happy halloween

Happy Halloween!

i want my mummy

These mummy cupcakes were calling me. Last Wednesday, I read in The Plain Dealer's Taste section about Michael Heaton making them with his daughters. He was given direction by A Cookie and a Cupcake, a delicious and innovative cupcake bakery in Tremont. My favorite is the Espresso cupcake- chocolate cake, caramel mousse, and espresso buttercream.

Anyway, Sean, Kate and I got sticky and messy making and eating them. Sean was able to squeeze the frosting onto the cupcake to make the messy mummy bandages. Kate helped out by putting the cupcake liners in the pan. (I found the orange with black spiders papers in my stash of things I don't need but got it on sale.)

I used a cake mix and made some buttercream with butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. I saved a bit to tint green for the eyes and then didn't bother with the pupils. It's a great frosting task for an "I want to help!" 3 year old. The messy "bandages" add to the appeal of the mummy cupcakes- and provide a sweet heap of sugary buttercream.

west side market

You can't beat a trip to the West Side Market for lunch. Kate and I shared a crepe from Crepes De Luxe. Mike had a bratwurst sandwich from Frank's. Sean ate a hotdog from Johnny's Hot Dog, reportedly the oldest hot dog stand in Cleveland. He marveled at the fact that he ate the whole thing and "I didn't even drop it!" Sean's first hot dog is usually the sacrificial dog that rolls out of the bun after the first bite. We sat across the street in the park to eat. I was happy with the weather. I loved the carved stone benches. Even the trash containers were cute!

After watching crepes being made, sampling fruit and checking out the beef tongue- blech- we headed over to Dean Supply. I was looking for a few things and had never been there. Love the place. It inspired me to have a carnival birthday party for one of the kids next year. They carry a ton of party supplies in addition to the mostly restaurant and caterer staples.

As we were leaving, we just had to try Seti's Polish Boy. Seti's truck sits every day in the parking lot of Dean Supply serving up dogs and fries. It was even promoted by Michael Symon on the Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate". Messy and delicious, the hotdog was smothered in BBQ sauce, fries and coleslaw.

Lake Metroparks Farmpark Halloween Hayride

We've taken the kids to Lake Farmpark a handful of times to watch cows being milked and the Border collies herd sheep. It has always been an educational and fun place for a summer outing. Last night was our first special event, Halloween Hayride. It was well worth the $5. per person ticket. We rode a 20 minute hayride around the park with our group. If you have a group of around 20, you get your own hayride. It was obvious that much planning and work went into the event. Teens provided most of the entertainment as we were pulled from small stage to stage. The Wizard of Oz, Peanuts gang, Thriller, witches, coffins, and plenty of hanging skeletons colored the landscape. It was family oriented except for the wandering happy scarecrows that turned into scarechildren. Sean wasn't a fan. The concern really wasn't if the kids were too afraid, it was the chill in the air. There was a even a small scale carnival fairway set up with corndogs and elephant ears. Overall, everybody had a good time.

chocolate toffee bark

chocolate toffee bark

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. butter

saltine crackers

1 c. chocolate chips

In a saucepan, boil the butter and sugar to the soft ball stage. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and arrange crackers on the sheet. (This is the base.) Pour the butter-sugar mixture over the crackers and bake at 400 degrees for 3 minutes. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and return to the oven for 1 minute. Spread the melted chips over the entire surface. Cool and break into pieces.

It is a true test of patience to wait for a little one to line the cookie sheet with saltine crackers!

homemade play dough

homemade play dough

3 c. flour

1 1/2 c. salt

3 c. water

2 T. vegetable oil

1 T. cream of tartar

Put all ingredients into a large pot and cook over medium low heat until the dough pulls away from the pan. Cool and then knead into a ball.

Make colored dough by using food coloring or a packet of unsweetened Kool-Aid. We made pink lemonade dough which resulted in a sweet yet mild scent.

acorn frame

It's a rainy, windy, stay-at-home day, so we decided to do something with the bucket of acorns that we gathered yesterday. I cut out a frame shape so Sean could glue the acorn caps and dried berries on to the cardboard. Glue is one of Sean's simple pleasures. If I don't pay attention, he will have squirted out the entire tube into a pile on paper. Now we just have to find the perfect photo.

a la peanut butter sandwiches

I don't need the Amazing Mumford's magic to make the kids finish their lunch. Simple shapes and cutters transform sandwiches and make them disappear. A favorite shape is the train from Williams-Sonoma, a gift from my sister-in-law. Sean asks for a peanut butter and Nutella train sandwich just about every day.

Eddy Fruit Farm

Another gorgeous Fall day perfect for apple picking...this time at Eddy Fruit Farm in Chesterland. I love to go out and pick fruit. I keep track of the seasons and farms for strawberries, blueberries, apples- whatever is available and whatever I can use in a recipe. Picking fruit allows me to escape reality for a few hours. I am drawn to it and sometimes think that I fervently bake so that I can go back to pick more.

We first stopped by the barn to grab bags and check out a map of the more than 10 varieties of apples in the orchard. We were off, with kids in the wagon, to the labeled rows of apple trees to search for the best pick. We gathered Melrose, Ida Red (they make pink applesauce!), Blushing Golden, and Empire apples.

With thoughts of pink applesauce, apple tarts and everything else apple in my head, I excitedly asked Sean if he would like to have some slices of the apples that he picked. He replied, "No! I want apple dippers from McDonald's." Back to reality.

criss cross applesauce

"Let's make applesauce!" exclaimed Sean. Off I went to the Food Network's website for a recipe and found an easy one by Cathy Lowe. It was short enough for a scribble on scrap paper rather than to print it out.

