update! Includes lemons, turkey, & lumberjacks!

My boy.

I'm running around like a lumberjack today:  flannel shirt, baggy jeans, giant axe...because I'm desperate to be cozy.  You don't get to be really cozy that often in Tucson, but it's finally cloudy and "cold" today, with a high of "sixty".  You know, the quotation marks are probably not strictly necessary here, since it really is actually sixty and to Tucsonans, "sixty" is the equivalent of "snow flurries and a chance of sleet".  A (god forbid) high in the fifties is "you don't know where the snow chains are?! Did you at least buy extra water?! Oh my God, we're all going to die!". 

I know you think I'm kidding, but I assure you - I'm only kidding a little.

Anyway, since we're practically in the midst of a winter storm, Lila and I have a roaring fire going in the kerosene heater in the back room which we've recently bedecked with my folding Coca-Cola table that my friends stole for me from Mexico (don't judge me!  Judge my friends! Mexico should've been paying more attention!), some nice candles, and a cup of coffee (see below).  We're listening to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros right along with the rest of the civilized universe, apparently, and we're trying to buckle down and write something for a nice change of pace. It's so far a very peaceful kind of afternoon. 

Cozy!

In other news, this morning Raphael plucked our first official lemon of the season from the fruit-laden tree - laden with no fewer than thirteen adolescent lemons!  That's its picture up at the top.  Here's a shot of its younger siblings:

The extended family.

And finally, Thanksgiving was nice, in case you're dying to know.  We stayed home just the two of us, and I cooked all day and Raphael did some yardwork, and we had pecan rolls, bacon, and mimosas in the morning.  For snacks before dinner, we had some Warm Fennel-and-Parmesan Dip that surprised me with its deliciousness because I assumed that I didn't like fennel when I picked out the recipe.  Sometimes I wonder if my instincts are out to get me:

Instincts:  Here, Jenny, eat this fennel.  

Jenny:  I don't like fennel. It might hurt me. 

Instincts: Nooooo...  You trippin', man. Fennel won't hurt you...C'mon, trust your instincts.  Heheheheheh... 

For dinner we squashed a butternut squash that had been lying around pathetically for some time, unfroze some cheddar buttermilk biscuits that I thoughtfully baked in advance of the Big Day (thanks, me!), and I made my traditional Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Pecans and Brown Butter that I always like to make during one holiday meal or another.  It's kind of my replacement for the rutabegas my mother always made me eat when I was too young and helpless to fight back. Also we had Raphael's new favorite stuffing, Caramelized Onion and Herb Stuffing (which inexplicably gets terrible reviews on the internet - ignore those people!  They're clearly insane and Socialists!), Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Grapes, and Sage Butter-Roasted Turkey with Cider Gravy.  And my dear old friend, Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce.  Everyone's sure to be saddened and disappointed by the next two admissions, but...I didn't make mashed potatoes.  And I didn't wind up making the Spiced Apple Pie until the following afternoon.  But nuts to all of you, because I bet we still have more apple pie leftovers right now than any of yous. 






Kind of a yellow palette, but tasty.  Green stuff is overrated. 
Yeah, you heard me, brussels sprouts.