Category Archives: food and cooking

Halfway, the cactus bloomed.

Christmas, family, food and cooking, grandchildren, my garden, , , ,

My Christmas cactus opened its first bloom on Christmas Eve. We were already halfway through our family celebrations at that point, and I had moved most of the houseplants into the Morning Room upstairs, in anticipation of needing all possible space for human bodies.

Several days before actual Christmas Day the family started to arrive, from five locales in four states. Three days later, the first departures happened, and by the afternoon of the Fourth Day of Christmas, I was alone in the house again.

Once Pathfinder and I were the only ones left, I brought the cactus with its stand downstairs again, so I can admire it throughout the day.

Before I continue with the Christmas theme, I want to show other current floral happenings in house and garden. Blooming orchids, my first picking of Chinese Broccoli, and a last Japanese anemone. The pomegranate bushes are decorating the garden with their changing color.

It was a lovely, lovely Christmastime. Soldier’s and Kate’s families couldn’t come this year, but Pearl and Nate and two of their children’s families were able to make it. The youngest child was my great-granddaughter Lori, who is 6 1/2 now. She is a lot of fun!

Lori met several family members for the first time. I wonder if in 2026 I will manage to meet my two great-grandsons who will soon be a year old. They live in two different states, but were brought together for an early Christmas, from which meet-up I received a picture to share:

It rained a lot the whole week of our festivities, but not constantly. There were enough breaks that a few short walks were taken, and one outing to the coast. While most of our group was gone on that latter trip Pearl and I both took naps. She did much of the cooking for several days, but I made one large dinner and breakfast for the crowd. Pippin and the Professor served in the kitchen one night as well. The food was abundant and appreciated!

This year I didn’t make any cookies myself. Lori’s cookies were from a King Arthur gluten-free recipe, and the spice profile was really nice. I did make some goodies to eat and give away: This  Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread was the most popular recipe in all of 2025 on the New York Times Cooking site. I’ve unlocked it as Christmas present from me to you ❤

I forgot to take a picture of mine. I followed the advice of several cooks who added ginger, more cranberries, and less sugar. It was enjoyed very much by everyone, with a dollop of whipped cream on top. I want to make it again soon.

I made Candied Espresso Walnuts, and our longstanding traditional California Fruitcake/Jesus Birthday Cake/Nativity Cake, which I hadn’t done for some years. People sliced from one big loaf for breakfast and snacks here, and I gifted the others. This time I made it with a gluten-free flour blend, which worked pretty well.

Lori took the initiative to find this felted hummingbird ornament among the things her family had brought, and gave it to me early. She had seen other hummingbirds on the tree and didn’t want to delay.

When she was ready to go out and explore my garden and greenhouse, her shoes were in the bedroom where her mom was sleeping, so her father let her use his boots.

I love my Christmas tree this year! It is a Nordmann fir from Home Depot — amazingly symmetrical and well filled out. Last year the big LED lights I had on my tree were so bright it pained me to look in that direction, so I bought tiny incandescent lights this year and they are perfect.

I had laid in bright materials for making paper chains, in case Lori would like to do such a craft with me. She wasn’t interested, so I made three long chains after everyone had arrived and were doing all the work around me. We hung them on the black railings that had recently been painted; after that, I somehow had the energy also to hang up the ribbons pinned with the prettiest old Christmas cards.

Because of the comings and goings all week, I didn’t wait for Christmas Day or Epiphany, but put the Baby Jesus and the Wise Men in their places at the outset. I’d like to wait until the Presentation of Christ on February 2nd to take down the tree, and to put away the Nativity scene. I’ll need to gather some fresh greenery from the bike path before then!

I know that by today, most people are thinking ahead to the new year coming in, so I wanted to post these images of the end of 2025 while it is still December. Happy New Year! I wish you courage and Hope in the coming year, and may the good desires of your heart be fulfilled in 2026 ❤

Fresh crackers and paint.

family, food and cooking, my garden, work, , , ,
March 2017

It’s an exciting week for me, because many dinged-up walls and doors in my house are being painted, along with the black metal stair railings. These were set to be done several years ago, before the workers were interrupted by wildfires, then by covid. When normality returned, I didn’t seem to have the wherewithal to get started again. But now my new handyman James, a friend from church, is doing the work. During son Pathfinder’s visit over the weekend I was encouraged just to have him to talk with about colors. Now things will be so lovely and clean.

