Category: Photos

Apple Picking and Pumpkins Too

Food, Fun, JSL, NHL, Photos

On Saturday, we were trying to figure out what to do.  We had wanted to go apple picking for some time, but weather, Jewish holidays and other things kept getting in the way.  With the weather cooperating and no other plans on our agendas, we finally decided to stop by the local Pick-Your-Own place.

Needless to say, the boys were excited.  They love picking their own produce.  Not only do they get to wander around outside in the fresh air in large fields, but they get to pluck things off trees and put them in bags.  This may sound like a simple thing, but the simplest things are sometimes the most entertaining.  The bonus is that they can eat what they are plucking!

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I tried to get shots of everyone, but I must confess that the photos were a bit JSL-heavy.  That’s mainly because NHL was too quick.  He was off, finding apples, plucking them, sticking them into his bag and running off to the next tree for more.  Meanwhile, JSL was having trouble navigating all of the apples that had dropped to the ground.  This meant he was slower and more photographable (if that’s a real word).

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In the end, we picked 29.5 pounds of apples.

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Our fridge is now packed full of apples and we’re going to need to figure out what to do with all of them.  Slow Cooker Apple Sauce will be made, but we’ll need to come up with some other things as well.  We have some frozen pie crusts…. Maybe apple pie?

During our apple picking, we also stopped by their pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin for carving.  There were plenty of interesting specimens here for us to look at.

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In the end, we decided that these had been sitting on the ground during too many rain storms.  So many were rotting that we were worried that any “non-rotting” one we picked wouldn’t last until Halloween.  On the way back, we passed a place with plenty of pumpkins to pick from.  (Try saying that three times fast!)  Here we picked a 22.5 pound pumpkin which will soon be sliced and diced into a Jack-o-Lantern.

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I plan to save the innards to make something with.  Roasted pumpkin seeds, of course, but I’m open to other “pumpkin innards” recipes.

We headed home with a car 52 pounds heavier and a pair of very happy boys.  Hurray for pick-your-own farms!

What are your favorite pumpkin and/or apple recipes?

Mini-golfing and Fribbles with NHL

Fun, NHL, Photos

Our plans on Sunday changed rather quickly.  Originally, we were going to use our season passes to Six Flags one last time.  Then, JSL started coughing in his sleep.  His barking cough indicated that he was fighting something off which was aggravating his asthma.  We decided that bringing him to a big park where he would encounter a lot of germs was not the best idea.  So we split up.  B took JSL to her parents’ house to play.  Meanwhile, NHL and I went out for some father-son fun.

First, we went mini-golfing.  I had meant for us to go to the indoors mini-golf course that we have gone to before.  Instead, NHL insisted that he wanted to play on the outdoors one.  Considering that it was a nice day, decently warm (with jackets on) and sunny, I agreed.  We paid, got some balls and clubs and followed the footprints to the outdoors course.

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There were two courses.  The Castle Course (holes 1 – 18) and Knight Course (holes 19 – 36).  We opted to do the Castle Course.  During the golfing, NHL seemed to be in a rush.  He just wanted to go hole after hole to see what the next one had to offer.  I had to remind him to slow down, wait for me, and take his time.  It’s a good thing we weren’t keeping score.  Oftentimes, he wasn’t putting the ball so much as he was herding it.

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On the last hole, he – with my approval – resorted to using his feet to block the ball from falling back down.  I even helped him by kicking it.  Hey, that was a tough hole and we were having fun!  That’s the most important thing.

After we finished the 18 holes, we decided to walk the Knights Course.  No, we wouldn’t be playing it, but we could “preview” it and take some photos along the way.  Of course, we were careful not to interrupt anyone’s play.  There was a group in front of us at one point and I used this time to remind NHL to be patient and to keep in mind that their golfing experience was more important than our walk around the course.

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During the walk, we noticed a bunch of statues and I had NHL pose with each of them.

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Finally, it was time to return our golf clubs (the balls automatically return after the 18th hole) and leave.  I intended to take NHL out for ice cream, but again plans changed.  I remembered that we had a Friendly’s coupon at home.  A quick stop at our house and then we were headed out.  The coupon was good for one free ice cream drink (Fribble, milk shake, etc) with the purchase of one.  NHL decided to get a strawberry Fribble.  I ordered a vanilla one.  The waitress returned with two strawberry Fribbles.  When I pointed out that I ordered vanilla, she apologized and offered to get me a new one.  I decided that strawberry actually sounded better and opted to keep the one she brought.

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NHL and I had a great time talking and drinking our Fribbles.  NHL did complain to the waitress that their play mats were too easy.  I had to remind him that not everyone is as smart as he is and younger kids could use the mats.  Somehow, I don’t think restaurant coloring mats are designed for the gifted set.  (For her part, the waitress took the “complaint” in stride and thought that NHL was cute.  Yes, yes he is.)

There was another (delayed) upside to going to Friendly’s.  Since I tweeted photos of our trip on 10/10/10, I wound up being one of ten winners of Friendly’s 10-10-10 contest!  Looks like we’re going back to Friendly’s again!

Finally, we stopped at a nearby grocery store to pick up some supplies before heading home.  The only excitement there was spotting a Cabot car.  Nothing like a plaid car to liven up an otherwise ordinary grocery store trip!

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Maybe next time, NHL will go somewhere with B and I will take JSL someplace fun.  Or I could take both of the boys and B could have some quiet time.  Or B’s parents could take the boys and B and I could have a date night.  (Don’t get nearly enough of those.)  Don’t get me wrong, spending time with all of us together is great, but I also value time alone with my kids (either one, the other or both) and time alone with my wife.

Cooking With TechyDad: Marinated Greek Chickpeas

Cooking, Food, Photos, Recipe

As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a Greek restaurant near my parents’ house that had the best chickpeas.  They were marinated in olive oil with onions and spices.  I’ve long wanted to get the recipe or duplicate it, but one ingredient always eluded me.  The last time we were there, though, the chickpeas tasted off.  We suddenly realized the missing ingredient: lemon.

During a Pampered Chef party at CutestKidEver’s house, we found a Greek rub that seemed to contain just the spices we needed.  Score!

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So here’s my recreation attempt.  First, the ingredients:

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That would be chickpeas (2 cans), a small onion, the Greek rub and some olive oil.  Now, we we chop up the onion.

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Drain the chickpeas and pour them into a container.

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Now add the chopped onions.

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And the Greek rub and the olive oil.

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Now mix and marinate for a day or so.

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In the end, this was good, but there’s still more to go before I’ve perfected it.  First of all, refrigerating it only leads to the oil congealing.  Also, the onion taste was way too strong.  I might try a milder onion next time or perhaps sautéing it slightly to soften it up and remove some of the strong flavor.  I might also make smaller batches so that we don’t have a huge container of a slightly off version.  All in all, though, this was a decent first try.

(By the way, this was my first post composed using Windows Live Writer. I’m just getting used to it, but so far I love it!)

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