Bread, every morning with goat cheese and jam. Ever since I discovered Artisean Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, mornings have included fresh bread... yum. And ever since our chickens have started laying I've been enjoying a poached very fresh egg too. Seriously yummy breakfast. We got our tree decorated, and our holiday whatnots around the home. It's so nice to have something like this to really seal the season in our home and hearts. Otherwise, we've been pillow making and freezer stenciling! Pillows are for Christmas gifts (I'm presuming my Grandma, Aunt and Mom are currently unaware that this blog exists mmm I think they look better / less shiny in person)... ooh, I still should take some pictures of the rest of the embroidered towels... Okay, it's on my mental to-do list. I also tried freezer pencil stenciling for the first honest effort. Well, okay maybe an exaggeration... I thought of the idea, found the images online and asked Brian to recreate them and cut them out. BUT I ironed them on and painted them (and sewed up the scarf). It's a present for Harmony's birthday... the chinese symbol is "Harmony" subtle? not really? We had a nice evening of just moms at Pix... mmm sweet desserty goodness. I had the potluck, a hazlenut steamer (with real hazlenut pase) and a macaroon, oh and one of those fruity jelly things. I was pretty stuffed by the time our yummy farmes market mushroom risotto was served by B.

Rockin CSA haul

We've been enjoying the fruits of fall lately. Our CSA has been chock full of great veggies and fruits, so that has been inspiring. Brian put together this great "salad starter" with a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, olives, cucumbers and red onions, that we can just ladle over our lettuce. Yum... and easy! I also used these beautiful purple, yellow and green tomatillos in my Mom's green enchilada recipe. It's one of my favorites, and it made a TON. We'll be in enchiladas for a few days and still have two small batches frozen for later. Earlier this week we picked up a big handful (about 20) chestnuts that had fallen from the tree down the street. Who knew, but chestnut pickers can be spotted by their characteristic shuffle preformed to open the super spiky hulls... Anyhow, two tries, and I'm still no good at peeling them, but I think I have it figured out for NEXT time.... slit 'em, boil for five minutes and take off the tough outer hull, DON"T WORRY about the super stuck on inner hull yet. Boil again, 20 minutes to an hour.... then try to remove the soft inner hull. Anyhow, after they were all soft I pushed them through a sieve, added an equal amount of sugar and a bit of water... okay I probably added too much water. In the end (no picture of greyish mush) I ended up with chestnut preserve, it's great with a rich yogurt, on bread and I am sure with whipped cream. Brian's not as much of a fan, but I love this stuff.

jars and jars and jars

This is the first year I have really embraced putting up food... I think I like it. It's very rewarding and I love seeing everything on the shelves. It's a fun thing for Brian and I to do together after Owen goes to sleep... even if it tends to keep us up way too late. They are almost too precious to crack open... almost. I promised Brian that as soon as the season for fresh .... whatever we are canning ... is over we can pop them open. However nothing so far, we've been working our way through some jam from Mom and half jars of stuff. Let's see what do we have (in reverse and slightly overlapping order) applesauce, tomatoes, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, italian plum jam, blackberry jam, Dill pickles, peach jam, cherries, beets, raspberry jam, and some strawberry freezer jam (started jammin' these guys before I got up the gumption to try canning... next year!). We also have a handful of apple pies, strawberry shortcakes, and bean servings in the freezer.... mmm
I can't really explain why this makes me so happy. Maybe because last winter went on soo long (at least it seemed that way, hard to say, it was my first Portland winter), that bringing a bit of summer along with me is reassuring.

We be jammin'

In an effort to maximize and bottle up the beautiful sunshine this summer, we have been hitting the U-picks around here (most recently Duycks pig and peachy farm... loads of blueberries, blackberries, peaches, plums (Mom's new favorite), eggplants, peppers, hmmm.... that may be it on that day... we also love Rowell Brothers and Kruger's. I've had a few evenings filled with jam jars, tomato jars, and brian recently went a picklin (I'll take some pics of those and post 'em later!). We were doing pretty well with the tomatoes at home... until the chickens discovered how tasty they are, now only the highest and most protected ones are safe. Curses... they are so funny to watch and make such yummy eggs, it's hard to hold a few tomatoes against them... much. Thank you Tallulah (our easter egger finally started laying, Goldie and Barbara started weeks ago!)
At any rate, we'll be swimming in jam, strawberry, blackberry (the best!), plum, peach, as well as some blackberry "sauce" or jam that didn't quite set up, some cherries, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salsa! We'll see how we did when we bust them open this winter.