It's Cold

I'm sure by eastern states standard it's shirtsleave weather here, but for us it's rather nippy.

This is a picture from just a couple of days ago, looking out toward the ponds. It was in the morning and you can see the fogginess in the background. I kind of like those days, so long as either #1: the fog burns off by noon; or #2: it's a burn day. In this case it was not a burn day so we couldn't have our cozy fire, but at least the fog did burn off.

Yesterday we had a great storm blow in. It was glorious. The wind was blowing, the rain was pouring, and it was a burn day. The sun is shining today and all is calm but there are big puffy clouds in the sky and it looks a little ominous to the north.

We got our tree Sunday and I just have the lights up now. I'll try and put the ornaments on later today. I still haven't done a lot of Christmas shopping, though the out of town folks have been taken care of. I still have to do my cards. The house is a mess and the never ending laundry is piling up again.

I guess I better go now and try and get something done before this day is totally shot.

I'll end with this eucalyptus blossom. Funny how they're blooming at this time of the year!

Christmas Parade

Last night was our town's Christmas Parade. Hoffman Hospice had a big entry in which Gus and I were asked to participate. I'm not a parade person and my initial reaction was to just say no, but there was a lot of flattery involved and I found myself talked into it.

On my way to downtown where the parade was taking place I was almost involved in an accident. I was in the number one lane, another car was in the number two lane next to me (on my right), when an idiot came out of a side street directly in front of the car next to me. There were lots of horns honking, tires screeching, and I imagine some not so polite conversation going on. Fortunately there was no contact. But it didn't help my blood pressure any.

As predicted, the downtown area was a total mess. I tried to find a spot somewhere near where I thought the end of the parade was going to be. I wasn't really sure where it was going to end but by this time I was running quite a bit later than the time we were supposed to meet. And I had to walk at least six blocks to the meeting place with Gus and a folding chair through throngs of people.

Finally we got to our spot and I wasn't all too late after all. There was still a good 20 minutes or so before the parade was scheduled to start. When I saw the other four dogs I realized I had forgotten Gus's antlers and I felt bad about that.

Then it was time to get into the pickup truck we were assigned. One lady with her small Havanese rode in the front seat and the other four of us crammed into the bed of the pickup with our chairs and dogs. We had a Briard (Tiger), a shetland sheepdog, a Samoyed, and of course Gus, the Wonder Dog Golden Retriever!

Here's Gus with his new best friend, the Samoyed. (Sorry, I didn't get the others' names.)

Here's the Hoffmann float in front of us. I didn't get a good look at it but I think it involved a big bed and dancing ballerinas. It won the Sweepstakes Award! Good job!

And this is the Hoffmann transport vehicle behind us. It's a converted ambulance.

When I started taking pictures I realized not only had I forgotten Gus's antlers, but I also forgot to put a fresh battery in the camera. That meant I didn't want to leave the camera on while I fiddled with the settings. A lot of my pictures turned out like this.

Getting in line and getting under way.

Approaching the television area. It was extremely brightly lit, so that helped out with my camera woes.

Passing by the Bakersfield College Weill Institute.
From 21st Street looking north on Chester Avenue. (This is with the flash.)
(This is without the flash.)
And looking just the other way, south on Chester Avenue.

One thing I learned was that being IN a parade is a lot better than WORKING a parade! It only took us about 30 minutes from the beginning to the end, whereas working a parade takes anywhere from 3 - 4 hours or more, depending on the amount of entries.

When we got to the end of the route I was extremely pleased to see my car parked about a half block away.

I didn't stick around to see Santa. I know, I know, bah humbug.

Tomato Aspic

This is a recipe that comes from one of our most used cookbooks, The Better Homes And Gardens Complete Step-By-Step Cookbook (1978). By itself it's a bit plain, but we jazz it up by adding shrimp and crab. This is something we usually make for big celebrations like Thanksgiving or Christmas because you can make it look fancy.

The ingredients are: 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin; 1 cup cold tomato juice; 3 cups tomato juice; 1/3 cup chopped onion; 1/4 cup chopped celery; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; 4 whole cloves; 2 bay leaves; 3 tablespoons lemon juice; 1/2 cup each salad shrimp and crab (we used fake crab but feel free to use real!).

Add the two packets of gelatin to the 1 cup cold tomato juice, stir to combine. In a medium saucepan combine 2 cups of the remaining tomato juice (reserving 1 cup), onion, celery, brown sugar, salt, cloves, and bay leaves. Simmer, uncovered, for about five minutes.

Pour the hot mixture into a sieve set over a bowl; strain.

Add the softened gelatin to the hot mixture; stir to dissolve completely. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of tomato juice and the lemon juice. At this point add the shrimp and/or crab if desired. Pour mixture into a jello mold. The book advises using a five cup tower mold. We don't have one of those so I used our decorated bundt cake pan. Chill until firm, a few hours at least. As a note here, we find it actually tastes better after about two days. The flavors have a better chance to "mingle".

To unmold set the pan in a sink of hot water for a few seconds. Put a plate on top and invert onto the plate.

Ta da! At this point you can fancy it up even more by carefully sticking curly lettuce leaves underneath the gelatin. I would recommend unmolding about an hour prior to serving. That gives the slightly melted parts a chance to firm up again in the fridge.

So here is a simple tomato aspic that you can enhance however you wish. For example when my husband makes it he adds sliced manzanilla olives. I hate them and since I was making it I didn't add any!

Get creative!

No News Is Good News

I guess. Doesn't do much good for the old blog though.

Tomorrow evening is the Christmas Parade which Gus and I will be a part of. We will be riding on one of the Hoffmann Hospice floats with some of the other Hoffman Hounds. I've never been a fan of parades but I did work them (doing the traffic control/crowd control thing). The only reason I volunteered to work them was for the overtime I would make. And I rarely took the $$, just the time so I could have extra time off. Go figure. Working overtime to get extra time off. So how did I get roped into actually riding on a float?

Anyway, I'll try to remember to bring my camera.