How Emily Solved The Pink Problem

Did I even mention that the girls all like pink and sometimes fight over who gets the pink bowl, or the pink cup? It is ridiculous. If they were only more like their mother! Then we could use pink as the disciplinary color, e.g. Whoever doesn't clean up her room will get the pink plate at dinnertime!

I'll never understand this about my girls. 

But anyway, Emily solved the problem:

This chart is stuck on our kitchen wall. The fighting has ceased.

Halloween Came And Went

Helloooooooooooooo!

The hardest week of the year is over!!!!!!!! Last week of October = Jenna's birthday +halloween costume sewing. It wouldn't be so hard a week if I'd actually started costume sewing in, say, July. But the girls keep changing their minds, and only seem to settle on a concrete idea round about 10 days before the 31st. For instance, Kate, for the longest time, wanted to be a grape.

Us (all through summer and fall): Do you want to be Sleeping Beauty, Kate?

K: No.

Us: Why? Sleeping Beauty is pink! You like pink! 

(Personal agenda = SB is a princess, and I am good at sewing princess dresses, since those are all I've sewn for the past 3 years for halloween).

K: No.

Us: Well, what do you want to be, then?

K: A gwape.

Us: Why?

K: (Giggles and refuses to answer.)

Fine. A grape is not hard to sew. It might involve an inordinate amount of stuffing, and result in an awkward gait, but grapes are easy.

After seeing Jenna's costume, though (one week before Halloween), Kate was swayed.

K: Mum, I changed my mind. I don't want to be a gwape. I want to be (what Jenna is).

I knew she'd say that, of course. Three-and-a-half years of being someone's mother does give one an insight into that someone's mind. I didn't even buy purple grape cloth. 

Anyway, off to bed now. Tired. Will show photos of Kate in her non-grape outfit soon. Just wanted to check in, photo-less tonight, to say we're still here, no one is sick, but we've been busy.

Pumpkins!

Two? Three weeks ago, we went to our favorite pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins for the year. Looking back over the summer, we reflected that this has been a rather poor year for our traditional harvests - we missed the strawberry crop, we didn't pick fall raspberries, the honeycrisps were all picked out at the orchard (as were many of the other apple varieties) and we didn't get our fall chrysanthemums, either. What a year. The pumpkin patch, however, after being gone two years (they lost their lease or something like that), returned this year to its old spot, so we packed the kids in the car one evening and headed there.

Everyone got to pick a pumpkin.

The third quarter of the year is always our busiest time. For one, it's when school begins and everyone has to adjust to new schedules and driving duties and, correspondingly, the exhausted that comes from those new routines. Then, there are two birthday parties to organize and execute, one on the same weekend as Halloween. And then there's Halloween itself - meaning there are costumes to make. Also, somehow, all our annual medical checkups seem to converge in these three months. Finally, there are the things to do around the house and yard to prepare for the change of seasons - leaves to rake, summer things to put away, winter-proofing to be done, and all the dressers and closets have to be turned out and the summer clothes and shoes swopped with winter wear. So forgive us if we're a little quiet on the blogging front. Or email. I always feel that once Halloween is over, it's a slow and relaxing cruise into the new year, with Christmas barely making a bump in the ride. I look forward to pointedly ignoring the sewing machine and spending copious amounts of time in the kitchen, making soups, stews, bread, cookies, tarts and pies, enjoying the kids, letting them help cook and bake, and just playing.

First, though, I must survive this week!

I miss the pool. I have a splitting headache now that only swimming can cure. Chocolate didn't work - I tried it. 

See you after Halloween!

Books In The Post

This week, some books arrived in the post.

I bought them online, and they are all by the same author. They are all also out of print. This company has books from as far back as the 1960s, but I already owned those hat they stocked. These  were some of the titles I didn't own, and mostly hadn't read. Very pleased. Enid Blyton is a children's author, so these are mainly for the girls, although I shall probably read them first before narrating them.

