Friday, December 27, 2024
Christmas
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
hair raising
Sunday, December 15, 2024
bread in the oven
It's a bright sunny day again today! But winter is upon us and it is freezing! I’ve been lucky enough to only see it through the window so far today but I'll make a point of taking the dogs out for a romp later… after I've cooled down and un-sweated from the treadmill!
Friday we met with Ken and Francine for lunch in the village. It was lovely to catch up with them again and feel happy that I'm getting to know Francine better 😀 After that we did errands and then raced home so I could start caramelising onions for the supper I was making for Trudie & Leo.
It's a fairly long process but the results make it worth it. After the onions and garlic were caramelised (in the instant pot), I deglazed with ¼ cup marsala, added some fresh thyme and then instead of rice, I used barley which was an excellent substitution. I added the barley to the instant pot and cooked it for 15 minutes, released the pressure, added the lentils, and cooked for another 10 minutes at high pressure, then a natural release. I used it to stuff a home-grown butternut squash that I had roasted in the oven. Topped with grated gruyere cheese and re-heated in the oven: 5/5!
To keep to the cooking theme I seem to be stuck on today, I did the brussels sprouts a little differently. Instead of just roasting straight from the cutting board, I soaked them in salted water for 30+ minutes, drained, rinsed, and dried, and then roasted in the airfryer. I think they turned out a bit more tender - Carm thought they were better than usual. I certainly had no trouble eating them and stuffed my face!
Well ha ha! That was all yesterday… I never did make it out of the house and somehow the day got away from me and I spent too much time dozing on the sofa. Not today though! I got up at a reasonable time, walked on the treadmill while chatting with Kirsten, made cardamom buns in prep for Christmas, and tamed the spare bedroom for overnight guests later this week. I think it was sunny this morning but it certainly isn't now (3:30pm)...
Awesome!
“seeing new muscles in my legs”
“dogs asleep in the afternoon”
“my new earbuds!”
“giant pot of bean & vegetable soup”