Saturday, December 24, 2011

Lo, How a Rose

While it is true that I kept a poinsettia alive all year only to kill it at Christmastime, I do have a tiny rose just now opening in a pot here on Christmas Eve. The Exotic Angels are doing a blooming dance of joy, as well, and there's new burst of blue lobelia. The pale pink begonias in the once-hanging pots just keep opening, all of these in a row on woven straw mats in the sunshine of the patio doors, taking the spot once reserved for shoes and boots, which are grudgingly clumped here and there on rugs and in corners. Oh, forgive me, shoes and boots and the feet who wear them!

I baked my tropical husband a coconut cake for Christmas, soon to be iced with Joy of Cooking boiled icing (unless I kill it) and sprinkled with the remaining coconut. This 7-Minute frosting at Food Network is essentially it, and I will take Alton Brown's advice to beat the frosting over the simmering water, and to use the frosting itself (instead of strawberry or raspberry preserves) between layers. Also, my cake has two layers instead of four. Why am I baking a cake from scratch and making boiled icing on a Slattern Day? Because it's Christmas Eve! (But I did not smash an actual coconut, so I think I can still claim to be a true slattern. Also, you should see the thin layer of flour on my kitchen floor.)

Happy and sweet holidays to you. Peace and goodwill.

7 comments:

Marly Youmans said...

A merry Christmas to you...

My mother just told me that her grown-from-seed Lenten Roses are now Christmas roses, with many in bloom.

I am singing two rose songs in choir concert today--"There is no rose of such virtue" (the Hopson setting) and "Lo, How a Rose."

Roses of all sorts, all over.

Sandy Longhorn said...

Happy, Merry, Joy, Joy to you and yours. And be careful on the floured floor!

nene said...

That cake lQQks wonderful. Lucky Tony! Feliz Navidad

Collagemama said...

I have been sliding around in the flour on my kitchen floor, too, but no sprinkling of coconut.I made runzas for my youngest who arrives tonight. Lo, how many poinsettias I've been unable to revive over the years, but I always feel obliged to try. I await the bloom of a red amarylis that looks pretty naughty right now. Merry Christmas!

Kathleen said...

Lo, how I love the random coincidii of flours/flowers here!! Thank you, and happy holidays to all!

Hannah Stephenson said...

"I brought you flours," as Will Ferrell says in Stranger Than Fiction....

Happy holidays to you, Kathleen!

Kathleen said...

Yes! I love that sweet moment!