My friend Daphne

Allow me to introduce you to Daphne odora, (fragrant winter daphne), a garden friend with the kind of unanticipated virtues that make relationships of all types wonderful. For the better part of nine months out of the year she has the pleasing, predictable consistency sought in every friend; the kind of "I am here when you need me" evergreen nature. And then, when you least expect it, she has the tenacity to bloom in January; the prima donna of the winter garden in both floral show and fragrance. It is her fragrance though that is worth highlighting.
Words cannot really articulate the combination of spice and sweet that permeates the air around her presence--a mix of honeysuckle and the tropics. She has the ability to turn heads and slow passersby and intrigue the uninterested. As if she would say with her fragrance, "Just when you thought there wasn't anything to be noticed, here I am, to contradict your pessimistic notions."
Alas, there is no virtual "scratch-and-sniff" function for blogging. I would love to share it with you, but I imagine that Bath & Body Works may soon capture her scent in a bottle and commercialize it as lotion for $10.50. I would prefer for her fragrance to stay mysterious, surprising, and uncommon--as the sweet reward of venturing out in the garden when most of the rest of the earth sleeps. Hers is the kind of resolute spirit to create cheer in a vacuum, a very endearing quality to be sure.

Looking back...

About one year ago this week Atlanta had snow! The snow came on two different days (Wednesday, January 16, 2008 and Saturday, January 19, 2008), and lasted both times for a day or day and a half. There was enough for making snow angels and miniature snow creatures, and for eating snowflakes and getting lovely rosy cheeks. It has been quite cold this week of 2009...cold for Atlanta (lows in the teens, highs in the 30s, with a wind chill factor making it feel like about 5 or 6 degrees). Alas, no precipitation, so instead I am reminiscing.

So Anxious to Bless

I arrived back in Atlanta yesterday evening and went out to the airport parking lot to my car and found it completely dead. No clicking, no lights, no beeping...nothing. So, I popped the trunk, pulled out my jumper cables (thanks Dad!), said a prayer, opened the hood to the car and determined to flag down the next passerby to get a jump. As I stood there in the gathering darkness and thick fog that was blanketing the city, I came to a beautiful realization. There was literally nothing I alone could do that would help my car to start. No amount of mechanical prowess or physical or mental exertion would rejuvenate my dead battery. Even though I had the necessary tools (jumper cables and my car keys) I had to have another person's help. The key to being able to start up my car and move from the spot I then occupied was in the hands of someone else.
A spiritual parallel seemed so apparent to me as I stood waiting. I have needs--every day--that I am incapable of meeting. Without the intervention of my Father in Heaven and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I will continue to stand and wait, unable to move beyond my present circumstance. I can wish and hope and try and exert effort and demonstrate dogged determination and overwhelming optimism, but ultimately, I can only be truly enabled when He is allowed into my life.
Someone did indeed stop and offered a simple, but for me, great service. I was surprised at how easily the car went from completely dead, to charged. The electrical current rejuvenated my battery instantly and I went from troubled and a little anxious to incredibly grateful. Again, I was reminded of the spiritual implications of such a simple act. In the Book of Mormon, Amulek teaches a people who are becoming humble in these words: "Yea, and I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, IMMEDIATELY shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you" (Alma 34:31). I was taught by this small and simple moment in my life of the IMMEDIACY of the Atonement. I am so grateful.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

My sister Molly made this amazing dessert over the Christmas holiday. It is rather labor intensive, but worth having if you are willing to devote a few hours to its creation. Thought it would be fun to share.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

The first thing you must do is to make a gingerbread. This is an extra spicy version that has flavor enough to stand up to the other flavors.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup dark molasses

1/2 cup apple juice

2 eggs

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Butter and flour a 10" Springform pan. Heat oven to 350°. Stir together flour, cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt in a container (I use a plastic measuring pitcher because it comes in handy later). In a large bowl, mix sugar with oil, juice, molasses, eggs, and fresh ginger in a large bowl. Mix in crystallized ginger. Stir in flour mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Then bake for an hour. Cool this for ten minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely. (You could actually even stop right here and serve this warm with some whipped cream or a nice little Creme Anglais but resist my friends, resist, this is only going to get better)

