Eating Brains...and pie.

Jojo Buns was my hero today.  I had to play a bunch of nursing home parties, and he stepped up to the plate for me.  He made a big batch of caramel corn and a veggie tray for Coco's classroom party, dressed up in suspenders and a tie, and then spent the afternoon being room dad and taking lots of pics for me.

When we all got home, I ran upstairs to layer as many shirts as would fit under my sweater...because it was cold as hell and there was freezing rain.  When I came back down, Zombie Joe was was making pie two ways...beef sirloin pot pie with carrots, potatoes, squash, onions, and a lush brown gravy...and apple pie for dessert.

Trick or treating with Joe went something like this.  Coco asked if it was raining, and Zombie Joe said "yes, raining brains and I'm gonna eat them all and put some in my pocket so mom can have some later."  His response to everything all night pretty much involved eating brains.  Before Coco ran up to each house Zombie Joe would yell "Go Get Em' Coco!"  Loudly.  As if there was a chance that she was maybe not going to get candy if she didn't nail her approach. (although she was disappointed when she got a coupon at one house...until I explained that the coupon got her lunch at Big Boy...oh yeah.)

Zombies and Witches

Vampires and Day of the Dead

(thanks Coco Rosie for helping me make fun pics!)

Zombie Joe only made one little girl cry all night.  She pointed and said he was really scary, to which her mother replied "Oh, he's just a mime!"   ????

To which Joe replied "Yes, a mime who likes to eat brains!!!!"

Now if you'll excuse me, I have all kinds of pie to eat!!  Happy Halloween!!   xoxo, e.

Gravestones and Chili.

The colors usually peak at our house around the second weekend in October.  Over those few weeks when things are picture perfect fall around here, I try and lure as many people out as I can for hikes, cider, chili, and love.

This years chili fest was on a crisp fall day.  Grey sky, perfect leaves.

A huge roaster of chili.

Cornbread and Allison's fresh brioche.

Sweet apple crisp.

Hot cider and rum.

mmmmmm.....ahhhhhhh...

While the husbands finished up dinner, the mom's loaded up all of the kids and took a quick field trip to the little town cemetery across the road...for Halloween fun and pics!

And, as I write this, the leaves are officially down, blowing violently around the yard.  The big storm is moving in for all of us, and my gut is that the other end of that will feel like winter.  Hunker down folks!  Stay warm, take care of each other...weather the storm!!

xoxo, e.

two day suitcase...

I love packing for a weekender.  

Just a little of this and that.  

A few snacks.  A few pairs of boots.  

Plaid, wool, corduroy, and denim.  

Warm scarves and argyle socks.

        His.....and.....Hers   

a blanket and a basket, waiting for a bottle of wine, some fresh goat cheese, and the big lake.

and, empty Tandem growlers ready for the fillin'.

xoxo....e.

things I didn't steal...

...at Pioneer Days.

This is just a checking in blog post really.  It's been a busy week.  Work has been hectic, family has been in and out of town, and it's time to baton down the farm hatches for the winter.  I also have a bunch of shop stuff to list, which nags at me until I get it measured, listed, and tucked away.  Ideally, one should list a few things every few days...this keeps you higher in the search engine list.  I, however, don't have the time or, frankly, the patience needed for the slow and steady method.  I like to get it all done, and then spend my evenings snuggled on the couch reading.  (but it's never really done - then I'm just fixated on the next photo shoot and washing, ironing, blah blah blah.)

But never you mind.  My family came over for a fall cuddle-in-and-love-each-other- overnighter this weekend.  I like when we are all under one roof.  I like waking up with Coco and my niece Sadie here together...grandpa sweetly reading them Sunday morning stories...grandma getting Sunday dinner started before we've even had our coffee.  My mamma put a turkey in the roaster, and we all had an early meal before my sister and her husband hit the road back to Cincinnati.

Early afternoon, my parents, Joe, Coco, and I all went to Pioneer Days at the Waterloo Historical Farm Museum.  This is Coco's jam...she can't get enough of the historical farm.  We have lazily wasted many a Sunday afternoon touring the farm - Coco often adding in facts or correcting the tour guides...I'm telling you, she loves this stuff, the sweet little history buff.

Most weekends when we go to the farm, they have all of the curtains closed inside the house so as not to expose the Victorian era home goods to the sun.  On Pioneer Days, however, they open that house up!!!  And I can take pictures of the things that i want to casually wear out, hoping no one will notice.  Kidding!  I did not steal anything from Pioneer Day's ;).  We are members people, that just wouldn't look good.

I, oh, what can I even say. These just sit in the attic, dying a slow lonely death.

They did not fit in my purse.

Sigh.  The Victorian shoes and beaver skin top hats.  Sigh.

The attic at the farm house is full of weird treasures and amazing taxidermy.

They have a great display of Victorian hair art in the parlor, and some huge feather art pieces (this is why I saved all those turkey feathers Kelly and Allison...Christmas craft ideas!!)

Wringing out the laundry!

A dried flowers craft, and a handsome man carrying my bundle of dried wild flowers (weeds).  They were $1!!  We can use them for crafts ok?

I don't even know what to say about these poor people.  They were singing their hearts out...over the loud bluegrass band that was like 20 feet away.  Poor planning on someones part.

The evening light catching just right in my den...perhaps my favorite place in the house.

Au revoir for now sweets.  Grandma Kate is coming for a visit with Coco, and Joe and I are headed up north for a romantic weekender.  What????  Michigan?  Up North?  In October??   Perfection.

...and all you're ever gonna be is mean.

Happy October, or Anti-Bullying Month!...a post for the kids, teenagers, and adults that I love.

