Friday, October 30, 2009

Gearing for Halloween

Last night Joe carved our pumpkin. We're certainly not going nuts over Halloween, but there are a few things we have to. Since we have a house this year, we are expecting to see some trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood. We just don't know how many. We have a big bowl full of candies ready for tomorrow (I must say Joe's been very good about staying away from the bowl). Unfortunately I have to work till 6 pm tomorrow (Halloween), so I'll miss most of the trick-or-treat actions.This pumpkin face will sit on our front porch tomorrow night, waiting for kids.
Here are our pumpkin leaves that I made (part of our costume, or all our costume). I walked around Michaels during my lunch break to get ideas and materials. Joe says the store is turning me into Martha Stewart. Funny. But I gotta admit that working at the store, I realize there're so many things you can make yourself. This is my extent of sewing. The rest of our costume will be revealed. Stay tuned.
Happy Halloween, everyone! (By the way, what is Halloween in Hawaii like?)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Pot Stickers!

I had been wanting to make home-made pot stickers for a while (ever since my mom had made them from scratch with my brother a few years back). Though I wasn't ambitious enough to try making the dough. I couldn't find round won ton wraps, so I just used the square ones. The filling is a mixture of ground pork, chopped cabbage (from Joe's uncle's garden), green onions, garlic, ginger.
I pan fried them and made a soy/sesame oil based dipping sauce. In our dinner menue tonight was also sushi rolls with leftover salmon. It wasn't for any special occasion, but the dinner called for sake! Celebrating Kayo's first time making those pot stickers. And they were very good. It was worth the time and effort.
Here Joe eats (wild) apple crisp for dessert with chopsticks. Then, a little more sake, toasting to our wonderful dinner!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Joe's Coconut!!

At last Joe found a coconut tree (palm)!! He had been looking and hoping for one. He even thought of planting one himself every time he saw a whole coconut at the grocery store. Last night we happened to walk into Lowe's (no specific reason), and there Joe spotted a couple of coconut like plants. I thought he had found a pot of gold or a dead body! He was that excited. He had to get one.Our upstair bathroom is looking more and more like a jungle!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

REAL Grape Jelly

We harvested about 8 pounds of grapes from our backyard this year. Joe would have liked to try making home-made wine, like lots of his uncles do... but maybe next year. We decided to make grape jelly. We ended up making our first batch after 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. Here's Joe holding a bloody heart, no, getting the grape juice. Boy! was it ever tart!!! That's how REAL grapes really taste!!
I made the second batch next day, modifying the amount of sugar a bit, so the jelly isn't as tangy and shocking as the first batch. Still, it makes quite serious PBJ sandwitches. Here's a picture of all our jelly.

Friday, October 16, 2009

B.B.King in Soo

We took an overnight trip to go to a B.B. King concert. It was a birthday present for Kayo!! Unfortunately we have no photos from the concert. Since it was at the casino, we seriously thought it illegal to carry a camera.... And B.B. at the age 0f 84!! did not give us an intermission either (we could have run to our room to get our camera). The concert was great. Such a cool experience to see B.B.King in person.
Then, we enjoyed just a little night life at the casino.
Next day we did a little sightseeing in Soo (Sault Sainte Marie, MI). We got to watch a ship enter Lake Superior via Soo Lock, where the water level was raised by 21 feet!! to meet the higher Lake Superior water level. Amazing system that was invented and has since been operated for 150 years.
Notice how the ship now sits a lot higher than in the previous picture.
Did we mention we were near freezing? We were facing the north wind at the U.S.-Canadian border.
Before we headed out of town, we had lunch at the Antlers. I think Joe would decorate his den just like this if he can.
On our way home, Joe took the back road to show me his absolute dream car that's been for sale. It's a '79 Camaro in metalic blue. "Dear Santa. Joe's been very, very good this year. He even took Kayo to the B.B.King concert for her birthday. Please give Joe his dream car....."

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Snow, Only a Little

As we promised, here're the photos of SNOW. Just enough snow to cover the cars, lawns, roofs white this morning. We definitely have to get up early once we have enough snow for Joe to snowblow before work!! It looks like it's going to be a sunny day!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Dolled Up II

Got dressed up for another cousin's wedding this weekend. We think we did our share of dressing up for the rest of the year, and maybe part of the next. Again, it was fun to see many of the relatives. This time we didn't have to travel far... phew. Today it started snowing lightly around 11:30 a.m. and didn't stop till about an hour ago. The lawns had turned white. Soon we'll post some photos of snow!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

R-30 Insulation

Not exactly a Halloween photo... but it's Joe putting insulation up in the attic. Well, tonight, he officially finished the big job. Congratulations!! Before, there was practically NO insulation, and now, there's this much. Good job!!!
And this is the view around our neighborhood today. The fall color is almost at its peak. They're forecasting some snow for next week. It's our normal October here.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Dolled Up I

We went to Joe's cousin Gerrud's wedding this weekend. It was 6 hours from here, in the middle of corn fields. Definitely there was autumn in the cool air. Joe remembers visiting his grand parents there and everything being a lot bigger back then. We had a couple of hours between the wedding and the reception and got to have the best ice cream at Purtell's (it was Joe's grandpa's favorite place to eat).We hardly ever get dressed up.... We remembered to use this pearl tie tack my mom gave him (and I had the matching pearl necklace charm on). Anyway, as we expected of the Klumpps (Joe's mom's family), the wedding party continued on till past midnight. We had fun visiting with people and even dancing a little later on (Joe was waiting for slower, danceable tunes).
P.S. It was the close-up picture that made Joe look drunk. He really wasn't drunk.
P.P.S. We have Joe's another cousin's wedding next weekend! We'll get dolled up again!!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Harvest Time, Almost

Yesterday afternoon I harvested our "Sun Gold" mini tomatoes... before chipmunks and frost got to them. They looked so cheerful in the warm sun.
Here's a picture of our grapes. They are getting sweeter as it gets colder outside. We were told that frost will make them even sweeter.....
And this morning, the first day of October, we woke up to our first frost. It must have dipped down to 25 degrees (that's -4 Celsius!) over night. Brrrrrrrrr......