Anne's Site » Christmas

Weaving by Bogo light

Anne — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:08:19 +0000

Living in the mountains, our electricity often disappears during the stormy winter months. It did today for the first time this year. A good alternative for illuminating important activities is the Bogo light, a solar powered flashlight with a bright LED bulb.

BOGO stands for Buy One, Give One. When you buy a flashlight, another one is sent to someone in the world who has no electricity.

Of course I use it only for important tasks like weaving, cooking, reading, and feeding the cat. Here it is suspended on a cord above my loom. I also have found that I can thread my raincoat sash through the loop at the top and hang it around my neck so I have light wherever I go. It has the additional advantage of being flat so it can be set on a surface and pointed in the right direction without rolling around. And an afternoon in the sunlight will charge it for a good six or seven hours worth of light. I love it.

Give Bogo lights as holiday presents. I did two Christmases ago. Here we all are with our Bogo lights.

Mary Ann’s Borscht

Anne — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:58:26 +0000

With Christmas rapidly approaching I would be remiss not to share my sister-in-law’s recipe for Borscht. We have had a couple of opportunities to share this delicious Christmas Eve tradition from Mary Ann’s family and may have to adopt it ourselves.

Borscht from Kiev
Stock:	Soup:
1 ½ pounds beef chuck roast boneless 1 pound beef marrow bones 1 pound ham bone meaty or pork hocks with added ham meat 1 onion large grated 1 carrot grated 3 quarts water 1 turnip peeled and grated 1 celery rib w/leaves sliced 3 dill sprigs 12 peppercorns whole 4 bay leaves	3 beets large, peeled and grated 16 ounces plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped 1 onion large chopped 1 carrot slice or chopped 1/4 cup sunflower oil 1 teaspoon salt 4 cups cabbage shredded 3 tablespoons tomato paste 6 prunes pitted and chopped 1 teaspoon honey 1 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground cider or rice vinegar to taste ½ cup sour cream 2 bacon strips 3 tablespoons parsely 3 tablespoons dill
Place meat bones, meat, water in large stock bot and bring to boil over high heat. Skim as needed. Add the remaining stock ingredients, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash, dry, peel the beets. Wrap them in aluminum foil and bake in oven for 1 hour. Allow to cool, and dice. Remove the ham bones from the stock. Set marrow bones aside. Strain the stock through a fine sieve. Discard the solids. Bring the stock to a boil, add the tomatoes, salt and peppper on low heat covered. Cook the onions, carrot in a skillet for 5 minutes. Stir in the cabbage and continue to saute for 10 more minutes. Remove the vegetables from heat and add to the stock. Sprinkle the juice of a lemon over the beets and add them to the stock. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and home. Remove the meat from the bones, strip the marrow. Cube the meet and add all of this to the stock. Remove from heat and add vinegar to taste. Serve with sour cream, bacon, parsley, dill.

Utah! a family summit meeting

Anne — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:07:40 +0000

Here are glimpses of our family trip to Utah in December 2008.
Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but even pictures can not capture the time we had together.