The finish line

It's been an absolute zoo, but totally worth it. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends and Christmas was fabulous also.
My daughter, Courtney, is here visiting with her husband, Dave. She's pregnant with my first grandchild -- a boy, Cody William Koverman. So that's going to be exciting.
The big holiday revelations this year are twofold:
First, even sober, I can manage to be a klutz. I cut my finger badly, accidentally and spilled pumpkin pie insides all over the hot oven.
Second, I made a wonderful wassail that was popular, made the house smell fantastic and all Christmas-y and was non-alcoholic.

Wassail
1 gallon apple cider
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
small handful whole cloves
5 slices fresh ginger
5 to 6 whole cinnamon sticks
about 20 allspice berries
sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg

Mix everything together in a crock pot and put on high heat. You can strain the whole mixture and then serve it with slices of orange and lemon, or if you're lazy, as I am, you can provide a strainer, showing guests how to strain their individual servings -- a much more interactive approach.

Being thankful

I woke this morning after only three hours of sleep (I'm kind of a night stalker) to smoke surrounding my house on two sides. Apparently a fire had started overnight during the Santa Ana winds in the road just north of a lemon field that borders my development. The fire spread around Ventura and threatened structures.
But, amazingly -- it really WAS amazing -- the firefighters from air and land were able to beat back the flames.
It was pretty horrifying to see the flames move down the hill to the east of my house at around 2 p.m. I had packed the car to make a quick exit and had the pet containers ready to go.
But, man, those guys swooped in and managed to extinguish all the flames.
After a day of just pacing around anxiously, I headed out to the store for some Benedryl (all the nasty stuff in the air is making me quite sick) and bought cranberries and potatoes for Thanksgiving.
After all, you never know what disaster lurks around the corner, and you should always be well stocked.

Getting ready

I'm in full planning mode for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. I have a very specific menu and start tracking down items well before the holiday.
This year I've ordered two heritage turkeys. These are turkeys with bloodlines closer to wild turkeys that were cultivated long before our current mass-produced birds. Unlike the broadbreasted turkeys that grow large quickly, these birds take a long to develop and have a more even white/dark meat ratio.
I've been fascinated with the concept since a friend gave me a flier about them last year. In the intervening year, more turkey producers are offering them this year.
This year, I'm also making the young women in the family contribute a dish.
I'm kind of a megalomaniac when it comes to the kitchen and preparing feasts. But it's time to realize that eventually I'll need to pass the torch and it would be fun to teach a little of what I've learned.
I've got my Thanksgiving decorations in place and am assembling the required table accoutrements. My husband had the wonderful idea of hollowing pumpkins out and putting flowers in them and they looked gorgeous last year. So we're doing it again this year.
We should have lots of people come over because every year there seems to be more and more people who enjoy having a place to go. It's always been my fantasy to cook big meals for a crowd of people.
We'll be having our traditional meal of turkey with cornbread/celery/almond/current dressing. Homemade mashed potatoes (these are a real crowd pleaser and no matter how much I make (I've made up to 10 pounds of mashed spuds) it's not enough. We'll have green beans with toasted almonds; mashed sweet potatoes with orange, maple syrup and toasted pecans; creamed pearl onions; pureed squash; roasted rosemary turnips; giblet gravy; cranberry orange relish; boiled cranberry sauce; two pumpkins pies and an apple pie. Oh yeah, and rolls.
I'm going to try brining this year. I bought some great plastic bags at Sur la Table, which are perfect for this purpose. I've read that brining is perfect with the somewhat tougher heritage birds.
I'm planning to use one of the birds so I can send people away with leftovers. It's just not Thanksgiving without leftovers in my book.
I just have one hope. I live in Southern California and sometimes Thanksgiving can be quite warm, which makes cooking a rather warm affair -- we've had to move Thanksgiving dinner out one the patio on more than one occasion.

A couple of my "things"

