Heloooo there! Whatcha been up to?
I have been working with clay, painting, washing paint brushes…
You know, doing what I do best.
Which is, making a mess 🙂
Plus, working on a few little painted details.
I have also been working on perfecting a carmel apple cake recipe. I have made 3 so far. I can only have one small piece, as too much sugar makes me feel rotten to the core. I LOVE to bake, but as I have shared before, I am actually more of a savory girl. I would take a hearty meal, over a slice of cake, any day. Unlike my Mother and Mister Lovee 😉
So, I feel sort of bad, feeding sticks of butter baked into things to my super healthy Mister, in the name of perfecting a recipe (laughs). The thing is, he is like a young boy, and will eat all of anything that I make, especially sweets. Such a good guinea pig 😉
The recipe is close. I recently found that the apples used make a HUGE difference in determining whether it will be good or bad. Tart apples just don't work.
I am also waiting impatiently for my lemons to be ready. I simply adore lemons, do you?
Yesterday I was out for a walk (I do laps around our property), and I almost fainted when I saw the peach tree. It was exploding with delicious colors…
I ran inside and grabbed my camera so I could share.
Pretty Autumn indeed 😉
Nature rocks.
I make it a point to not miss a sunset.
The sunsets are so beautiful here, almost everyday.
Pink skies, I love you…
Just as the pink skies fade, the mountains turn from blue to pink themselves. Oh and, have you seen the moon the last couple of nights? It was glowing…
I woke up two nights in a row in the early a.m., by sheer accident, and looked out the window to see a huge glowing moon to the west.
I couldn't believe the moon last night at 3 a.m. I choked on my water looking at it 🙂
Oh and, I have been collecting dry apricot tree branches to make my Thanksgiving center piece. I am making my own edibles this year. I am so excited. Usually we go out of town. But, life is crazy, and a quiet Thanksgiving is much needed.
Even though it will be a quiet holiday, I intend to cook up a stork.
(I had to leave that typo, it made me howl with laughter. Of course I meant storm. Poor stork.)
So, I wanted to make a nature table centerpiece.
Don't ask me what it is yet.
I am not sure myself.
🙂
If it survives, I will share it when I am done.
I think I will be gathering leaves for this one.
It's windy today, and I have been on my feet since I woke up at 6:30 a.m. I went for a walk in the cool briskness this morning, it was great.
I need to get warm and sleep soon, I have so many things on my "to do" list. I have already taken the meat off of a pretty large baking pumpkin that I saved from my harvest. I want to use it to bake two pies for Thursday, and give one away.
What are you baking up this week? Anything out of the ordinary?? I would love to make something outrageous for Thursday. Maybe a wild side dish?
Any thoughts?
I will be back sooner than last time.
🖤 ,V
pumpkin cheesecake. sweet potato pie for a Cowboy. pumpkin bread. ginger cookies. garlic mashed potatoes..green bean casserole (I know its cliche but Lost Boys would sulk without it!)
I think you are building a teepee 😉
What a lovely thing your peach trees leaves are! And i got up at exactly 6:27am…
and took a walk in the cool. Must be the magic in the moon.
🙂
xoxoxoxoxo
Yes! I saw the moon two nights ago too, when I woke up out of the blue (4 am for me). It was lighting up a corner of the house like a spotlight so I got up to take a peek. It was sitting right above some huge fir trees on the horizon with a few lines of clouds and it looked so amazing. Even my kitty woke up with me and sat in the windowsill while I gazed at it. I seriously considered going outside to snap a photo but would have probably frozen my little feet off.
I try to take a photo of the sunset every night; although here it is not always possible. I do have some amazing, amazing shots of the most gorgeous sunset I’ve ever seen when I visited Arizona. 🙂 Oh I think I used one of those photos on my blog:
http://mollythepirate.blogspot.com/2010/01/mosaic-monday-travel-edition-ii.html
And yes, I plan on making an interesting side dish for Thanksgiving. Sweet potato gnocchi with maple cinnamon sage brown butter. I don’t watch cooking shows all the time, but this sounded too interesting.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/sweet-potato-gnocchi-with-maple-cinnamon-sage-brown-butter-recipe/index.html
Whoa. Sorry for the novel. Eep.
