First Snow!

It snowed this week for the first time this year.  It wasn’t that light fluffy snow that clings to the branches and makes everything look magical.  This was that grainy, icy snow that freezes everything and erases all hope of salvaging anything in the garden.  But it was pretty nonetheless. 

The Wedding

We had a wedding this weekend.  It was truly lovely.  I’ll let it speak for itself. 

 

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: At a Wedding...

We’ll be at a wedding this weekend --- my husband’s son’s wedding to be precise.  And I’m planning to flirt with my husband at this wedding.  I’m planning to show him just how very glad I am that we had our own wedding --- and that I married HIM. 

I plan to hold his hand for most of the ceremony. 

I plan to squeeze his hand and shoot him little lovey glances during the vows.  The words won’t be quite the same as ours, but the thoughts and ideas will be the same. 

I also plan to dance with my husband quite a bit at the reception.  And if things work out, I’m planning to snuggle against him while we watch the new married couple dance. 

And after the wedding is over --- I might be planning to re-enact our wedding night --- but I’m not telling. 

Face it – weddings are a great chance to flirt with your husband.

I have a lovely friend who is all crazy about the Twilight series.  I’ll admit I read the entire series (including the two mongraphs that came out later)  I haven’t seen the movies, and have no desire to see them.  The books, I found disturbing ---- but each of us has different tastes ---- and Sue loves these books.  She loves everything about the story and finds it intensely romantic. 

So, for Halloween, I agreed that I’d help plan a Twilight party.  It turned out to be a great deal trickier than I thought --- When one thinks of vampires and werewolves, one gets a rather dark image – lots of black and burgundy colors.  But in the Twilight books, the descriptions of the vampires is all very light – lots of white, they shimmer in the sunlight.  The Cullen’s house has lots of windows, white walls, beautiful and elegant furnishings.  How, on earth, to mix the two images and come up with a party that would leave Sue satisfied. 

First, a quick browse around the internet yielded this gorgeous tablescape 

--- a vision of the wedding scene come to life.  I LOVE it.  It is gorgeous, elegant, simple, tasteful ---- absolutely beautiful.  Could I borrow some of this and mix in a few “darker” elements in the food and drink and come up with a smashing vampire party for Halloween? 

What about a menu of rare roast beef --- bloody roast beef, if you pardon the image for a moment.  Serve it with a gorgeous beet salad (I’m loving the red without being too gory). 

Appetizers??? Maybe crudite with baked brie?? All that melty, oozy goodness can’t go wrong --- its light and white --- we could play on the “vegetarian” joke in the book.  If we bake the brie with a cranberry chutney, it would carry out the red theme and the contrast between the burgundy color of the chutney and the creamy pale cheese would be absolutely beautiful. 

Dessert?? Apples --- how could it be anything else?? But something subtle here, I think --- Sliced sautéed apples with a light caramel sauce and a little dab of vanilla ice cream or even crème fraiche.  Serve them in martini glasses to give it a little kick. 

Tie the whole thing together with two kinds of sangria --- white and red, of course.  And set the table, using the inspiration photo, with lots of white dishes, white linens, hydrangeas, green apples with the occasional deep red apple thrown in for contrast. 

What do you think, Sue??? Beautiful??  Twilighty??? Fun.

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: Hike in the Woods

We’re heading out to the woods today.  I’ve packed the insulated backpack with ham and cheese sandwiches on onion rolls (makes the plain old ham and cheese just a tiny bit more special).  I’ve tucked in bottles of lemon seltzer, a few cookies, a small bunch of grapes, and some cucumber chips.  That should be enough to keep us happy. 

We get so much use out of that insulated back pack.  I wish I could recall who gifted us with it.  When we first received it,  I’ll confess, I thought it was silly and fairly useless.  And, I suppose for its intended use, it is.  It doesn’t hold enough for a real picnic and the wine holder sleeve that attaches to the side makes it bulky and awkward.  But for taking a little picnic hiking or biking, it can’t be beat.  I freeze a water bottle or two and place them in the bottom of the bag to act as ice packs (and drinks at the end of the trail) and then add a light lunch for two.  The backpack slings nicely onto my husband’s strong shoulders and we’re off.  Our backpack has been on countless bike rides and hikes through the woods.  I can’t imagine what we ever did before it. 

So today, its going hiking.  We’re off to the woods.  We’ll hike (and try not to get lost).  We’ll take a few photos of the changing leaves.  We’ll find a quite spot with a fallen tree or two for our picnic lunch.  And the world will stop just for us for a few hours.  Bliss.

