New Years always make me feel reflective. Perhaps it does the same for others but I find myself looking back on the past nine years and realizing that I have written 450 of these updates starting on January 18, 2015. So as I start my ninth, and I believe, my last year of writing I will try to write with the same type of honesty and amusing anecdotes along with recipes that we love as well as providing support for getting out there and moving whether it is walking or running or biking, whatever you enjoy, as Nike says “just do it”. The story behind that slogan is not necessarily a very happy one.

Christmas and New Years Recap

We spent Christmas here at Jenny Lane with Katie, Jack and Libby. Margot and her family were in Asheville with a six week old baby and their wonderful precocious 3 1/2 year old Edie. We missed them but the wonders of FaceTime allowed us to visit with them frequently over the holiday. Jack had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas night and the following two days from 10pm to 8am on his Safety Officer Shift at Colby Sawyer College. It wasn’t fun. There is no one around as the college is closed for the holidays so he finds the nights long and I venture to say lonely. We did what we could to welcome him home in the morning and adjusting our schedule to make the most of the time we had with him.

Heading North for New Years

Once Christmas was over, John and I headed to North Hatley for a little R&R as well as to check on the house after we had guests there over Christmas. The house looked wonderful. The laundry pile was impressive. However, it gave me a project and I accepted the challenge with good humor and energy. Once finished, I felt as if I had accomplished quite a task. The before and after is quite something.

We had snow every day we were there. Since we had left New Hampshire with no snow we were thrilled to have it start snowing when we got there and to have it keep on snowing for the time we were there. It looked so pretty and actually made it feel like Christmas and New Years. We had an opportunity to visit with good friends on NY Eve and at a couple of gatherings. So good to see friends you have known your whole life even if it is brief.

Walking over the Holidays

The dogs and I walked twice a day from our house to Manoir Hovey and back. Total is about four miles which was perfect. I cannot walk three dogs on leashes to I needed to be able to walk them off leash and the road there is pretty quiet. The dogs loved it and so did I. It was certainly different to do a walk twice a day. I’m so used to going out for my walk and coming back and writing that off my to do list. This way I split it up and after the second walk would go into the hot tub which I loved. That is one of the things I miss about Jenny Lane is the hot tub. Both John and I enjoy it and boy do I ever sleep well when I have that chance to go in the hot tub at the end of the day. Maybe some day we will have one here.

Update on Jenny Lane

Speaking of Jenny Lane, some magic happened right before Christmas. Last March, when we first started the demolition of Katie’s bathroom, Chris (our contractor) told Katie jokingly that she would have a shower by Christmas – 8 months away. Well, the proof is in the pudding – the Friday before Christmas the shower was finished. Then we checked to make sure everything worked and discovered there was no hot water. Obviously an adjustment needed to be made to the water valve. That’s when our Christmas Miracle happened. John sent a text to our plumber about the issue and within 10 minutes Mason showed up and he fixed it. Most of the time we wait weeks and weeks for him to show up. Believe me, this was a miracle. The shower is absolutely beautiful. The cabinets are installed and the toilet is also functioning. We are waiting for the counter to be measured and installed which should happen in the next week or so. That has been a long….. eight months.

One of the really unique things about the shower is the glass block window at the end of the shower. It lets light in but is also a bit of a privacy wall. Our contractor was so excited to do this but what we went through to get the glass blocks could be a book. I think at least three if not four times we had to order replacement blocks because they were broken when they were shipped. I give Lowes credit, they took the broken ones back no questions asked and replaced them but it was rather frustrating. You can see we have some finish work to do around the window and the baseboards but we will get there eventually. In the meantime we have a beautiful shower, finally!!!

Walking in 2024

I am doing my first ever fund raising walk on Facebook. I thought it would motivate me to keep walking despite the cold weather and now the snow. I used to do 100 miles a month pretty easily but we were in South Carolina in the winter which made walking much easier. Not so easy up here but I’m working on it and the dogs are certainly supportive. If you feel so inclined here is the link, every little bit helps. Nature Conservancy Donate and thank you.

Cooking in 2024

We keep trying new things and so far we have had some interesting meals. While in Canada, John and I had cooked artichoke with hollandaise sauce and fondue for dinner one night. Neither is something we have tried very often, in fact I had never done the artichokes before. We tried fondue over Christmas which was sort of a fail but the version for two was perfect. I have to admit that I have made the hollandaise sauce in the blender many times at Christmas for eggs benedict but unfortunately our blender in Canada was broken. So, with fingers crossed, I decided to make it in the double boiler. It was the best hollandaise I have ever had. The big secret was adding the melted butter to the eggs and not the other way around and I added extra lemon juice. It was as easy as the recipe said and it was delicious.

Easy Hollandaise Sauce from Pinch Me I’m Eating

This easy Hollandaise sauce recipe doesn’t require a blender, a double boiler, or constant whisking. If you want a thick, creamy, and tangy sauce that’s easy to make and an easily-scalable recipe that’s a cinch to memorize, give this one a shot!

Cook Time 15minutes minutes, Total Time 15minutes 

Servings 4 people Author Caroline Lindsey

Ingredients

For extra-lemony Hollandaise (the way I love it, but it’s not for everyone)

• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 4 egg yolks

For a more traditional Hollandaise

• 8 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp lemon juice (or to taste)
• 4 egg yolks

Instructions

• Bring a medium saucepan half-full of water to a light simmer, with a two-cup Pyrex measuring cup sitting in the middle.
• Melt the butter in the measuring cup.
• Remove the measuring cup from the saucepan and add the lemon juice (fresh or bottled is fine) to bring the temperature of the butter down a bit.
• Slowly pour the butter-lemon mixture into the bowl that contains your egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent curdling the eggs. (This is the “tempering the eggs” part).
• Pour the mixture back into the measuring cup and return to the saucepan.
• Cook over medium/medium-low heat (water bath should be a low simmer) for 10 minutes or so or until the sauce thickens, stirring frequently with a fork or whisk. Every minute or two should be fine – this does not require constant whisking.

Notes

I love lemon, so the 1:1:1 ratio yields a very tangy Hollandaise sauce. If you like your Hollandaise sauce less tart, add more butter or reduce the lemon juice to taste. For a much less lemony (more traditional) sauce, double the butter and quarter the lemon juice (1:4:8 ratio of lemon:yolks:butter). 

If sauce gets too thick, you can thin it out by adding hot water from the sauce pan into the sauce one spoonful at a time, whisking to combine thoroughly.

Scale the recipe up or down as much as you need – 1:1:1 for each person (for extra-lemony version).