Pocket Mouse

rain puppies

Cutest doggy rain slickers ever!  Isobel needs a panda one and Sammy needs a monkey one!  From G.W. Little:

Also!

VOTE!!!

Last weekend

Finally, an update on last weekend, which was spent at the lovely L'Auberge Provençale Bed and Breakfast in White Post, Virginia.  The place was amazing, the innkeepers were amazing, and food was AMAZING. I ate so much.  Seriously, listen to all the things I ate:

Dinner on Friday Night: First they brought out olives and baby radishes with herb butter.  Then bread.  Then the first course, which for me, was Orchard Vanilla Poached Asian Pear with Baby Lettuce, Warm Goat Cheese and a House Red Wine Vinaigrette.  My second course was Provencale Baby Potato Salad with Wisteria Gardens Red Oak Lettuce, Soft Poached Egg, followed by apple sorbet.  My third course was Savory Polenta with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Wild Mushrooms, Garden Vegetables, Black Summer Truffles and Sunny Side Up Quail Egg.  Dessert was an apple souffle.  Then they brought a tray of pastries.  Wow!

Breakfast on Saturday Morning: To start, we had yogurt with honey, fruit, and homemade granola.  Croissants and cheese biscuits.  The entree was an egg, potatoes, eggplant, and tomatoes with rosemary.  Dessert was bread pudding in a homemade caramel sauce.

Gourmet Picnic Basket on Saturday: Veggie and cheese sandwich for me, crab and salmon sandwich for Dave.  A tray of cheese, bread, and figs. Two kinds of salad, butternut squash risotto, two desserts, fruit.  It was pouring, so we had the picnic on the floor of our room. 

Breakfast on Sunday Morning:  Yogurt with honey, fruit, and homemade granola.  Croissants and muffins. The entree was a zucchini boat with ratatouille, saffron potatoes, and an onion tartlet topped with an egg.  Dessert was cantaloupe and watermelon in some sort of syrup.

Other wonderful things about L'Auberge Provençale: apple cider and cookies in front of the fire in the cozy main house on a rainy afternoon, exploring the gardens and their tiny little orchard (with quince trees!), the aromatherapy steam shower, food cooked with herbs and vegetables right from their garden and local farmers, the softest sheets in the world.

Some photos from around the inn:

On Sunday, we went to Stribling Orchard in Markham to go apple-picking, which was lots of fun.  Here are some pictures:

After that, we headed home and almost immediately got to work on some homemade roasted applesauce.  Here's the Martha recipe we used:

Roasted Applesauce

Ingredients (we doubled everything):

Makes eight 1/2-cup servings

• 1/4 cup water
• 6 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 pounds small assorted apples, such as Gala, McIntosh, or Fuji (about 10)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of ground cloves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine water, sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
2. Scatter butter pieces over mixture, and top with apples. Roast until apples are very soft, 30 to 40 minutes.
3. Working in batches, pass apple mixture through the medium disk of a food mill and into a bowl. Stir in spices. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled. Applesauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

And while I'm posting recipes, here's the recipe for the delicious Maple Cupcakes with Maple-Butter Frosting that I took to work yesterday:

Maple Cupcakes

Ingredients:

This makes 18 cupcakes, but I did 24.

2.5 cup(s) all purpose flour
2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
.5 teaspoon(s) salt
.75 teaspoon(s) ground ginger
1 stick(s) unsalted butter, softened
.5 cup(s) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1.25 cup(s) maple syrup
2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
.5 cup(s) buttermilk
.5 cup(s) walnuts or pecans, finely chopped

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ginger. Set aside. Beat the butter and sugar together using a mixer set on medium speed in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, syrup, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture by thirds, alternating with the buttermilk. Stir in nuts. Fill 18 lined muffin cups and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool completely. Ice with Maple Butter Frosting.

Maple-Butter Frosting:

1 cup(s) unsalted butter, softened
3 ounce(s) cream cheese, softened
.667 cup(s) dark-brown sugar
.25 teaspoon(s) salt
.75 cup(s) maple syrup
.75 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
1 cup(s) confectioners' sugar Directions: Beat the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and salt in a medium bowl with a mixer set on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Continue beating, and add the maple syrup and vanilla. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Chill for 1 hour before using.  For extra maple flavor, create a dimple in the frosting and fill with maple syrup.