Pasta with Sweet Potato

Pasta with Sweet Potato

We’ve long enjoyed the classic Rigatoni with Broccoli, Olive Oil and Garlic --- this is just a little fall twist on that classic taste.  We’re subbing in Sweet Potato for the Broccoli and adding a little bit of oregano to jazz it up.  Since the herb garden is coming to its very end, this will use up the last of my oregano, I think.  Try it:

·      4-5 small/medium sweet potatoes

·      1 box of chunky pasta (we like Rigatoni – but whatever you like)

·      Olive oil

·      Fresh garlic – sliced or chopped – your preference.

·      Stalks of fresh oregano

·      Parmesan cheese – grated (not the green box!!)

Bake the sweet potatoes for about an hour in a 375 oven.  You want them still firm, but cooked. 

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box

When you drain it – keep about ¼ cup of the cooking water to mix with the dish later.

Heat some olive oil in your skillet --- add the garlic slices and cook until they just begin to turn golden colored. 

Add the oregano and heat for just a minute or so – to infuse the flavor

Cut the sweet potatoes into 1/8 sections and quickly peel each section. 

Pour the drained pasta and the peeled sweet potato chunks into a large mixing bowl. 

Add the oil/garlic/oregano mixture and the pasta water (if you need it – I sometimes don’t)

Toss and serve with lots of parmesan

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: Breakfast Date

This is the time of year when I love having a breakfast date.  There’s something about fall that makes breakfast at our favorite coffee shop a real treat. 

For us, for this particular treat, it has to be a morning with the luxury of time, and the absence of real hunger ----- because there is no real, serious breakfast involved.  Oh, there are mornings when we go out for breakfast at some lovely restaurant and have omelets or French toast.  But this fall breakfast date is not that. 

We’ll go to Chocolate Springs and nestle into the sofa at the far end of the room.  They’ll have the pecan buns from Wheatleigh.  They are amazing.  Its probably a good thing that I can’t get my hands on the recipe – but if Gourmet magazine ever wants to print that recipe, I’ll be happy to clip it out and laminate it. 

We’ll bring the paper and browse through together, noticing articles and announcements that would otherwise skitter past unnoticed.  We’ll chat and read little bits of interesting articles to each other.  We’ll giggle at comics, silly photos, grammatical errors and more.

Several cups of hot steamy chai and coffee later, we’ll sigh, and begin to gather our things to leave.  We’ll return to the mundane --- go grocery shopping, take the car to the car wash, and return the bottles to get our deposits back.  But for that hour or so in the coffee shop, with sticky buns and steaming drinks --- we’re lost in our own little romantic world. 

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: Last Patio Dinner

Our date this week will be one last dinner out on the patio.  Soon, the weather will be too cold to enjoy eating out there.  And the time will soon arrive to put the outdoor furniture under wraps to protect it from the winter’s cold and snow.  But for now, one last crazy dinner out under the stars suits me fine. 

Since the weather is already beginning to chill in the evenings, we’ll plan some warm comfort food.  I’m thinking about maybe a hearty quiche.  They’re one of my favorite ways to use up leftovers --- a nice eggy custard in pie crust filled with whatever bits of vegetables I have from the fridge.  I’ll add a bowl of soup beside it.  Its time to break out the crock pot and start my fall/winter ritual of weekly pots of soup. 

We’ll light the tiki torches, not for the bugs – they’re gone for the season – but for the flickering flames --- romance ---- and warmth.  Our friends recently inherited one of those fire pits that acts like a free-standing outdoor fireplace.  I’m not willing to pay actual money for one --- but I love the idea.  If anyone would like to bequeath a fire pit to me, I’ll happily accept. I might even start keeping my eye open for one at tag sales and such.  I wonder if I could extend the use of the patio by a few weeks with a fire pit???

We’ll sit and huddle together over hot tea and coffee and just enjoy being together.  We’ll talk about our day, wonder about the craziness of the world around us, and re-connect in that profound and simple way that knits couples together. 

I’ll sit on my patio and flirt with my husband.  Does life get any better??

Assistant Wanted: Virtual Need Apply

With school having started, my to-do list is getting longer and longer.  Things are in serious danger of not making it onto a “list” and just hoping I’ll remember them.  Clearly, this is not going to work for me.  And it is going to be one very long school year if I don’t find a better way. 

Since I have an IPhone (who’s potential I clearly don’t maximize”) I thought I’d try getting a little more work out of it.  I’ve been looking at personal organizers and virtual assistants. 

