Category Archives: West HoCo

Frigid Weather

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The next few days are going to be tough to deal with, around these parts. Temperatures below zero degrees tomorrow night.

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We have snow on the ground and the birds are pretty active looking for food under the patio table and around the deck. We have unfortunately also had a number of hawk attacks. Lost a few small birds.

I am keeping the bird bath full. It is amazing watching them get into the basin and fluff up their feathers after dunking themselves a few times.

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We now have quite the collection of red bellied woodpeckers. There were three out there yesterday. I refilled the suet holders for them.

Tomorrow (today by the time I post this past midnight) is Little Christmas, the day I usually take down the decorations. I think that will occur later in the week when it warms up.

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The tree needs to be taken out to the landfill later also. They recycle them into mulch. As for the garland, it will become a bed around the rhododendron, where the pine needles can continue to add some acidity to the soil.

I have been heavily using the crockpot, making another batch of venison chili today. I learned a lesson though. My method of putting frozen items in the pot has resulted in a hairline crack in the ceramic insert.

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Thankfully, I do use the liners. Still, I have to buy a new insert. And stop putting the pot on high.

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I am slowly making my way through the Larriland tomatoes in the freezer. Next year I will be getting many more than this time, as they make a world of difference when used in soups and chili.

As for the next few days, I think we will find some indoor projects to tackle. Until it warms up a bit.

Stay warm, and watch out for black ice. And, think of spring.

hocofood@@@

The First Snowfall …

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… of 2014. We had more than enough already in December. Now, we are getting another dump of snow.

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It is lovely out there, although quite cold. I like the fact that we aren’t far from the gas stations where the county and state plow drivers like to get their coffee. They do keep the roads around here fairly clean, as they stop in for food while working.

I didn’t blog yesterday. The first day in over a year. I wanted to take that internal pressure away. Since I blogged every day in 2013, I felt compelled to sit and write, even when not inspired.

I still have that urge to compose things. Write about living out here in the west county. Where some people don’t get it. Where it is quiet, and sometimes scary. Like every time our lights dimmed today. I kept thinking I need to fill the bathtubs with water, in case we lose power.

And, turn up the heat. To get it really warm. In case we lose power.

Can you tell I don’t want to be out here with no heat. At least we have a wood stove, but not much dry wood.

Plus, the grill, to cook. If you like cooking outdoors in single digit temperatures.

I did figure I could use melted snow to flush the toilets. If I had to. And, no worries about the freezer and the fridge, if it is that cold. I won’t have spoiled food.

We really do need to look into a generator. At least to power the freezer, sump pump, well pump and fridge.

I do love snow. And the Christmas decorations, all shiny and bright.

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Happy New Year from west county.

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Dreams vs Dreary

OK, after buying a ticket like millions of others, I didn’t win MegaMillions.

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It would have been nice, wouldn’t it? Maybe I could fix dreary Columbia!

If you haven’t followed the latest local drama, the “dissing” of Columbia Gateway as dreary, by a New York writer, then you have been out of the local news loop for sure.

Personally, I agree the Gateway area leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe the Columbia residents need to pressure businesses to stop calling something Columbia when it isn’t.

Me, I think I will continue to love my part of the county. Make cookies again tomorrow.

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Toll house, and then my mom’s sugar cookie recipe.

And, enjoy my tree from Greenway.

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I think I did an awesome job decorating it.

Oh, by the way, much of the area is pretty dreary in the winter. Unless you love sunrises and sunsets, which are the heart and soul of the solstice.

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Lovely, isn’t it? And, no, we didn’t win the money.

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Way Too Much To Do …

… and not enough time to do it. Or, the weather doesn’t cooperate.

I was in cookie baking mode today, and also trying to decorate around the snow.

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I can’t get the deer into the ground, until the snow melts a little. I did get the greens up around the door.

One very important stop yesterday on my rounds of Christmas shopping was the Sysco outlet.

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The outlet is north of Rte. 175 on US 1. Near the flea market. It is where I get my basic baking supplies, and my cookie sheets. I was there yesterday to get a few new utensils, and some spices, and while there, I considered a couple more baking sheets. These sheets work very well. They are a light color, heavy and easy to clean.

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I did more molasses cookies, like these, and I got my Viennese almond crescents done. I still need to do the sugar cookies. And the chocolate chip.

We don’t need any more snow, thank you very much! We have more than enough out there and I really did want to decorate the evergreens, if they ever lose their snow covering.

Tomorrow, the tree goes up in the living room, and more cookies get baked. We are running out of days to get it all done. I still need a few more presents.

Do I sound stressed? I should go relax, watch the football game and have a pastis.

hocofood@@@

Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!

Getting into the Christmas spirit using local farms for inspiration and products.

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Like my poinsettias from Greenway Farms.

We headed out to the tree cutting site on Rte. 144 west of Cooksville after a visit to the landfill to rid ourselves of all the downed tree limbs.

I only wanted to get my poinsettias and maybe a really tiny tree. Turns out I really want a tree in the living room, so we succumbed and cut a five foot high white pine.

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It is sitting in a bucket in the garage waiting for tomorrow to be put into place.

We also got a small basil for my kitchen window. They also have little rosemary trees, if you want a specialty tree for a table.

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Keeping in the Buy Local spirit, tomorrow I am heading out to Copper Penny for a ham, and Breezy Willow for alpaca gifts.

Then, home to decorate while watching my favorite football game.

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Christmas, only 11 more days to go.

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It’s Been A Soup Sort of Week

Seems to be the norm this week to have soup for lunch or dinner. What with a second snowfall today.

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At least we got the snow thrower some hours. I think it hasn’t been used in two years. My husband had everything done in about an hour this afternoon. All told, between the two storms we had about seven inches of snow on the ground.

It even brought the red bellied woodpecker up close to the house, something she rarely does.

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While we were out there, the crockpot was on, with my latest version of cauliflower leek soup bubbling away.

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The secret to my soup? Garam masala. It makes it much more complex in flavor.

The recipe:
1 small head cauliflower, broken into pieces
4 medium leeks, sliced, white part only
2 scallions, sliced
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, parboiled first
1 pint stock (I used turkey)
1 pint almond milk
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Everything in the crockpot except for the almond milk, for six hours on high, or eight hours on low. One hour before serving, I pureed most of the mixture, leaving about 1/4 of it in its chunkier form. After pureeing it, add the almond milk for the last hour to give it the creamy texture.

Tonight we dressed it up a bit.

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I had a package of Copper Penny Farm mini chorizo in the oven on slow cook (250 degrees) for that last hour. Placed a few of them, with some of their juice, over the soup.

A mostly local meal tonight. Just the spices and the almond milk, not local. Warm, satisfying. It’s interesting how soup is one thing we love to have when the “weather outside is frightful”.

hocofood@@@

Icy Weather

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Yep, it snowed yesterday and iced up overnight. Not a pretty sight out by the evergreens.

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We lost a few limbs. Most of them, though, just were heavily laden with ice. We try to keep the trees healthy. And, we cross our fingers most of the time when the ice comes our way.

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Everywhere in the yard, I was taking stock. Making sure the best trees looked OK and weren’t about to break off limbs.

Today was also a soup day. Nothing beats a good hearty soup, to warm you up after time spent shoveling snow.

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This was turkey noodle soup. I keep a container full of pasta and noodles, to use for soups and stews.

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Pasta shapes. Whole wheat noodles. Pot pie noodles.

Today, I combined leftover Maple Lawn turkey with CSA chicken stock. Added one carrot, one stalk of celery with leaves and the green part of half a dozen scallions. Some salt and pepper. Simmered it while we shoveled snow.

Lunch was wonderful. While our clothes dried out.

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Now, we have to get ready for round two tomorrow. I am so ready for winter to end, and it just began.

hocofood@@@

One Snowy Sunday

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And it still isn’t over. There are at least five inches of snow on the ground, and we are crossing our fingers that there won’t be much ice tonight.