Much of my days are spent driving.  This time of year rivals all other seasons as my favorite.  I adore driving through Michigan in October - the farms ripe with harvest, the colors peaking, the air perfectly crisp.  For most of my adult life, my drive time has been spent listening to NPR...to the point where on some days, I hear the same broadcast in the morning and on my drive home.  But no matter, I am always better for it and definitely more informed.

There have been quite a few programs on this month in "celebration" of anti-bulling.  So, I've been working away my two cents on this in my head as I drive the back roads.

When we are little, there is, perhaps, a certain amount of understanding.  Kids don't know better; they are products of their parents.  Kids tease, and kids will be kids.  Having said this, it stills feels crushing and painful to be teased, or to be made to feel different.   So this is where it starts.  Teach your children tolerance and acceptance.  Teach them love, kindness, and respect for others.

The teenage years are just plain awful.  No matter which "group" of friends you fall into, there always seems to be some group that is better and cooler.  We are insecure and unsure of ourselves and our bodies, and don't need the cool kids to point out our flaws...which we are already painfully aware of, and which they always seem to do.  We haven't even begun to figure out who we are, or who we want to be.  And, what we painfully do not yet know, is that in a few short years, high school is a small, distant, memory, and that none of the popularity contests matter at all!

And, now we are adults.  I would like to say that I do not know another adult who would speak poorly about another woman, wife, or mother, but this would not be true.  I would like to say that, as adults, people should know better than to disrespect others, but sadly that is not always the case.  I have seen it played out in blogs, on Facebook, and in community gossip and hidden whispers.

In any and all of these cases, I sincerely believe that one thing remains true.  Bullies do not act out based on the flaws of their victims.  They act out based on the flaws in themselves...their own insecurities, their own unhappiness, and their own discontent.  Victims become scapegoats for the whole bundle of crap seeded deep within the bully themselves.

One of the basic principles that all people deserve is to be treated with respect.  I don't care how old you are, what your faith or lack there-of is, or what economic class you belong to - you deserve to be treated with respect.  Whether we like each other or not, you and I both deserve to be treated with respect.

So, to the victims - You are probably not the bully's first target, and probably not their last, but remember - it's not about you, it's their problem.  It's about them.

And, to the bullies - Go ahead and take all the cheap shot one liners you need to.  You do not now, have never, nor will you ever have any bearing on my life.  After all, this is not about me.  It's about you.

I had a presentation last night and got home pretty late.  I brought home some chicken nuggets (to which Coco said "mamma, you little rascal you!"), and we had a little picnic on the floor and talked about our days.  And then we worked up a little anti-bullying number for you.  Coco is my very favorite person in the whole wide world.  xoxo, e.

I Scream You Scream...

We all scream for ice cream!

Saturday was one of those rare days that I did not have anything on the books.  I may or may not have kissed Joe goodbye when he left for work  (it was really early folks), and then I rolled over and snuggled in till way past the rooster's crow.  No commitments, none.

This is what I live for...putzing around the house, cleaning a little, clipping and snipping fresh flowers as I waltz from room to room with Mumford and Sons blaring....candles lit throughout the house in wafting scents of apples and spices.  Coco was perfectly content with the Saturday morning line up on the boob tube, and was also perfectly content with a lazy breakfast of self serve cereal.

It's days like this that I get the hankering to bake, or make, or craft...or whatever the spirit fills me with.  I set Coco up with all of her craft baskets spread out on the floor, and tasked her with lazily reorganizing them as she watched TV.  And, I went to town in the kitchen.

Ice Cream.  It's a staple around here.  Joe has been known to plow through a half gallon from sundown to sunrise.  I often awake to find an array of bowls, plates, and silverware in the bedroom from his midnight snacking.

I have a standard vanilla ice cream that I make, and then jazz it up with whatever we have laying around.  You can, of course, make the non-egg variety, but we always have an abundance of luscious duck eggs...so I make the custard version.  Here we go folks!!....

STEP ONE:  Scald two cups of half and half.  This means put it on low/medium heat just till the bubbles form on the top, then remove it from the heat.

STEP TWO:  While that is bubbling, separate 5 egg yolks into a bowl.

STEP THREE:  Add 2/3 cup white sugar, and whisk the yolk and sugar for a minute or two until it's light and fluffy and yellow ;).

STEP FOUR:  Slowly add the egg yolk/sugar mix to the scalded cream...a little at a time, whisking constantly so that the yolks don't curdle.  

STEP FIVE:  Put the cream, egg, sugar mix on a double boiler, mixing with a wooden spoon.  Do this for a few minutes, until you lift the wooden spoon out and can draw a line across it with your finger, and the custard stays.  Then it is thick enough.

STEP SIX:  Put the pan on the counter and stir in a little vanilla, and let it cool.  This is your base.  This is a good time to add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger...whatever spice flavors you are working with.

Today, we are making Banana & Toasted Coconut - because we have over ripe bananas, and the tale end of some coconut from Joe's batch of granola this week.  You know it's a good day when Coco is still in her Rainbow Bright nightgown mid-afternoon. (a rainbow bright nightgown that was indeed mine when I was her age!)

At this point I stick the liquid mix in the Cuisinart, and slowly add the fixins.  Some other Cesarz favorites are peppermint stick, oreo, pumpkin, or whatever fresh fruit is in season.  Once it thickens a little, put it in tupperware, and stick it in the freezer for a few hours.  

If you don't have an ice cream maker, I have bypassed this step and just thrown the whole mixture in the freezer -it will set up just fine!

And, Voila!  Happy Tuesday Ladies and Gents!  xoxo, e.