Rustic Turkey Soup

How was your Thanksgiving, my friends?

We spent a quiet day at home cooking, eating, relaxing, and engaging in an abnormal amount of food-related conversation. Our rotation of Christmas DVDs played on (didn't always watch, but it was nice to hear them in the background anyway). We called family members and a few friends to catch up. In between we drank cappuccino and hot chocolate. Nice.

We were kind of sneaky and munched as we cooked, so by the time the table was set the hubs and I were not that hungry (which didn't stop us from eating a little more anyway).

Besides turkey, we roasted carrots and parsnips, and brussel sprouts. We made dressing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and apple pie.

We had a lot leftovers!  As usual, even before the meal was over, I was thinking of ways to use all the savory sides and turkey in other yummy comfort dishes. I have an aversion to discarding food, so I always try to reinvent leftovers.

Each year most of the Thanksgiving leftovers make their way into a savory, herb soup for a lighter day of eating. Besides breakfast made with leftovers this year (a modified version via this Pin), the soup is pretty much all we eat the day after (and the day after that). It's so good with the caramelized and crusty roasted veggies.

Oh, and after the soup we have a little apple pie, of course!

Rustic Turkey Soup

(I didn't give specific quantities for every ingredient.
Use what you have in the quantities you prefer.
Cooking is all about improvising!)

Sauté garlic and onions in olive oil.
Add 3 cups low sodium chicken broth and 1 cup water. You may have to add more liquid later, depending on the quantity of your turkey meat and veggies.
Add any leftover gravy (this is what makes the soup rich and flavorful!).
Bring to boil.
Add leftover veggies (add fresh too if needed).
Add shredded turkey. We like a lot of turkey here.
Bundle up a thick bunch of your favorite fresh herbs in cheese cloth and tie off so they don't escape.
Submerge the herb bunch in the soup.
Season with salt and pepper to taste (we didn't add salt because the herbs pack a punch).
Bring to boil again.
Turn down heat and let simmer until thickened a little.
Remove herb bundle.
Ladle into bowls and while soup is still hot, top with crunchy home made croutons, shredded cheddar cheese, and springs of herbs (herb sprigs are optional, but they look pretty, don't they?)

Enjoy!!

Fall Aboard

What happened to the weekend? It flew by. In fact, what happened to Oct?!

If you're like me, as usual its going to become a dazzlingly, hurried scene heading into the holidays. We're already making plans for December events.

While shopping at Stony Point I stopped by Anthropology to browse new fall additions. The hip design staff was making ornaments for their holiday tree and inviting customers to join in.

After I sat down at the beautifully arranged table (as only Anthro can do) and took in the mounds of glitter, paint, cardboard ornament templates and other crafty paraphernalia, I realized that I felt slightly intimidated and that it had been entirely too long since I'd gotten crafty like that. I quickly pushed any doubts aside and dug in!

While relearning how to wield a hot glue gun (the feel of hot glue singeing the tip of a finger rekindled long forgotten crafting memories), I chatted with the delightful staff as we folded, wrapped and assembled lovely ornaments that resembled abstract gilded fruit and piled them into overflowing mounds and bowls.

Simple crafts are so much fun.

Pumpkin Time

A blog in motion tends to stay in motion, whereas a blog at rest tends to....well, you know rest.

Hello. How have you been?

Family

Congratulations to my niece - she gave birth to a sweet baby girl!

This photo was taken a few years ago. She's a momma now!

Slowing Down with Film

It was easy for me to fall in love with DSLR technology. It's great to have the freedom to take as many shots as I need to get the image I have in mind. Snap Snap Snap Snap Snap. Five versions or more of the same scene taken at a slightly different angle and/or at a slightly different exposure. And then lather-rinse-repeat for the next idea. No worries - because I know I can sort it all out in Lightroom at the end of the day and get at least one keeper that expresses what I was looking for.

But lately I've been dissatisfied with that frenzied way of shooting. I'm tired of uploading hundreds of photos (or more) from a single photo walk and culling and post processing them endlessly. I'm tired of filling up my external hard drives with folders upon folders of photos. It's all so - time sucking and exhausting. And it keeps me from doing what I really love to do - just shoot creatively.

These days I'm also feeling that shooting with digital is no longer a challenge. I'm feeling the need to be more deliberate and contemplative when I shoot. I want a slower rhythm when I shoot. I want to take more time composing and getting my camera settings perfected and thinking about the one or two shots I have to take to get the image I want. I no longer want to photograph the same subject over and over and over just because I can.

So I've decided this is going to be my year of slowing down and learning how to shoot film again. I have three great film cameras, and I intend to use them all this year.

