It is time to bake

I am traveling out of town for Thanksgiving. That fact did not stop me from agreeing to make 1 pie, 1 cheesecake, 2 side dishes, and 3 dozen homemade yeast rolls with honey butter. Have I lost me mind? Of course I have, and to top it off I am baking a 5 layer birthday cake.

What else is a woman suppose to do on a rainy, cold Sunday afternoon?

Slowing down time

I am in the foothills of Tennessee this weekend. We are brought here for both work and pleasure. The fella has a conference he is presenting at, and I am enjoying strolls through empty campuses covered in orange, red, and gold trees.

I walked all over Maryville Campus yesterday. I felt like I had the whole place to myself. The students have retreated home over fall break. It was peaceful, quiet, and perfectly crisp. The few people I did bump into were from the SWEHA conference. Truly brilliant people to sit and have a chat with.

We aren't to far from The Great Smokey Mountains. We took a drive through them yesterday and it reminded of why I love this time of year so much. The trees are putting on a vibrant show, everyone sells apple cider ( or mulled wine), and when we get home we lobotomizing two of the most perfect pumpkins you have ever seen.

Since you put up with my gaping absences I will share my favorite mulled wine recipe with you. It's on heavy rotation in our house during Autumn and Winter.

Mulled Wine

1 bottle (750ml) merlot

2 cinnimon sticks

2-3 cloves

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups water

juice of 1 small-medium orange

orange peel, careful to avoid the white pith (bitter)

In a large dutch oven or stock pot bring water and sugar to a simmer. As soon as the sugar is incorporated add the wine and orange juice. Drop the cinnimon sticks in, add cloves and orange peel.

*I push the cloves into the orange peel and little it simmer in the wine. It is much easier to pull them out this way that accidentally serve a clove up in a drink to friends. 

I simmer this for about 5 minutes and serve or I leave it on the lowest setting on my stove and let people ladle it out at their leisure for parties.  Some friends even serve it out of their slow cookers/ crock pots.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

i'm engaged

Sourdough starter day 1

5:30pm
I combined 150g flour with 250g of water for a total of 400g. It is left out on the counter and uncovered.

My favorite Salsa

I whipped this up months ago when our garden started to produce more peppers than I knew what to do with. We have been making this ever since. We put it on everything.

Restaurant Style Salsa
1 can (28 oz) whole San Marzano tomatoes
1/4 chopped frozen onion (or fresh if you have it)
2 cloves garlic
3 jalapenos, diced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cumin, ground
1/4 cup cilantro (or to taste)
juice from 1 small lime

Combine all ingredients in a blender and give it a whirl until you get the consistency you like. Less for chunky salsa, more for smooth salsa.

travel

Don't you just hate it when you have been traveling, come home, unpack your luggage and realize that some item, usually small, is missing. I can't find my tweezers, and instead of just buying a new pair I am going over every inch of luggage, hand bag, and carry on we have. I can be like that sometimes.

Life Has Resumed

I stopped blogging for so many reasons; grief, school, a move, and travel, just to name a few. During all of those times I often wanted to write up a blog post or share a great restaurant, but it just wasn't he right time to pick blogging back up. Today though, feels like the right time to bring blogging back into my life. I am looking froward to sharing some of the things that were going on this past summer and what the fall holds in store for us.

More to come....