Pathfinder and I did a satisfying amount of work in 24 hours, including a big tidying-up of my utility yard and all the scraps of wood I keep there, which I turn into kindling. There are always pieces that are too long for my stove and need sawing up, and I don’t want to use a power saw; he took care of those fast. He even cut my old manzanita stump into a few pieces to take home for his own wood stove, because he heard that it burns nice and hot, and wants to find out.

We cleaned the fountain together, and Pathfinder leveled it perfectly afterward. The easy way to drain the green water from it is by siphoning it out with a garden hose, but that takes two people to manage.

It’s has been wanting a good clean-up for months, and I had been hoping for this family assist. We managed to do all the tasks before the rain began, which was the morning that he left.

Today it poured, then the sun came out, then the wind blew rain in again. Between downpours I was able to go out twice and gather fallen pine needles enough to fill the big green bin for trash pickup tomorrow. The zinnias watched me with their bright faces as I walked by, so I came back and picked another bouquet of them. These wet blooms don’t last as long as the sun-washed ones, but they are cheery as long as they do. My fingers were all wrinkly when I finally came indoors again, because everything I’d been handling was sopping.

While picking up blankets of pine needles off my plants, I discovered that the Sweet Box, Sarcococca, has shiny red berries on it. I haven’t been impressed with the scent of that shrub’s flowers — it isn’t very potent. But these berries are lovely.

The flax crackers I was working on last week turned out pretty good. I had to leave them in the dehydrator about 28 hours. They need more salt and fewer pumpkin seeds, in my opinion, but I’m enjoying them, and gave some away. I’ll make a new batch soon, with improvements, and eventually will share the recipe here.

Today I made two kinds of soup with various leftovers in the fridge, and I like them both as well. Soup and crackers are just the thing for rainy November days.

Luxury without guilt.

food and cooking, homemaking, housework, , , , ,

Having time and strength to do my housework properly is a great luxury. I felt that so much the last couple of days, when there were no other duties calling, and nothing urgent to distract me. First I worked at sweeping and organizing my garage. The question remains: Will I ever be able to fit my car in there?

It would be nice, but having no attic, basement, laundry room, pantry or storage shed, I use my garage for everything from firewood and kindling to beach toys and line-drying clothes; lots of gardening tools are stored there, and big pots that don’t fit anywhere in my kitchen. If I have many more days of focused thinking, maybe I will figure out how to arrange the stuff more efficiently. It could happen!

Today, more rich gifts were mine. I mostly cooked and worked in the kitchen, with the door open to the rain outside. Bliss. Eventually I put a large batch of experimental flax crackers into the dehydrator. We will see how they come out tomorrow, after 24 hours of dessication. I was trying to replicate the crackers sold under the Flackers brand, that have cinnamon and currants in them. But then I added three other kinds of seeds: sesame, chia and pumpkin.

Can you see the Thanksgiving cactus in the background, beginning to bloom?

I had already taken a morning walk, with very light rain falling on me off and on. The extravagant blessing of the heavens all around me, wetting everything and making us shine.

One thing nice about using the dehydrator for crackers is, I could go off and leave them in there, which I couldn’t have done if they were baking in the oven. So I put on my rain jacket again, and took a second walk about 4:00.

The skies were clearing. I walked westward that time, and saw different sights. Like the cleanest eucalyptus leaves ever:

Rain is not in the forecast for tomorrow, but housework is. Truly it’s neverending, and I hope my feeling of leisure will hold out for another day, while I prepare for a visit from my older son, whom I call Pathfinder. Last time he was here he helped me make progress with the Garage Project, but I’m happily looking forward to whatever we do together. Rain or not, I expect showers of blessing.

Plumbago in the neighborhood

Gravensteins after all.

food and cooking,

A while back I mentioned how I got the bright idea, to drive out to the farm and buy some Gravenstein apples, a specialty variety that comes on early and is definitely not a good keeper. Those apples have the most appley flavor and make sauce that needs no added sugar. But because I’m not thinking about apples in August I always miss them. It was too busy a week, as I realized eventually, and dropping that project — and the resulting extra kitchen work — from the to-do list brought great relief. I knew I would manage to go sometime in October or November and bring home a box of apples of some other type.

Then when my sister Nancy was visiting last week, I thought what a nice thing to do together, to drive through the beautiful countryside and visit my favorite orchard. When we arrived, we found that the apples are late this year, and the only variety they had so far (out of dozens that they grow) was Gravensteins!

I’ve made several jars’ worth of sauce so far and eaten many out of hand, mealy as they already are. So, so yummy, and a special treat for me. Next year maybe I will try to get them earlier, but there’s no way to predict what week that might be, this far ahead. So I’ll just be ready to receive whatever gifts come my way.