the winter of no snow

Weirdest winter weather ever. Which was sort of true last year, too... except instead of too much snow, this year we have none at all. I'm not really complaining about the mid-40s and 50s January days, but somewhere between three feet of snow and none at all might be nice one of these days.

December 2010:

tonight:

I swim in it as a sea

"And there's a hand, my trusty friend

And give us hand of thine

And we'll take a right good-will draught

for auld lang syne."

That's one of the verses of Auld Lang Syne you never seem to hear on New Year's Eve. Beautiful, isn't it? My friends Kelin and Mike got married on Friday, and we spent the last three days of 2011 celebrating (and singing all the verses of Auld Lang Syne with full brass and bridal chorus ... so fun.) So much celebrating that I stayed in my pj's on the couch all day today, drinking tea from the adorable cups my brother got me for Christmas, which was a delightful way to start the new year :)

Last night, a friend of Kelin and Mike's read this from Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric":

I have perceiv'd that to be with those I like is enough,
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,
To pass among them or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly round his or her neck for a moment, what is this then?
I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as in a sea.

That is my wish for you in 2012. Swim in the delight of friends as in a sea. And to the friends reading this, let that be our 2012 and beyond. Love you all. Come over for dinner soon ;)

brunch for twelve and a costco christmas tree

It might be almost Christmas, but I'm still catching up from Thanksgiving-time. The highlight of which was discovering that my house can accommodate exactly twelve people, maximum, for a sit-down meal.

If momma hadn't invited half the family for Thanksgiving brunch, I never would have tried it. Seemed like a crazy idea to me. But it worked! We moved the big dining room table toward the stairs, and set up the folding table near the window. I had to move the side table out of the window nook to make room, but it came in handy as a beverage station behind the couch.

Just two days later, the main floor went through another transformation. I wasn't sure I was going to go all-out decorating for Christmas this year, since I'm sort of in and out a lot these days. But, we found a great deal on Christmas trees at Costco (8 foot pine for $30!!) so I relented and pulled out the ornaments and lights (and just a few nutcrackers).

When I left Minnesota the other day, there wasn't any snow on the ground. So it didn't make it so hard to come to California for the holiday. I sure hope there's a few inches when I get back, even if it means I have to shovel!

Merry Christmas to you all, wherever you may be.

xoxo
L

what do I know about circuit breakers?

Not a lot. But today, a lot more than yesterday.

Today has not been my favorite day at the farmhouse. I debated blogging about it (especially since I have a backlog of other posts to finish) since it is not a happy story. But that is life, and this wouldn't be an accurate portrayal of my life as a young, first-time homeowner if I didn't tell you some of the not-so-fun stories. So here goes.

The story starts a few weeks ago. I got home from a trip and the internet wasn't working. Four days later, inconvenient turned into "what the heck is happening" when the cable guy showed up and pointed out that my neighbor's tree had a fallen branch that was leaning on my cable and power cords. (If that doesn't sound good to you, you're smart -- it's not). The nice cable guy rerouted my cable line around the tree branch so I could get back online, and I proceeded to work with my neighbor to figure out how to fix the rest of the tree situation.

A week or so later, a friend and I were having dinner when the power started flickering. The energy company paid a visit, and quickly decided it was related to the broken tree branch. No other tests or investigating possible causes. File that away, please.

This morning, on the 12th day of my parents' visit from California, we were getting ready for a quiet day of projects and relaxing when half the power went out. Just half -- all the lights in the basement and main floor, and some of the upstairs outlets (the downstairs outlets still worked). So, we called the energy company ... they sent someone out ... blah blah blah, "it's probably the tree branch but let's just check a few more things"...

When the energy company guy pulled off the cover of the main box on the back side of the house, it was obvious even to me that something was really, really wrong. One of the four lugs (that'd be the technical term) was blackened and the insulation on the wire leading up to it was burned away.

I quickly learned two things: that I was lucky to have escaped a fire, and that this was not going to be a cheap fix. Oh, and the furnace was connected to the side of the line that wasn't working. And it was getting kind of chilly in the house...

