It's cold outside

Christmas was amazing. Plain and simple. It was a beautiful day full of great food, many loving moments and family. We stayed home which is nice and low stress, especially after our epic Thanksgiving travel.  My brother Jeff joined us and we had a great time opening presents and watching Cora take it all in. I am watching the news of the winter storms wreaking havoc on the eastern seaboard and giving thanks that we are home and not stuck in an airport somewhere between here and there.

Scott busted out some phenomenal holiday cooking, preparing a salt encrusted prime rib that would make any food critic swoon. Yes sir, we had some good eating in this house! I will definitely be moving my butt in the typical new years attempt to reverse the effects f all that eating.
Cora is on the verge of walking and I can't believe we have arrived at this point already. I watch her crawl and think about what a short period of her life she will have spent crawling. I am also excited to see her stand and walk, she is already walking along the edge of things, picking her path by what is available to hold onto.

I am finally able to read an occasional book and I had the fortune of stumbling upon this one which I absolutely loved.

Farm City by Novella Carpenter

Ms. Carpenter builds an urban farm in the middle of an abandoned lot in Oakland and writes candidly about the process. It was rejuvenating for me to read about someone adapting a traditional farming lifestyle in to the urban setting.
 

Another book I am a huge fan of right now is this soup cookbook.

Love Soup

This book has been making the blog rounds for a long time now but I finally checked it out. I was so excited by the first soup I made from it that I made two a week for three weeks!