Merry Christmas with a BC Green Dragoon

Well ‘tis the day before Christmas and all through the house, all presents have been wrapped and placed snuggly under the tree at the ‘rents for Christmas Day unveiling. Here at the house many orchids are in bloom ‘cept for the red Catteleya that has been a yearly staple, looks like it is beating to its own drum this year so a January bloomer it looks to be. Pictured above is the Green Dragoon with it’s first blooms ever for me. I picked this plant up as a seedling from Carters and Holmes some 4-5 years ago and it has finally matured to produce a nice set of 5 green flowers for us to enjoy this holiday season.

Lemon Cheesecake

For Christmas Dinner I have made one of mine and DH's favorite Lemon Cheesecakes using one of my Meyer Lemons from my private tree stash. Each lemon produces a ½ to ¾ - Cup of Lemon juice and a nice amount of lemon peel to boot. The recipe has been modified from one of the Original Williams and Sonoma cookbook series Cakes, Cupcakes and Cheesecakes. If you see this one it is well worth the money to place in your cookbook collection.

Preheat oven to 350 F, and prepare 9-inch spring form pan for crust.

For the Crust
1/3 Cup pecans, roasted and chopped well
1 ¾ Cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon peel
¼ Cup fresh lemon juice
½ Cup unsalted butter, melted

Mix the first five ingredients together well. Add the lemon juice and mix until well incorporated. Add butter and mix until crust mix starts sticking together. Pour crust mix into spring form pan and distribute evenly over the bottom. With a spoon or a plastic bag over your hand, press the crumb mix together beginning at the center of the pan and working out to the edges. Press crumbs up the edge approx 1 to 1.5 – inches. Bake for 1 minute then cool.

For the Filling
2 lb good quality cream cheese, room temperature
1 Cup sugar
½ Cup heavy cream (you will need an 8oz carton for recipe)
½ Cup fresh lemon juice
1 envelope Knox gelatin
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
½ Cup heavy cream

Mix cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy add cream and make sure mixed well. Add lemon juice and make sure mixed well. In a small heat proof pan add gelatin and 1 Tablespoon lemon juice. With low-medium heat cook until all is in a liquid state, slowly add cream while stirring. Slowly pour the cream-gelatin mix into cream cheese mixture while beating on low. Pour Cream Cheese filling into the crust and then refrigerate for 2 hours before eating.

Note: make a day ahead for full flavor infusion.

Spin more Yarn and other happenings

Back in October I showed you some Lynne Vogel fiber that I was spinning. Above is the finished yarn that I completed during the last part of November.

From one of the members of our local spinning group there was a suggestion to use the cardboard wine boxes to hold some fiber and your spindles for easy carrying and to prevent them from being broken by mistake. So here is my new carrying case for the two spindles that I am currently using.

Malabrigo Dusty Olive worsted weight yarn. I love the fall festive colors in this dye way. I have a pattern picked out when I finish my currently in progress knitting. Meanwhile, Zack is protecting it from others that would like to pilfer my stash for this colorway. ;)

The Marathon mailing is complete. Can you say yea! Each second Saturday of December, the local track club sponsors a marathon that has around 1500 runners sign up to run and around 1300 finish each year. My job is to take the finish certificates and a photo of each runner’s finish and get them in the appropriate envelope, seal the envelopes, and then drop them off at the post office. This year it only took me two days to get all envelopes done and out of my house to the post office. Only six more weeks until my data entry job starts for the Memorial Day 10K/5K run.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Dreaming of the perfect Meyer Lemon Recipe...

Growing up Mom used to make us little lemon puddings that were placed in a water bath to cook and had a delicious cake topping that rose to the top when it was baking. Over the years the recipe has been misplaced but the following link from the Washington Post seems to look like a dead ringer for how it was made. I also found this interesting recipe from Oprah's site. And if these weren't enough I have a copy of Lucious Lemon Desserts which is plain and simple a wonderful collection of recipes on how to use the lemons I grow each year. Well it looks like it's about time to start picking and using the lemons from this year's crop. Bon Apetit. :)

The Ann Arbor Shawl

Nina's Ann Arbor Shawl
Pattern - Wrapped in Comfort - Alison Jeppson Hyde
Yarn - Koigu KPPPM
Color - P200 135
Needles and size = Addi-Turbo US9

This sweater was finished back in October and I am just now posting the final project photo. Lots of knitting, travelling, and house work took place in November and not much posting. Anywho, this project was started back at the end of June, and many other projects were finished ahead of it. While this project was not that challenging it was a long and boring process to get to the finish. However the final blocked garment is quite beautiful and feels great in the Koigu yarn. This shawl is a Christmas present for one of my nieces so I hope she likes it.

Koolhaas Hat

Koolhaas Hat
Pattern - Interweave Knits Holiday 2007 publication
Yarn - Dream in Color Classy
Color - Visual Purple
Size = US6 and US 8

This hat was an interesting diversion from my other knitting. I have done lots of cable knits in the past more complex than this but this one kept me frogging for some reason. At least it was a hat and quick, but if it had been a sweater I think I would have frogged it completely and looked for something else to knit with the yarn. Another note the womans version calls for doing the pattern repeat 4 times, however, when finished it was too small for me so it will be a gift for a friends kid who I think will really enjoy it. If I were to want to cause pain for myself again it will be done with 5 pattern repeats, however I don't think this style hat is really me so I don't think it will be a repeat performance.

Santa Hat

Santa Hat
Pattern - Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick
Yarn - Blue Sky Worsted Hand Dyes in Red
Blue Sky Bulky in Natural
Size Needles = US9 and US 11

This hat is a present for my sister and one I think she will enjoy wearing. :) It was a two evening knit and fun. One that I would consider making again!

Elf Hat

Elf Hat with Ear Flaps
Pattern - Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick
Yarn - Blue Sky Bulky in Eggplant
Size Needles = US 15

The end of October brought the return of COLD evening walks and the need for something to protect my ears. This hat has been just perfect and replaces the two other pair of fleece ear warmers that are now stretched and don't do much to keep the cold out.It's also a really soft alpaca blend.

Fall Foliage

Fall color is finally reaching its peak here and with a gust of wind it will be gone. Considering how little rain we have had this year we are lucky to have any color at all.

Tonight we are expecting our first freeze of the season so it's good-bye to summer flowers and colored leaves, onto deep blue skies, cold weather and to enjoy the bones of the winter trees.

Almost Lemon Season

Last week it got too cold so the last of my cooler growing orchids and the Meyer lemon tree migrated to the southeast bedroom which is my plant/craft room. It has several florescent banks with plant grow lights which supplement all the natural light that comes into this room in the winter. This is the perfect place for the plants to over winter until next spring. Right now we are about 2-3 weeks out until the Meyer Lemons are ready to pick and eat. Last year’s crop was 4 and this year’s crop is around 10. Can't wait!