Pumpkin!

I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween (I scare so easily that I jump at noises I’m warned about), but I do love carving pumpkins. This week at the CSA pickup was a little bit boring: lettuces, peppers, kale, collard greens, and some herbs. There were also some blue potatoes which are so bizarre looking. But the best part is that I got a carving pumpkin! This is what I carved last year:



I was sort of at a loss for what to do this year, but then it struck me that this is Darwin’s 200th birthday so I found a suitable image of him online and will be carving this pumpkin this year.



I’ll be sure to post a picture when I carve it in a couple weeks. I don’t want to carve too earlier. Last year one of mine rotted before Halloween. Anyway, back to the CSA and food for the week. In addition to dinners this week (which we usually also use for lunch the next day), I made/will make some grab and go breakfasts and snacks. I’m working on Geoff’s schedule – 10:30 to 8 – so I’ve found that I either need an afternoon snack or an afternoon nap to make it to dinner. After the first time someone walked into my office and found me “resting my eyes” at my desk, I’ve tried to stay awake at work.

Sunday Lunch: Roasted Red Pepper Grilled Cheese and Salad
Sunday Dinner: Eggplant, Daikon, Red Pepper, Baby Veg Stirfry with Kashi 7 Grains
Monday: Poblanos stuffed with Corn, Black Bean, Tomatoes, Chicken, Cheese
Tuesday: Corn Chowder with Kale, Potatoes, Peppers , and Sausage flavored with Thyme
Thursday: Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens with Cornbread
Friday: Quiche Lorraine and Salad

Breakfasts: Grits Bake, Triple Apple Oat Bran Muffins
Snacks: Yogurt with Blueberries, Whole-Wheat Crackers and Natural Peanut Butter

Better late than never?

Okay, two blog posts coming today because that is what I promised those of you who are threatening to mutiny if I don’t update soon. Fall is definitely here. The floorboard heaters kicked on the other day because they are set to come on when the temperature dips below 50. The sun is setting earlier and earlier and I’ve taken to keeping a quilt in the living room to curl up under (specifically a t-shirt quilt my mom made – she’s where I got the crafty).

Work has been more than a little overwhelming lately. In part because, as I have realized recently, I tend to underestimate the amount of time that tasks will take me by a factor of between 3 and 5. The last week, I’ve been off by about 10. So that is my excuse for taking three weeks to finally post the pictures from Sarah’s baby shower (note that in my last post on Sept 21 I promised them "tomorrow" - never believe me when I say that). I picked a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme so the guests were greeted by this window display which I put up the day before and got a lot of weird looks from neighbors:



To complete the theme, I made a banner of all the foods the caterpillar eats and my lemon cupcakes with caterpillar green frosting became a caterpillar with help from some construction paper.



Because I am who I am, I foisted my love of crafts onto the guests. Here they are painting onesies and making baby blocks.





When Sarah and Erick told Geoff and I they were pregnant, Sarah said “Do you remember when we made those onesies for Kat? Can we do it again for me?” So of course we had to make onesies again. We used freezer paper stencils and it couldn’t be simpler. The results were soooo cute that I’ve already promised to turn them into a quilt once Sarah and Erick’s little girl outgrows them.








The geisha girl, the lei, and the Yankees onesies are mine. I also made a man-friendly (so that Erick would carry it) diaper bag which was the first time I ever worked with elastic, Velcro, and zippers and I filled the bag with some more handmade gifts.





My favorite is the Humpty-Dumpty which has snapped on arms and legs so he can fall apart and be put back together again. The puppets are actually made out of terry-cloth so that they can be used as washcloths. I just freehanded the designs and they came out pretty well (I can't draw at all, seriously, it looks like I'm missing my arms and learned to hold a pen with my toes). Then there is a tag ball made of scrap fabric and bits of ribbon. Evidently, babies like to grab and suck on tags? The sweater was made by my mom from the pattern she learned from her mom and taught to me. I love the stripes and purple is Sarah’s favorite color. The mushroom thing there is a rattle and the caterpillar has a squeaky dog toy in its head, the red contains a crunchy cat toy, and the orange has a bell cat toy in it. All of this was extremely irritating to Hank because she didn’t get to play with it. The ruby slippers seemed appropriate from a Kansas girl and the little kimono shoes are just so cute that I had to make them. Sarah had a great time and I believe her because she cried repeatedly, which is a sign of happiness in pregnant women.

Speaking of pregnant women, I want to welcome the newest member of my family. My cousin Kimmie gave birth yesterday to Wyatt Eric and I can’t wait to meet him!

