Happy Halloween

As I am sure I have mentioned a number of times, we love Halloween in this house! I decorate the inside, the Mister decorates the outside, and we both decorate ourselves. This year we got to add a baby to the mix! And let me tell you...dressing up a little one is amazing! I loved every minute of planning and crafting. 

The Mister and I like to think of the perfect costumes throughout the year, modifying and changing our ideas right up until craft time. This year we cheated a little and reused our pirate costumes. But can you blame us? Having a two month old doesn't allow for a lot of time at the sewing machine

On Halloween, we all answered the door together. Because aside from dressing my own family, I love seeing all the little ghouls and goblins that venture out. Living in this small town, we don't get nearly as many as we did in the city, but they are adorable just the same. I love listening to moms as they explain the steps to newbie trick-or-treaters and hearing the little ones mumble our "trick-or-treat" as they hold out their little pumpkin buckets.

However you spent your Halloween, I hope you had as much fun as we did! Now it's time for this family to eat too much candy as we start planning next year's costumes and decorations =)

 

Is that not the cutest little tail feather you've ever seen?

A is for Apple Picking

Yesterday was the first day of fall and my first in the beautiful foliage of Northern New York in ten years. This time around I have a wonderful husband and beautiful baby boy to enjoy it with.

The little man will be a month old in two days. He and I have been more or less cooped up for the last four weeks. Apple picking was our first family adventure. We grabbed grandma and went to a little orchard nearby. This was also our first use of the Moby...it was a little confusing at first, but worked out well for our wandering. The mister and my mom were able to get some good pictures in the lovely fall sunshine as well as a couple pecks of apples to turn into delicious baked goods. The weather was amazing, it was warm and sunny, with exceptional blue skies. It was a wonderful day spent with my perfect little family. 

The Man of My Dreams

At the end of January I married the man of my dreams. We had a very simple ceremony at City Hall.

The mister and I have been a couple for nearly ten years, and friends for even longer. This wedding was more a confirmation of the vows we have been living all along. We wanted to keep it simple because that is how we live. No big show, no fancy party, just close friends and family members to celebrate the love that we share.

For us, our love and our life is what constitutes a marriage and we have had that for ten years. I am proud to now call Ryan my husband, he has been that in my heart all along.

Tree to Table

When I was younger my mom and I used to make a three hour drive south every fall to gather apples for the holiday baking season. When the Mister and I moved back to NY last summer I was disappointed to learn that due to the early thaw followed by a cold spell, there were fewer apples available and no local orchards were letting people pick their own. Luckily, this summer was better for apples and all the orchards were back open for picking! So, off we went.

We came home with an entire bushel of apples, close to 30 pounds, which looks like a lot more in my pantry than it did when we were standing in the middle of the orchard.

For my first apple dish I went with the ever popular apple pie. I love making it and the Mister loves eating it!

Next up is a nod to my German heritage with some apfelpfannkuchen, followed eventually by some baked apple oatmeal, and then probably another pie. Not to mention the apple a day that each of us are eating. I'm thinking that 30 pounds may have been too many apples for two people...anyone interested in some delicious baked goods?

As an aside, I'll share this photo to hopefully put a smile on your face. A while back someone that lives in this house and is not me got in a small fight with the container and then put it back in the drawer like nothing happened. Each time I grab for the cling wrap I have to giggle just a little as I imagine how the box came to look this way. Enjoy =)

Game Night

Some of my fondest memories are of friends and family gathered around a table playing games. From huddling at the neighbor's during the ice storm of 1998 for warmth and what felt like hundreds of games of Phase 10, to the first Thanksgiving I spent with the Mister's family. When we played SNL Trivial Pursuit and I learned that his sister cheats at Uno. I also learned that she likes to confess to cheating several turns past when any consequences can be doled out. Let's not forget winning Gestures and stunning my host family when I guessed modelleisenbahn correctly, or visiting friends from my hometown and playing Creationary while enjoying margaritas.

For a while the Mister and I had a regular game night scheduled. We had amassed quite the collection of games during our decade together branching out beyond your run of the mill Milton Bradley or Parker Brother's games (not that we don't enjoy these as well). We discovered Euro games and fell instantly in love. These games are often much more complicated than traditional board games, but they are always worth the effort. (I suggest you look into Dominion or Pandemic if you're interested). We kept our game night up for nearly a year, but then life seemed to place itself squarely in the way and we ended up making excuses and finding reasons for why we didn't have the time.

Recently we decided to reenact our game night. We did some rearranging of the rooms after the purchase of our new couch and we took this opportunity to create a game room. As we added a little bit of normalcy to our home with new living room furniture, we balanced it out with a reminder of the geekery that our relationship is built upon. 

Game nights got away from us in the past, so we have renewed our efforts to make the space for them this time around. Finding a couple hours on a Sunday night not only allows us to meet the new week with our energies refueled, but it also lets us reconnect with each other at the end of every week.

Plus, the Mister just bought a Pound-o-dice, so we are looking for any and every reason to use them!

