fisherman's prayer

"Dear Lord, be good to me
the sea is so wide
and my boat is so small."

Irish Fisherman's Prayer
***
I know I have said this before but it needs to be said again.
plus my sea seems so wide tonight, so wide.

Local Smoothie-Dark Days Style

Remember I am participating in the dark days challenge and though this isn't a meal per se it was a scrumptious after-school snack.

A snack of local organic yogurt, California kiwi, oranges and frozen raspberries from the summer...the smoothie was sweetened ever-so slightly with honey from a friends bees.

So refreshing...go make yourself one or swing by and I'll make you one here.

By the by I recently ordered an amazing new cookbook,
"Feeding the Whole Family: Cooking with Whole Foods".
Well, what I have read is amazing, I'll keep you posted on the recipes I try, they all sound tasty.

Mid-afternoon

This afternoon the sun was shining into my living room and despite of a hamper of clean laundry, stacks of bills, random packages waiting to be mailed and a pile of miscellany, the room looked warm and inviting and caused me to pause.
In fact, I wanted to sit in the corner and read a book.
But I didn't.

letter #1

Dear Beloved, Cheers! Here is to a new year and more joy for the journey.Dear Banana Republic you woo me with your fancy orange leather market bag, call my name all you want, I will not fall prey to your charms. Dear Today's Letters, You inspire me to be a better wife. Thank you for your encouragement to write my own letters. Dear Mom, I am thinking of you helping the sick in Haiti. You are in the palm of God's hand. Dear Beloved, Thank you for working so hard and for striving to be better everyday. As you wish.
xo
yours.

***

For the past year I have been inspired by the daily letters over at Today's Letters. Their commitment to their marriage, to God and to a life well lived has inspired me to write a weekly letter here on this little blog....plus if life shiny side up is doing it then I want to join in the fun.

***
ack. what is going on with the font size. help

the sleepy book bandit

Delia's first of 2011.
2010 was big year for falling asleep at the book.
Remember?

iFam 2010 It's Magic Inside from nicole on Vimeo.

Just a quick slideshow...with music capturing our past year.

I can't wait to see what 2011 holds for us.

If you missed 2009 you can catch it HERE.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
May 2011 bring you much hope, adventure and peace.
xo

Dark Days Combo Week 3 & 4

This is really a dark days challenge combo post whipped up at the very last minute...not the food just the post.
The holidays put a damper on all blogging, casual cookery and extra computer time.

The first of the two SOLE meals is:

Fall Minestrone a la Alice Waters using local California (and organic) kale, butternut squash, onions, carrots, celery and a bit of tomato sauce made earlier in the fall with tomatoes from my SIL's garden.(sadly my tomatoes did not produce even to make much sauce.)
This yummy recipe is found is in " The Art of Simple Food" but the basic gist is:
make soffritto
add garlic, sage and rosemary
add tomatoes and chopped kale
3 cups of water or stock
include cubed butternut squash
add cooked cannellini beans.
serve with crusty bread.

Though the minestrone was tasty we much prefer the kale and potato soup from week 1.

The second meal was a take on huevos rancheros:
corn tortillas from Sonoma (SOLE)
Turkey chorizio from Petaluma (OLE)
eggs from our backyard chickens (SOLE)
tomato sauce from my freezer (SOLE)
black beans (O)
cheese (OLE)

The real highlight of this meal was I had NEVER made poached eggs before.
Wahoo.
Turns out Delia loves to eat poached eggs and they are easy to make.

Stay tuned for more Sustainable, Organic, Local Ethical (SOLE) meals in the weeks to come.