Pink in progress

Yes, Mom, I'll post to my blog! I tried to tell her that nothing exciting had happened, but we'll make something up anyway. It is rainy and dreary and work may be closed tomorrow because of massive flooding. I keep thinking about how I should open up my composter to get some rain on it and wet it down, but I then think about how I'd actually have to put on my rain boots and walk out there in the rain and get wet and cold and then I say 'I'll do it tomorrow' like Scarlett and then I don't. So instead I sit here and just listen to the raindrops.

I plan on completing a project that has been in the making for over two months now: the painting of my living room. I promise. In the meantime, one wall is painted and I am really very pleased with the result. Now I need to decide on what to hang where. I got a great still life at a local flea market (for $2) that is perfect for the room and I'm going to save my pennies to recover the wing chair and ottoman in some sort of navy blue pattern that will pick up pinks and greens elsewhere in the room. Ah, I love planning. Not so big on the executing.

Butternut squash perfection

My, my, my. When I bought $5 worth of butternut squash at the farmers' market this weekend I didn't imagine anything exciting happening with it. I figured I'd turn to one of my old standbys - a pasta sauce or a soup. I did in fact turn to a soup, but decided to try one of Ina's recipes using two critical fall ingredients: butternut squash and apples. The result? Something new for my repertoire.

I took this recipe, but made a few adjustments (one key one was since I didn't have apple juice/cider, I used more water and added some fat-free half & half). My favorite topping? Freshly-grated Parmesan. And the curry adds just that little something. Perfection.

Little white pumpkin

Trick-or-treaters, where are you?! There is a big bowl of candy just waiting for the little goblins to appear. My little white pumpkin survived the porch this year and the orange one I set out as a decoy has only rotted a little bit (got him for free from the church's 'rotten' pile).

I'm planning on heading out later tonight to a live music venue that just opened in town - The Otter House - and listen to a little Halloween reggae. Yes, it does sound strange, but I know it'll be fun. Sadly I didn't get my act together enough to get a costume, but have a black sweater and orange bangle bracelet. That's enough, right?

Misty Monday ...er...Tuesday

I spent all day yesterday in my sweats. I watched the whole of Gone With The Wind with great joy. I drank a big ole glass of red wine with my dinner. I had a cat on my lap at all times to keep me warm. All in all, I had a great day off work after two weeks of days and nights researching, writing, schmoozing and pressing the flesh. It is so tiring being "on" all the time.

Back to the grind today and I'm actually in for another few days of pressing the flesh and eating dinners with people I have to impress. Ah, such is the glamorous life of a curator.

One fun point in all of this is playing with our new resident cat. Anyone need a cute kitty to call their own?

Mum's the word

Brrrr...it has been quite chilly and very un-fall-like. I'd almost say that the last week or so was quite wintery. But today it is back to 70+ degrees and the sun is out and I've almost forgotten how it was three days ago when I pulled out my cute Boden plum-colored wool tweed suit for one of my board meetings.

I did buy a mum for my front stoop in a lovely shade of burnt orange that closely resembles the falling maple leaves of the large tree that hovers above my house. I swear I didn't plan that leaf laying itself on the stoop next to the mum for this comparison shot, but hey, I took advantage of it.

The farmers' market was pretty miserable this Saturday with drizzling rain and cold winds. I got some major treats in my bag this week, though - sweet potatoes, jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, turnips, and the yummy mushroom-rosemary soup that is so thick you can pour it on toast for a take on the creamed chipped beef I miss so much from my meat-eating childhood. Definite comfort food. Now I need to decide what to do with all my root vegetables. Perhaps get my sea salt on with a baked version of sweet potato, jerusalem artichoke, and turnip "chips".

My new pink scarf

My newest buy at my cute local boutique, Simpatica, is my new obsession - a bright pink Michael Stars t-shirt scarf. I've been pretty much wearing it every day at work. It keeps my neck warm, is comfy (did I mention it was a t-shirt scarf?) and looks fabulous. What more could you want?

I just got back from a run-walk around the neighborhood. This is the perfect weather to be outside - not too hot, not too cold, just right. I've really missed the exercise and don't know how I got out of the habit. I never did that 5K I was talking about. I'm going to spend some time looking around online to see if there is one coming up. I think it would be a good baby step for me with my running. I am enjoying it more. Especially the hills. I love hills - you feel so pumped after you make it up one. In my current running route I purposely try to find hills to run. I love it when my iPod picks a Guns 'n' Roses song right when I'm about to head up that big hill.

The farmers' market yesterday was a little smaller than the weeks before. Plus my CSA farm wasn't there. I bought eggplants and a mum from one of the (non-organic) vendors, purposely buying the eggplants that looked more heirloom-y (if that's a word). It makes me sad to think that we're heading into the months where fresh local veggies are pretty much unavailable. I'm trying to offset that by having frozen some veggies over the summer and planting winter greens. But with the weird hot weather we've been having, my arugula doesn't look so good. Must go water...

Monday ponderings

The weather is starting to turn cold at night and in the mornings I wake up with my nose a little cold from peeking out of the covers all night. This morning, I could not get out of bed - I was all snuggled under my duvet, coverlet, and warm cat. It was heavenly. I think I snoozed my alarm for over an hour. But I made it up and out the door just 10 minutes late. I think that's pretty darn good.

Today for lunch I had some soup from the freezer that I made a couple of months back from late-summer vegetables - corn, zucchini, and beans. I remember that I made it on a Saturday during a marathon viewing of Ghost Hunters. Gosh I love that show (although I do hate the fact that they're often not careful in historic house museums). Anyway, I froze the soup in leftover glass jars (with a little headspace for expanding) and found that they reheat very well in the microwave in those jars and then I even ate the soup out of the jar (it was a shallow, wide jar). All-in-all, I'm pretty proud of myself and my inginuity.

I have eggplant on the brain today and eggplant in the fridge. What to do? Cook eggplant, I think. The recipe I have in mind came from a random blog search: Eggplant Curry from Vegan Chow Down. I'll give that a try tonight when I get home from work. That is, if I can stay out of that soft, squishy bed.