Oh, the weather outside …

Winter has arrived.
Pretty, but crazy!
And slippery!!

The snow started last night and fell heavily for most of yesterday with high winds that had the snow streaking horizontally instead of actually falling.
I’m not sure exactly how much has fallen and I don’t think it’s done yet.

But we’ve actually had a long autumn, given that we tend to measure it according to how early or late the snow arrives here in Ottawa.

It makes little sense to me that Winter Solstice is billed as the official start of winter and it’s interesting to note that the solstice was termed Midwinter by the Pagans/Celts/Old English or whatever you care to call them, who considered Halloween, or Samhain, the beginning of winter.

Even though they fit the European seasons with slightly more precision than they do ours, the eight nature-based divisions of the pagan wheel of the year form a natural rhythm to seasonal progression that I find very appealing.

(No, I’m not Pagan or Wiccan, but I appreciate some of their earth-centric elements.)

This is the season in which it feels natural to me, once the snow arrives, to slow life down a bit – a time for quiet reflection, a time to enjoy family and friends and, in a few more weeks, to celebrate the return of the sun and the beginning of a new year.

And most of what seems natural is in total conflict with what many of us end up doing at this time of year – too bad.

Six Went Out & Six Came Back

Chocolate Almond-Apricot Cookies

I baked …

Outgoing Cookies

I packed … one dozen cookies in each vase, along with some chocolate cherry cookies (see my previous posting) and a seasonal decoration …

Incoming Cookies

… and at the end of our annual cookie exchange, I came home with the bounty seen in this next photo!
I’ve resisted sampling so far and will put them in the freezer tonight to remove temptation so they’re still around at holiday time. They all look delicious!

Chocolate Cherry Cupcake Cookies

For seven years, a group of us from work have held an annual cookie exchange. While we’ve moved off in different work directions and some in the group are now retired, we’ve grown closer as friends and always enjoy meeting for great food (we take turns hosting), great conversation and great cookies – and a nice afternoon off for those of us still working. Some years, we’ve driven through snowstorms to meet!

These – really more of a mini cupcake than a cookie – are one of two kinds I baked this year. I’m not even that fond of maraschinos but they looked so good and so different I decided to give them a try and I’m glad I did – not only do they look great on a cookie tray, they deliver in flavour and are really easy to make too.

They’re my new favourite!

(The recipe comes from a 1997 Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies magazine.)

Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Cookie ingredients:
48 maraschino cherries with stems (10 ounce jar)
2 Tbsp cherry brandy or maraschino cherry juice
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ruddy Red alkalized cocoa powder)
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
1 egg
1½ cups all-purpose flour

Frosting ingredients:
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

Also:
48 1-inch foil cups

Instructions:
Drain cherries well, reserving juice.
(If using cherry brandy: place drained cherries in a bowl, toss with the brandy and let soak for 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. Drain again.)

Beat butter on medium-high for 30 seconds.
Add sugar, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda and beat till combined.
Beat in egg and 1 tsp reserved cherry juice.
Beat in flour.

Shape dough into a log and cut into quarters.
Roll each quarter into smaller logs and cut them into quarters.
Cut each of these (16) pieces into three equal parts.
You now have 48 small chunks.

Roll each chunk into a ball, press with your thumb into a cup shape, place a cherry in the indent and shape the dough around the cherry to cover it.
Place each cherry ball in a foil cup and place the cups on a baking sheet, leaving some space between them.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes, or until tops look dry.

Meanwhile, make the frosting; in a small saucepan, stir together ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces and 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk and heat on low, stirring occasionally, till chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and stir in 1 Tbsp reserved cherry juice (I also added a small quantity – maybe ¼ tsp – of almond extract).

Frost while still warm.

Try ‘em and let me know what you think!

A Wee Sip of the New Cider

After racking the cider yesterday I’m happy to report that it seems to be coming along well!

