Another New Day

Arbitrarily it is the end of a year and the end of a decade. An ancient Roman-based calendar obliges us to consider tomorrow January first as the demarcation of a new year: 2010. For weeks (or months) we will continue to write 2009 on our checks, not ready to give up the old year, not ready to embrace the changing times as the years zoom away from us.

The date marks no change of seasons. We are in the midst of winter and winter will continue into the new year. There is no high holy feast to observe, no pre-calendar pagan rituals harking us back to a holiday mood. There is no reason tomorrow should be anything other than another quotidian sunrise and sunset. Another ordinary day.

Yet offices are closed, tomorrow there will be no post, and everyone goes about today with good wishes and cheerful greetings. The midnight sky will be interrupted by fireworks and dropping pickles, apples, roses, crystal balls.... each timezone will countdown to this one instant, this thin line between two ordinary days on a calendar, a separation between old and new.

We go about with Hope brimming over, Expectations and Good Intentions leading our way...This year we will do better. This is the year. Everything will be different this year. Are we deluding ourselves? I don't think so. Somehow, even though it is just another ordinary day it is still a day of promise.

Anne of Green Gables says "Tomorrow is always new with no mistakes in it -- yet." we are never more aware of this truth than at the new year. Tomorrow the whole year will be New, with no mistakes in it -- yet. Despite our best intentions the coming year will fill up with mistakes big and small. But for right now it lies ahead of us level and clean like the blanket of new fallen snow outside my window. What tracks we will make through that unbroken white! For now the expanse lies clean at our feet.... 10...9...8...7...

When morning comes remember, every day begins fresh and new and blank waiting for us to make something of it. Will it be a holiday? Will it be a day when we wish each other well? Will it be a day when we spread a message of Hope? We get to choose -- all year long.

Ashmead's Kernel

The twelfth and final apple of Christmas is the ancient Ashmead's Kernel. My sister says, "This is the only brown apple you should eat, all the others taste like cheese." She then proceeded to nibble away like a mouse with.... never mind.

Although this russet had the strongest "cheese" smell before it was sliced it had a lovely non-cheesy tart flavor. Sprightly with a nice edge to it. It's a great eating apple. We think it would also make a good cider apple for those who like their cider to turn a bit hard. Which means Ashmeade's Kernel also makes the list of those trees waiting to be transplanted from my wish list into reality. Our apple had a very nice form too. Sorry about the blurred photo but you get the idea.

Baldwin

The Baldwin, our eleventh apple has a nice tartness to it. The pretty shape and colour with bright white flesh make this an apple that is as fun to look at as it is to eat. It was ranked as "better than a Red Delicious." We are a bit scornful of the omnipresent Red Delicious however, so that's not so high a praise as you might think. Still it is a good apple and deserves a place in the fantasy orchard (which is now well over 100 imaginary acres, BTW).

Golden Russet

When my sister refers to "the apple Cheez-it" this is the apple she means. The Golden Russet hints at a cheese scent and she is now firmly convinced that all brown skinned apples will smell like cheese.

I thought it was more of an alfalfa aroma, rather like the smell of rabbit feed.

I'll wait while you laugh.

The Golden Russet has a lovely pear texture and an inoffensive flavor which actually put me very much in mind of Asian apples and pears. And it has an adorable shape.

Newtown Pippin

No, the apple isn't fuzzy. Sorry for the blurred photo but don't let it prejudice you the photo might be bad but the apple is great. The Newtown Pippin was an all around favorite. Juicy, and firm, and spunky, and flowery. It seems to store quite well and we thought it would be good for ciders, pies, sauces, and eating fresh. This pippin is on the list of favorites waiting to make the move from fantasy orchard to real orchard.

Calville Blanc

This apple, the Calville Blanc would work well in sauce or cider. It is mildly acidic. The aroma reminded me of yellow tomatoes. Evidently, I am told, there must be something wrong with my nose because that wasn't it at all. We found the flesh of our apple to be a certain sort of grainy, quite probably from age, and suspect that this apple does not store well.

Scheduled Posts continue tomorrow with another lovely Old-Fashioned Apple for the 12 days of Christmas.

Northern Spy

Thin-skinned with a crisp flesh and nice tartness the Northern Spy is a very pretty apple with a spunky flavor. We think it would probably also be a good baking apple, holding together well in pies, but we like it as an eating apple. The lovely acidity suggested lemon hints.

