November nothings {wrap-up}

...anxiously (and unsuccessfully) watched for snow.

...read more than has been the recent norm. Yea!

...visited a new-to-me tea shop.

...baked a lot.

...felt really thankful for my new church.

...stocked up on magazines for my holiday travel.

...spent Thanksgiving with my lovely in-laws.

...felt old and young. I can never decide where to land on this.

...couldn't believe it when the farmers market girl told me I'm the only person she's met that eats raw lady apples.

...worked on a Christmas card idea.

...stocked up on long-sleeved ultimate tees from Target. They're so soft and well-fitted.

There and back again {a Thanksgiving tale}

My Thanksgiving travels included:

catching my first glimpse of Fifth Avenue Christmas window displays (before leaving town),
hanging our stockings and setting out our nativity scene (also before leaving town),
enduring a harrowing bus ride to the airport (complete with motion sickness),
waiting out a delayed flight,
chatting with the physicist seated next to me on the plane,
falling asleep on the plane (again with motion sickness and apparently defunct sea-bands),
sleeping in every day,
shopping (last minute) for Thanksgiving dinner (or lunch, rather),
enjoying vases of fresh-cut flowers (compliments of my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law),
texting my siblings to remind them that they should not, under any circumstances, have fun without me,
sniffing 20+ seasonal candles at Bath and Body Works,
watching the family dogs alternate between playing together and competing for alpha status,
catching snippets of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,
flipping through Black Friday ads,
whipping up some cranberry sauce,
playing house with my niece,
hanging out by the swing set and talking over life with my nephew,
taking photos (more on that soon, I hope),
sharing the Charlie Brown Christmas app with my niece and nephew,
enjoying smoked turkey (compliments my father-in-law),
smiling winningly as I ask my sister-in-law to make pumpkin cheesecake,
inhaling pumpkin cheesecake,
maintaining relatively healthy portions (amazingly),
watching The Muppets movie (and trying to stay dry-eyed during "Rainbow Connection"),
singing "Life's a Happy Song" compulsively,
throwing in songs from In the Heights,
reading/napping on the couch,
applauding myself on how well I packed,
fighting off a sore throat,
leaving the house at 10 am on Black Friday,
exploring the Space and Rocket Center with my niece and nephew,
grazing on homemade Chex mix (a family tradition, as is picking out your favorite bits),
and marveling at the city lights as we flew home.

As if until that moment...

{read the rest here}

This poem has been pinned to my bulletin board for 7 - 8 years now. Whenever my eye happens to pause over it, I'm struck again by its quiet beauty.

This year, I started observing Advent in October. I feel a little silly, but I didn't want to miss out like last year, when I apparently lost track of it under a pile of moving boxes. 

The list {part 3, holiday edition}

{Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours}

Pumpkin chocolate chip squares...simple and good

With pumpkin pies (and in my case, hopefully a pumpkin cheesecake) visible on the horizon, this dessert may seem a bit modest. However, sometimes you just want a pumpkin dessert, and you want it now. At least, that's how I felt when I made these. 

I'd actually planned to try something new and fancy, but Sunday evening crept up and startled me. So, I threw my original plans out the window and opted for something else I'd recently seen - something simple but still with the requisite pumpkin. The pumpkin keeps these bars moist while the spices and chocolate add rich, warm flavor.

Note - I had some pumpkin pie spice on hand, but when I finish it off, I plan on mixing up my own.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares 
(inspired by Martha Stewart via sweet tarte)

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 (12 ounces) package dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a separate large bowl, use a mixer to cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla and pumpkin. Mix to combine. Add flour mixture, and mix to combine. Use a spoon to stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour and spread batter into prepared baking dish. Bake 35 - 40 minutes.

Makes 24 bars

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Unexpected

I lack in spontaneity but am flush with detailed plans. 

I also have a persuasive husband who was recently able to convince me to deviate from my after-work plans. While walking home from the train station, he said, "Let's get a sandwich and go to the coffee shop (where it's BYOF - bring your own food). I demurred with excuses of leftovers that demanded consuming, portions that needed maintaining, workouts that should be conducted and several other predetermined plans that required attention.

Happily, I was ultimately convinced, because otherwise I would have missed out on...

...sharing a tasty pulled pork sandwich and chai latte for dinner.
...splitting a chocolate chip cookie. 
...leisurely conversation about work, church and the coffee menu. 
...my husband telling me I look pretty (actually, I probably wouldn't have missed out on that, since he excels in this area).

...meandering home on an idyllic fall night.
...the crisp air filling my hair with the musky scent of wood-burning smoke. 
...shuffling through piles of leaves and watching them scatter before gusts of wind. 
...the comically large shadows that streetlights cast on the sidewalk.

...a stopover at the library, which I'd forgotten stayed open late that night.
...warming up my nose while browsing magazines and books. 
...picking up a book I'd forgotten was on my to-read list.

...an unexpectedly lovely evening.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children {book review}

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

One of the most absorbing components of this book is the skillful integration of imagery and text. The book begins in present-day and includes World War II era photographs, which first mystify and then compel swift page turning.

When family tragedy strikes, sixteen-year-old Jacob travels to a remote location in the British Isles in hopes of illuminating the mystery that shrouds him and his loved ones. He looks for clues in the remnants of a ruined mansion where he unexpectedly crosses from modern day into a time loop stuck endlessly on September 3, 1940, the day an aerial bomb destroys the house.

