Snow and Ice

First, THANK YOU, everyone for the wonderful well wishes for Michele! She is on the mend and we're hoping back to normal in another 2 to 3 weeks. With any luck she'll add some posts before long too. Thank you, again, our cyber family and friends. Since she was doing better I was able to get out for some winter shots. Can you tell I got a new lens? It was a great time to try it out. Hope you enjoy!

Andy

Close up of droplet above!

Blueberry Ice Cream Recipe

Just a quick post and sorry for the delay on this. Several people asked for this from our Sunday, 1/16/11 post. Here it is!

• 2 cups blueberries (500 ml)
• 1 cup milk (250 ml)
• 1 cup whipping cream (250 ml)
• 3/4 cup sugar (175 ml)

Put everything in a blender or food processor. I use a Braun hand held model like this.


Then, add this to your ice cream maker that can hold around 1 Qt or .9L. We use and have loved the Donvier model here. With only about 5 to 7 turns over 20 minutes we get some of the best tasting ice cream we've ever had.


Oh, lastly, need I say it? Use GOOD, REAL ingredients! Don't skimp. (Local fresh whipping cream, we froze our blueberries that we got from a local grower over the summer, organic sugar, you get the idea . . . )


It's awesome---enjoy!
Andy

Spouse of the Year!

Andy wins the "Spouse of the Year" award! I was part of the percentage of people who experience extreme pain with Appendicitis. I was very cross and very mean to Andy. I was crying. I wouldn't do anything he asked me to do. Simply put, by Andy, I was not an easy patient. Through it all, Andy continued to be kind, caring and he got me the help I needed. Sorry I was so mean honey ... and thanks for taking such good care of me!

Thanks so much to our dear friends, John and Michael, who sent these beautiful flowers to cheer me up!

And a big thank you to another dear friend, Scott, who came out in the snow storm (and sub-zero temps) to make sure that I was OK and that I had some CHOCOLATE!

Also, thank you to the staff who cared for me at Munson Hospital and Leelanau Urgent care. Everyone was so very compassionate and caring!

I'm home now and resting ...

~Michele

APPENDICITIS !! Ouch !!

Not good. It hit Michele Friday and we had a crazy 36 hours. She is now home appendix-less, resting and will hopefully be back to normal (and blogging) in a few days.

Happily (pathetically?  ;->  ), she was back to eating chocolate within hours after surgery! Thank you, Scott, for your visit and cocoa gift! ;->
Her big, silly comment was now that "it" was gone, maybe she lost some weight?! Whew, do we have problems or what?


In the surgery waiting room they have a monitor displaying the status. Good or bad, technology pervades everything . . .

This is NOT what we would consider our typical "cuisine post", but, heah, I needed to eat something at the hospital cafeteria. It was a healthy veggie burger and banana.

Lastly, I typically have bags of photo equipment when I shoot. I did NOT take these with me on our hospital excursion! I have "some" standards. ;-> Instead and at Michele's suggestion, I tried this post using nothing but my iPhone (and a little Photoshop). 


We certainly hope that your health is excellent in 2011.
Andy

More Snow Shapes

I thought I would borrow Andy's idea of snow shapes and admit to my own forgetfulness at the same time! Mine are not really snow shapes but, they are rather odd shapes in snow. I took these pix last week when I noticed, from afar, something on the clothesline. I do hang clothes out in the winter before we have much snow. But we've had a lot of snow and I haven't used the line since well before the holidays. As I got closer I realized these were some Goodwill finds that I had washed and was planning to use in an art project designed by my friend Lori. In the rush of the holiday season I forgot all about them! Time to bring them in and give Lori's project a try.

This project is featured in Stampington and Company's "Somerset Studio Gallery Winter 2011." Lori uses the back pockets of the jeans, along with paper and ribbon embellishments to create very sweet little wall hangings.

Check out some of Lori's work at her etsy shop, she's a very talented gal!

~Michele

Home Repairs

When we need help with home repairs, we call our friends at "Seeco Contracting."

This door frame had weathered beyond repair, therefore Jim replaced it.....

... to perfection, I might add!

Today started out rather warm but we had about 7 inches of snow to shovel/plow before the work could get started. As the day went on the winds picked up and the temperatures dropped. I don't know how they work outside all day! I snowshoed up to the mailbox and came back freezing. Thanks for your hard work Jim and everyone at Seeco.

~Michele and Andy

Decadent Breakfast?

As you may recall from our September 2010 post on crêpes, I love them. I like serving them with whipped cream on top as well---the presentation just looks so inviting. Alas, we did not have any whipped cream. 


So . . . I served it with, yes, home-made blueberry ice cream! I did my usual filling of sautéd apples and walnuts . . . in butter, of course!. At the end I tossed in a pinch of salt and one of my favorite spice mixes--Chinese Five Spice Powder: cinnamon, star anise, anise seed, ginger and cloves. 

If you look close you can see I topped off the entire breakfast by drizzling gourmet caramel over the crêpe. Healthy? Maybe not. Decadent? Very likely. Tasty? Out of this world!


Let me know if you want the recipe for the ice cream and have a decadent Sunday!
Andy

Snow Shapes - Hands and Feet

More snow shapes all taken from the same morning (Sat., 1/8/11). Hope you enjoy!

Andy

Snow Shapes - Ribbons

Some more snow shapes. Hope you enjoy,

Andy

Snow Shapes - Tufts

Sorry again for the hiatus. Based on what we can tell ourselves across the blogosphere, everyone took a break during the holidays. Luckily, Michele got us going again and here's my first turn for 2011.

We both love all four seasons. And as we tell our loved ones residing way in the south--even the winter. I get a kick out of the infinite shapes the snow makes. All things are transformed by the white blanket. Geometric patterns, fractal patterns, common patterns, etc. 

This morning was a beautiful, fluffy morning with some sunlight peaking through every so often. I was able to take several shots and here are some samples of what I am simply calling "tufts". Perhaps an inelegant description, but fitting.

I hope to share more snow shapes in future posts.
Enjoy the seasons!
Andy
PS Thanks to Sandy and Bill for the cool metal butterfly yard ornament!

Walking to the Mailbox

Many of you know that I have had CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome) for many years. It always gets worse and harder to manage during the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season. Therefore I have been pretty much "out of commission" and Andy has been just plain BUSY! I was scolded by my Dad yesterday...."jeez you have had the same post since Dec. 26," he said. (sorry Dad!) Honestly, I didn't realize it had been that long. So I took some pictures on my way to the mailbox this morning. We are having a beautiful snowfall today.

This structure is down our road and is always of interest to me. I'll post another picture of it in the spring. Under the snow there is a lawn chair and inside some discarded items. If only walls could talk!

~Michele