Adventreats Day 24

Adventreats Day 23

Adventreats Day 22

Adventreats Day 21

Adventreats Day 20

In The bleak mid-winter
Frosty winds made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter,
Long ago.

(Rossetti)

Adventreats Day 19

My home-with-sister-made advent wreath.

Adventreats Day 18

The Mistletoe Bride

Adventreats Day 17

Adventreats Day 16

Teka tries his best to compete with Snowball. (Laura did it. He's been wearing it without complaint for three days now)

Adventreats Day 15

Adventreats Day 14

Adventreats Day 13

Christmas fact:

In 1647, Oliver Cromwell, that all-round-nice-guy, banned Christmas in the UK. It remained illegal to celebrate Christmas until 1660. Phew. Oh, those crazy puritans.

Adventreats Day 12

Adventreats Day 11

Wowee

Adventreats Day 10

Adventreats Day 9

Adventreats Day 8

Adventreats Day 7

A note to event organizers:

We do not charge extra for outdoor gigs in December; however, be warned that the whole quartet will be using their cheap-as-dirt rubbish instruments which take, on average, three times longer to tune than regular performance instruments, thus robbing you of many paid-music minutes. That's the price you pay.

Also, they sound worse.

(Also, it's hard, if not impossible, to shift in chunky fingerless gloves, so our repertoire will be limited to songs that remain in first position. So there.)

Adventreats Day 6

Adventreats Day 5

Adventreats Day 4

Recipe of the Day: Brownies
By Mark Bittman

The first time I made brownies without my mother was in the late 1960’s, using a recipe from Paula Peck, the cookbook writer. Over the years, I tinkered with that and a similar version by Marion Cunningham. As my daughters learned to cook, they experimented a bit further. But we never really strayed from the originals.

Print Recipe
Brownies

Yield About 1 dozen brownies

Time 40 minutes

Mark Bittman
Summary

As long as you keep the flour to a minimum and don't add chemical leavening like baking powder, you will produce a true and beautiful brownie.
Ingredients

* 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted or unsalted butter, more for greasing pan
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* Pinch salt if you use unsalted butter
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

Method

* 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring occasionally. When chocolate is just about melted, remove from heat, and continue to stir until mixture is smooth. Meanwhile, grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. If you like, also line it with waxed or parchment paper and grease that.
* 2. Transfer mixture to a bowl, and stir in sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add flour (and salt and vanilla if you are using them), and stir to incorporate. Stop stirring when no traces of flour remain.
* 3. Pour into pan, and bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until set and barely firm in the middle. Cool on a rack before cutting.

Adventreats Day 3

I do like Christmas on the whole.... In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill. But it is clumsier every year. ~E.M. Forster

Adventreats Day 2

Adventreats Day 1