Pumpkin Days

North America is a solid month into fall right now. So far I've celebrated the Halloween season by consuming pumpkin spice with every meal and watching Hocus Pocus; Halloweentown; It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; The Nightmare Before Christmas; and re-runs of Rock of Love. One cannot watch spooky films without spooky snacks. Luckily Trader Joe's has pumpkin everything, and thanks to a visit from my mom, now I do too. I have the two most important meals of the day covered with Joe's Pumpkin Os and pumpkin pie mochi ice cream. For sips I went to Wildcat Drive-In Liquor and picked up some moscato to mix with the Flag Fork Herb Farm mulled cider spices I purchased at the farmers market that one time. The mulled wine was a perfect addition to an autumn night. I also used 3/4 of the enormous bottle making the cider, and I tried to drink it all before going to the bar, but then it was time to go so I put it in the fridge (save some for later.) While mulled cider/wine is wonderful, if you are in a rush/don't have the ingredients just add Fireball to whatever you're drinking and it's basically the same thing. I don't have a picture of this, but imagine a snapshot your typical actor housing kitchen with the oven clock reading 8:30 and a boy in a Hufflepuff jersey holding a near-empty wine bottle standing next to a double sink filled with ??? above a caption that reads "please help me."

One Sunday we went to the arboretum at University of Kentucky. While walking along one of the many paths we came across a plant that was 85.723% bees and the rest % flowers. These bees were huge. Farther down the path I spotted several monarchs, and I hadn't seen a monarch butterfly in at least twelve years. I walked through the butterfly garden trying to get a picture of the orange and black floaty things but they kept flapping away. I hope they're having a safe journey south. After the butterflies left me I was introduced to a number of irises (still in bloom?) Since they can't speak English I learned their names from their name tags. My two favorites were Power Point and Uncle Jim. 

A good use for that pocket 

Spooky black peppers

My show opened a few days later, and Michael and I celebrated by going to Goodfellas Pizzeria. I ordered the Dean Martin sub, which was an incredibly messy/delicious chicken sandwich that everyone should have. The website lists their four locations so please help yourself. Before eating I went to the restroom. There was one long urinal and no stalls. Where were the stalls? I never found out. 

A few performances later one of my cast members, Adam, was talking about the unique flavors at Crank and Boom. We went immediately and I tried the pumpkin ice cream because I had to and then got a very large scoop of bourbon and honey. My description for the flavor would be, "I went down a secret back road behind an abandoned factory and discovered bliss on an evening in early October."

Bike racks made of bike parts

Did somebody say "boom?"

Now that I've had bourbon truffles (multiple truffles because I've been back to Old Kentucky Chocolates several times now) and bourbon ice cream it was time that I try Kentucky bourbon. The Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. is literally a two minute walk from my house. Kara gave us a tour through the facilities, which includes an old ice house constructed in 1900. Large pipes transporting the mash into the distillery hung over our heads as we were welcomed by barrels and the scent of bread. This was also the same day that I made bread with Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. The first thing we learned was that bourbon is the spirit of the US. Then we learned what makes bourbon different from other whiskeys. Alltech uses their barrels first for bourbon, then for beer (which gives the beer a bourbony taste), and finally for whiskey. After being thrice used the barrels are shipped to Canada, Ireland, or Scotland to make more whiskey! After the lesson and looking at things we were able to taste the bourbon. I didn't like it. But if someone was going to force me to drink bourbon I would choose the Bluegrass Sundown. This bourbon is very similar to Irish coffee. The bourbon is mixed with boiling water, then cream is poured over spoon and into the glass which results in a foamy top layer of milkiness.

Pipes calling

Later that day my mom came to visit! The first night we went to Shakespeare & Co. My heart aches for the delicious mashed potatoes that I ate that night. We liked it so much we went back for breakfast the next day. 

The check came in this.

After going to Daily Offering (several times over the course of the weekend) my mom and I visited the Mary Todd Lincoln house. It was really Ms. Lincoln's step mother's house, but the tour was about the history of the First Lady. The Kentucky Ash floors are original to the house (and I want them in my house), on one wall hangs a program from Our American Cousin, and the historians put a crown on the canopy over Ms. Lincoln's bed because "she deserves it." I want a crown. Adjacent to the locked sugar cabinet in the kitchen is a counter made of Kentucky limestone. The slab is surprisingly cold which makes it an excellent surface for making pies and biscuits. I want the limestone, too. 

