Paper Cup Poet

happy halloween

 carving messy squash would take more than my 15 minute allotment, so this year April and I just hot glued scraps of ribbon, fabric and candy to our jacks.  We did this while the master napped, since hot glue guns, hard candy and a baby make me edgy.  

 "the sherriff" has a laffy taffy tongue, lollipop nose, licorice eyebrows and a hat made from nerds. "candy" has a jolly rancher for lips.  This is my favorite way to do a pumkin because now they won't rot and we can eat them too.  They await small spookables outside our front door. 

Tomorrow is busy, busy, busy.  A pink princess has a preschool party and she is bringing the treats.  The lion and I hope to go for a blustery walk, if it isn't raining.  Daddy comes home early to help with dinner and cajole everybody into costumes.  Then we have to go to "work" in the neighborhood.  I think this year, demand will be high. 

Favorite candy:  special darks, reese's peanut butter cups, candy corn, lollipops, watermelon jolly ranchers, tootsie rolls, mini snickers....

a little batty

  we checked this book out at the library last week.  It is so good, especially right before fright night!  I love bats.  They eat really gross food at their beach picnic too...love it.

super easy and fast chocolate "bats" with sprinkles and this beautiful orange sparkle gel I get at Target.  Just melt chocolate chips, dip the pretzels and decorate.  These are going with Daddy to work, but we are making more fun stuff for April's preschool party on Friday.  She cannot wait.  She informed me more than once that she wants to hand out the treats "not you mommy".  Got it.  I got cute treat bags at Target too. 

also, super duper easy.  Shadow boxed some scrapbook paper and added a little note.  It's hanging in the kids bathroom.  If it takes less than 15 minutes I am accomplishing it these days.  If it is more than 15 minutes, I add it to the list in my brain titled "next life kind of things". 

Love for:  pumpkins, bowls of candy (also hate), bats, owls, small spookables, homemade doughnuts, special dark chocolate and all things gothic...

candy apples

Remember that stuff you could buy in a sheet and wrap around and press onto the apples?  Do they still make it?  Anyways, we did it the old fashioned way today with homemade caramel. 

I really wanted to go on a nature walk and collect suitable branches for the sticks, but time ran out.  Chopsticks did the trick and are sturdy enough for a toddler.  We used mini M&M's and toffee peices and some went lopsided, but overall they were a success.  One we did with Halloween sprinkles...very messy.  These are fun to make and fun to eat.

A memory:  when Marc and I were dating we were driving to San Diego in my Beetle to visit his brother and wife.  Somewhere around LA we stopped at a mall and found a candy store.  They had huge, beautiful candied apples and I hadn't had one in years.  So I bought one rolled in malt powder that was so good.  I ate in the car, as he drove and made a huge mess, but did not care. I remember us laughing and that carefree roadtrip feeling that takes over was so present.  I remember him taking a bite and the malt powder going all over his clothes.  I dont' know why this is such a vivid memory, but as I was making apples with April today, Marc said "hey, was it you or one of my other girlfriends who ate a huge apple and made a serious mess in the car?" 

It was me.

frugal musings

  Some thoughts on frugality given all the depression-recession goings on:  I took some of April's tanks and tee's with a few stains that didn't bleach out and let her decorate them with permanent fabric markers.  She thought it was the coolest thing ever to get to marker up her clothes.  Tie-dye would work too.  Also, I am feeling the love of too short dresses as cute tops over leggings this winter.  Also feeling good about hand-me-downs, even though it's a little hard with the girl-to-boy thing.

Olive oil from Costco is very good.  All purpose olive oil is a very good price though not very pretty for the counter.  I decant it into an empty oil jar of some fancy brand and keep it on the counter for general cooking.  For dipping and drizzling I keep pricier stuff around.  By the way, the Yolo Vineyards olive oil is excellent.  It's green-golden, fruity and for me, local.  More Costco love can be found in the form of organic peanut butter, jam and a gazillion other items.  Just some thoughts.

More frugality that I embracing:  Driving less, eating out less, shopping less, shopping at high-end places less.  Less is more.  Except when it comes to coffee.

flower child and no turkey love

She came home from preschool with a flower on her cheek and I thought it was so great and I love that her teacher Ms. Cheryl is so creative with the kids.  Yesterday she brought home a sensory book with things to smell, taste, touch etc...I am grateful that people like Ms. Cheryl choose to work with kids, because the pay is shockingly low.  Pitiful.  As an English major I should know. 