Pumpkin Custard Ingredients

3 cups half-and-half

6 large eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup molasses

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups puréed pumpkin, or about 1 1/2 cans

Scald the half & half in a heavy saucepan (by scalding we mean to take it right up to the edge of boiling then remove it from the heat). In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Mix in pumpkin and warm half-and-half. When it is smooth and thoroughly mixed put it into a buttered baking dish which you then set into a larger baking dish. Fill the larger dish with hot water to about 1" below the rim of the custard dish. This is called a Bain Marie and will ensure that your custard bakes evenly all the way through. Bake this at 325° for 50 minutes and start to check it. You want a set, firm custard and a knife inserted into the center should come out clean. Cool and refrigerate overnight.To assemble your trifle get your trifle bowl out (visuals are important with this, so don't be a barbarian, get a trifle bowl) and make sure it is sparkling clean.Whip one quart heavy cream with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and set aside.You will also want about 1/2 cup of gingersnap crumbs.Spoon 1/2 of the Pumpkin Custard into the bowl and layer 1/2 of the gingerbread over that and 1/2 of the whipped cream over that. Do it again. Top the final layer of whipped cream with the gingersnap crumbs.

Culinary Capriciousness

Most every Christmas all the siblings receive a similar type gift. This year we all received aprons with our names...or the names that we are most often called (in my case, Liezel, rather than Alissa). Despite the uniform attire, personalities emerged as we posed--characteristic Haslam silliness. What did you expect? It was a bit like spontaneous combustion Clue...Lauren with the pie cutter at Sarah's rotator cuff; Sarah with the meat mallet at Liezel's earlobe; Molly with the fine weave sieve at Aaron's noggin...etc. All in jest, of course...or so we hope. In a kitchen the size of ours and the number of bodies trying to cook and clean in one space there was apparently a fair bit of repressed angst (he he).

December is always a fun time to be home--for a number of reasons--one of which is the food. Aaron and Kristen have December birthdays that we celebrate with special request dinners, plus our Christmas Eve homemade soup, our Cornish hen Christmas Day meal, and various other delectable creations by the ever innovative Mum.

...Like Nobody is Watching

Perhaps as a hang-over from high school band days, one of my favorite "in the privacy of my apartment and nobody is watching" activities is pretending I am the conductor of a symphony. Nerdy?--yes, I believe that fact has long been established. Sometimes the music of choice is Aaron Copeland's "Appalachian Spring" or "Fanfare to the Common Man". Other times it is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" or Maurice Ravel's "Bolero". Most of the time, though, it is Handel's Messiah--the entire thing. I have gotten to the point now, that when I read the scriptures in Isaiah and elsewhere, I hear the melody of the piece as I read. Recently, I went through the entire oratorio and marked every scripture reference that each section is based on, and it was quite the musical experience.
"O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion..."
"Glory to God..."
"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd..."
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates..."
"Hallelujah..."
"But thanks be to God..."
"Worthy is the Lamb..."

Winter Roses and Orange Blossom Air

Camellia japonica 'Jean May' is in bloom right now on the Atlanta Temple property--and that is normal! There are two types of camellias, the sasanqua and the Japanese, neither of which are native to the south, but perform very well in the dappled shade, and rich moist, acidic soils that are commonly found here. The sasanquas bloom from September to December and the Japanese types bloom from January to March. Both are often called "the winter rose of the south" adding wonderful color to the brown, dormant landscape. The leaves of camellias bushes are broadleaf evergreen with a highly polished luster. Someday, perhaps, we will have fragrance along with such perfection.

