What's a Cook To Do When You Have Apples, Lots of Apples!

 I asked the hubs to get me 3 Honey Crisp Apples from the store and he brought home three bags of apples. One bag of Honey Crisp, one bag of Golden Delicious and one bag of Gala apples. 

Here is the Apple Crisp Recipe I tried

An old picture with some lovely fall foliage! 

Because I follow many Cozy Mystery writers on social media, I found this podcast All Things Cozy.  The Cozy lifestyle is my jam. In the most recent episode, I listened to one of the hosts talked about Yankee Candle called warm and cozy.  It's supposed to smell like a bonfire in the fall.  I had Kohl's cash, and I decided today was a good day to order that candle- so hopefully I'll get a notice from Kohl's and be able to pick that candle up and see if it lives up to its name! 

I double-checked my order and sadly, it seems that I am going to have to wait until next week to get my candle.  That's not cozy! 

I've been working on living my best Spooky Season life this week.  I've painted pumpkins and I made my scarecrow for the front porch. A week from Saturday is Halloween!  I hope you and yours have been enjoying some Autumnal Fun! 

It rained all night last night, so I'm waiting to put out my scarecrow until this weekend. It will be sheltered, but I want to avoid having a soggy wet blob on our front porch! 

And so how was your Tuesday?

If I was a crafty sort of girl, I would make a couple of these and use them around the house.  This was the featured craft project in my Martha Stewart email today.  Everyday there is some amazing and allegedly 'easy' craft.  Easy for Martha Stewart perhaps.  For me, no so much. 

Today I was mentally exhausted all day from the pleading, bargaining, and crying from Miss. Anna who was not happy about her consequences from the scratches all over the TV incident of yesterday.  According to Anna, who's story changed several time over the course of the evening and today, she didn't draw on the TV.  Anna was frustrated with some part of the Wii game she was playing on Sunday and scratched the Wii remote on the TV.  According to her, we never told her not to take objects and scrape/rub them against the TV screen. 

Long night, and Anna was one sad panda



The weather was meh again, so I went for a run and enjoyed the cool weather.  On my run I made a mental note to go check out the local resale (and antiques) shop. I've been making said mental note for about 8 years now. Today was different!  I actually went it, it was a perfect storm.  I had dropped Anna off at Brownies and the store was opened and as I drove by, debating on stopping, I saw people walking into the store.  So I figured, I could go in and check it out, without being the only shopper in the store, less pressure, since I have no extra money to purchase anything. 

I thought of it more as a nice opportunity to daydream about my Coffee Shop/Thrift Store.  What I learned was, as far as I could tell a bunch of different people have a small section of the resale shop and what they resale varies widely.  I also came to the conclusion that the owners of the shop should not smoke in or near the store for a couple of reasons:
1. It's tacky and doesn't speak highly of the goods in the store if you have a few large ashtrays on a ledge at eye level right outside the door to the business.
2. Used stuff is already not going to have the brand new smell, why compound it with the smell of cigarettes.

I still enjoyed my store daydreaming and came up with a few notes for my store.
1. no cigarette smells.
2. Unlike this location, I will allow returns for store credit.
3. I will have a public bathroom.* 
*not that I needed to use one,I am just of the opinion that if you are going to have a store, I am sure the store has a bathroom, so why not keep it decent enough for shoppers to use.

There were also many notices that the store employees hidden cameras to deter thieves. As a potential shopper, after 3 notices, I'm just starting to think you don't trust me.

Did I find any of my garage sale items at the local shop?  Not yet, though I wouldn't be surprised!  I practically gave away some items that would definitely have fit right in with the shop.

Another day is over, The Man is snoring, and all the kids are asleep. What's on the agenda tomorrow?  I'm doing a secret shop at a local sandwich chain!

This picture has nothing to do with anything above, I'm still reading the latest from George RR Martin and Jaime Lannister is my current favorite redemptive character. :-D 



Man Sometimes being the Mom Sucks

Someone in my house drew on the TV screen with a pencil.  I spent a few minutes searching my brain trying to recall when we had a preschooler visiting because surely no child in this house still draws on surfaces that are clearly not for drawing upon.

Yet someone did draw on the TV screen.  The not cheap old school TV but a TV with some sort of matte looking screen.  I bet you are wondering why would a second grader deface the awesome magical device that bring in to our home such amazing shows as Victorious, iCarly, and Dan the Dino.  You are no alone.  I don't know either.

I do know that someone who is in 2nd grade, knows better than to scribble on a TV or a wall or a table or in books.  So that someone is going to have to learn about the sort of consequences one might face when one decides to engage in property defacing.

Most unfortunately for both of us today, I am well aware of what the most effective consequence is for this behavior. The 2nd grader in question, who has been writing lists and using a calculator to figure out exactly how many books she can get with her $18 at the book fair this week, is not going to go to the book fair.

Some people are going to be miserable today.  The second grader who is going to miss the bookfair and me, I know this must be done and we'll both be better for it in the long run. 

It still sucks. 

1. With that, I'm heading out for  run in the rain because I can!  And then I will have to head over to the Jewel and figure out what I'm making for dinner.  I'm feeling like a pork & root veggie stew would be quite nice today!

Arugula

This morning we received our Timber Creek Farms http://www.tcforganics.net Goody Box (it's an assortment of different organic fruits and veggies) and this box contained arugula. So I'm making a new recipe tonight to go with baked chicken breasts.

Here is the new potato salad recipe (from http://www.allrecipes.com ) :

Potato Arugula Salad
Submitted by: Jenny
Rated: 4 out of 5 by 4 members
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 35 Minutes
Yields: 6 servings
"A different and yummy potato salad; it uses no mayonnaise. This is a nice alternative to use arugula, rather than just adding it to a green salad."
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cubed
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced (optional) (I'm going to use 2 tsp of garlic garlic instead.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bunch arugula - rinsed, dried and torn
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, and cool. Transfer to a large bowl.
2.
Meanwhile, mix vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl. Drizzle in olive oil, whisking until mixture thickens.
3.
Toss potatoes with vinegar and oil mixture and arugula. Serve at room temperature.

Later this week or early next week they are calling for autumnlike temperatures and I'll be making a batch of my "Mama's Soup" which is just my chicken noodle soup. And I am going to try out a Butternut Squash Recipe AND I found a recipe for Autumn Stew--slow cooker recipe.

Yippee I have some varied recipes to try.