It Doesn't Matter

The other night my son came to me and hugged me. He kissed me on the cheek. Then he stood there quietly for a moment.


"Mom?" he said...."does it matter?"
"Does what matter?" I answered
"Does it matter if you're pretty?"
"What do you think?" I asked.
He stood for a minute.
"No.... it doesn't matter at all."

He ran off.....
He came back.

"Even if it doesn't matter... you're still beautiful."

Be still my heart. My kid makes me feel like a rock star everyday!

My Favorite Patch

Last night I looked out the window and became a little depressed. This is what I saw. Streetlights through dense fog. You know the kind of fog that you would imagine Humphrey Bogart walking in... with that hat. But it was the kind of scene I picture in December. Something pretty at Christmas time. Last night I just wished it away. I woke up this morning to the same fog. Thinking my plans for the day were completely ruined......

But the day progressed and every single inch of snow melted away. And we spent the afternoon here. And I'll be really honest....this place rivals Christmas in my world.

I don't really know when or why I fell so madly for fall. But as the years have progressed I have developed a passion for this time of year. This time of calm before the storm. This time to celebrate. To eat. To snuggle down. To walk on crisp leaves. To sip hot cider. To breath cool air before having to warm up inside. To live in glorious color.

This is the time of year where it's just us. It's our time. Our traditions. Not the ones I grew up with. The ones I made up instead. There is no pressure to get 50 people fed (as much as I love to do that, which I do!!) It's just calm.

This was the best I got out of him today. Try as I might. Somedays... even he, whom the camera loves, he doesn't love it. (Asked me if it started on fire if I could still take pictures with it on the way home.... that's his little way of telling me he didn't want any more pictures for the day!)

The pumpkin patch I visit is the Bartels place. There is no admission. You can go out and cut every single pumpkin yourself. I always go during the week when it's much less crowded and we have most of the place to our selves. There are animals. There is a corn maze. There is beauty!!! Turn at the pumpkin sign on the frontage road from wellington, past the soccer fields. There is only one sign, and no advertising else where that I can see.

Pumpkin Mousse Puffs

October and November are the only months of the year I eat or cook pumpkin, so I go a little crazy over pumpkin for a little while before I get tired of it. But it's OK to get tired of it, because I'll be craving it in another year!

Today I wanted something fluffy. I love fluffy food. Makes me feel light and happy. Like walking on sunshine!

I went the easy route today as well. I bought fluffy pastry dough instead of making it. Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets to be exact. These things look impressive, but are super duper easy to make.

Pumpkin Mousse Puffs

Ingredients:
2 Puff Pastry Sheets
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 package vanilla pudding
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice seasoning

Butter for brushing

Instructions
De-thaw the puff pasty sheets for about 40 minutes. Cover in thin layer of flour on each side. Cut in 9 square sections. Cook on cookie sheet for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool completely

For filling:

Mix 2 cups of heavy whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Divide in half. Mix together pumpkin, pumpkin spice mix, pudding and 1 cup milk. Fold this into half of the whipped cream. (Don't mix, just fold)

For a little sweeter layer add a dash of powdered sugar to the other half of the whipped cream.

Cut a pastry square in half. Add a spoonful of the pumpkin mixture and then a spoonful of the whipped cream. You can double decker them, or them as single pastries.

Dusk

I love the word "dusk." I love how light it sounds and it's normally a word I would use in the summer months. After a hot day. When it's nearly dark but not quite. The calm.

Tonight though, twilight was cold.

And mysterious.

The leaves look cold, still hanging on the trees, covered in snow. Mother nature had not given them a chance to fall in the usual way.

But dusk was beautiful tonight. It was blue. The leaves were blue. The snow was blue. The sky was deep dark blue.

Sunflowerless Sunflower

As I said before, my kitchen was bustling yesterday. My brother in law has made it his mission to "live off the land" this fall even though we all have jobs and no farm and live in the city. (yes I consider Cheyenne the "city" of Wyoming even though it only has 50 thousand people) Our families were farmers, so it's natural for us to want to kind of see what it was like.
Regardless of living in the city, we all grown gardens. We all pool our food most of the time. And this year... he has started canning among other things.

One of the other things is to make sunflower seeds from GINORMOUS sunflowers. I mean they were huge and he grew them. So did we, but mine got taken out with the rubbish of the garden a couple weeks ago. To our surprise they were purple inside. The seeds were a deep dark purple as well.

I'll be cooking them today....I'll let you know how they turn out!

Had To Find Something...

pretty about this weekend. With 12 inches of snow laying on my font lawn and hanging on my still green trees. Needless to say... I'm not real happy about the snow. However, I get get to spend an entire day with my family and let me tell you, it was like Thanksgiving. That's what we do. We cook when there isn't anything else to do. Mind you I didn't partake in a whole lot of it, but I sure did enjoy it!

Another Double Take

I got to spend a little more time with the little twins I met last month. They were a little squirmy the first time around (which is totally expected) so we tried again for just a few more shots and this time they were a little more subdued. But this time they didn't have names on their shirts and I ended up calling them "this one" and "that one" because I couldn't tell them apart!!!! After their mom set me straight I finally got it by the time I left... and I even know which is which in this shot!

