Christmas in Savannah

Gary and I spent a nice and relaxing Christmas in Savannah this year. Lot's of napping, plus I had long walks with the pups. We were able to go for several days thanks to the hospitality of my niece (Thanks Aim!) and she let our pups come along. That makes staying longer so much easier on us. Getting someone to watch them is no easy task.

Here are several photos from my photo safari in the historic area. If you are going to Savannah and interested in photography at all, if it's wanting to take better pictures with your point and shoot digital camera or you are a photo enthusiast, check out this web site: Savannah Photo Outings. This is my second outing with Frank, I highly recommend him if you are in the area. He is a good teacher and very knowledgable. He knows the city and took our group to some good photo spots and helped us "get the shot". More photos to come as I sort through them.



Here's the fireplace all decked out for Santa's visit. This Christmas it was all about the kids! They got lots of toys and had a lot of fun opening them each of them. All in all I am glad that Christmas is done, and the New Year is upon us. Happy New Year!!

Reflections

Here's a reflection photo of my wonderful husband. As the year 2008 closes out, take some time and reflect on the happenings of the year. It's been a good year at our house! We are very blessed that we're all healthy, I have a great job, my mom's cancer is in remission, my animals are fun and thankfully getting older (that means calmer, somewhat)...I have so much to be thankful for. How about you? When is the last time that you took inventory of your blessings? It's easy to focus on the negative, it takes looking on the positive to make you realize how good we Americans have it. So take some time and enjoy your family and close friends and tell them how much you love and appreciate them.

Christmas in the Park

Here's some views from Spring Park, in Green Cove Springs. Can you find us in the bulb? Not the best self portrait but it was fun to make. Here's hoping that you all had a great time with family and friends over the holiday season. I sure did! I did lot's of laying around and reading, walking with the dogs plus a really cool photo tour in Savannah. More on that in another post.

Ponder This

Things that make you go "HMMM" ... An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

Getting ready for Christmas....

Commando Chick

If you've ever been around chickens you wonder how they ever came to be. Meaning they are not the smartest creatures God made. But this mommy is a very wild one and is teaching her little ones to be the same. Check out the camouflage on this little baby. Here, they are 3 weeks old. If they hold still you do not see them in the leaves. Amazing.

Hot Breakfast Cereal

Ever wonder if there's an easy way to cook steel cut oats? Here's a wonderful hot breakfast cereal that is easy to make. You make it the night before in the crock pot so it's ready in the morning when you get up. This is adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two". Using a small crock pot that has been lightly oiled add:


1/3 cup hard red wheat
1/2 cup steel cut oats
3 cups water
1/8 tsp salt
several shakes of cinnamon
1/2 cup dried fruit


Place slow cooker on low for 7-9 hours.


In the morning add:

about 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (depending on how creamy you like it)
1/4 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
1 T butter
2 T sucanat (or brown sugar)
several shakes of cinnamon
any fresh fruit such as banana slices, sliced strawberries, etc.


Stir all of this together and let simmer for 1/2 hour to 1 hour and then serve into bowls. Feel free to drizzle with honey just before serving. Serves 2 to 3 people.

Savannah

Here's some snap shots from one of my favorite cities, Savannah. It's a great town for walking and taking pictures. It's also very dog friendly and has a lot of great shops and coffee houses. The squares have such history and lovely statues.

Bread Time

Finally, here's a bread posting. For this recipe I used half hard red and half hard white wheat berries. That's for those of you that make your own flour. Currently, my favorite book on bread is "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Check out their web site HERE to see the recipes and techniques or order the book. For this recipe I used the Challah bread. But of course I made my own variation. For the rolls I rolled them out flat and added some filling.

Filling: Inspired from Arabic Bites

1/4 cup raisens

1/4 cup chopped dates

1/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

1 tsp cooled tea (or rose water)

shake of cinnamon

1/8 tsp cardimom

1 Tablespoon sugar

Sprinkle filling over the dough and then roll up dough into a log. Then I cut the log into a 6 inch rope and twist into bun. This gets brushed with egg wash and then set aside to raise about 20-45 minutes. Then it gets another egg wash then sprinkle sesame or poppy seeds over the rolls and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Yummy! This is quickly becoming one of my husbands most requested breads.

Christmas Trees

Ever wonder where your Christmas tree comes from? These are some Christmas trees that are on my sister's property in Tennessee, or were. They were harvested the week after my picture. Can't you just smell the evergreens? Maybe your tree came from there?

Being from Florida, it was wonderful to see the bright red and yellow leaves up in the mountains. We just had "fall" here in Florida. Yes, the beginning of December and our trees where turning colors. It's amazing to me that 6 hours north and you actually get seasons and really cold weather. It's in the 70's here today and snow in the Carolina mountains. Go figure?!

Baby Chicks' First Outing

It's true, we have 2 baby chicks. The mommy hen took them out of the baby coop today for the first time. They are about 1 week old and tiny little things. She showed them how to dig in the leaves and eat grass and bugs. She is a VERY protective mom and I'm too scared to mess with the babies yet. I'll try later with gloves on so mom doesn't peck me. They were out several hours this morning and then she took them back "home".

Whole Grain Farm

Here's my first blog post...hopefully the first of many. I'm creating this to keep friends and family informed of new recipes, chicken antics and what's up in our life in general. My husband and I have several dogs, numerous chickens, and parrots. I have several container gardens with lettuce plus we have several fruit trees on our property. We are interested in staying fit by cycling and jogging, as well as attempting to eat healthy. I make all of our own flour, and bread. No store bought bread here. Healthy should taste good, that's my motto!