I think I succeeded in doing every Fall-themed thing I wanted to do this month.  I went apple-picking, made my own applesauce, had countless cups of cider, grew a (successful!) pumpkin patch, saw a ghost-y play, played in a corn maze, organized a fall celebration at work with great decorations, planted mums, ate many yummy fall dishes, saw beautiful foliage on the drive home from Virginia, participated in a pumpkin decorating contest at work, watched The Great Pumpkin (and You're Not Elected, John McCain...errr...I mean, Charlie Brown). I am ready for November, which begins the period of trying to fit in every holiday-themed thing humanly possible.  Hooray!

oops.

(Again, I forget to post a draft.  This is from two weeks ago!  Update from last weekend coming soon.)

- Tried Great Sage, an organic vegetarian restaurant in Clarksville.  I had yummy apple cider, artichoke spinach crostini, Indian vegetable cakes, and a big piece of carrot cake.  I also discovered the little row of shops known as Conscious Corner, which consists of Great Sage, Nest Natural Home, Bark!, and Roots Market. 

- Saw "Watch, A Haunting" at a new little theater on Charles Street called The Strand, followed by crepes at Sofi's (banana, peanut butter, honey, and granola!). 

I'm happy to see that the Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-A-Turkey program is starting again!  Last year, I adopted Juniper.  This year my turkey is...

Faye!

fall!

(oops, the "draft" feature is great if I actually remember to eventually publish the posts...this is from last weekend)

Lots of fall-y things this weekend:

Finally picked some pumpkins from my pumpkin patch.  There are still some babies that aren't ready yet, but I am so proud of these little guys:

- Discovered the deliciousness that is Tofurky Jurky (not so much a fall activity, but yummy anyway)

- Ate baked acorn squash with brown sugar, maple syrup, and nutmeg.

- caramel apple cider from Starbucks!

- Went to the corn maze at Maryland Sunrise Farms.  Lots of fun.  I really want to create a corn maze called the "Amazing Maize Maze."  Sorry for all the pictures that mostly look the same, but I thought the corn was really sculptural and beautiful:

I haven't had a chance to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" yet, which is kind of an autumn tradition for me, but here's my favorite section (did I post this last year?):

"As Ichabod jogged slowly on his way, his eye, ever open to every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise of cakes and hasty pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun, and giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies; and anon he passed the fragrant buckwheat fields, breathing the odor of the beehive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slapjacks, well buttered, and garnished with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel."

fall mums

Today, my friend at work gave me the most beautiful mums I have ever seen:

In2Books

I signed up for this recently and wanted to spread the word because they're looking for other participants.  I'll just cut-and-paste from their notice:

Help Students Write a Better Future! Become an In2Books Pen Pal
Today!

Are you looking for a volunteer experience that engages your
heart and mind - without leaving your desk? Then we have the
perfect volunteer opportunity for you! Become an In2Books pen
pal and enhance the reading, writing, and thinking skills of an
elementary school student this year.

In2Books is an innovative, web-based, literacy enrichment
program that provides third-fifth grade students with meaningful
books to keep and an adult pen pal to correspond with about the
important issues in the books. Pen pals submit their letters via
Pen Pal Place®, an In2Books website for all your pen pal
resources. Teachers deliver the letters to their students and
enrich the pen pal experience with related classroom lessons.

To become a pen pal, visit http://in2books.epals.com/penpal08

Thank you for opening your heart to help more children reach
their full potential.

Pumpkin Patch

Updated photos of the pumpkin patch (click here to see what it looked like at my last update):

There ARE pumpkins (I think four so far), but they are kind of hidden:

My favorite pumpkin:

Here's Linus and Sally waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive:

And here's a garden gnome who still needs a name:

Manifest Hope Gallery

My favorite out of all the finalists, by Ben Dutro:

I hope they make it available in a print!  See more here.

colorful, sparkly chandeliers

I know most of these are intended for kids' rooms, but I love these crazy, colorful chandeliers:

Gypsy Chandelier from MiniStyle featured in the autumn issue of Small Magazine:

Whoopsie Daisy Chandelier from Land of Nod:

Spectrum Chandelier from Urban Outfitters: