Did I Kill the Dog?

That was the thought churning through my head the other day, when our beasty a.k.a. Maddy was no where to be found. Our electronic dog fence was vandalized by either the transient bears that roam through our back yard in search of rotten apples or the delinquent raccoons that prowl the night and love nothing more than to rabble rouse.

It was a sunny day and Maddy loves nothing more than to soak up the rays on the back deck. I was working and didn’t think of her until hours later when she was no where to be found. I called for her, patrolled the neighborhood, enlisted the help of the local animal control officer, asked the trash man to keep an eye out, and set every kid with a bike on patrol. I went down to the river, to the dog park, even to the high school where kids play hacky sack and frisbee. She was nowhere to be found. Now the sun was setting and the temps were dropping. Where could she be? By this time the animal control officer had checked in to inform me that she had not spotted our runaway either. She braced me for the fact that if she was hit by a car, it would be the Streets and Parks department that would be calling me. At this point I am picturing a shovel and dump truck.

I felt the worst was imminent. Having done everything possible, I decided to sweep the neighborhood once more. Was that a flash of brown leg in my peripheral vision? Better go check. Across the street and two houses down I found my beasty. She was shaking and scared, buy why? It was then I noticed the back door to my neighbor’s house ajar. She has a lever door handle and a dog of her own that Maddy is friendly with. Speculation leads us to the conclusion that Maddy opened the door, let herself in, hung out with her pal Denton, and couldn’t figure out how to get out of the house (I never said she was the sharpest tool in the shed). I’m sure she heard me calling and was doing her best to get to me. Other than a loss of heat in my neighbor’s house, no harm was done. Home safe and sound, now it’s easy to joke about Maddy’s growing rap sheet which now includes breaking and entering, trespassing and hit and run (but that’s a story for another time). Needless to say, fixing the fence is a top priority, in the meantime I’ve turned up the heat in the entryway where the tiles get toasty warm and Maddy likes to curl up almost as much as in the sun.

The Godfather

No, not Marlan Brando, I’m talking about the drink. Have you heard of it? I had not until I received a bottle of Amaretto di Saronno from my FIL for my birthday not long ago. I love many things about amaretto, especially the originale from Saronno – the shape and texture of the bottle, the color of the liquor, the creamy almond fragrance, the secret guarded recipe for making it, the fact that it has been around since 1525, and of course it doesn’t taste bad either, but as primarily a wine drinker, I don’t really know what to do with it or most liqueurs. I was explaining this to my mom who said “Oh, you have to make a Godfather.” She went on to tell me that I am not alone in my libational ignorance, everybody including most bartenders has forgotten about this drink. She said she always has to give barkeeps instructions when she orders it out. Having the two requisite ingredients on hand, I promptly mixed one for myself. Here’s how:

A Godfather

Mix 2 parts Scotch or bourbon whiskey with 1 part amaretto in an old fashioned glass with ice. Stir and enjoy. To make it fancy add a lime wedge.

I ended up adding a smidge more amaretto. The whiskey tempered the sweet of the amaretto and the amaretto smoothed the harshness of the whiskey. Happy weekend. Cheers.

It’s Finally Snowing!

This is what I woke to up this morning. At long last, the snow has arrived, covering everything in sight with a fluffy blanket of white. I’ll let Ogden Nash take it from here:

Winter Morning

Winter is the king of showmen,

Turning tree stumps into snow men

And houses into birthday cakes

And spreading sugar over the lakes.

Smooth and clean and frost white

The world looks good enough to bite.

That’s the season to be young,

Catching snowflakes on your tongue
Snow is snowy when it’s snowing

I’m sorry it’s slushy when it’s going.

Simple Pleasure: An Old English (possibly French) Pub Game

Like most families, we are a busy bunch. Everyone is running in a different direction, making it hard to connect with one another especially during swimming and mock trial seasons. One of our family traditions that has gotten a lot of play over the years and continues to be a source of spontaneous fun for us is a game called Shut-the-Box. We keep it on the kitchen table so it’s easy to reach for anytime two or more of us are sitting down together. We’ve been playing this game since the girls were small, they’re teenagers now and it still has not lost its appeal.

