holidays and celebrations

freakout.

in ,

{schnitzel, last year}
halloween is but 18 days away, and i haven't got a clue what i'm going to be. verklempt is an understatement. it's time to get serious. here are options i'm considering {tell me if they're stupid or not}:
zenon, girl of the twenty first century i sort of just got rid of magenta spandex though. damn.
girl with the pearl earring 
stoop i've acquired enough of her clothings for it to be easy peasy. but probably no one would get it.
bill cunningham i mean i have the bike, camera, and blue jacket. but getting the bike into buildings might be a hassle.
a teddybear 
a turtle
a doofusbrain
violet beauregarde?
this is tough. good costumes in my life usually reflect something that i obsess over. schnitzel. a xylophone mallet. what do i obsess over now that i haven't yet dressed up as? my bike, satyagraha, the internet, caramel. i like aliens. how about that? mustard. maybe. it would have to be, like, cilantro absinthe manhattan rooftop honey mustard or something like that because being yellow mustard is about as common as being a power ranger when you're six. 
i wonder if mason jars come in adult human size. 
-yeh

hello and goodbye

in

i don't really have much to say today. which is probably a reflection of my monotonous eating habits this week {bagel in the morning, soom soom pita pocket in the evening, let's call it a day?}
...so please go read meg's post because it is wonderful.
and have a glorious, yummy weekend!!
-yeh!!! 


the sweetest new year ever.

in , , ,

in a massive effort to ensure an insanely sweet new year,
and to go beyond the old apples & honey...
mum and i spent hours in the kitchen this weekend cranking out:
crystallized ginger
pretzel caramels
apple donuts 
a million kinds of jelly
apple donuts stuffed with jelly {namely, jalapeno jelly}
honey cake
sweet corn ice cream
cotton candy
...and so much more.
omg. 
i think the guests at our rosh hashanah fest thought we'd lost our minds.
but having a pretty table full of homemade candies 
and other noshies is oh-so-very satisfying. 
see before i came home, i told mum that we wouldn't be eating anything during the weekend that we didn't make from scratch. and we almost stuck to it.
friday pizza night doesn't count. especially in chicago. 
below are recipes and links that we used...
of course we still had apples & honey. but they were freshly picked fuji and honey crisp apples. and freshly whipped creamed honey
caramels {+ crunched up pretzels on top}
pumpkin ice cream {half of the sweet corn base, minus the corn + 1/2 a can of pumpkin + cloves + cinnamon + ginger + nutmeg}
apple donuts {we substituted apple butter for the cider and topped them with creamed honey}
ricotta {+ rosemary, thyme, and basil from the garden}
jalapeno jelly* {vinegar + jalapenos + sugar + pectin}
ginger jelly* {juice from the crystallized ginger + sugar + lemon + pectin}
hotberry jam* {strawbees + bluebees + raspbees + jalapeno + lemon + sugar + rosemary + water}
apple butter* {apples + autumny spices + pectin + water}
maple mustard* {mustard powder + white wine vinegar + sugar + maple extract + turmeric}
*i winged it with these things. just play around with those ingredients in a saucepan until it tastes good.
mum was in charge of the honey apple cake, the pumpkin challah, and the pickles... and i think they came out of real live cookbooks... so we're all out of luck on those ones.
-yeh!!