Under a Blue Moon

 

I went on a little road trip today. 

I started off the day in Palo Alto, had tea in Columbia, shopped in Sonora and now I'm sitting in Granite Bay.

California, particularly when you get a few miles out of the more congested areas, is a very pretty state.  Even in the rain.

I met up with my niece Sara and we had tea in a lovely little tea shop in Columbia.  Columbia is one of the many picturesque little towns that dot the Gold Rush country. 

The place we had tea is called Columbia Kate's and they do a perfectly lovely tea.  We had fresh from the oven scones with clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, and egg salad and chicken salad on crackers.  For dessert we had a lemon bar.  It was all served on charmingly mismatched china. 

 

The tea house is an old converted barn that is reputed to be haunted by a murdered French woman.  Either that is a rain drop on my lens or a ghostly apparition.  You decide. 

After our tea we headed a couple minutes down the road to Sonora for a little bit of shopping.  It was cold and rainy but we still managed to find a couple of treasures.  We are champion shoppers, after all.  I found some garden markers that I can label with my metal stamps and a poster of a vintage French postcard. 

The poster won't stay here – I just taped it up for illustrative purposes.  It was a delightful day.  Tea and a visit with a treasured niece ~ a perfect way to spend a rainy Monday.  

 

 

I'm officially on vacation!!  For the next 20 days!  I fully intend to make the most of my time off by sleeping in.  Wrapping presents.  Napping.  Reading.  Wandering around the house, mentally redecorating.  Sleeping in.  Watching movies.  Reading.  Napping. 

That's an Andreatini, by the way.  I'm not a big spirits drinker.  I've never even had a real martini in my entire life.  Maybe the occasional Cosmo.  But the other night I got the notion to have a festive holiday cocktail.  The Andreatini was born.  Three ounces of Pom juice, one ounce of Vodka and the juice of freshly squeezed mandarin.  Shake over ice, serve in a pretty glass with a sliver of lime and you are good to go.  Not too sweet.  Lovely color. 

Rick was out of town on a business trip while all this holiday cocktailing was going on. I'm so rarely on my own that I didn't quite know what to do with myself.  I ended up ordering sushi, making a drink and putting in a couple of my favorite Christmas movies. 

 

This first movie I watched was The Holiday.  I love an ensemble cast.  And a pretty set.  This screencap doesn't do it justice but the best part of the movie is the tent in Jude Law's daughters' room.  That tent was magical. 

I have to admit that Cameron Diaz's acting kind of gets on my nerves in this movie but she really did get the best set.  I would take her holiday in Kate Winslet's English cottage over Cameron's slick LA house anyday.

 

Mmm.  Love a fireplace in a dining room or kitchen. 

I even love that teeny little range tucked between the fireplace and the window.

The crazy thing is the entire interior set was fabricated on a sound set in Hollywood. The exterior shots where filmed in England but I've read even the exterior of the cottage itself was fabricated for the filming.

Ah well. 

I can't even picture where in the house this little library nook was but I want one.  Floor to ceiling books.  With a comfy chair.  What more could you ask for?  Even if it is fictional. 

 

What are your favorite holiday movies? 

(First screen cap mine, the rest from here)

 

When you have over-achieving chickens you have to find creative ways to use up the eggs.  My fellow chickenistas know exactly what I am talking about. 

I decided to try my hand at making Chinese Egg Custard Tarts.  I wanted to make something that could be eaten by hand and in a couple of bites.

Almost all the recipes that I could find online were a variation of this one on the Foodsite.  So that is the one I went with.  Plus it used up ten eggs!  Whoot! 

 

I have a vast assortment of little tartlet shells that Kelly gave me.  I think the proper size for an egg custard tart is somewhere in between the smaller ones I have and the larger ones.  But both worked just fine. 

I will say that I found the shortbread crust just a tad on the sweet side so I think I will experiment with that the next time I make them.  But the custard part was spot on.  You have to go through this process of pouring the uncooked custard through a sieve.  It makes for a very delicate custard. 

If anyone is in the neighborhood come on by for a tart and a carton of eggs.

 

 

I'm in the crunch mode with work right now.  Trying to tie up loose ends so I can take off from the 15th until January 4th.

I don't think that will happen.  We have a big project deadline looming with a bunch of last minute details that are cropping up.  I'm hoping that I can work at 25% power though. 

I had a lovely weekend.  My sister and dad drove up on Saturday and spent the night.  We decorated the Christmas tree and had a nice dinner.  I think my dad likes the change of scenery and it motivated me to actually put up a tree this year.

The chickens were totally cooperative when they drove up.  We have a long driveway and as soon as my sister and dad pulled onto the property the chickens all lined up and marched across the driveway.  It almost looked rehearsed.  Welcome to my bucolic life.

I am so looking forward to some time off from work.  I can wrap presents and make peppermint bark and just unwind a bit. 

I also want to revamp this blog.  I don't think I've changed the header in two years.  Time for some redecorating!