Soul Humming

The 12 Days of Christmas 2010

 

My gift for Day Eight.

Hello, People! Here I am all ready to begin our annual handmade holiday ornament exchange. It is something I look forward to with great anticipation every year. I become giddy like my seven year old on Christmas Eve. Yes, I do!

These gifts are kitty-approved.

If you don't know what this hubbub is all about, let me fill you in. There's a group of 12 artists (some years we are 13) and we all make 12 handmade and beautiful Christmas ornaments, one for each girl. We wrap them up in a festive way and mail them all out to the players. Then, on December 1st, the first Day of Christmas, we all open one gift, our gift marked number one. Then we put our ornament on our tree, post to our blogs, email to our group, and generally ooh and ahh, clap our hands and look forward to 12 fun days of gifts. It's awesome!

And here are the gifts for this year...

Aren't they gorgeous?

Notice the sweet little tree under which they are gathered. I was bemoaning the fact that I may not be able to put up my tree this year because of my wild dogs. The youngest chews up Everything. While the older one is still getting used to living in a house. She thinks a table is something to fly across in order to get closer to you more quickly. And, the one thing I collect is Christmas ornaments. I would be very sad to have my ornies chewed or broken. So I'm not sure how I'm going to solve this dilemma.

Faelan with one of my gifts last year

I was telling my sweet friend, Lizzie, about the tree troubles and tonight she showed up with a beautiful little tree for me. It's got lights and Is a Real Tree! My heart was so warmed and full. Her kindness really made me feel loved. Thank you, Lizzie, so very much! And it is perfect for hanging all the ornaments from this year's exchange!

Here's a list of the artists participating this year:

Day One - Crystal Neubauer

Day Two - Deryn Mentock

Day Three - Sally Turlington

Day Four - Danita Art

Day Five - Melissa David

Day Six - Jackie Allison

Day Seven - Ruth Rae

Day Eight - Kelly Snelling

Day Nine - Lou McCulloch

Day Ten - Joanna Pierotti

Day Eleven - Maija Lepore

Day Twelve -Pilar Pollack

If you click on each person's name you will be directed to their site. A couple of the girl's don't have sites and one of our dear friends, Lorraine George, had to sit out this year. You will be so very missed, Lorraine!!

My enameled grumpy bunny from last year's exchange.

Please come again tomorrow and I will be posting Crystal's ornament. It is sure to be fantastic. Here's a pic of the gorgeous waxed and metal ornament she made for us last year...

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

-Calvin Coolidge

 

Meatless Monday

 

I'm not really a crunchy granola girl. But I might have a sesame seed covered heart. I take my own cloth bags to the market, even for the produce. I won't buy certain fruit if it comes from halfway across the world when I know there is a local variety available. I want to cut my carbon footprint as much as possible. I didn't grow up in an urban area. I know what it takes to raise an ear of corn. So I support my local farmers' markets. I eat fish that are sustainable and aren't on the watch list. Don't worry! I'm not going to get on a soap box here. I just want to try to help keep the planet alive in my own little way.

With that in mind, we've started something new in our house this week. Have you heard about the Meatless Monday idea? It's where one day a week you go Veg. The goal of the folks behind Meatless Monday is to reduce meat consumption by 15% in an effort to improve personal health and that of our planet. Check out the website for Meatless Monday for great recipes, tips, and info on leading a healthy lifestyle.

Today is our first Meatless Monday. I've gone and off the veg wagon during my life. I have high blood pressure and a family history of high cholesteral. And I grew up in the South eating every fried pork product imaginable. So I'm excited to get back to a more vegetable-rich lifestyle in a training wheels kind of way. I'm looking forward to trying new recipes and finding a way to convince my kids that vegetables are tasty. They are going to take some convincing.

My little guys will eat some vegetables but not a wide variety. Neither of my boys will eat a salad, for instance, but they'll both eat green beans and broccoli. And tonight's menu is packed with vegetables. I've changed the recipe up a bit to substitute some of the items with those that they are more likely to eat. Dinner is still cooking so I'll have to tell you how it all goes next monday.

The recipe I'm using tonight is Conchiglie Tutto Giardino and it comes from this wonderful cookbook.

 

Here it is for you...

Conchiglie Tutto Giardino

(pasta with fresh vegetables - "the whole garden")

7 Tbs butter

1.5 cups thinly sliced carrots

1 cup chopped green onions

1 large red onion, coarsely chopped

3/4 cup thinly sliced radishes

1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley, packed

2 Tbs fresh chopped basil

3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

7 medium sized tomatoes (3 cups chopped)

3 cups thinly sliced zucchini

1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced

1.5 cups dry white wine, or more to taste

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 Tbs flour

1 cup light cream

6 oz tomato paste

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1.5 lbs shell noodles (conchiglie)

garnish with additional parmesan cheese

 

Melt 6 Tbs butter in large saucepan and add the carrots, both the green and red onions, parsley, basil, and garlic. Sauté the vegetables, stirring often, until they begin to color -- about 20 minutes. Cover the saucepan and simmer the vegetables for about 15 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, zucchini bell pepper, wine, salt, pepper, and sugar. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, for about 45 minutes to an hour.

I used yellow squash instead of zucchini.
 

In a small pot, melt 1 Tbs butter and stir in the flour. Cook this roux for a few minutes over very low heat, stirring constantly. Heat the cream and stir it into the roux with a whisk. Add the tomato paste and whisk the mixture again until it is perfectly smooth. Stir it into the vegetables and wine, along with the grated Parmesan.

Continue simmering the sauce over low heat, stirring often, until it is as thick as you want it to be.

Cook the shell noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until they are al dente, drain them completely, and pour them into a large, heated serving dish. Ladle as much of the sauce over them as you like, toss them, and serve immediately with more grated Parmesan.

 Serves 8 to 10

 

Just finished eating. It was Really Good! I would highly recommend it and will definitely make it again.

 

If you are interested in the Meatless Monday movement, there's lots of info online. Give it a try!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toot toot hey beep beep

 

 

 

Ornament Exchange

 

Maija's package

Even though it is in the upper 90s here in Southern California, fall is heavily upon us and Christmas is beginning to show up around town. I am personally not a fan of Christmas decorations going up the day after Halloween. But it appears some of my neighbors and a few local businesses are.

Faelan especially enjoyed the ornament exchange last year.

And, it is time once again for the Adorn Ornament Exchange. Much like the holiday song The 12 Days of Christmas this lovely group of artists each makes a dozen (or thirteen depending on our numbers) glorious ornaments. Then they are mailed, one to each member of the group. And on the days leading up to Christmas we all open one ornament a day until Christmas Eve.

Last year I made enameled rabbits. They were rather sullen and made me laugh. But holy cow they were a LOT of work. I was taking my first enameling class at the time and I never thought I would finish them all. And all that cutting of metal and filing of metal and sanding and drilling and such and so on wreaked havoc on my poor old wrist. Maybe that's why they looked like such grumpy bunnies.

Lorraine George's beautiful ornie

The ornaments are really magnificent each and every year. Remember these?

Pilar Pollack's spectacular silk stuffed ornie

Deryn Mentock's beautiful piece

Crystal Neubauer's wonderful waxed work

And some of my ornies from a couple years ago

I am currently working like a mad little elf on my 2010 ornies. I am working in a medium in which I have practically no experience. That seems to entertain and frustrate me so much that I do it almost every year. Thus far I'm having great fun but am way behind. So good bye for now as I'm off to pour some magic into my newest treasures. I look forward to sharing them with you!

Over Here...

 

 

isn't this what everyone is really thinking?