Caramel Apple Cider Crumble

Every once in a while, especially during the fall you have to throw caution to the wind (or here in Cheyenne, hazardous tornado conditions) and eat a little something that isn't quite good for you... but not regrettable because it so fantastically good!

We spent our last Saturday of the season at farmers market last week. We came home with some fantastic, not too sweet and not too sour apples. The perfect kind. My little one eats a couple apples a day, sometimes more..and I let him. Because he's tall and lanky and a few apple definitely aren't going to hurt him!

So today I experimented. Bringing all the elements of the season together. Carmel. Apples. Cider and the warm oven! And Viola! Carmel Apple Cider Crumble!!!!

7 whole Medium Green Apples
20 pieces Caramel
½ cans Evaporated Milk
3 cups Rolled Oates
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup White Sugar
¾ cups Flour
¾ cups Butter, Cubed
1 dash(es) Nutmeg
1 dash(es) Cinnamon
1 dash(es) Salt
1 package Spiced Cider

In microwave safe bowl melt 20 caramels and 1/2 can of evaporated milk. Stir every 15 seconds until completely blended. Should be very liquidy. This can also be done with a double boiler on the stove top.Peel and chop all seven apples, set aside. Mix together: rolled oates, brown sugar, white sugar, flour, package of cider and butter. I do with my my fingers until it is crumbly.Press half of the rolled oat mixture onto a 9x12 pan (or whatever size you have that is closest.) Layer apples on top of that. Sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Pour caramel mixture over the top. Spread the rest of the rolled oat mixture over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes until apples are soft.

Recreated

If you've been to my house you will think this picture is familiar. Yes it looks like one of the three giant photos I have hanging in the foyer. Entry way. Whatever it is. I rarely have a new person some here without kind of gawking when they see them.

Yes, he is photogenic.

No, I can't get enough of him.

But..the three pictures in the entry way, and a couple others are about all I have in the house. It's not covered, I just change them often!!!

So I decided to recreate. Something I don't normally do. But I think it's fun to see the changes in him in the same setting. Like the giant scar that graces his eye.

Bigger and Blond!

You know how sometimes you have preconceived ideas about how a child will look as they get older. Well... this one took me by surprise. For some reason I had it in my head that this baby would have brown hair, if not black. Don't ask me why. Both her parents have a lighter-ish color of hair...but in my mind she had dark. Which is what I was expecting....


And then they took of her hat! I jumped back. I was expecting dark and it is sooooo not dark!!!! Instead a beautiful blond.!!

And speaking of expecting..she's about to be a big sister and her parents are about to be very busy!!! "Ding Dong!" she would say!

Sometimes, when photographing in public places, odd things happen. This was one of the most odd. A bus full of Italians thought it would be a great idea to ALL take pictures of my baby model. She did great. She cooed and smiled and learned how to say ciao!!!

Busy Busy!!!

He was busy. And talkative. He's going to be Buzz Light Year for Halloween. Buzz has lasers that shoot, but they really aren't lasers they are lights. Buzz has green and purple on him. Buzz is Woody's best friend. Woody does not have laser beams......he's three and it shows!!!

He's not three. And his cheecks were pinchably cute!!!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

I'm pretty much in heaven. I found these on Tasty Kitchen on Friday and I've already made three batches. These hit the spot, especially on days like today. Days where the sun hides and the colors are muted outside. Days where a warm pair of socks, a blanket, a book and the fire call to me.

Here's how to make your day warm!!!

2 cups Milk (your Choice - Skim, 1%, 2%, Whole, Soy, Etc.)
2 Tablespoons Canned Pumpkin Puree
1 Tablespoon Sugar Or Sugar Substitute (I used 1 1/2)
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
½ teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
¼ cups Espresso (1-2 Shots) OR 2/3 Cup Very Strong Coffee

Preparation Instructions:

In a saucepan, combine milk, pumpkin and sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring, until steaming. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and spice, transfer to a blender and process for 15 seconds until foamy. If you don’t have a blender, don’t worry about it. Just whisk the mixture really well with a wire whisk. (or you can use the magic bullet...I have frothy coffee thanks to this baby every single morning!!! )
Pour into a large mug or two mugs. Add the espresso on top.
Optional: Top with whipped cream and sprinkle pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon on top.

For a printable recipe click here....

Happily Ever After

We spent the afternoon yesterday watching these two tie the knot yesterday. It was a quaint wedding filled to the brim with love and excitement.

And yes...every now and again we all get to spend the day together... not often, and especially not in the fall, so it was nice to be together!

Studmuffin.

My son waited all day to see her and asked where she was directly in the middle of the vows.... she was standing in the front. She's one of his people.

A Different Perspective

She said to me: "Mother nature is getting senile. Like me. She makes winter way too long. She makes spring way too short. She forgot about summer this year, and now she's messing up fall. I think she ought to retire...."course, she'll probably be real pissed that I said this, and it will blizzard tomorrow!"

I loved them immediately. And I had the most wonderful time with them. They have had a long history together and they seemed to have enjoyed the ride.