It's recipe time...

Hot Chocolate is my go to drink in winter...skip the black coffee in the morning.  I drink a double long shot Americano in the morning made with Matchstick Roaster's Coffee Bulldog 13, it's a rich robust full flavour coffee. I know when it's time to change, when my coffee tastes insipid luke warm...all the comfort has left the cup.  It's like standing in front of a group of people, giving a speech and your added a little joke and it falls flat...that eerie silence when nobody knows what to do...you bravely carry on, but never fully recover.


Jenn’s Spicy Chai Hot Chocolate

4 cups whole milk

3 ounces of dark chocolate 60-70% coca

5 cardamom pods, coarsely cracked


1/4 teaspoon allspice

5” inch cinnamon sticks, broken in half

1/4 teaspoon chili flakes

5 tablespoons of raw sugar

1 piece of candied ginger about 1” inch round, chopped in half

1 vanilla pod split

Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan. Bring almost to simmer, whisking frequently. Remove from heat; cover and steep 10 minutes.
Strain into mugs and serve with a dollop of fresh whip cream.


This cup of delicious hot chocolate will never disappoint you this winter...the chili flakes give it the right amount of heat that warms you to a heavenly glow.  The rich cardamom and chocolate rolls across your tongue in waves, if you close your eyes you can see white caps.  Addiction services for Jenn's Spicy Chai Hot Chocolate is not available at this time, so please drink responsibly. 






Grow, Harvest, Cook, Eat, Drink Responsibly


Jenn

 

It's starting...the holiday crazies!!!

It's 4 am in the morning and Nat "King" Cole is serenading me with The Christmas Song...and every where I look are "THE BOXES!!!"...spilling out all over the floors.  Strings of snow flakes are hanging form the fixtures and spools of ribbons litter my already crowded desk.  What the heck...the Christmas Party Menu is calling for the shopping list, the wreath order forum is peeking out under the red ribbons...and my day timer full of must do's for today.  I woke up from a dead sleep, stressing about my coffee order, thinking I'll have to call Matchstick Roaster's to see if it was sent...I'll never make it thru this next few weeks without coffee...or clean laundry, food, a hot bubble bath and a few adult hot chocolates.

November is hands down a month where I work flat out until December 6th...There are invitations to be delivered, cottage and yard decorated for the holiday season and of course the menu...duck breasts to be cured for prosciutto, duck confit pate has to be made, pickled pearl onions, artisan cheese from all over the province needs to be ordered...this is just the beginning...shortbread cookies, Chinese Fortune cookies, chocolate truffles...Death by Chocolate Brownies.  I have decided to work outside my comfort zone this year and prepare a complete, well to me complete, Traditional Christmas Dinner.  Turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes dauphine, and lovely green beans with a pine nut gremolata.  I will have a basket of homemade buns and a jar of mayo...it's a tradition in my family to eat your entire dinner than have a turkey bun loaded with mayo and cranberry sauce...laughing. 

Bruce and I have created a few holiday traditions here at the cottage.  We always go out and cut our Christmas tree, however we don't usually put it in the cottage it gets put out on the deck and filled with lights.  We never ever eat turkey on Christmas Day, that is actually a rule...laughing.  Bruce and I lounge around in out jammies most of Christmas Day...we open a few gifts and I drink a few prosecco cocktails, than go for a walk or a ski depending if we have fresh snow.  We have a quiet Christmas...and both of us love it.  We did the crazy family Christmas thing for a few years...and finally call it.  Now it's tradition to have the quiet lazy cottage Christmas where the only drama that happens is when the phone rings...laughing.  Like Bruce once said to someone...that's why we have call display!!!

Grow, Harvest, Cook, Eat, Drink and Be Merry

Jenn

The HOLIDAYS are fast approaching...

I'll be pulling out all those boxes soon, that's right the dreaded Christmas decorations and strings of lights.  The stores have been stocking the shelves for the last month...YIKES!!!  I have been in a semi-panic, until yesterday when I bought my first batch of the endless batches of decorations to add to the mix of past years. I don't know why I do this...honestly last years decorations were used for a few weeks.  When I open the boxes, I have no idea what I will find, it's a surprise...laughing.  The whole month of November is spent getting the house and yard ready for the Annual Johnston Holiday Open House.  I think this year will be year 10...or 11 either way it has become a event that Bruce and I love hosting for our friends.  I can't say what we will be serving this year because it's always a surprise!!!  A very delicious surprise to say the least. 

Bruce and I will be out boughing this week gathering the forest foliage for our planters and barrels and window boxes. I love dressing up like a lumber jack and foraging in the wilds. I am excited about the prospect of the arrival of some Ponderosa Pine boughs coming, big long fluffy branches...incredible.  Ponderosa Pine grows around Clinton BC and a friend is going down to forage some and offered to forage some for us...I could hardly say NO.  I use to go down to Lillooet to collect pine cones and after 10 years I am swimming in them...laughing.  I still need to order the wreaths.

Let's talk WREATHS...I just so happen to live down the road of the best "artesian wreath maker" this side of the Rocky Mountains...go to www.moosemeadowsfarm.ca and order your Christmas wreath today, you will not be disappointed!!!  They are absolutely beautiful, I have ordered them each year for my house and they last until Valentines Day and longer...laughing.  Heloise and her crew do a amazing job each year and the quality never varies it is consistent.  They do ship across Canada...and the NWT, Yukon, NV.  Check out the website I have added to my blog.



Grow, Harvest, Cook, Eat and Let it Snow

Jenn

The promised pictures of The Loft

As promised I have attached a few photos of the Loft, Bruce and I have been working diligently on making it a warm, comfortable and unique space.  Do to my adversity to the new green lighting which stems from my many travels and stays in hotels, I have opted for halogen gallery lighting for our space along with incandescent lighting in the stand alone fixtures.

 

The new queen size bed will be arriving today, I am excited and will have it all set up for the next set of pictures.  We had an air bed which our guests said was very comfortable. 

 

 

Over the winter we will be adding a small wet bar and compact fridge.  We want our guests to feel at home when they arrive, nothing says home like opening the refrigerator door and finding it stocked with quality refreshments and homemade snacks. 

 

In winter the bed will be made with flannel sheets, eiderdown duvets with wool & silk throws we have hypo-allergenic pillows in a variety densities.  I know it's important to have the right pillow to rest ones head.  Bruce now travels with his eiderdown pillow where ever we go. 

 

 

Grow, Harvest, Cook, Eat

 

Jenn