Seasonal snacking

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This has been my afternoon snack for a couple weeks. Hello, it's apple season around here, so you pretty much have to eat an apple a day. And chocolate is always in season for me. And tea - it's black tea in that travel mug, not coffee. Even though the word "java" is on the mug...it's tea inside...usually black with rum honey or turbinado(demerara for those of you across the pond) sugar.

I'm feelin' all holy cause I don't snack out of the vending machine, or bring convenience store junk food to work for snacking. So I thought I'd do some Googling to prove how smart are my snack choices.

• Apple: Ok, so it's not an organic apple...this time...I think. I buy local or Midwestern, organic or not, apples depending on what's available when I feel the urge to buy apples. I'm not perfect. So maybe this apple will kill me, or maybe it won't.
  
• sweetriot peaces: Dark chocolate is good for you. The founders are from the Midwest. They are socially responsible. Wait a minute - they are not paying me to say this!
  
• Tea: From WebMD, they're the online health experts, right?
  
  "Studies of humans and animals show that the antioxidants in black and green teas are highly beneficial to our health," says 82-year-old John Weisburger, PhD, senior researcher at the Institute for Cancer Prevention in Valhalla, N.Y.
  "I've published more than 500 papers, including a hell of a lot on tea," says Weisburger, who drinks 10 cups daily. "I was the first American researcher to show that tea modifies the metabolism to detoxify harmful chemicals."
  
  This man is 82-yrs-old - so drinking tea must be good for you! Plus, tea detoxifies, so maybe it cancels out the bad stuff I eat, like that non-organic apple.
  

Hmmm...should I just eat more dark chocolate, or more organic fruit? What's your favorite afternoon snack this season, healthy or not?

more Farewell to Fall

This little winecup doesn't know that the fallen leaves surrounding it are a sign that it's time to go to sleep for the winter.

Here's a little serviceberry tree that is standing alone in its autumn beauty in the little scrap of woods behind our house.

 

Farewell to Fall

Oh no, it looks like Fall is already over around here. It's been windy and rainy since early Thursday morning, with rain predicted off and on for the next week. *Groan* *Moan*

So lots of the trees have lost their pretty leaves already. Strangely, some oaks and maples haven't turned much color yet this year, or just aren't going to show much color this Fall. The red oak in our back yard is ocher, rather than it's usual dark red fall color. Although other trees were glorious with color. I took a quick walk after work Wednesday and took a few pictures with my iPhone. The sky was filling with clouds before the rain; I was hoping for some sunny color and a beautiful sunset, but no luck. I'm surprised at the amount of color that appeared in my simple iPhone pictures.

There's a bird's nest in the middle of this tree.

Blue leaves!?

 

Who is my new top chef?

This week my wheel-worthy chef is the anonymous Nadine. Nadine left a comment that included a recipe for White Wine Cake on the Hotfessional's blog. Nadine didn't have a link to a blog or email  address for herself, so I don't know how to thank her personally. But let me tell you - that cake is freakin' DELICIOUS! Meester and I ate half of it almost immediately; since it's time to start storing that extra layer of fat for winter. So thanks, Nadine.

WHITE WINE CAKE
One box Duncan Hines Butter Yellow Cake mix
3.4 oz (small) Instant Vanilla Pudding mix
1/2 cup Wesson Oil (vegetable oil…I use canola)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Chardonnay wine
4 eggs
Ignore directions on box of cake mix. Mix all above ingredients together until moist then beat 2 minutes with mixer. A hand mixer works fine. Spray “Baker’s Joy” in Bundt pan or, if you’re so inclined, grease and flour Bundt pan by hand. Put batter in Bundt pan and bake 40 minutes at 350 F. Use toothpick test to make sure cake is done.
While cake is baking, have a glass of Chardonnay and ponder your progress thus far.
About 20 minutes before cake is done prepare glaze…

WHITE WINE GLAZE
1 stick real butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup Chardonnay
Melt all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Turn up heat and bring to a boil – boil for 2 minutes stirring frequently.
When cake is done, remove from oven. Spoon glaze over hot cake while still in the pan. Use the spoon to pry the cake away from the edges so the glaze really soaks down the sides of the cake. Save about 1/4 of the glaze. Let cake cool in pan after you apply the glaze. When cool, remove cake by turning upside down on serving plate. Spoon remaining glaze (reheat if necessary) over top of cake.
Drink the remainder of the bottle of wine.
Store cake covered on counter (if there’s any left…snicker).
To dress up cake for a birthday, sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving and insert candles.
This is a serious recipe!!!!!!!
Drink more Chardonnay.

Hot glazed cake just out of the oven.

I added some powdered sugar to the saved 1/4 of glaze, so that the final glaze showed up more on the cake.

Me to a "t"

Ah, I found one thing that satisfies me in the chill of fall. My favorite shirt! The shirt that defines ME. I got it at a boutique shop years ago. The tag says "a View from a Broad." I love this shirt but can't find anything on that company anymore. Let me know if you have a source for these type of saucy shirts. Even Meester agrees that this slogan(and shirt) was made for me.

Oh sigh, oh whine...

We seem to have rushed past Fall here in Iowa and gone straight on towards Winter. Temps in the low '40s, drizzly, and sunless all week. (OMG! I just looked out the window and it's still drizzling - kill me.) I knew my winter gloom would set in eventually - but not so soon. I was warm in Texas and came back to time-to-turn-on-the-fireplace weather in Iowa. Not that I don't love my fireplaces. Gas fireplaces...if you please...I'm not messing with dirty logs and unreliable matches and all...flicking a switch on the wall for instant fire is just fine after a hard day at work.

Speaking of work...my work "institution" (which shall currently remain nameless but "institution" covers it pretty well) has announced even more dire financial straits than previously announced...with accompanying lay-offs, furloughs, cuts, etc. That's been a hatchet hanging over our heads for a year now; I suppose eventually they will let it drop. I'm sort of *whatever*, at this point. The heat in our building hasn't been turned on yet this year...usually it's on by now...I suppose that's a hint...or maybe they figure that if some of us freeze to death...that's less staff to lay off. *whatever*

Maybe I should go buy myself a nice little pumpkin for my desk. Maybe that would cheer me up...or at least I'd have something handy to throw at the next co-worker who asks me a stupid question.

What's my favorite for fall?

Pumpkins! and the Dallas Arboretum! As I've said before, Fall makes me wistful because it's a prelude to Winter. Thank goodness Fall means pumpkins - how can you not smile at a round, plump, bright orange pumpkin? We went to the Dallas Arboretum; fall is being celebrated with tons of pumpkins. It's a beautiful park on a lake, with every landscape design you can think of - formal, native, streams, ponds, sun, shade, etc. If you're ever in Dallas, be sure to go.

 

 

Guess where I am, y'all?

Yep, I'm in Texas. And without my computer, so I have to borrow Meester's laptop when he's not using it. Plus, I've actually been enjoying the trip so much, until yesterday(Thursday), that I haven't been inclined to take the time to post. although I set up a Twitter account and my iPhone and had all intentions of blogging my whole trip, ad nauseum...

We have a daughter and son-in-law in Dallas, and a daughter and son-in-law in Austin. So months ago we planned to visit the kids and get to know Texas better. If y'all have children, even if they are all grown up - y'all will get this part:

• Kids: Great, we'd love to see you...except we have a conference to attend at a posh resort in Scottsdale, AZ...and we're busy at work...and we all have tickets to ACL this weekend. We'll try to work in a visit with you, though.
• Me: I remember when I managed to "work in" nine months and a day of labor giving birth to some of you.
• Dallas kids: Can you babysit the dog while we go to the conference?
• Me: That's what grandparents are for - to babysit their granddogs - while we are on vacation.

So the trip from Iowa to Texas was pleasant, considering all the driving, and our daughter and husband have a charming old house in a charming old neighborhood in Dallas, so it's enjoyable staying here without them, and here's our darling granddog Sugar:

 Sugar is a sheltie adopted from Operation Kindness, a wonderful no-kill shelter in Dallas. Sugar spent a few years in a crate at a puppy-mill, and she is extremely timid and fearful, but a real sweetie. We got along fine alone with Sugar till Sugar's Mommy and Daddy rushed back from their Scottsdale conference and dashed back out to the Austin Music Festival on Thursday. Poor Sugar couldn't handle all the commotion, and the Texas-sized storm brewing outside.

• 3:00 p.m.ish Great rushing around by Sugar Mommy and Sugar Daddy with laundry and unpacking and repacking for Austin. Sugar probably fed too many treats. Sugar has diarrhea on hardwood floors. Grandma(me!) wipes up.
• 5:00 p.m. We all go out for a quick supper. Storms start. We get soaked leaving restaurant.
  
• 6:00 p.m. Sugar Mommy and Sugar Daddy leave; we go to store for more paper towels. While we're gone, Sugar has more diarrhea on master bedroom carpet. Grandma cleans up and makes Grandpa(Meester) help.
• 7:30 p.m. Sugar Mommy and Daddy call and ask us to check tv weather and weather.com for tornado reports. They are on I-35 going south to Austin and surrounded by lightning storms and a wall cloud approaching from the west. I need to go to the bathroom a lot after hearing that.
• 8:00 p.m. Grandma mops hardwood floors with Murphy Oil Soap in dining room and kitchen.
  
• 8:30 p.m. Kids call to tell me they have pulled off the interstate because the storm is so bad, just so I won't worry. They will call when they arrive in Austin.
• 9:00 p.m. Finish mopping kitchen and dining room and am monitoring storms on The Weather Channel incessantly. 
• 10:00 p.m. Mop hardwood floors in hallway and wash towels used in doggie clean up.
• 11:00 p.m. Been taking Sugar outdoors all night between rain showers but she's too spooked to go potty outside, just inside.Get her settled for the night in her bed in master bedroom.
  
• 11:30 p.m. Kids call; made it to Austin safely.
• Midnight COLLAPSE IN BED AND LAY AWAKE MOST OF THE NIGHT listening for possible dog trouble.
• Holy Crap-before-the-Crack-of-Dawn 6:00 a.m. Alarm clock goes off in master bedroom, waking me and Sugar, who needs to be taken outside immediately...and fed...and I am up for the day.

So I am in Texas...and now I know there's good whine to be had in Texas too.

P.S. You'll understand this if you are a parent or pet lover. I'm using my expensive new iPhone to send text message updates to kids on the status of Sugar's poops! She is just fine now, thank you very much.