Major Trees Down

There were some big branch piles waiting for our attention this Christmas. As usual, we can't let a good fire go to waste, so Mom bought things for roasting and we had a lovely lunch out by the burn piles.

We burnt lots of things: marshmallows, hot dogs, plastic handles from roasting sticks....
(Actually, it was a good day for burning, everything was soaking wet so we used the blower to keep the fires raging, so the piles burned very quickly and hot—without risk of torching the yard.)

A day or so later, we borrowed a splitter—our neighbors had a big tree fall right by the property line and offered the wood to Dad. So we spent a good part of the day splitting that and some wood for Dad that's been hanging around for a while.

I can't believe how much wood we got from the stumps! I don't think we could have filled Michael's truck up any further. His bumper was literally an inch from scraping the ground when Adam drove down off the yard onto the road. Eeee!

Below: Stacking the wood in the garage.

Then to work on the Swing Tree. So sad! This tree fell two years ago? It was my favorite. It was a beautiful shape and added to the view in a perfect way.

Dad wanted an informal photo of the family...so here we are after a good day of work.

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Random

These are photos of things I want to remember...there's no long story to any of them but still fun to think about.

Mom likes to put together activities to do with the grandkids while they're here. Since I arrived early, I sat with her as she painted some examples and cut out patterns. The girls later enjoyed the activity quite a bit, even some of Dad's piano students got in on the action.

Below: A sunset through Mom's snuggery window.

Below: When we're in California, Adam can usually be found sleeping. A couple of years ago I caught him asleep in a chair with a floss pick sitting in his mouth. Now where is THAT photo....?

Or he's reading. Great job bonding with the nieces hon.

Hayden and Michael take a turn hosting everyone at their house. This year we played Jackbox. It a collection of games played as a group. Each person uses their smartphone to submit answers. It's worth a look into if you've never done it.

Below: The lemon tree always has fruit on it when we come. Dad leaves the lemons on the tree as long as possible (he doesn't harvest them.) The longer they stay on the tree the juicier and sweeter they get. It's lovely to make something fresh out of them every year...

...like lemon bars. I can't get my lemon bars to come out as good as Dad's. Must be the lemons and his magic.

Below: The driveway often has blankets of moss on it. I love it. Beautiful color and texture. Wish I could grow some here.

Every year Dwynne begs Dad to play his Chain Song. Dad "hems and haws" because it takes some practice—which is the reason why I am not allowed to "post the video for posterity.” But...and I whisper this...I am going to anyway...but just a smidgeon.
He wrote it for his composition class in college and it's excellent. He impressed everyone with it. We nicknamed it the Chain Song because a chain necklace is placed over the strings during part of the piece, creating a sort of metallic buzz effect. It's fun to listen to and of course watch Dad play.

The piece is actually titled: Piece for Paino #1. LOL.

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Ice Cream Puffs

Sacramento locals, have you heard of this lovely little parlor over on Fair Oaks Blvd?
No? Well let me introduce you.

Lovely warm doughnut with ICE CREAM filled center...meet Sacramento Friends.
Have you ever bitten into an ice cream doughnut before? It's wonderful. Just imagine what it's like to bite into a fresh warm doughnut—now imagine your favorite ice cream in the center. What?! Mind BLOWN. I'm salivating...wish we had something like this here. Do we foodie friends? Oh, please say yes.

This is a great little shop, featuring all kinds of yummies besides this, and don't forget $2 Tuesdays (toppings included)! This place made us all VERY happy. Click here to visit the ice cream menu.

Spheres

Christmas Eve was filled with cooking! These two cuties helped me make pomodoro sauce from scratch.

A little later we made french gnocchi, which I will NEVER do again. It entails sticky wet dough that gets piped into boiling water, then chilled on ice, dried and then baked in the oven. It was a lot of steps and messy and the texture and flavor was meh. I admit, I could have done it wrong. I probably did it wrong. I'm not french.

So what was our theme this year you ask? Spherical. Yes. Spherical. Not round, not circular, not flat. Spherical.

So we ate: frog eye salad, pea and cocktail onion salad, gnocchi, meatballs, and Brazilian cheese balls.

Next day: Christmas!

Of course Mom's stacks of fresh sourdough cinnamon rolls made their appearance alongside quiche.

Below: a few snaps of the gifting festivities.

This space-case somehow missed photographing the Boties and Adam. But here are some of the tags Adam used on my presents.

And for dinner a family favorite: Beef Daube Provençal with Grandma's french bread.

This bread is SO GOOD and easy. Aren't they beautiful? I am thinking of sharing the recipe with you all. Should I?

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Until Next Time

Hello! We're high school friends from Band and English class and we try to see each other every year. It's always a pleasure to accompany these two lovelies. We laugh and talk and they amaze me with how much is going on in their lives, how much they do, and the challenges they face. These two are strong women and they are an example to me.

Several years ago I jokingly (but seriously...but joking) blogged that if anyone wanted to be friends with me, they needed to be Sushi eaters. Megan has taken me seriously these past couple of years! Hah hah. So this year we visited Mikuni a new place in Folsom almost directly off 50 across from Palladio.

I liked MOST of the sushi dishes with the exception of one. See the one wrapped in yellow below? It tasted like...a Mexican rice/meat dish. NOT that great and a weird texture too.

This one however, was refreshing and citrusy, featuring salmon and lemon. Yum.

And you know what? Even though we've "changed" as we've gotten older—we're still the same at heart. We're still ALMOST as silly as we used to be.

I love you two!

P.S. I have an apology to make: I ordered more sushi rolls than everyone else (to share of course)...but then we split the bill and it didn't dawn on me what I had done until the next day! It's like that Friends episode where they split the bill but it wasn't fair...I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you pay for my weird sushi choices! I owe you dessert next time we hang out, mkay?

Try Something New

This bright weirdly shaped fruit caught my eye at the grocery store. "What IS this?!" It was the strangest thing—a Buddha's Hand. Well, I can see why. I Snapped it to a few people who had the same reaction as I. A few days later I went back to buy one, because OF COURSE I had to try it. How can one not?

After reading up on it, I found that it's the oldest citron known, and it doesn't have any edible fruit inside. The rind is used for flavoring lemon dishes. Which makes sense. It smells heavenly, like a combination of orange and lemon rind plus citrus blossom. I liked rubbing my nose all over it and breathing deeply—eyes closed for maximum olfactory pleasure.

Here's what it looked like inside.

Looking for a way to preserve it, I found a recipe and candied the rind.

Then I skewered a piece on a toothpick for each person in the family to try and we all gagged! IT WAS SO BITTER! I had to rinse out my mouth. So yeah, use the rind for flavoring, don't actually eat chunks of it. I left the jar at home with Dad. I assume he's using it in hot tea? (Need to contact him and see if he's had any adventures with it.)
Isn't it fun trying new things?