The loop is inhabited by peculiars, normal children in appearance though supernaturally gifted. The contemporary world fears them, and malicious beings wish to control them. They seek refuge in the loop created by their guardian, Miss Peregrine. One peculiar possess a Frankenstein-like, life-creating gift, another amazing strength and yet another the ability to spontaneously generate fire. Jacob comes to love the peculiars, but inadvertently endangers his new friends and their hideout. 

The book ends pleading for a sequel, with Jacob forced to make a difficult choice.

The shadowy danger throughout the story maintains a delightful, horrible tension. The author successfully blends text and image, playing with the print medium in refreshing ways. In the postscript, Mr. Riggs explains that the photos included in the book are "authentic, vintage, found" pieces, which make their inclusion even more intriguing. The major missteps occur during the story's climax, where the details felt slightly muddled and predictable in contrast to the unexpected thrills earlier on in the tale. However, I enjoyed the ride and look forward to reading forthcoming installments.

While there are some plot points reminiscent of children's fantasy fiction (such as in the climax when the band of children fights a group of adults in their quest to save the world), because the book has some mature moments, I would generally recommend it to young adults. 

Readalikes (If you liked...)

If you liked the dark, youthful fantasy of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, you might like The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

If you liked the hand-to-throat tension of Jacob's ventures, you might like The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.

Mini peanut butter cup pudding cookies...practically fail-proof

Some recipes don't have much of backstory.

Here's what happened with these cookies. My husband picked up a container of Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups at Trader Joe's and said, "Will you make cookies with these?"

I said, "Sure."

The next day, I put on some music and made these cookies (and danced around the kitchen a little bit).

Ta da!

Don't be put off by the story's lack of bells and whistles or the use of pudding mix. If you've ever had a baked treat that included pudding mix, you understand. If you haven't, you'll be amazed at how it practically fail-proofs a recipe. It guarantees moist, rich results. In this case, the results also happen to be studded with chocolate and peanut butter.

As a side note - if you haven't seen it yet, Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe cookies are back on the shelves. The holiday season is happily officially upon us.

Mini Peanut Butter Cup Pudding Cookies
(inspired by Two Peas & Their Pod)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 3.4 ounces package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups mini peanut butter cups

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, in a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Then, add the pudding mix, eggs and vanilla. Mix to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix until combined. Finally, using a spoon, stir in the mini peanut butter cups.

Drop tablespoons of dough on the prepared baking sheets. Bake 10 - 12 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for a minute or two before removing to a cooling rack or wax paper-lined surface to finish cooling.

Makes 32 cookies

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Perfectly normal?

At our wedding reception, my dad gave a toast, offering my then husband-of-two-hours a piece of advice about how to take care of his new wife. "It doesn't take much to keep Marilyn happy," he said. "Just give her a book to read."

My dad is right. I don't get bored easily. As long as I have a book, magazine, newspaper or my (barely) smartphone, I'm pretty much set, but it doesn't end there. 

Around town, I'm constantly scoping out bulletin boards. Put me in front of one, and I'll carefully read each item. 

At home, either ours or someone else's, I'm sure to gravitate towards bookcases to do a little perusing. Yes, even in my own home, I regularly review our shelves, reminding myself what's there.

And the other day, I read a Chinese take out menu front-to-back because it was the only thing within range. That's perfectly normal, right?

As seen on a weekend home alone

Simple Sunday supper...comforting and guilt-free

I love mac and cheese, fried chicken, creamy soups and all those quintessential comfort foods. I also know that I shouldn't indulge in them all the time. This simple Sunday supper packs in all the comfort with none of the guilt.

It's a feel-good meal - hearty, filling and brimming with a variety of vegetables, flavorful chicken sausage and a bold, broth-based sauce. This really hit the spot last weekend, during the season's first snowfall while I was wilting under a bit of a stuffy head. I couldn't help but smile as the pleasing aroma rose through the house.

I suggest that you gather up the ingredients and put this on your table tomorrow night.

*Note - I prepped this meal beforehand. I cut all the vegetables, mixed up the vegetable broth sauce and refrigerated both overnight. It made pulling the meal together easier the next day and gave the sauce extra time to meld. I also recommend keeping a look out for a sale on an interesting type of sausage. That's what I did.

Simple Sunday Supper
(inspired by Kayotic Kitchen)

1 large red bell pepper, de-seeded, sliced into strips and halved
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced into wedges
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into wedges
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced into wedges
1 medium potato, peeled and sliced into wedges
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasonimg
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 pound sundried tomato and basil chicken sausages
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish, spread the heavier vegetables (i.e. - carrots and both types of potatoes). Top with the remaining vegetables. 

In a medium bowl, combine garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, black pepper, salt, Italian seasoning and broth. Whisk to combine. Pour over vegetables.

Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat remaining olive oil in a large pan. Brown sausages. They should not be cooked through. Allow sausages to cool slightly, then slice each sausage in half. Set aside.

After vegetables have baked for 45 minutes, test with a fork to ensure that they are very tender. Place browned sausages on top. Evenly pour balsamic vinegar over the entire dish. Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered. Then, remove pan from oven, and spoon up juices from the bottom of the pan and pour on top of the sausages and vegetables. Bake another 10-15 minutes.

Serves 4

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