HELLO 2016!!

Greetings!!  It has been a long time, hasn't it?  It was not my intention to disappear.  I just couldn't wrangle with my laptop any longer.  It was quite a chore to put up a post, and I no longer enjoyed doing it.  But, Greg surprised me Christmas morning with a brand new, big screen laptop!!!  Oh my gosh, I was so surprised.  We don't give each other big gifts at Christmas.  It has always been our practice to use our allotted money for the kids, and now grand kids too.  Sooooo, I am back in the saddle again!  Using my Nikon camera this past week  has been fun. It has gotten too easy to use my iPhone for photos, that my camera has been sadly neglected.  Not anymore! This post isn't about anything in particular, and the photos are a mixed mash of this and that.  But.  I.  Am.  Back! 
Our Christmas was sort of strange.  We were all sick.  Everything that you can imagine.  Stomach bugs, aches and chills, sore throats, coughs, you name it.  We had it!  We are rebounding now. 
I do want to share with you a gift my Mama gave to me.  There is a fantastic little art store in Laguna Beach that we love.  She got it there.

The bird house is a darling whimsical piece.  The perch is an old red dialed faucet fixture.  The wavy roof, in rustic red, and chipped aqua blue post and house is so cute.  I hung a boxwood heart wreath from the faucet, and nestled the post into this large crock, using a big bag of rice from Sam's Club to anchor it down.  I stuck a spray of "grass" into the top, and put it in a corner of atop the bar that is always a hard spot to decorate.  I really love it.  I put this hand made wooden Roo next to it.  It was a gift from my friend Shelly.
The bird house is hand signed from the artist that made it.

 I have been busy knitting lately.  I decided I should step outside the box, and try my hand at a more difficult pattern.  So I tried color work.  Yikes!

I love red.  I thought this Nordic hat might be a good first try.  Just a few colors.  So I cast on my light grey, and did the rib with no problem.  Then I studied the graph and remembered hearing somewhere that reading these graphs is done in a zigzag pattern.  Left to right, then next line, left to right, then right to left, etc....
So off I went.  Things seemed they were going okay, until I hit the first red and white block.  Uh oh....something was amiss.  See that first red and white part, looking from the bottom up, right after the grey?  That was supposed to look line an X pattern.  Instead, it looks like it might be code for dirty words or something.  C's and arrows.  But NOT what it was supposed to look like.  Now being the perfectionist I am, I would usually frog it down to the part that was wrong and start it over.  But, with both of those balls of yarn attached, I was afraid to really bungle it up if I did.  So I did some research, and discovered what I had done wrong, and persevered.  I discovered that if using circular needles, you read each line from right to left.  Not the zigzag pattern I was following, which would only be done if knitting flat.  Well, thanks book, for not telling me that!!!!  So now I am cruising right along, and it is looking just as the pattern suggests it should.  FUN!!!  Perhaps Fair Isle knitting is in my future after all!

I have been in a real cooking mood these past few days.  Chilly weather.  Rain in the forecast for all this week.  So it is perfect cooking weather. 
I made a ham on New Year's Day and we had it with our black eyed peas served over rice. 

Then the next day, I made a big pot of white beans and ham.  I also put a loaf of our favorite bread in the machine to have with it.  Greg and I had gone to see an afternoon movie and came home to the wonderful aroma of ham and bean soup, and English Muffin Bread, hot out of the bread machine! 

Mercy....was this ever good!  Oh, we saw Concussion.  EXCELLENT!   Wil Smith delivered an epic performance.  He should receive an Oscar nod for this, for sure!!!
Yesterday morning, I got up and wanted to make another loaf of bread that I had found a recipe for that looked good.  A Banana Poppy Seed Whole Wheat bread.  But I was out of wheat flour, so ran to Sprouts for some.  I came home with the flour, and a beautiful small Prime Rib Roast! 
I put the bread on, and planned for our dinner.  What a beautiful mess, eh? 

This is how I store my flours.  I use large containers, and cut away the label of the flour, and place that inside the container so I can easily see which one I need.  This banana bread used half whole wheat flour, and half bread flour.  It had honey, vanilla and egg in it too.  And let me tell you, the aroma was amazing while it cooked!!!
I took it out when it was done, and we couldn't even wait for it to cool, before slicing off a hunk to slather with butter and taste.

Mercy!!!!!   Here is it is sitting next to the few pieces left of the English Muffin Bread.

You can see that it is a darker and more dense bread.  The recipe suggests making a peanut butter sandwich with this bread, and so we will have that for lunch today, Noah and I.
The Prime Rib I got was only 3.5 pounds.  Perfect to feed a few people.  I made a rub for it with kosher salt, fresh rosemary, peppercorns that I crushed, and minced garlic.  I rubbed the meat with olive oil, and then pressed the rub onto all sides.   I allowed it to come to room temp and then roasted it in a 500 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Then turned it down to 325, and cooked it to medium rare, or about 150 degrees on a meat thermometer.  The smell in the house was amazing! 

I tented the roast and left it to rest, then turned the oven up to 450 and made Yorkshire Pudding.  Mmmmmm!
I served it all with some rosemary roasted baby red potatoes, and fresh steamed broccoli.  A little dollop of horseradish sauce, and the meal was just perfect!  I always like the end cut of meat, as I am not too fond of the rare.  My popovers had big beautiful crowns on them, but had fallen some by the time I took this photo.  Oh my goodness, this was so good.  If you have never cooked a Prime Rib, do try it.  It is easy, and so delicious!

The other day, I popped into my favorite thrift.  I found two more beautiful Tommy Bahama shirts for my husband. 

Washed, starched, pressed, and ready to wear.  I also found a cute J. Crew woven and lined beach tote.  And a wee knitted stocking with our last name initial on it.  Who could resist?  And a whole spool of pink and white cotton yarn. 

And today, for my first post back, I have to share a photo with you of our new family member, Jack.  He is 8 months old.  Still quite a handful!  And the most precious little ball of fluffy love, ever. 

He is really my son Drew's and his girlfriend, Christine's.  He was found wandering an apartment complex, at about 6 weeks old.  Someone Drew teaches had him, and was trying to find a home for him.  Drew took Christine to see him, and they brought this little ball of fur home.  He was supposed to go live with Christine.  But she knew that would not be fair, when she is gone all day.  So he came here.  Drew and Christine were to take care of him. And to their credit, they did. They got him all of his shots, and took him everywhere they went.  And he adores them both!  But I, being the one home the most, bonded with him too. And I fell in love with him.  Which I was NOT expecting at all.  I have my big Ol' Dusty Boy, and he is my shadow.  But Jack, is in my lap all the time!!!  Aside from it taking 6 long months to house train him, he is an absolute delight!!!  We think he is a mix between a long haired Chihuahua, and a Papillon. 
Feels good to be back folks!  Can't wait to catch up with all of you!  And I promise to be back very soon. 
Happy New Year!
XO  Kris