New Year

It's New Years Eve and the evening finds me hopeful.

So far my lineup for the year includes my best friend having complicated surgery, my son's overseas deployment and two daughters planning weddings for Fall!  That's not including all the stuff that I do not know about yet!  My prediction?  That 2013 will be eventful beyond many years I have lived so far.

The end of 2012 brought me reunions with 2 special friends from days gone by.  The years fall away when a reunion of this type takes place. Yes, I am hopeful that the loves and the happy surprises will outweigh the losses, challenges and disappointments.

Tonight, our plans with friends were sadly canceled due to illness - then the sun was setting up and I grabbed the camera and took a short drive up Clements Road in Lodi, California.  This, the last sunset of 2012!

Happy New Year!

Springerle For Christmas

Most families have at least one special Christmas tradition, many that evolve through the years.  My own family had several, but the one that stands out most, and continues to this day, is the baking and mailing of the German Springerle Cookies.
  

This is a 2 day process and not conducive to today's working families and busy lifestyles.  Yet each year, magically, someone manages to pull this off to make the familiar happen for the whole family.  This year, the next generation stepped up!

Notes form Laura:

Some of the best recipes begin with the fewest ingredients. One of my favorites is a family tradition passed down many generations...German Springerle Cookies taught to me by my Gammy and Gampy. Last year my Auntie Susie entrusted this years' family batch to me. :)
  
They take about 10-12 hours to make and you have to order two ingredients online. I have already called Gammy & Gampy three times to make sure I am getting it right. Gampy told me that of anyone he has taught, I seemed to just 'get it' right away. That is saying a LOT, because I reserve baking for the grocery store! It must be in my genes.

Also, you will need a Springerle roller. This is a Springerle roller. Basically you roll the dough between 1/4 inch guides...then you roll over it to get the 3D pictures onto the cookies. 

Once the long drying process is over...only one more hour till baking starts. Then I start all over tomorrow! Hartshorn (ammonia carbonate) is the leavening agent used in these cookies to keep the shape of the designs from the Springerle roller. It gives off a very strong odor during baking when it is released from the cookies. Combined with the strong anise oil, Springerle cookies have a very characteristic flavor.

"These traditional German cookies are in the Leonhardt DNA." ~ Lynn (Leonhardt) Laura's Mom

This video show's Ray Leonhardt and his daughter, Lynn making Springerle in 2008.

Springerle (Enhanced) from CherLea Productions on Vimeo.

Company Sweet Potatoes

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, a most talked about side-dish in salons and bridge club luncheons is what to do with the Sweet Potatoes. To bake or mash, marshmallows or not? light or yams?  

This is my own recipe for "Company Sweet Potatoes", we have it often and throughout the year!

Peel and slice 2 Sweet Potatoes (we like the light ones) and one Onion

Alternate in a buttered Pyrex pie plate or 10 x 14 pan (double the  recipe and place in rows or layers)

Mix 1/4 cup heavy cream & 1/4 cup Pure Maple Syrup (pour over all)

Top with French Fried Onions & fresh ground Black Pepper

375 degrees BAKE ~ 45 minutes

Set the table extra pretty this year. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

November

November, the essence of Autumn insists a change beckoning us inside the same way that Springs calls us to come outdoors.  The Harvest is in and the bounty stored.  This month often shows a variety of conditions like no other.  The clear starry nights, crimson sunsets, ominous cloud-scapes and grey foggy mornings can happen with only days that seem like moments in between. This is the time of year that a tree loaded with leaves of every color will show barest branches by month's end.

Laura's Sunflowers

Until the last grapes are cut from the vine and the last  nuts are swept off the orchard floor is the Harvest Season allowed to wind down. And then, the quiet... the waiting... as the Season will shift toward a peaceful calm. Contentment to be inside, behind closed doors replaces hours of scurrying about form place to place.  The wind whips through the air and the rain beats against the window.  Was it just last week that you stood alone in the orchard and could actually hear the falling leaves softly hitting the ground?

Donna's Peppers

Antoinette Celle Vineyards

This shift happens each year in November when it's time to gather in, slow down and get out fuzzy socks and warm blankets.  Books and knitting needles will sitting by the favorite chair and cookbooks are strewn about as the planning for Holiday baking has begun.  Soup is simmering on the stove in a huge pot permeating the air with smells of steamy vegetables somehow reconciling the fact of short days and dark evenings.

Year's end is so close that reality insists attention to the details that come soon enough... oh so soon enough... but for now - it is November. Beautiful, Glorious November.

The Vineyard

I was invited back into the vineyard ... it's the closest one to my house. The sun came up, I had a million things to do... but the day called me to go. The light was just right at 7AM and the cup of coffee brought just the right amount of motivation to the idea. So, I grabbed my camera and was off to capture the sacred limited time to find the "colors" on the Dolcettos!

Antoinette Celle Vineyard has a longtime history and an even more charming story about the rare grape that flourishes on this small farm.
"This type of Dolcetto has unusual characteristics that are not common in the types of Dolcetto typically planted in California. The state as a whole, only has 100 acres of Dolcetto planted, period. My Dolcetto produce a more complex wine and the grapes are able to hang on the vines much longer than other grapes." writes Antoinette Celle.

