Winter Tastes Good!

Bon appétit mes amis!
We recently watched "Julie and Julia" for the second time and just could not resist Bouef Bourguignon. The next day we went to a local country butcher, got good lean stewing beef and a chunk of bacon complete with rind, and got ready. The next day I lept out of bed (really ... lept ...), put on my pearls Julia-style, and started cookin', still in my ’jamas an' all.


Bouef Bourguignon is not hard to make, but it is veerrrry time-consuming — about 5 hours between preparation and cooking, and worth every second. The finished dish is deep rich brown, with meat so tender it falls off your fork, melts in your mouth and makes your eyes roll back into your head. Sliced sweet carrots, small brown-braised onions, mushrooms sautéd in butter, nearly a whole bottle of red wine, herbs, and bacon all blend together via slow-cooking to create the most peak culinary experience ever.

Okay. Okay!
As if that bit o' beefy heaven wasn't enough ...
Get ready, because crab season is also upon us.
The markets are full of these crawly guys at really incredible prices.
We've seen them as low as $2.50-$2.99 a pound, and at those prices, well, who can resist? Jo and Ray couldn't (our sister and brother-in-law), and invited us to come over for a down-and-dirty crab fest. And down-and-dirty we got, up to our elbows in red sauce and sweet crabmeat. (Can you hear us sucking and slurping?)


Jeeeeeeeez! We cannot believe the bounty of Winter!


And what better way to celebrate the official onset of Winter than through beautiful ceremony with our friend Frank. We've blogged about Frank before, but for anyone who may not be familiar, Frank is our resident shaman extraordinaire. Every single equinox and solstice, come rain, shine, sleet, sn ... (well maybe not snow, but only because it doesn't snow much at the beach) Frank is out at a sacred spot at the Western most point of the Bodega Headlands, to bring in the change of seasons with beautiful communion and ceremony ... even if it's 3 am.

Well lucky for us, the Winter Solstice fell at a decent hour this year, 9:47 am last Monday morning. Oh yeh, it did rain a bit, and it was cold and grey, and the sea was churning, and the gulls and pelicans were calling and flying in circles above our heads, and honestly it was so enlivening, who cares about the cold? There was beautiful drumming, conch calling, and Frank’s lovely way of creating sacred space and an experience that connected us to something greater than ourselves. Mama Pacha was smiling for sure that morning!



After the ceremony, we headed back, but not without a stop at Wild Flour Bakery in Freestone. Had to get some special bread for Christmas dinner this week. To the Wild Flour folks, bread-making is a true art form, check 'em out at: http://www.wildflourbread.com/


Okay, next stop ... Christmas dinner. It's at our house this year ... stay tuned for the next adventure. Till then (say in high-pitched melodic voice) Bon appetit!