February Update

 Well, it's February, and we're having lots of fun as always. Here's Anni showing her unique fashion sense with goggles and a tea cozy hat. The rest of the family thinks she get this from me. Hmm, perhaps they have a point. I did go dancing in a cupid costume this week, complete with wings, toga, bow and arrows.

We had almost a week of lovely weather after our snow went away. We all headed out for hikes along our local trails. Some of even got a freckle or two. Then winter came back.

 We continue to get our CSA farm boxes. Here are two latest with lots of lovely organic fruits and veggies (and fungi). Today we had a homey day. I made a big pot of chicken veggie soup and 16 lingonberry whole wheat sandwich rolls for lunches next week. Then, Anni helped bake rainbow cupcakes for tonight's dessert while I made broccoli beef, rice, and a garden salad with oranges and toasted almonds. It was delish!

We hope you all had a very happy Valentines Day. We celebrated all week. After all, love need more than a single day of celebration. We had chocolates, costumes, roses, a special family dinner, cards, and last night, David went out to listen to music. I danced, he watched (and shook his head, and maybe even laughed).

In other news, Ari sent off her first story to an Anthology of horror stories. Keep your fingers crossed for her. Alex has started his second semester at the high school IB program. He's taking the advanced art class for his elective. I love his tree drawings. Anni is beginning to think about what she want to plant in her green house. David is taking a class in art and power tools. He's going to make a yoga bench for Anni. I'm having lots of fun getting ready for my upcoming writing retreat. I've also been thinking about my garden for the upcoming growing season. I can hardly wait to go dig in the dirt!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. This is the turkey we encountered at the Bonair Winery last year. We liked him so much we had to post the photo again!

 Thanksgiving has been a busy time down at the Funny Farm. It's our favorite time of year. We celebrated the turning of the leaves....

 And the arrival of our first garden box from Full Circle CSA. Our back garden patch is pretty much done for the season. We still have a few root veggies and some herbs going, but this time of year is given over to slugs and mold. Our box this week contained Yukon gold potatoes, leeks, Braeburn apples, garnet yams, D'anjou pears, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, pomegranates, Cremini mushrooms, Cut greens braising mix, and Lacinato kale

 This year our thanksgiving recipes came from a wonderful spread in this November's Real Simple magazine. The menu included cider-glazed turkey, bourbon gravy, sausage and apple stuffing, scalloped potatoes with smoked apple cheese, sauteed Brussels sprouts with poppy seeds, brown sugar-glazed carrots with rosemary and toasted pecans, fig and cranberry compote, caramelized onion rolls, and sweet potato pie with candied nut cream.

 I cooked for three solid days! We made everything from scratch except the sparkling cider and wine from our favorite family vintners. It was fantastically delicious!

 We are thankful for so much: beautiful fall days, a warm home, our big wacky circle of family and friends, all our entertaining critters, and time to spend with each other.

And one final image of the biggest turkey of them all. Happy Thanksgiving!

Finally, a new post!

Finally, a new post! I've been taking a blog hiatus to work on another project. I'm going to be the science guest of honor at a conference next week, meaning I had to come up with a key note speech.

Then, I said I'd be happy to fill in wherever else I might be needed. Now, I'm also giving a talk to two high school science classes and being a member of nine panels, on such varied topics as Alvin the submersible, Pulling an All nighter, Brain Plasticity, and Technology of the future! It's a lot of firing up my brain, but I'm having a blast!

Dinner on Tuesday: Asian chicken salad with wanton strips - delish!
Farm box on Wednesday: celery, broccolini, red leaf lettuce, greem beams, tomatoes, lacinato kale, mushrooms, shallots, apples, pears, oranges, tangelos, and a mango.

Happy Nana's Day

Anni proving that kids love the packaging the most! We all stayed up for the solstice lunar eclipse on Monday/Tuesday. It was cool to see a red moon!

Barkley all dressed up in his holiday bandanna.

We traveled to Northeastern Europe for our Yuletide dinner this year. We had parsnip and sweet potato pancakes with chive sour cream, cheese, potato, and onion peroshkis, ham roll-ups, lingonberry brown bread, and gingerbread cookies. Yum!

The CSA farm box arrived today. this one featured baby spinach, carrots, broccolini, avocados, apples, oranges, lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, parsnips, bokchoy, tangelos, potatoes, and a pomegranate.

Every December 22nd, we hold our annual Nana's Tea in honor of my British grandmother. This year we invited our friend Lisa over to share in the grand chaos of making lots of goodies. We made sausage rolls, curried egg sandwiches, watercress and tomato sandwiches, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, a vegetable herb cracker spread, a prawn green onion spread, a British cheese plate, jam tarts, current scones, butter biscuits dipped in bittersweet chocolate, and a Dundee cake, all served up with a big Brown Betty full of tea and a toast of champagne. It was fun. (Anni ate her weight in sausage rolls!)

Birthday Celebrations and more!

Hmm, what's that sticking out of that paper?

Let me at it. I'll find out!

A Sock Monkey! I love monkeys! This is the best birthday ever. I also love my new cupcake oven (already baked up a batch of chocolate ones, complete with sprinkles) and my tabletop soccer set.

Did I mention that I really love my Sock Monkey? Here we are at Red Robin for my birthday lunch!

A bunch of folk sang Happy Birthday and then gave me balloons and an ice cream sundae. Okay, I love the monkey, but it's not getting any ice cream! Mom took me shopping to spend my birthday money. Thanks Nana and Auntie Doreen and Uncle Mel. I got a book, stickers, a new wallet, pajamas, a fuzzy hat, and more. Birthdays so ROCK!