 I kid you not, once you are standing in the rows of grapevines, you understand that it is a truly magical place! If you read my last post about veraison and this sacred stage of the grapes as they are ripening, you might know what I mean even if you have never had the opportunity to stand in the middle of a vineyard on an August day. The morning air feels cool and fresh and stages the perfect setting to discover half hidden tight bunches of grapes. The sight of the "jewels" amongst the deeply veined leaves are like finding treasures with your eyes. The bunches of grapes are suspended in mid-air with room to grow, yet nestled within the rows and the branches of the vines that shelter them.

Antoinette explains more about the Dolcetto grapes and her vineyard,
"I grow a rare type of an Italian winegrape varietal: Dolcetto di Dogliani, which is believed to be the grandfather of the twelve types of Dolcetto. In February 2011, Dr. Andy Walker at UCDavis, propagated cuttings from my vines, and planted them in the old vineyard at UCDavis. The Foundation Plant Services are keeping a close eye on them, to study. My husband Jim Roberts and I farm organically. We are on the California Registered Organic list of small-scale farmers. We sell brown eggs from cage-free hens and fruits, organic walnuts and pecans, flowers, herbs, and vegetables. I also "put up" small batches of preserves under my label: "Twice the fruit/half the sugar" and also pickles, green olives, salsas, and herbs in jars -- just like Penzeys."

As I leave the vineyard I am thinking that I might try to learn a little more about this special grape variety and the process of growing this type of fruit. I promise myself to regularly visit this perfect backdrop to the Seasons having my camera ready to capture it's beauty.

Veraison

Veraison is a word I learned of recently.  It is when the grapes turn color from green to purple, as explained to me by a local winegrower.  I had seen what she spoke of, a bunch of grapes hanging on the vine glistening in July sunlight and showing greens and purples and the many hues in-between.  This short occurrence happens in its own season and at its own time.  A perfect process that rewards the sampler of the fruit once completed.

Grape growers know the process cannot be rushed. They understand that nature takes over and a magical change will determine the quality of the fruit once the grapes turn purple.  As the farmer waits to harvest, he knows Veraison determines what will be the reaping of the benefits of their labor.  While harvesting the grapes, winegrowers hope for the finest results, the making of fine wine.

My friend and I have been having long conversations about how life presents itself in the day to day.  The routines, the joys and the challenges.  We have been doing this for decades now... finding that so many chapters we each go through parallel - despite 1000 miles between us.  Neither of us is a stranger to the grief journey, yet we both find that each episode tests the durability of our hearts in new ways...  Understanding the natural phases and steps that are typical does not ease the quest for a way out, wanting to "get through it all" and be done with it.  Hanging out with the uncertainties of what will be, feeling the pain of loss, and trying to let go of something or someone we held so dear creates new and different challenges each time around.

We want our grapes to turn purple! It was one of those Aha! moments as the metaphor crystallized in my mind.  My husband remarked when I was editing a photo that I had taken of the grapes in their sacred state of Veraison.  He thought I was changing the colors on the individual grapes with my photo edit program and he quickly commented that I should change all of the grapes back to purple "like they should be".

I connected "Veraison" with the idea that to be hanging out with all the turning colors is something to be trusted... as with the grapes. The many lessons along the way will bring the quality of the purple grapes to its fullest glory.  It is a time of Veraison, a temporary process, not be hurried or overlooked.

This new word to me, "Veraison" shows a great example of many of the theories I have tested over time.  I will apply this phenomenon to so many more ideas along the way.

....While I wait for the grapes to turn purple. 

Simple Solution

I have a great recipe to share!  Now, before you get your taste buds all worked up for something delicious, this recipe will not deliver what you are hoping.  But get ready to save some money!

I have your attention?  Good.  I found this on Pinterest and just had to try it!  This is super easy.

The recipe is for an all purpose household cleaner and you might be very impressed with the results.  Save your spray bottles once you run out of your other purchased cleaning products, you are going to need them.

• Peel an orange (or two), you are going to use the peels only.  You might like to use another citrus fruit, but have the quantity equal that of one good size Orange.
• Fill a 1-Quart Mason jar with white vinegar leaving enough room for the Citrus peels.
• Place the peel in the jar with the vinegar.
• Store for two weeks.
• Discard the peel after the two weeks and dilute the mixture with water, equal parts. (1:1)
• Place mixture in a spray bottle for counters and bathroom surfaces or bottle to use in buckets for floors, walls, etc.

I am not sure how this method works so well or what takes place during the two weeks that the peels sit in the vinegar.  I am kind of hoping that a knowledgeable scientist might drop into my blog someday and explain what takes place during this process.

In a previous post, I showed you how I make our laundry detergent.  I have saved a ton of money and repurpose my white vinegar bottles to store my batches of Laundry soap.

Recently, I discovered that plain old white vinegar could be used instead of "Round Up" to keep weeds at bay on our walkways and rock path.  It also keeps ants away!

Baking Soda sits right on my counter top in a "cheese" shaker, ready for scrubbing pots and my kitchen sink.

It seems that our previous love affair with having fancy brands and convenient household cleaners (one for each different cleaning purpose) got us all trapped into an expensive and chemical lifestyle as we became bogged down with the huge variety of solutions and cleaners.  Finding a place to store all the different cleaning products or just finding the right cleaner at the time you need it has not been very convenient!

I saved the lemon peels form the lemonade we made for the 4th of July!  Guess what I'm making.....