I'm no domestic doyenne, like the formidable Martha Stewart, but I do enjoy certain things that make my home more inviting and comfortable. One of those things is fresh flowers. I'm up to eight vases a week of flower arrangements.
It's become a ritual for me to get up early (for me) on Sundays and get doughnuts for our Sunday treat and then travel to nearby Ojai (Calif.) to the farmers market.
There, I'm sometime referred to as the "flower lady" because I will buy about 10 or more bouquets to arrange and sprinkle around the house. To me, this is a soul-saving activity that always provides me with a sense of peace.
This past week the pickings were rather slim, but that may have been because I was late getting started this morning.
I really enjoy the grand bouquet by the fireplace as my centerpiece and am working out some concepts. There is also the urn on the other side of the fireplace where big, dramatic flowers look great. I have a smaller bouquet over the TV, because I can't stand the idea of people just staring at a Spartan electronic box without some decorative touches.
Finally, I have a bouquet in the kitchen over the sink, on the dining room table, in my bathroom and in our bedroom. I give our housemate a bouquet for her room every week.
I also love to decorate the house for the holidays. This, too follows a rather established pattern. On Oct. 1 each year I put out my fall and Halloween decorations. My husband complains that the kids are grown now and there is no reason to decorate, but I enjoy it and we have lots of people who stop by, nephews, nieces, daughter, friends, so it's nice to have some pretty accents around the house. And it makes me happy.
I put up some Halloween decorations because I love the holiday. I learned years ago not to make them too scary because one year I had a tape of spooky noises and a little 2-year-old was too scared to come up the driveway.
After Halloween, I put away the scary decorations and leave the fall decorations up for Thanksgiving. I call this "trasitioning" and am way prouder of my efficiency than anyone I've told, so far.
I've already begun my Thanksgiving preparations and am actually stocking up for Christmas. Might as well, the holidays are just around the corner.

Get ready, get set ...

Holiday season is upon us. It's time to order the turkey. I always get a free-range bird because they are so tasty. I also like to keep some easy dinner ideas on hand for those days when between shopping, working, and decorating there is hardly room to breathe.
One treat my family loves that is easy to prepare is chili hot dogs. It's time to trot out as many of these time-savers as you can find because the clock's ticking.

Chili hotdogs

Xlint chili
all-beef hotdogs
buns
chopped onion
shredded cheese

Wrap the hotdogs loosely in plastic wrap. Place about a tablespoon of chili to each hotdog on a plate and microwave for 2 minutes. Microwave hotdogs one minute (you can put the hot dogs in the microwave with the chili after the chili has cooked for 1 minute). Place buns in the oven for about 15 seconds.
Place hotdogs in buns, spread chili on top, top with cheese and microwave for about 35 seconds or until cheese starts to melt. Top with chopped onions and serve.

Happy Halloween

I am a total holiday nut. I can't help it. I just enjoy all the preparation, along with the food.
I've always considered myself a pumpkin artiste. I love carving pumpkins and when the girls were younger, I used to spend hours making cat pumpkins, scary monster pumpkins and clown pumpkins. Now I do the scary monster, but Tom Sawyer-like, this year I convinced others to carve their own pumpkins. We had a blast.
I'll probably carve pumpkins as long as I can hold a knife, if only for the pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are an annual treat that I thoroughly enjoy, despite the fact that my jaw aches for days after because of chewing the tough seed hulls.
I created this recipe years ago. I like to soak the seeds in water as they cook to make the hulls a little crisper. I think it works. Another tip: the seeds from the popular white pumpkins taste "off" to me so I don't use them.

Roasted pumpkin seeds
Seeds from two pumpkins, separated from the orange, slimy stuff, and cleaned
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pumpkins seeds, butter and water in a deep-sided high quality baking pan. Cook for about an hour, stirring regularly until water boils off and seeds are nice and brown.

Another Halloween tip:
I like to sprinkle the insides of my Jack O Lanterns with spices (cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, this year) so they will smell good for trick or treaters.

Lima beans

Ever since I moved to Ventura, lima beans have become an important aspect of my life. Sure, I can see you cringing. I did too when I first heard that lima beans were an important crop in the history of the area. Ewwwwwwww. Lima beans. I'd always thought lima beans tasted like a cross between cardboard and waxpaper. When I had children I made a vow, "No lima beans or beets."
But the locals told me,"Try the fresh ones. It makes all the difference."
So when lima beans showed up at the local farmers markets, I pounced. Then I tried to figure out what to do with them. It was obvious. Make a fresh-vegetable succotash.
I did, with the added inspiration of sauteeing the veggies in extra virgin olive oil (or as the annoyingly cloying, pandering to the younger demographic, Rachel Ray says with her-ever-so-perky smile EVOO).
This produces a side dish that was as light and fresh as a spring shower, in the fall. It's also amazingly easy to prepare.
I don't guarantee the same results with frozen vegetables.

Fresh succotash
1 1/2 cups fresh lima beans
kernels from 2 ears of corn
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 red jalapeno pepper chopped fine
olive oil

Heat olive oil in a saute pan, using enough oil to cover the pan bottom. Add all vegetables and saute until just starting to cook through (taste test.) Serve.
Leftovers are incredibly delicious mixed with feta cheese and vinaigrette and served with salad greens.

Welcome

This blog is devoted to cooking, mostly, along with some commentary on the world. I am a food columnist and love creating recipes. I also give people tips on how to cook.
I will also be featuring photos of my Southern California city and dishes I create. So climb aboard. I hope you brought your appetite.