Halloweens Past

We thought it might be fun to share a few photos of our past Halloween costumes. Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween.

                                       

Good and Evil Fairies--- Very telling of the truth.

                                                            Luchador & Fairy

Devil and Go-Go Girl

             

All the Treats of Fall

Fall is in the air! The leaves are beginning to change and you can’t go to a store without seeing Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. Fall is definitely one of the most enjoyable seasons for us. We love the light sweater weather, decorating for all the different holidays, pumpkin spiced everything from candles to lattes, and of course carving pumpkins!

This past weekend we decided to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and carve pumpkins outside while also sampling a variety of seasonal microbrews. While it is past Oktoberfest, we tried several different fall beers, from pumpkin ales to stouts, that we had never had before. To see the different beers that we tried click here.

Besides a great Halloween decoration, carving pumpkins gives you the opportunity to collect the seeds and make one of our favorite fall treats…Roasted pumpkin seeds. They are so easy to make. All you need to do is collect the seeds, wash them thoroughly, allow them to dry, and then melt 1Tbsp. of butter for every cup of seed.

Once you have melted the butter, stir it into the bowl of pumpkin seeds. Lay the seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and bake at 300* until they are lightly browned. It takes about 40 minutes or so. Stir them around regularly so that they cook evenly. The seeds make such a tasty fall snack.  

Feeling 80 at 25…

There is never a better reason to celebrate than someone’s birthday! A few weeks ago we had an 80’s themed birthday party for my husband, Josh, who just turned 25. The handmade invitations told guests to dust off the legwarmers and puff up their hair... and that is exactly what they did.

 Dressing up can be a fun way to let go and see everyone’s creative side.

What would an 80’s party be without a punch bowl filled with a little spiked punch. We decided to make Barbados punch with Mount Gay Eclipse Rum the recipe is below.

Barbados Punch  

In a 3-quart punch bowl, dissolve ¾ cup superfine sugar in ¾ cup fresh-squeezed lime juice. Fill bowl three quarters of the way with ice cubes. Add 1 750-ml bottle Mount Gay Eclipse rum, 2 cups coconut water, and 2 cups water. Stir. Drink. Serves 10.

Superfine sugar  isn't always easy to find so we used simple syrup. We started with ¼ cup simple syrup and then just added small amounts until it had the right amount of sweetness for us.

Then we turned up the 80’s music and let's just say it was Totally Awesome!

What's Fresh

There is nothing better than serving dishes that are made with food right from your own garden or at least locally grown. While, from here on out, it will become harder to find fresh local fruits and vegetables there is still a short window to enjoy local products. At our houses we try to support local farmers as much as we can by purchasing directly from the farms, visiting our farmer's market, or shopping at retailers that sell locally produced items.

For this meal, we wanted to use as many items as we could from our garden or local farms. Pesto made with basil that you pick right out of the garden or tomatoes ripe off the vine… now nothing is better than that.  Most of the food and drinks were prepared using local ingredients or vegetables from the garden.  Eating local just tastes better.  There is no doubt about it. When preparing your next dish be creative and try to find your inner locavore!

Black Pepper-Basil Farmer's Cheese Bruschetta made with local cheese,  basil and cherry tomatoes straight from the garden. It is perfect for an appetizer.

After you try homemade pesto, nothing out of a jar will ever compare.

Idaho peaches are delicious plain, but they also make a fabulous cocktail. This was one part vodka, one part simple syrup (depending on how sweet your peaches are), and peaches. We just sliced the peaches and muddled them with the simple syrup. Next, add ice and frozen peach slice and don't forget Idaho vodka. You could even add a splash of sparkling water to give it a little fizz. Simple and refreshing.