Mersydotes

You are cordially invited to come and join us at our Halloween party!  Costumes are not required, but are strongly encouraged.  Here's what the hosts will be wearing: Don't be frightened by the spector perched on the table...even if it's surrounded by candles floating in blood! Would you like some punch?  Beware of the shrunken heads! These were made out of peeled apples that were carved into horific visages and then popped into the oven at 200 degrees for several hours.  Here's how they turned out: Want to know something funny?  When I took a picture of them floating in the hot cider, my camera focused on them with the little square it uses to recognize human faces- creepy! If you're looking for a friendly spot amongst all the creepiness, here's a little corner of autumn sweetness: The little pumpkins are covered in ModPodge mixed with glitter, and the big pumpkin has cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice sprinkled inside, so as

(A guest post by Penny!)      Come along with me and romp in the woods on this glorious fall day! We'll walk along in the golden woods... ...where the amber, scarlet, and verdant leaves rise above us. Where the colors of fall paint the trees... ...and the sunlight ignites the leaves. Our paws will float on a bed of leaves... And we'll pause at the hidden lake...   ...and get lost in reflection. And at the end of our romp, we'll sit on the leaf-covered stumps and breathe in this wonderful thing called autumn! ~Penny

Found these little beauties at the store for $1- how could I resist!?  Pink, twirly, sweet, perfect!  And guess what- they taste yummy too!   Summer may be gone, but it got a beautiful send off here in our little corner of the Midwest:     And this little puppy is the sweetest thing in the world!    

Even though it has gotten quite chilly over the past week, the herbs on the patio have been very hearty.  As long as I keep watering them, they keep holding on.  But I decided that it was time to try my hand at preserving some of them, so I moved their pots into the kitchen for evaluation and trimming: The mint is doing pretty well with only some crispy yellow leaf edges, but a bunch of new branches toward the bottom.  I think I can re-pot some of those for keeping inside during the winter.  I'm planning on drying the rest in the dehydrator for tea. The basil has suffered the most, and it's my fault that I didn't bring it in and preserve it sooner.  I love fresh basil so much, I was hesitating to preserve it, and kept thinking that we would use up all the fresh leaves before the frost.  It just smells and tastes so delicious!  I took the remaining leaves, blanched them, and then froze them in olive oil. After looking at all the various methods of preservin

It's a steel-gray, cold day with a persistent drizzle.  It's the kind of day where the only thing that sounds good for breakfast is hot, milky tea and gluten-free rice krispy treats- which is exactly what I had!  Even though it's not that warm inside, the windows were all fogged up this morning: The chunky sea-foamy scarf that I was working on just didn't turn out.  It was a lovely pattern, but with this particular yarn, the stitches were too dense and the finished product was just too stiff.  So I undid what I had done and have re-assigned the yarn to a new project.  As we speak, that beautiful white and gray chunky yarn is being turned into one of these awesome baskets (pattern found here).  I still think it looks quite nautical!  If only there were a seaside within a couple of thousand miles!  And then, I noticed something amazing.  Something that will blow your mind on an early, gray Friday morning... The basket is at a stage where it is containing the yarn t

Even though it has been raining all day, this weekend has been the glorious kind of weekend where you arrive at Saturday night and think- wow! There's still a whole day left!  Friday was a potluck evening, and I decided to try out making peanut butter acorns along with a curry stew and baked lentils.  The peanut butter balls were really fun (and also kind of gooey!) to roll out and shape by hand.  They were a mixture of peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar- totally glee, with some special gluten-free pretzels as the "branches" sticking out from the tops.  The acorns turned out to be adorable, sugary versions of the real thing: After dinner, we had a bonfire in our fire pit on the patio.  The night wasn't too cold, but it was amazing how much heat this little fire produced.  Making a fire, even in the back yard, felt remarkably satisfying, as if proof that we were still elemental critters of the world who could survive out in nature if we needed to.  I