As you can see in the photo, it’s fairly, though not entirely, clear but what you can’t see is that it happens to taste pretty good too. It’s far too dry for my liking – guess I’m too used to the commercial stuff – so I’ve been playing around with back-sweetening. To the glass in the pic, which is about 5 ounces, I ended up adding a half-teaspoon, which seems just about right to me.

And after sampling it, I’ve decided that still cider (I’d only ever had carbonated) is just fine so I’m not going to worry about trying to carbonate it. If it happens naturally after bottling, fine, however I’ll enjoy it just fine if it doesn’t.

I opened a commercial bottle for comparison and have to say that mine stacked up pretty well beside it even though it’s still young and undeveloped in taste, as yet (everything I’ve read suggests it will improve quite a bit over the next few months). There’s a bit of a sour taste that I expect will drop off, the colour of both is almost identical and we think ours has a better aroma!

I think we’re almost ready for bottling and, on that note, I lucked out with bottles today and now have all I need. Most aren’t the ones I’d ideally like to use but I’m not complaining. If I want to be that picky I’ll just have to become a beer drinker over the next twelve months so I’ll have more bottles I like by next year … because I think I’ve begun an annual tradition!

And now a completely unrelated photo as I say goodbye till next time – simply because my dog looks so adorable here!

Goats do play when some are away

Seems goats – especially Yule goats – really will eat anything!
This roaming source of merriment travelled far and wide this week and he went a bit berzerk when he wandered into Leaf Nation …

Leaf-chomping,

Leaf-stomping

Sens fan!

Winter Prep

In recent years, fall seems to fly by, fast, furious and all too fleeting. Seems like yesterday was August and now we’re just days from December.

This fall has seemed even more jammed than usual and much of it my own doing – some, like the cider, were born of interest and some, like the porch, of sheer necessity.

The upper part of the porch is now (mostly) complete and looks way better than before! Though I’d really like to have been able to get it all done, the weather was becoming a threat.

The underside is still unfinished wood simply because we couldn’t decide whether to stain it before applying the polyurethane.

The exterior paint job was completed a few days ago. We worried it might freeze before it dried but the fine print said that it was good at temps as low as 2 degrees Celcius and, thankfully, dry it did. Just one coat, but it’s better weather protection than none. The colour was chosen to blend with the house brick but I’m thinking it’s just too … meh … so the second-coat colour may change – we have all winter to ponder it.

What’s left? The pillar-cladding and some sort of cap on the brick knee-wall (which I’d love to remove but I was out-voted). Oh, and a trap-door to access the plug for the roof heating cable.

We’ll take the winter to plan the rest and make parts so that what’s left is quick and easy in the spring.

And the cider – it’ll get a second racking this weekend and then I’ll assess the whole bottling business. It’s actually smelling pretty good!

We’ve had a flurry of activity in the last few weeks to get all kinds of things done before the snow hits:

Raked leaves – thirty bags full!
Swapped the contents of two sheds – we do this each spring and fall; the shed close to the laneway holds the necessities for the current or upcoming season and the one tucked away on the other side of the house contains off-season and seldom-used stuff (I’d kill for a garage! Some day …).
Bought and installed brackets – one set to hold the ladder and another set for the sailboat mast.
Planted shrubs … that were bought back in September (yeah, I know …).

And this weekend will kick off the Holiday season, way too early to suit me but a necessity in some regards. Life is just easier if you get the outdoor seasonal lights up before the cold, ice and snow arrive and the end of November is actually late to be doing it around here. I’m not bothered in the least though that it’s still green outside!

I also get to bake eight dozen cookies this weekend, for an exchange I take part in annually. We’ve been at it for more than five years now and it seems to take place earlier each year, as it becomes harder and harder to find a date that works for everyone later into December.

Guess I’d better go figure out what to bake – tune in again to see the end result!

A herd of Julbocken!

Flock of Bocken (OK, herd, but flock sounded better)

About a year ago, I read about these Scandinavian julbocken (the plural form of julbock) and immediately wanted one. Never having seen one here in Canada though, I didn’t think it would happen.