Then we saw this castle and horses.

This horse came up to say hi and I felt really bad leaving.

Saul Good's decorating style is kind of like someone wanted a pub but also a Sex in the City inspired restaurant and then a little kid said "why not both" kind of like that taco shell commercial. So that's nice. This s'mores martini was also nice, with chocolate and graham crackers on the rim. And the pasta and chocolate fondu that followed. 

Peggy's diamonds

My mom and I sat outside at Blue Heron and I ate a fifth of a wheel of brie. After salads I had a warm apple crumble with calvados and ice cream. 

I had a problem eating chicken with all these birds around.

Six of us went to Boyd Orchards in Versailles the following weekend. I learned that this town is not pronounced like the palace in France but like an American reading the word for the first time. There are loads of fall activities six days a week at the orchard this season. One of the best ones is eating, and we knew the day would end with the purchase of apple cider donuts (which are sold warm in their plastic cartons.)

I could see the whole orchard from the top of this pyramid, and I smiled uncontrollably.

Michael was 17 on this day.

Cider and burger

Since I'm here for most of the fall and since we are in the heart of the season I decided it was wreath time. Last September I posted about a mid winter crescent wreath I made out of sticks. I attempted to do this again but could not find the right shape/type of sticks to succeed, and the wreath exploded at least three times. This happened last week on the back porch under cover of darkness so no one saw. I decided that maybe I should do a leaf wreath. The leaves are changing much slower than the pace I am used to, and maybe that's because down here the temperature fluctuates from 36-72˚F on the reg. But autumn leaves are out there, so I grabbed two Kroger bags and began exploring the town with my eyes down. There are some beautiful houses here, and I would have taken pictures but I don't want to be arrested. 

The Courtyard Deli is located in an old church turned high end antique store in the center of town. I ordered the turkey, brie, and Amish hot pepper jelly on grilled sourdough. This jelly was incredible. And there is a decent amount of turkey stuffed between the slices as well, which made for an excellent lunch. The kitchen is open, so you can see your food being prepared!

Also, Sweet Spot.

Chocolate pumpkin

My room came together! I return to Delco in twenty nine days. 

Keeping track of Cracker Barrel. The jack-o-lantern and candy in the middle were made of index cards and highlighters to decorate my desk in 2010. The come out every year. To the right: placemats from Shakespeare & Co. On the reverse are crossword puzzles I didn't do.

My mom bought gourds for me.

I Wanted Bread

I took another trip to the farmers market this morning because the only food I had left was spinach, frozen peas, turkey patties, and banana peppers (which were the worst purchase because they ruin everything with their spicyness.) One market stand tried to sell me eggs for $7. Are their hens on thrones? Gourmet plush pillows? Why are these eggs $7? Anyway, I didn't buy those eggs. I bought these! Look at them.

I also didn't buy bread for some reason, and when I got home I thought, "Why didn't I buy that?" so my afternoon turned into baking bread alone in the house wearing my cute boots whilst listening to Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga's Cheek to Cheek for the first time. This album is wonderful and you should buy it. Back to the bread. I didn't have yeast or patience so I found this recipe and started taking liberties left and right because this is the land of liberty.

The actual recipe calls for whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, rice milk (or any liquid), and liquid fat (oil or something.) So I used generic bleached Kroger flour, baking powder, salt from the grinder sitting on the counter, and cinnamon and sugar as my dry ingredients. I mixed all the wet ingredients in a two cup measuring cup. They were as follows. "Any Liquid": one cup of skim milk because that's all I had and half a cup of watery pumpkin spice coffee I made using grounds from this morning's breakfast. "Oil or something": 1/8 cup of melted Land O' Lakes Light Butter with Canola Oil and 1/8 cup of olive oil.

Then I mixed it all together, added more flour so it wasn't sticky, formed it into a ball, and put it in the oven.

And here's how it looked forty minutes later!

A sexy shot of the bread.

The house smells like cinnamon bread. Verity and I tried the cinnamon bread. It tastes like bread with cinnamon. I tried toasting a piece but it fell apart in the toaster, so I think it should be marketed as a pull apart, share with friends, cover in pumpkin spice butter/cream cheese bread. I'm probably going to eat it all in one sitting.