Isn’t the moon amazing…I was just looking out the window and wondering if my patio lights were on, tee hee. Hmmm, I’m going to try this new brie app with nuts and cranberries and yum, it sounds good. And I always have to do my famous corn pudding and deviled ‘angel’ eggs as my girls call them. And I’m going to try this sweet potato bake that I kind of made up but is delish!! Otherwise, I’m leaving the rest of the cooking to everyone else 😉 😉
The weather here today was amazing, just like that moon, aaahh! Perfect weather to hang the Christmas lights (I can’t help it, I’m so ready this year 😉
Jamie 🙂
I saw the moon a few hours ago coming up over the Sandia Mountains and it was HUGE…. now it’s big and bright in the dark sky. Have fun cooking the stork…. I can’t wait to see what you make as your nature center piece… all else fails, wear it as an autumnal headdress 🙂
Something light pink or light blue to go with stork! Stork is such a funny sounding word. Bobby Flay made a pomegranate brussel sprouts side dish but was taken in a throwdown by mashed potatoes! Sometimes tradition trumps excitement on holidays. But this year, I’m going to a large gathering & thats where I try out new recipes (really!) if its so-so, who cares & if its fabooh you know to make it again. I love a southern tradition, curried fruit…..I almost can’t eat turkey without it.
You make me giggle! Miss Vanessa
Cook up a stork! How funny!
The photos and the incredible colors of your peach tree are beyond amazing.
And I am happy that you are creating. It looks like a very fun mess.
I love to come here to your blog and just relax and Ooooo! and Ahhhh! You always spell bind me.
And here it is…already Thanksgiving time again…the year has flown by.
hugs, fairy kisses, star shine, and sweet dreams are coming your way
from…
Miss Teresa
I love typos and yours made me laugh too! I sign my name and then xox except when it turns into sos…haha a cry for help? My name is Carol, except when it turns into Carp; LOL. You live in a beautiful place, I love the sunsets.
All the color has washed out of our autumn here in Berlin, but yours is still so gorgeous. The moon over rose-colored mountains is just brilliant. Enjoy this.
Such amazing colors…I wouldn’t be able to resist taking pics. Suitable for framing. Please read about the “Blue Moon”…that is what it is called…Truly a woundrous sight. It maybe visible tonight also.
Keep on creating.
Beloved Magical Muse, THIS is what I mean about a bit of Pentecost every time I visit; the two photos after the peach tree look like Holy Ground; the Medjugorje apparitions and the seven hills of Jerusalem. I suffer from the same affliction as the Mister; sugar addiction! I would eat the entire cake. Or anything covered in sugar.
I have a fantastic recipe for long grain and wild rice stuffing, which I use as a side dish. AND it’s healthy! Not healthy but fabulous would be Martha Stewart’s sweet potato souffle.
Dearest Little One, did you become acquainted with Michelle of Sweet Mango through our beloved Renee? If so, link is on my page for prayers. **blows kisses** Deb
0o0o0 what lovely pictures, they are beautiful!!!!! ::sigh:: thats why I love fall sooo much, all the glorious colors..and the moon, if you go out tonight, apparently we will be visited by the allusive ‘blue moon’…big, bright, and beautiful!!! :D:D:D
Soooo, you cook up storks do ya? LOL!
That centerpiece looks great so far, can`t wait to see it finished (if you get that far…. been there done that).
A few nights ago we had a huge sparkly ring around the moon here, the second one this fall actually.
That cake looks so good, but I`m so with you on prefering a yummy dinner over a piece of cake….. actually I`m more a “can I have both please?” kind of girl, lol.
Last week I made a Snickerscake(for my birthday). I love the combination of salty peanuts and Ritz-crackers together with sweet dark chocolate.
Simply glorious photos, Vanessa!!! I do indeed love lemons – I think they are wonderful. I love using fresh zest in recipes. I’m thrilled that you are having a Thanksgiving at home. I think that’s wonderful. I’ve been busy baking up delights and plan on making more next week. Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle. Cranberry Compote. Cranberry Orange Corn Cake. Yum! Right now, I’m on a fig kick! LOL Your caramel apple cake looks great so far. Can’t wait to find out about the finished product. 🙂 And I also can’t wait to see your completed nature centerpiece. I’m sure it will be lovely.
xoxo Theresa
PS Please don’t try and cook up another stork, ok? LOL That was too funny!
I’m a savory girl myself!
I would LOVE to see that centerpiece as my own table-scaping did not go oh so well!
