I Am Victorious! OR Mmmm, Pie!

This time of year causes many a person to wax poetic about the bounty of the harvest, embracing the earthy essence of the season, the unmistakeable pungency of roasted beets, apples as crisp as the morning air...

I'll spare you the prose. But let's get serious for about an important food group: pie.

The season for garden fresh tomatoes and cucumbers has passed. Now that the regular forecast has shifted away from swamp-monster-hot-and-humid, the idea of using the stove no longer seems ludicrous (no ac at chez refeathered). As part of my Goals and Getonits, I have been trying to be more conscientious of the quality of the food I put in my mouth. As I have mentioned before:

I've become a label reader- yes, that person in the grocery store. I feel it's worth the few extra moments to read. It has certainly been enlightening and encouraged better shopping habits. Not only do I look at ingredients, but I look at where the food is coming from. I try to buy local and seasonal. However, this is easier said than done. The agri-business that is our food supply is a quagmire and will require our constant vigilance. 

In an effort to know exactly what is in my food I have officially given up ready-made pie crusts. This is big news, people. BIG. I've never really liked those refrigerated dough disks, which often taste much like the plastic they are wrapped in. One cannot reach the highest levels of pie satisfaction with a polymer-tinged crust.

Lately

I realize it has been a bit cat-tastic on the blog lately. I promise I do more than follow Mogget around all day and take her picture. In addition to a number of work obligations, it's been a bumpin' few weeks at chez refeathered!

 

 

1. Checking out a new release by Tigernite at the Exclusive Company.

2 & 3. After a few busy days at the WMEA State Conference I ran a marathon...wearing a felt triceratops mask. It was the Haunted Hustle after all! And, yes, 1234 was my actual race bib number.

4. Post marathon cookie baking. 

5 & 6. Scenes from Mondo Lucha.  Guys, this was the best combination of ludicrous and fabulous. It had everything a girl could want. A saucy goat, glitter, rock 'n' roll, and a lucha libre style wrestling team that consisted of a robot and a one legged man called Uno. Seriously.

7. My sister and cohorts rocked it at Mondo Lucha!
8. A long over due trip to Beauty.
9. Taming mutant plants. More on that later.

What have you been up to lately?

Mondo Lucha

Forget Halloween. This year I am super pumped for my first Mondo Lucha experience.
Flyin' Lucha Libre wrestling! Burlesque and sideshow acts! Bad ass music and bands!
Like Tigernite. This quartet is made up of some of the most awesome humans I know making awesome human party sounds. 

Check out Tigernite at Mondo Lucha on November 2nd. $20 for a boatload of shenanigans. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Mogget Monday

October is nearly over, and my minions have yet to deliver a pumpkin spice latte. 

Harrumph.

Oops!

Forgetting to close the window one chilly evening squelched my plans of nursing my basil plant into the winter. Dead. Super dead. I walked in to make my morning coffee and was meet with shriveled, browning basil leaves scattered across the kitchen floor. My very, very dark shade of forest green thumb strikes again. The succulents, however, totally unaffected. In fact they look greener than ever. Did the succulents absorb the basil's energy Highlander style? We shall never know.

I really enjoy having fresh herbs in the kitchen. Perhaps a new rosemary plant is in order?  Although, I cannot guarantee the rosemary would not become a cat snack. Simandl seems to like the savory herbs...

Recommendations?

Warning: Cliche Fall Post Ahead

Last fall our entire family was so stupidly busy that we pretty much missed everything. We missed all the fall. This year we decided we were going to do whatever lame, cliche, fabulously fall-tastic things we could together. So far we have hiked, picked apples, made oodles of delectable dishes with said apples, hit up the Cedarburg flea market, loaded up and the farmers stand, and procured pumpkins. My dad and I even bought matching plaid cashmere scarves to celebrate the chill in the wind.

  

 

 

 

To this date, no pumpkin spice lattes have been consumed. Sorry, Mogget.
What have you been up to this season?

Mogget Monday

Mogget tip #6 : Premium late afternoon sunny spots occur in October.

Mogget Monday: Chill in the Air

Mogget is pleased that sweater weather has arrived, but is disappointed that no one has brought her a pumpkin spice latte yet.