Alexander also had a birthday over the past couple of weeks. Being a teenage boy, he declined to be interviewed about it, preferring to bury his nose in a) a book, b) a video game, c) the computer, or d) all of the preceding.

The farm box arriveth. This one had lettuce (salad for lunch tomorrow), eggplant (curried rounds on Saturday), spinach (used in the pesto tonight!),avocados, oranges, carrots, sunchokes, cucumber, mushrooms, tomatoes, tangelos, pomegranate, Meyer lemons, and apples.

And now that all the birthdays are done, we went out for our holiday tree, garlands, holly, and mistletoe today. Tomorrow, we start the decorating! (Hear David groan!)

Thanksgiving in the Great Northwest

Snow Day? Online programs don't have snow days. I'm so bummmmed!

Snow days? Every day's a fun day for me. Wheeeeeee!

Snow Day! Eek, my feet are cold! Back to the nesting boxes. Cluck, cluck!

It snowed again on Thanksgiving morning.

The cars got another good covering.Wednesday's farm box: satsumas, pears, pomegranate, apples, potatoes, green beans, broccoli, carrots, kale, celery, parsnips, and salad mix.
Thanksgiving dinner at the funny farm.

Wild organic rice with mushrooms, shallots, and herbs.

Wild sockeye salmon in a soy ginger butter sauce.

Fresh young asparagus with lemon butter.
Anni eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next course. Could it be...

Dessert; fresh pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. Dinner was delish! Then we all needed a nap!

Our favorite post Thanksgiving events began today with the lighting of the Kirkland City Christmas tree down town, followed by our traditional homemade soup and bread supper. This year it was spicy pumpkin soup with cornbread. Yum!

Farm and Garden

The CSA farm box arrived today. This week featured bok choy, collard greens, romaine lettuce, mushrooms, cucumber, onions, brussel sprouts, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges, lemons, apples, and pears.

Today was a sunny, cool day. We've had a very mild fall so far. The garden is still showing signs of life. The carrots and chives are growing. The celery is happy in the ground, and the squash vines are alive and twirling. Usually by this time, the garden is done for the season.

We're hoping to extend our growing season in Anni's green house. We have an orange tree, tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs, brussel sprouts, flowers, lettuce, and leeks growing in there. Stay tuned to see how they do.

Dinner tonight was shepard's pie with potatoes from the farmer's market, pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, onions from our garden, and grass fed beef from the farmer's market. We served it up with steamed broccoli from the box today and cauliflower from the garden. Delish!

Whoooooo!

Welcome to our haunted house.

The mummy greets you (and the daddy too).

Witch says step into my cage!

Pumpkins galore!

And even more.

Spooky house aflame.

A bucket by any other name.

The mantel all decked out.

Anni's bulletin board
And eek what is this? An alien civilization? Warts on a witches face? Toe jam? An undersea garden? Hazard a guess...

It's a Romanesco Broccoli. The kids call it Klingon broccoli. It's delish.
We got one in this week's CSA farm box. And speaking of produce, today was our last local farmer's market for the season. Today's finds were potatoes, red onions, pears, chili peppers, spicy cheese, rainbow chard, and a butternut squash. We wish all the farmers a warm and happy winter season. See you next spring!

Today was cold and rainy, a perfect day for a cook-in. So, I made curried butternut squash soup (thanks Lisa for the recipe), potato-leek soup, Italian bean soup with chard (our dinner tonight), turkey leek stock, a big pot of veggie spaghetti sauce, and spiced squash scones (desert tonight). The kitchen smelled incredible!

David and I had a chance to get all decked out in our finery last night. We went to the Seattle Opera to see Lucia Di Lammermoor. It was terrific. The primadonna and base padre especially. Think: a cross between Macbeth (treachery) and Romeo and Juliet (tragic love).

Rainy Season Returns (Did it ever really leave?)

We finally traded in the accord for...
Another Honda, this time a red Civic, just the one David wanted.

The attack of the fruit and veggies continue. Here's the latest farm box: apples, nectarines, mango, oranges, pears, figs, limes, bananas, lemon, plums, corn, mushrooms, green beans, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, and radish. From the farmer's market, we found: pumpkins, squash, green onions, Concord grapes (taste exactly like Welch's grape juice!), and cilantro. And finally, from the backyard garden, coop, and green house: eggs (yes, I know, not a fruit or veg), tons of cherry tomatoes, green peppers, celery, lettuce, red bunching onions, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, herbs, and a lemon cucumber. Phew!

Anni showing off the new and improving learning room. That's the math cupboard to her right, the writing one to her left, her social studies stand-up is behind her, and her musical instruments (which she LOVES!) are all around her. She's also showing that you can go to school barefoot!

Alex, why are you standing in front of that helo with a funny look on your face?

Alex, what are you up to?
Is that helo moving? Alex???

Come BAAAAAACK!

Okay, just a bit of fun. Alex helped David out with the emergency preparedness fair at Evergreen Hospital this weekend. The Coast Guard dropped in with their search and rescue helicopter.

In other news, we've been checking out the latest offering in the Seattle Arts scene. Ari and I went to see The Cider House Rules (based on the book by the same name). David and I saw Wedding Belles (a Southern comedy). Lisa, Ari, and I attended a kickoff event for Write a Novel Life which was strange but fun. And finally, I'm learning the Thriller dance and how to dress like a zombie for the attempt to break the world record later this month! Another Phew!!