Duh expressed interest in posts about recent events so here is a rundown of most of our October adventures:
Just after my birthday we went for a drive through Snoqualmie Pass and over to Thorp. We wandered around a barn there. The bottom sells fruit and other local produce, like pumpkins. The top two levels house an antiques mall. I thought about getting mom another metal plunger (you know, that thing she claims was used to help wash laundry back in the day) but decided she already gets enough flack for the one she owns.
It was a beautiful drive and on the way back Greg snapped a few pictures while I drove (on the way there he drove and I dozed. What a surprise, right?). Taking photos from a moving vehicle does not do the scenery justice but here is a glimpse at what we saw:
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One week for FHE we decided to make candy corn, which was funny since we had both admitted that we did not like the stuff. However, we had watched an old episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" where he stated that people who think candy corn is gross probably think that because they have only ever had the kind that is mass produced and sold in stores. We were curious so we set out on our first candy making adventure.
We concluded that homemade candy corn is WAAAAAAAAY better than store bought versions. Quality control was one of our favorite parts of the process.
Our final product never quite set up (we're not sure if that was due to beginners' mistakes or the humidity where we live) and turned out looking like candy slugs. We were quite pleased with the results anyway and are considering making this an annual tradition.
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| I shaped a few to look more like traditional candy corn |
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We were invited to a chili cook-off. Wanting to save money, I decided that we would stick mainly with ingredients we had on hand. I found a recipe online for black bean and sweet potato chili. It was a vegetarian recipe (meat is pricey so it was even more cost effective) but, I guess subconsciously, I thought it should include some meat. While chopping the sweet potatoes I ended up cutting off a chunk of my thumb.
I caught what had happened right away and was able to keep the end result vegetarian. I think if I ever make it again I would add hamburger.
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The last Saturday of the month, Greg and I headed out to a pumpkin patch. We thought about getting only one but then realized that meant we would have to agree on a design when we carved it.
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| He makes his look light; it wasn't. |
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| Holding a pumpkin with both hands because I am not as strong. |
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We carved our pumpkins on the 30th but I did not end up taking any pictures. Greg chose a classic jack-o-lantern face and I wished I had. I was excited to use a scraper tool that came in the kit we bought. I scraped the top to look like tree branches but when I put my candle in the pumpkin you couldn't see my design. I scraped deeper and tried again. Still nothing. I should have thought my decision through more. The pumpkin walls were too thick - about 2 inches - so I gave up and carved, "Happy Halloween". That turned out to be quite a work out (again, thanks to how thick the walls were). I was sweating by the time I finished the last letter which amused Greg (who had been done carving his pumpkin for over 30 minutes by that time).
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Our first Halloween together was spent preparing for and attending the ward party. I was asked to help with it so, by default, Greg was too. By the time we left the festivities, we were ready to go home and crash and that is what we did.
