Snapshot - Halloweeeeen Weeeeeek

There is no week quite like Halloween week, is there? Not if ya cram everything essential into a few days... makes it memorable. This is my technique for creating unforgettable memories. Cramming.

There was a downpour scheduled for our trip to the pumpkin patch, which would have created memories, alrighty, but we had a burst of blue sky, which was a vast improvement. We took our time choosing the perfect pumpkin. Bear wouldn't let anyone else push the wheelbarrow, so we didn't know he'd grabbed the one with the flat tire 'til we had him cart all our pumpkins to the roadside stand.

Perfect!

We carved 'em immediately. So we could watch Hunger Games as a family afterwards. Bear & Dash have both read the book and Cam & Trin could hide around the corner for the scary parts and still say "I watched Hunger Games" for social status.

[Having lived in Mexico for a time, I have to preface by saying that we carve pumpkins purely as a traditional family fun event. I didn't grow up with any meaning behind the carving. Every culture has weird traditions that lose meaning over time. I get some funny stories of my sister attempting to decorate with skeletons for The Day of the Dead and getting all squeamish 'cause they look like skeletons to her.

End of serious comment.]

We had specific themes this year... Mine Craft creepers & minions.... What?! (You know that scene in Despicable Me where the kids are, like, "Your cousin started it!" and the minion is, like, "What?" Well, Cool, Man imitates that minion exactly and I crack up every time.)

All Saints Day at our house is Cool, Man's birthday party and we had a rip-roarin' bonfire going on the cake in celebration. Normally I wouldn't post so many pictures of him, but...

Hehehehe

He's taking Bear to a playoff football game, so he won't find out 'til it's too late. :-)

I know there's a lot of people who still don't have power after that "perfect storm" Sandy. We haven't forgotten. We're praying for quick, efficient help everywhere it's needed.

Thx Alice @ At Home with Books for hosting Saturday Snapshot!

Snapshot - Awarding Flowers

What a surprise!! I've never received a box of roses by UPS delivery before and the card didn't include a name, so I had an interesting 24 hours hunting down the thoughtful sender.

Aren't they beautiful? Turns out my mom wanted to encourage me to keep writing. Her sentiments echoed my husband's... "You ARE an author!"  *____*  This huge concept makes me blush with excitement, but I can't help wondering if I've snuck in the back door to claim a title I don't deserve. Yet.

My lil' winning short story is about what it feels like to be the new kid in school with a slightly paranormal coming-to-terms can be read HERE with the other winners' stories.

Thx to Alyce @ At Home with Books for hosting Saturday Snapshot. Someone should tell me it's Sunday. Hey... it took me a long time to write this wee post. It's the weekend. I'm hangin' with the fam.

Snapshot - Apple Awesomesauce

Apples.

It's time. I have very organic apples at my house. Not the celebrated sort that ya pay $3/lb for, but the "organic" kind that worms taste test and give you the thumbs up before you get your hands on 'em.

My (incredibly awesome Romanian) neighbor assured me that negotiating with worms, etc, is nothing compared to all the pesticides in the pretty apples at the store. He said it like,

"I don't know what everyone's problem is, they think a pretty apple at the store is better than their own treasure in the back yard. It's crazy!"  

At which I had to stare at the sky intently trying not to visualize all the apples I purchased while letting so many fall and brown. I even nodded and agreed with him, "Mhmm... crazy."

It got me thinking, though... my terrible-looking apples are a "treasure"?

So I started tracking down recipes.

My first attempt at apple pie was... rather leathery. I cooked the pie too long, too... so it's leathery crust was filled with applesauce. The only bright side is, I get the whole thing to myself.

Some links I happened upon in my quest to "do something" with my apples:

Apple Cider (all sorts)
Freezing Apples for Pies - genius!
Autumn Apple Pie - great crust recipe & hints
Apple Butter (this takes all day... or all week, depending on schedule.)
Freezing Applesauce - EASY with helpful tips

Everyone said Applesauce is easy, so I started there, today. These pictures are my adventure in making applesauce.

First... my spotty apples:

A rare pear... kinda tiny and ugly, but delicious

My bounty:

Awesome Sauce:

The taste-testers at my house did NOT like my sauce, if you can believe that. Too tart, too something... I can add sugar, but I'm wondering what else?