Three weeks ago I pulled my Nikon FM film SLR from my vintage camera bag. Seeing it brought back memories of the quiet darkroom, red lights illuminating the area, the smell of chemicals, slippery reels of film, the click-clack of rolling film onto film cartridges, enlargers, and slide projectors. The old Nikon still had the 50mm 1.8 lens attached that lived on it most of time back in the old days. All I had to do was replace the batteries and load film.

And so I did. That was the easy part.

I had to relearn the camera and it's quirky exposure and focusing (still doing that). This camera has the simplest of controls: ISO, Aperture, and Shutter. All exposure and focusing is set manually by the user. But I can no longer adjust ISO for each photo as with digital - the ISO stays the same for the entire roll of film. Needless to say that finding really good light is of the utmost importance under these circumstances.

Let me introduce you to my very first roll of film in forever. I feel like such a newby!!

These are all taken with expired color film (Kodak Gold 200) that was in my camera bag with the Nikon. I took the film to Walgreens for development - they had no idea how to work with expired film. So I hoped for the best, but wasn't really expecting it. Got the prints back today and the colors looked freakish - dark blue. And they are ultra grainy - no doubt because the film was so expired. Not blaming Walgreens - some of the fault is the old film and some of the fault is mine since I'm learning - I'm sure they do a great job on digital. I have a few professional labs that I plan to use that are really good at this stuff.

So I loaded the photos to Lightroom and either made a few white balance tweaks to get the blue out or turn them to B&W.  (One of my goals with film is to avoid post processing, hopefully.)

In my mind this is akin to eating take out or cooking a delicious meal at home. Both are good, but the latter is appreciated and savored for the effort put into the process and the delight at the outcome.

These were taken in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Chow!

Getting ready for the traditional day of thanks. And we have a ton of things to be thankful for!

Looking forward to a day with friends gobbling up turkey and sides and wine and each other's company. It's a communal event where everyone brings a dish and the host cooks up the turkey. We have wild meats and German dishes and the BEST home made apple pie you could possibly imagine. 

Considering we're going to have a full day of eating tomorrow, we decided to have a simple, super easy meal for dinner tonight - Grilled Kielbasa and Pesto Penne - we really liked it and will make again. Here's the recipe. I broiled the Kielbasa in the oven - but next time we'll grill it like the recipe suggested. We also used jarred Pesto - Mezzeta Napa Valley Bistro brand - and put the entire 6.25 oz jar in the dish (slightly more than the 1/2 cup called for). We washed it down with a yummy Poinsettia that the hubs made.

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving.

Changing

Luscious colors. It has gotten really chilly this week. I'm wearing a light jacket to work now, and on the way I'm seeing frosty morning fields and billows of exhaust steam rolling from behind cars and school buses. Coming home, early and strong sunsets cast really long shadows on the sidewalk. Lovely.

I had a dream about my younger brother, Mike, who passed away this past April (the second dream about him since he passed). He and my grandmother (she passed away ten years ago in April too, and they were close) were facing each other and lightly hugging. Their heads were bowed and their foreheads were just touching. They were in silhouette because behind them was a backdrop of extremely bright, white light. The light was so bright that it wrapped around and embraced them. But I could still make out every single feature of their silhouettes and profiles. I could see their eyes were closed and I felt that there was an unspoken communication of peacefulness and love between them. I felt it, too, and it comforted me.

Arachnophobia

My heart goes out to those folks up and down the East coast who were impacted by Sandy. I watched the news this morning and cried when I saw the devastation. I can't imagine, and hope I never have to experience it.

We've been living in the condo for four years and have never had a trick-or-treater! That is one thing I do miss about living in the 'burbs (and I don't miss much about living in the 'burbs because I do like our condo life) - Halloween was always a fun event in our old neighborhood with lots of decorations, candy, and tons of cute costumed kids. It properly ushered in fall and the start of the holidays.

The hubs brought home a bag of candy tonight - just like he has done every year that we've been living here - just in case a goblin comes knocking (because we do have kids living in the condo complex - maybe two or five?). And just like every other year, tomorrow half of it will go to his office and half will go my office (because I can tell you we'd both eat the whole bag in the course of a few weeks if it was left at home). He gets the really good stuff - mini chocolate candy bars. He never gives up hope that one day he'll open the door after a tiny tap and hear "Trick-or-treat!!!!!" from a miniature Harry Potter or Snow White - and you know, we'd HAVE to be prepared.

I feel a Snickers attack coming on.

Be safe out there!

Hello!

I've been helping my mom since her rotary cuff surgery in Sep. It's a REALLY tough recovery - lots of pain. She's taking pain meds that keep her a bit on edge and foggy. Since the surgery she's had the use of only one arm, making it impossible for her to do much for herself (although at times that doesn't stop her from trying). She's recovering nicely and currently in physical therapy - which will last for several months. She finally gets the cast off on Friday, and she's very excited about it because then she'll be able to drive again. It'a all been really hard for an independent woman like my mom. :)

I'm more than half-way through my on-line photography class and loving it. Learning a lot.

