Friends

Over the river and thru the woods...

They say, "family is where you go and they have to take you in." Perhaps. But friends are people who don't have to take you in, and do it anyway.

Toby practices looking cute!

The Spread!

Pat, J, and Truddles!

J and I are blessed with really wonderful friends. On Thanksgiving we were able to share time with them. First we went to see the Diva and the Nurse. Nurse has had some health challenges this year, and we offered to cook Thanksgiving dinner at their house. They provided the turkey (very moist and delish despite worries by the cook to the contrary!) ,a wonderful squash casserole, and pumpkin pies. We brought dressing (cornbread and sausage, of course!), gravy, mashed potatoes, two kinds of cranberries, and the carrot sticks. The Diva's mother was also in attendance. It was wonderful to see her, very spry and full of cheer.

Laurie, Liz, and Pattie

After a yum dinner and a brief nap (yes, I did! And right on their couch, too boot. That's what it's all about, isn't it?) we made our way over to Laurie and Pat's where Lizzie, Missy, and Pattie had feasted. We had our choice of two pies. Not wishing to upset anyone, I had a narrow sliver of both. Can you really eat too much pumpkin pie in a day? No, I don't think so either.

I miss being with my birth family, but rejoice we have such a wonderfully loving family of choice. Here's to many more more Thanksgiving days together!

November Garden Report

Yes, we cut everything right down to the ground!

One last report on the garden for this year -- to say good by for a while! Today, Miss J and I worked in the garden, draining and wrapping up the fountain, emptying pots and bring in our Buddha statue.







I'm always sorry to see it all go. We know what comes next, don't we? Snow you say? Well yes, but eventually what comes next are tulips and daffodils.

Will the nest be occupied?

I had hoped to plant more bulbs this fall, but with school keeping me busy busy and no cash, well, we just won't be able to do that this year. But that's the best part of gardening. There's always next year!

Watch this space!

So it's not really good bye to the garden, but more like, "until we meet again!" Until then, sleep tight in your beds, my lovelies! I can't wait to see you when you awake one day next spring. 

Beauteous Fall!

Rochester doesn't really have a bad time of year. Even Winter has it's charms. But Fall is one of the best times here. Everyone is nervously having a great time, trying not to focus on what's next.

The other day I had a few minutes away from my busy school studies to shoot a few pictures. Here's one I took that I think came out pretty well. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did capturing it!

Rochester NY

Isn't This Beautiful?

Railroad Trestle

Midterms - Done!

I just survived my first graduate school midterm exam. Advanced Cognition. Never have I studied so hard in all my life. When I study for a test, I try to guess (predict) what questions the teacher will put on the test, and also I try to only study what don't know, rather than spend time on what I do.

This time, I didn't stick with my strategy and studied way too much. I will trust myself next time. I'm also going to work a little harder at studying as we go, and try not to put too much off to the end. I did keep up with the reading, and I didn't slack off. But I think I can better focus my efforts.

So my reward today was to go out shooting. I think I got some great shots for our annual calendar. Here's one I had time to process before I race out for my Statistics class. Enjoy!

Genesee Valley Park Bridge, Fall 2012

Roadtrip to Geneseo!

If you didn't hear the news, I lost my job about three weeks ago. No need to look sad -- I'm actually quite enjoying life as an unemployed student! And I'm busy busy busy between the Dharma Center, and getting ready to start school.

The Big Tree Inn, Geneseo, NY

So, I carved out a little bit of time for Miss J and me to go on a photography expedition yesterday, down to Livingston County. And of course we needed to stop for some lunch -- how much art can a girl make on an empty stomach?

When we got to Geneseo, we decided that we would try the Big Tree Inn, a place I have eaten several times in the distant past. I think the last time was just before a Indigo Girls concert. But that's another story.

Flavored butters

Of course we were starving by the time we got to the Inn, so we were very happy to see the bread basket and flavored butters arrive at the table. The bread was quite good -- chewy crust, soft bread, but not, alleluia! not under baked!!! We hate the recent trend in under baking. Bakers, please note: half raw is not the same as moist. If you want moist, add fat or sugar. The flavored butters, pesto, lemon poppy seed, and strawberry, were better in concept than in execution.

Spring Chicken Salad

 J ordered the Spring Chicken Salad. It was a grilled chicken breast on appropriately dressed salad greens. Am interesting addition to the salad was some cubed parsnip. It took me a minute to decide what the mysterious yellow cube was -- but in the end I got it figured out. We like to add a lot of unusual things to our salads, but I never tried parsnips. I will in the future, however.

Clam and Mussel Chowder

My choice for lunch was the soup of the day -- a clam and mussel chowder. I love shell fish prepared in any way, and it would have been nice if there had been some actually in the soup. The soup was good, don't get me wrong. It just wasn't very chock full of clams or mussels. Maybe there were two or four all together? Not very many. There were a lot of veggies, however, and that was really good.

So, overall, we were pleased with our lunches and suggest you check out the Big Tree Inn if you are down to Geneseo. Keep in mind that Geneseo is a college town, and don't expect to be able to get into the best restaurant in town on parents' weekend. But with a little luck or pre-planning, you could be enjoying a lovely luncheon there yourself!

Homemade Ricotta and Onion Marmalade PIZZA!

This isn't a recipe, really, as much as it is an assemblage of other things. I decided I wanted to use my ricotta - recipe is here - and onion marmalade - and here- and also the slow roasted grape tomatoes I had in the fridge that I made last week. The tomatoes are super easy. I just washed 3 pints of lovely grape tomatoes, put them on a sheet pan, drizzled a tiny amount of oil over them, and slid them into a 250 degree oven for about 3 hours. I checked on them every 30 minutes or so, to be sure all was well. When they were done, I put them in a container and put them in the fridge. I try not to think about them there, because otherwise they would last me only a few hours!

So last night, I located my pizza stone and cranked the oven up to 500 degrees. I used the pre-made Nan bread that Wegman's carries as the crust, but you could use Boboli pizza shells, or your own pizza dough. Whatever you like. The nan was perfect for me, though. I spread a layer of onion marmalade, not too thick because it is pretty sweet. Then i added olive bar dark olives, sliced in half, my yummy tomatoes, and then the ricotta. A sprinkling of a good Romano cheese and some herbs de Provence, and into the oven they went!

When they were done, about 10 minutes, I topped them with a very lightly dressed salad of arugala. I used hazelnut oil and champagne vinegar because those are the lightest things I have. You wouldn't want to use a good balsamic because the onions are pretty sweet. The tart pepperyness of the salad was perfect.

This was probably the best pizza I've ever made. It was verging in too sweet, so next time I'll use maybe some coarse salt on top, or maybe even a few anchovies. But over all it got great reviews from Miss J.