Make Your Own Cranberry Sauce

Mom, Dad, and Brother arrived yesterday, and Thanksgiving preparations are underway!

Today we made a pilgrimage to Jungle Jim's international grocery warehouse - more to come on that when the pictures are downloaded. I think we got everything we need for a stupendous meal, but if history has taught me anything, it's that we'll be making an emergency trip to the grocery store for something tomorrow!

So here's what's happening today:

The turkey brine is brewed...

The pumpkin has been roasted and pureed for the pie...

Jarrahdale pumpkin - the type I got for pie this year!

And the cranberry sauce is thickening up in the fridge...

I know it's not the most flattering picture, but I just couldn't be bothered
with "staging" this afternoon. :)

In case you haven't made your cranberry sauce yet, here's a recipe that I love from the December 2007 issue of Cuisine at Home. It's quick and easy, and it tastes so much better than the canned stuff. :)

Honey-Lemon Cranberry Sauce with Rosemary
Makes 2 1/2 cups; Total time: 15 minutes + chilling

BOIL:
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cupe fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Pinch of salt

ADD AND SIMMER:
1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries

Boil honey, sugar, lemon juice, water, rosemary, and salt in a saucepan over medium high heat.

Add cranberries and simmer until berries burst and sauce thickens, about 8 minutes; remove rosemary. Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

I hope you give it a try sometime!

Success!

By Ted

Mackenzie is resting with her two nurses (Minnie and Milo) after a successful surgery. She will be resting for the rest of today. Then we head back to the eye institute tomorrow morning for a post-op check-up. Here's a photo of Mackenzie and Milo:

Today Is the Day!

I couldn't fall asleep last night. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve. :)

Today is my scheduled LASIK surgery, and if all goes according to plan, I'll be having my eyeballs lasered in about 5 hours. Ted is coming along so he can drive me home, but we've already agreed that he is not going to video-tape the procedure. It's just a little too creepy, I think.

So take one last look at these:

You won't see them again!

Good News!

Today I had my final consultation appointment at Cincinnati Eye Institute (CEI), and my eyes are in good condition and ready for laser correction... this Friday!

The doctor called me "the blind child" during my checkup, and I had to laugh when the assistant wanted to do an eye chart exam without my glasses. You know the one:

Except now they only show you one line at a time. The assistant kept increasing the letter size on her screen (I'm assuming) and asking if I could read any of them. That was an easy, "Nope," each time as I couldn't even see the letters.

On the final screen, when I said I absolutely couldn't read any of it, she replied with a bewildered, "Really??" After that, she had to resort to the grade school game of holding up fingers and asking how many.

When I got to put my glasses back on, this is what I saw on the eye chart:

Yep. That was the only letter, taking up the whole screen. And I couldn't see it.

I could not stop laughing.

So anyway, the rest of the appointment went well. And on Friday I get my vision corrected!! Woo hoo!

Fort Ancient

By Ted

Last Saturday, we visited Fort Ancient. About an hour east of Oxford, Fort Ancient is a State Memorial perched above the Little Miami River in the town of Oregonia, Ohio. On the way we stopped in Lebanon for lunch; we passed up The Golden Lamb--Ohio's oldest hotel, with guests including John Quincy Adams and Mark Twain--for Doc's Place, a hole-in-the-wall sports pub with a killer bloody mary bar. 

After lunch, it was on to the Fort! A quick history: the complex was constructed by the Hopewell culture around the time of Christ. (Other Hopewell sites in south-central Ohio include Mound City outside of Chillicothe, part of the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.) Fort Ancient was originally thought to be, well, a fort. This thesis has been revised based on recent archaeological work; now the site is thought to have served a ceremonial purpose. 

At Fort Ancient, there is a well done museum with a history of native American and colonial settlement in southwest Ohio. We also hiked along the bluffs above the Little Miami, just below the walls of the Fort. 

Some photos!

A map(!) of the earthworks

Looking north over the Little Miami River 

Looking back towards the Fort as we descend towards the river 

 An action shot of Mackenzie!

One of the portals in the Fort

Another view of the walls of the Fort

Fortune

Today I got a special treat:  lunch out with my husband. :) And I got this fortune in my cookie:

Needless to say, this is the most specific fortune I have ever received.

How could my fortune cookie know that next Tuesday is my final (hopefully) LASIK consultation? Does this mean that I will qualify for the operation? Or does it mean I'll have the opportunity to put my contacts back in?

Either way, I'm excited to find out what Tuesday brings.

Snow Cats

Yesterday Ted and I woke up to freezing temperatures and a dusting of snow!

The cats have only experienced snow from the balcony of our condo in Boulder, so of course they thought they knew everything there was to know about snow.

But when Milo jumped down off the back porch into the fluffy white stuff, he was so surprised that he took off in a sprint to the left. He swiftly changed his mind, did a 180, and sprinted out toward the middle of our field. About 20 yards out he made a quick 90-degree turn and disappeared around the building. I was so shocked by his sudden crazed sprint that I only just caught a photo of him before he disappeared around the corner:

I quickly ran through the house to the front door and opened it to peer outside. There he was, looking panicked in our neighbor's front yard. When he saw my head poke out he came sprinting over to the door to come back inside.

Once he recovered from the shock of cold snow on his paws, he of course wanted to go back out and explore. His second foray lasted much longer, and now he really thinks he's the expert when it comes to snow.

I can't wait to see how he handles a really big snowfall!