adorable, little, thanksgiving owls

With the increased popularity of owls over the past year, almost to the point of saturation, I've acquired dozens of little specimens. They are all incredibly cute and impossible to resist. Many of them are gifts and then others are purchased by guilty little me. Guilty, because I am spending a fortune on these unnecessary, but fun, little owl creatures.

A recent Birthday gift from my employers included a wee nest of Japanese-made cloth owls. They found this itty bitty owl family at a lovely store in New York and brought it back for me to enjoy. How lucky, lucky, lucky I am!


The little family all snug in their nest


Baby owl all alone in the nest.
Did mother and father owl go look for food?


Baby owl, out looking for his parents.
Oh dear! Baby owl, don't get lost!


Now, mother owl says, "stay in the nest!"

Just last week, I took a trip to my local hardware store and spotted a sweet little owl mug. Despite my cupboard overflowing with mugs, I brought him home. When I finally pulled it out to use it for my tea, I noticed a startling resemblance between the mug and the little paper clay owl that Matthew had just created the week before.





Hmmm...we suspect that they may have been separated at birth, although one is clearly the runt of the nest.



All-in-all, I'm thoroughly enjoying all these sweet little owls.



And Before I Forget, Happy Thanksgiving!

Images from an autumnal Birthday weekend

For the first time in four years, I spent my Birthday at home in Oregon amongst my family and the fall colors that I always expect to see around my Birthday. It still surprises me every year when November rolls around the San Diegan trees are still green or simply shriveled and brown, no bright color at all. This year I enjoyed having a true fall birthday at home.


My birthday cake- one of the best I've ever eaten


A stroll through the park after birthday shopping and lunch


A birthday Mother on the bridge


A sampling of the lovely trees in Ashland

Images from Pat's Autumn garden


Pretty little flowers



The Hawthorne berries before they darken for winter and lose their leaves


The Hops-still pretty, despite no longer being green



A strange little Orange berry tree that I've never noticed before


Not a garden picture, but still, very pretty little utensils. I should have posted it with my muffin recipe post.

Belgian fruit candies

While shopping for Chocolates in Brussels, Matthew came across these charming little fruit gels; he was so taken with them that we bought an entire bag to bring home. They are absolutely delicious, but, as expected, extremely sweet, almost unbearably so.



The sugary coating on these precious little fruits gives them such a sparkly, elegant look. I just couldn't resist photographing them on a sunny Sunday afternoon.



I started so late in the afternoon that I really didn't have enough time to take many good photos before the sun went behind the building, but out of the fifty or sixty photos that I did take, I was able to find a few that I liked.


Not sure why, but I really liked this little pear photo. It wasn't the best one out of the bunch but it just caught my eye.

We still haven't eaten the fruits, so I could still take the time to try again for some better photos. Perhaps when I'm feeling ambitious on one of these cool, fall, Sunday afternoons.

Tasty pear muffins

For breakfast this morning, I made a lovely batch of Cheesy Pear Muffins. The recipe was from an old Best Recipes magazine style muffin cookbook, just the kind that you pick up in the grocery store on the way through check out. I was really surprised to have the recipe turn out exceptionally well.



I followed the recipe exactly.

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice(could add a bit more)
1 cup shredded colby cheese(loosely packed)
2 medium pears chopped
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter melted.

Combine dry ingredients, including cheese. Add pear, mix lightly. Mix in wet ingredients and bake in a preheated, 425 degree oven for 20-25 min.

Yum! Yum!



These little muffins really didn't even need butter or jam because the cheese makes them extremely moist. Honestly, I think there is plenty of fat in them already; I don't even want to guess at the nutrition content.

These have all the lovely flavors of fall.

little cheese ghost

Many people may dislike Whole Foods because they charge too much and are a big corporate chain, but I have to say, I do shop there fairly often. Now, I don't do the majority of my shopping there(it's too expensive for that) but I do pick up a few things now and again and I just love browsing their gourmet food sections (I always find the best treats). The other day, I happened upon some little cheeses that were dressed up for Halloween. So cute. This little bit of goat cheese is dressed up as a Ghost and his little friend is dressed up as a tombstone. Very clever little costumes, I must say.



I haven't tried the tasty creatures yet, but I have no doubt that they will be delicious. That's another advantage to Whole Foods. Everything I buy there is very good and fresh and tasty- I never have to wonder if I've wasted my money buying something inedible, I simply have to worry that I've wasted my money buying something that I could have bought cheaper elsewhere.



Here is the little Ghost flying down the hallway to scare me(in broad day light, who does he think he's kidding?)



Okay, I'll admit, with four pictures that look nearly identical, how could I be so silly as to post all four photos? It was a very difficult decision, and it was only when all four little ghosts looked up at me with the most imploring little faces that just begged to be posted for all the world to see, I realized that I couldn't say no to any of them. So, they all get a little shining spot in the post, whether it was necessary or not.

Sunday afternoon scones and other silliness

Last week I purchased a few persimmons and today I noticed the last two persimmons were getting rather aged. I needed to make them into a yummy treat asap, since Matthew realized the other morning that he Really doesn't like plain persimmon. No amount of coaxing can convince him that they, in fact, have a wonderful, unique flavor in their natural form. As a flavoring for baked goods, on the other hand, they please him immensely. Since I love persimmons raw or cooked, I figured I'd turn my last last two, extra ripe persimmons into scones so that Matthew could enjoyed them just as much as I do. I did this once before, with the sad little specimens that I dragged home last Christmas(of course, they weren't sad before they started on their 800 mile journey).



This time around, I used cinnamon sugar as the only spice, as I didn't have a tangerine on hand and I didn't feel like grinding up enough nutmeg to make it worth the effort. I also dusted the scone tops with cinnamon sugar.



They turned out very good, maybe a little denser than I prefer but then I never use a proper scone recipe so I shouldn't complain.



The color of the day is Orange! First Persimmons, then Pumpkins, I guess it's just that time of year.



What a difference between the pumpkins. They cost about the same but one is lovely and the other is cute. I can't help but adore them both.


Their little backsides =)

Happy little Halloween creatures

I'm just posting photos of some of the cutest little Halloween truffles that we ordered for the store. They are actually almost totally sold out but I made sure to buy one of each before that happened.


The owl, of course, is my favorite. Such a goofy little fellow.


Frankenstein's monstrous creature


An utterly adorable blood sucking batty bat


A creepy little eye ball


A darling little pumpky


And, just to prove that people are afraid of big words, the Pfeffernusse spice acorn truffle. As soon as people hear the word, Pfeffernusse, they look frightened and say "oh, no, not that one." The problem being that it is ultra cute and delicious.