Unproductive

I've been a very unproductive blogger in the last couple of weeks, which is sad since I was really on a roll in September. I'm still making Nora's lunch (although Jason did it last Friday) and I do usually photograph it, but of course I never have the camera when I feel like blogging, so there's not pictures for this post.

I've been cooking quite a bit lately. Last week I tested several of the Veganomican recipes, with success. The caramel apple cupcakes with penuche icing were a big hit at a potluck that I brought them to (and Nora and Jason liked them as well). I discovered penuche is indeed like fudge and it hardens up very quickly so I needed to re-melt it midway through icing the cakes. That same evening I made the Inside-out Samosas (samosa filled twice baked potatoes). I'll be making them again for Jason and I, but Nora opted out - she has a thing about potatoes. Ditto on the vegan "scalloped" potatoes. Jason and I liked them quite a bit, although I think I was too heavy handed with the nutritional yeast. Nora wouldn't touch them, but she did eat about a 1/2 a cup of sauerkraut. She is probably the only 2 year old in the world who won't touch mashed potatoes but will eat sauerkraut. She also like the roasted carrots and Polish sausage that rounded out that meal. All that was missing was a green salad, and we would have had a Sunday dinner, but I hate making salad. And I finally got around to trying Sarah E-Y's wheat bread recipe the week before last. I will definitely be making it again, it was terrific! I passed it on to Mom and she made it into some wonderful buns with raisins in them with Nora. So Sarah, if you are reading, thanks! and you might try adding raisins to a batch if you haven't already.

The weekend before last, we drove the Great River Road on the search for apples. It was a beautiful day, and we made a stop in Grafton at the Rotten Apple so that Jason could check out their fabled beer selection. The beer was good, the cider was good and the food was good. I'm sure we'll be back. Then we stopped at Pere Marquette and Nora played with the giant chess board while Jason attempted to coach her toward Chess Greatness. We should have hiked about some and looked for wildlife, but the heat and our heavy lunch kept us inside. Nora enjoyed the chainsaw sculpture of Illinois wildlife (eagles, raccoons, squirrel, and rabbits) and re-arranged the fuzzy rabbits in the deer diorama inside the lodge, so we sort of saw some animals. Then we headed up toward Hardin and I detoured off toward Jerseyville to stop at Ringhausen Orchards. Unfortunately Nora fell asleep, so there are no glorious pictures of her among pumpkins, atop hay bales, or holding shiny red apples, and actually the Ringhausen Orchard we went to (there are several) wasn't really that type of place. But the apples were great, I got Crispins, Jonathan's, and Honey Crisps. I ate the last one today for lunch, so I'm hoping Mom and Dad pick up some on their trip this weekend. On the way back to the main road, I saw a snake slither into the cornfield, so that sort of met our "see wildlife" goal of the trip.

This weekend we weren't much better about getting out into nature. Fortunately, the Grand Marshall takes Nora out to Powder Valley quite a bit, or else I'd worry that she is danger of developing a nature deficit disorder. Jason and I are lacking in our intake of fresh air, and I'm hoping we'll make it happen this weekend.