Friday Thoughts
I’m a day late to wish you a very Happy Winter Solstice. Longtime readers will perhaps remember that I have shared this photo before. It is a time lapse photo from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, of the path of the sun on the Winter Solstice, taken December 21st, 2012. Fairbanks is outside of the Arctic circle, so the sun does technically come up every day of the year, but in the darkest days, it peeks above the horizon, then skits along for a bit, before setting a few hours later. Speaking of the Winter Solstice, I read at Light and Momentary that although after the Solstice, we get a bit more time of daylight every day, for the first several weeks that is only in the evenings. As a matter of fact, sunrise continues to get a bit later until January 11th where I am, according to this website. Another argument for Standard Time vs. Daylight Saving, I guess. I don’t really want to wait until almost 8:30 for the sun to come up, and of course it would be much worse for those of you who live farther north.
Speaking of Farther North, we received our gifts from my brother and sister-in-law, and among the goodies sent was this most prized of prizes, a jar of homemade nagoonberry jelly. Do not consider yourself ignorant, only unfortunate, if you have never heard of a nagoonberry nor had any nagoonberry jelly. What is a nagoonberry, you might ask? Well, it is known as the arctic raspberry, and is incredibly rare and difficult to find, and labor intensive to harvest and prepare, so really the ONLY time you will procure some is if someone you know and love has access to them, and then is kind enough to share with you. We don’t often get any, because Kathy doesn’t always get lucky enough to find a patch of berries before it is picked clean. How does it taste? Amazing. Ted thinks it tastes more like a strawberry, I think it’s closer to a raspberry, but in reality it is perhaps somewhere between the two. I have decided that I am going to buy some fancy imported French butter, and have it on English muffins. Better perhaps would be really good croissants, and perhaps I will try the French boulangerie downtown, but the timing on that is iffy. I’m not often downtown early enough to get there before breakfast, which is when I would want such a treat. I know, I’m ridiculous.
What else…well, I wrote here a few months ago about a recipe we like for Shakshuka. I was thinking of that the other day, while pondering what to have for dinner, and I remembered the amazing Sea bass I had in Paris, which said it was served on Shakshuka, so I decided to try my recipe with fish instead of eggs. You know what? It’s delicious. I think this would also be really good with chicken. We had leftover pepper and tomato mixture (aka, the Shakshuka), and Ted mixed it in with the soft shell chicken tacos we had for dinner the next night. Harissa in tacos? Why not.
“Naked man, naked man calm down!
I-I’ll give you some strawberry cake!
Don’t act like there is no tomorrow
You should use the pain and the sorrow
To fill you up with power
Life’s both sweet and sour!”
Sadly, we saw them in concert once, MANY years ago, and they sucked. I do adore Bjork, though, and was happy to hear this song pop up while I was cooking.
Today we’re going to our first Christmas celebration with Ted’s family. His brother has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas day, so today will be our larger celebration. We’ll be having Dungeness crab, though it’s not in season here yet, it has been delayed until New Years Eve. So perhaps these crabs are brought in from farther north? Or perhaps they are old? I don’t know. Not my responsibility. I’m bringing a nice bottle of Chardonnay and a stuffed mushroom appetizer, and Maya made a no-bake cheesecake with raspberry sauce for dessert. Tomorrow we will likely lay low around here, and on Christmas Day we will go to Ted’s parents’ house and have a smaller celebration, just us and them.
I’ll try to pop by your place when I have a few minutes on Saturday. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice, Happy Everything.
14 Comments
Margaret
That shashuka looks yummy! I’ve only had the kind with eggs which I enjoyed very much, being a huge fan of eggs. Love the photo of the sun and am 100% in favor of standard time all year. And I do live fairly north! It sounds like you have lovely get togethers planned; I only have one but have my fingers crossed that everyone will stay healthy for it. Thanksgiving was a disappointment for that reason. I would love those berries!
J
Margaret, I love it with eggs too. I used a bit of the pepper tomato mixture to cook an egg the next day, and it definitely had a richness that the swordfish did not have. Yummy.
I hope your get togethers come through for you! It seems like everyone is sick right now, doesn’t it?
NGS
Yay for more light every day! I honestly don’t care if it comes earlier or later – I’m awake either way, so I get the benefit of it. I feel like we should all really celebrate the solstice more than we do Christmas Day! Happy solstice to all!
J
I agree, I’ll take it wherever and whenever I can get it!
Elisabeth
Merry Christmas! I love when the days get longer, but it feels like I don’t notice it for months! That said, I don’t mind the extended darkness as much now that my kids are older. When they were little and attending preschool, I hated dropping them off/picking them up in the dark. But now, they’re ALWAYS home from school in the daylight.
And speaking of darkness, I need to change out the taper candles on our dining room table. They first set of the season have burned low and I want a great flame tomorrow night for Christmas Eve!
J
You’re right Elisabeth, it takes awhile to really notice the light coming back…but just knowing it is happening is a start!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
The nagoonberry really are interesting. When we were in Lapland, Finland for our honeymoon I came across the cloudberries that are served as jams and toppings on meat dishes and I had to google them. It seems like they are some sort of the same but different.
Hope all your Christmas celebrations have been fun.
J
Thank you Tobia, we had a lovely Christmas, and hope your celebrations have been lovely as well.
Mmmm. I just had some nagoonberry jelly on toast for breakfast. Delicious. I don’t think I have ever had a cloudberry!
Lisa of Lisa's Yarns
Oooh, that Shashuka with fish looks amazing! That is something I would love, but I think my husband would not… but maybe I can make a dish for myself sometime this winter to enjoy.
That is really interesting about how the amount of daylight changes. I am noticing that it is every so slightly less dark when we are on our way home from work now. I hate the time change! I would prefer to stay on standard time. I never loved it, but I loathe it now that I have young kids. The winter days are so short up here in Minnesota but I am thrilled that they will only get longer now that the solstice is behind us!!
J
Lisa, I hope you give it a try, it’s delicious. I think it would work well with chicken too.
The dark is such a pain, and you are further north than we are, so it must be even worse!
Suzanne
I loved learning about the nagoonberry! And now it will be on my bucket list to try it someday. What a fun gift!
I hope you had a wonderful holiday!
J
Thanks Suzanne, I loved learning about it too!
Meike
The time laps picture is absolutely stunning. I had no idea about nagoonberries – so interesting. It always fascinates me how some foods are known in some parts of the world and completely unknown in others.
Hope you had a good holiday season, too! I fell awfully late as I am trying to catch up on blog reading.
J
Thanks Meike! I love the time lapse photo, too. Very cool. I am far behind in blog reading as well.