In The Sunshine

JWise Photo of the Day

Jutta Engelhardt and Eleanor Burke after lunch in Phoenix, Arizona

My mother-in-law Jutta and my great-aunt Eleanor a.k.a. Auntie spent lunch together today. Cooking was courtesy of myself; we had planned to go out, but my aunt was enjoying the sun on the upstairs balcony and I had some farm-fresh veggies with me that I had picked up earlier in the day, so I got to work in the kitchen and whipped up something for the ladies. Auntie and Jutta shared some purple carrots with a honey-butter glaze, steamed spinach, and broccoli with a squeeze of lemon. For dessert, they had some of my homemade applesauce I had brought over to replenish Auntie’s now-empty bottle. My mom had made Christmas cookies which Jutta found so tasty, I am certain she must have eaten no less than a dozen.

Barber Shop Quartet

JWise Photo of the Day

A Barber Shop Quartet performing at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona during the annual Las Noches de Las Luminarias

This Barber Shop Quartet is a regular fixture at the annual Las Noches de Las Luminarias at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. This year they had a fantastic location next to a fire pit which lent warmth and great lighting to their performance. Around the garden musicians play flute, harp, or fiddle; they sing, tell stories, and a couple of bands are on hand. Walking around with a warm drink under the cold clear sky full of stars listening to the music out here in the desert is the closest some of us will get to feeling the holiday spirit.

Las Noches de Las Luminarias

JWise Photo of the Day

A tree full of Christmas lights next to a path lined with Luminarias at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona during the annual Las Noches de Las Luminarias

One of the highlights of December in snowless Phoenix, Arizona is the annual Las Noches de Las Luminarias held at the Desert Botanical Garden. While many tens of thousands will crowd in at the Zoo Lights Festival, a much smaller and quieter group of people buys early tickets to the nearly always sold-out holiday garden event. The garden staff and volunteers line paths throughout the garden with approximately 6000 candle-lit luminarias. Walking along the chilly trails we are serenaded by musicians, enticed by lubricous hot drinks, loomed over by the towering saguaros as shadows dance on the path from the candlelight of the luminarias.

Garlic Dill Pickles

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

Cucumbers, spices, salt, vinegar, and water ready to ferment and become homemade garlic dill pickles

After a wild goose chase to find the required spices (but still missing one), Jutta and I started a batch of homemade garlic dill pickles. We started with cinnamon stick, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, whole cloves, whole allspice, juniper berries, couldn’t find mace so it has been left out, dill seeds, bay leaves, dried ginger, coriander seeds, 4 cloves fresh garlic, and a few sprigs of fresh dill. With our pickling spices ready to go, we mixed white vinegar, water, and sea salt to make a brine, then scrubbed the cucumbers. One-half our spice went into the bottom of the crock, next came the cucumbers, then more spice, and finally the brine. The hardest part of the process was finding something to put inside the crock that would keep the cucumbers below the surface of the brine, once that was found, I filled a plastic bag with more brine to weigh down the plastic lid. In 2 to 3 weeks the cucumbers should have fermented enough to be called pickles.

Pick’n’Citrus

JWise Photo of the Day

Jutta Engelhardt picking oranges in Phoenix, Arizona

Visited my mother and aunt Eleanor today. Caroline and her mom spent part of the afternoon picking fresh tangerines, tangelos, and grapefruit in the backyard. Afterward, we sat down for dinner featuring the leg of lamb Caroline and I had brought back from Brown’s Orchard in Wilcox, Arizona. My mom prepared the lamb along with half a dozen of the artichokes she had received as a gift from a friend in Monterey, California. At home, Jutta and Caroline made juice. All in all, a pleasantly nice slow day, the way Sunday should be.