Lazy Day

Today was just a super lazy day. Didn't even get around to taking any pictures, sorry. In my defense, it was over cast and very dark. So maybe tomorrow since it's "supposed" to be sunny.

My Christmas dinner of smoked ham shanks on a bed of rice and beans (I used basmati rice with white great Northerns and black beans) turned out to be delicious! I'll be having left-overs tonight. It's a super inexpensive meal to make too! I was so excited when I found the ham shanks that I got carried away and purchased two. I had the butcher cut each in half which turned out to be a good thing, because an uncut one would barely fit. For a six quart Dutch oven, I have to say that the diameter is quite narrow. Anyway, back to the shanks. They were $1.99/pound (.45 kg) and so the two weighed 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg). And as often happens, when you open the package up at home you see just how much you bought. In the store, it didn't seem like quite so much so I used only one shank and froze the other. Below is a photo of 2 ham shanks cut in half. And you wonder why I don't take more food pictures....

I did try to take some pictures of the final plated dish, but let's face it, photographing food at night in my house just doesn't work. As I noted in an earlier post, I really need to get the manual and figure out the white balance thing in relation to incandescent and florescent lighting. The kitchen has both.

Totally off topic, the other day on the radio, I heard that sometime in 2012, incandescent bulbs will not be made or available for sale any more in the U.S.! Have you heard this? It was news to me. I can just see it, someone, somewhere is stockpiling bulbs in anticipation of the "incandescent bulb black market" that will likely arise because of this. Some people just don't like fluorescents, it's too cold of a light. For example, the LED Christmas lights currently available have utterly no visual warmth to them at all! In fact, they look downright blue. In the future, if you go on a trip out of the country, customs won't be searching your luggage for drugs but rather light bulbs!! LOL! Yeah I'm a real comedian....

Yesterday, I opened the box of presents from my brother in the afternoon before dinner. He included two very old-fashioned stockings for Blue and me. Blue's was stuffed with little bags of assorted "treats" which of course sent him in to a wiggling little pile of anticipation. He also received a black and white checked scarf that I put around his neck and he promptly proceeded to try and eat it. There was also a stunning Christmas pillow made of felt, plus candles, a cinnabar box, a necklace of "virgin" turquoise in a wonderful red and black lacquer box and a book he wrote and illustrated himself. He had it hard-bound by a company called "Mixbook.com". It was wonderful fun!!! He even made a sign for each of us. The background is ornaments with our names and framed in garland! So festive! Oh, and a blank journal from his company. The cover is a champagne colored leather. So, all in all, a lovely Christmas followed by a sinfully lazy Sunday.