Storm of Thoughts

Wordless Wednesday: Chrysanthemum Cupcakes

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The Flowers of Cape Cod

I know, I know. You’ve seen enough pictures. But just a few more?

Flowers, you know, always look happy.

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Cape Cod Excursion

Let me say this: it’s nice to know people who are renting houses in beautiful New England vacation destinations. After a short trip to Block Island, I got to enjoy a long weekend away to Cape Cod. It was the perfect weekend to relax, read a book (Janet Evanovich’s Finger Lickin’ Fifteen, if you must know - I love a good beach read!), and even learn how to knit. (Unfortunately, I think I have a long way to go before I can actually claim to know the first thing about knitting, but my practice piece went from pencil warmer to bookmark to scarf for a very small animal relatively quickly, so I was still proud.) I also got some extra practice with my new SLR camera that I will probably never really learn how to use. Luckily, my mom’s cousin Irene (who, along with her husband Gene, sponsored the weekend in Chatham), not only has the same one, but also seems to possess more patience when it comes to reading up on the subject.

Anyway, back to the Cape. The house? Beautiful. The location on the water? Beautiful. The town? Beautiful. The flowers were so beautiful I think they’ll get their own post. All in all, it was the perfect weekend in the perfect location.

The house:

View from the backyard:

A hawk out the window:

The men on the boat (with my dad taking a picture of me, no less):

While the women, obviously, shop in town:

Always looking for lighthouses:

Out for a boat ride:

I can’t wait to go back!

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A New Friend

Can you come home with me, please?

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Wordless Wednesday: A Look Outside

These fun outdoor photos come courtesy of my mom, who has apparently seen a lot of interesting things lately.

A bush that wants to be a cactus:

And the rest of the collection. (Cacti in the snow. Ha.)

Napping swans:

Swan synchronized swimming?

And an eagle:

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Our Trip to Turks and Caicos in Photos

Well, it took an incredibly long time to gather my pictures and Pete’s pictures, go through them, organize them, and pare them down, but now, here for you, are about 1/5 of our total photos, which cover basically everything we did on the trip and hopefully includes enough pictures of beautiful beaches to make you want to plan a trip to the Turks and Caicos. From getting delayed overnight in Miami on Friday and our arrival in Turks and Caicos Saturday to snorkeling, kayaking, and parasailing to lounging on the beach and lounging by the pool (our favorite activities of all), here is our trip in pictures. (Slideshow can also be seen here.)

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The Dead of Winter

I’m not sure what, exactly, technically qualifies as “the dead of winter,” but in the grand scheme of things, this has to be close. Recently there have been record low temperatures, incredible snow fall, and constant grey skies. In fact, next to yesterday’s plane crash in the Hudson (and perhaps the inauguration), cold weather is all anyone seems to be talking about. Winter does at least make for some fun picture taking (if you can drag yourself away from the warm blanket, heated living room, and cup of hot chocolate long enough to take any photos).

Last week in New Jersey, it looked like fall one day and winter the next:

(Don’t you love the turkeys?)

(The deer is at attention thanks to my father’s deer call hunting trick.)

And then, of course, there is all of the ice.

The frozen branches of this particular tree remind me of ET (and therefore amuse me), but, generally, ice is no laughing matter. An icy stoop and huge piles of dirty snow lined up next to the driveway are not exactly beautiful, picturesque winter scenes. And, of course, being January still, spring is a long way off.

Luckily, though, I do have the world’s warmest, most comfortable blanket.

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Pumpkin Extravaganza

I can’t avoid pumpkins lately; not that I would want to. This weekend, I went to a pumpkin festival and a pumpkin patch, ate pumpkin pie, and put up some new fall decorations. Pumpkins are, of course, the epitome of fall, which is why everything in October is so full of them. And anything seasonal carries with it a certain magic - you need to pick out, collect, carve, decorate, admire, cook, bake, and eat your pumpkins before they disappear again as suddenly as they showed up. Which is why I’ve decided to share some really delicious pumpkin recipes that my family has been collecting over the years (along with a few pumpkin pictures). Hope they put you in even more of a fall mood too.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups flour
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
½ cup milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup melted butter
½ cup gold raisins (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine all dry ingredients and blend well. Beat the eggs with the milk, pumpkin, and butter, then stir into the dry ingredients. Blend until just moist, then stir in raisins. Spoon into buttered muffin tins (this recipe makes 12 muffins). Bake 15-20 minutes.

(Can serve with butter that has been softened and mixed with cinnamon and sugar.)

