Thanksgiving Thanks

On a surprise sunny winter's day in Glen Ellyn after all my errands were completed, I sat outside by the warmth of the fire pit, sipped some bourbon, smoked a Cuban cigar and pondered life at 386 Montclair in Glen Ellyn Illinois.

I am thankful for our home, that for the nineteen years we have lived here has provided a constant source of home improvement projects. I am woking on the basement now and getting close to finishing what I started last winter. We only have one more room to do after this. Perhaps it is time to start over!

I am thankful for our neighbors. We have wonderful neighbors whom we like and who like us. We have had many good times together. Eating, drinking, talking, sharing.

I am thankful for the life Sharon and I have had together. Twenty-four years of marriage and we are still going! We have traveled together in the U.S. and Europe, and China. We've been to Hawaii four wonderful, memorable times. We've been to London, Brighton, and Bath in England on more trips than I can recall. We got to take Kathy with us on one of those trips during the Christmas season. I like London at Christmas. We've been to Paris over and over, walked the Seine, admired the Eifel Tower, been overwhelmed by museums, found outstanding little restaurants, sat in cafes and watched the world go by and generally simply enjoyed ourselves. We've been to many other delightful cities in France and never had a bad meal or a bad glass of wine! We've been to Spain every year for the past four and spent relaxing time with the Solers in Sitges. We've seen Madrid and the Basque region. We ran the bulls in Pamplona - well Lee and I stood in front of a statue of the running of the bulls! We've been to Barcelona and driven across much of the country. Like France, we have never had a bad meal or a bad glass of wine!

We went to Italy with the Dunivan gang and saw Venice, and Florence, and Pisa, and San Gimiano, and Sienna, and Cinqua Terra, and Rome. Wow! In 2012 we went to China, again with the Dunivan gang, and saw Bejing, and Shanghai, and the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors and everything else we could cram into two hectic, sweltering weeks.

I am looking forward to more adventures with Sharon and of course the Dunivan gang, and John and Kristie, and Avery, and Anika. There is so much more to see and to do.

Thanks!

 

Whoa! Here It Is November Something.

Got to share a dinner exprience - A Toda Madre in Geneva, Illinois. Sharon and I had lunch there this summer and loved it. Last night, well kind of night, was dinner. Geneva must be in a different time zone. When we made reservations, 5:30 pm was the only available time. We thought we would be there way early before the crowd. Wrong. The place was packed. Who ever heard of having dinner at 5:30 on a Saturday night? It is even early for Glen Elllyn where everything seems done by 9:00 or so. Regardless, the dinner was outstanding from the pre-dinner cocktails through the postre. If you don't mind driving to Geneva, you have got to experience the wonderful small plate Mexican dishes available here. A sample - smoked trout tostadas with guajillo mojo lemon aioli with serrano slaw. Check it out here.

All this was after a wonderful dinner Thursday night at Bistro Monet. It was a wine dinner with Cass winery. I was not as pleased with the wine as I was at previous wine dinners, but Chef Michel out did himself tonight. Outstanding from the butternet squash soup through my wife's dessert of chocolate tart shells filled with chestnut pureee and pastry cream. Get yourself to Bistro Monet. And yes, my wife does the desserts there.

Other than wonderful dinners this week I did my usual stint at Binny's and also spent time working on putting laminate down and painting walls in the laundry room, practicing my ukulele, and practicing singing. Sharon was home all week and not in Fairlawn, Ohio, Nice to have her around

First snow of the season is due tomorrow. Oh boy. I have not gotten the snowblower ready to go yet, but this should be a small snow and melt quickly. The snow tires are on the Miata though so I suppose I am ready.

Required Cat Photo

Fall in our yard

 

Sharon's Home!

Sharon did her ususal Monday to Thursday in Fairlawn, Ohio but then had to tack on three nights in Atlanta. Her brother passed away on Monday and Sharon joined with his family for a service. Sharon had not planned to go, but one of her nieces requested and Sharon, forever the good aunt and friend, said yes. I missed her and was thrilled when I got to pick her up at O'Hare this morning. I am a new man this afternoon with her in the kitchen with me. I can deal with her gone Monday through Thursday but adding a Friday and Saturday was too much.