Applesauce (Cathy Lowe)

2 T. butter

1 t. cinnamon

4 apples, peeled, cored, diced

1/2 t. nutmeg

2 T. water

1/4 c. sugar

Combine all ingredients into a saucepan and stir over medium heat for about 30 minutes until apples get mushy. Mash them to desired consistency.

Sean chose to mash but only after I removed them from the stove and into a mixing bowl. After all of that work he wouldn't even eat it! The boy lives on apple slices but refuses applesauce- homemade! Thankfully, Kate lapped it up.

Columbus Day parade

It was a rainy day for a parade so we left our one year old with Grandma and headed out with Sean, 3, to Cleveland's Little Italy. This was my first Columbus Day Parade; I'm usually in the classroom teaching students about the parts of a cell. The high school bands were drumming, politicians were glad-handing and candy was flying. The regal Christopher Columbus rode past Holy Rosary followed by pink-haired stylists from La Barberia riding Rocket Cars. Then came the Orlando Bread truck. What a sight! Loaves of Italian bread and bags of rolls were flying through the air into a crowd of flailing arms. Lucky were the few who snagged a loaf. We were witnessing the Pied Piper of Little Italy. It was worth standing in the cold rain.

After the parade, we ate some pizza and headed to Gallucci's on Euclid Avenue. Sean was impressed by all of the salami, pepperoni and large chunks of mozzarella. Aisles of pasta in every shape and size, San Marzano tomatoes and red wine made me want to rush home to make meatballs.

caramel apple cookies

I am bringing cookies to my nephew's first birthday party today. We still have apples from the farm so I thought this would be a delicious and kid-friendly recipe to try. I found it on an inspiring blog by Katie Goodman called Goodlife Eats. Her recipes are both her own and adapted from other recipes out there but what really sells them are the photos. Here is the caramel apple cookie photo and recipe.

My cookies did not look like this until the last tray came out of the oven. The first batch spread out and formed one sheet of thin cookies. My guess is that I did not wait the entire hour for the dough to chill. The dough went back into the fridge for another 30 minutes. This time I placed only one tray into the oven and they did not spread. For the last tray, I rolled the chilled dough into balls and increased the temperature to 375 degrees. This worked the best. So, out of 3 1/2 dozen cookies, about 5 cookies look like the photo. They all taste good (if you don't mind a little caramel gripping your teeth), flat or rounded. There's something about oats that conveys warmth and coziness to a cookie.

I checked Heinen's and Giant Eagle for the Kraft caramel baking bits but came home with a bag of individually wrapped caramels. I cut them into quarters last night. Before kids, I would have embarked on a quest to find the baking bits even if the search monopolized my day. I'm thinking maybe Target...

king and queen

These kids love their chairs from Grandma. It makes them feel like they are the king and queen of the castle. Do they need a chair for that?

apple prints

We experimented with different surfaces for the acrylic paints. Paper towels worked the best, followed by construction paper. The printer paper produced dull and messy prints. Check out Martha's apple printing on brown lunch bags, tote bags, and napkins here. Perhaps we can replicate them one day. Overall, Sean had more fun painting the outside of the apple than stamping the apple. Give the boy a brush and some paint and he's happy.

apple picking

As we (me, my mom and kids) headed east on Route 82 to Hiram, we passed several small stands selling cornstalks and pumpkins. Anticipation was building for a day of apple picking. As soon as we pulled into Monroe's Orchard and Farm, I knew that we had chosen the right place. Looked to the left- a huge pumpkin patch. Straight ahead- apple trees. On the right- the cider house. Apple crates filled with gourds and apples and squash and Indian corn surround the farm market. There are no corn mazes or pony rides. They do not charge for hayrides or face painting. You simply board the tractor pulled hayride that takes you out in the orchard and lets you loose to pick apples. We picked enough apples to comfortably fill a small crate, half a bushel. Apples were plentiful; yellow jackets were not. The limbs almost tickled the grass and provided an easy reach for one-year-old Kate to grab a Yellow Delicious. Three-year-old Sean, who likes red apples, climbed up on a branch to sit and watch for the tractor to return. Back at the market, we bought fresh cider and goodies. Sean weighed a pumpkin using a good ol' fashioned scale and didn't see the Great Pumpkin. We missed the cider making but all are welcome to watch it being pressed.

a cornbox?

We went to Sirna's farm market for zucchini and instead played with the spunky kitten that was stalking us in the pumpkin display. We had the place to ourselves on this lovely Autumn Saturday. I suppose people are waiting for their Fall Fest next weekend. This crazy cat provided more entertainment for the kids than any corn maze or hayride.

Next stop was Derthick Farm since it was just a few minutes further down SR 44 in Mantua. Now they do have a corn maze. A huge one. Plus a mini maze for the wee ones, hay rides, petting barn, educational story boards and 2 large cornboxes. Not a sandbox but a cornbox. The kids spent almost the entire time digging and raking corn kernals. It was pretty cool. I never got to play in a cornbox growing up. I just had to get in. It was like quicksand. It brought back memories of trudging through the balls at Captain Kid's World at Sea World of Ohio when time was up.

Good Fall day.

birthday angel

One of my girlfriends had a collection of birthday angel figurines. Each angel held on to a number. They were up high on the top shelf of the hutch resting on her dresser. I enviously stared at the sparkly numbers and wondered who gave them to her each year. I coveted those angels.

Kate’s first birthday was on Wednesday and she received one of those angels! I love tradition and family heirlooms so I am thrilled for Kate to have this keepsake. My sister in law, who seems to read my mind when it comes to gifts, found them at Chasing Fireflies.