So often I have to deal with these things alone -- and although I'm sure my parents would have rather not spent our last day of their visit calling electricians and sitting around without power, I was so grateful to have them here. It was not my happiest day and it was a lot nicer to have them here to help me figure out what to do.

Also, nice to have people to laugh with when the flashlight broke, and the carbon monoxide alarms started going off, and the security company called to "make sure everything was okay" (although tempting not to, I told her it was.)

Eventually, we tracked down an honest-sounding electrician who had the parts in stock to replace the main electric box and wiring today. I'm sure they had fun working out in the snow all afternoon.

They replaced the entire box that connects the power line to the circuit box in the basement, plus the wiring just to be safe. It now has a fancy bypass switch (and apparently this is a big deal? Who knew.) And while they had the power off, dad helped me hang some twinkle lights on the front porch. So now that the power is back on, it looks like this:

My wallet might be a little lighter, but the house is safe and the heat is back on. So that's a wrap on today. I'm going to eat a pint of ice cream or something now...

garden: ready for snow

This time last year, I was running around like a crazy person trying to figure out how to "get the yard ready for winter."

This year it didn't take much to convince me to hire it out. My thought process went something like this:

1. I don't want to rake the leaves.
2. What am I thinking, I don't have time to rake the leaves. Or mow the lawn. Or clean up the garden.
3. You could make time if you wanted to, Lauren.
4. No, I really couldn't -- I am traveling too much.
5. Oh, and what's that? Another work trip to New York? Okay ...
6. If it snows before the leaves are raked I'm going to lose all my grass to snow mold over the winter ... all the grass that didn't die in the drought this summer, that is ...
7. What the hell is going on with my perennials? (the pictures would just have made you sad, like me)
8. Where am I going to borrow a mulcher from this year? And an edger? Why don't I just buy a fancy lawnmower? Can't it wait until spring?
9. This is ridiculous. I'm not dealing with this anymore. 

Best $150 I've spent all year. Thank you, Earthworm Lawn Care.

(I love the leaf line between my yard and the neighbor's!)

 

Believe you me, I took copious pictures of the way they hacked my perennials to the ground (i.e. last photo above) so that I can do it myself again next year. Probably. Maybe...

house crashing: boston (part 2)

A few days before my trip to Boston, the girls emailed me a list of vegetables they had on-hand from their farm share. My job was to bring recipe ideas for a gourmet cooking event on Friday night.

The ingredients:

• Hen of the woods mushrooms
• Turnips
• Shell beans
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Butternut squash
• Buttercup squash
• Pumpkin
• Parsley
• Apples

And cook we did. Four recipes from Bon Appetit magazine, as a matter of fact. I think that's a personal record for one night (and not likely to happen again soon.) Totally, completely worth it, however.

The dishes:

• Salad: Arugula with goat cheese, golden raisins and red wine vinaigrette (a variation on this recipe)
• Entree: Wild Mushroom Risotto
• Side: Skillet Turnips and Potatoes with Bacon
• Dessert: Old-Fashioned Mixed-Apple Pie

The finished products (please excuse me forgetting to change the white balance between living room and kitchen):

The process (a box of red wine from Trader Joe's may have been involved):

Surprisingly, the potatoes might have been the biggest hit (other than the pie). But everything was delicious and these recipes are absolutely going into my regular rotation.

Also: who knew that you could (slash, should) put tapioca in a pie? I had never heard of this before, but apparently it's "a thing." My new best trick.

house crashing: boston (part 1)

A few weekends ago, I ran away to Boston for some long-overdue R&R with dear friends Bethany, Alissa and Megan.

We've known each other for ages (I moved to their town in elementary school, and they've known each other much longer). Alissa and Bethany and I spent three months wandering around Europe about five years ago, and I still miss them every day.

The lucky three get to live together in a cute house in Boston, chock-full of personality and charming details. Here are a few of my favorite bits and pieces.

PS: The game pictured above, Bang!, is amazing. I haven't had so much fun playing a game in ages. Don't pick it up if you don't like lots of rules, though :)