strong, fast, and very active and hard to keep up with, believe me, it was a three-man job last night. I know little kids are always into more stuff when it isn't their home turf, so I know he wasn't being naughty. He's very affectionate and sweet. But he's very active. And very fast. Did I mention fast? I thought this series of pictures would make a good slide show. Tiffany asked me to put Elliot's coat on while she took his things to the car. He was a little frantic because he thought "Mama go bye-bye" without him but Regis and I managed to finally get his coat on. The minute I let him go, he made a bee-line for the door and we had to watch Mama come back from the car. Regis said several times during the evening, "This is why young people have babies, and not old people." And one of the reasons they make wine. Elliot calls us Nana and Pop...

I talked to my brother Pat last night and he told me a story that had me waking up at 2 a.m., composing a re-tell for the blog. Pat has a friend whose dad is getting older and a little goofy. He went to the driver's license bureau one day to turn in his license because, and these are his exact words, I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. The kind lady behind the desk said, "Oh, don't be too quick to do that. Let's test your vision." Lo and behold, he passed and walked out with his license. I would say if a guy's own assessment is that he can't see they ought to take him at his word. The same old guy called his son one day and said he wanted to buy a gun. Son goes to see dad and together they go to the gun shop. Same old guy who is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. He needs the gun dealer's help to fill out the four page form because....he can't see the lines. But he walks out with a snub nosed 38. I hav...

This Goat's Life: Fairies in the Kitchen

It's 4:35 a.m. on a cold November morning. I was so tempted to stay in bed and pretend I had over-slept which of course, I hadn't because I was awake and plotting it. I got out of bed and put my exercise clothes on right away so it would be easier. I loathe Mondays. Someone wrote on Facebook about the Twins. Are they still playing baseball in November? I'm embarrassed to ask and I couldn't find it in the paper. I thought the World Series was in October. I don't like this cross-over of sports seasons. We watched a program last night called Marathon Challenge. Regis ordered it from Netflix. The PBS program NOVA took 12 people who were not athletes and trained them for the Boston Marathon. They didn't gloss over the injuries but they did make it look a lot easier than I think it would be. Either that or those people were very motivated. All but one made it to the finish and she only because of an injury. I learned some things, though, about glycogen stores in y...