I emailed my mom. Isn't that the solution to botched things? I'll share her answer since her sauce really is awesome:

Yep, I kinda quartered them, cutting off the bruise from bouncing on the ground when it fell, and the center where the worms or the core and seeds are.  My apples are sweet, so I add very little sugar.  In a gallon of sauce, I added about 1/2 cup of sugar, and I dump the cinnamon from one of those giant spice things, so it's not measured.  I stop dumping when I'm happy with the color and the flavor.  I'd guess that I use a quarter of a cup, more or less.  I put about a cup of water in the bottom of the pan and lid it tight so the apples steam for about 15 minutes.  Next I put them through the food mill, which blends the sauce and shoves it through the holes at the bottom, keeping the skins up topside for dumping into the garbage.  It's pretty thorough so I get about 1/4th cup of junk for the trash out of a gallon of sauce.  I can't imagine that blending them in a food processor or blender would make any diff from my method.  I have lots of apples all over the place, so come and get them.  I do believe that the flavor of my apple tree is the key secret to my sauce.  I've been a real stickler  that the half dead tree must survive, since it's incomparable and not replaceable.  My sauce is very thick, so it doesn't spill all over the plate like store-bought does.  It's not very sweet, so it can be eaten in large quantities without weight gain worry or "sweeting out" like other desert type of dishes do to ya.

The moral of this story is... use organic apples 'cause they're a treasure... and keep trying 'til you get it right. The house smells delicious every time, so... that's a bonus!!

Alyce @ At Home with Books hosts Saturday Snapshot. You've just survived a slice of real life in photos. Not so bad, hey?

Bloggiversary - Burgundy-Burgandy

Hey... so TODAY is one year bloggin'!

Wow!

I'm so seriously not even started with celebrating. I think I'll put of the party 'til I gather all my supplies and throw a whoppin' one. You can't rush this sort of thing... and I'll be runnin' around watching sports all day again today, being the awesome Mom I attempt to be with abandoned enthusiasm. So... the Partay will have to wait for me to gather my wits, etc.

I will share Why Burgandy?

I mean, who aspires to be a writer and yet spells their name wrong? ME!!

My uncooperativeness has roots in Linguistics. I have opinions about different sounds and different languages and the English I speak in the Northwest is pathetically lazy. Please pause and notice how many words contain "uh". Phonetically, we write the sound with an upside down "e" - and when you write phonetically... you see this dumb upside down "e" all over the place.

I don't like this "e".

It threatens to take over all the other beautiful sounds and mush 'em into one, lazy, ugly... "DUH!"

This must be stopped!!  Sounds must be preserved!!!

Follow my logic, now...

Which letter most often represents this "uh" in our language?  Mhm... "u".

"U" is not innocent.  It has a beautiful enough ring to it, but it's lazier than any other letter and sluffs off to an "uh" more often than any other letter (although no vowel is completely above reproach.)

Whenever a "u" is pronounced "uh" I rebel.

Take the name of my town, for example.

When I first moved to Damascus... I spelled it Damascas... because... "-cus"?  Paleeeeeeze!!!!!!!  It's like claiming that "uh" sound purposefully!!  Seriously... who would do that?!  It makes you want to clear your throat and spit.

So, I ask you... what was I going to do with my name?  I love "Burgundy Ice" but it has... TWO U'S!!!!  Two. Not one... TWO.  The first "u" gets lost in the "r", but that second "u" is AAAAALLLLL "uh". *spits*

The only answer to such atrocities is to change the spelling of the word.

OBVIOUSLY!!

I'm not the only one who decided this. The other Stand-Out World-Changer is a rapper in LA, which is good company as far as I'm concerned. (I'm not sure he feels the same way. I have never asked.)

So, now you know.  Every time you Google the correct spelling of my name, you are making a stand against the upside down "e" taking over the English language.

There is a small chance that most of this was subconscious. *ahem* Possibly by the time I started blogging, I'd already been spelling my name correctly (to the astonishment of good spellers everywhere) for years, so I didn't even consider spellchecking it. Maybe. *cough*spit*smile*

Alyce @ At Home with Books hosts Saturday Snapshot. Most of these pix are from my Burgundy Ice rose that my honey gave me for Valentines - that is surviving despite me. :-)

Snapshot - Roses II

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books.

I took these pictures this afternoon. The Burgundy Ice (below) is where my name comes from. It's still blooming!  The bud (above) is my favorite "tree" that I mentioned trimming enthusiastically last spring. This is the very first bud it's produced. Finally. I kissed it and promised to never trim so much ever again even if it wants to bloom over the house roof!

September Roses...

Soccer Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home With Books. We share pictures we have actually taken. Ourselves. This goes against my Pinterest bone, but gives me an excuse for sharing personal stuff. Muahahahaha...

Today I give you..... SOCCER!!

My Cam is peaking over the other team's (#9) head. I love this shot because it shows how the 7-8 year olds cluster. The coaches are always shouting reminders of their field positions from the sidelines. The one green guy likes to dramatically sprawl on the ground periodically. #33 makes the majority of our goals. So far we've won all our games. I think it's 'cause there's only 6 players on the team and they're all pretty good and learning fast with so many playing minutes!  Last weekend, only 4 of our players showed up, so they each played all 40 mins of the 4-on-4 game. Cam made the first goal! He remembers how the ball rolled right past two defenders that just looked at it, but it went (slowly) right into the net! GOOOOOOOOOAL!!

