Happy Halloween!

The basil finally gave up the ghost.  hahaha!

"Candy Corn"

Isn't this just too funny!?!  Terry sent me a bag from Colorado.  If you look closely at the bag, you can see that the inside of the Ms are WHITE chocolate.  (I actually thought they had "E"s on them before I realized I was looking at them sideways.  That should scare you, although maybe I was thinking that they spelled out "white".  Ok, now I know you are scared.)

BOO!

39°

Standing over the ironing board, with a steaming iron and in front of a sunny window, suddenly becomes a really delightful activity!

Blustery

But no accumulation to speak of.  Not the case in Salt Lake so I am grateful for the moisture we have received.  It didn't even start here until 6am so the boys went in and out a couple of times without having to be toweled off.  That really makes me grateful!

You Just Never Know

I had to go to WalMart to pick up a prescription, so today became Errand Day even though Errand Day is really Wednesday.

I had printer ink on the list as well as composition books and specifically graphed composition books which I had been told could be found at Staples.  They only had the books with a red cover so I just bought one, $2.29.  The printer ink was too expensive so I will look around.

At WalMart, I found the black and white books for 94¢ and I bought all they had.

Once I was home I compared the books and found that they both were dimensionally the same and each has 100 sheets of paper.  However the Staples book was manufactured in Vietnam and the WalMart books are manufactured in the USA.

So there you go.  Kudos to WalMart on this one.

So Impressed!

Just fabulous!!  First ever, hand knit sock completed by Miss Sally Jr..  What a girl!   

Fall Table Topper

It's a simple pattern to show off a big print with a window effect.  Finished 39x39.

Starting The Day

It's 37 degrees outside and at 8:56 the sun is not over the mountains yet.  Nonetheless, a balloon is cavorting around the neighborhood!  Good thing the boys were inside so the barking was somewhat limited.

The picture makes it look like the balloon is right over my neighbor's garage and it was!  I was waiting to hear them crash into the trees but they gave it some gas and lifted up ever so slightly but just enough.

So much excitement!

October Light

The angle of the sun this morning made the garage look stunning.  I don't think I captured it at all. Maybe this is better:

Or maybe you just needed to be standing on the deck with me at 8:30 am.  :-)

10-11-12 Celebration Part 1

 My Amazon order delivered two days early!

Another Fabulous Drawer and Jack

You know, I said that when we brought home the drawer organizers from Ikea we were grousing a bit about nothing fitting the way we wanted it too, and yet, here is one more drawer that has turned out fabulously!

This drawer is to the left of the oven and so a bit far from the cooktop for reaching utensils.  However it is a perfect place for the food saving packaging materials.  The foil sits under the waxed paper and shares an organizer with the plastic wrap.  Brilliantly, the plastic wrap faces outward, parallel to the side of the drawer, allowing the user to pull out the amount of wrap needed, cut it with the handy-dandy slider, all without removing the box from the drawer!!  It makes me so happy, I point it out to the boys every time I use the plastic wrap!

And finally, here is a finished Jack:

The lighting is poor but he is so cute and not as crooked as the angle of this shot makes him look.  This little table topper, approx. 18"x18", was a kit from American Quilting and everything was pre-cut, even the 2 1/2 inch squares.  It went together very fast.  And right this minute I can smell someone in the neighborhood roasting marshmallows!  Yay!  Fall!

Working in the Kitchen

Some tossing and arranging but no cabinet painting yet.  Today I was processing tomatoes.

I only ended up with 4 pints of crushed tomatoes.  I plugged in the portable hob so I could put the big pot on it and used the regular burners for lids and the tomatoes.  I have tons of very large green tomatoes that will never ripen at this late date and an internet search turned up a green tomato chutney recipe.  I will give that a try.

There are also tons of Roma tomatoes which it seems will be best handled by freezing.  Plenty of room in the freezer now that the big dogs are eating kibble instead of raw chicken.  The grape tomatoes are huge and I think will be dried.  Running out of time though, 30 is predicted for tomorrow night.  Fortunately, I am working a weird shift and will be home by 3-ish and will have enough time to pick it all.

I finished the day with a Jacques Pepin recipe from his series Fast Food My Way  and I found the recipe here.  My changes were to pre-cook some carrots and then add them with the other vegetables at the end.  Also, I had no dry white wine and used chicken broth instead.  It was fabulous and I will make this again.

Served with brown rice and topped with chives on a pumpkin plate.

Crusty Chicken Thighs - Jacques Pepin

• 4 chicken thighs, skin on
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 3 cloves  chopped or pressed garlic
• 3 cups white mushrooms, washed and diced
• 1/3 cup dry white wine (I used chicken broth)
• 1 tablespoon chives, chopped

Set the chicken thighs skin-side down on a cutting board. Cut a 1/2 inch thick slash on either side of the thigh bone. Season the thighs on both sides with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Place chicken skin-side down in cold non-stick skillet. Turn the heat to high. When chicken starts to sizzle, turn heat to medium and move the thighs around to make sure they aren't sticking. Cover and cook for 16 to 18 minutes. Check the chicken occasionally to keep it from sticking. If the skin is browning too much after 10 minutes, turn heat to low. When done, transfer the thighs to a warm oven.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the chicken fat. Turn heat to high and add onion, garlic, and mushrooms.  Sauté, stirring often about 3 minutes.  Sprinkle in the remaining salt and pepper.  Pour in the wine (chicken broth). Continue to cook for one minute over high heat until the sauce reduces.

Spoon some of the sauce onto a plate and top with one of the chicken thighs. Sprinkle on some chives and serve (with brown rice.)

Organizing

One of the things that made me crazy about the old bottom kitchen cupboards was the corner cabinet.  It was set on an angle and I had to use tongs while prone on the kitchen floor to reach anything that fell off the back of the big turntables.

So I reconfigured the cabinets so the corner one opens on the back of the peninsula, right next to the phone on the wall.  With the drawer organizers we picked up at Ikea, Amy worked her magic and said,

 

"now you have a drawer just like Grandma's."

Indeed I do.  Happy birthday, Mom.