reading list

I finished our book club book (Little Princes by Conor Greenan) and now I'm about a hundred pages in book 5 of the Harry Potter series. I bought a bunch of books at Goodwill recently and can't wait to get started on them, but that hasn't stopped me from eyeballing some titles I've been hearing of. Have you read any of these?

I'm hosting our first book club discussion and I toyed with the idea of making some Nepalese dishes to share, but I quickly dismissed that as being too much work and settled on pies and coffee. Any ideas for future book club books?

Laura’s chilly day corn chowder

It's soup season! We both love soup and even though we eat chili year-round, I tend to save the majority of my soup making for fall and winter. Every year Andy requests a big pot of clam chowder for his birthday, but we gobbled it up so fast last week that he didn't get to have any on his actual birthday (this past Saturday). Solution: more soup! We settled on corn chowder and I searched the web for a recipe that had great reviews and simple directions so I could whip it up while also getting the house ready for our weekend guests. I ultimately decided to merge several different recipes into one based on what I thought sounded yummy. I love one pot meals, especially ones that feed lots of people!

a somewhat similar chowder from BH&G

Laura's chilly day corn chowder
serves 8 generously
prep time: 15 minutes
cook time: 45 minutes

6 strips of bacon
1 leek
3-4 green onions
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 red pepper
1 bay leaf
24 oz chicken broth
2 pounds small white potatoes
2 cups half and half
4 cups frozen corn
1 can creamed corn
salt and pepper

1. Dice the bacon and cook it in a large dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot over medium low heat. While bacon cooks, finely chop the leek, green onions, yellow onion and red pepper. When chopping the green onions, separate the white bulb parts from the green parts. Keep an eye on the bacon and stir occasionally. Once cooked, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, spread out over a paper towel and set aside. Remove all but one tablespoon of oil from the pot.
2. Cook leeks, green onions, onions and peppers in the bacon fat over low heat until tender, stirring often (about ten minutes). While veggies are cooking, cut the potatoes into one-inch chunks. Peel if desired (I didn't).
3. Add chicken broth, bay leaf, potatoes and several pinches of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
4. Add frozen and creamed corn, the half and half and the cooked bacon bits (save some for topping the soup if you want). Continue to cook on low heat for about ten minutes.
5. Remove bay leaf and add more salt and pepper to taste.
6. Use an immersion blender to thicken the soup OR separate half of the soup into a stand blender, blend until smooth and add back into soup. The result should be a thick soup that still has some potato chunks in it.
7. Spoon soup into bowls and top with the green onions and any remaining bacon bits. Cheese and sour cream could also be added.

enjoy!

I shall be Autumn this Halloween

Autumn Offering by Judith A. Lawrence

I shall be Autumn
this Halloween,
with leaf draped skirt,
and folds of
boysenberry velvet wine
flowing to the ground.

Brown stained face,
eyes rimmed in gold,
nails dripping sunset,
a crown of twigs
to cover my head.

You may gather from me
the spring of my youth,
my summer of maturity,
and hold onto with me,
the solace of these days
of remembering
before the frost.

pic from here

packing and souvenirs

I think packing has become a bit of an obsession for me. I was determined to pack light for my three-day trip to Boston and only carried a small backpack and a purse. I didn't want to lug around a suitcase around since I was going straight to my friend's workplace after landing, and I'm so glad I packed how I did! It helped that Becca and I wear the same size shoes, pants and shirts - I ended up borrowing her thick socks, North Face jacket and umbrella. Thanks Becca!

I wore purple cords with a tank and a chambray shirt on the flight there, so that already gave me three items to work with the rest of the weekend. I had no idea how to pack because it's been a while since I had felt 60 degree weather! I get hot very easily, so I didn't pack anything too heavy. I also figured I could borrow a jacket from Becca instead of trying to cram one in my bag (it wouldn't have fit). I packed one pair of jeans, one long-sleeved sweater, two short-sleeved shirt, one 3/4 length tee and one 3/4 sweater, a sleep shirt and sleep shorts. (I didn't wear three of the shirts I brought.) I didn't pack any shoes - I just wore the same pair the whole weekend. What else... two books, a makeup bag, a bag of liquids, hairbrush, earplugs, advil, earrings, a bracelet, my glasses and a phone charger. Oh, and I packed a small black purse to carry around town.

What I wore:

Friday- gray tank, chambray shirt, purple cords

Saturday day- 3/4 length sweater, jeans

Saturday night- black 3/4 length top, purple cords

Sunday morning- pajamas!

Sunday afternoon- new long-sleeved sweater, jeans

Monday- black 3/4 length top, chambray shirt, jeans

Of course, a few things happened to come home with me... (lobster tail pastries not pictured b/c we already devoured them)

like these adorable tiny brass ducks
(I got my ducks in a row!)

my favorite purchase - lobster PJ pants!

a souvenir from Rockport to hang on our Christmas tree

this irresistible lil whale from Gloucester 

this $10 consignment shop find (still had the tags on)

a fox-y sweater from F21

Is it weird that I'm looking forward to packing for Uganda?

Boston round 2

I flew to Boston last September to see Becca and had such a great time that I vowed to visit again the next year. The weather was completely different this time around (cold and rainy, boo) but it was nevertheless a wonderful weekend. I got to the city midday on Friday and took the T to the lab where Becca works. She is doing research on mice - eek! We met up with some of her friends for dinner at Dumpling Cafe in Chinatown and for the first time in my life I used chopsticks for an entire meal. After dinner we saw First Aid Kit at the Royale and I whipped my hair along with Klara and Johanna (check out the hair at 1:35). Great jams. Great hair.

Saturday we brunched at Sound Bites and rented a car to drive up Cape Ann. We spent most of our time in Rockport but also visited Gloucester and Manchester-by-the-Sea. The movie "The Proposal" was filmed in Rockport and the house in the movie is in Manchester. The only pics we took were in Rockport because the weather was yucky, but I'm glad we at least got these! 

look what New England did to my hair!

fall in Cape Ann!

Saturday night we took the car into downtown Boston. It was so fun to drive around and see the city lit up at night. We had dinner at the Beehive (yes, we ate at Sound Bites and the Beehive last year... definitely worth going back to). The Moroccan cigars had haunted me all year long, so of course we ordered those, and then for dinner we split blackened scallops that melted in our mouths. Afterwards we met some of Becca's friend at Saloon, a modern-day speakeasy in Davis Square.

Like last time, Sunday was our lazy day. We didn't leave the house until the afternoon and had lunch at Parish Cafe before hitting up a few shops. Then we picked up lobster bisque at Boston Chowda in Quincy Market along with lobster tail pastries and tiramisu at Modern Pastry. Oh you KNOW I ate my way through Boston! We took our goodies home and ate them on the couch while watching a movie (look at Jon Hamm in Ira and Abby!)

One of the extra bonuses to flying to Boston is the incredible aerial view of Manhattan that you get if the skies are clear. And, if you fly JetBlue, you get Dunkin Donuts coffee on the plane. It's the little things, right? :)