We'll be watching more games today... two soccer games and a football game. [Today is Homecoming, if you can believe that! It snuck up on me!]  It's crazy having three kids in sports at the same time. I will never make fun of "soccer moms" again!

Saturday Snapshot - End of the World Rod Run 2012

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books.

If you didn't know it already, you have stumbled upon my photo album. This is the day I share some personal stuff. From my life when I'm not reading. We "do" cars - restorations, painting, driving, burn-outs, engine swaps, etc, etc. My mommie-mobile has ghost flames. :-)

Last weekend we went to Long Beach, WA for the End of the World Rod Run. For three days the narrow peninsula (near-ish Forks) is overrun with cruising hot rods. We sleep in the cutest motel, all six of us snug in an itty-bitty space, and we enjoy the rods and the beach.

Fog!! '70 Chevy Truck.Disappearing into a different world.

Waiting, Watching, taking Pictures. My boys are getting taller than me this weekend!

Extra police patrols. Extra rat rods. Extra fun. :-D

Green Mopar muscle.

800+ vehicles in one big field.

My crew, our truck... lots of yummy vendors! Snackin' on caramel corn. :-)

Beach!!  Wind, sand, chill... sea gulls, waves, dunes...

Reading nook just out of the wind.

Fun, soft sands...

Back to the show. Check out these fun rides!!! (My honey takes amazing pix!)

Wow! Love this artistry!!

Last year's Best in Show - Beautiful!!

This year's winner...

Changes depth in the light. I didn't know I was in love with green before I saw this.  Now I know!

*shiver* COLD last day, eating in the rain, leaving for home damp and happy.

Snapshot - Blackberries

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books. 

Blackberries!!

I grow a bumper crop all the way up my driveaway. I get away with it, 'cause the brambles are technically on my neighbor's property, not mine. It's their infestation problem... and my berry deliciousness!!

I get creative with blackberries:

Blackberry Crisp:

1. Pick some berries, gently rinse, layer in a baking dish.
2. Melt a stick of butter into 2 cu. oats + 1/2 cu flour + 1/2 cu raw sugar
3. Stir crumble top 'til... uh... crumbly and drop over berries
4. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1/2 hour (or 'til browning and bubbly and yummy)

Blackberry Freezer Jam:

1. 8 cu berries, rinse and smoosh to smitherines
2. Add two packets of freezer jam stuff from Pectin
3. Mixed with HALF THE SUGAR!!
4. Bottle, set, freeze!!

The "half the sugar" is a valuable tip, believe me. Those recipes on the jam packets are for all types of fruit incl frozen tart stuff. When you're picking ripe berries that fall into your bucket when you touch 'em, two whole cups of sugar to 8 cups of berries tastes like STRAIGHT SUGAR. Yuck.  If you wanna taste the berries, go easy on the sugar and taste test before adding more.  I learned this the hard way. Inedible!  Bleh!

Blackberry Open-Face Pie:

1. About 3cu of flour + a stick of melted butter + 1/4 cu sugar (like shortbread!!)
2. Bunch of blackberries - like 2 cu - with another 1/4 cu sugar + flour mixed
3. Mix just barely and press into baking dish
4. Bake 40 mins in 350 degrees or until it smells HEAVENLY

This is absolutely ADDICTIVE. Forget store-bought pie crust, forget the fancy-schmanzy top layer that screams "I'm an awesome pie-maker and you're not!" Just whip this out and you'll have to make it again. And again. And AGAIN!!  And then you'll cry when there's no more blackberries.

(The brownies in the background are made my my sis-in-law who is a renowned baker of great popularity. I don't compete with her. When I bake, I imagine myself more like the Swedish Chef with ingredients flying. I make that big of a mess, too.)

Original Something-or-Other Blackberry Thing:

(Yea, I know I need a real name. Bare with me.) So, you're out of oats and you're not sure about pie, but you have lots of graham crackers leftover from summer S'more's....

1. Crumble a couple packs of graham crackers to make about 3+ cups
2. Add 1/4 cu sugar and a stick of butter (yes, I like butter. REAL butter. So, what?!)
3. Pick a bunch of berries (2 cu?), rinse and layer in baking dish
4. Mix the basic graham cracker crust recipe and sprinkle it on top for fun
5. Bake at 350 degrees for awhile - 'til bubbly and browned and yummy

This turned out amazing. I mean, with these ingredients, you can't really go wrong, right? If I were in England, I'd whip out the Digestives. But they're hard to get here. So... I didn't.

[Speaking of.... My mom made something out of Digestives and chocolate that I still dream about and drool over... but she's forgotten how she made it and I can't duplicate it. Any ideas?!  Anyone?!  It's a layered thing. And the chocolate is soft and the crust is chewy/crumbly and I think I'm missing a key ingredient or four.  WHAT IS IT?!?!]

Did you do some fun stuff with blackberries this year?!