I will be doing special brussel sprouts and a curried pumpkin spice soup!!! + more!
Hi VV, I share your enthusiasm for coloured leaves (but we don’t have “Fall” leaves like you do, here), sunsets, & full moons. I used to walk the perimeter of my land too (two acres). We don’t have Thanksgiving in Australia, & we don’t celebrate Halloween as much as you do there – although this year children knocked on my door & called out “Trick or Treat” for the first time, ever.
so lovely to catch up with your photos and thoughts. Something always cheers me here, a sort of perfect optimism – you know i always thought you need to make a photobook, too!
i hope youre enjoying the season, and looking forward to xmas. Much love from here!
xxx
I love fall also… maybe just because it all looks so wonderful and cozy!
My new favorite fall side dish is acorn squash (or likely any winter squash at all will do), cut in half and baked in a shallow pan of water for about 30 minutes. When done fill with caramelized onions and some shavings of gruyere! Fabuloso!
Hi Vanessa, I am fairly new to your blog, but after finding you about a month or so ago, I soon bacame a follower! I enjoy your posts very much, they are so fun and filled with so much imagination!! I just love them. I just returned from a trip to Arizona, as our daughter lives in Flagstaff. We of course made an afernoon trip to Sedona as well. I also have two sisters in the Phoenix area, so have alot of family in your neck of the woods! Im in Minnesota, so a much different climate. Well, I see I have written a book so… bye for now! Amy from Mn.
Oh well we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in Belgium ans I’m working super late at the museum this Thursday…(we’re having a “nocturne”with storytellers!). But I must say that this pie looks devilishly good! Must try some decadent dessert like this one next week end…you know, just for testing some idea for Christmas, better start sooner than ever hihihi!
Ymmmmmm, stork, certainly a change from the other bird:)
I have 2 pumpkin rolls in the freezer, will make pumpkin pies and a lemon meringue pie today (that’s for my momma-she loves my lemon pie).
Which apples did you like the best? I use a mixture of granny smiths and whatever reds I have. You’ll have to share what you did.
Love the pictures. A lot of our leaves are on the ground but there are some “late bloomers” with their beautiful colors on the trees.
We are having Thanksgiving Dinner for family here on Wednesday. Thursday will just be Mr. Scrap and me and he wants ham. I want to watch parades, address Christmas cards and just whatever.
A link to a Georgia sunrisehttp://nananaysgarden.blogspot.com/2010/09/capturing-moment.html
taken from my front porch.
Loved these photos. But then I always do! THat cake…looks like a heart-attack on a plate! Wow!! I’m pretty sure I’d need an appointment with the dentist and cardiologist after eating that. It looks delicious. Hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving! – Kathy
OH what bliss this dainty little postlette is!! I’m growing ever so impatient for sweet yummies to come this week…..and your caramely goodness above is making me swooooooon! Happy Autumn-time baking to you, Dearie!!! 🖤
I adore your typo! just commented on a friend’s blog about how she should not feel that she is not intelligent just because she is upbeat and imaginative and I clicked post comment and voila, I spelled intelligent wrong!!! hee hee. let us say it was on purpose and a cosmic joke, o.k.? This post delighted from top to bottom. I can’t resist apple-y things. So, yum was the word at the forefront of my mind just now. lemons are the Universe’s winks, I have always said. They make you happy just looking at them, and they make you pucker so you are ready to be kissed, 😉 Well, off I go to see what else you have been doing dear. Happy-ness and blessings to you and all of yours! this holiday week!
You know, V—
that’s why you don’t have children.
That stork in the oven business.
Hey—that bee plate is gorgeous.
Was it from Anthropologie?
I really like the first photo
and I want to live close enough to stop by for dessert
Gobble
I’ve never seen anything like your peach tree!
How about creamed spinch with asiago cheese or risotto with parmesan and pumpkin? Or pumpkin soup served in the pumpkin?
HI I am a veggi girl..and this is the best best Walnut Loaf..I think it is partly the Cheese..but if you want a really yummy dish that could be the extra stuffing if you want or a main dish for the vegi people try this. Or just make it for an nice winter meal dish!
