Food in Uncertain Times

I've been following a discussion about the 5 crops (foods) that should be grown for sustainable living in uncertain times.  They are: potatoes, corn, beans, squash and eggs.  My gosh I have to say I disagree with the potatoes and corn.  I will be discussing this in greater detail on my cooking blog but from a gardening perspective you really do need a fair amount of space to grow enough potatoes

A Wonderful Fall Evening

This past weekend, we decided to break in our new outdoor "living room" fire pit.  So just as sun was setting and the air had that crisp cool fall feeling to it, we lit the fire. (hint: you can click on any picture to enlarge, and then click on the picture again to make it even bigger)

We sat outside by the fire enjoying a glass of wine and the setting sun.  Then I headed inside to make a tasty fall dinner.

This dinner is soooooo super easy, but definitely has a big Ta Da factor.

Take one package of fresh Reserva Buitoni Quattro Formaggi Agnolotti.

Some fresh sage.

Some Butternut Squash Soup.

Heat soup in one pan, keep warm.  In a small saute pan, melt butter until brown, being careful not to burn.  You do want it brown though to give it that nutty flavor.

When butter is brown, toss in 3-4 chopped sage leaves and saute on low 2 minutes. 

Cook the pasta according to package directions, then toss the pasta in the browned butter and sage to coat.

To serve, spoon some butternut squash soup into bottom of bowl - this will be your "sauce", so just cover the bottom of the bowl.

Add the pasta, drizzle the leftover brown butter on top.  Top with cracked fresh pepper and grated Parmesan cheese.



Pretty fancy for package food, huh?  And boy does it taste great!!

Welcome Home,

Penny

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a brand new Krups Espresso/Coffee machine.  Click on the link on my sidebar to go to the entry post and leave a comment there.  Giveaway ends Nov 22.

~♥ It's Pumpkin Carving Time ♥~

 Hello blogging friends...long time no write!  Hope all is well in your homes. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My dear Daughter and her boyfriend carved pumpkins over the weekend and I wanted to share them with you...I think they turned out adorable.  

Emily's Pumpkin on the Left; Anthony's on the Right

Aren't they such a cute couple?

Thanks for stopping by!

♥ Kim

some halloween fun

Last week I was at Michael's and couldn't resist all the fun halloween stuff they had, so I decided I should buy a bunch and have all the grandkids over to decorate t-shirts and cupcakes.  The weather has been so lovely and the kids had so much fun crafting and playing together.  

Is it surprising to anyone that the boys abandoned the shirt decorating first and ran off to play in the yard...

And the girls stayed with it for quite a while...

For dinner we made delicious grilled cheese sandwiches on the grill out back and the kids decorated cupcakes for dessert...

And it seems there is always a birthday or two right around the corner that we can celebrate when we all get together, so we sang happy birthday to my mom, Martha, and my daughter, Emily...

It was a wonderful family night.

So, do you have any fun Halloween plans for this week or weekend?

Do share...

Great Smoky Mountains Train Ride

This past week, Mr Comforts of Home and I played hooky and spent the day leaf peeping.

We did it a little differently though.  We took a train ride along the Tuckasegee River. The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad train.

On the way to the train station (one and a half hours away), it was foggy and a little rainy, but as you can see from the picture below, it was still a beautiful car ride.

Below is the train car we rode in.

Some pretty fall decorating at the train station.

Still a little overcast as we ride the train along the river.

This is the train wreck from the movie, The Fugitive.  It was filmed at this location, outside of Dillsboro, NC.

About mid afternoon the skies cleared.  It was a beautiful fall day.

Are there any special places you go to during the fall to leaf peep in your area?

Welcome Home,

Penny

p.s. don't forget to enter my giveaway between now and Nov 22 for the brand new Krups Espresso/Coffee Machine!  Click on the button at the top of my side bar to go to the entry post.  Leave a comment at that post and you are entered!

Good Luck!

Palm Trees

Palm TreeOctober 7, 2010
Palm trees are very popular where our vacation home is.  They are rather problem free, tolerating the heat and humidity well.  Pictured is one of the palm trees near our vacation home.  Now palms actually come with one itsy, bitsy problem.  They attract palmetto bugs aka American cockroach.  I am not impressed with palmetto bugs at all even though I know they don't bite

A Tea Break

Hello everyone,

Oh! how quickly the month of October is speeding by and before we know it we will be getting ready for Christmas- I am already looking forward to decorating our home next month as it cheers me in the grey days of November. I don't do much fall decorating as I like to hang on to summer as long as I can and then when the garden cleanup is done I am already thinking Christmas so I do very little in the way of fall decorating unless you count fall bouquets and a few pumpkins.

However,I have always loved the Christmas season and over the years have collected a lot of decorations-the attic comes in handy! This year some of the rooms in our home have been redecorated in a way that doesn't suit the old way of decorating so in spite of the fact that last year when taking all that 'stuff' down I was saying to my husband that maybe this year I would do very little decorating to see how that worked he laughed at me! I guess he knows me too well because I have already checked out the Christmas books from the library and have dug out all my own books and magazines to pour over. So what about you are you already thinking about Christmas?

Anyway, today I have a comfy spot for you to have a cup of tea and relax for a bit. Once again I have changed the bay window area of our kitchen/dining room but as my Mom always says a change is as good as a rest!

So curl up for a bit and enjoy the fall garden and watch the birds coming and going at the bird feeder.

This little nook has crochet lace valences and old lace tablecloths used as curtains on either side.I am moving my outdoor plants indoors for the winter and the plant stand as well. I love the plant stand that came from Winner's(tjmaxx).

The pretty teacup and teapot came from there as well. The needlepoint pillow came from a little shop in Murray Harbour called Miss Elly's Genteel Gifts (love that name).

I do enjoy the geraniums in the house over the long winter months.

The quilt on the chaise was a gift from my girls-they knew I would love it!

Here are the recipes a couple of you asked for last week. We love them both!

Well, linger as long as you like it is a wet day so it is cozy here with the wood pellet stove going to take the chill out of the kitchen and I will get you more tea.

Today, I am joining Sandi for her lovely Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage- see you there!

Thank you for visiting me

&

Enjoy your day!

Carolyn