Love in the Kitchen - making fast, healthy, homegrown meals you'll enjoy

Friday, October 21, 2011

Homecoming Preview

The Girl is in Marching Band at her high school (she's a freshman this year - what fun!) and today is the big homecoming game!


The band will play the National Anthem


And we will all face the flag with the sun setting behind it.

The team will be ready!


And I expect their coach will have lots to say to them.


The Wolf Pack's mascot will be pacing on the sidelines.


The band and color guard will put on a fantastic halftime show!




And there will be more football....

... with (hopefully) a fabulous outcome!

Is there anything like a high school homecoming game on a Friday night?


Zentmrs
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Monday, October 17, 2011

Harvest Monday: October 17, 2011

We're still getting some wonderful wonderful produce this fall.

We picked the last of the corn - my goodness was it tasty!


The green onions are (finally!) starting to be harvestable.

We've got a ton of hot peppers on the vine.  I only picked a few, and we'll get a bunch more next week.


And the strawberries keep coming too, though still a little at a time.


And the peas?  Fabulous!

Tomatoes....

And the rest of the watermelon (someone didn't take a picture of them).  A lot of watermelon.


Such pretty colors - I have loved having all of these plants this summer!




Total Harvest for the Week:  37 pounds, 5.9 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year:  89 pounds, 15.5. ounces

Oh my!  I never thought we'd get that much out of our garden.... though I have to say the watermelon feels a little bit like cheating.  On the other hand, it did overtake EVERYTHING so perhaps we've gots some justification there.

Linked up with Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.


Zentmrs
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Friday, October 14, 2011

Quick Chicago Trip

A couple of weeks ago, I had a conference in Chicago and dragged The Mr with me. He vacationed, I worked. At least some of the time. I did take a couple of days to enjoy myself. Here's a quick pictorial summary!

We walked around downtown the first day we got there.  This is inside Water Tower Place.  We enjoyed being inside because it was quite a downpour outside!

They have a fabulous Lego store there - The Boy would have loved it.

After the rain stopped, we walked down to the Navy Pier.  Lots of restaurants and shopping and activities... and lots of opportunity for walking (one of our favorite vacation pastimes).



We never quite got around to riding the Ferris Wheel.  Something we can put on our list for our next visit.

A quick break and a couple of Diet Cokes.
We also went to the Field Museum.  They've got the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered (her name is Sue).
This is how big her footprint would have been!



At the Museum of Science and Industry we saw a U-505, a German World War II Type-IXc Unterseeboot (submarine) that was captured in battle.  Uber-cool!
The Mr has a friend who is a professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee... which is just about a 90 minute drive form Chicago, so we went to Milwaukee for a few hours to see him.  He took us to see the Milwaukee Art Museum - the fountain out front was dyed pink in preparation for their Breast Cancer Race.

We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel, right downtown.  Next door is the Chicago Tribune building. An interesting fact is that the Tribune Tower contains many famous stones incorporated in the wall, including rock fragments from the Alamo, the Colosseum and the Chinese Wall. A steel fragment from the World Trade Center in New York is also added to the wall. All these objects are labeled and visible from the street level. The most famous part of the collection is a moon rock which is not incorporated in the building but on display behind a glass window.


We also went to the top of the Sears Tower (actually called Willis Tower now).  The one with the glass box the goes out over the street.  About a million miles above the street.  Here I am trying to explain to The Mr and this is NOT a good idea.
He wasn't having any part of that.  See how far down it is?

Those little boxes way up there?  That's where we were.

A bronze statue of a cow outside the Chicago Cultural Center.  Kind of random.

We got to have dinner in the Signature Room at the top of the John Hancock building.  Magnificent views!


I'll do a food recap this weekend.  Lots of good eating in the windy city.

The Mr took a segway tour while I was working.  His tour guide Joe took these photos.  He had fabulous weather for his tour!



We did a lot of walking while we were there, and saw a lot of sights.  This is the aquarium (we decided not to go as we live near a couple of world-famous aquariums) in the background.
Buckingham Fountain - lots of wedding pictures taken here.

Our reflection in "Cloud Gate" (The Bean) in Millenium Park.


We even got to walk by Soldier Field.  Where the Bears play.  I am NOT a Bears fan.



We really had a wonderful trip.  We had the opportunity to meet up with a bunch of old friends, have a lot (oy!) of wonderful food and generally enjoyed ourselves!


Zentmrs
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Thursday, October 13, 2011

Halloween Treats!

I made these for the folks at work today -

Candy Corn Fudge

Ingredients

1 7-oz. jar marshmallow cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups candy corn (about 12 oz.)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup salted peanuts, chopped
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped, optional
1 ounce white chocolate, chopped, optional

Preparation

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil; butter foil. Combine marshmallow cream, sugar, evaporated milk and butter in a large, heavy pan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 235°F on a candy thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes. (This is soft ball stage, and can also be measured using the method found here.)

2. Remove from heat and stir in candy corn, chocolate chips and peanuts, stirring until chocolate melts. Immediately transfer to foil-lined pan and smooth top until even. Chill until set, at least 2 hours.

3. In separate bowls over pans of simmering water, melt semisweet and white chocolate, if desired. Using forks, drizzle both chocolates over fudge. Cut fudge into squares.



Pretty tasty - though I think without the saltiness of the peanuts they would be too sweet.  They didn't last long in the office kitchen!



Zentmrs
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