My sister says: "So far the little red apples are winning. Normally I like green apples. You're writing that down? You're so strange."

Hudson's Golden Gem

Our sixth apple in the apple tasting was a russet known as Hudson's Golden Gem. Russets have characteristically rough brown skin. My sister is not a fan of the look.

Hudson's Golden Gem carries with it an aroma of cheese and strong tones of pear. The texture of the flesh is particularly pear-like. My sister calls this russet the "sharp cheddar one" and although she means it as a criticism I believe it nicely points out that this apple would be an excellent apple for serving on an apple and cheese tray. But then, I thought Hudson's Golden Gem was a fairly decent eating apple.

So Very Christmasy

It's snowing. Already over four inches and still coming down. The Christmas tree is twinkling and although our Christmas Concert has been cancelled for this weekend, I am caroling away happily here at home with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

I hope you are having a Happy Christmas.

Rhode Island Greening

A very pretty apple the Rhode Island Greening is sour. SOUR! Like "sour green apples," like sugarless sour patch kids, like the best use for this apple would be vinegar.

To quote my sister "If anyone offers you a Greening, tell them NO." I didn't think it was quite that bad. It's not an eating apple for sure, though the Greening probably would be good for a cider blend if you ran out of crabapples.

Esopus Spitzenberg

"I like you." The Esopus Spitzenberg is my sister's favorite antique apple of the 12 we sampled. Thomas Jefferson and I share her good opinion of this apple. The Spitzenberg was our third president's favorite apple. With a spunky flavor and a friendly freckled skin it's a great eating apple and we are sure it would make good cider too. We could tell that our apple had been stored for some time -- and it seems to store well -- but the flavor fresh off the tree would be even better. This antique apple graduates from fantasy orchard to real orchard at the first opportunity. Only... would someone please tell me how to pronounce that first part of the name? E-sop-us? Es-op-us? Eso-pus?

Tolman Sweet

The Tolman Sweet we tasted did not live up to its billing -- it wasn't particularly sweet. Instead it might have been better named the Tolman Sort-of-Pine-Tasting. We found it to have an interesting evergreen pine scent and flavor. An intriguing apple as a unique specimen but a bushel might be to many. It's not a bad apple, but we couldn't think of a good use for it as the flesh (being grainy and mealy) was not of a quality to encourage ideas of baking or drying and we thought the pine flavor might throw-off the taste of sauces and ciders.

Moyer's Prize

Our second apple had a fun "sheepnose" shape and a brilliant pink blushed cheek. Moyer's Prize is a very sweet apple with an exceedingly soft flesh. It was not at all firm and we thought would never be a good baking apple but would probably be a good sweet to balance a snappy tart apple in a cider blend. I thought it was okay for eating, My sister suggests it is another saucing apple -- for people who don't mind a slightly "pineapple taste."

Arkansas Black

First up was the Arkansas Black. We were not impressed with the watery taste of this apple. It was bland and although the flesh was firm and would probably make a good sauce we decided this tree did not make the list for our fantasy orchard.

Hey, if they can have fantasy football leagues I can have a fantasy orchard. You should see it, it's self-mowing. ;D

The neatest thing about an Arkansas Black apple is the dark red skin. It colours everything a beautiful deep pink-red. Incidentally, the skin is where most of the flavor seemed to be also.

Old-Fashioned Apple Christmas

On the 12th Day of Christmas...

We opened up our Antique Apple Sampler and had an apple tasting party while the freezing rain slowly melted from the trees and roads.

Look for the first apple when the bell tolls... ummm... tomorrow's post.

Christmas Coming

Flowers and Chocolates

Chocolate Tort with Hazelnut Ganache.

Courtesy of one of my sister's co-workers -- who used to be a pastry chef.
Discount Daisies courtesy of Wal-mart.
Completely unseasonal, and yet still more appealing than poinsettias.

Blue Hoo

Can you guess what this is?

From the back it's hard to tell. Here's a hint.
That's right. It's BLUE HOO.
Future owls are planned, among them: Bally Hoo, You Hoo, Wa Hoo, Hoo Cares, and You Know Hoo.

What's Your Food Made Of?

