Some kind of time off

It's a snowy day in the country. Could be a lot worse, we were actually wishing for a lot worse but again it's a wimpy storm. But it's wintery enough for us to start another TV show, Damages this time, and make soup. Rosemary makes a delicious Borscht and I thought I would try my hand at it. When I started peeling the beets I noticed just how beautiful they are and I had to play with my food a little first. 

This fall sometime James brought home a couple of Porterhouses from work and we made amazing chimichurri steaks on the grill. I saved the bone hoping to make soup on it and today is the day. I'm making stock on the bone and 8 cups of water. I supplemented with another soup beef with bone. Bring it to a simmer and add 2 onions, 3 peeled carrots and finally the beets. I dumped 2 bunches in there, about 8 beets. Also add 1/4 cup white vinegar. Let it simmer for 1 1/2 hours. After that the beets should be soft. Fish out the meat and cut the good pieces off and put back in the pot. Separate the beets from the liquid and put them through the blender and then add back to the stock. I brought it back to a simmer while adding salt - very carefully.

Beautiful ingredients make for beautiful food.

Serve with sour cream and fresh cut dill.

Looking at these pictures you would think that the dining room is done. But this is last week.

 This is today.

It's getting to be a bad joke around here with all the moving of the furniture but it keeps things interesting. I guess.

But that last coat on the floor makes it done. We'll move back in tomorrow afternoon and this time - we'll stay in!

The chairs are in place and so is the TV. But we are still waiting on the couch.

This is a pasta salad Lovisa and I made up for our friend Jörn.

Marinade tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion in lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Add cooked pasta and feta cheese. Top it off with avocado. It's like all the things I like.

We ate it with friends and Bratwursts on Superbowl sunday. Go Saints! We watched the game at Browns which is 5 minutes from the house. It was our first visit there and it certainly won't be our last. There are plenty of reasons for that and here are 3:

- One of the regulars/inhabitants is a beagle named Charlie. 

- Twice the owner came downstairs to stoke the fire - in her bathrobe. 

- We drank pony Rolling Rocks all night and the bill came to $25. 

Thanks to Team D&E for taking us! 

I love spending time up here and I wish I could stay forever. This time around is a little scary though because the reason we are sticking around is that work has dried up. Things will turn around for sure but I hate that we can't completely relax and enjoy the time off. Being a freelancer is sooooo hard. You're never really on vacation - you're always just between jobs. But instead of whining and worrying and saying I'LL NEVER WORK AGAIN I will look back on my last awesome motion picture making experience and look forward to the next. 

Camera Department Extraordinaire: Cali Joe, Jessica, Young Dave, Dear Cedric, the author, Charlie, Paul and Ted Logan as the Cherry Orchard's Lopakhin with a rodent on his face. Most Excellent. 

Fellow Swedes, Peter and I.

Thanks to Jessica Miglio, our still photographer for the sweetass HenryCrime pics!