This and That in October

When our two year old grandson Quinn visited, guess which pumpkin he wanted to hold? If you guessed the pink one, you are correct. He loved it. The mums were just starting to bloom when I took the first photo.

Here are the mums blooming like crazy. I got lucky this year and bought them from a fund raiser. I ordered six total, and the two purple ones on my front porch are ginormous! I think every neighbor has stopped to ask where I got them. 

Our sweet granddaughter Claire was baptized on October 11 at Our Lady Of Lourdes Church which is five minutes from our home. Only immediate family members were allowed to attend, and they did a Zoom for those who were not able to attend. I am sure by the time she makes her first communion, things will thankfully be much different. She slept through the entire baptism. We will start watching her one day a week when mom returns to work.  

Apple crisp is always a big hit in our household. 

I make a small Concord Grape pie each year with organic grapes from the farm.  

I had to ask Xavier what his costume was. LOL  It is Paw Patrol. I have never been good at figuring out Halloween costumes. I'm going to be a witch this year, and Joe will be Sasquatch. 

We managed to get photos of all three grandchildren...Xavier 4, Quinn 2 and Claire is two months.

We are setting a table outdoors by the front door this Halloween, and there will be treat bags for the kids that come. We won't have our usual 150, but maybe we will have 20 ?? I've set the table for the two of us which is a dry run for my Halloween party next year. In 2019, I planned to host a witches' gathering in the forest at my camp in 2020 but that's not happening now. 

Thank you for your visit! Happy Halloween my lovelies!

Grandma Brown's Baked Beans

Are you loyal to hometown brands?

I have been using these beans for over 40 years. Empty them into a baking dish. Add some ketchup and mustard, some brown sugar, caramelized onions and a little maple syrup. Top with strips of bacon or crumbled bacon and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until the bacon is cooked and the beans are bubbly. There you have it: a quintessential Central New York side dish, for summer or any other season. 

Grandma Brown’s Baked Beans got their start in 1937, during the Great Depression, when Lulu Brown, of Mexico (New York), began making large pans of baked beans and selling them in local grocery stores. The beans were so well received that her husband, Earl, and her son Robert E. Brown, decided to sell them.

Thank you for stopping by. I'm still getting used to this new blogger platform. I haven't blogged enough to master it :-)

September We Are Loving You

Can you believe that the Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus can tolerate winters in our Zone 5?

I'm concerned my loofah plant will not produce "loofahs" before the killing frost hits in October. I have shown you a loofah that I bought at the farmers market just in case.

September has been spectacular in many ways.

xo

Deb  

Another Sourdough Story of Sweet Friendship During Covid

I’d like you to meet my Sourdough Bread Starter. 

Serendipity has resided in my home since August 2020, and has had three good rounds so far. Serendipity gets fed, divided, and baked every two weeks. I watch her bubble on the counter since I have been working from home since April. Traditional sourdough bakers are known for naming their starters. Serendipity is a mix of bread flour, sugar, water, oil and salt. I've seen some inventive starter names like: Little Bread Rising Hood, Bread Pitt, Jane Dough, and Vincent Van Dough.

A couple months ago, Susan @ Savoring Time in the Kitchen shared that Kitty's Kozy Kitchen had sent her dried sourdough starter. I was offered some and took Susan up on the offer.

I've met so many wonderful bloggers over the years, and I share a love of baking with Susan and Kitty. Kitty was given a live sourdough starter over 20 years ago called "Civil War Starter". Kitty has kept it alive, and as you can probably guess, that's a lot of bread baking over the years. 

I received some of Kitty's dried starter in the mail! When I opened the bag of dried starter, it smelled so fresh and good! 

I followed the instructions on the King Arthur website on how revive the dried starter and soon I was on my way to baking sourdough bread. Yes, flour becomes your best friend. Susan mentioned that she did her baking along with countless other bakers in the world who weren't able to find dried yeast on the grocery shelves for so long.

I have made nine loaves of bread so far, and have shared with friends and family. I have received so many compliments, and three friends have asked for the sourdough starter so they can start making bread at home. 

To be continued....I love the bread so much that I haven't used the sour dough starter for anything else. I'd like to try popovers, lemon cake and Chocolate Sour Dough Bundt Cake next month.

P.S. Joe no longer buys sourdough bread from our favorite bakery up the street. Ours is so much better :-)  Truly.

Mackenzie Childs Barn Sale 2020

I posted two photos of the items I ordered that haven't arrive yet. They are my two favorite items that I ordered, so I hope I get them. 

"Over the years, the barn sale has become an event where friendships, built over a love for Courtly Check, begin and are renewed." MacKenzie-Childs was not able to host the on-site Barn Sale in 2020 so they had their first ever Online Barn Sale. While it was great for the folks that have never been able to attend the Barn Sale, the rest of us are certainly looking forward to the Barn Sale resuming in Aurora next year. I sure hope we can hug by then. 

I thought I would show this photo of how they paint the the Royal Check pattern which is "composed of a range of blue hues that reflect the blues in nature that we see at our rural Upstate New York farm, from the blue skies overhead to the ever-changing blue waters of nearby Cayuga Lake. Additional depth and color are added to the pattern with subtle, jewel-tone highlights that are dragged through the blue checks."