Belated pics from the last week — it’s been busy!
Family turkey project. We were pretty happy with the results, but Kavi’s favorite was the turkey that someone had completely bejeweled. Sparkles everywhere. 
Stopped by the Garfield Park Conservatory on the way home from work Thursday because I had a few questions about anniversary party planning. Then wandered around for a bit. It is so beautiful there, and it is going to be super-fun filling it with our friends and family. 🙂 One of my favorite spots in the city. Although the roses in mid-November are a mite unnerving. Last pic is Chihuly glass sculptures, koi, me in a wool dress.
Just waiting to pick Kavi up from glee, on the last unnaturally warm autumn day. No coat!
I asked Kavi if she wanted to teach her friends how to make pumpkin muffins, and you should have seen how excited she got. Kavya may be at her happiest when she’s telling other people what to do.
(Yes, I also know these feels. 🙂 )
Playdate.
Cook’s Illustrated pumpkin pie recipe, good as expected, if slightly fussy (also as expected). Tried using leaf cutters for the first time — these were great, super-easy to use. I do think I should’ve brushed the leaves with something — an egg wash, probably, so they’d be a more even golden brown. This was practice for Thanksgiving, so I’ll try that on Wednesday (these can be made a day ahead, though I wouldn’t add the leaves to the pie until the day you’re serving).
Tried a citrus cream with the pumpkin pie, which honestly, I was a little dubious about — citrus + pumpkin? But it works really well to cut the sweetness of the pumpkin pie. Cool.
The fuzzy pink things still looked lovely yesterday, but are wilting today — it’s finally getting too cold for them. I’m a little astonished that the fairy roses are still blooming beautifully. More typically for this time of year, the fothergilla leaves offer a stunning array of colors.
I was going to try making a maple-custard apple rose tart, but I didn’t slice the apple slices nearly thinly enough, it turned out — softening them enough to make them pliable enough to form into rose petals was just not happening. (Guess I have to get a mandolin and try not to slice my fingers off. Maybe for Valentine’s Day.)
So I went with plan b, experimenting with a fancy braid-leaf lattice top. Is pretty, and easy! Took about half an hour to do the braiding, etc. The original had a walnut crumb crust, but I happened to have refrigerated pie dough on hand so went with that. So this is sort of an odd hybrid recipe.
Kevin’s parents arrived Monday night for the holiday; I had to go to work yesterday, so I wasn’t able to give them a nice breakfast. This was stressing me out, even though they wouldn’t have cared — they would’ve been perfectly content with cereal or peanut butter toast, both of which we have on hand. Then I remembered that I had Pillsbury crescent rolls. Twenty minutes later, we have spinach-goat cheese and apple-cheddar croissants, whee.
I like this pic, even though it’s slightly askew. Feels like an appropriate metaphor for my life at the moment.
