We took a walk with our dogs around the neighborhood and decided to walk past the house that was just built by the Extreme Makeover show.

The house is quite large with a nice array of solar panels – you can see some of the in this picture.

Okay, okay… the picture isn’t great – the sun was in the wrong position – will need to go back during an afternoon and get a better picture. Interestingly, the house next door had 2x4s holding some plastic in place on the roof, ostensibly to prevent leakage. I think there should be a show called “Extreme Repair” where 10-20 houses get much needed repairs. Just a thought.

http://www.npr.org/v2/?i=121813448&m=121815576&t=audio
We received a question this year about how we can celebrate Christmas and yet not believe in a god. Terri Gross interviews Greg Epstein, a humanist chaplain, who has written a book entitled, “Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligous People Do Believe”.

Happy Christmas!

I decided to make some bread without using my breadmaker. All was well until the last rise – it then spread a little flat – I’m not terribly unhappy with it – of course, it hasn’t been tasted yet. Still needs to cool.

So, tomorrow morning I’ll cut a slice. This will be my learning loaf – will do better next time. Still was fun – used my dough hook for only the second time. Maybe use a bread pan for the next one.

Relax…it’s all good.

Peace.

We needed to go to Orlando this weekend and decided to make a “quick” visit to IKEA. This was my first time and I did not realize it was not possible to “quickly” tour IKEA.

Suffice it to say that another visit will be in order with plenty of dedicated time. And, avoid the holiday rush – traffic was heavy around the store and nearby mall. The cooks who read this blog will be shocked to learn that I chose not to enter Williams-Sonoma at the mall because my time was limited.
I saw a lot that I liked at IKEA. As the Terminator likes to say, “I’ll be back!”

We’ll know tomorrow.

We’re hosting our monthly crime watch meeting tomorrow and usually like to offer some sort of finger food and beverage. So, it’s gonna be banana bread and coffee. I was much more organized this evening – maybe because dinner was already cooked yesterday and I didn’t have to worry about preparing it or cleaning up afterwards.

Mmmmmmm…I wish you could smell this! It’s tempting to sample a slice – just to make sure it’s edible – but I mustn’t. A good hostess doesn’t eat the food before her guests arrive. I can wait until tomorrow – really, I can. And I will.

Holiday decorations are complete inside and outside. While the crock-pot was cooking dinner we put up the lights outside. Our neighbor, Nicole, was putting her decorations out at the same time. She offered us some eggnog – which we gladly accepted – yummo! Our first eggnog of the season – and hopefully, not the last.

The eggnog reminded me to check our supply of Bailey’s – it’s low – will need to re-supply this week. There’s nothing like Bailey’s and coffee on a cold winter’s night or morning. Cheers!

The cold weather makes me want to cook and bake. On this chilly Sunday I decided to use the crock-pot and searched for a recipe. Found “Mediterranean Beef and Pasta” on crock-pot.com. It turned out really well.

What I liked about the recipe was the simplicity of ingredients – most everything I normally have on hand in the pantry. I will make it again and tweak it slightly – add one more clove of garlic and back off the vinegar a tad.

Dinner is now cooked for tomorrow, too. Life is good.

Timmy, we love you. See more images at the Gainesville Sun.

It’s amazing how much better one feels after a good night’s rest. Yes, it was a hard game to watch. It’s over and we’re looking forward to the Sugar Bowl. This group of Gators has accomplished so much – let’s finish with a win in New Orleans.

And, as always, Go Gators!