Monday: Goal Day

Personal:

1. Share a home-cooked, non hectic dinner with The Fella
2. Walk 5 miles
3. Read 3 chapters in Social Blunders (when you are in school any reading for fun is hard to fit in!)
4. Lose 1 pound

Domestic:

1. Vaccum
2. Deep Clean master bathroom
3. Stick to the meal plan
4. prep for the party Friday...before Friday morning

Economics:

1. Check on 401K
2. Earn $5 Amazon gift card on Swagbucks
3. Plan out Christmas gifts

Education:

1. homework
2. extra credit
3. study for LR final

In the land of Beer...

This week the fella and I are in North Carolina, the land of craft beer. We are both two very happy people. I didn't drink beer until I met Fella, I was a scotch drinker, nice and neat (pun intended). He told me, if you haven't found a beer you like, you haven't tried enough. So true.

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.