Bread and flowers

A sure sign in our home that the holidays are just around the corner are the white poinsettias and a fruit-filled or chocolate panettone from Italy.

Ponderosa Pine

I don't remember where I got the idea (we're talking thirty years ago) but as soon as I saw it I had to try it. You soak a plank of pine wood until it is saturated with water. Then using a really sharp plane, you shave off nice thin curls of pine. Keep the curls in water as you work with them. I made quite a few ornaments and some have survived all our moves around the province over the years. But I absolutely love the pine chain that we made. Each curl had to be cut to a certain length, glue applied and then clamped together with bobby pins. This year instead of the tree, our fragile garland graces the doorway into the livingroom. It is such a long chain that we had to use our ice bucket to hold the extra rings of pine.

Barefoot Contessa wannabe

No, this is not Ina Garten's blog but she is one of my favourites and her recipes always turn out just the way she said they would. To christen our new stainless roaster we roasted up a chicken and vegetables a la Barefoot Contessa. The bird was tender and flavourful, the veggies al dente.
This new addition to our kitchen is huge, had to rearrange a cupboard just to make it fit. But come turkey time, I will never have to worry about the size ever again.

Counting the days

This is our version of the advent calendar. A few pieces of scrap wood hammered together, the tiny hearts cut out of pine wood with our trusty jigsaw. Thirty years and still counting.

Weekend chef

Somebody made their first apple pie ever and it was great!

Work trees

It took me about an hour to remove all the plastic doodads and tinsel from these two bottle brush trees and replace them with an assortment of buttons and crystals. My windowsill at work is looking festive.

Quick weekend

This was a quick and easy six-pocket tote to put together. I really like that the handles are stitched on first which creates the six pockets.



A little crowded down at the park yesterday morning as we enjoyed our Cowboy breakfast.

Today went by in a blur as I spent five hours selling at the flea market. I've had better days but it was fun and am going to do it all over again next Sunday.

And for those of you who have asked about Mr. Cowboy's chicken and sage recipe, here it is:
Chicken breasts thinly sliced or pounded, salt and pepper on both sides. Dip each piece into a beaten egg and then coat with flour. Saute in vegetable oil until cooked. Remove chicken from pan. Into drippings add sage, white wine and juice of half a lemon. Once this has simmered a few minutes return the chicken to the pan and heat through. Enjoy!