Pumpkin Scones

Ingredients:

½ cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter
1 egg
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup sour cream
½ teaspoon ginger (or grated fresh ginger) or 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 425. Put aside 1 tablespoon of sugar and add the rest with the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in 4 tablespoons of the butter with a pastry blender or your hands until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Add to this the pumpkin, sour cream, and ginger (if using). Beat until well blended, then add to the flour mixture and stir until a soft dough forms.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead about 10 times. Roll the dough out into a 9” x 6” rectangle. Cut out 6 squares (approximately 3 inches each) with a floured knife, and then cut each square in half.

Place each triangle 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Melt the remaining butter and brush on top of the dough before sprinkling with the remaining sugar.

Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.

Pumpkin Biscotti

Note: Biscotti dough isn’t generally the easiest to work with, but it is always so worth it!

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ cup mashed canned pumpkin
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
1 ¼ cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl and stir well. In another bowl, stir pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla together with a whisk. Slowly add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until moistened. (Mixture will be very crumbly, but becomes moist after stirring.) Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the nuts and cook, stirring constantly, until browned. Remove from heat and cool, then gently stir into the dough. Place the dough on a floured surface and divide into four portions. Flour hands and shape each piece into a 1” x 15” log. Place logs 3” apart on lightly greased cookie sheets and bake for 23 minutes. Allow logs to cool for 15 minutes. In the meantime, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and cut each log (diagonally) into slices about ½” thick, using a serrated knife. Place slices flat on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for an additional 15 minutes. (You can turn them over halfway through.) Cool completely on wire racks.

Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients:

For cake:

4 eggs
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup cooking oil
1 16oz can pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

For icing:

1 3oz cream cheese
1 stick butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat together eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix thoroughly. Spread the batter in an ungreased 15” x 10” x 1” pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes and cool before frosting.

Icing: Cream together cream cheese and butter. Stir in vanilla and then add sugar a little at a time, beating until mixture is smooth. Frost cake and sprinkle with chopped nuts if desired.

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Birthday Memories Revisited

After yesterday’s post about birthday memories, my mom responded with some photos of her own.

Here is my very first birthday, one of the few I remember very little about.

Skeptical, but still enjoying myself? I hope no one planned to eat that cake when I was done with it.

Glad to see I was given a more civilized piece.

I wish I could remember what it was like to be the size of a stuffed animal.

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Birthday Memories

Birthdays have always been special in my family. From streamers and signs all over the house and cookies and ice cream for breakfast to special dinners and the power to turn the day into anything you want, we make celebrating a pretty big deal. (I once played a game, in fact, that determined what your favorite thing was. My favorite thing turned out to be birthdays. I was not surprised.) We even have a tradition of giving siblings (and now boyfriends) “unbirthday” presents on the other person’s birthday - something my parents probably planned to only carry on for a few years when we were little and cared too much about someone else getting attention and presents. (Funny how those things stick, huh?) Our newest family tradition involves giving a small surprise each day for one week leading up to the birthday - something that was thoughtfully invented by my dad. It was a good way to extend my mom’s birthday, especially since she’s the one who does most of the work making everyone else’s day so special.

Of course, it’s not only your own birthday that’s fun; birthdays are fun in general, and the ability to surprise someone or make their day tends to make your day too. But, let’s admit it - we all love our own birthday the best. Which is why yesterday was so much fun for me.

As you have probably now figured out, it was my birthday. And it was filled with exactly the kinds of surprises and fun that makes birthday memories so special. With packages in the mail (including a surprise cake from my mom), birthday cards from far-away friends, a shopping trip, a really nice dinner at the Melting Pot, and a bunch of perfect presents, it was a very nice day.

I’ve had a lot of nice birthdays and a lot of nice memories (including some fun childhood parties and surprise grandparent visits), and most of them involve pictures (although for the earliest, cake-in-the-face footage, you’d have to go to my mom). I don’t have pictures from yesterday yet (I say yet, since coverage is likely to be coming), but I do have some from the previous two years, which I’ll share in honor of birthday memories and special days.

Two years ago, we spent a weekend in Martha’s Vineyard:

And took what was clearly a riveting sightseeing tour.

This was a VERY exciting “blue box” to receive:

It was a necklace; Pete is a great gift-chooser, no?

And last year, a really leisurely day was spent wandering around Boston.

We sat here and ate ice cream

and found a beautiful little garden

before dinner in the North End. (I told you I always take pictures of this tower.)

What birthday memories do you have?

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