The Holidays are coming!!!!!!!

Actually I think about the holidays all year long. I try to make all of my gifts but,come November 1 I start to panic a little.

Daughter Renee gave me this lovely teacup for my birthday.The teas come in individual pouches with a little leaf at the top. I think this is the perfect time to make a cup of tea and go over my list to see just how much I have accomplished and what more needs to be done. It's a scary job but I've got to bite the bullet and swallow that pill. Are you up to date with your gift-making? The bad part about this blogging business is you see so many things you can do and the list grows and grows but time available is not to be found.See I'm making excuses already.

Daughter Renee has the bug also. Last week my husband and I went for a corton tasting.For those of you not familiar with this it is a pork based spread similar to pate that at one time was know as headcheese,because the head of a pig was boiled down to extract every bit of meat and a spread was created that most french Canadians refer to as Corton. This was her first attempt and I have to say it was pretty darn tasty.I hope she's planning on making enough for the whole family.(hint-hint)

Something else that has kept us busy lately is Bitty. This summer a student from the University

was telling us why he was late coming in to work. It seems he used regular dish washing liquid in his dishwasher as he ran out of whatever he normally used It seems when he came out of the shower his kitchen floor was covered with about a foot of bubbles. And,his cat decided to have kittens!! Doesn't she look oh so innocent?

Sight unseen I agreed to take one of the kittens.Oh boy are we in for it.Bitty has the ability to run 90 miles an hour non stop.My husband thinks she needs a shrink. I don't have the heart to tell him I think this is normal behavior.............said the hobbit

I know I know

I know I said I'd be right back.I can't believe how quickly the time goes.I think I'm having a problem with my organizational skills.

This is the shibori scarf we all worked on this fall.The pattern was simple enough and the design was made by sewing 2 ridges together then skipping one.I picked up one purl on either side of the ridge and just pulled the yarn thru.

Picture is a little fuzzy and color seems to be off.When all was said and done

this was the final results.I had to put it up to the light so you could see the strips that are visible.

After working on this project we all agreed that it's sort of like smocking with yarn. Not very earth shattering but,good to know................said the hobbit

Do you see what I see??

Check out this hive. It measure about 24 inches top to bottom and was as big around as I am.

While bringing in the groceries for cooking at work,I spotted this out of the corner of my eye.It was in a rhododendron bush just inches away from the rear of my car.Whenever we come in to cook we brush up against this bush. We are lucky to have the university close by and we soon got the info wee needed.It was a bald face wasp nest and we should disturbing it because the wasp are VERY dangerous. OK now what do we do.


Just when we thought we had a problem along came a skunk and torn that nest to pieces.It seems they love larvae It's kinda like caviar to them.Next morning all that was left of the nest was scattered on the ground and hardly recognizable. I never thought of a skunk as a hero but, he certainly saved the day.

something else new for us on the farm are these artichokes.Has anyone else tried them this year?Aside from being an excuse to eat lemon and butter we're not quite sure what to do with them.They came up beautifully so I guess we'll try them again. Maybe you can tell me what you do with them...............said the Hobbit

something new in the kitchen

Everyone up to their eyebrows in yard work? Well I should be,however I put off so long that it's pouring outside and I now have a legitimate excuse to do a little creative work in the kitchen.In an effort to eat less meat I've been trying a few veggie recipes that are satisfying and appealing to both my husband and I.

All I need is color and I'm a happy camper.These 2 recipes fit the bill.The first is Peanutty Pasta, a simple dish that is good hot or cold. Cook pasta of your choice,drain and rinse. Slice 2 red sweet peppers and a couple of handfuls of cut snow peas.

In a blender or food processor mix 1 jalapeno with or without seed (depending on your taste)1/3 cup of good peanut butter,2 chopped garlic cloves 1/4 cup each rice wine&soy sauce,2 Tbls sesame oil and 1?4 cup warm water. Process till well blended,pour over noodles and allow the flavors to sink in for 30 min on the counter or longer in the fridge.Not exactly as good as carrot cake but,pretty close.
This next recipe is very visual . The recipe for these tarts came from Martha Stuart Living

Aren't they adorable.I made them a few times for the Barn and they went over quite well. The shell is cornmeal and put in a small spring form pan. Veggies are pan roasted in a wine sauce.When cooled decorate with ricotta and sprigs of basil. I know some of my sprigs are a little large but, it's the smallest I could find that day..............said the Hobbit

Is that all there is?

Did you plant a garden this year? If this was a first for you it probably didn't go as expected.The weather played some pretty mean tricks on us this year. We had so much rain at the beginning you could hardly plant ,and, the weeds were loving all that water and just growing like ah ya weeds.You gotta love being out there to continue with gardening. It's just never what you want it to be.

I chose this year to plant 2 crops that will not produce for 2 years.First was the rhubarb and second 2 varieties of blueberry. One early picking and one late. This is a must for blueberries . You need 2 varieties and 2 different growing seasons to get results. This was the very first blue berry. We were all excited and couldn't wait to get a picture.(just like a first baby) After the photo shoot it was popped into the mouth of that person holding it so lovingly whereupon it was declared to be pretty darn tasty.

As for the stitching part of the week,we are all working on our pseudo-shibori scarfs. AS you can see everyone has chosen different weight yarn and some are using leftover bits and pieces and needle sizes varied too. It's getting pretty cold here in N.E. so we need to get these good to go real soon. We haven't had our Indian Summer yet so, I'm hoping if I hurry to get this done it will be to hot to wear it for awhile.That weather man doesn't know who he's messing with....................said the hobbit