Beautiful Pomegranate

'Tis the season for the beautiful pomegranate.

I remember eating pomegranates as a child. My mom would break one open, pull out the bread board under the counter (remember those) and my brother and I would stand there and gobble up all of the juicy seeds. 

Perhaps because they're a fruit from my childhood, they are a favorite fruit of the season. 

I like to seed the fruit all at once so that there's a lovely bowl from which to scoop up big bites. The seeds are a wonderful topping on just about everything from savory cheese and crackers to...

...delicious sweet pancakes. 

We eat a lot of pancakes in our household, but I have an extra spring in my step when we have pomegranates to enjoy with them. It's such a special treat.  

I've posted about Hubby's spelt pancakes before and just have to reiterate how delicious and fluffy they are (the trick is whipping the egg whites). 

Hubby's Spelt Pancakes

2/3 cup stone ground corn flour

1 cup spelt flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp raw sugar

1 tsp salt 

2 eggs - separated

1 1/2 cup milk 

2 TB melted butter

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk wet ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk egg whites separately in another small bowl until frothy. Combine together with dry ingredients in large bowl.

Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

I hope that everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving. Many of our holiday favorites were enjoyed over the course of the weekend. It was a bit of a drawn out affair around here, as we didn't get to roasting the turkey until Friday! Even though Graham and Margaret were still too young to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal, I loved filing the house with that wonderful smell of roasting, baking and simmering. The house always feels coziest when there's a wonderful meal being prepared. 

We picked the last few bunches of herbs from the garden before the snow blankets the ground for the winter. I couldn't resist adorning a few pieces of brown transfer ware with them before they went into our Thanksgiving feast.

Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs. We used it in everything from the turkey brine, to the stuffing. 

The sage accompanied the roasted brussel sprouts. 

Country Living Christmas

Image from Worldmags.net

Country Living's December/January 2012 issue is out! We'd been waiting for our copy to arrive when Mike found the issue online, with our living room on the cover. When he showed me, I said, "How did you do that? Did you make that on your computer?" It turns out Country Living did two different covers that are in circulation for this issue, with the other version being a 

decorated Christmas tree. 

Here are a couple of photos I took during the shoot. I had a baby in my arms most of the time, so I don't actually have very many photos to share. 

Lili sent these gorgeous white amaryllis from New York.  I really loved the gracefulness of the amaryllis and will soon start forcing some bulbs for the holidays. 

Here are Lili and Mike setting up the tree before she and I trimmed it.   

We had our first snowfall this week so things are already beginning to feel very Christmas-like here. I'm looking forward to decorating early this year as I cannot wait to share twinkling lights, the fragrance of the tree, our favorite holiday music and general festive holiday giddiness 

with Graham and Margaret. 

We are very excited. 

Autumn Fires

The cozy feelings that Autumn evokes are what I love so much about the season, with the warm hues of yellow, orange and red leaves on the trees and the glow of a toasty fire offering respite from the crispness of the air and the darker nights. And, it's hard to not get excited about all that is ahead...favorite fall recipes, the holidays, and wool sweaters to keep us warm. 

We've been storing our pumpkins on the mantle. We'll use them one by one in the coziest of recipes. 

Here's our favorite pumpkin. After carving Graham's and Margaret's names on it we've watched it grow through summer into fall. We'll bake a pumpkin birthday cake for their one-year birthdays next month. 

Our other favorite pumpkin recipes are pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie.

Even a wooden giraffe enjoys a nice fall fire. 

 xo

Our Annual Grape Harvest

Last year I remember waddling out to the vines to harvest a few bunches of grapes, pregnant with our son and daughter. Today they watched, eleven months old. It was very emotional for me. 

It was a good crop this year. We picked about 20 pounds of grapes, but there are at least five times that amount left unharvested. We hope to make our first batch of concord grape jam with them.

I ordered several preserve books last month and we've been pouring over various recipes to choose from. I really am quite excited to try the jam. Homemade grape jam is described as quite delicious - not at all like the grape jelly one remembers from childhood.  

xo

You can read the story of our grapes here. 

November Roses

There's something breathtaking about roses in late autumn. 

Perhaps it's a last exhalation of summer or perhaps it's the beautiful contrast of pink against the fading green landscape. I breathe them in deeply as I want to remember them after the cool dark skies settle in for the season.