Happy Halloween!

Plum Crumble Pie

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Spiced Walnuts

Fall. Pumpkins. Apple cider. Spices. Come this time of year, with a crisp breeze blowing through the windows, I so wish I could just hold up in my kitchen, churning out one delicious fall dessert after another. I am excited to see apples and pears by the bushel-full at the market, fooled once again into being thankful for fall days. Winter is just around the corner and yet I am completely blinded by the sweet possibilities - pies, cakes, cookies, crumbles, ice cream - happy to bid farewell to the suffocating summer haze.

While I slowly transition to baking more on the weekends, weekday baking is almost completely out of the question. But around 4 PM, my sweet tooth attacks and has recently begun demanding fall-inspired sweets. Even with very little time during the week, I can drizzle walnuts with a little maple syrup, a sprinkle of spices, and produce a barely-sweet, but totally satisfying treat in less than 20 minutes.

Red Beets

Fig & Lemon Jam

There are many things I enjoy about my job, but above all else, I love the time spent developing, testing, and photographing recipes.  My love for this process began right here on this little blog and continues to be an unmatched source of inspiration to me.

Besides armloads of dirty dishes, the only other downfall to my work is the not insignificant amount of food leftover in my half-size refrigerator.  For instance, last week I had a pound of black mission figs, slightly bruised and far from perfect, remaining from a project earlier in the week.  Each time I opened the refrigerator door, I wondered how to best utilize the fruit.  Pie?  Cake?  Crumble?  I couldn’t make up my mind - so many options! - until one morning when I realized I only had until the end of the day until the figs would rot.

Given my fading window of opportunity, I stopping tricking myself into believing I had hours to bake a pie or cake from scratch or that I was hosting a large dinner party where people could dig their spoons into the warm crumble.  So, jam was the answer I had been looking for all along!  Minimal ingredients and time in the kitchen ensured the figs were properly showcased, without sacrificing time I just did not have in the day.

Bosc Pears

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Pike's Place Market

For my 30-hour rendezvous in Seattle, I wanted to accomplish two things between business-related activities and sleeping: See the Space Needle and explore Pike’s Place Market. Less than an hour after landing, in the car on the way to the hotel, I spotted the Space Needle, brightly lit against the dark Seattle sky. One down, one to go.

The next morning, on my little exploration around the hotel, I was pleasantly surprised to find Pike’s Place Market only one short block from the hotel. Later that afternoon, after work commitments had been successfully performed, my boss and I set-off to explore this amazing market. It took every ounce of sensibility for us to resist buying armloads of the amazing dahlia bouquets.

If you are interested in what exactly my business trip to Seattle involved, check here for my photographs.

Seattle, Washington

Last week I hopped on a plane for my very first business trip and enjoyed every inch of leg room my first class ticket offered. It isn’t very often that my long legs aren’t cramped and achy after five hours on a plane. The plane touched down in Seattle after dark, so I woke early the next morning – my body still being on Eastern Standard Time and all – grabbed my camera, and ventured down to the waterfront. The air was misty and cool and the sun had yet to peak through the clouds; a quiet start to the day.

Old Fashioned

Fall Entryway Wreath

A few weekends ago, with Mike out of town visiting friends, I began decorating our apartment for the impending fall season.  Pumpkins, squash, and gourds were strategically scattered and beautiful oranges, burgundies, and brown tones warmed our apartment.  But our entryway was missing that something special and I immediately knew the cure: Home Stories A to Z’s beautiful yarn wreath with felt flowers!  Warm up your glue gun and skip over to Beth’s blog for a great tutorial on creating felt flowers!

The Gunks