Fall Yum

Since it's Fall already I thought I'd make some home-made apple butter!

I found a great farm stand at the market on Tuesday that sells sweet apples. If you want to make it look for Granny Smith or Gravenstein apples.

Peel the apples and cut into small cubes

Put cubed apples in pot and add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water. You don't want the apples to be covered in water but you want enough for the apples to steam. Cook on medium to high.

Once the apples are soft, add a couple of drops of vanilla and cinnamon. Mash until soft.

Taste. If you need to, add more vanilla and cinnamon.

Put apple butter in mason jar and refrigerate to cool.

Best served on bread or pork.

Happy Fall!

All I want for Christmas is a....LITE BRITE! Help me find one please!

Date weekend!

Friday night Joe and I went to Carmel by the Sea at night to walk around while sipping hot apple cider. We strolled the streets window shopping, viewing artists and people watching. We stumbled across the Cypress Inn (pic in previous post). The hotel had a beautiful courtyard lined with white Xmas lights. Saturday we went back to Carmel and ate lunch at LUCA, an italian deli.

After Carmel we went to the Gem and Mineral festival in Monterey. It was interesting, informative and fun. We then went to Beverly's (a cheaper version of Michael's) and tried on some halloween hats (see pic).

We then walked into town and got some Thai. It was delicious. After dinner we walked to the movie theater and watched Money Ball. It is a must see. Jonah Hill did a great job!

Sunday we did absolutely nothing except watch TV and eat KFC. Ha!

Monday I surprised Joe by decorating our home with birthday presents and balloons. We never got to celebrate his bday on the West Coast so we had a lil birthday party.

On another note, I signed Joe and I up for another 5k in November. This time it's the Big Sur Half Marathon event. We are starting to train and since we are going to Florida in two weeks we are definitely hitting the gym hard. Hope all is well.

Cypress Inn at Carmel.
Our new bike
We don't have a microwave so we keep things old school :)
Fairytale Pumpkins
Amazing metal artist, Christophe Poly.

This is Aunt Leslie's ring..can't wait to get more
Tie Dyed Cupcakes I made for Joe's job

First Hat I made!
at our local bakery:)
Made this magazine bowl. It holds our keys and change.
Betsy!! She was in town a couple of months ago and we met up for lunch. Not sure if I posted this picture already but if I did it's ok cause I adore her :)

The best creation ever....fries with gravy and cheese
POK
New England love
I love this photo

NP


NY NY
My dream home in NP

Randoms

This house is on top of the mountains in Big Sur...People in glass houses.
Rocking our Tee's
Fields of Flowers by the Monterey Landfill. Can you believe that? I forgot the name of the flowers

To-Do List

We have only a few months left and there is so much to accomplish before we depart

1. Make a picture book on Pacific Grove

2. Finish out photography classes

3. Snowboard at Tahoe

4. See Yosemite

5. Camp at Big Sur one last time

6. Enjoy morning coffee at Asilomar Beach

7. Pick apples in Watsonville and make Apple Butter

8. Run in Pacific Grove's 5k

9. Check out San Jose (Japanese Gardens, my cousin Andrew's hotel "The Dolce Mansion", Los Gatos, eat some good sushi)

10. Go Vintage shopping in San Fran

11. Alcatraz

12. Find the hidden waterfalls in Big Sur

13. visit Paso Robles, milk a goat, buy some good wine at 15% C

14. Photograph Lighthouse Ave at night

15. Go to PG football game

16. Eat good Calamari in Moss Landing

......more to come...any suggestions?!?

Congrats!

Congrats to Dave and Jenny on their engagement! We are so very excited for both of you!

It's been too long, blog!

Jonathan and I
The beautiful girls- Jenny and Lisa
Momma Linda
Kelly, Lisa and I

Aunt Sheila's lake
Beautiful girls
My little cousins
Dad and Hubby
Bro and Joey

Trav teaching Joe how to ride dirt bikes
Lone ranger
Oh yea...best place in lil Italy

The new World Trade Center
Family funny silly portrait
This is how we cook when we don't have any power..
flooded road
Home :)
Denali..miss you boy
Our jeep in Big Sur

pretty
Aunt Sheila dancing to her own beat
Farmer market folk music. love it

Well well well it's about time I update our favorite project. The month has been filled with joy and happiness. It started off with Joe's mom, Linda, coming out west and staying with us for a week. We had a nice, enjoyable laid back week in Pacific Grove. We spent time at the gym, making fresh dinners, going on lots of walks and kicking back. We did go to Big Sur tho:)

Monday morning Linda and I departed via train. Lots of laughs, no sleep and great sights on the train:) We arrived in Chicago very early Thursday morning. Our train was delayed 13 hours. Darrell met us in Chi-town, we had lunch, they headed back to Indy and I was on my way to NY hoping to arrive before IRENE made her presence. Arrived in NY Friday evening, my mom met me at the train station and we had our traditional Friday night Chinese food ritual. It was good to be home :) IRENE hit us on Saturday, our power was out for a day but most of the damage happened in other areas. Some streets were flooded and trees were down. Some streets were completely washed out. It was a little insane actually.

The week was spent visiting with mostly my Mom, Dad and Brother. Mom took the week off so we got to spend some nice time together. Whether it be going to New Paltz or visiting local fruit stands in the Hudson Valley. Got to see some friends but not all. I did go out one night to a local bar and ran into people from high school. It was quite nice to catch up with people I haven't seen in almost 10 years (yikes, 10 years!). My mom, Aunt Toni, and Uncle Joe made a trip to Little Italy and Arthur Ave (in the Bronx) for authentic cheese and cannoli's. I brought some goodies back to my in-laws in Indy.

Joe spent his time in California working during the day and relaxing at night. He did go to LA on the weekend to visit Dennis. They went fishing at Catalina Island.

Joe flew into NY the following Saturday and we spent the last couple of days having family BBQ's, celebrating Joe's birthday and having a great time. Trav taught Joe how to ride a dirt-bike!!! Joe and I made it up to New Paltz for our Mexicalli Blue craving. We said our sad goodbyes and drove to Indy Wednesday. We hung out with Grandpa and Grandma Throm on Thursday. We then had dinner with Johnston's that night. Friday and Saturday the wedding celebrations began! Jess and Matt got hitched and it was absolutely beautiful. Sunday was Joe's birthday and we all went out to get some wings and watch the Colts.

All in all the trip was wonderful! That being said, it's very nice to be back in Monterey with the ocean, cooking for my love and enjoying the rest of our time here. Love to all.