25 days away

 This afternoon I harvested what is surely the last of my sage! We've had temps down to -10C and yet it soldiers on. I rescued 2 pumpkins from Mom's yard - we got them cut up and roasted so now I have a freezer full of pumpkin! 

Even though we had a trip to the bloodletters this morning, I felt a bit like cooking and I'd put aside some of that pumpkin that I wanted to use quickly... I'd saved a recipe that sounded good but after a quick read of the reviews, decided that it would need some help. So from bland to a lovely, slightly spicy, pumpkin sage chickpea soup topped with crispy bacon & sage. It was quite good!

It's been a busy few days! Friday we had lunch at Jo Ellen & Don’s (thanks!) followed by an expedition to Costco (it was a zoo). As usual, Lupa was frantic when we got home - I didn't review the video to see if there was any howling but I imagine there was.

Saturday morning, exactly one month from Christmas, I drove into town to help Mom decorate the tree! By help, I mean sitting watching, occasionally jumping up to hang on to her as she climbed the stepstool, stepping onto the arm of the sofa, teetering as she stretched out to reach the highest bough. That's my Mom!

Trudie & Leo came for supper Sunday so I got busy in the kitchen. I'd planned a traditional Italian Sunday supper - spaghetti with a homemade tomato sauce with some meatballs and riblets on the side. Instead of garlic bread (which is really North American anyway), I made some garlic knots - bready twists with garlic butter. 

For dessert I made pumpkin muffins with almond flour - I was a bit stunned as I had skipped breakfast, so I fumbled the measuring cup of maple syrup, not once, not twice, but three times. Yikes! And it gets worse! After ten minutes in the oven, I suddenly realized that I forgot to add the chocolate chips and cranberries - I pulled the tray from the oven and quickly sprinkled on some chocolate chips. It is slightly ironic as the reason I'd chosen this recipe is because I thought it would be a reasonably healthy protein rich quick breakfast that would hopefully reduce brain fog...

Awesome!

“decorating the tree with Mom”

“Greek on Wheels”

“the nurse finding my vein right away with only one jab”

“seeing Jupiter just to the side of the moon at 4 am”