Spicy Menu

Yesterday was Sarah’s baby shower and it was so much fun. She loved it and we all had a great time. More details tomorrow (I want to upload photos for you!) but just because I wanted to say hi tonight, here is a quick look at the menu of the week. This week is going to be a doozy. I had big plans to get a bunch of work done by the end of September and all of the sudden it is the 20th!! You know that famous Einstein quote about relativity “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.” Well this month has been so much fun that it felt like a week. So for the next seven days I’m going to get as much done as I can because next week my mom and dad are coming to visit!! So that is a long winded way of saying that I am going to mostly make simple meals this week so that I can get to work.

This week at the CSA, Geoff picked up leeks, kale, pear tomatoes, a few baby potatoes, zucchini and some crazy-looking 6 inch long peppers as well as some serranos . Since we have so many peppers, we’ll be having some yummy, spicy food all week.

Monday: Zucchini and Spinach Enchiladas
Tuesday: Roasted Tomatoes and Cippolini Onions with White Beans (from smitten kitchen)
Wednesday: Kale, Spicy Chicken Sausage, and Potato Pizza (I love it as a soup, why not a pizza)
Thursday: Devil’s Chicken with Braised Leeks (also from smitten kitchen)

Isn’t Self-Aggrandizement what Blogs are Really All About?

For the several weeks leading up to Sarah’s wedding, I spent my knitting night working on crafts for the bridal brunch. (To clarify, I have a knitting group on Thursdays, I don’t assign each day its own craft - although I should.) Anyway, my knitting companions were curious how the brunch went and I’m quite proud of the results so I thought I would share some more details. The guests seemed to enjoy themselves too.



The centerpieces were a bit of a challenged because I knew that I wouldn’t have time to get fresh flowers in Colorado Springs (especially with the bachelorette party the night before!). So I ended up spray painting Starbuck’s Frappucino bottles silver. I’m not a big fan of the Frapuccino, it is a little sweet, so Geoff drank them. I love how they came out. I got the idea from a blog where they were painted to look like old-fashion milk bottles. Then I added some willow branches and tissue paper flowers in teal. The tissue paper flowers were more than a little finicky and I ended up making about twice as many as I actually used. The tables were adorned with personalized confetti made of pictures of the bride and groom plus silver and teal circles.


My favorite part was the individual place settings. On top are corsages made of fringed strips of teal and white felt sewn into a spiral. Then I used ink-jet iron on transfers to add names and relationships to the ribbons and added those. Because there were high school and college friends of the bride, bride’s family, and groom’s family all attending I wanted to make sure that everyone knew who was who. The corsages also acted as placecards.



You can see that there is a wrapped favor at each place. The favors were lace edged hankies that my mom and I hand embroidered with the first initial of each guest. I embroidered Sarah and Veronica their new full monograms (SMK and VLH, respectively) and I really like how they look. I’m a big fan of monograms. People loved their hankies and almost everyone had them for the wedding the next day. I’m a ridiculous wedding crier (I made it about 45 seconds into Sarah’s) so the hankie idea was pretty much self-serving.




Lastly, I realized that I forgot to mention it in my last two posts but I wanted to give another big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Grandma Cris (who reads my blog) who turned 85 years young last Friday. Here she is last month with my cousins Abbie and Kimmie at Kimmie's baby shower. Grandma, you’re so amazing and I love you and I wish I got to see you more often!

Fall Weather = Soup

The weather around here is just chilly enough that our jackets have come out of storage and the tree outside the bedroom window is tinged with yellow. The nights are cold enough I’ve been contemplating a heavier blanket (because I refuse to close the windows) and daytime is crisp and breezy in the shade but warm in the sun. It’s my favorite time of the year. I’m ready for butternut squash, apples and pumpkins. But in particular I’m ready for soup – I LOVE soup and have to restrain myself to make it just a few times a week. This week at the CSA we got: leeks, head of lettuce, lots of red peppers (my favorite), jalapeños, serranos, cherry tomatoes, baby eggplants, baby yellow squash, cilantro, basil, rosemary, and parsley. So this week I’ll be making:
Monday: Roasted tomatoes, squash, eggplant, red peppers, kalamata olives, and feta over pasta
Tuesday: Curried Chicken Soup with Corn, Peppers, and Mushrooms plus kale
Wednesday: Salmon and Leeks in Parchment over couscous with spinach, lemon, and pine nuts
Thursday: Big Crock Pot of Chili because we are having people over
Friday: Double Broccoli Quinoa

I have lots more for you all this week, so stay tuned!