Then, a few days ago I walked into IKEA … and stumbled upon an entire crate of them – and, like most things IKEA, the price was right. I immediately bought two as they’ll make great Winter Solstice decorations. And yesterday I went back for more!

I’m only keeping two of them though; one, I picked up for someone at work and another will also be going to work with me but won’t be coming home again. You’ll just have to check back to hear why, which I’ll explain it sometime soon …

Anyway, here’s what they’re all about:

The Yule Goat is one of the oldest Scandinavian and northern European Yule traditions and is a customary decoration or gift in Scandinavian homes.

In Sweden it is known as a Julbock, in Norway, a Julebukk (Yule Buck) and in Finland, an Olkipukki (Straw Buck). They are made from braided straw and wheat ears and are bound with red ribbons.

The Yule Goat derives from the ancient Norse legend of Thor/Odin/Ukko, the God of Thunder, who rode across wintry skies in a chariot drawn by two goats.

In earlier times the Yule Goat was burned as a sacrifice to Thor. In more recent times, a popular prank was to place the Yule Goat in a neighbor’s house without them noticing; the family successfully pranked had to get rid of it in the same way. Nowadays the purely decorative Julbock/Olkipukki is often placed near gifts to protect them.

… and that’s all well and good but I just love the way they look! Especially all four of them together. Hmmm.

And so this is … or is it?

So here we are, once again well into that Greatest ‘Pre-Season’ of Them All.

You know the one – it shows up earlier each year and is unavoidable in shopping malls and retail outlets everywhere. Even at home, we’re assaulted whenever we turn on the television. There’s no escaping it – Christmas is Coming … let the shopping begin!

I saw my first Christmas tree in September. By our Canadian Thanksgiving in the second week of October, more signs had surfaced. By Halloween Week, with both Halloween and Christmas stuff to choose from everywhere, I could be pagan or Christian … or better, from a commercial perspective – I could be both!

Sometime in the last ten years, the advent of the season I used to love slowly shifted to a time of resentment and malaise that hit earlier, and harder, with each successive year. The relentlessly expanding commercial crush of Christmas had me working harder and harder to play Santa while feeling increasingly more like Scrooge.

As my distaste for the season grew, my reaction during the Christmas advent was, at first, a renewed focus on the ‘Reason for the Season’ as it’s often so annoyingly labelled. But a funny thing happened – delving more into the origins of Christmas, its Christian aspects gradually ceased to hold significance for me. I was drawn instead toward its natural, pre-Christian roots …

Winter Solstice!

The shortest day of the year, which marks the return of the sun, has been celebrated through the ages by a wide variety of cultures all around the globe. Both ancient Europeans and Native Americans had winter solstice rites. So did Iran, Pakistan, Tibet and China, to name just a few. Many of these celebrations continue today.

Winter Solstice can be celebrated by anyone, regardless of religion (or lack thereof). Modern celebrations might well include familiar elements of an old-fashioned Christmas – the tree, holly and ivy, the red-and-green, a Yule log – because many of these things originated from pre-Christian celebrations. But they can be completely different too, open to individual interpretation and practice. If religious, include that element. If not, leave it out. Simple!

The only thing missing from a Winter Solstice celebration is the irksome and unrelenting commercial aspect that few would miss and whose absence most would welcome.

One of the more notable solstice celebrations is the crowds that gather each year at the Celtic site of Newgrange in Ireland to observe the sunrise between the 19th and the 23rd of December. At dawn, a shaft of sunlight shines through the roof box over the entrance, penetrates the passage and lights up the chamber, an event that lasts 17 minutes.

Festivals on the eve or night of the Winter Solstice are taking hold in many cities and they’re growing each year. Here in Canada, there are large outdoor street celebrations in Vancouver and Toronto (Kensington Market).

And when it’s Winter Solstice in one hemisphere, it’s Summer Solstice in the other – a whole other reason to celebrate!

Whether celebrated as well as, or instead of, Christmas, what a perfect opportunity for the world to put aside divisive beliefs and come together to celebrate as one.

As someone very famous once sang, Imagine!

