herbs and leaves

The temps finally dipped enough two nights ago where we had a hard freeze. I was amazed to find yesterday that the parsley, sage, rosemary and not thyme, but chives, were still intact and actually looking vibrant.

I know these fresh herbs aren't going to last much longer, especially with tonight's temps going down to 16F, so I gathered what I could.

I froze the herbs using an easy method from Cathy at My 1929 Charmer. Click here for instructions. I know you can finely chop herbs and then put them in ice cube trays with water, but that limits what you can do with the herbs. Sure, it's easy to drop an ice cube into a pot of stew or soup, but what about when I want fresh rosemary for roasted potatoes? Now I can just reach into a freezer bag and pick off what I need, no water involved.

Even the parsley flower buds were put to use...I love the lacey look in an old milk bottle.

The hard freeze made all the difference for the trees. Just a couple of days ago, Brian and I were marveling at all the leaves still clinging to the trees, and yesterday the leaves were fluttering to the ground like raindrops. The huge maple tree across the street is now completely bare, but it sure left a colorful carpet on the ground.

I had put all my leftover baby pumpkins and gourds on a bench in my side yard for the squirrels and with the falling leaves, nature made this beautiful vignette. 

Brian had the day off work a couple of days ago and we took one of our little day trips. We took a walk in our favorite park along Lake Michigan. See how beautiful the trees still were?

And then there's last night's waning light through the now-bare trees, which has a haunting beauty all its own.

It always makes me a little sad to see the bare trees, but then I read somewhere that said we can now see more sky. I try to look for the positives.

It's a cloudy, windy day but I'm bundling up and heading out to the grocery store. I need fresh veggies to make a pot of vegetable soup this afternoon. There's nothing like the aroma of a pot of soup simmering on the stove on these blustery days. And now I'll be able to reach in my freezer and get fresh herbs to use in my soup, too. Doesn't get much better than that.

a whole lotta this and that

 This past weekend when hubby and I were out and about in one of our favorite towns, we stopped in a new french bakery. I thought it was really clever how they had vintage kitchen tools and milk bottles displayed in box frames on the wall.

Don't these croissants look delicious? I had a cup of coffee and...not a croissant, but an eclair. It was different from what we're accustomed to here in America. It was more of a skinny, dense pastry filled with the richest, creamy chocolate I'd ever tasted. Being on the FODMAP diet, I wasn't supposed to have this (gluten; milk chocolate). Silly me thought I'd be OK, especially since the eclair was small. (Justification.) It was delicious going down, but an hour later my stomach was in so much pain, I was almost doubled over. Boy, did I learn my lesson on that one. Definitely not worth it!

   

 We also stopped in one of our favorite vintage and "treasure" shops. It's a consignment shop that will buy your things right then and there and pay you cash. I didn't make a lot of money this go-around, but just enough that I was able to turn around and use that money to buy a few things in the shop. ;-) One of the things I bought was this beautiful necklace...

 and I also found a pure wool plaid blanket in perfect condition. I'm allergic to wool, so I can't use this blanket, but for now it looks nice hung over the chair in Tim's room/the guest room. I'll admire it for a little while, then pass it on to my mom. She was with us while we were shopping and really loved this blanket.

 Speaking of jewelry, Brian surprised me with these earrings the other day. We had been at a friend's Halloween party and her daughter had a bunch of her handmade jewelry there. I was looking through the stash and commented that I thought these earrings were pretty. The next morning when I got up and walked into the kitchen, these earrings were propped up next to my laptop on the kitchen table. I was super surprised because Brian usually doesn't do things like this. He's more of a gift giver for birthdays or Christmas.

 Isn't this a pitiful sight? Leaves all over the ground and patio furniture; hostas drying up. Patio weather is officially over. Cushions are now stored away in the garage and the furniture is bunched up against the house. We'll be covering it all with a tarp as soon as all the leaves are done falling. Brian cleaned out the gutters this weekend and I did a lot of sweeping and leaf-blowing. It's a never-ending job in the fall...it's like shoveling while it's still snowing.

Remember my neighbor's gorgeous maple tree that I've been documenting in photos all fall? This is it today. Almost bare. Another sad sight. And look at that gloomy sky. I think the sun will now be few and far between and gray skies and rain more the norm.

It's been a long time since I've had any red meat and I'm tired of chicken...and seeing I can't have legumes on the FODMAP diet (which I miss very much, especially since I ate mostly vegetarian), I decided to try a pot roast tonight. I smothered it in carrots, parsnips, celery and onion. Onion is another big no-no on FODMAP, but I'm hoping that with picking out the big chunks of onion and eating everything else, my tummy will be OK. The experts say not to even eat anything that's been cooked with onion - not even onion powder! - but I just couldn't see cooking a roast without it. Onion adds so much flavor. I had my meal about 1-1/2 hours ago and so far, I feel fine. 

 Thanks for visiting ~ have a wonderful week!