The Holidays and the Best Present Ever…
Despite this crazy pandemic and our quarantined lives limiting interactions, we enjoyed our holiday filled with loads of presents to be grateful for: times with neighbors and friends, times with family, my parent’s beautiful holiday decorations, yummy food with lots of leftovers, time to start packing for the big move, and time out in nature. We encountered a great horned owl on Christmas morning in the Deer Grove Forest Preserve near my folks’ home. He looked straight at us and then promptly flew off to a better viewing spot to stalk his meal for Christmas Day.
Thanks to Kristin and Mike and Drury Lane for being as fun as ever even when virtual!
Having fun checking out our neighbor’s renovation
Mike and Dad with our capon — highly recommend trying this bird for a family feast!
Christmas kale — good any time of year — future recipe post
First time making sticky toffee pudding from the UK
Love my parent’s mini-tree
Mom’s table is always set perfectly
Our sides guarded by Father Christmas and Snowman
Roasted capon | stuffing | butternut squash casserole | christmas kale | celery root & thyme | grandma’s jello salad | cranberry sauce | roasted beet salad | thyme honey butter dinner rolls
Sticky toffee pudding | vanilla bean ice cream
Christmas morning hike
Chillaxin!
Holiday favorite — who says you can’t feel like a kid again?!
In full boolo gear on Christmas morning
The P’s on Christmas morning
Carmelized french toast, berries, whipped cream | maple bourbon bacon
Dropping off holiday treats to friends
And starting the packing process in our downstairs storage closet
But the absolute BEST PRESENT of all: hearing from readers including neighbors, family, friends and others we have never met before. Since we started this blog, it’s been a blast to hear from folks whether that’s someone asking about our solar panel set-up or overall energy model or whether that’s curiosity about our three-part project philosophy as ideas for their own renovation approaches. We’ve loved meeting new folks right in our own town of Arlington Heights who are interested in our project and showing them the house — in a safe socially distant manner of course — or meeting new folks from far away who are interested in what we are up to. And it’s been amazing to hear from folks trying out our recipes.
As community is the big inspiration behind this whole project and a key pillar of our Happy Boolo Project philosophy, we are to thrilled feature more and more folks from our various communities. In 2021, we look forward to continuing the story of our renovation featuring those who have been key to making this dream of a sustainable, community-focused home where we can grow, make and share food with the people in our lives actually come to life, as well as featuring other aspects of the community we live in, the larger communities we are a part of and our community of readers.
To celebrate community and to kickoff 2021, we are pleased to share pictures from the kitchens of Happy Boolo blog subscribers who enjoyed two of our holiday cranberry recipes (Cranberry Crustless Pie & Cranberry Holiday Cake). Thanks for letting us know how yummy these treats turned out! We look forward to sharing more yummy pictures from our Happy Boolo blog community throughout 2021! Happy Baking! Happy Food Making! Happy New Year!
Linda and Randy - Arlington Heights, IL
Erik - Arlington Heights, IL
Martha - Blacksburg, VA (Chris taking the picture)
Eva - Blacksburg, VA
Caroline - Blacksburg, VA
Jeannie, Sammy, Rusty (Gerald taking the picture) - Charlottesville, VA
Jeannie - Charlottesville, VA