Three beautiful things from this past week of Christmas:
1. Being up north for Christmas allows me to spend time with not just my parents, but also Karen and her kids and my friend Eric. Our trip is shorter than usual, so I’m especially glad for those visits.
2. A friend phones to share news of her pregnancy.
3. I finally have time to poach the quince I didn’t get to (neither back when I bought them in November or before leaving for Connecticut):
Tami had inquired about my plans to poach the quince earlier in the month, so I thought I’d share in case there were others who didn’t yet know about this fruit. Quince are a member of the Rosaceae family and are related to apples and pears (both farms I’ve encountered who sell them at my markets are, indeed, orchards). When quince ripen in the late fall, they’re green-yellow to bright yellow and range in size from from a medium apple to a grapefruit. They’re also covered in a fine fuzz.
The most noticeable thing about them, though, is their strong scent. They have an intoxicating floral odor that I don’t think can be confused with anything else.
Most varietals can’t be eaten raw (they’re too tough — somewhere between kohlrabi and squash, I’d say — and too tart), so they require peeling, coring, slicing, and cooking. I use Clotilde’s recipe.
After they’ve poached for a few hours, they turn a lovely shade of pink. They mix in well with yogurt and oatmeal, and I may try Clotilde’s cake or tartlette recipe this year, since I have most of a big stockpot full. If you’ve ever eaten Spanish/Middle Eastern membrillo, that’s quince paste (quince is really high in pectin), and Wikipedia informs me that marmalade originally referred to a rough-chopped quince jam. Every way I’ve ever eaten it, it’s delicious.
How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world recently?
Guys, we made it. Whether by hook or crook, no matter how much we rush or how little we sleep, Christmas will arrive tomorrow. So in these final hours, I hope you are able to slow down, enjoy some Christmas music, hug your loved ones (in person or virtually), and ponder the blessings of the season, no matter how humble or unusual they might be this year. Then get some sleep. After all, tomorrow is Christmas!
Behind the final door in this year’s Virtual Advent Tour is, as it was last year, Teri at Henningsen Happenings. Teri has written about how her Christmas has changed this year and how she’s trying to make the most of it.
Thank you, Teri, for sharing this blog post with us and for taking part in the tour once again.
As you probably remember, I gave serious consideration to not doing the Virtual Advent Tour this year. I’m so glad, though, that you all convinced me that together we could make it work. Through this group effort of ours, I think we put together something pretty nice that I really looked forward to reading every day this month and that I hope you did, too.
So, as they sing on my favorite holiday special, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street,
Keep Christmas with you
All through the year.
When Christmas is over,
Spread some Christmas cheer.
These precious moments,
hold them very dear.
And keep Christmas with you
All through the year.
For our penultimate stop, the Virtual Advent Tour heads back to Bridget at The Ravell’d Sleave. Today, Bridget shares some thoughts about adaptable traditions during the holiday season.
Thank you, Bridget, for another great post! I also appreciate all your support for the Virtual Advent Tour and for your ongoing participation!
It’s Thursday, which means it’s time to think back on three beautiful things from my past week:
1. A delivery guy rides a Hoverboard while pushing his empty lunch cart back to the restaurant.
2. I have an appointment in the late afternoon that puts me outside just at sunset. The sky is purple and pink and orange and lovely.
3. I see the bus turn onto the block while I’m still on the other side of the cross street. I wave, because that’s what you do when you just want to get home, and in a rare move, the bus driver pulls over to the stop, despite his green light, to wait for me.
How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this past week?
One of my favorite Christmas albums and my favorite Christmas season concert came last year from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. She knew when we saw her last December that her pancreatic cancer was not treatable, but despite being sick she swore she’d go down singing because what else was there? She died this fall, but not before work had begun on this stop-animation of one of her holiday covers:
We had a vacant spot for today’s antepenultimate stop in the Virtual Advent Tour that yesterday afternoon Cindy of Cindy’s Love of Books offered to fill. I joyfully accepted her offer and look forward to reading what she has to say about the holidays. I’ll update this post when I log back in later today.
Thank you, Cindy, for jumping into the fray at the very last minute and for taking part in the Virtual Advent Tour after a couple years away! Welcome back!
Check back here tomorrow for the penultimate stop on the Virtual Advent Tour.
This morning at 5:44 EST (10:44 UTC) is the Winter Solstice, marking the darkest day of the year. However, however! Even today, sunset is coming smidges later than it did yesterday. And that’s going to keep happening. We aren’t going to be able to notice it for a while, since we get only seconds more a day. But seconds add up to minutes and minutes up to hours. We just have to be patient and have faith, and in the meantime light the lights, sing the songs, and celebrate what we can. I choose to celebrate all of you, who came together this season to make something I’ve enjoyed quite a lot. Thank you.
And, so, today the Virtual Advent Tour heads to Deb Nance at Readerbuzz. Deb has a suggestion for those of us feeling a little adrift this holiday season: start a tradition!
Deb, thanks for joining the Virtual Advent Tour again this year and for writing a great post!