Food, Fun and Pumpkins!

It's another Sunday evening with the start of the work week looming closer. It has also been another great weekend.

I spent the weekend at my parents. It was a beautiful autumnal weekend with only a minor chill in the air. The pups had a great time hunting grasshoppers and crickets. I haven't quite figured out if they actually eat the insects or they just like the stalking and hunting part. I've seen them..sort of chew on them but I don't think they actually eat them. I'd prefer to think they don't anyway.

One of the other things I got to do with my parents is go to a local-ish butcher shop. I say local-ish because it's not in their town but is only abour 25 minutes away. It's sort of in the middle of nowhere but it's immensely popular and the meat is great. It's all fresh and butchered in-house. It's also very reasonably priced. It gave me a chance to stock up my little chest freezer with meat that will last several months. I like doing that- it makes cooking fun because there are so many options and I always have meat on hand with which to make something interesting. I'm a big fan of stocking up, especially when I ended up buying probably 20 meals worth of meat for less than $30.

It's fun to go to the butchers and select my purchases. When I was a child in England, we had a local butcher that was at the end of a parade of shops which also featured a greengrocer, post office, newsagent and small grocery store. Back then, while there were big grocery shops, people still went to specialty shops for most of their daily purchases. There was still a milk man who delivered the milk.

It wasn't that long ago, honestly but times have changed. Nowadays both in England and the states, the specialty stores don't exist the same way anymore. If they do, they're novelties. In my opinion, it's a shame. While it's way easier to go to the local supermarket for one-stop grocery shopping, it's just not the same. Bread from the bakery in England was so fresh, it was often still a little warm when you got it and it was so crusty, it was flaky. The fresh cream cakes such as chocolate eclairs and filled buns were fresh and unique. The produce from the greengrocer was better than supermarket fruits and vegetables because that's what the greengrocer did. He didn't try to sell produce AND dairy or meat or cheese...he specialized in fresh veggies and fruits.

The world moves faster now. We want to go to one place and get everything we need. We don't want to spend hours running around to butchers, to bakers, to candlestick makers to complete a list.

Yet...something has been lost in our need for convenience and speed. I miss the smell of the old butcher shops, their floors covered in sawdust. I miss the bakers where the fresh smell of crusty bread called you inside before you even got to the store. Sure, there are still speciality shops around. I mean, the farmers market is, essentially and outdoor greengrocers. Yet...it's not quite the same. I think that's why I'm so drawn to markets in general- Findlay Market here in Cincinnati is one of my favourite places because it's essentially a series of specialty stores all under one roof. In New York, I instantly loved Chelsea Market for the same reason. It's the same reason I loved the butchers shop I went to with my parents. Speciality stores do still exist- it's just not quite as easy to get to them.

I'm partial to butchers shops. I know that's probably not very politically correct to vegetarians and I know that Peta would probably have something to say to me about it but, well, I'm a foodie. I adore vegetables and making vegetable dishes but it's hard to be a real foodie without eating meat. There are so many possibilities when you have different meat on hand- it allows creativity to shine through and to just have fun in both the planning and preparation of a meal.

So, even though it sounds a little odd, going to the butchers with my parents was just a great way to spend time with them and it was just plain fun.

Of course, I didn't just spend the weekend in a butchers shop and watching my dogs chase crickets. I also got to spend some quality time with my sister and my niece. We carved pumpkins. Well, that is to say, I carved, they painted. My niece is an abstract artist and I've never seen such a colourful pumpkin in all my life. I think Jackson Pollock would have been impressed. My sister is a far more disciplined artist and she adorned her pumpkin with a rather impressive Halloween collage of witches and ghosts. My pumpkin turned out rather well- it turns out that there is a reason that they sell pumpkin carving kits. They're great! All this time, I've made do with a selection of knives and trying to draw on a design. However, with the right tools, carving is much easier! Since I gave my pumpkin to my niece for her Halloween display, I'll be carving more of my own next weekend. It's one of my favourite Halloween traditions- I always watch "Harry Potter" while I carve and then roast the seeds. It's a lovely autumn tradition.

