I'm baaack...

Thanks to my dear friend, Kathy Blades, I revisited this poor, neglected blog of mine.  I have been gone over a year.  Sad, so sad...So many things have happened.  I could spend time writing it all out, BUT I have decided it would be easier and much more entertaining (for me anyway) to put it in a video.




A year later, I hope that I am a little wiser.  A little banged up, out a marriage, holes in my heart where I miss loved ones, into a new home (apartment), looking towards all the new possibilities out there. Still not down to 100 things, but downsized most definitely.

As I am new to being on my own, I am making an effort to create something everyday.  Cook, paint, write, etc.  Not using dice, no goals for an amount to be done.  Just doing things.  Making the effort.  Could I have done this in my previous life?  Of course.  What has changed?  Me.  And that change has opened up a side of me that I couldn't seem to connect with.  Starting where I am, using what I have, doing what I can.  That's all one can do, wouldn't you say?

Saturday Surprises

What a gorgeous day!  And even better, I have no where to be:)  It has been lovely to spend some much needed time in the yard tending to the much neglected garden patches.  I had time to pull up the corn stalks and prop them up in the middle of the weeded-out pumpkin patch.  I secured the scarecrow to the cornstalks and added some pumpkins my dad had made long ago.  

As I was setting this up, I was pleasantly surprised by quite a few pumpkin seedlings!  The squash vine borers got all but two of our pumpkins this year, and I had let some of them rot in the patch.  And now we have new sprouts!

Add to that, my son discovered something untoward growing amongst the spent soybeans in the field across from our house~watermelons!

There were quite a few winding themselves throughout the field.  Our two sons helped us hunt around to see how many we could find.  
Last, but not least, my last task of the afternoon was to weed out my poor neglected herb garden.  At the end of August, my oregano, lemon balm, mint and lavender had called it quits.  I was delighted to discover sprouts of each coming back:)  I found there is nothing as peaceful and refreshing as the smells of fresh herbs in the breeze as you brush up against them.  

Fall!

I do so love fall!  It is my absolute favorite season:)  I love the colors, the crisp, cool air, the holidays and mmm...the food!
This year, I will not make my annual trip to Winston-Salem.  No Kopper Kitchen's breakfast or lunch (their collards set your mouth on fire and put some shine in your hair), no Sweet Potatoes or Old Salem Tavern (sigh).  I love their food (and no, I don't go to Winston-Salem just to eat).
While my home doesn't present the same ambiance as the aforementioned establishments, it does have a working kitchen and a closet shelf full of recipes.  I grabbed the instructions for Sweet Potato Pecan Bread Pudding and Pineapple Upside-Down Pumpkin Gingerbread.  Added to that~ some garlic pork tenderloin and collards.  (Yes, I know it's not truly collard season until after the first frost gets them, so I put my batch in the freezer for a few days).  Almost as good.

The beginnings of Sweet Potato Pecan Bread Pudding.

Ready for baking.

  Pork tenderloin, collards, and the bread pudding with maple whipped cream.

Syrupy pineapple goodness...

with pumpkin gingerbread batter on top...

Mmm...45 minute wait to let it cool before...

Time out.  I must admit here that all was not wafting as scrumptiously as can be imagined.... The syrupy goodness ranneth over and made a big smoking mess.  The family scrambled to open up windows and doors to save the day and once the smoke and burnt smell cleared up, YUM.  The wonderful aroma of pumpkin gingerbread meandered through the house.  

So here I am, on a rainy Saturday kicked back in my armchair with a full tummy, the prospect of dessert with a dollop of maple whipped cream in my near future.  Bliss.  Absolute bliss.

...flipping out a delicious,  oh-so-wonderful cake.