RACLETTE + CORNICHONS

Remember our little excursion to Trader Joe's last week? Well, one thing that Outdoor Woman talked me into buying was something I'd read about, but never actually tasted. Raclette!

HaHa! I didn't notice that the package said "Trader Jacques" until just now! Anywho, Raclette is a yummy cheese from Switzerland that is traditionally served melted and bubbling over boiled or steamed potatoes, cornichons (pickles), pickled onions, and charcuterie (cured meats, sausages).

 
Luckily for us, I just happened to have a jar of my favorite French cornichons and pickled onions in the refrigerator!

Not only are they delicious, but each jar comes fitted with this neat little gizmo that lifts the pickles up out of the juice, saving you from having to stick your hand down into the jar to dig around for the last few pickles!

So, if you've ever dreamed of spending time in a cozy chalet up in the Swiss Alps, just serve this in front of the fireplace for dinner one night soon.

I guarantee, it's the next best thing!

YA GOTTA HAVE FRIENDS

They were having a holiday craft sale at the community center on Sunday, so hubby and I decided to stop in after lunch. Boy was I surprised when someone called my name, and I looked up to find my new friend LaNell manning one of the booths! LaNell and I met online a while back, in one of the art classes we were taking. She lived in another state at the time, but has a brother in Wimberley. When she found out that I lived there too, she started following my blog. Now, she and her hubby have joined us all here.

LaNell makes adorable cards like this...

and this.

Now, I don't send out Christmas cards and letters anymore because, well, what is left to tell people that they haven't already heard about here on the blog? Seriously! But, I just couldn't resist buying a couple. I figured I could always use them for gift cards or somethin', right? So, I stuck them up here on the kitchen hutch temporarily, until I decided what to do with them.

I have a sneaking suspicion they are never, ever leaving this house!

A BOOK WORTH READING

I have long taken great delight in a really good Christmas book. The problem is finding one! Especially since every hack and her dog have taken to churning them out. So, imagine my surprise when I stumbled across this one at our own little library, and it managed to suck me into its imaginary world within the first few pages...

a world where none other than Jane Austen herself just happens to be the main character, and the people-observing skills she has developed over the years, through her writing, have also given her a knack for political intrigue, crime detection, and even solving the occasional murder! This latest book, in a whole series of Jane Austin mysteries, just happens to be set at Christmas time in the year 1814, at the home of a politically prominent family. Napoleon has been banished to Elba, the Treaty of Ghent has been signed by John Quincy Adams, ending the threat of a war with those pesky colonies, and England is in a celebratory mood -- until the courier delivering the treaty to its destination gets murdered and the treaty disappears!

Author Stephanie Barron had quite the interesting career path herself. Born in New York, the last of six girls (perhaps the thing that drew her to Austen in the first place?) she attended Princeton and Stanford, where she studied history, before going on to work as an intelligence analyst at the CIA. She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later.

I ask you, is there anything better than discovering a delightful new book series that already has at least a dozen books in it? I think not!

SUCCULENT DECOR & MY LITTLE ELF

I decided this year that I was going to bring some of my larger succulents inside for the winter, so I won't have to start over from scratch next spring. I planted them inside recycled nursery pots we had stashed, then set those inside a mish-mash of cheap plastic pots with drainage wells that I had picked up at Garden Ridge. Here you see the result of my efforts.

Isn't it fortunate then, that all of these guys will blend in perfectly, not only with my year-round home decor...

but also with my Christmas decor!

The only big succulent I haven't yet potted up is this one below, mainly because it is doing something I've never had happen before. It's trying to bloom!

So far, however, there is no sign of color on this bloom. I thought I'd leave it outside until the next freeze is predicted, just to see what happens.

Speaking of holiday decor, something strange is afoot here at Seasonality. It would appear that one of Santa's elves is at work, for every time I leave the house for any length of time, something new appears in my yard!

First it was these...

and then these appeared...

but best by far was this fellow, who replaced that poor little mouse who got blown and battered to bits last year.

Sure hope he fares better than Mr. Mouse, cuz I just love, love, love coming home at night to this...

and this.

Good luck Mr. Cactus!
 

WINTER WONDERLAND

I present to you a page from my Christmas Journal, inspired by DDVS's 12-31 "song of the day" prompt...

and by this precious pitootie, one of my favorite little "Snow Babies."

Hope you're having at least half as much fun as I'm having!

If only my photo had captured the sparkle of all the glitter I piled onto that snow...

"Sleigh bells ring, are ya listenin'?"