Tea olives, Osmanthus fragrans are also blooming at this time of year and have a wonderful fragrance as well (hence the name). Tea olives are in the Oleaceae family with other members such as lilacs, jasmine, forsythia, fringetrees, olives, and ashes. It makes sense, then that they have a lovely fragrance akin to orange blossoms. The individual blooms are only 1/2" long, but occur in clusters that collectively create a pleasant overall fragrance. I am often surprised by this plant and its determination to bloom continuously. Anytime we get a little extra rain or a few pleasant temperate days through the summer, fall, or winter the tea olive responds by blooming--how generous an offering for slight changes in the weather!

Oh Christmas stool, oh Christmas stool...

Before you think me stranglely crass, I speak of stool as in Webster's first definition: "a seat usually without back or arms supported by three or four legs or by a central pedestal."
This is my way of being being festive, innovative, and cheap all at once. Every year I decorate my bar stool with lights and ornaments in lieu of buying tree that will be enjoyed for only a few weeks before I go home to visit my family.
In our family we have a tradition of receiving a new Christmas ornament (or two) every year. So, by the time each child leaves home they have a collection of twenty or so that continues to grow with each passing year. Most of the ornaments are handmade by mom, or are a combination effort by dad and mom (dad cuts out the wood, mom paints it).
It would be a shame not to display these treasures and my rather silly solution is a Christmas stool. If nothing else, it gives me a happy heart to come home to during the Christmas season.

Magnifique!

My sister Lauren has become quite the little artist and I thought it would be fun to include here some of her creations. Her medium of choice seems to be oil and she handles it well--if I do say so myself! The pictures included here are: a silver bangle bracelet with stars, Kristen with her baby doll on Christmas Eve (probably age 3), herself on a summer afternoon making a very characteristic Lauren mannerism--shrugging her shoulders up close to her face and cocking her head, and smiling her cute bashful grin, with her adorable tousled curly locks, and me and my cousin Jennifer running in my aunt's backyard in Boise. These paintings were all for her AP Art class and usually were painted to fulfill some kind of assignment. The bracelet painting, for example, shows repetition, the picture of the two girls running shows motion, and Kristen and Lauren paintings demonstrate value changes.
Yea for my Lu-Lu!

Autumn Colors

These pictures were taken in mid-November around the Atlanta Temple and represent some of the amazing color displays from all the plant diversity. The north drive/stair area is by far the best spot for autumn color and is one of my favorite parts of the property. Fothergilla gardenii 'Mt. Airy' is a little deciduous shrub in the Hamamelidaceae family (others in this family are Corylopsis--winterhazel, Hamamelis--witchhazel, Loropetalum, Parrotia--ironwood, and Liquidambar--sweetgum. Fothergilla leaf color is an amazing mix of red, orange, yellow, and most of these shrubs are planted in masses of five or seven, so it is a nice swath of color in the landscape.
The leaf change in autumn is mostly brought on by the changing length of the days (shorter days, longer nights), which send a message to the plants to slow and eventually stop their production of chlorophyll. The green pigment in leaves from chlorophyll is broken down and destroyed and in its place carotenoid pigments, which have been present all along in the chloroplasts of leaf cells, but have been masked by the cholorphyll, become more apparent. Carotenoids make the yellow, orange, and brown pigments in various plants. The other pigment type, anthocyanins, (blue, purple, red) are produced in response to autumn light changes and sugar excesses in the leaves.
Day length is the strongest factor for leaf color change, but temperature and moisture are also factors. For example, the best autumn color will follow a warm wet spring, non-droughty summer weather, and warm sunny autumn days with cool (non-freezing) nights. The warm days produce a lot of light, and in turn, a lot of sugar, which brings about the most brilliant anthocyanin production. The red/crimson display, therefore, is variable from year to year, while the carotenoid pigments, which are always present, are essentially the same from year to year.

Some of the red/crimson autumn leaf plants on the property include: Dogwood (Cornus florida), Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), Red maple (Acer rubrum), Burning bush (Euonymus alata), and Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'). Some of the yellow/orange/brown autumn leaf plants on the property include: Hickory (Carya spp.), Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parvifolia), Sugar maple (Acer saccharum).