Other fun stuff

Sammy had a great Christmas morning opening his present from Aunt Robby….a beautiful pink Snuggie!

Sammy loves opening presents

And really felt very macho in the pink snuggie...

Until Thommy decided to torture him with it.

On Saturday we went to the monthly bluegrass jam at the Stagecoach Tavern in Groton. It was such a good time, we can’t wait to go back next month.


(That’s not a zoom…we really were that close to the banjo guy. The players aren’t on stage, they are just hanging out where ever there is space…in this case, at the bar next to Thommy.)

Making new traditions

Snow tubing on Christmas Eve…

It's not easy pulling off those sunglasses. Not many people can do it.

Feast!!

On Saturday, we took a trip to Wilson Farm in Lexington. Thommy’s uncle Jim grew up in Lexington and recommended this place. It is the biggest single-farm farm market I’ve ever seen and they grow just about everything you can imagine.

For dinner we had sauteed “hen of the woods” mushrooms, with butter and lots of garlic (not pictured), green zebra and red and yellow heirloom tomatoes with homemade mozzarella and basil, corn and a few mini turkey burgers.

Other amazing finds include a chunk of Shropshire blue cheese and a ciabatta that was so fresh out of the oven that it was too hot to hold, and some beautiful peaches and berries.

in our boat built for three (including sam)

The weekend turned out to be nice and sunny, regardless of the forecast for storms. (Although Friday night was full of thunder and lightening, making for one very scared dog and one very tired lady.) Saturday, we went for a bike ride, went out for dinner and saw Transformers (Don’t ask, it was awful AND it was 2 hrs and 45 min long).

On Sunday, we decided to go canoeing on Nashoba River.

We obviously learned something from the last time we went kayaking together, which was several years ago and almost lead to divorce. This time we were more capable of working together

Sam was not sure what to make of the whole thing, but I think he enjoyed himself.

Yep, there he is enjoying himself!

Here’s some other highlights:

Hello little ramis, what shall I make with you?

I have a thing for perfectly mismatched, brightly colored china or stoneware. These little ramikins go so unperfectly with my Fiesta bowls and my Jadeite mugs. They are the perfect size for making individual desserts or just for holding some kind of dip. Found at Pier 1 for $2 a piece…how could I resist them?

Nothing, lake-side

On Saturday, Thommy got up early and headed to the lake to go fishing. I met him a few hours later and sat in my comfty chair (thanks mom!), read my new book (thanks Rob!), and watched him fish. There was also some mention of not wearing enough sunblock, but I won’t talk about that.

Thommy caught these two bass, which I then learned how to fillet. It wasn’t as grody as I’d thought it would be, and they turned out to be really tasty. We ate them up with green beans, corn and sweet potato french fries.

We had twins

We brought them home and they napped right away. Aren’t they the cutest?

Fun times

This weekend, we:

...made silly faces...

...made smiley faces...

...made more smiley faces...

...taught Andy and Robby how to eat lobster...

...ate the most delicious ice cream (a la Kimball Farm) ...(that's a kids size!)...

...went for a walk in Concord...

...to get to the Picnic in the Park...

...pretended to be Betsy Ross...

...walked through the "town forest" ...

...to get to the fireworks...

and generally had a swell time. Thanks for coming out da country!

Good to be home

Just had a whirlwind couple of days…Tuesday morning to Thursday morning in Baltimore, off to Chicago Thursday afternoon and home by noon today.

Special thanks to Val, Sarah and Lauren who surprised me with a pre-birthday bonanza on Wednesday night! Val baked a delish devil’s food cake with cream cheese frosting and surprised me with it at dinner. Stay tuned for pics.

So good to see all my friends at Network too. Especially the Arties and the FORUM crew: Carrie, Shannon, Sean, Chris and Keith…and everyone else at Network. I heart Network!

I’m exhausted, and now Sam and I are patiently waiting for Thommy to get home from work so we can relax and have some FvS family time.

Strawberry jam

Easy and tasty strawberry “refrigerator” jam:

You need:

• A whole lot of strawberries, hulled but left whole.
• Some sugar, or brown sugar, or even honey.
• Lemon juice, maybe 2 teaspoons

Step 1: Pick your own strawberries.

Step 2: Hull the strawberries and leave them whole. Throw them in a sauce pan. Sprinkle sugar (I used brown sugar) on top.

Step 3: Simmer for about 4 to 5 hours. At some point, use a potato masher to crush the berries. And leave the lid off of the pot…once you have drawn the juice from the berries, you want it to reduce…a lot! Toward the end, add a little lemon juice. (Not sure why that is exactly, except to brighten the berry flavor.)

Step 4: Spread on toast, crackers, anything.

Note: This is refrigerator jam. That means it will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. You want to can it? Go for it…I’m not that brave.