Limoncello - my kind of advent craft!

My bloggy friend, Emily, at The Nest, has started a linky party of advent crafts.     She makes lovely, homey things, including an adorable Sweet Pea doll that my granddaughter loves, and she is the one who taught me to make pipe cleaner people and other adorable oddments.

    I wanted to join in with her party, but my linky mojo isn't working, so you'll need to go straight to her to see other crafty suggestions to make this a special advent season.    You'll find things like Karen's advent wreath - my grandchildren and I made a variation of it last night!

My Holiday "craft" this year is homemade Limoncello, a lemon-flavored liquor that I had for the first time in Italy, where it was served without my ordering it after a heavy dinner, and before dessert.   I thought it was too strong (child that I was in those days), but it did serve to settle my stomach.   My little sister mentioned last year that she had tried it here and loved it, so I made a batch this fall.   She drank it, so I made another batch.

Last week, I started getting text messages from her.  "I am so addicted to this limoncello," she wrote one day.   A day or so later, she texted, "OK, just did a side by side limoncello comparison.  Yours rocks."   And, finally, "This is not a hint.   But your limoncello helps me sleep.   And you know how much trouble I've had lately sleeping.   Seriously."

So I picked up another couple dozen lemons, and a couple more jugs of vodka, and got to work.

The hardest part is grating the lemons.   I use a microplane grater, because you want all the yellow and none of the white.   You soak the grated lemon in vodka for 4 days and then add a cooked simple syrup.   Let it sit, strain it a couple of times.   Chill and drink.     Simple.    Because I started this batch so late, and because my schedule will prevent me from straining it as quickly as the recipe directs, this time my lemon peel will steep for over a week.   From what I've read on the internet, this should not be a problem because traditional recipes call for steeping the peel for as long as several months.   

My recipe comes from Mario Batali.   He said it was worth making and, according to my sister, he was right.

  4 Cup vodka
  zest of 10 very clean lemons
  2 1/2 Cup sugar
  3 1/2 Cup water
Place vodka and zest in a sealable jar, like a mason jar and allow to sit in a cool place for 4 days. 

On the fifth day place 2 1/2 cups sugar and 3 1/2 cups water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Allow to cook 5 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool. 

Add sugar solution to the vodka solution and allow to stand overnight. 

Strain through a layer of cheesecloth in a conical sieve, pressing the solids firmly.  Strain again through a second layer in the same manner. 

Chill and allow to stand at least 1 week.  Serve very cold.    I keep a bottle in the freezer.    The stuff I give away goes into a pretty bottle with a pretty label, at least in theory.

Time To Make A New List

 Last year I made a list of 62 things to do before my 62nd birthday.   Today my time was up for completing that list.  As you can see from the "progress" list on my sidebar,  I got a lot of them done.   More (frankly) than I expected.     I had bloggy giveaways, I shelled with my grandkids, I fished with my brother.   I made soup, I played with crafts, I did silly things with my grandchildren, I tried to show my kids that I love them by doing little loving things.   It was a good thing to do, and it lead to many good things.

I'm not sure whether I'll make a new list -- 63 things seems like a LOT to think up!   But I think I will take some time over the next week or so to come up with a few goals for my next year.   And I think that snorkeling with turtles will be on that list!

It was a good birthday.    I think it will be a wonderful year.    That's my plan, anyway.

We Got Snow!

 I worked about 12 hours today and when I walked outside, my car was COVERED with several inches of heavy snow.    A day ago, after a lot of rain, my grass was bright green and covered with bunnies.   Tonight,  the lawn and trees are white and every branch stands out against the night sky.   What an amazing world.

So, this was nice.   Can winter be over now?

Murphy's Law?

This morning gas at my local station was $2.98.  I didn't really need gas so I passed it by, even though there were no other cars in line.    This afternoon, same station, the gas was $3.35, cars were lined up, and I needed a fill up.

Yup.

Thankful

I am thankful for so many things.   I am not exactly thankful for the colder weather, but I am thankful for my warm bed on cold nights, and for my forced air furnace in the mornings. 

I am thankful for hot soup simmering on my stove and for candles in my fireplace (My lovely fireplace is not functional.   But nobody's perfect, and it IS lovely, so I'm thankful).

I am thankful for my family.   I treasure my siblings, I adore my son and daughter in law (what a silly phrase),  words can't describe how I feel about my grandchildren, and I love my daughter.

I am thankful to have enough money to pay my bills.    My work brings me into contact with a lot of death, which makes me more thankful than ever for life.   I am thankful for the hospice families who share their journeys with me, for the lessons I am learning, and for the resulting peace they often allow me to witness.

I am thankful for the twinkly lights on the trees I will put up this weekend.   Something about twinkly lights just makes me smile.

I am thankful for a plan to walk the beaches of Sanibel at least one more time.   I will be thankful to bring home a few more shells.

I may not have everything I want, but I surely have everything I need.    I hope you do, too.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Blessing of Hands

I got a phone call a week or so ago, in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, from someone who works in the Pastoral Care Department at a hospital.    It had just occurred to her that no one had told me that the next day I would be expected to begin a week-long Blessing of the Hands at the campuses where I work.

After receiving her call, I found myself thinking about all the different jobs, all the different hands that I encounter each day.    Hands that clean, hands that feed, hands that soothe the dying, hands that prepare potions to reduce pain, hand that offer solace to the living.   Hands that reach out to me for comfort, hands that reach into thin air as if they see something (or someone) there.  Hands that draw me in.    Crippled hands, wrinkled hands that seek my touch.   And young hands, too, healthy hands.    Plump little hands that are open to life, full of fun and sweetness, smudged from art projects and play.

In the course of my job, I said a blessing over many hands that week.   But, as usual, the real blessing was to me.

November Already?!

This year has flown by.   Again.   I am already neck-deep in Holiday planning at work -- as you know or can imagine, the holidays are a difficult time for families in hospice or anyone who has suffered a loss, especially a recent loss.   And of course, no matter how busy or hopeful we are, people keep dying, and it can seem especially cruel for families this time of year.    

As a sort of balance, I am also looking at toys and decorations for my own family, a happier kind of planning.   I am avoiding as much as possible thinking about my upcoming birthday, which is rushing toward me WAY too quickly.  In some ways, working at hospice has made me grateful for every year but has also put a sharper edge on getting older.    I can no longer avoid thinking about death, even for a day.    

I am mentally packing for my mid-holiday trip to Sanibel Island, where I hope to see a couple of friends and enlarge my seashell stash!   Meanwhile, my house is more of a mess than I can every remember it being.    There are intended projects and reminder notes and stacks of things I meant to read EVERYWHERE.   Patterns and fabrics and fly-tying materials and recipes and unwrapped presents in every corner.

November is also when I peek for the first time into my $5 savings plan.   All year, I tuck away every $5-bill I receive, whether in change or from the bank, and consider it my Christmas savings account.    I counted it today and was amazed to find that I saved $450 in $5-bills this year!    It is a great savings plan for me, almost painless (except for the times when I get three fives as change for a twenty!)  

We are nearing the end of the year. There are a lot of dark clouds and the nights are getting colder.   The furnace is on, and there is plenty of time for candlelight at night, no matter how early I go to bed. The days are often crisp, I love wearing cozy fleece, and it's finally soup weather.        It's all good.

Just don't talk to me about snow, because that is a different story altogether.