The First Snow!

So pretty this morning - the snow was light and fluffy and beautiful.  I mean, we live in Wisconsin, so this is what we signed up for - may be difficult but I say we embrace it.

Aaaand that's outdated.  It's sunny right now and beautiful - just like the weekend - warm and sunny!  It's still fall...

We made our annual pilgrimage to Ski-Hi Fruit Farm near Baraboo to remember and honor my little sis Robin.  She was so awesome.  I miss her, I miss her, I miss her.  She's unfathomably awesome now up there though.  Time does help heal.  It will be 12 years November 28 since her accident just beyond Ski-Hi.  Faith and grace bring endurance and peace; as has her life.  All is well. 

On our way home the sun rays through the clouds - reminds of of Jesus.

Graham's first loose tooth got entangled in a taffy apple!

I made it two a month - Oct #2!

It's Halloween!  Sunny then cloudy and fifties, I think...not bad.  Tonight some of our neighborhood families organize a 3-block trick-or- treat from 6-7:30 - it's dark and on Halloween so it's a little more authentic and reminds me of how it is/was? done when I was a youngster in Madison.

Jason has been honing his omelette skills.  This episode he added the spinach to the egg instead of wrapping it after the egg is cooked.  He cooks the eggs is a small skillet then bakes it and wraps whatever fixings we have on hand - here it's aged white cheddar, ham and fresh tomatoes from our garden.  Totally fantastic.

Sticking with the beloved roasted broccoli - shoutout to Jay and Ken - and Jason made whole wheat cous cous with asparagus and our dinner staple - sliced baguette with olive oil and this time balsamic v.

Chops from the pig Jason's Aunt Dar buys from a cousin who raised and showed it for 4H and shares the different cuts with the whole family!  So thoughtful.  And keepin' it local!  With it is tasteful carrots sauteed in honey, garlic powder and soy sauce and some fingerling potatoes.  Right on, real good.

Want to stick to my word...Oct # 1

Whoosh, this month went by fast...this day did not.  It was somehow slow paced and seemed not rushed nor did it seem to go by so fast like most - especially weekend - days.  This post is dedicated to today.  It was so nice. 

{Coming off a leisurely, pleasant and fun Friday and Saturday in Madison (Jason made a lot of headway on the upstairs bathroom [it's been demoed for 18+ months - wow] and the kidlets and I went to Madison to visit my Mom and Aunt Kathy) We went to the Cave of the Mounds with Nanny and my sister Brynn's service/therapy dog, Rocker.  What awesome, unique and fun stuff for kids to do.  Graham was giddy.  Not only did we go through the magnificent cave [complete with t-or-t stations (gems and fossils were the 'treat')] but there was coloring, a scavenger hunt, a dig, and we bought a bag of what looked like sand, ran it through a sluice, only to find dozens of awesome gems, rocks and fossils!  What a treat.  With Kathy, we had a favorite breakfast - crepes - and walked to the Vilas Zoo.  On our way out, I picked up my absolute favorite - fresh bagels from Bagels Forever - and Kathy took Graham to find an organizing box for his rocks.  Thank Nan and Kack!}

Back to today, Jason made waffles (his Grandma's recipe) as he occasionally does and they were seriously the best I've ever had, we played around, went to BBC for lighting in the bathroom, to the bike store and got Graham a great bike we've been eyeing at a really good price (his chain fell off every time he rode it of late and the last time we didn't even make it up Newberry before it snapped), had leftovers for lunch, Graham had us all bobbing for apples, we carved four pumpkins, handed out treats for the 3 hour city trick-or-treat, roasted the pumpkin seeds, made our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and ate in the dining room and decided to have dinner there every Sunday.

Jason's dinner this evening entailed parmesan and spinach stuffed chicken breast, fingerling potatoes and summer sweet corn - prepped and frozen by Jason's mom.  All so good.

Thank you God for such blessings.  Help us to recall these and also know that though sometimes seemingly unbearable, life becomes richer when we have days on the other end of the spectrum and rise above, persevere, grow and become better.

Graham gently? trying to make Estelle look for the picture

The farm was a another day but Octobery-Halloweeny - picking apples and pumpkins

Try for two a month

Squeeze in a 2nd post for September.

Ooh la la this month has been almost busier than the packed, fun summer months are!  School's start and all of the last hoo-rahs of summer, maybe...fall is far and away my favorite season.

Sunny, cool, colors, harvests, jeans, scarves, calm, slow change...

How cute is my little nephew?

We had a somewhat rained out garage sale Labor Saturday and the Blonde Hoffes came over to hang and bring some inventory.

We also saw this - what we thought was a hummingbird and were baffled and sort of still are -  we coincidentally saw it in a book of Graham's - it's just a moth apparently. (nothing against moths)

Where I used to volunteer, love to visit and in this picture is Schlitz Audubon Nature Center - a little oasis where Lake Dr and Brown Deer Rd 'L' .  Went for a little refreshing and peaceful hike.  In the background is their Gold LEED certified beautiful building...

