New Sign

Look what I found for Christmas. I found it in the Sundance catalog and just had to have it. I have always liked signage and collect it, and this serendipitous find had my name all over it.

Peanut Brittle

Here's a recipe I wanted to share with you for Christmas. It is the crunchiest and best peanut brittle I've had - and it is made in the microwave. No gummy brittle here. This stays crisp to the last morsel. You use raw peanuts with this, but I have even used salted cashews and it was wonderful. So imagine it made with almonds, macadamia nuts...

Peanut Brittle

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup light Karo syrup

1 1/2 cup raw peanuts

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. soda

Combine sugar, Karo, salt and peanuts in a microwaveable bowl. Stir well. Put in microwave for 5 minutes (this is in a more powerful microwave; in a less powerful one cook it for 8 minutes), with waxed paper loosely covering it. Remove. Mixture will be bubbly. Add butter and vanilla and stir. Cover and cook 2 more minutes. Remove, add soda. Stir; mixture will be foamy. Pour on lightly buttered cookie sheet and spread around. Let cool and store in an airtight container.

Some of my friends

Thought I'd share some of the deer and other animals on our Peaceable Hill Farm this year. Currently, I'm feeding whole corn to about 27 deer as there aren't many acorns this year. I think a late hard freeze this spring hurt the oaks. The doe standing on her hind legs is snap kicking or boxing the others to get them to go away from the corn. They do this a lot; must be some kind of hierarchy. The kitty is one of our barn cats that followed me from the barn to the pond where I was taking pics of the deer. He is so sweet. More about the barn cats later. The geese at the pond just wanted bread. They ran honking and hissing after the deer and the cat shortly after the photo.