All in all, this has been the best kind of autumn weekend- family, fun and food...it's a shame as always that the weekend is ending but when it's been as good as this one, I don't mind as much.

I hope you had a great weekend too. Happy Monday!

Pumpkin Cookie Potlucks

Tomorrow is Friday. That is always a little like having a present at the end of the week. I don't know anyone who doesn't look forward to Fridays, honestly. Unless they're people who don't work from Monday through Friday and have weekends off but, even then, they have their own Friday even if it isn't actually Friday.

My Friday is looking good. We have a barbecue/potluck at our president's house tomorrow at lunch. We all have to drive out there. Afterwards, a group from the office are going to play paintball. I had originally planned to play paintball. I quite like a bit of organized violence. However, it's supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow. I don't find the idea of running around in layers of clothing (for protection) that appealing in that kind of heat. Thus, I backed out of the paintball. To my immense delight, our president, in a strange fit of office generosity, made an announcement that those who weren't playing paintball could go home after the potluck. Thus, I get tomorrow afternoon off.

I don't even mind the idea of a slightly awkward office barbecue. This time, I decided not to go gourmet with my offerings. Last time, people were a bit afraid to try my trio of salads because they weren't your typical midwestern potato salad/macaroni salad type of fare. This time, I'm baking iced pumpkin cookies. Yes, I said baking.

As I've said before, I find myself as more of a cook than a baker. I think you're pretty much one or the other. I like the flexibility of cooking. You can throw in some extra ingredients as you go along to enhance the flavour. With baking, it's precise. You have to get it right before it bakes. Otherwise you're left with a bit of a disaster.

Still, I thought I'd give the iced-pumpkin cookies a go. They're actually a cookie that my former roommate used to make in the autumn. They're quite easy but very delicious. I'm not sure if they'll turn out or the Luck of the Monkeypants will strike and they'll turn into disastrous little bullets but I'm giving it a whirl anyway.

I think I followed the instructions properly. The only hitch I had was discovering that while I was busy trying to be a precise baker, the puppies had somehow found some of my underwear and were running around the back garden with it. They were having quite a lovely time. Since I tend not to like my neighbours to see my underwear, I had to retrieve it. I'm not that much of a prude but I live next door to Dog Whisperer and his rather creepy way of just staring makes me reluctant to let him know that my underwear of choice is Halloween themed.

Yes. Now you know a rather embarrassing personal fact about me.

Still, the cookies are baking. They smell rather nice. The puppies no longer have access to my underwear. I'm just waiting to find out if the cookies are going to be a success or a failure.

I'm hoping that if they turn out, people will actually eat them tomorrow. There's nothing worse than attempting to make something tasty so that people will enjoy it only to find out that someone else's strawberry pretzel casserole or store-bought chocolate chip cookies are far more popular.

If not, I'll try to steal the cookies back. Is that bad etiquette, do you think? I never know whether you're supposed to take your leavings home with you if you go to a potluck at someone's house or you leave them there for the host and family to eat. I have no idea. I don't like to be rude but, on the other hand, if my cookies are nice, I might quite like to take them home. I supposed I should see how they turn out first.

Still, even if they don't get eaten and I do have to leave them there, I have the reward of having the afternoon off. I'm heading to my parents' again since it's the annual street fair and this year is the 100th anniversary. I'm hoping that I get to hang out with my niece again. We had fun last year.

In addition, I have to congratulate my clever little sister who managed to pass her nursing exam, the NCLEX. She's now officially an RN. I am a very, very proud monkeypants. I have a congratulations gift for her. It also occured to me that I should give her some pumpkin cookies.

Of course, there might not be any left.

Or they might not turn out right. I suppose I should go and find out.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!