My Thanksgiving

Autumn light through copper leaves


Hedge apples found in plenty during country walks




Dried pods in fields.

Warm and sunny fall days, perfect to take long walks through pastures. Most of the cows didn't mind. One was worried, and galloped over to her cow friends. Cows are faster than you would imagine.


Cow skull in pasture

seventies cake!

This was fun.

My friend got thrown a surprise 70's party. I made the cake, and 'Watergate salad'. I had a blast shopping at Playclothes.



Although 'Pineapple Upside-down Cake' is a popular 70's dessert, my friend's favorite cake is chocolate. So I let simmer the different ways I could present to her a slice of the 1970's. I love looking at this site.

I baked 4 layers of cake and let cool (yes, boxed cake mix, I know! I will make a from scratch cake soon!)

As I frosted between each layer, I added chopped up peanut butter cups, as well.



After the cake was assembled and frosted chocolate, I glazed the top with a delicious peanut butter frosting (from scratch, yeay). This glaze was so good, I think I'll use it in the layers rather than peanut butter cups next time.




To get a fun 70's retro look, I made flowers out of Reese's Pieces.


Voila!

PS. I loved the 'Watergate Salad', and remember eating it at formal family gatherings as a child. Some people also shared this nostalgia, but others were like, 'Ewww Gross!'

I ask you, can you 'Ewww Gross' something made with these fine, gourmet ingredients?

oology

When a baby bird is ready to hatch, you cannot assist it in breaking the shell, or it will die. It must break out of it's shell by itself.

'The word in French for hatch is éclore, which also means to blossom, come out.'

windflowers, j w waterhouse

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice—

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world determined to do

the only thing you could do—

determined to save

the only life you could save.

mary oliver

black apples and steak au poivre

Hello,

I was in the kitchen for hours last night and loved it. Little short stack was totally underfoot, though, willing me to drop things!

No McIntosh apples were to be had at my grocer this weekend, sadly, but there were 'Arkansas black apples'. How exciting. I'm eating half of one right now. The skin is indeed very dark red, its taste is U - Pick - Em farm tart and green, very dense. Likely candidates for caramel apple-ing.

I followed Martha's recipe for Steak au Poivre, from the October Living issue. How simple! One of my cooking goals was to be better at meat cooking, as I don't feel I know how to cook it at all. This was essentially browning and roasting. I can do that. Served with button mushrooms sauteed in butter, it made a warming Sunday evening meal.

The rest of my weekend was calm and rewarding. I rode bikes with my friend on Sunday afternoon, which felt like being 14 again, when we'd rollerskate to the store to get Snapple. I stole a couple of paperbacks from her paperback swap collection, heheh. 'The Historian' and 'The Middle of Nowhere'. I hope they are good reads, I've fallen off of the wagon again!

In crafty news, I found myself on an impromptu artist's date. Joann's didn't have a very diverse felt selection, and I am thinking about getting the pattern PDF of at least one of Posy Gets Cozy's felt ornaments. Maybe I should just 'invest' in some nice wool felt? I've been saying I should get some for one entire year.

What are your fall/ winter crafting and cooking goals?

ode to the mcintosh

Talking to my sister in the wee hours of post daylight savings, she said she likes to look for silly, 'kid' jokes online to cheer herself up. What a great idea, and cheaper than online shopping.

I've been enjoying the quiet morning time this week, getting up and ready with time to enjoy a cup of tea and calm. Making little lists of things to do: Go to bank, go to post office, see if there are still McIntosh apples at the market.

My favorite apple to eat is the McIntosh.
Little tingles on my tastebuds and fingertips come every fall when I see them in the grocery store. Alas, as unannounced as they arrive, they leave again, and all too quickly.

My Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple tea box says this:
"Whenever you feel the need or wish to cheer yourself, think about all of the good qualities of those who are around you- the energy of one, for instance, the modesty of another, the generosity of a third, and some other gift of a fourth. For nothing is ever so cheering as the images of the qualities shining through in the character fo those who live with us... Have these images then ever before your eyes". Marcus Aurelius

This is an exercise similar to the joke finding and telling. Maybe after I think of all the reasons I love my friends, I should call them and tell them my hilarious new jokes.

And to say this about the McIntosh- You are crisp and sweet and not too tart. You are shiny, taste like autumn, and somehow feel better in the palm of my hand than any other apple. Cheers to you, McIntosh.

Because shopping is fun, things that stay fresh longer than a few sweet days that I'd like to taste and smell and feel and use:

Macintosh Apple Bliss Candle (already in etsy cart)

Jeni's Red Hot Apple Cider Sorbet, Rooibush Apple Strudel Tea, MacIntosh Yankee Candles, Candy Apple handspun, an apple cozy, Macintosh Apple soap

living dead cupcakes

I forgot to post about my living dead cupcakes!

Again, I let Halloween come and go without getting a costume together. I got a blonde wig and then had to decide between costume making or cupcake making. Sugar won!

I'll need to do what the rest of my family does- plan one year in advance. They already know the theme of next years party: zombies! grrrr.arrrrg. This year, it was The Adventurer's Club, the year before it was 'Classic Costumes', and before that, 'Night at the Museum'. How fun, right?

My plan for 'Living Dead Cupcakes':

1 box of chocolate cake mix

1 jar cherry preserves

1 tub white frosting ( I know, Danica, I know!!!) + black and green food coloring, plus black writing gel

Cinnamon red hots

I wanted to put a dollop of red jam in the middle of the cupcake for blood. My friend who has made vegan 'jelly donut' cupcakes before walked me through this endeavor. Her advice is as follows:

Fill the cupcake liner 1/2 to 3/4 way full of cake batter (but no higher, we want a flat top)

Spend a minute or two stirring some of your jam in a bowl ( I used a sprinkle of water, as well). This makes a better jelly consistency.

Dollop 1 teaspoon of jam into the center of the batter. More jam will sink.

Bake cupcakes

They should come out not having sunk outside of the cake.

To make the mummies, I originally wanted to try decorating with fondant strips. But, getting tired and not wanting to make another stop after the grocery store, I picked the next best white and edible thing: marshmallows. After the fact, a pastry chef friend of mine suggested microwaving marshmallows for up to 10 seconds to get them more malleable, but I just flattened them (using flour so the sticky bits didn't over complicate it). When they were flat, I cut them into mummy strips and positioned them on the baked and frosted cupcakes, with cinnamon evil eyes and a gel mouth.

The Frankenstein's Monsters and Ghosties were a last minute addition to the batch, because I didn't want to be flattening and cutting marshmallows all morning.

I really liked buying and using black food coloring (not pictured were some gravestone 'RIP' cupcakes). I'll have to try that in another project soon.

apple cider donuts

My first deep fry experience did not end in a kitchen fire.

So, that's a plus.

My donuts were not amazing. Here is where I think I could do better next time with this recipe that looks so pretty in her pictures:

I was very nervous about all the very hot oil on the stove. When it started to heat up too quickly, the oil was splurting and spatting like the bog of eternal stench. I turned down the stove quickly, and the hot (non-hydrogenated) shortening calmed down a bit.

The recipe says fry the donuts at 350 F. I still do not have a candy thermometer, so I hung the oven thermometer on the inside of the pan.. Half-trusting the temperature reading and fearing a grease fire, I started frying when it read about 300. The donuts were supposed to cook 30 - 60 seconds, and I think I let them cook a little too long on each side.

baked on left, fried on the right

The fried one in the picture looks like a donut should look, but coming straight out of the hot oil, they looked overcooked. Because they looked so greasy, I put the second half of the batch in the oven to bake. Although they looked better at first, they were a little dry and under flavored.

In the end, the deep fried ones tasted better (with the cider glaze, definitely, otherwise, too dry).

Happy Autumn