According to the game, Shut-the-Box is a traditional English pub game of dice and numbers. The object is to roll the dice and lay down all the numbered tiles and “shut the box,” or be the player with the lowest score. Some say the game originated in 12^th century France where it was popular with Norman sailors and fishermen as a gambling vice. Despite its salty past, it’s a great game for all ages. Yes, it teaches number sense, probability and strategy to youngsters, but more importantly it’s quick and engaging for all -- just the thing to regroup, even if all you have is five minutes with your kiddo before she’s off to the next thing.

Simple Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread is a holiday staple. Years ago, we used to make houses, an endeavor requiring mathematical calculations, vats of thick frosting and considerable structural engineering skills; challenging and rewarding, but not simple (for us anyway). Gingerbread houses gradually mutated to gingerbread men and women cut out one-by-one and wonkily decorated with blobs of icing with red hot eyeballs. Charming to be sure, but messy and time consuming; who needs that this time of year? As the demand for holiday gingerbread has not ceased in this household, my husband suggested we simply roll the dough into logs, wrap them in plastic and refrigerate like we do with butter cookies. When ready (the dough & us), slice the dough into discs and bake. Once out of the oven and cooled decorate to resemble snowflakes. Here’s how they turned out – we kept the rewarding and charming, omitted the challenging and time consuming.

And here’s the recipe. It’s from Rose’s Christmas Cookies, by Rose Levy Beranbaum (author of The Cake Bible)

Gingerbread People (Snowflakes)

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

12 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup unsulfured molasses

1 large egg

-In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda and spices, them whisk together to mix evenly.

-In a food processor with a metal blade, process brown sugar until fine. Cut the butter into a few pieces and add it with the motor running. Process until smooth and creamy. Add the molasses and egg and process until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and pulse in just until the dough begins to clump together.

-Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a ball. Divide dough into quarters and roll each into a log shape. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

-Preheat oven to 350. Slice dough into discs and bake 8-10 minutes. Decorate with royal icing.

No More Meat

I should probably qualify that. No more meat for 60 days from the grocery store. Hunting season is over for us and this year we have two bucks and a cow (elk) in the freezers thanks to my two daughters and my hubby. This may sound like a lot, but we share it with my husband’s parents and my BIL and his wife. We still have a little meat  from last year, so combined with that we’ve got plenty of burger, roasts, tenderloin and stew meat. My husband asked me if it would be possible to not buy meat for two months and use just what we have in the freezer. In addition to game, we’ve got chicken, sausages and pork chops and pork loin roasts, yellow fin tuna and a turkey. Yes, I think we can manage that and then some! In fact, I think it’s a great way to clear out the freezer a bit and try some new game recipes. This, being winter, is the perfect season to try this experiment. I never make roasts and stews when the mercury climbs, but this time of the year the smell of a roast, rich with carrots and onions is as comforting to the senses as a crackling fire after a day on the slopes.  Since we eat a fair amount of game anyway, I don’t think our grocery costs will go down significantly, but I expect them to decrease a bit; the challenge will be to keep the meals varied and interesting.  I’ll be cruising the web for good game recipes. If you have any to share, please let me know.

Attend a Holiday Concert

We recently attended this year’s annual Christmas concert featuring the Mountain Madrigals, a holidays-only choir that sings songs of the season to packed audiences on weekends leading up to Christmas. We didn’t make it last year and I regretted it, so I made sure we got to the first performance before the momentum of December whisked away our chance. Their opening song was Silent Night, my favorite, and long before the final note was sung, I was crying like a baby. What is it about live performances that cuts to the emotional core? My husband even got “choked up” as he put it and I spotted the elderly woman in the pew behind me dabbing her eyes after the Gloria finale. I’m not going to over analyze this phenomenon, I just feel blessed that I was able to attend and be present as 22 voices sang songs, modern and ancient, celebrating the love and hope that Christmas represents.

Concerts like this one happen in every big city and small town during the holidays; usually they are free, like this one, make a donation if you are moved to do so, but attend one if you can. The joy of the holiday season can dissolve in endless to-do lists and rampant commercialism; a hometown concert is a great antidote and a way to tap the spirit of the season.