I tried Cozi.  It gives you a calendar, to-do lists and more.  It will email your calendar to you each week (even after you decide you don’t want it anymore). And its free. But it doesn’t sync with the IPhone – only with Blackberries and other such smartphones.  So it didn’t help me “on the run”. 

I’m looking now at Jott.  For $3.95 a month Jott will let me phone in messages and reminders to myself and send them back to me as emails.  It will add things to my calendar and set reminder alarms on the calendar for me.  Jott does a bunch of other things too – like converting voicemails to text messages – that I’m not sure I need or want. 

Also on my list of possible hires is Toodledo.  Toodledo is basically a to-do list dream for the Iphone.  It lets me keep a list of to-dos, prioritize them, keep track of due dates etc.  It will sync with ICal (good) and with most other applications known to man.  And its free. 

Next candidate:  RemembertheMilk.  This one also is a steroidal to-do list.  It lets you make lists, set due dates, prioritize tasks etc.  It syncs with googlemaps so you can use the GPS function on the IPhone with it (not sure how useful I’ll find that one, but you never know).  Its free too (like that price)  The only thing I don’t think I like about it is that it looks like you have to email tasks to yourself rather than just add them directly. 

I’m still interviewing --- the freebies may get a probationary period.  I’ll let you know who I hire.

Flirt With Your Husband Friday: Lunchboxes

Do you pack your husband’s lunch?? Or maybe he packs yours??? (I’ll confess, I’m a spoiled princess who has her lunch packed for her every Monday morning --- talk about love.)  But I leave designated leftovers in the fridge for his lunch all the time ---

However the lunch deal works itself out in your family, it can be a time to flirt shamelessly. 

The next time you’re at the dollar store or the clearance rack of office supplies,  grab some of the adorable shaped post-it notes.  Not just the heart shaped ones, they’re obvious – try the Hawaiian shirt ones, or the bright yellow star shaped ones.  The unusual  post it notes make for great little love notes in a lunch box or even left in the fridge on the leftovers container. 

Whether you choose simple sweet notes:  “I love you”, or even just drawing hearts all over that Hawaiian shirt note --- or choose something a little more seductive --- “this shirt wouldn’t stay on you long if I were there” (okay, really cheesy, I know) – a little love note will give him a smile.  And isn’t that what flirting is all about??? It makes you smile --- and smile ---- and smile……..

Deep Dish Quiche

I’m almost ready to work the oven again.  The heat of summer is dissipating and we’re ready for hearty foods once again.  We’re still hosting guests fairly regularly, so I’m looking at quiches and frittatas for breakfasts.  This one caught my eye.  Its hearty, yummy and not your usual quiche

Deep Dish Quiche

Olive oil for the pan

1 onion sliced thinly

garlic (to taste)

1 package of baby spinach

dash of salt

pepper

refrigerated pie crust (I do NOT make my own pie crust anymore – Pillsbury’s is good)

1 jar of roasted red peppers

1 lb of mushrooms sliced and cooked

6 oz cheese

4 eggs

1 cup of milk

½ tsp dried rosemary crushed

Preheat the oven to 350 (always)

Using your large skillet (mine is cast iron) – heat a little olive oil and sauté the onions and garlic until softened

Add the spinach, and salt and pepper.  Cook until wilted.  Drain off any excess liquid

Using a springform pan (trust me on this one) line the pan with the piecrust.  Make sure to come up the sides – that’s the point of “deep dish”

Spread half of the vegetables (all of them) over the bottom of the crust.  Top with half of the cheese

Repeat the layers so you have 4 layers in all

Beat the eggs and milk together. Add the rosemary

Pour over the vegetables and cheese

Bake for 50-60 minutes (until a knife comes out clean)

Labor Day

--- Aaaah, Labor Day.  Its such a bittersweet weekend.  On the one hand, it’s a long, three-day weekend with time to relax and enjoy.  On the other hand, it is the harbinger of fall, the exclamation mark on summer.  School is back in session.  The weather is beginning to hint at changes.  The beach is surely done for the season. 

But it also the promise of fall.  The whisper of changing leaves, crisp mornings, apple picking and pumpkins.  There is so much to look forward to. 

One of the wonders of living in the Northeast is the drama of the changing seasons.  Fall is incredibly different than summer or winter.  It holds wonder and joy that is all its own.  Labor Day can be a day to mourn the loss of summer ---- or it can be a welcoming and anticipation of the arrival of autumn.  The glass can be half full if we allow it to be.