Honey Bourbon Cupcakes

Sometimes hobbies can be conflicting. In the past couple of years I have fallen in love with being more active. I also love to bake, and have since I was small. These two hobbies don't generally go hand in hand. Last summer I baked something nearly every weekend, this year I have focused more on fitness and have hardly baked at all. Last week I decided that I would whip up a batch of cupcakes over the weekend. No reason, just to bake.

The Mister and I sat down to decide what kind I should make, him on tapiture, me on pinterest (This, just one more example of how geeky our love is). He came upon these tasty little treats at Creative Culinary. So, off to the store we went to retrieve some Honey Burbon.

Both the Mister and myself are night owls, we always have been. We decided to bake these cupcakes at midnight on a Saturday. Baking is usually my thing, but this time the Mister played the role of my Sous Chef and measured out all the ingredients so all I had to do was combine them. He also took on the bourbon drizzle because he is in charge of sauces in this household. It was a wonderful evening!

The recipe we used made delicious cupcakes, but there are a few edits that might make the process a bit easier for the next time. Primarily much smaller batches of bourbon drizzle and buttercream.

For the Cupcakes:

3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp Honey Bourbon (there are a number of options to choose from)
3 Tbsp Milk

For the Bourbon Drizzle:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Honey Bourbon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

For the Buttercream Frosting:
3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract 1 Tbsp Honey Bourbon

Heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix just to incorporate.

Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. Add to the wet mixture and beat until just combined.

Add the whiskey and milk until just combined.

Divide batter evenly into cups filling each approximately 2/3 full.

Bake for 16 to 20 minutes; test with a toothpick; the top will be firm so make sure the inside is cooked through.

Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

To Make the Bourbon Drizzle

Add all ingredients together in a small pan, bring to a boil and boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before drizzling on cupcakes.

To Make the Buttercream Frosting

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar.

Add the vanilla and Honey Bourbon and combine thoroughly.

Add the cream 1 Tbsp at a time until your frosting is very light and fluffy and the correct consistency, continue to beat on high for 3-5 minutes until very fluffy.

Pipe the frosting onto cupcakes. Garnish with the Bourbon Drizzle. 

Enjoy =)

Cinco de Mayo and the First Grilling

I just recently moved to a Monday through Friday workweek. Its amazing. I used to have Wednesday and Thursday off, which didn't leave a lot of time for enjoying the Mister's company or doing other weekend things like festivals and going out for drinks. The new schedule came just in time for warm weather, festival season, and the end of the Mister's semester.

This weekend the Mister and I enjoyed not only Cinco de Mayo on Sunday, but also May the Fourth (alert Nerd!). 

We decided Cinco de Mayo would be a good time to break out the grill for the first meal of the season. What better than grilled flank steak for fajitas. We also picked up some lovely looking serrano peppers to grill.

While the mister was playing with his new grill toy (we recently picked up a chimney starter for his charcoal), I was enjoying the fresh cut grass and snapping some pictures of the beautiful lilac tree in our back yard.

I could really get used to this weekend thing.

Fry Sharing

What do you see here?

What I see is a lovely little reminder of why the Mister and me get along so well. I am a firm believer in loving the little things and this is one of those things that makes me smile any time I think about it.

Early on in our relationship, we found out that the Mister always eats the long fries while I always pick out the short little crispy fries. This is not and never was a grand act of altruism, but simply him liking the long fries and me liking the runts. The best part is that no matter what kind of fries, whether they are homemade, fast food, or gourmet...there is always a nice balance of long golden fries and short crispy ones.

I was reminded of this little quirk of ours tonight when we ordered a basket of fries while out to dinner. It happens without speaking and at this point without even thinking, but as I grabbed up all the little fries, I couldn't help but think of the two of us and all of the little things that we do daily with and for each other that make us the pair we are!

Springtime

I have been trying to line up my days off with nice weather for nearly a month. I have been anxious to get out and play in the yard, since this is the first year I have actually have a yard! It has not gone my way. I go to work when it is 60 degrees and sunny and then when I am off it's 40 and rainy. This week that finally changed!

I spent the afternoon basking in the spring weather and cleaning out the flower gardens. My mister came out and trimmed our lilac tree. I was pleased to be able to uproot a few thorny vines from the back of the yard to expose some of the smaller, less injury-inflicting plants that make their home back there.

I have an entire garden along the garage dedicated to strawberries and rhubarb. I am hoping to bake some delicious rhubarb dishes this summer once they pop up a bit more.

Rhubarb looks so creepy when it first comes up. It reminds me of alien eggs or something else from a low budget sci-fi flick.

The Mister had himself buried in the center of the lilac trying to get every last branch trimmed perfectly. I am just happy he volunteered for that job, because I would have gotten bored an cranky way before the task was finished!

This picture is just fascinating to me. The way my phone captured the angle of the sun is crazy. I am certain I couldn't duplicate this even if I tried.

Minimalist Trek

My mister likes to pretend that he has no artistic talent. I beg to differ. I came home to these prints the other day.

Not only have I loved Star Trek for most of my life (my dad and I used to watch TNG when I was little), but I am such a fan of minimalist prints. These beauties are destined for a display in our office very soon.

So tell me...who is your favorite captain?