The Happiest Day of the Year is (almost) Here!

Welcome Back! Sorry we’ve been a little slow with the blogs lately. There’s been a lot going on, but I’m sure you’re all familiar with that problem. So how are you doing?

   It’s hard to believe it’s almost Thanksgiving already. I have to admit, it’s my favorite holiday. I love cooking a huge meal for family and friends, even though lately it’s pretty much just been me and Keith. Oh, and the dog; can’t forget the dog. She appreciates a good turkey as much as the next girl. This year Michelle (the human writing partner, not my Dalmatian) and I are combining forces for the day so we can split up the leftovers. Thalia will have to work as usual, so she and her husband will celebrate together in the evening when she gets home.

             When I was young the highlight of Thanksgiving for me was that mom would break out her chex mix. She made it weeks earlier and put it in tins in the store room to wait for the holidays. It was torture. Now don’t confuse this with the recipes they publish now. They aren’t the same. Neither is the stuff you can buy in bags at the store. Not that they aren’t good, they just aren’t Mom’s. Fortunately, I have her recipe and someday I will gather the ingredients to make a batch. I just hope it lives up to my memories.

            What are you all doing for the holiday? Is it your favorite or just a prelude to Black-Friday shopping? You know, I have never gone out on Black Friday. I always had to work and then once I wasn’t working I couldn’t really afford to shop so I just stay home luxuriating in a tryptophan induced haze, watching holiday movies. It’s all good.

            Oh, one more question because, in case you haven’t noticed, food is a recurring theme around here. What is your favorite dish on Thanksgiving? After the bird itself, I favor the squash. We hope to hear from you. 

                                                                                      ~D.

                                                                                 

Trying new things

      Last week I told you I was going to try making cider with the apples from our tree. Well, today was the day. It was hot earlier in the week and the flies were making the most of it so I didn't want to deal with them. Yesterday was freezing with high winds, rain, and bits of the s-word falling from the sky. Today was lovely. A little cool, but nice and the wind has died down considerably. It seemed like the perfect day to be outside and try something new. This is the first bag I brought in to clean. Don't they look nice? Now you can understand some of why I am so tempted by them.




This is Keith's cat Willow. She was sitting on the counter when I brought the apples in. She's not allowed to be there so she hid. Isn't she clever?










Anyway, back to cider making. My high-tech setup is not exactly the traditional method. Michelle told me she and her family did it this way but they ground the apples into a new set of knee high stockings.
I thought about going to the dollar store and picking up a pair but I have lots of muslin floating around from my quilting habit so I thought I'd use that. It worked fine back when I had my goats and made cheese. I lined a strainer with it and that is sitting in a bigger bowl. Not that you can see it in the photo.



I had plenty of supervision as you can see. Pitch decided he'd lounge in the sun and make sure I got it right. She is out of the frame but the dog is running around in the yard putting her two cents in as well. She almost got her foolish self in trouble but I'll tell you about that in a minute.







These are the apples as they came through the grinder. Lots more juice than I thought they'd have. The bowl filled up quickly and so did the strainer. I ended up setting the strainer and it's bowl on the floor to catch the juice that ran out the back of the grinder. It isn't exactly designed for fruits and vegetables so there is nothing to keep the juice from running out around the handle. I got the first bowl emptied and was working on the second when trouble showed up in the form of yellow jacket wasps. I was hoping it was too cold and breezy for them but I was wrong. I didn't really mind the first one. The second one at the party was a little more aggressive. But when we got up to five buzzing around I decided to call it quits. Besides, the strainer was really full so I decided to do some more tomorrow morning when it is cool again.
 I told you the dog almost got herself in trouble, well it was the yellow jackets. She has gotten quite adept at catching flies. I don't know why. She's a Dalmatian, why does she do anything? Well she was doing her best to catch the wasps so that was another reason to call it a day.


I squeezed as much juice out by hand as I could. I want to use my cheese press on the next batch but it is currently on top of the cupboard and it is HEAVY! I could imagine giving myself a concussion trying to get it down so it will have to wait until Keith gets home. But I still got a decent amount of cider considering I didn't even do a full grocery bag of apples.

I hung the pomace (ground up apples) up over the bowl so they could drip. I think there's still quite a bit of cider in there and I can't see letting it go to waste. I'll let you know next week how much I end up with. Thanks for coming along on my adventure. -D









 Question for the week: What are you giving out to trick or treaters for Halloween? I think I'm doing tootsie pops. Do any of you have things on hand for kids who can't have candy? I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Fall has Fallen

From our intensive research last week we decided chocolate seems to be the winner when it comes to dessert, especially when it is paired with fruit. Thank you to the three people who gave us your votes.

We are one week closer to publication. This week should see the end of fixes to the manuscript and then next week we will concentrate on getting the cover right. We will give you a sneak peak here on the blog and will probably give you a chance to let us know which cover design you prefer.

My project for the week, other than writing feverishly of course, is to try to turn a bunch of apples into some wonderful apple cider. Every year I get excited to see the bounty of fruit on the tree in our side yard. Visions of apple pies and apple crisps abound. I plan to make apple sauce to last the winter. And then I remember. I don’t really like apples. I did make a ton of apple sauce one year but then I actually had to eat it so I won’t be doing that again any time soon.  But surprisingly, I do like apple cider.

So this year I am going to use my meat grinder and cheese press to try to make some cider. It should be an interesting experiment. I’ll hopefully remember to take some pictures of the process and I’ll let you know how it turns out.

What’s your favorite thing about fall? Is it the leaves, the cooler weather, apple cider, or something else? Let us know. We look forward to hearing from you.