'Fall'-ing head over heels in love with Ohio

We nearly always have our two companions with us when we go exploring. This time of year they have been confined to the boot of the car, as they tend to get very muddy!

The start of our 11 mile hike

Past goats and chickens

Here's a feel for some of the colour,

Setting off on a 10 mile hike..

This is so beautiful....

Walkabout

Feeling a little blue the other day I decided to head out for a walk by myself, sans doggies...

The season is changing in full force and I hoped that my pictures would capture it, but they haven't. There is still so much green in them that you don't notice the browns and oranges yet, but they are still pretty so I figured I'd post them.

It was a lovely walk. Leaves were falling in such numbers that it sounded like it was raining.

I call this next photo "Are you there God? It's me..little tree"

There are a LOT of squirrels and chipmunks about at the moment and so Penny has become quite a handful on walks: she pulls constantly.
I have bought a gentle leash which goes around her nose and so when she pulls she's pulling her own head downwards. It's stopped the pulling, but she's getting used to it. We are just going for short strolls around the neighborhood as she gets used to it and so we often look like this

Hopefully she'll get used to it soon, it's rather embarrassing and I'm sure some people think I'm being cruel to her. She is not in any pain whatsoever, she just wants the band off her nose so she can pull where she wants.

Soul Food version of Mac and Cheese

I decided that as Matt is away I would make a comfort dish that I wouldn't usually make when he's around: i.e a high fat dish.
One of my favorite dishes growing up was my Mum's Spagetti Cheese.
So I decided to do my own version, using gnocchi. I first had gnocchi when visiting my big sister who at the time was living in Udine, Italy.
It's a potato food, that you can use whenever you would use pasta. It's more satisfying that pasta as it has more to it, it's thick, chunky and holds sauces very well.
In my current mood I chose not to follow a recipe, but just to go with what I know: butter+flour+milk = bechamel sauce.
I started by melting some butter (approx 3 tablespoons) with chopped garlic

Then I added about 3 tbsp of flour to get it to this consistency. Remember, the lumps here are garlic.

I added about a cup of milk and when it was all blended I added a good dollop of spicy brown mustard.
Don't skimp on the stirring here. It may get tiring, but think of the those extra calories you get to burn and hence the reduced amount of guilt you need to feel about eating this later ;)

Add 'some' cheese.....I used extra sharp cheddar and extra sharp 'New York' cheddar. I have never seen 'New York' cheddar before, but apparently it's white cheddar.

Cook till melted..... then realize you've made too much sauce. So quickly par-boil some whole grain rotini pasta to supplement the gnocchi. Add this delicious cheese sauce to your gnocchi/pasta

Ah now, see! There's green stuff! In the eyes of my 12 year old Step-son this practically makes it a health food!!

 

Dump into a greased (haha!) casserole dish

Cover and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 375F.
Then uncover and continue to bake at 425F for another 10 minutes. Enjoy the smell that greets you when you remove the lid at this time!!! Mmmmmm.

And finally, the finished product... HOT AND CHEESY!

I have got to say that it was soooooo good! The cheese, garlic and basil really pleased the pallete while the density of the gnocchi was satisfying.

On a side note, I've started a "Pinterest" account. It is a website where you "pin" images of things that interest you, or things of your own that you want to display (photos, recipes...) to virtual pinboards. People who follow you can then pin it to their own if they so desire.
It's fun! Check it out by clicking on this button....

Autumn is a comin'.

This past weekend the weather really started feeling like the year was creeping towards Autumn. I love this time of year, the temperature drops, the cool breezes, the rain....

We took advantage of the cooler weather and walked 6 miles on Saturday and on Sunday...

Here are some of the photos I took, see for yourself how Autumn peeks through!

I wanted to include this photo. Every time we pass this house I tell Matt that this is where I want to live :)

Sunday morning we went to Lake Erie and did some paddling...

It's getting hot and steamy in the kitchen

"They" say that the easiest way to learn Chinese (or any other language) is through immersion into the culture, to hear native people speaking...natively.
As I cannot just up and leave to China I have been watching Mandarin movies instead. Romances, Indies, War epics, Comedies... the lot! Each movie has a common vein running through it: FOOD.
Watching these movies has not only helped my Chinese ("oooooh he just said 'what?'") but it has made me want to experiment with some chinese forms of cooking.
So this Sunday afternoon found Matt and me heading to a local Asian supermarket. Here we picked up a bamboo steamer, rice bowls, chopsticks, a huge knife and several chinese foods.
Unfortunately I didn't see any Pho, but they do sell it in the little cafe in the store. I will have to try it sometime :)
My first meal using the steamer was made up in my own head.
I used bone-in portions of chicken, whacked them into smallish pieces with my awesome new scary knife and then marinated the bits with some ginger, scallion, shitake mushrooms and oyster sauce. I steamed the chicken for 20 minutes before adding another level to the steamer laden with broccoli.

I always get nervous when cooking meats using a 'new' technique, but was relieved to see that the chicken was desperate to fall off the bone when the cooking time was up.
 Sorry I didn't get a close up shot of the Chicken, I was too eager to sit down and eat!!

Matt is off, again, this time to Buffalo NY until Wednesday evening. So today I went to a metro park that I haven't been to before for a walk around its lake (3.3miles). There is a swimming beach which is formed from the run over of the lake.

I chose to do the 'Heron' walk and it really lived up to its name. I must have seen about 6 herons.

 The dogs were especially annoying on this walk, darting back and forth like crazy and snapping at passing dogs. I was not pleased, and it made it hard to take photos of the herons. This photo was easy though, because the heron was literally about 10ft away.

Tonight I decided I would experiment with my bamboo steamer again. I opted for chicken and shrimp steamed dumplings.

During this time I found myself singing my own version of this song "On the baby's knuckle or the baby's knee, where will the baby's dumpling be?". Oh I amuse myself!

I finely chopped some chicken breast, prawns, ginger and scallions. I wrapped them in skins that I had made from scratch (very easy, just use flour and water, knead for 15 mins and let sit for 5mins)

They steamed for 20 minutes and I served them with some freshly steamed broccoli and rice. I used some thai chili and ginger dipping sauce.

The dumplings turned out great! Next time I shall use some cabbage in them too.
I have to admit I also tried making some chicken and shrimp steamed buns, but it was a HUGE failure. The special flour for the buns didn't want to make a dough for me. It resembled corn flour and water.
I'm going to have to do some research on what I need to do differently in future.... If any readers have any suggestions I'd appreciate it!!!!

Homemade spaghetti sauce

Matthew doesn't like spaghetti sauce. I find that insane. I LOVE spaghetti sauce.

So today I decided to make a home made sauce from scratch.

I fried a finely chopped onion and 6 cloves of garlic over a low heat for about 10 minutes before adding some salt, pepper and red chili flakes.

I then added 7 chopped tomatoes, 3 bay leafs, 3 sprigs of thyme and about 5 torn basil leaves.

 I allowed this mixture to boil gently uncovered for 90 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

About 10 minutes before serving I added some more freshly torn basil

et voila! I served it with some fresh mozzarella over whole wheat pasta. I thought it was the best sauce I've had in a long time! I'm so excited that the recipe turned out this way. I am definitely going to make this again!!!

And here is Matt, who told me that he also thought it was the best sauce he's had..... but that's not really saying much is it Matt!!!

Don't forget to kiss your cook!!!