Happy 88th Birthday Grandma!

Today is Grandma's birthday. We celebrated over the weekend while in Rochester. Here she is blowing out candles on her cake.

We always decorate Grandma's Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.

Filled will tinsel, antique glass beads, ornaments and colored lights.

Thanksgiving in Rochester, New York

Colleen's Grandma Ruth cooked the whole meal. Here she is early in the morning peeling potatoes so they could soak in cold water until ready to cook. She is one fast potato peeler!

Making Gravy

Colleen's pop Frank always carves the turkey, mainly so he can sneak some bites and make sure he gets one of the drumsticks.

Grandma's spread - always the best!

Lia's first Thanksgiving in Rochester!

Movie Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Movie Review by Andy

Yesterday we saw Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson. It's based on a Roald Dahl book about a wily fox who is known for his athletic prowess, debonair charm and penchant for thieving chickens. But one day he and his wife are captured while stealing chickens and about to be killed when his wife announces she is pregnant. They manage to escape but 'Foxy', as he is known, has to promise that he won't steal anymore, now that they have a family. The style is stop-motion animation, Wes Anderson style; which means not clay-mation but handmade models of woodland animals with real fur. Anderson shows his signature attention to detail in the beautiful way that the fur would often move and shimmer like the wind was blowing it, and the teeth of the foxes looked snaggly and imperfect -and real, in a taxidermied way, and even though Mr. Fox is suave, when he eats his toast he growls and tears at it like a real wild animal. The clothes the animals wear is the biggest giveaway that this is a Wes Anderson movie: the stylish pajamas, the smoking jacket, the insistence by Mr. Fox on wearing bandit hats. Mr. Fox's lawyer Badger wears the same suit as Royal Tenenbaum.

So anyway, Foxy being the dandy that he is, feels that the den his family lives in isn't good enough, so against his lawyers advice he purchases real estate in a nice tree on top of a hill. The tree has a beautiful view over the valley and of the three biggest farms of Boggus, Bunce and Bean, who farm chicken, duck, turkey and make hard cider. Naturally, Foxy can't inhibit his wild animal instincts and enlists the help of a goofy opossum in thieving the delicious fowl and the golden alcoholic cider!. The farmers join forces in trying to wipe out the Fox family putting the rest of the woodland animals in danger too. Bean is the smartest and most ruthless of them all, and he is voiced by Michael Gambon who sounds perfect and scary. George Clooney is also the perfect actor for Foxy since he is the perfect charming thief, reprising similar characters from Ocean's 11 and Out of Sight. The style of animation is perhaps somewhat jerky compared to today's animation, which is completely intentional. Wes Anderson has a style in all of his movies that is sentimental nostalgia. 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' works well for people like me who listened as children to audio tapes of The Wind in The Willows about Mr. Toad who goes joy riding in a motor car or for people who have a fondness for handmade, yet charming flaws over more fluid styles that hide the effects of the hand. The Wes Anderson touches, like the stylishly old fashioned clothing and scenery work well here, since it is with animation and it is easier to give in to your suspension of disbelief. The scenery is great too. I loved the scenes of them digging tunnels through the earth, and there is a great musical montage scene sung by farm workers - with Jarvis Cocker as a banjo playing farm hand. To sum it up, this was a really good Thanksgiving movie to watch. The palette is very yellow and earthy and autumnal. The light always looks like it is around sunset. In the end Mr. Fox makes really good toasts of familial gratitude over a couple of meals. And we have a new name for our basement where we keep Colleen's cider inspired by this film, 'Bean's Secret Cider Cellar'.

Glow Bowl

We recently celebrated Katie's 30th birthday. Here are red velvet cupcakes Colleen made for the occasion.

The party was at Western Bowl. Yes, Katie is drinking directly from a pitcher of beer with a pretty nifty straw that are also eyeglasses. Nearby is a beer cozy that says 'Flirty at 30'.

Andy and Michael are both very 'West Side'.

They were racing alot to see who could bowl the fastest.

The birthday girl gets a strike and also sports a very cool glow-in-the-dark ring.

Zach bowled the best game so he won the pirate hat!

Hello Homebrew!

Andy and I have both been getting more interested in trying our hands at homebrew. This weekend I got together with my neighbor Rob to make Hard Cider. We drove to an apple orchard where we could buy the cider in bulk and fill the carboy direct!

The rest was pretty simple. So I guess I'm hooked. Here's 6 gallons of beautiful cider starting to ferment that we'll be drinking and sharing at next year's apple butter party. The part I really can't wait for apart from drinking the stuff, is making some really great labels to put on the bottles.

Apple Butter Tradition

The reason why we decided to start an apple butter tradition is because we are carrying on the tradition of Tommy and Vicky Concannon. My dad was like an adopted son to Tommy. And so Tommy and Vicky were very much like grandparents to me. Spending time with them made a great impression on me. I don't exactly remember when they started or stopped making apple butter but when I was a kid they did it every fall. I remember how many people came to stir the pot and eat good food and visit. It was always a wonderful time. I know as a young adult I wished it was a tradition that was still alive and well. When I was 19, I sat in Tommy and Vicky's kitchen and copied down their apple butter recipe. I told them that someday I would continue to make apple butter. This year Vicky passed on and that was when I got serious about finding a kettle. Making apple butter now is a way for us to honor Tommy and Vicky and remember them - they were the most gracious and loving people I've every known. They treated everyone like family. So our Apple Butter is for them.

The Social Event of the Year! Apple Butter!

The recipe calls for 3 1/2 bushels of apples

We used 2 varieties: Chesapeake and Black Twig

We started early in the morning - cutting and peeling the apples

Phil had a magic tool that sliced, cored and peeled the apples. We'll be getting more of those for next year!

Apple peel compost

Steaming apples

Grinding apples

Ready for the kettle

Putting the apples in the kettle

Orange and lemon zest

Adding honey

Johnny, stirring with the beautiful cherry paddle he made for the occasion

Zach

Danny Hafer

John, mastering the art of stirring the pot in a rocking chair

Melissa

Jason

Zach and Edward working on tending the fire for the smoker. Zach made brisket smothered in apple butter.

Edward proves the apple butter is thickening. The butter sticks to the plate.

Edward and Laura, our dear friends up from North Carolina for the occasion.

Jake and Eric playing some old time music.

The apple pie off!

The judges, Chad, Jason and Jim

Jen, Mose, and Ced

The pie queen, Elena!

Getting the butter in the jars - it cooked for over seven hours.

The finished product - 75 pints of delicious apple butter!