We are closing in on the end of the year. The house is decorated for Christmas, the shopping done or most of it anyway, the fridge is full and family is arriving in bits and pieces. Jack drove from Tennessee to Asheville where he joined Margot for the drive from Asheville. Hadley and Edie flew up a few days ago to visit in Portsmouth. They arrived safely after running into the snowstorm that was going on in the Northeast. Margot has gone to pick Hadley and Edie up and bring them here for Christmas. We can’t wait. Nothing says Christmas like a 19 month old and a Christmas tree.

Edie’s Stocking

I have loved needlepoint for many, many years. Twenty years ago I did my first grandchild Christmas Stocking. I had needlepointed some others earlier on for my young children but they were very simple and somewhat amateurish I guess I can say although I loved them. I’m pretty sure they were a kit but I did have them finished nicely but nothing like the ones I have done the last 20 years. Edie’s was started last year after she was born. I completed the work on it in June of this year and sent it off to Texas to be “finished”. Nothing short of a miracle it arrived this week after six months. I couldn’t believe it. Now it joins all the others in waiting to be filled by Santa Christmas Eve. One interesting note is that I have saved all the wool over the years and have incorporated wool from every other stocking in each one. This one has the ice/snow in it from Libby’s. It’s rather fun to compare and see if we can identify the threads that have been used and in which stocking. The addition of the button on Santa’s bag is from our dear family friend and knitter, Sue, who used these buttons in a sweater for Edie. She donated it to the stocking as a permanent reminder for Edie.

It looks like we will have a white Christmas as we got about six inches of snow from this storm and the rest of the week looks to be cold enough to slow the melt. Maybe a few snow showers later in the week. I love the look of the trees with snow on their branches like icing. We had a few really beautiful days this week when I got out and had some great walks with the dogs. One of those days the yard care company came with all their machines and cleaned up the yard blowing the leaves into the woods behind the house. The yard looked great and now it looks even better with the snow.

No big changes at Jenny Lane this past week. It was enough for all of us just to get used to the interesting bath/laundry combination layout as it is today. We did, however, mark up where we think we want the double vanity and the shower in the bath side and then the washer and dryer, storage cupboards, work space and counter in the laundry room. What took the longest was figuring out where the door would go into the bathroom and then one into the laundry room. We really struggled with that one. Love that masking tape. Our friend Terry who is a kitchen and bath design consultant came and worked through a lot of our ideas and made some great suggestions. I am now hopeful we will end up with a really nice bath and laundry room. It will be fun to watch the progress. Hopefully the plumber will come this week to give his opinion of what we can move and where. He is pretty key to the whole project.

Lots of great walks and treadmill work this week. I got out almost every day with the dogs for about an hour and even met a new friend and her dog on the trail who joined us later in the week for another walk. Her golden is two years old and quite frisky but seems to adore Wyke and Bean and the feeling appears to be mutual. In addition, Sky is back after a couple of weeks recovering from her spay operation so we have had some really fun walks. I love doing the treadmill work and some stretching and then going out in the sunshine and fresh air. It seems to be working out well and the dogs are much happier getting their exercise. Then they come home and go to sleep.

Soup Season

We decided that it was definitely Soup Season on Jenny Lane. Katie and I went food shopping for the coming week and along with buying out the store with food for eight people for a week we bought the ingredients for the Italian Minestrone Soup. Great recipe from The Wicked Noodle. I got a little overly enthusiastic with the red pepper flakes however. Some thought it was fine and others said they wanted an antacid. You will find the recipe below. Go light on the flakes unless you really like spicy hot foods. Hope you enjoy it.

The BEST Italian Minestrone Soup
from The Wicked Noodle

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled (chopped or sliced)
• 2 celery ribs (chopped or sliced)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• **Sweet Italian Sausage
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• 1 cup peeled and diced potatoes
• 1/2 cup diced zucchini
• 2 14.5-oz cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained (regular is also fine)
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth *we mixed with both
• 2 cups water *we threw in a little white wine too
• 1 parmesan cheese rind (optional but recommended)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup ditalini or any other small pasta, such as conchigliette (small shell pasta) *we used ditalini
• 1 15-oz can white beans
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups chopped kale (or baby spinach)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for topping

Instructions

1. Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil and, when it’s shimmering, add the onion, carrots, and celery to the pot. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for one minute, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the tomato paste, oregano, and thyme to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, zucchini, diced tomatoes, broth, water, parmesan rind (if using), and bay leaves to the pot. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat and allow it to cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the red pepper flakes, pasta, beans, peas, and kale (or spinach) to the pot. Simmer for about another 20 minutes, or until the pasta is tender.
5. Stir in the lemon juice, salt and pepper, then taste and add more salt if necessary. Ladle into bowls and serve with grated parmesan cheese on the side.

**We added some sweet Italian sausage. Browned it after the onions and garlic. This makes a very hearty soup.