Spirit of Halloweens Past

The boys with their "pukin' pumpkin"

I'm positive I've done a similar post to this in the past. In fact, I'd bet money on it, but it's been a few years now, and who the heck ever actually searches my blog, besides me?

So, it's time to do another Halloween-costume-reminiscing blog. My boys haven't dressed up in years, but I used to be pretty creative in the costuming department if I do say so myself...before middle-aged brain and laziness set in.

The first Halloween that Son1 was around for, I made him a Super-baby outfit:

Poor Son2 always got the hand-me-downs:

The second Halloween of Son1's life, I made a Gingerbread Boy outfit for him, which I don't have a good photo of, so here's one of Son2 wearing the Gingerbread Boy outfit when he was around 2 years old. Son1 wanted to be Scooby Doo that year, so that's what I made for him (I'm pretty proud of that face that I drew free-hand!).

The next Halloween, when Son1 was around 3 yrs old, he was a Ladybug (with a lollypop dangling from his mouth).

The toughest costume I had to tackle was when Son1 decided that he wanted to be a goldfish. Goldfish?! What? Son2's in the back with the used-ladybug costume.

Then there was the less than memorable zombie phase. Where Son1 got the idea that he wanted to be a zombie was beyond me. And there's Son2 with the old Scooby outfit...

One of the costumes that I was the most fond of was also the last one I made. Son1 was wearing the LEGO brick costume that I thought turned out pretty cool. Son2, on the left, was wearing an elephant costume that my sister and her husband got for him (maybe they got tired of him wearing hand-me-downs?).

And that's it. That's the history of Halloween costumes for my kids. Hope you've all had a fun Halloween!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

A-birding we will go

A couple of weeks ago, hubby was invited to give a talk at Northern Illinois University, so we tagged along to do some birding around the Great Lakes area.

Our hotel in Aurora was next to a pond so the kids and I did some birding outside while hubby was giving his talk.  There weren't too many birds there, at least not that we could see, although we heard plenty.  We spotted Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. We suspect many more were hiding in the tall reeds.

The next day, we went to the FermiLab and walked around, hoping to see birds there.  Unfortunately, we didn't see a whole lot, but we had some nice walks.

Some fluffy wildflowers...not sure what they are.

Chicory is one of my favorite "weeds."

Son1 had been reading up on Monk Parakeets descended from escaped pets that now populated areas within Chicago, notably the Hyde Park area. He persuaded us to stop at a little park near the University of Chicago to look for them. We walked all around the park and didn't see any, and were just about back to the car again when we heard a squawking sound. Looking, there was a Monk Parakeet right above us. I tried to use the PS Express app on my phone to crop and sharpen the photo, but it's still not a very good one:

Maybe you can see it better in this photo?

After leaving the Chicago area, we went to explore Indiana Dune National Lakeshore. We were last here about 15 years ago, and it's shifted a bit.

Here are the guys dumping sand out of their shoes after we came back from the beach trail.

We didn't see anything at all on the beach trail, but saw lots of wonderful birds (including a Lincoln Sparrow, a Swamp Sparrow, and a large flock of Wood Ducks) at a marsh trail at the Dunes.

All in all, not a bad birding outing. And I think this is the part where I put in a plug for the Great Backyard Bird Count, Audubon, and WildBird Magazine to get you hooked on birding!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Well, not really. Luckily. Or hubby will want to move farther south.

But, it's never too early to make Snowball Cookies! This was my mother-in-law's recipe. She used to make it for Christmas every year. One year, she told us that she made them because they were my hubby's favorite cookies. Hubby said, "I never said they were my favorite cookies!" My MIL insisted he did; hubby insisted he didn't.  Anyway, it then became a running family joke. Every year thereafter she'd say to him, "I made your favorite cookies!"  I miss my MIL.

Snowball Cookies

1 C butter
1/2 C powdered sugar, sifted + extra for rolling cookie in
1 t vanilla
2.5  flour
1/4 t salt
3/4 C pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F

Cream butter in large bowl just above medium speed. Add sugar and cream until light. Stir in vanilla.  Sift flour and salt together; mix in. Stir in nuts.

Shape into balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Roll in powdered sugar straight out of the oven (I never do this part now, and we prefer that way). Roll again when cooled.

Naked cookies waiting to be covered with sugar:

Here one is, rolling in the sugar (not as much fun as rolling in the dough) :

Makes about 36 cookies (I roll small cookies so I usually end up with around 90 cookies).

These are so good that I can't stop eating them once I start.  I'd have to say that they're MY favorite cookies!  Hope you enjoy them too.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Remembering Mom

It's the one year anniversary of my mom's death.  Although we were never one of those mom-daughter pairs who are the best of friends, we also were never one of those mom-daughter pairs whose relationship is fraught with strife.

We had our arguments over religion, whom I may date, and even how often I washed my hair. But, we also had many fun talks about life in general, and gossip about relatives and friends.

I miss my mom for many reasons: her amazing cooking (she only learned how to cook when we moved to Canada when she 35 years old), her ability to translate Chinese for me, and her interest in our homesteading efforts. I know the pain will lessen with time - it has for me with the death of my wonderful mother-in-law - but I will still miss Mom for those things.

Me and my mom circa 1967 at the Hong Kong airport:

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Coconut Cream Pie...oh my!

Hubby won't let me, but I would eat pie everyday if I could...savory pies, sweet pies, or even eat pie crust on its own, like my mom used to.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a coconut cream pie. Wow, was that ever good.  Here's a photo of the toasted coconut, set aside, and the filling in progress:

The recipe I used is from Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything.

Coconut Cream Pie

1 pie crust (I use the one from the same Bittman book; it's the best one I've ever made)

3/4 C sugar [I always reduce the amount of sugar called for]
2 T cornstarch
pinch salt
3-4 eggs, separated
2.5 C whole milk
1 vanilla bean or 2 t vanilla extract
2 T unsalted butter, softened [though I'm not sure why it needs to be softened since you're just putting it into the hot filling]
pinch of Cream of Tartar
1/4 C confectioners' sugar
1 C dried sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut

Toast the coconut by placing it into a dry skillet over very low heat and cooking, shaking almost constantly, until it begins to brown. Remove from pan immediately [with a gas stove, I just remove from heat and leave in pan].

Pre-bake pie crust [according to the directions for the pie crust recipe you're using] and start the filling while the crust is in the oven.  When the crust is done, leave the oven at 350F and cool the crust slightly on a rack.

In a small saucepan, combine sugar with the cornstarch and salt. Mix together the egg yolks and milk. If you're using a vanilla bean, split it and scrape out the seeds; stir them into the milk mixture (reserve the bean itself to make vanilla sugar [recipe in the same cookbook on p. 682]). Stir the milk-egg mixture into the sugar-cornstarch mixture over medium heat; at first whisk occasionally to eliminate lumps.  Then stir almost constantly until the mixture boils and thickens, about 10 minutes. Stir in the butter and toasted coconut (and vanilla extract, if you're using that) and set aside.

Make the meringue: beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and cream of tartar, until foamy. Keep beating, gradually adding the confectioners' sugar, until the mixture is shiny and holds fairly stiff peaks.

Place the pie plate on a baking sheet. Pour the warm filling into the warm crust. Cover with the meringue, making sure the meringue comes in contact with the edges of the crust.  Note that the meringue will hold its shape so you can decorate it if you like.

Bake until meringue is slightly browned, 10-15 minutes.  Cool on a rack, then refrigerate; serve cool.

Speaking of pies, I noticed last month that I had 100 followers and to celebrate, I was going to have a giveaway of the Pillsbury "Easy As Pie" cookbook. However, apparently someone was at the wrong party, realized this, and left. So, now it's back to 99 followers, and no giveaway.

But if it ever goes back to up 100 followers, I'll offer that book! ;)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

It-that-has-yet-to-be-named

I don't think I mentioned it on this blog, but my friends on Facebook know that we bought a new tractor recently.

For those who were asking for picture of it, here's an action shot:

Stace (Stace's Space) named her Kubota "Tallulah-belle"; I'm thinking we'll just leave it as "it-that-has-yet-to-be-named", or "Voldemort" for short (though, come to think of it, it's more of a Darth Sidious coloration).

Now she's ready for her close-up, with hubby at the wheel:

But it's not all macho-tractor stuff around here.  There's also the other goodies, like this bounty from our garden (except the carrots) that hubby used to make a Thai curry dish for dinner the previous night:

Starting at the top, going clock-wise: kale, eggplant, basil, carrots, patty-pan squash, summer squash, and kohlrabi. Good eats!

Have a great weekend!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Tomato pie

What do you do when you have too many tomatoes to just eat on their own but not enough to can? You make tomato pies (lots of them). 


I had a tomato pie recipe, once upon a time, in a little tomato cookbook, but I didn't like any of the other recipes except for the tomato pie so I ended up giving the book away. When I had to make tomato pie this month, I searched for some recipes online and cobbled together my own, which turned out to be the best tomato pies I ever made.

A friend asked for the recipe, made it, and also gave it two thumbs up, so I thought I'd share. Be forewarned it's not exact.


Tomato Pie


Estimate how many tomatoes you need for X number of pies. You cut the end off each tomato and squeeze the excess fluids out before roughly chopping it.  I also let all the chopped pieces sit in a colander to drain some more.  Tomatoes exude so much moisture!

I made 2 9-inch pies, so I'll give you my approx measurements for 2 pies.


pie crusts - I used the recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything book

Toss the tomatoes pieces into an appropriately sized mixing bowl with:
1 c mayo
1/2 c grated cheese (I only had provolone; most recipes I saw call for cheddar or gruyere)
1 c breadcrumbs
3 T seasoning salt (I used Jane's Mixed-Up Crazy Salt or whatever it's called, but you can just use regular S&P or whatever)
1 t cornstarch
2 T flour (I don't think it hurts to add more of either cornstarch or flour as that will help it thicken nicely)
3 eggs (I'd use 4 next time)
a handful of roughly chopped basil

Mix thoroughly and pour into crusts.  I didn't pre-cook the crusts, and they held up beautifully because as I said on Twitter, it is The Perfect Crust!  ;D


Bake at 400F for 10 minutes. Turn it down to 350F and bake for another 20 minutes or until the center is not longer jiggly.


I hope you'll try this recipe! Let me know (via the email in the upper right) if you have questions or if you have any comments. 

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

But before the pie...

I want to show you the terrific things I'm using; I promise it won't be TMI!

I've been getting Product Body's Crush on You subscription, and have to rave about it. Joanna's scents have been outstanding, and Crush is the thing to use if your hands always dry out when you wash them. Crush is the only soap product that moisturizes my hands as I wash. It's much more than just a soap; it's a yummy scrub too.  This is the current "flavor" (pardon my lousy photo) -

And continuing on the fabulous products theme, Under the Willow has re-opened shop! Carrie makes fabulous soaps, laundry soaps, creams, and lip balms with delightful scents that remind me of home: cozy, comfy, and inviting.  This is what I got in the mail yesterday - not shown is the Twilight Sky scent laundry soap, which I had already put away and used 3 times today:

My only concern is that when I have the Cupcake lotion on, I may want to keep licking my hands, like a cat...LOL!

I sure know some talented ladies!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Autumn gardening

How did we commemorate the beginning of October? By gardening, of course!

If you're not out there weeding and planting and tending this time of year, you won't have a nice fall/winter crop to harvest. You don't need a fancy greenhouse either, just some row-covers if you plant cold-hardy crops. If you want to go the fancy greenhouse route, check out Eliot Coleman's books to learn more.

Here are the kids, weeding (before harvesting tomatoes and peppers); no, they don't always have goofy grins while weeding, but they don't complain about having to do it either:

So what are we weeding and tending to? Well, there's choi sum:

and lettuce:

and carrots:

and don't forget the cabbage (although that was planted a while ago) :

Another nice fall crop is kale. It's highly cold tolerant.  Hubby grew 2 different varieties this year:

We're also harvesting some end-of-summer crops like potatoes (no pic, sorry) and sweet potatoes:

Sweet potatoes as big as footballs (with the density of bowling balls) -

Here's a more mature choi-sum that hubby's been harvesting already:

Hubby re-planted some summer squash after vine borers killed our squash plants earlier this summer.  We've been getting a really nice harvest from them.  Both the patty-pans:

and the summer squash:

Because we needed room for the new plantings, hubby pulled out a bunch of volunteer dill plants and I hung them up to dry.  Who needs Halloween decorations when you have these?

I hope you're running a nice Autumn garden yourself!  Next up: tomato pie recipes.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams