Hi.

Who are you? If you read my blog, can you leave a message? I'd love to know who is out there on the internets having a look. Thanks! and more to come in the new year.

Twas the night...

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night.

Coq au vin

My cooking obsession has progressed to the point where I now cook things I cannot pronounce.



I think it shows I'm no longer intimidated by recipes with long ingredient lists or multiple hours of prep time. I knew this recipe is called "chicken in red wine" and that is considered a classic, popular French dish. However, I wasn't sure how it was pronounced as I took Spanish in school, and cannot "parle vu francais."


Fortunately speaking the language isnt a requirement for making the dish, and though I bastardized the recipe name all evening while it was prepared, it turned out quite nice.



It's quite a time muncher this dish. The chicken is easy enough to get cooking- and the le cruset dutch oven was a dream to cook with. But getting the red wine/stock broth to reduce took a bit longer than expected. Adding the mushrooms reduced the broth quite a bit.



I made some green peas, cooked in bacon fat, and some roasted fingerling potatoes smothered in garlic butter as side dishes. Husband was a bit concerned about the purple-ness of the chicken, but it was quite delicious.

no rest for the wicked.

So here is a photo summary of what's the happs round these parts. (Click on the photo for info).

As of late

I've been super busy with work, and life and haven't had much time to cook or craft, let alone write.



Thanksgiving was good. The food was all delicious and there was plenty to go around. We had crab dip, and cheese appetizers. Dinner included a pear and Roquefort salad (i forgot to photograph), scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole (forgot too) and of course the bird. Desert was a traditional New York cheesecake which turned out beautiful, only a little cracking.







Other adventures included a dinner here. It was divine.

And I am 2 months behind on a birthday scarf for a friend. Here it is in progress:

everything looks better

through a fisheye lens.

Sausage and mustache party

Oktoberfest party with a selection of delicious sausages from this place.

we picked up: Bratwurst, Chicken Apple, Austin Blues, Louisiana Hotlink, Duck and Bacon, Apple Sage, Rattlesnake and Rabbit.




Sausages were first boiled in a broth of beer and onions


Then charcoal grilled. (Dog for scale)


Served with sauerkraut, german noodles and potato salad.


And of course, lots of Oktoberfest beer.


Oh and a lot of mustaches, for good measure.

More Hallows Eve

On Halloween, Long Beach has its annual Haute Dog Halloween Parade. Every year this event grows in size and gets better and better. I am always amused and amazed at how creative people can be.

There were pirates

Bounty Hunters

Pitbulls in Tutus

Dogs dressed as dwarfs wearing sunglasses

Kentucky Derby Dogs

A 3 Headed Hellbeast Chihuahua

Down the rabbit hole

the metamorphosis

and then there were the tributes to Michael Jackson, this one was complete with professional security (from Sgt. Jim Dangle?) and umbrella holder

and this one, which was just brilliant

Happy Halloween

I had planned on posting a ton of pictures and ideas this month leading all the way up to Halloween, but time got the best of of me and I didn't have the time or energy to photograph all the crafting I did for the party. So alas, here's a long pictorial of the October festivities that have led up to Hallows Eve.