A large number of Blyton's works are original tales of fairies and pixies and children, but she also rewrote versions of other, well-known stories, fables and myths. The book on the left was one I remember reading as a child but which, for some reason, is no longer in my collection.

Half of it is about Robin Hood

and the other is about the Knights of the Round Table. A strange combination, given that they aren't even from the same era. I shall nonetheless look forward to reading them.

The book on the right is of myths and legends- here is a Roman one. I am hoping there are also some from the Greek - we shall find out soon enough.

I got 16 of these golden oldies for $60 - the shipping was free. A steal.

Shepherd's Pie

I can't believe I haven't yet posted our recipe for this old favourite. As always, the actual quantities are inexact  - so just taste as you go. Also, while I make a roux in other similar dishes, I always forget with this one, so the thickening agent goes in at the end. You can make a roux if you prefer.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 medium onion, diced finely
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Frozen peas-and-carrots
• Beef stock or bouillon
• Tomato paste- about 2-3 Tbsp
• Salt 
• Pepper 
• Parsley
• Corn starch or flour
• Paprika
• Milk
• Butter
• Cheese (cheddar/mozarella) - optional

Method:

1. Choose a casserole dish. Heat oven to 350F.
2. Peel, dice and boil enough potatoes to make mash that's 1"-2" deep.
3. When potatoes are boiled, drain and mash, seasoning with salt, milk and butter. Because it's going to be baked, it is better to err on the side of too moist than too dry.
4. Soak the frozen peas-and-carrots in hot water, drain.
5. Fry garlic and onion, then add beef. Drain fat.
6. Add in thawed vegetables.
7. In a separate bowl, mix together water and corn starch/flour. If using stock, dissolve the cornstarch/flour in it. If using dry bouillon, add water to about a cup. Pour this into the beef mixture.
8. Add in tomato paste, salt and pepper to taste. 
9. Stir in parsley flakes or freshly-chopped parsley.
10. Pour into casserole dish.

11 

Layer mashed potatoes on top, smoothing with fork. Dust with paprika for garnish. Sometimes - like if the meat mixture is oddly tasteless - I may sprinkle a little cheddar and mozzarella on it before topping with the mash. It binds the two layers together and adds a little extra saltiness.

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Bake in oven for about 20 -25 minutes, or until the mash is golden.

Not Really Sundried Tomatoes

Some awful-lighting photos in this post- brace yourselves. 

Our two tomato plants have, in spite of a premature freeze several weeks ago, continued to valiantly produce their tiny fruit. If you've grown tomato plants, you will know they are especially prolific at a time when you are quite sick of eating tomatoes, and have exhausted all recipes that have them as an ingredient. Even after turning a batch of them into sauce for freezing, there were still these little ones sitting in overabundance on our kitchen counter. I always feel bad letting them rot, but particularly so when the harvest was hard-won.

So these got halved, laid on a baking sheet, and left in a lukewarm oven for several hours.

Supposed to have sprinkled salt on them, but of course I forgot.

Well, here they are - fake sundried tomatoes.

I put them in a jar, keep that in the cupboard, and forget all about them till next year when I do the same thing to the new batch, and curse when I discover the jars from subsequent years, still full. 

At least they didn't rot, right?

P.S. I do use them in my cooking, of course. I just forget I have them. Sometimes in desperation I take a few out and chew on them like raisins, just to deplete their numbers slightly.

The Colours Of Fall

This week, the trees and shrubs are at their peak colour and they are so beautiful that it drives us almost to distraction. So yesterday I took our camera on our car ride to pick the girls up from school, and made frequent stops to capture some of those glorious sights.

This is the park where we feed ducks - we stand on that dock.

Trees at the preschool

Pumpkin stand 

Tree at another park, turning colour.

A couple of shots taken by Dave:

And since yesterday was a 90-degree day (in October!) we went to a park for a picnic tea

and to feed fish.

Kate has been sick all week, incidentally. But we also had gorgeous weather all week, so we went out to parks and picnics in spite of it. Fresh air is so good, especially for sick little girls!