Happy Holidays 2012

It's been an exciting holiday in our new home.  To close out 2012, I wanted to share with you just a few snapshots from the past couple weeks, to give you a feel for everything going on in our corner of Missoula.

There was of course candy making.  This year I only made toffee and peanut brittle.  This was taken right before the brittle turned dark and I realized my thermometer was not working correctly.  Time to reinvest in an official candy thermometer.

What would the holidays be without a kitchen out of control?  On this particular evening I was tackling Spice Cookies and candy at the same time.  Multi-tasking may not be a good idea in the kitchen.  Especially when there is something on the stovetop.

Mmmm, appetizers.  This year we enjoyed appetizers for Christmas lunch, because really - who can eat Christmas lunch, appetizers and Christmas dinner?  But yet, I'm not willing to give up the appetizers!  I like a savory brie and this fit the bill.  I mixed up some chopped walnuts, prosciutto,salt, pepper, and some Mushroom Sage Olive Oil for on top of the Brie.  This I baked and the prosciutto was crispy as the brie started to ooze.  It was yummy!

What is that you see?  A rug and furniture in the living room, the Saturday before Christmas was so exciting.  Our furniture was delivered and good friends arrived from Green River to share the holiday with us.

We went with the traditional (ok, not so much) Rouladen and Spaetzle Christmas dinner.  Watch for a full blog post on Rouladen and Spaetzle in the future, in the meantime, trust me when I say - yummy!  Until next time, Rouladen is thinly sliced meat rolled up with bacon, pickle, and onion in the middle.  Below you see it right before the rolling stage.

Friends.  I can not express enough how special it was to have Lorna and Marco share this holiday with us in our new home.  The four of us explored the local breweries, laughed, and talked.  We skied twice and went for a couple great walks, including a really nice Christmas morning walk out our back door and into the hills and woods.

 

Joe and I want to wish you and yours a very happy holiday full of friendship; family, if you are close enough; and joy. 

 

 



A Home

So, how long do I get to ride the "busy from moving" excuse when it comes to not posting very much? 

As you've seen the kitchen has been up and running, but the house has still been pretty bare for about 2 1/2 months now.  During that time, we've needed some comfort food to deal with the empty rooms.  As I was thinking we needed comfort food, I noticed that The Good Food Store, which is the most amazing store ever, had locally raised pork roasts on sale.

We all have a different idea of comfort food, but to me the crock pot can turn out some pretty tasty comfort food.  So, I got up one morning and I browned the pork roast.  I simply sprinkled it with salt, pepper, and thyme and browned it quickly.

 

I cut up some vegetables and put them in the bottom of the crockpot.  I chose onions, fingerling potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Carrots or other root vegetables would work, if desired.

 

Don't forget the splatter screen when browning at high temperatures.  Wouldn't want to mess up the new counter tops!  You would not have to brown the piece of meat, but I feel like it really adds good flavor.

Then I just top the raw vegetables with the browned pork roast.  This same recipe can be followed with any piece of meat.  When using the crockpot for a long slow roast of any type of meat, put the raw vegetables in the bottom and the roast on top.

Cover and cook.  I let this cook on high for 7 hours and ta da!  The pork roast fell apart and was very moist and flavorful.  This was perfect with a small side salad.

It felt like Santa had come yesterday, as we finally got furniture for the upstairs living room delivered.  We have furniture and a rug, which finally encouraged me to put some white lights around the windows.  Last night as I walked around turning off lights, I stopped at the doorway to that room.  It's the first time this house we bought and love feels like a home.

New Kitchen

I've had this post ready for a week, but I've had problems getting my pictures off the phone.  It's always something, isn't it?  Are you ready to see the new kitchen?  It's pretty cool.  While we didn't change the layout, the height of the counter tops is perfect and I could purr over the new sinks and faucets.

These pictures aren't great, but you'll get the idea.  This is the view from the patio door end of the dining room.  The whole upstairs has been repainted.  The back accent wall is called Spiced Ginger.  Isn't that a nice color?  The fridge will be the next thing to be replaced.

The view from the living room end of the dining room.  We raised all counters a little over two inches and replaced the laminate counters with quartz.  The sitting island in the right side of the picture was also extended.  It needed more width.  The stools are on order!

The view from the hallway entry to the kitchen.  After raising all the counters, we raised the upper cabinets so they are a traditional 18" up from the counter top and we put in this amazing under cabinet lighting.  The lighting is so cool and the electrician did a great job.  One switch turns on all the under counter lighting in the kitchen.

Could I be more spoiled with two big sinks?  Following is the new sink under the window.  This is my vegetable prepping sink and it tends to hold the rinsed out coffee pot, since that is set right next to it.  We love the faucets we chose.  The handle pulls out and the sprayer works perfectly.  Plus, they are the perfect height for getting pots under them, but not too high, so they don't splash water all over.  Next to the faucet you see the dish detergent, hand soap, and the button for the disposal.

This is the dish washing sink and I had no idea how much we would love it!  You can fit a large cookie sheet flat in the bottom of this sink and it's much deeper than it looks in the picture.  That means it holds whatever you want and the water doesn't splash all over as you try to maneuver a large cookie sheet or cutting board in a smaller sink while rinsing it off!  Say it with me, Ohhhhh Ahhhhhhh.

I have the feeling a common piece of this blog is going to be "Views from the Kitchen Window", since I love my views so much.  We'll end this little blog post with my view this morning which has finally turned to winter!  The skies are clearing as I type and I'm sure I'll have to take another picture soon.