I dug through my entire computer and my phone and what you see above are all of the photos that I could find of Pat and I together. You probably see a theme.  In an effort to just document a moment, we’ve gotten pretty good at sticking an arm out in front of us or if we’re really ambitious, using the self timer. When you put them all together though,  it’s a pretty boring compilation.

Fortunately, that’s all about to change! Today we got to spend the afternoon with the very talented Christy Tyler.  We were  both a little nervous going into it, not knowing what to expect and never having had any professional photos taken. We’re a pretty schmoopie couple at home but I didn’t know if that would really translate when in front of someone with a camera.  Especially since, of the two of us, Pat’s a little more on the shy side.  Fortunately Christy is so kind and laid back, she put us at ease right away.  We both left saying that it was really fun.  As we were walking back to the car, Pat even said, “I didn’t even realize there were people walking by until about 45 minutes into it.”

Even little Murphy got in on the action! Can’t wait to see the results!!

GIVE ME COFFEE!

Excuse the crappy Iphone photo. I saw this guy* staring me down while I waited in the Starbucks drive thru and thought he so perfectly captured my thoughts today that I needed to share.

And how is your day?

*Who is apparently the mascot for an auto repair shop? Which I kind of can understand. I know that’s how I feel when my car needs repairs.

Enter: This beauty!

1973 Schwinn

Pat found out that his boss was selling it on Craigslist and snatched it up. I love it! I’ve been on a couple of inaugural trips, and it’s *almost* everything I’ve dreamed of! It’s only missing one thing. A basket! Ok, maybe it’s also missing a couple of playing cards stuck in the back tire.

I haven’t decided if I want something on the front or pannier type baskets on the back wheel. I feel like the pannier style could fit more groceries in them without it being super unstable, but the front basket makes me want to put Murphy in it* and sing the witch’s song from Wizard of Oz. Would both be too much?

I found a great basket on my first google search that of course I didn’t save and now I can’t find anywhere. It had two metal baskets on either side with a small flat area over the back tire where you could attach extra items if needed.

I’ve got some time. Soon all of the streets will be snow covered and my new little bike will have to live in the garage until spring, but maybe in the meantime the power of the internets can help me find the perfect basket for it?

*My dog is so glad that he’s far too big for a basket right now.

You know the ones. They talk about their babies all the time, all social activities seem to revolve around their kids…their kids have a facebook page…*hides face in hands* I’m so embarrassed.  Not really.

In keeping with this, on Friday night we went to The Dog Den’s first annual Howl-o-ween party to benefit the Dane County Humane Society’s Help Me Heal Fund There was bobbing for hot dogs, musical mats, Snoopy Says and general doggie playtime. But more importantly you guys, there were so many dogs in costume!

Bobbing for hot dogs. First you have to stare it down....

It was so much fun. Murphy wore his wings the whole night and didn’t even seem to notice they were there…although there was no way he was keeping the hat on. When we got home, he walked up the stairs and went straight to bed…wings and all.

that was a good party.

After a conversation on Twitter about making homemade marshmallows and s’mores in your oven (it’s easy! do it!) I decided that I needed to make caramel apples. We picked up a half dozen Honeycrisp apples at the farmer’s market Saturday morning and I’d heard that caramel could be made by boiling an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for several hours, which sounded both mildly dangerous and extremely delicious. Perfect combo. Must try.

The instructions are fairly simple. Take an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk and remove the label. Place in a pot large enough to allow you to cover the can with 3-4 inches of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 4 hours, making sure that the water level always stays above the top of the can so that it doesn’t explode. (yeah…that would be..interesting.) When it’s done boiling, use tongs to take it out and let cool. Voila! Caramel!

So, I set the cans to boiling, terrified the whole time that I was going to forget about it and come back to a kitchen covered in boiling water and exploded caramel.  The intention was that  the caramel would be done in time to make the apples at halftime of the Wisconsin/Ohio State football game. Unfortunately, just as the game was about to start, we ended up taking Murphy to the emergency vet. (a whole different story) I’d say it boiled for about 3 1/2 hours and then I just turned the burner off and let it sit/cool in the water while we were gone.
I threw both unopened cans in the fridge when we got home and heated it over a double boiler the next day.

This was the moment of truth. I wasn't entirely sure it was going to work.

You know what? It’s really good! The can with the ridges in it is Carnation and the other is Shurfine brand. I didn’t taste much difference between the two, but in our very scientific test, which included licking the caramel off the lid, P thought that the Shurfine brand tasted more like an authentic caramel apple.

We initially used some leftover lollipop sticks but realized early on that these were not sturdy enough to hold a caramel laden apple so we just stuck forks in the rest of them.

We toasted some chopped pecans and sprinkled them on the apples while the caramel was still hot…

The caramel is really good, but it didn’t really harden up like I remember the caramel being on caramel apples we get at the pumpkin patch. I don’t know if there’s a trick to making it harden up?

They’re delicious and since we used all of our forks in the apples, we have a legitimate excuse for eating caramel apples for dinner!

What says fall to you?

I’ll pause here for the collective AWWWW.

He’s 9 weeks today and we’re making the roadtrip to Illinois tomorrow to bring him home.
I can almost smell the puppy breath from here.

(in her natural habitat)

I want to write. I compose posts in my head on the way to work and then never seem to get them down. I think a big part of the problem is that I haven’t felt like I’ve wanted to write about what I’m cooking. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve been wanting to share an amazing quinoa salad with you all for a couple of months now, and I’d be happy to talk about how I’m making artichokes for the first time tonight, but I want to write about other things too. About how we’re planning a wedding for next summer, about how I’m feeling paralyzed by choice, about the best way to get rid of Japanese beetles on raspberries (anyone?), about puppies and maybe about how our cat is an amazing mouser as long as you don’t mind if the mouse is actually a baby bunny.
So here we go. I’m taking this in a new direction. If you’re coming along for the ride be prepared for some new topics. We’ll still be talking about food. I can’t stop myself, but there will be other topics too. I hope you’ll stick around. I’ll try to keep the dead bunny talk to a minimum.

I got one of these babies for Christmas this year.

If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen.
I’m making these first.

send help.
and elastic waistbands.
send those too.

This weekend we started putting the garden to bed. This meant tackling the gigantic mess of tomatillos that had taken over the garden this summer. We started this year with three tomatillo plants. I think we ended with a hundred.

What do you do with tomatillos? So far, the only thing I know how to do with them is make salsa.

And make salsa we did.
Twenty pints.*
My hands will probably  smell like garlic and onions until spring.

Apparently this does not bother those around me too much though
I highly recommend leaving your man home alone with a couple dozen jars, a camera and some time off of work.

The recipe:

6 cups tomatillos, chopped
3 cups onions, chopped
3 jalapeno peppers, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup lemon juice (Not Chopped!)
1 T cumin
1 T kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper

First off. That’s a lot of chopping. If you have a food processor, now is the time to make use of it.

Combine all of the ingredients in a pot and stir frequently over high heat until mixture boils.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Optional: Using an immersion blender, blend the ingredients to desired consistency.

Ladle into pint jars leaving 1/2 inch head space.
Wipe rips, adjust rims and process in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.**
*The other jars are applesauce. One of my patients gave me a 1/2 bushel of apples from his orchard.
**I’m at sea level – adjust as needed for your elevation