This is too funny. I had to pass it on.

ummmm.... what do they think meat is made out of?

Perhaps they should read this NY Times article.

And, just for my Brother-in-Law, in case he's reading this post: "Soylent Green is People!"

Gustavian Grey

I went to sleep last night dreaming of Swedish Interior Design white upon white, pickled wood, pale painted floors and white painted furniture. I woke to a view painted with shades of grey and white. White upon branch and the pale pallet of sky and snow. The neighborhood still dreams.

By evening every yard will reveal the occupants of its home -- snowmen will announce the presence of children. I am almost nostalgic enough to don my mittens and build one myself.
It is snow. The magical transformation of the world from dull mud and bare branch to a place of white wonderment. Where Christmas trees (balled and burlaped, living Christmas trees) wait upon the doorstep and buckwheat pancakes beckon from the kitchen.

Friday Photo

Good For Goodness Sake

I have been trying to put something into words... an ideal, a feeling, a revelation... things are connecting for me in new ways this Christmas season. So here goes:

I'm watching stores fill up with Santas, Winter Carnivals or Wonderlands, Frosty, Rudolf, various seasonal characters and gingerpeople with the occasional nativity thrown in just to remind us of the original idea behind naming this holiday Christmas. Wandering aisle after aisle of bargain discount made-in-plastic made-in-China super-savings I'm listening to seasonal songs blaring from overhead speakers.

...Don we now our gay apparel...

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?...

... voices singing 'Let's be jolly...

So this is Christmas, and what have we done?...

...He knows if you've been bad or good... That one stopped me in my tracks this year.


... he knows if you've been bad or good...

I was just talking with my mom about the way we both observe traffic laws even on roads where we know there's never any traffic or any cops. I still remember the ridicule from friends when I stopped for a stop sign on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere -- we hadn't seen another car for at least 15 minutes -- but I stopped anyway. In the idiolect of my college years I could say I've internalized Foucault's Panopticon as a sociological restraint -- but I think it's something more than that. Along those lines, maybe, but way more than that.

...he sees you when you're sleeping...

This past Sunday the pastor preached an excellent sermon -- completely unrelated to this train of thought, except for one tiny part when he asked if we had ever watched kids when they think there is no one watching. Children tend to, we'll say, "take more risks" when they think they are unobserved, than they do when they know their parents are standing right there. In reading a Scripture verse letting us know God is with us, the pastor explained that this tells us not just that God is there to comfort us, but that God is there watching to see how we behave in each situation. Hoping that we live up to the teachings He has given us, and loving us even when we don't.

...he knows when you're awake...

Every year we tell children the gifts given at Christmas are earned by good behavior. We spend the days leading up to December 25th telling children their naughty behavior will get them coal in their stockings, telling them that they have to earn the nice gifts with good deeds, telling them that "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus..." and he's omniscient enough to know what you've been up to when Mommy wasn't looking.

But Salvation, the gift of Christmas, is not something we earn. We are given that gift, completely undeserving of it. For those of us who accept that gift of Salvation through Christ, those who spot it under the tree and unwrap it, this is the gift of adoption. We are made sons and daughters of the Lord.

Our Heavenly Father sees what we do when Mommy isn't looking, He knows when we've been bad or good, and He is there when we think no one can see. Like most parents He wants more for us than we can imagine for ourselves and He loves us in a way that both overlooks our flaws and fully knows each foible. He is omniscient and omnipresent. In the words of a Brooks and Dunn song: "Imagine someplace God could never be... He's there."

He's got it all over Santa.

But the jolly red fat guy with the sleigh full of gifts has climbed into the manger and is telling us we have to earn our gifts -- including the freely given gift of the Christ Child.

How many Christians are on that treadmill of earning Grace? Earning our way into heaven? One more good deed, one more kind word, and we can have that Barbie's dream house/many mansions. We are buying into Santa's version. The goodness of God doesn't ask us to deserve our gift. The goodness of God simply says I love you enough to hope you can do better next time. And the goodness of God still loves us even if we mess up that next time too.

Even when we deserve that lump of coal, even when He watches us disobey Him, even when naughty outweighs nice... that gift of grace, the mercy and the miracle of the manger and the cross , that goodness -- that's still ours to keep.

... so be good for goodness sake...

because goodness know He loves us.