Fall is here! Today the weather is gorgeous and later we're heading off to the annual CCR picnic at Roslyn Park.

I've got a bunch of photos to post in the coming weeks. Truth be told, I've been so busy - but I'm itching to post-process them.

Abstract Mondays

Mondays are for abstracts. There should not be any concrete thinking allowed on Mondays - unfortunately my boss didn't buy that logic when I mentioned it today.
Here's a great article on camera metering from SLR Lounge.
I start an on-line photography class next Monday. I have high hopes of keeping up.

Girls' Day

Some days I don't feel like I'll ever get over Mike's (my brother) death. It's only been in the last few weeks that I've had a day or two when I don't think of it as intensly. I try to keep my mind occupied with other things. I was so happy when my friend, Cindy, suggested we hang out a couple of Saturday's ago. I was just what I needed.

Love these gals to pieces.

I was in the mood to cook, so we met at the condo for brunch. I made two casseroles - hash brown and French toast, then I added fresh fruit salad, croissants, and a Poinsettia cocktail to round out the easy menu. Yum!

After eating and chatting, we crafted insanely quick candle holders using glass containers from Michaels and personalized vinyl rub-on decals (with initials from our last name) from Singlestory on Etsy. It's funny, we never notice that the letter of our last names fall sequentially in the alphabet - my husband picked up on it and asked when we were going to make candle holders for the rest of the alphabet (haha - he's a riot).

We relaxed with hot tea and chatted again, and then headed to a local mall where we hit up a few of our favorite stores. Afterwards, we had dinner at Firebirds.

A New Day

Metamorphosis.

My darling brother passed away on Apr 30, 2012.

I have never been more heart broken.

Losing a close sibling is like losing a chunk of your heart and mind.

A cherished story that was on-going for my entire life has abruptly stopped. Memories will sustain me.

Even though right now I don't feel as though I'll ever get over it, I know it will get better, eventually. And that gives me comfort.

Thank God for my loving husband. I couldn't have done this without him.

Thank God for my mom who was his primary care giver.

Thank God for family that gathered and supported.

Thank God for friends, their kind words, and the many wise thoughts that they shared.

Love is the Drug

A surprise!
The hubs works really long hours this time of year. Weekends too.
Valentine's Day is usually not an exception, either. But that's OK. We're both cool with it.
But this year we actually got to spend Valentine's Day evening together!
He cooked my favorite meal.
He cracked open an intoxicating little bottle of red wine.
He bought me a lovely bouquet of flowers.
When I arrived home from work, he had everything ready.
It was a wonderful evening of eating, interesting chatter, and catching up.
And plenty of laughter. A must.
We sat at the table for hours.
And then he cleaned up.
The best.
Don't be jealous, ladies.

Blog Interrupted

We've been doing a little reno on the condo. Nothing major - kitchen update, painting, carpentry additions throughout, lighting, updating decor and stuff in general.

Busy!

I will return!

Love this video.

And here's a behind the scene on how it was shot. Cool.

Rocking Our World

So, what did you think about Mother Nature's 5.9 nudge yesterday? Pretty amazing, huh?

I was in CA a few years ago and experienced my first earthquake - a 4.6.  It paled in comparison to the one I experienced yesterday.

I was at work. Contractors have been working on our office building roof for 4 months. So we thought they were doing something wild and crazy up there when the quake first started.

Then it sounded like the roof was caving in. There was a loud rumbling, like a tractor trailer was riding above our heads.

Then everything started shaking. The thick supporting poles holding up the ceiling began to sway back and forth. Several items fell off filing cabinets. Our supervisor ran by and told everyone to get out of the building. I picked up my purse and headed out the door.

Whew. That was really something.

The other day I was walking around the neighborhood and caught the sun peeking behind the clouds. Lovely.

Elk

The place where I work has the most amazing herd of elk on the property.

The current herd's ancestors date back to 1887 when they were first put on the land by the owner, a Canadian agriculturist, James Bellwood.

The Army purchased the property in 1941 - along with the "Bellwood" elk herd. The herd is lovingly cared for and nurtured. Two new babies were just born in May!

Bucket List

While in PA we went to a local place for lunch. The food was so good! We indulged in not one, but TWO buckets of mini Corona. It was so cold and refreshing, and I always love the taste of lime in this beer.

Fresh

Aren't ferns lovely? So cool. So refreshing.

Freedom

This past weekend we headed to PA for some much needed R&R to visit two of our dearest friends and their two adorable girls. We were really missing them and it was so nice to meet up and catch up.

Long overdue R&R was really welcomed.

We had breakfast on their comfortable porch one morning and there were dozens of birds at the bird feeder. These were taken through both a screen and window with my 70-200mm lens. Those two layers made the photos softer than normal, but I like the affect.