Though you’d be hard-pressed to tell from looking at my holiday decorations, I no longer celebrate Christmas – it’s Winter Solstice for me. I haven’t yet moved completely past the commercial obligations of the season due to the expectations that our society has firmly embedded in my children (for whom it’s still Christmas) but I’m making progress. I feel much more at peace with the season since I’ve shifted to celebrating the return of the light.

And, echoing that famous song once more, I hope someday you’ll join me …

Quick Cider Update

It’s been almost a week now since I racked the cider.

The demi-john ceased all activity right after racking. The airlock on the gallon jug showed faint activity for a few more days before coming to a halt. I think a likely explanation is that the stuff in the smaller jug was taken from just above the lees of the original demi-john, resulting in a few more still-live yeast cells being transferred in during racking. I don’t really know and, in any case, both now seem to be at the same inactive point.

Now I’m watching for the pectin to clear. I think I’m seeing signs of it happening, however, I’m not sure how long this takes. I’m also not sure how much, if any, this process will be affected by having topped up the original container with a small quantity of pasteurized juice. I’m willing to settle for cloudy cider as long as all else ends up okay.

Again, as a beginner, it’s hard to gauge things, but I think I will rack the cider again in another week or so and then it may be bottling time!

Tomato Beef Barley Soup – Hearty, Simple, Delicious!

Today was cold, cloudy and rainy – a perfect soup day and for me few are better than this hearty favourite. The basic recipe is so simple, yet so good, and you can also add in any other veggies you like or have on hand. While I find it easy and economical to use a small quantity of beef shank, which is readily available to me from the Fresh Produce store on Carling Avenue, you could also substitute leftover steak or roast beef. I like the shank though, because of the bone, which I think gives extra flavour.
The following ingredients are more of a guideline – it’s hard to go wrong with soup – so try the basic recipe first, then add or modify as you like to make it your own!

Core ingredients:

1 box Campbell’s beef broth – 900 ml / 30 oz
1 large tin diced tomatoes – 798 ml / 28 oz (unsalted, if possible)
1 thick slice of beef shank (roughly one pound, including the bone)
1 medium-to-large onion (approximately 2 cups, chopped)
1/3 cup barley (I like the pot variety better than the pearl type)
canola oil

Spices:

pepper & salt to taste
Herbe de Provence, to taste (3 good big pinches for me)
1 Bay leaf

Today’s additions:

2 medium carrots, large-diced
1 ½ cups chopped mushrooms (approximately – I used a large Portobello), sautéed in oil and butter
1 cup green beans, cut or snapped into in one-inch lengths

Directions:

Put the broth and tomatoes in a large soup pot, cover with a lid, bring it to the boiling point over medium high heat and then reduce heat to a simmer.

Meanwhile, chop the onions, as well as any other vegetable you are using.

If using carrots, add them to the pot.

In a skillet, over medium high heat, brown the beef shank well and transfer, whole, to the pot. Reduce heat under the skillet to medium low, adding oil if necessary, and sauté the onions until softened. Transfer onions to the pot.

If using mushrooms, sauté at high heat, with oil and butter – yes, butter, it was made for mushrooms! – until browned and transfer them to the pot.

Add spices and barley, stir, then simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

Use tongs or a fork to remove the beef shank from the pot, place it on a cutting board and separate the meat from the bone. Slice the meat, removing any tough cartilage bits, and return the meat to the pot. You can discard the bone at this point or return it to the pot – your choice.

If using green beans, add them to the pot and continue to simmer your soup until the beans are cooked to your liking – for me, that’s about another 20 minutes.

That’s it! Unless, that is, you want to do the one last thing I often do to this soup, which is to stir in a splash or two of red wine. I don’t always do this but, when I do, I like to add it at the end – I think the flavour is better when it’s added just before serving.

Enjoy!

Just a note on barley: if you’ve never used it before you need to know that it expands considerably and also thickens the soup. One third of a cup won’t look like enough but it will be when cooked. You could add a bit more – up to a half-cup in total. But any more than that might make for a glutinous mess!