My bedtime stories of late come from Gourmet and Bon Apetite.  I love BA the most and their restaurant editor Andrew Knowles is pretty funny - and have you seen his picture?  Everytime I read him then look at his publicity shot I think how can that be?  He looks like a GQ model.  He recently admitted he hated turkey and I was so relieved.  He said at his house this year for Thanksgiving, no turkey!  I love it.  Sweet relief.  No matter how much oil and butter and basting you do that sucker it is always mealy and dry in my book.  And then to make matters worse, you are forced to swoon with everyone else when it emerges from the oven.  I do think they are pretty, but just don't taste swell.  I finally admitted to Marc this year that I also don't dig pumpkin pie.  It's a texture thing.  These two food chores plus the pressure to say aloud things you are grateful for makes Thanksgiving my least favorite holiday.  I wish we could just skip it and go to Tahoe.

harvest cake

  we had a little harvest party here on Saturday and for dessert I did a maple bundt cake with orange icing and a side of caramel apples.  The apples are so darn good-sauteed in a salty caramel sauce with a hearty shot of brandy.  I did them the night before and then just warmed them in the microwave for the party.  Heaven.  Here is the recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/caramel-apple-sundae?autonomy_kw=caramel%20apples&rsc=header_2

I never found time to make pesto this summer, so this winter will be a little sad, but I am happy that my local Nugget Market: www.nugget.com in Rocklin now has Earth and Vine's (made in Loomis) peach chipotle jam back!  I consumed so much of this last year and it is better this year.  Chunks of peaches, spicy chipotle and a fresh squeeze of lemon.  It makes me all crazy.  Spoon it on flatbread that is spread with brie and understand the excitement. 

say cheese

  Today I braved murky waters and carted a 1 year old and a 3 year old off to the mall for their Halloween portraits.  Once I had packed the diaper bag, the huge bag containing all the parts of their costumes, high level snacks (read candy) and the ever important coupon I was already exhausted.  I knew it could go either way with the 3 year old, so I told her if she would like to be photographed to please let me know, other wise it will just be the boy.

At the mall, I noticed that saner moms bring a helper person with them to get through these complicated missions, but I guess I prefer the hard way.  It all worked out, cute pictures happened and no one melted (except maybe me tonight) but good grief it is something.  I am spent. 

Speaking of spending.  Once again, I managed to make my kids costumes out of things they can wear again.  I love this kind of frugality.  My little lion wore brown fleece pants and an orange sweatshirt and my mom and I made him a felt "mane" of a hat, a tail and fringed up his sleeves.  All felt, so easy and cheap.  I took some liquid eyeliner and gave him whiskers and that was it.  The pink fairy princess wore a tutu we already had which my mom embellished, a tank top, tights, sparkly shoes and wings and a tiara from the dress up box.  A wand was purchased.   I painted a flower on her cheeck with makeup and called her done.  They're dang cute.  Can I say that?

October Blood

 

It was my thirtieth
Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon
Though the town below lay leaved with October blood.
O may my heart's truth
Still be sung
On this high hill in a year's turning. - Dylan Thomas

October is maybe my favorite month.  The weather is perfect, crisp and sunny and breezy and the trees light up as people move inside.  Homey things come from the oven, pumpkins appear, kids become excited and everyone seems energized.  I am crazy for casseroles, breads, crock potting, crafting, Halloween costume making (one pink princess and one lion) and spiced chais. 

The poem exerpted above was one I wrote a paper on when I was an English major at age 30 and was totally enamored by the huge, fiery leaves I was kicking around on long walks in the "fabulous forties" neighborhood of Sacramento.  The world seemed to be so vivid and alive to me then.  All that October blood spilling out and dripping on the sidewalks. 

Fall to Do List:  Take one long, leafy walk with Marc and the kids in Midtown, take kids around the neighborhood trick or treating (and then pry copious amounts of candy from their firm grips) photograph everything, cook many, many squashes, make apple tarte tatin, cozy up house...buy slippers.

 

naan

  We all love naan around here.  Here's what I do to it:  brush with olive oil, sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs, garlic, onion and sprinkle with smoky paprika.  For the kids, I cut it with scissors.  I am told it is simple to make, but I always buy mine at the grocery store.  My mother in law makes it for me sometimes and her's is so darn good. 

We also love butternut squash this time of year, but it is so hard to cut into.  Does anybody have any good tips for this?  Do I need better knives? 

Things I need to learn:  how to work my iPod...how to customize my blog header...how to utilize all the features of my camera...how to be more patient.

sweets

  Isn't this incredible?  I am starting to play with ideas for Ryan's 2nd Birthday...I know it' s a ways off, but I love thinking about kids parties and I am mad for candy buffets.

I was checking out Chef Ann Cooper's website:  http://www.chefann.com/blog and was so happy to see that she was just awarded SELF Magazine's "Women Doing Good" award!  You can see a clip of her on the Today Show via her website.  And she posted the piece I wrote about her for Sacramento Parent Magazine on her blog!  Cool.

Also sweet:  My local neighborhood Starbucks (where I am a quasi-regular) I say quasi, but right now I can hear Marc sighing in my head, took my reader restaurant review from Sacramento Magazine and posted in on their board!  I walked in the other day and this gal shouts "hey, we read your article!"  Then she said "look it's over there!"  I gulped.  On it they wrote "Regular customer, great job!"  I am slightly embarassed.  I said to them, wow you guys really read that thing carefully, cause I am waaaay in the back.  Funny.