Winter Begins

It's official, Bike man's first day of salt monitoring has begun.  With the recent snowfalls, the city and county crews are laying down road salt.  Once again my hubby will be monitoring the salt levels in two major creeks that run through the city of Menomonie in Dunn County.  Of the two creeks, he has nine sites to collect data.  And what's my role?  To tag along and take photos of course.  

After our monitoring, it was then time to move on to some local Christmas shopping.  We decided to visit our friends at the Dunn County Pottery in Downsville.  Downsville just happens to be the little town we bike through when on the Red Cedar trail.  Our friend John Thomas creates beautiful pottery that is functional in everyday life.

The selection of pottery and gifts are all locally made.  I really enjoy shopping close to home and supporting our local artisans.

I think I could spend all day the pottery shop.....or maybe just sitting on their front porch enjoying the snowy conditions.  Can you believe 15 degrees today felt balmy?  Dressing in warm layers is what it's all about.

Teddy Bear Tea

The bitterly cold weather is messing with our plans, like for one week now.  This poor little boy has been the only child showing up at story time.  Guess all the other moms and grandmothers are content to stay home during the subzero temperatures.  Today my Children's Librarian, Jolene, planned a teddy bear tea. 

So we made a pot of candy cane tea and Callen really loved it.  Can you believe a three-year old loving tea?  He was such a good sport today being the only child at our story time program.  I sure hope the weather softens soon so people will be more apt to move around with their normal routes.  My work place has been extremely quiet this week.....on second thought, maybe we need that at this time of the year?  

Fresh

Ohhhhh Mom Moo, you would love this flatbread pizza.  A couple weeks ago I found some pre-packaged flatbread (lavash) and my first thought was, fresh pizza!

To assemble the pizza:
I added a small amount of olive oil to the flatbread and then spooned a generous amount of basil pesto over the bread.  I then added the ingredients I had on hand, sauteed onions, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes.

I topped off the pizza with mozzarella & cheddar mix and fresh cut tomatoes.  Baked for 8 minutes @ 375 degrees.  I love this thin flatbread/lavash as it will come out nice and crispy.  Before serving, I added fresh lettuce greens that Bike man purchased at our local food Co-op.  The tender greens just add that nice touch.  The best part of this pizza?  Fresh ingredients.

Just so you know, the flatbread is so thin, you'll wanna make two pizza!      

The Spirit?

It's December and it's cold, really really cold. I'm not sure why, but it's hard to get motivated when it's so cold outside....I'm talking those subzero temperatures. So as we move closer to Christmas, I'm trying to get into the holiday spirit, but so far it's not clicking.  I think once I can start Christmas baking, it will put me in that Christmas spirit.  I just need to smell and taste those gingerbread men and the sugar cookies!

On a side note, I just finished reading Marty Basch's book, Twenty-Nine Hills.  I promised Bike man I would read this book since it's about a married couple that rides the Great Divide trail.  Future bike trip?  Maybe.....


















 

Light & Fluffy

The weather man was right on the ball.....sorry, I couldn't resist that pun.  We decided to leave the garden balls out in the yard so they would add color to our winter season.  So, the weather man said it would snow today.  Yup, woke up this morning and the white fluffy snow was already falling.  The snow continued to fall all day and it's still snowing tonight.  Besides a balmy 15 degrees this afternoon, it was a great December day.  Tomorrow we'll be back to single digits and windchills.