Winterizing the Garden

We decided to make some quick hoop houses for the garden over the weekend. It's getting cold out there so hopefully this will help us extend our growing season a bit. Thanks for being there to get this picture Erv!

Thanksgiving Morning

Photo by Ervin Houston

Thanksgiving in Cincinnati

We had a cozy Thanksgiving holiday at home this year. We were happy to host the Houston's who were in visiting from Savannah. We mostly hung around and cooked and ate a lot. Here on Thanksgiving morning Erv read his paper while Hazel Roy rested by the fire.

Andy and Diane preparing chestnuts for roasting.

There were many good smells in the kitchen. Diane also roasted pecans for her wonderful pecan pie and I sauteed apples for my apple pie. Both were delicious. We paid a morning visit to Biggy's house to watch his brother Don expertly prepare the turkey. He deconstructed the bird in the style of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. Warning - graphic turkey pictures below!

By boning the turkey it cooked much faster and was much easier to carve. Also there were many more cavities for filling with stuffing.

Biggy prepared a lovely salad with pears, blue cheese and cranberry dressing over lettuce from our garden!

The elegant table! We felt very lucky to share a wonderful meal with Erv, Diane, Biggy, Biggy's brother Don, Don's wife Janet, Janet's son Graham, Graham's son Kai, and Graham's wife Nettie. After we got home we watched 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' which Andy declared should be an annual Thanksgiving movie tradition.

Social Cider

Our friends Oliver and Alix were given this beautiful cider press by a neighbor who no longer wanted it. They decided to press a bushel of apples into cider.

Shadows and apples

It took many people to make this first batch of cider. I think there were at least 10 of us working, washing and cutting apples and adding apples to the press. It doesn't actually take 10 people to press cider but since we were there, we all jumped in to lend a hand. It was a lot of fun. You can always count the Houston's in whenever apples are involved!

Toy Lab Grand Opening

Three lucky inventors were chosen to cut the ribbon and build the very first toys at the Grand Opening of Toy Lab in Northside this past weekend.

Andy works at Happen and is in training to be a Toy Builder at Toy Lab.

The way it works: Lot's of toy parts to choose from in various bins. You can pick 7 parts and decide how to put them all together.

You give them to the toy builder who uses drills and hot glue to build your custom toy. You can name the toy and give it special powers.

A grand announcement and one excited inventor!

An amazing toy in progress

Persimmons

I recently discovered Persimmons! Which by the way are the native variety and are in season right now.

The tree is really quite beautiful full of fruits.

The fruits are not considered ripe until they fall to the ground, which also makes them easy to pick.

I used a paper bag to help the fruits get really ripe.

The result: Walnut Persimmon Bread

Cidering

I officially have the cider bug. We enjoyed drinking our homemade hard cider so much during the apple butter party but the trouble is there's none left now. So now, I'm making as much as I can so we can enjoy more throughout the year. With the last batch I decided to add a little something extra and so I made a compote of apricot and cherry to mix in.

Pig Roast at Blue Oven Farm

We were invited to a pig roast! We'd never seen a pig roasted this way before - in a box above ground with the coals on top. Here is the chef taking the cooked pig out of the roasting box.

The drippings left inside and the lid covered in coals.

Taking off the grate. The pig cooked for about 7 hours.

Mmmmmm......pulled pork

The farm in Wilmington with beautiful russet leaves and grasses.

The beautiful bread. This was a cider raisin loaf. I cannot get over how lovely this bread is. It is enough to make me want to devote my life to bread baking!

Baskets and bowls

The original blue oven where the bread bakes - all wood fired.

The brand new oven which has a much larger capacity where the majority of the bread can be fired.