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Around noon, things were somewhat under control but with more snow and now freezing rain, getting up the hills could be interesting. I am so glad as a retired old person that I can sleep in tomorrow and avoid that rush hour mess around DC.

We always got a bit more snow and ice here in the western edge of Howard County. Our elevation of 600-800 feet across these parts is high enough to be a few degrees colder, and we see it in our snow fall totals.

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This is the beginning of the heavier snow and ice on some of our ornamental grass. I hope tonight that the evergreens are spared the ice load. A few years back, we lost quite a few limbs on our pines and fir trees.

Watching football with a glass of Old Westminster Chardonnay, and some Bowling Green cheddar. Nice to be inside and warm. Wish us luck, to keep us from losing power!

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One Slow Cooked Bargain Meal

Actually, it turns out there will be two meals out of the turkey made in the crockpot yesterday.

It all started with those turkey drumsticks from Maple Lawn Farm.

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You can head out to the farm and pick up frozen turkey all during the year. The fresh turkey is sold for the holidays, but they have frozen packages and other specialties.

After bringing home those drumsticks, so I could vacuum seal some and save for soups this winter, I did keep two out to cook on Sunday.

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I have two packages like these in the freezer. Each package cost approximately $2.33 as the six pack was $7.

You can’t beat that for making an economical meal. Throw some carrots, onions, celery, some stock (my last container from last year’s turkey), two drumsticks, a little water, salt, pepper, poultry friendly herbs like tarragon and marjoram, all in the crockpot.

Since the turkey was barely defrosted, and the stock was a brick of frozen goodness, I put the crockpot on high for six hours, then renewed it for another 3 hours. In the last hour, I added some wide noodles and a bit more water to thin it out.

We had it for dinner tonight, and it was simply wonderful. Really rich. So much flavor. It’s amazing and you can’t believe the entire pot probably cost $5-6 in total ingredients. We only had half of it, so lunch or dinner later this week will be our second meal from these drumsticks.

My husband and I both like the dark meat on turkey and chicken, more than we like the bland white breast meat. At Thanksgiving, my husband always takes a drumstick on his plate.

I suppose you could say we are crazy, eating turkey the week before Thanksgiving, but soup is so good on crisp fall days.

If you haven’t popped out to Maple Lawn after the holiday rush, you should. Even the frozen turkey is so much tastier than those butterball things.

hocofood@@@

Free??? Energy Audit

Remember GreenFest in Howard County? Where you could put in your name and “win” a free energy audit? Free, being a relative term.

Because if you won, and they came out and showed you all the bad things in your house, you could either ignore them or address them.

Those pictures showing energy loss through doors, windows, ducts and telling you how bad your old appliances are.

Slowly we have been addressing what was identified as deficient in our almost 30 year old home. I can honestly say that today I really feel the difference from replacing doors and windows on the first floor of the house. It has taken us two years to get this far.

Just a bit at a time. This time, though, it was dramatic.

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The view from the dining room was enhanced with no window. Let’s not talk about the dozen or so flies I keep having to kill in the kitchen. So far, they did finish the outside of living room, dining room, and garage. And, there is a new door from garage to mud room. Our garage faces northwest. The front of the house faces west. Drapes would move when the cold fronts moved in. Now, there is a huge improvement. Although they aren’t done yet.

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Caulking was done. Trim work remains. And, the kitchen window will be replaced. Hallelujah! I will have windows that open! Current kitchen windows are on their last legs, so to speak.

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Of course, Thursday it is supposed to be quite cold. No cooking that day, and who knows where I will be able to take my CSA pictures.

I have to admit, I truly appreciate the changes once they are done. It’s just that the mess associated with renovations, and the frustrations with how long they take, taxes my patience.

But, a word to the wise. If you ever “win” that free energy audit, you may want to decline. Unless you want to spend what would have been vacation money to fix everything they find.

I know it ‘s the right thing to do here. But, it still drives me up a wall to deal with all the upheaval.

I just keep thinking about the good parts, like the view.

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