Graham's fall season of soccer heated up again.  He loves it.

Dad's shoes, gabbing on the phone, eating a popscicle in 'rocker' pajamas.  Life is good.

I just love going to the zoo.  I love seeing the animals and the place itself is so beautiful - wooded, well kept and spacious.

It's so fun to see Graham observe and get excited and now Estelle screams and grunts and points when she sees the animals.  It's a great opportunity to be outside and get a little walk in.  It's leisurely and lovely.  One of our favorite things to do with Auntie Kack - then see my cuz Mike at his restaurant.

Graham and Estelle are sweet together - he calls her 'Nunu' and will randomly give her kisses and she rubs his back and springs into action when I say 'where's Graham?'!

And here's a load of Estelle...

And not least but last - Jason's amazing food:

Last night we had this which I think I've already posted - the recipe is from a real estate newsletter - it's a no-cook dish (other than boiling the noodles).  Avocado, walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes, diced peppers, parsley or basil then olive oil, balsamic vinegar and S&P.  Tastes so fresh and is so, so good.

Jason made some phenomenal grilled salmon with one of his creative risotto inventions

This dang thing was mouth-watering.  Like an omelet frittata type deal with shredded 4 yr cheddar.  That's a new deal that we're doing because of the additives they put in shredded cheese...tastes a lot better freshly shredded from the block, too.

Graham and Jason picked some of the neighbors apples that hang over our lawn and made apple sauce and crisp.  So resourceful!

This might be the best chicken soup I've ever had.  Orzo was so great in it as well as a trio of fresh herbs from the garden.  The broth was nice and thin and with the corn, carrots and chicken - an awesome balance.  Oh and Jason just whipped up some homemade bread.  No biggy.

These were for the kids - based on a chicken tender recipe from Seinfeld's wife's kids cookbook.  Flax and such in the 'breading'.

The obsession of the moment here is roasted broccoli - it's amazing what simply olive oil, S&P can do to vegetables (we always use this combo with shishkabobs, too).  Fantastically delicious.  They're like fries or chips or candy or something but it's broccoli!  That with chicken, pepper and avocado on ciabatta - all grilled (except the avos)

Whoa, that was a long post.

Full dedication to Food

Jason made fajitas tonight which he does fairly frequently - it's a staple in his arsenal.  The kids have chicken and spinach quesadillas and Jason grills the chicken, peppers and onions for us.  We always have chips and salsa - this time from Door County - cherry salsa from my mother-in-law, Mary.  I fork up the guacamole and we usually partake in a margarita or two and dine al fresco.

I don't have a picture of the fajitas but I do of one of the latest - grilled eggplant bruschetta and BLTs - the B from Wissota Meat Market, the L was arugula (we've replanted another crop of lettuce and it's not big enough yet), and the T from the garden - there's a windfall of Tomatoes coming!  More BLTs to come and caprese salads and straight up with S&P, etc, etc.  Estelle eats them like they're popcorn.

There was much food to be made and enjoyed up north. We brought shishkabobs from that Wissota Meat Market - they do such a good job and fantastically make it not worth it to buy, cut and skewer the variety of  pieces.  Jason also scavenged (in a good way) the leftovers and made a beautiful egg bake one north woods morning.

The biggest event in August for us was FAMILY FARM FEST 2011.  I mean.  So great.  Just dreamy.  Jason's (our) cousins Jay and Ken live on a piece of Eden in Prairie Farm, WI, and have had these FFF's for the past few years.  In 2010, their stoic, quaint farm house succumbed to a fire as well as many, many precious, though material, things also perished.  Jay and Ken are the genuine picture of optimism and resiliency.  They keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side.  A lesson in life and something to aspire to.  Their new home is full of character, thought and beauty while maintaining humility and simplicity.

So 'full dedication to food' - and FFF is never an exception.  Lean and flavorful burgers from the a neighboring farm.  Root beer also local.  They have a providing, exceptional organic garden and also a business and labor of love - organic pumpkin fields whose seeds are used to make their Hay River Organic pumpkin seed oil  www.hayriver.net

Jason made a chocolate carrot cake for my birthday - my Mom was here to celebrate with me!  He made it with plain and vanilla yogurt instead of the oil and it turned out dense and damp - really, really gooood!

We've harvested a great amount of tomatoes and cucumbers.  My friend Mary sent a recipe from another blog with the author's favorite garden cucumber recipe - it's couscous, cucs, feta and garden herbs.  Thanks MBS - it's a good one.  And we had a dose of caprese salad and some corn from the farmer's market.

And with more tomatoes, Jason found a recipe for fresh tomato sauce in the Journal Sentinel.  We had it over shells...very fresh and light!  YUM.

We had a packed Labor Day weekend with one beautiful event being Julie and Chris' wedding.  The dinner was excellent and so interesting...I'm betting Jason will take it on...it seemed the chicken was baked in a cupcake tin.  It tasted really nice.  We'll see...stay tuned.