Shallot problems.

                                                                                    

                                              Healthy looking shallot chives.

               Loonng chives!

               Must be time to dig them up, right?

Why do our shallots look like fingers? Where are our shallots? Were we not supposed to dig them up yet? The chive shoots are 3 feet tall!

dirty fingers. indoor dirt diggin'

Home for the holidays

NO WAY! We got a tree purchased, up, and decorated before Christmas Eve!

teeheehee

 ^Commissioned special to look like us from Woolettes. They rock!

Out new dwarf Meyer lemon tree! Courtesy of the Folks Cann.
A whole big lemon on it when it arrived! Can't wait to make (well, eat, for me)
fish and cocktails and pastries with our  own lemons!

 ^From Four Winds Growers. Can't wait to add to our collection!

As you can see, we are inheriting MamD's love of snowpeople. 

 

Mmm. Winter sun. It is actually 50 degrees today.

Apple Cider Doughnut Adventure

Hit the roads of NH when we were up visiting Tyler's folks. Well, really, I wanted to go to Fun Spot...You know, pinnall! Though we really wanted to play air hockey but there were too many people there, and we need an empty table buffer, or we end up injuring people other than ourselves.
 
Had some fun racing (and beating Tyler) and beat Tyler again at pinball - Time to catch up!
 
So on the way back we explored every little knick knack store and pull off on Rt. 104. I cant believe we had never been in these places before? Tyler was in a rare mood to stop too. Took advantage of that one! I didn't even really buy anything. Except the gorgeous produce you see here.


Picnic Rock Farms: 

Duh, why haven't we thought
to do this with our chili peppers?

Happy Man

 

YUM YUM YUM YUM
Apple Cider Doughnuts

Oh, you wanted some?

Do you see how the road continues into the sky?

This is why we call NH "God's Country"

Chocolate Doughnut Waffles!

Cold Thursday night right after a sick day. All our blankets are at the laundry for winter cleaning. What do I want for dinner? Waffles! And Tyler, like always, obliges to my cooking cravings. In return I had to boil and peel the tomatoes for backyard sauce. So I go to get the waffle maker and see the little cake maker that we use to make doughnuts. So now I want chocolate munchkins. Tyler makes them so good! What do I get? Chocolate waffle doughnuts! My husband is the most creative! And they are DELICIOUS!

Chocolate Doughnut Waffle Batter                                           We listened to the new Mastadon album - The Hunter and its awesome awesomeness. I boiled and peeled heirloom tomatoes. Tyler sang and swore. Good thing he put those paper towels down - the batter was leaky! Any excuse to use powdered sugar, right? Welcome to Tyler's test kitchen!

     Prep and cook. 
It took a few test runs to find the best cook time. Third time's the charm! Light and fluffy!

VOILA!

Rainy Weekend Projects

Portsmouth Open Market

Quick trip to the Portsmouth Open Market (anyone familiar with SOWA? Same organizers). We did not see our friend's fishing lure jewelry, or Peppersprouts (my college friend's company!), but hear they will be back for the Halloween show. 

We did find amazingly good pretzels with yummy cranberry mustard. I wish they printed their website on the bag! But it's called Save Me Studios. Cute pop-up pretzel shop!



We also found some great Christmas presents - yep, I said the C-word. 

We also saw some pretty burly brussel sprout stalks. Can't wait till ours start to develop veggies! They are the neatest thing to look at - People walking around with brussel sprouts over their shoulder!

Walking back to the car to head home: 

NHPTV Passport

Our whole weekend was planned around the NHPTV Passport beer and food tasting at Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, NH. We went last year and had to go again this year. We bought VIP tickets and were really happy to have a taste of some aged beers. Did you know beer ages like wine? Yep, neither did we! Smuttynose Brewing Company provided the beers. I really liked the Maibock, and I am a huge Old Brown Dog fan  (favorite ever?), but found out that I'm not such an Really Old Brown Dog fan. The food pairings were great, especially the mincemeat empanadas and chèvre and chocolate balls dusted with bacon! We would have liked to know what the chicken-apple sausage in pretzel bread tasted like, but they ran out! In the first 20 minutes! Major bummer. So we left the VIP tent for the main event...

from the gardens of Strawberry Banke

Absolutely amazing beers everywhere we turned!
We had our fill and more! Great great beer, and tons of people to share beer love with! We met people from all over New England and it was best when we got to talk to the head brew masters for many of the vendors. We also met "friends of the brewmaster," and they seem to get great perks! Long lost beers, anyone? 

Strawberry Banke Rowland Gallery

The main tent

The grounds at Strawberry Banke are beautifully kept. They find seed packets in the walls of the historical homes and research their origins and uses and try to replant the grounds as they traditionally were.

I love picking up all the stuff! Great labels, design, and funny lines.

Full bounty!

Rain and wind = Harvest Time!

We went out to survey any damage. There was a tree that uprooted down the street, so the crew was out all day delimbing and topping it. Then took a break and and came back. They're still out there! Thankfully we had no great damage on our street or around our house. But, the veggies were out! Took in quite a bit this week and last, and a great haul today. Salsa coming up!

  Scotch bonnets                                          Cherry Tomatoes                                   Little bells