Fall

It is simply beautiful around here right now. I laughed out loud this morning on the way to work... it was almost unbelievable! Wildlife, fall colors, mist coming off the streams and swamps, that golden light!

Here's how my canned goods fared at the fair: 

Apple Butter

Maple Syrup

Sauerkraut

There were only two entries in the Sauerkraut division, and yet I got 4th place! That only enhances the mystery. Oh, the enigma of the county fair canned foods judge... they don't even taste the goods! 

Even sadder, I didn't get back to the fair on the Sunday night it closed in time to pick up my entries... most mourned is that maple syrup! March isn't too far, though.

Lupine

We made it about six weeks without a canine companion at TelltheBees. I could hardly stand living without a dog! 

After a couple of false starts in our dog-search, we found this girl. She's about a year old, has quite a pronounced underbite not so visible in this picture, and is very sweet. We're working on her manners... she is quite taken with the cats and chickens and rabbit, though the feeling is not, understandably, mutual. She has endeared herself to us by kissing Xan, greeting us at the door with whimpers and wags, and collecting things from around the house to surround her as she sleeps on her pillow. This morning Jake found her in the middle of a pair of his shoes, a pair of my flip-flops, and three throw pillows. None were chewed upon, just brought there to keep her company as she slept at the bottom of the stairs, apparently. 

I think she'll be a good dog, and it feels so much better being home now that she's here. 

Snippets

All food-related snippets, as it turns out.

Being back at school and busy with all kinds of other activities makes me want to be intentional about what we're eating so we don't end up eating convenient things like frozen pizza, which is so good and such a temptation! So far that has meant me cooking a lot on Sundays and pre-packing lots of lunches and preparing lots of meals to warm up throughout the week. Eggs, as always, play a prominent role, and that is another post in the making. Here are some other things happening in our kitchen.

Apple cider made the house smell wonderful today! I didn't have cinnamon sticks so I emptied out an old teabag and refilled it with apple pie spice, and wrapped it up with a twist tie.

Wanted to remember this way to preserve "fresh" ginger in the refrigerator: slice and store in a jar of cooking sherry! Sherry is often in Thai cooking anyway, and in which I most often use fresh ginger, so it all works out.

Kraut is currently fermenting itself in our pantry... still in a plastic bucket. We are on the lookout for a real kraut crock.

The best salsa we've ever made, pre-canning. I think the kicker was the roasted corn, and the use of apple-cider vinegar instead of white. We used the end as a base for chili tonight, which was great.

A new Sunday ritual is making granola. In this week's batch, I included toasted amaranth and quinoa grains, which add a delightful crunch. It is sweetened with maple syrup.

Look at these incredible maple sugar crystals that ended up on the inside of our jug! I'm trying to figure out something else to store in there that could be infused with all that great maple sugar flavor. 

I hope you're eating as well around your place!  

Grilled Greens and Raw Kale Salad

These were introduced to me early in the summer, and we've been enjoying them with regularity ever since.

A few weeks ago, while visiting my lovely aunt in her lovely home near the lovely Shenandoah National Park, we branched out from the lacinato kale we usually use and into collard greens and curly kale, with great results.

So good we made these three times while we were there! Once plain, once with feta cheese and black pepper, and once to chop up and use as a pizza topping.

We'll be grilling our greens as long as its warm enough to cook outside- there is a forest of kale in our garden! 

To use up some of it, we've been eating a lot of raw kale salad. A few times in the past weeks we've put some roasted garlic and olive oil in the bottom of a salad bowl and then add chopped kale and a little salt. We then "massage" the kale until it wilts a bit and leave it to sit for at least 30 minutes. Our favorite combination has been to add some roasted squash and toasted walnuts. I don't have a picture, but its beautiful!