What is that in the photo you ask? Sweet potatoes grown in a container on our patio. I use sweet potato plants on the patio because they provide beautiful foliage displays in planters. Little did I know I was also farming sweet potatoes. We will cook them and see how home grown sweet potatoes taste.

The photo above is our cranberry liqueur in process. The cranberries have been in the vodka for a week and today I am straining and bottling. After straining I will add some simple syrup and then bottle it.

• Want the recipe?
• 1 pound cranberries
• 1 cup sugar

Add a little water and cook the mixture, stirring, until the cranberries begn to pop. Take off the heat and let this cool for a while.

Put the cooked cranberries in an large glass jar and add:

1.75 Litre bottle of vodka

Zest of 1 orange

Cover and let it sit for a week.

Strain and add simple syrup to taste. Bottle and enjoy.

Required Cat Photo

 

After a Couple of Stone IPAs

Why are people around me at the bar drinking Miller Lite? Water beer, not really beer, no flavor, low alcohol, blah. Why don't they drink real beer? Is it because they don't know what real beer is? Is it a challenge to their taste buds? All their friends drink water beer and they want to fit in? Is it the only beer they have had since they were 15? Makes no sense to me. But I suspect if you looked at the rest of their lives,  there are no challenges and everything they think and do and eat and drink is as blah as their beer.

Caught Me!

Sharon commented the other day that I had not blogged in a while. My reply, "Yep, not since October 6th." I am past due.

Random thoughts. This summer has been the best for my pond. The water lillies have bloomed more than in the past and have produced more leave. Also, the balance in the water between nutrients and waster, and bacteria, and plants, and fish must have been just right. I have not had to clean the filter as much as usual and have had little or no algae. Everything just kind of came together. Next spring I will learn if and baby goldfish survived their parents appetites.

The house and yard are another matter. I was on top of the yard through the spring and early summer but slowly let it get the best of me. I suppose I just do not enjoy yard work as I once did. (Did I ever?) There are also house projects that have languished. I am back to doing laminate right now and hope to finish the laundry room in a couple of weeks. Perhaps then I can take on the front room. In the meantime, there are winter preparations to do - putting down the storm windows, checking gutters, pondering the state of the chimney, firing up the snow blower and moving everything around in the garage.

I've been practicing the ukulele quite a bit but, I have not been good at practicing my singing. Shame on me. I do better singing in the car, perhaps I should drive more so that I can sing more. I got my old clarinet refurbed. My mother bought it for me in 1960. We went to a music store in downtown Houston to pick it out. I can still play - but it will take me a while to get up to speed and beyond just scales. A Benny Goodman I am not.

On the neuropathy front, I had been improving quite a bit but for the last few days. My fingers are really bothering me and my feet are not far behind. My new symptoms of soreness in my arms is bothersome also. The soreness is in the muscles and tendons above and bellow my elbows. Melody, my Naturopath recommended castor oil wraps and heat. Have I done it? No. I do have the castor oil so I am part way there, and I did get out the heating pad this evening.

Sharon's Best Ever Carrot Cake

Another recipe from the archives of ColbyJ.com

For the Cake
1 tbsp unsalted butter , softened
1 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp flour
1 cup sugar
1 ½ tsp  baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp grated nutmeg
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ lb carrots, peeled, trimmed, and grated (about 4 cups)

For the Frosting
12 oz cream cheese
7 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners sugar


For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two 8" round cake pans with butter, dust each with 1 tbsp of the flour, tapping out the excess, and set aside. Combine the remaining 1½ cups flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a large bowl. Add oil and eggs and stir until smooth. Add carrots and mix well. Divide batter between pans. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Set aside to cool on a rack, then remove cakes from pans.

For the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low and beat in sugar.
Put 1 cake round on a cake plate and spread on third of the frosting on top. Set the remaining cake round on top and ice cake with the remaining frosting.

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