Musings

Late last evening the paperwhites began to open and the back of the house where they sit in the sun smells heavenly. Just the right vibe to welcome the new year….

Posted at 6:23 PM | 1 Comment »

Our funfunfun neighbors, F&D, treated us to a precious bottle of F’s sister’s homemade scuppernong/muscadine wine tonight, and we enjoyed it immensely. Very tasty. We served it half-and-half with prosecco, an enduring combo! Thanks, again, F&D!

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Or is it muscadine/scuppernong?

I got daring over Xmas and made a pecan pie—daring because this is a major pecan state, and pecan pie is one of the specialties of Southern cooks. However, I upped the volume of pecans over the standard recipes, and added a splurp (a Guru word) of vanilla.

I think that’s the tack to take, and next time I’ll add a bit more of the pecans to make the pie even nuttier.

Using all pecan halves, I discovered, makes the pie difficult to cut, so I suppose I could separate the sugar-corn syrup glop (and it is gloppy!) into two portions, one-third and two-thirds, and put somewhat chopped pecans into the larger portion and whole ones into the smaller portion, then add the chopped into the bottom of the crust, and put the nice, whole nuts on top. That would help with the cutting.

So, when to try this?

Posted at 7:13 PM | Comments Off on Pondering pecan pie improvements

I admit it; this is from the most-snowfall-day, not today. Still, I wanted to pass on the wry humor of our HVAC—which we mostly think of as AC—more-than-dusted with snow.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Cold enuf fer ya?

With all the typographic doodads, the official name is Logitech Revue™ with Google TV™.

The box arrived with a keyboard (and, I think, other hardware) to facilitate the computer-television content interface, the result of a Logitech-Google collaboration.

Somehow, the Guru wrangled it from Logitech without paying a cent.

Of course, one of the Guru’s first checks to see if the setup was working…showed that it was on the Internet, but, um-hem, Google’s own page…um, didn’t appear.

Needless to say, this made a very poor impression….

At least I didn’t think that Google has a new web address….

Posted at 5:07 PM | Comments Off on Uh-hem (failed test)

The freezing overnight is thawing before mid-day (our street is now drying and no longer icy), yet decorative snow-elements remain—for a while, anyway, as the winds are kicking up*….

* Hate that; wind can make trees fall….

Posted at 11:44 AM | Comments Off on Deboxed, not reboxed

In our neighborhood, the snowfall began before dark—big, wet flakes plopping down, melting on the road, staying on the azaleas and grass. Mid-evening, it’s still accumulating, but not freezing here. (The “yet” is implied….) To the north, I’m hoping people are deciding to stay or go before the temps drop farther.

Posted at 8:42 PM | Comments Off on Yes, it snows in ATL

Trying a “new” dish for tomorrow (risking a menu change) that I prepped today: roasted winter veggies. Smelled great; I can’t wait!

Regarding cranberry sauce varieties discussed yesterday: I do the berry-sugar-water-simmer-ten-minutes version. Everyone (who goes for cranberry sauce) likes it and it’s super-simple—and make-ahead!

Posted at 5:18 PM | 2 Comments »

Cranberry sauce a-cooking, in the early stages.

Personally, I’m not a cranberry sauce person. However, I’m happy to make the simple version for those who adore it.

And it can’t be simpler.

Takes maybe 15 minutes, and that’s with picking over the raw berries.

Posted at 7:25 PM | 2 Comments »

One last carry-over image from our CA trip…. Yes, we managed to duck into an In-N-Out Burger for…um, burgers and fries.

I’m not a typical American burger fan (not a ketchup addict, for example—I leave that to The Guru!), but this place I like! Not sure what part of liking it comes from my access being restricted to every year or two….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »