Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween and with costumes and hats by Nana we

are ready for the annual parade to the Fire Department.

Hey, cat! I think that hat taller than you!

It's a great Halloween with the fangs in your goodie bag match your costume!

Oh yes, indeedy!

Mom and I were out doing the weekly grocery shopping this morning and low and behold, in the Shop-Rite grocery aisles we discovered that a 'pancake puff' pan - as seen on TV - is available for sale!

Why is it, I wondered, that my Danish ancestors (and Williams-Sonoma) insisted upon calling this an ebelskiver pan? Didn't they realize the real marketing secret was in alliteration?

Turns out that it comes with its own turning tool AND a recipe, too!

Baked, frosted and delivered

I delivered my nephew's birthday cake this morning for his party this weekend.
I think the final results were better than I anticipated last evening.

A lonely leaf

Either this leaf got the autumn memo too soon or

the rest of the tree wasn't quite ready to 'leaf' yet.

Baking Cakes

My nephew has a birthday next week and I am getting the cakes ready so he can celebrate. I've had such a day that it wasn't until these pans were in the oven, I cleaned up behind me and got ready to sit down to watch the World Series that I remembered I needed to take a photo...ooops!

Autumn Colors

"Come said the wind to
the leaves one day,
Come o're the meadows
and we will play.

Put on your dresses
scarlet and gold,
For summer is gone
and the days grow cold."
- A Children's Song of the 1880's

Blooming Beauties

It may be late October, but these daisies didn't get the memo it is time to make way for crimson, golden and rusty colored mums. There are actually quite a few stands of Shasta daisies that have managed to keep their pretty petals and bright centers since frost still hasn't happened yet.

My friend Cathy definitely has a green thumb and these bloom outside my study window at her house. Though I can't quite see them from my study perch, they are an incongruous breath of delight as I come and go each day.

The last of the apples

Apple wine is fermenting, Mom and Dad put up 8 quarts of applesauce during the week, I froze an apple pie for Thanksgiving on Friday and made another pie to be enjoyed over the weekend. Except for what's been preserved for future use, this is the last of the apples from the giant bin that was used to start the apple cider a week ago...whew!!!

Feeding the Goats

My nephew and I were so popular with the goats down the road that I could only get a picture after I gave Luke the last of the food so he could feed them while I snapped a picture.

It's bubbling!

The apple wine adventures continue in the 6 gallon primary container as the yeast ferments and feasts on the sugar of the apple cider making alcohol and carbon dioxide which is bubbles out of the container via this air lock.

If this was "smell-o-vision" you could detect a faint yeasty aroma. Once the bubbling settles down and the cap inside the air lock comes to a rest in a few days, the liquid will be ready for transfer to the secondary container or carbide.

Hopewell Valley in the fall

When I was a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, I was stunned one October afternoon on my ride home by this breathtaking line of maple trees. For just under two weeks, this crimson line of trees never failed to capture my attention and catch my breath.

To be sure, brilliant autumn foliage is not limited to the northern side of Hopewell Valley. Over the years, I've seen beautiful maple trees up and down the East Coast and along the I-75 between Lexington, KY and Lansing, MI. But this quarter mile of maple trees is just something that makes me want to get out of my car and take lots of pictures.
The tree line guards a fence line that offers a more golden view when looking towards the sun.

and a slightly more crimson view with the sun behind

This is 'more along the lines' of what I see from my car as I drive by -
and if they could only move the telephone lines this would be close to picture perfect.

I guess the intrusion of the telephone lines has been a factor that's made me seek a good picture along this stand of trees the last two years. It's just so hard to decide which one I like the best.

Another reflective post

The opportunity presented itself and it seemed more appropriate today even though I used a similar technique yesterday. Today, I spent the day reading about transformative educational theory and the need for teachers and learners to be reflective about their knowledge and as I passed through Colonial Park on my way home, its scenery illustrated my day's reading. I couldn't resist passing it by. Hope you enjoy.

Well, not exactly....

The only way I get a glimpse of this view on my afternoon commute is if I get a chance to glance over my shoulder as I go over the Millstone causeway. But that is pretty dangerous to do with oncoming traffic in the next lane. So I stopped on my way home, crossed the street and set up the shot.

Pitching the Yeast

This morning the apple cider had reached proper fermenting temperature,
so Dad pitched the yeast.

Basically, that just means the yeast is added into the apple cider mix.

Our pitching was easy and nothing compared to what will be happening tonight when Andy Pettitte and the Yanks take on Cliff Lee in Game 3 of the American League Championships.

This little airlock will release the air that is a
byproduct of the yeast eating sugar to produce alcohol.

Here's what Dad did on his own today with an extra gallon of cider that won't fit into our primary vat. He found out how to make his own homemade airlock from the internet and got it all fitted up all by himself - I am so proud!

How to make Apple Wine Part I

Step 1 - Be like Johnny Appleseed and plant an apple orchard. Wait a few years.

OK, we really don't have that sort of time to invest at this point, so it's a good thing that step was taken care of a few years ago. But to begin the adventures in wine making that I unintentionally embarked upon yesterday, what we do need at this point is lots of apples which were delivered to Doc's late this week.

He has a double cider press, so apples can be ground up into one bucket,
slid through to the masher where the press can go to work to extract the juice.

His grandkids were chomping at the bit to get started and make a dent in the apple bin.

Ground apples come through to the first bucket

When the first bucket is filled,
it is pushed through and the press
begins to make mash as the juice comes through.

Filling up the bucket with apple juice

In order to get through all the apples a little more help is necessary

No matter how many kids show up, grinding is still hard work.
Loading up the grinder
Doc inspecting the works

Now that we know we've made a dent in the apple bin,
we'll turn our attention to the apple juice.

The juice is strained a few times to rid itself of any small bits of mash

Strained juice is funneled into containers for transport.

Dad filling up the primary container with the just pressed apple juice.

Floating the hydrometer to determine its density -
or specific gravity - which is the preferred term of oenologists.

We added sugar, fruit pectin and yeast nutrient to the apple juice so it can rest and sit while it comes to room temperature before we add the yeast, maybe sometime tomorrow.

And that is how you actually begin to get your hands dirty (well, actually sticky) in the process of making apple wine. Tune in soon for the next installment.

Because you can never have enough hobbies.....

So tomorrow my dad and his buddies have their annual apple cider making party - only dad has other plans for his cider. Last year he considered making apple wine with his share of the crushed apples, only he didn't make his decision quite in time. When he visited a local supplier for home brewing he discovered he needed to rethink his strategy. I'd like to say he plotted and planned and researched the whole endeavor in the 'off season' but that would be stretching the truth to the extreme. I must admit, though, earlier in the week, he started gathering up plastic jugs for the annual event and then last night announced that he was still mulling over the possibilities of wine. (Can you identify the two puns in the previous sentence?) This morning, when he mentioned it again, Mom and I realized he was serious. So we found the number to Princeton Homebrew (located in Trenton) and he called to find out their hours so he could go get the yeast, pectin and other pertinent chemicals necessary for wine making. As you can see above, he - or more accurately stated - we returned home with slightly more than just the chemicals.

When Dad mentioned he was headed to the home brewer supplier, I made a fateful last minute decision to join him for the ride. I think Dad was a little relieved I decided to go because as the owner started discussing specific gravity and fermentation processes Dad's eyes glazed over and he started relying on the fact that he conveniently did not wear his hearing aids and therefore could rely on his daughter who once spent ten years teaching chemistry and biology to really know what needs to happen. Beyond the 2 new 6 gallon containers you see on the counter in the first photo, we have a hydrometer to measure the density of our product, a surface stick thermometer for the plastic tub, tubing and siphon to transfer the liquid from the primary container to the secondary container at the proper time as well as a bottle filler when the final step occurs and the necessary yeast and chemicals we went to go get in the first place. We didn't need to get bottles, caps or a bottle capper - they are already stored in the cellar from days long gone by when we used to make root beer. Actually, therefore, in the end, starting this hobby isn't all that bad, because its not like we really had to buy EVERYTHING in order to get started!

So, without even intentionally looking for blog material, I think a few entries have been handed to me in the next several weeks as Dad and I foray into being amateur oenologists.

Dinner by Dad

After a very full week of research, reading and note-taking it was incredibly nice to come home to dinner prepared by Dad. Not only is this one of his signature recipes, but he and Jake brought home the pheasant during last winter's hunting season. It's a good tasty meal and with the side of asparagus, I don't think I could have gotten anything better at a high end restaurant. Thanks, Dad!

The joke's on me

When I spied this cookbook and ebelskiver turning tongs, I decided to take a picture as a friendly family joke. My Dad makes ebelskivers and has a family recipe along with two different pans - but he is always searching for a better instrument to turn the little puff pastries. He has a pair of wooden tongs and a pair of long wooden chopsticks and the overpriced tool at this store is a hybrid of the two. I just snapped the picture for grins and giggles thinking I'd take a picture of the Apple store which is where I was headed for a 5:00 appointment for my weekly one-to-one session with an Apple consultant. Turns out I totally forgot to take a picture of what I intended - but I did at least have a decent one for the day even if I meant it for some other purpose.

Rising with the Phoenix

I've been riveted to the news since last evening. As of this moment, this scene has been repeated 24 times and I've been watching it unfold through BBC News on the internet all day.

I saw the first two miners emerge late last night and have seen miners #12-24 emerge throughout the day and each time I am amazed all over again that these men are returning to the earth's surface after being entombed in the earth for more than two months. Rescued, saved, resurrected or born again, each man has journeyed back to the surface aboard the Phoenix, a capsule named after a mythological bird that is capable of being born again out of its own ashes.

The smiles, the applause, the cheers of "CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE", the loved ones standing by with the Chilean President as the miner is released of the harness so they can be hugged and greeted hasn't been boring once. How could resurrection ever be boring - even when it happens with increasing regularity on my computer screen throughout the day?

So far, its the best of all possible outcomes, and as I finish this blog entry, 25 men have returned to the surface and we wait to know that the remaining eight miners and the six rescue workers are lifted to safety. Miraculous and wonderful, its been an amazing day of celebration. Experiencing resurrection is a joyful thing.