Because of you my local health food store put it on their web..on my request….so I could get it to you…smile.
oxox
Deirdra
http://www.lifesourcenaturalfoods.com/2010/11/22/walnut-loaf-recipe/comment-page-1/#comment-214
Today I baked some oat cookies, and tomorrow I’ll be making sushi! 🙂
Your apricot branch centerpiece feels like a boat to me. Maybe a Pilgrim Thanksgiving Day boat for those who sailed over on the Mayflower? Haha. Also I’m a sucker for desserts with caramel and brown sugar so let’s just say that your pictures are making my mouth water. *yummy*. I do so love anything with lemon or lime though, and for the holiday I’m making “Key Lime Coconut Cake” and of course the usual vegetarian “Shepherds Pie”. Yay, food! LOL
The moon is beautiful here too, even in the city! I do so love your gorgeous sunset photos, that’s one thing I miss about being so landlocked here :(( but so many wonderful things to love about city life, and to enjoy, even for a homebody like me!
We do make a fabulously outrageous dressing here at Opulent Cottage, my Tamale Cornbread Dressing, recipe here
http://opulentcottage.typepad.com/opulentcottage/2009/11/tamale-cornbread-dressing.html
It’s pretty crazy, yummy stuff! Could easily be made veggie too, and would still be delish.
I hope you have a wonderful, quiet, holiday! We’ll be doing the same!
xoxo, Andrea
Since we just moved here and we are by ourselves this year for the first time, my Mister and I are going to make something he has been dreaming about for years…a Thanksgiving pizza! Basically pizza dough crust with gravy instead of red sauce, mashed potatoes instead of cheese, and stuffing and turkey sprinkled on as toppings (and probably more gravy on top of that haha)! What a silly boy, but I do think it sounds delicious. I hope it turns out!
Also lemons are yummy, but so are limes. This nice couple that I met since I moved here gave me dozens of limes from their own citrus trees. I made a key lime pie and margaritas, but still have tons left…I need more things to make with limes before they go bad!
Ahh V, I, too, love sweets but am diabetic.. I make my treats, kool-aid, etc all with Splenda, instead of sugar.. the family has grown used to it and nobody complains.. I think we are all happier in the end. The cake looks fab! My husband would love those limones. He uses limones and jalapenos like there is no tommorrow. Well, that and Cholula hot sauce.. picante!!haha!
Miss Vanessa, do you live on the same planet as the rest of us? hee! hee! Where you live is like a fairytale to me. Every photo of your natural surroundings is breathtaking and dreamy. Like a storybook.
Your post always inspire me, and I LOVE seeing things thru your eyes.
Happy Thanksgiving sweetie! XOXO,Jenn
oh my, the apricot branch centrepiece is going to be magnificent, I can’t wait to see the magic you weave!
The apple caramel cake looks super yummy, good ole Mr Lovee, what a sweet treat. The photos of the peach tree are beautiful indeed, reminds me of home, for which I pine rather a lot. Oh well!
Happy Thanksgiving to you, and thank you for sharing your magic and wonder, it is always a pleasure to visit your blog 🙂
Ooh, that caramel apple cake looks just delectable! 🙂 Would you mind letting me know what kind of apples you used? I found a recipe for a similar cake online which I am thinking of trying tomorrow, but it doesn’t mention apple type. And I am baking challenged in general 🙂 That centerpiece looks wonderufl too, I can’t wait to see it finished! I hope you, Lovee and Matty have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 🙂 ~Lauren
Oh, I just love your blog! I simply adore it. I live in Holland and we are celebrating Sinterklaas next sunday. But before that all our old school-friends come over to eat a delicious meal (spaghetti bolognaise; a familie-recipe)and we play a Sinterklaasgame. We give each other gifts and than play a game of trading the gifts and lauch until our stomach hurts. We have so much fun doing this game each year! For desert after our meal I am making (for the first time this year) gevulde speculaas. I think you can describe it as stuffed brown spice biscuit. It’s delicous, I wish you could try it some time. Youre appel-caramel-pie looks absolutely gorgeous. I hope I didn’t make too much type-o’s, however I am a dutch girl after all.
I hope you have a joyfull, warm and cosy thansgiving with all your loved ones.
Bianca
That caramel apple cake looks very delicious! Yummy yummy!! Can you give me the recipe for that? I’ll have my wife make that one for me, too! Oooohh.. My sweet tooth’s alive again!
Your page should be called: An Exquisite Twist. Love your taste – keep the gorgeousness AliVee* <3