Merry Christmas!!!! Cookies and Crackers

 This year's theme is based on a pastry chef nutcracker made in the region of Erzgebirge, Germany- the Christmas region  by Christian Ulbricht.  Nutcrackers are hand made from the local forest.  They have the tradition of bringing good luck to the home and are perfect housewarming or hostess gifts.  Judge Drosselmeier, godfather to Clara and Fritz, brought one to their Christmas Eve party which became the setting for The Nutcracker Suite. These carving also are rumored to ward off malevolent spirits or in 2021 viruses

pastry chef nutcracker

This was my muse and then it just became fun:

And of course the cookie part

Peppermint bark turned into some really scary nutcracker soldiers

I had to watercolor some nutcrackers

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a joyous grateful and healthy 2022

Love Denise

 Rose

Bullet

Poppy 

LuLu

& Charlotte

HELIANTHUS - SUNFLOWER

 Such a happy flower.  Who doesn't have just a little smile on their face when they see a sunflower?  especially a field of them just walking or driving by?  This year I took an unused space of dirt about 15" by 30 " in between my fruit trees in my orchard and wanted to grow a space dedicated just to flowers   Floret Flowers in Washington state  inspired me and I had the space just had to do all of the work.  I had seeds from last years sunflowers that I managed to save from the birds and rodents so I started with those.  I planted a row of them straight down the middle of 2/3 of the bed.  Then I planted some other seeds as well. 

But just 6 weeks later:   whoops!

You can see this sunflower garden from the street around the corner but not from the front of my home. Often I have passers-by who comment on my surprise garden towering 12 feet into the sky!

                              I did save one third of the space for a new variety: Ruby Eclipse!

Ruby Eclipse - Isn't she lovely?

                         And just this morning the first of this beauty greeted the sun: Evening Sun

                           This one towered up to about twelve feet and them prepared for its debut

Then there are some preparing for their ensemble dance in the afternoon breeze

They group in clusters:

Some make it into the house

But after the bees have pollinated and the petals have faded:

They make it to their final destination:  food for the barnyard animals.  The goats eat the leaves.  The chicken peck out the seeds.

And everyone is happy:

goat: Poppy and chicken: Copper

Podcast interview with The Creator's Table

 Today aired my podcast interview with Nicole @ The Creator's Table.  I hope you have a chance to listen to it

The Creator's Table https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-creators-table-podcast/id1551076824?i=1000526271903

Also some pictures from my blog:

Looks like now I'll have to keep posting.  Coming up: Apricots

Got Eggs? Souffle! Souffle! Souffle!

 

Pure perfection

Yesterday's egg collecting

OK I waited 8 months for my new chickens to become hens and lay eggs.  I always ask for abundance and this time I got it.  Yesterday these sweet feathered friends gave me 8 beautiful brown and blue eggs.  Now what?  Souffles of course.  First I made myself a lemon souffle for my birthday "cake"  topped with a raspberry coulis.  It really doesn't get any better than that.

Next I made a classic Julia Child cheese souffle made with my goat milk cheddar cheese:

And last night I made chocolate souffle....yes I had a few strawberries and whipped cream

When I was a student at the Cordon Bleu School of Cooking in Paris in 1982 I learned to make this gorgeous and fun dessert.  First you must learn the technique for a souffle and then choose savory or sweet. I want to share this with my Seattle granddaughters on my next trip. 

perfectly beaten egg whites

chocolate souffle

                                                       blood orange/passion fruit souffle 

Souffle     means "to puff"  in French.  French cooking is the origin of this dish and it is a classic delight.  Souffles can be sweet like chocolate  or lemon or they can be savory like cheese or lobster.  Although the timing is sensitive it is not a difficult dish to make.  The expertise comes in the method.  That is usually the trick in French cooking.  All of the flavor comes from the egg yolk have of the combination.  You make a roux of butter and flour, add a little milk or other liquid and allow the roux to thicken the liquid.  Let the liquid cool and add egg yolks, one at a time.   And that's your base....add more flavorings like lemon or orange/passion fruit juice, citrus zest or other intense flavors and set this aside until your souffle dish or ramekins are prepared and your egg whites are beaten stiff but not dry.  When it's time to mix the base with the "poof" take gentle care in folding (not mixing) the two together by starting with adding 1/4 of the whites to the base and then continuing 1/4 egg whites at a time until fully incorporated.  Gently add any more ingredients like broccoli or lobster or raspberries before filling the baking dish (s).

Preparing the souffle dish is important too.  If sweet, butter the dish then coat the butter with sugar and put in the fridge to get cold before filling them.  If savory, butter and then coat with Parmesan cheese.  This will give the outside of your souffle a little flavor and crunch of its own.

Fill the souffle dishes 3/4 of the way full and make sure the rims are clean before popping them in a hot oven.  An aluminum foil collar is optional but if the baking pan has adequate space left it's not necessary Now NO PEAKING until the last 2 minutes of baking.  If you open the oven door too soon the souffle with fall.

I used Anne Burrell's recipe for my basic lemon souffle:  I prefer baking in just one 6 cup souffle dish but the little ramekins are cute

Next fruit souffle:  blood orange/passion fruit.  I used the exact same method and substituted 3/4 cup blood orange/ passion fruit juice for the lemon juice and blood orange zest for the lemon zest.  So fresh and delicious

I used Claire Robinson's recipe for chocolate souffle.  It's easy and reliable but not as traditional.  Still it's impossible to find fault with any of it.

Now when you make a cheese souffle the only mentor I have for this is Julia.  A perfect Julia Child masterpiece  You can watch the entire French Chef episode on YouTube

Julia's ingredients:

Sauce:                                                          8 egg whites (1 cup)                      1 cup of cheese

3 TBs Butter                                                 1 tsp cream of tartar

4 1/2 TBs flour                                              pinch (large) of salt

1 1/2 cup warm milk

salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne

6 egg yolks

Place in 400 deg oven and once in reduce to 375 deg.  Bake for about 30 minutes.  A little jiggle is ok.  I followed this recipe for the blue background cheese souffle above.  You can see it's perfect

Bon Appetit!!!!!!!

January 2021 challenge 1570 exercise minutes for the month

 

OK  I'm going to pat myself on the back one more time and then go back to posting food stuff.  After completing the December challenge---just barely then January offered a new one: 1570 exercise minutes for the month.  Holy Cow that makes it 50 exercise minutes a day.....every day for 31 days.  OK forget about it.  Never mind.  No can do.  But wait.....is it possible?  I get my morning workout walking Charlotte for 2.25 miles....that's usually 40 minutes.  Then in the evening we go out for a short walk....maybe 15 minutes of getting my heart rate up to a working level (Not too hard when your 72) and I also get on my mat and do some Yoga or Pilates or stretches so maybe it is possible.  Well on January 24 I hit my 1570 minutes.....with 8 more days to go in the months.  Now that January has come to a close I not only met this challenge but added 520 minutes to it......2090 minutes That's almost 35 hours of exercise.  Well good for me.  Along with that I was alcohol free and mid month went sugar and flour free as well.  With all of that I should have shed 25 pounds, n'est pas?  I'll accept 5.  I'm afraid to read what my Apple Watch challenges me for February.