Sunday, October 18, 2015

On a Sunday Afternoon

It's this kind of day:
We stopped and bought pumpkins. Mags -- enjoy!!
The Jack-O-Lantern is Julia's. She bought her own. I prefer just a nice autumn pumpkin on my porch.
She had fun digging out and carving and saving the seeds to roast.

See mine ... and hers?
While she was carving away, I found the hammock in the piney copse and had a quiet few moments gazing through the leaves and needles while Sandy barked at me that she needed me to throw her pine cone.



Below me the puppies wrestled after Sandy gave up on chasing pine cones.

The front porch is looking a little festive now!
Meanwhile, Adam  had awoken from his post-preaching nap and decided to make profiteroles, a light pastry with cream filling. Can you tell we've been watching reruns of "The Great British Bake-Off"?
Because the air is cool and we don't want to turn on the heat quite yet, I made myself a Tom-and-Jerry, a warm eggnog with nutmeg and allspice. Adam makes a mixture we keep in the freezer. You add 3 teaspoons to warm milk. Yummy.

I'm knitting and listening ... to Christmas music, yes, I am!

I've had two good weeks at the farmers' market, and yarn is starting to sell for the season, so I must be knitting each week to keep up with demand.
I have only one purse-baby left, so several of those are on the agenda for this week.
Adam is cooling his profiteroles now. He's also watching an old (1978) Thanksgiving football game between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Oklahoma Sooners. He said he probably watched that game with his dad. As autumn comes, and then winter, I find myself thinking of years gone by, people I dearly miss. I wish I could be in West Virginia with my parents and family there. I miss them so.
Adam's profiteroles are done, and they are delectable. Handel's Messiah is playing now, and faintly from the kitchen I hear Vern Lundquist's voice, sounding like the football announcers I knew years ago.

8 comments:

Pom Pom said...

The cream puffy things looks scrumptious!
It's looking very Octobery at your house, MK!
I wish you time to finish your market projects.

Lisa Richards said...

I like your hammock idea. Sounds like lots of cozy fall living going on at your place! The porch is looking so homey and festive. I bet those dogs are hard to keep groomed these days. But, boy, are they having fun! :) Enjoy your knitting and crocheting. I'm going to finish my baby afghan before I allow myself to try anything else. ;)

Deborah Montgomery said...

What a lovely day. Lying in a hammock looking through the pines sounds perfect. And that husband of yours is a keeper! Those cream puffs look so delicious! Knitting and listening to music, while goodies bake in the oven . . . yes. I made an apple crisp tonight and forgot to put the sugar in of all things. Our oldest son called just as I was about to eat it with my husband and daughter, and when I came back to the table I noticed their desserts were barely touched. One taste and I knew. So out came the brown sugar, and we liberally sprinkled it on top. Much better :)

happyone said...

Too chilly here for a hammock but I do enjoy the crisp fall air.
Yummy the profiteroles sure look good. Is that just another name for creme puffs?
I like the pumpkin carved in the traditional way instead of all the fancy ones. : )

gretchenjoanna said...

I have a friend who used to make both cream puffs and eclairs....I'm trying to figure out if those profiteroles are the same as ...eclairs? Maybe if I go look it up I will beat you to the answer....

gretchenjoanna said...

It seems that the choux paste is the thing the desserts have in common, though a cream puff is a rounder shape and the eclair often a longer shape. The profiteroles are made with this paste, and can be filled with sweet or savory fillings. Cream puffs are usually filled with whipped cream, but eclairs are typically filled with pastry cream or custard. Pastry cream is starch-thickened and custard is egg-thickened. I *think* those are the basics, quickly gleaned from a few websites. :-) Thanks for the prod, M.K.

Ida said...

Sounds like a wonderful afternoon. I like carving pumpkins. Julia did a nice job. The rolls sound delicious and a good rest is always fun. Cute puppy antics too.

M.K. said...

Hi, GJ! (Your comments are not coming through to my email for some reason, so I'll answer here.) I don't know the differences between all these various pastries. Adam likes to do the research. He was going to make eclairs, but changed his mind to these. I don't know if "profiterole" is just a fancy name, or a different pastry. I asked him if he used starch or egg for thickening, and he replied, "A little of both." All I can tell you is that the cream in the middle was quite yummy. I confined myself to only four. It was definitely a flavored, custardy cream, not just whipped cream. He piped it in with a bag.