Missing Willow Farm

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A few months ago, my daughter Tracy and I planned to meet in NYC to see Evita which is back on Broadway.  Little did we know that Hurricane Sandy would hit the region just four days prior to our visit.  We carefully watched the news for updates.  Our hotel had power and LaGuardia and Broadway reopened so we decided to go for it.  Our biggest concern was getting from the airport into midtown since not all bridges and tunnels were reopened and there were massive images of gridlock on the news.  We opted for a city bus to a subway station and an hour later we were in our hotel.  The city was encouraging people to use public transportation so our trip was  free.
The first thing we did was head for NBC to get standby tickets for the Jimmy Fallon show.  We got tickets #92 and 93 but were not discouraged because we figured some folks with regular tickets would not be able to make it into the city. With standby tickets in hand, we headed for indian food and saw Lucy Liu walking her dog.  We snuck a bad cell phone photo of her.  🙂  After lunch we headed to the Museum of Modern Art where we got in for free (IBM is a corporate sponsor).  Then it was time to line up for our standby tickets and we got in!  NBC was filming the hurricane benefit concert just across the hall.  When Jimmy Fallon’s band was announced, who walks in with them but Sting!  He sang “Walking on the Moon” then went back to the benefit.  The guests that night were Christina Aguilera and Colin Quinn.  A night to remember!

On Saturday, we headed to NBC again and were in the Today Show audience.  We stood right next to Lenny.  Did you see us? 😀  From there, we headed to the Museum of Natural History (free again) for a few hours.  We opted to get cheap evening Evita tickets so we could cram a second show in and caught a really great matinee performance of Chicago.  On Sunday, we crammed as much of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (thanks IBM!) as we could before heading back to the airport.

Tracy just started her second trimester, so this was a very special trip (yep, we’re going to be grandparents!).  We crammed a LOT into two memorable mother daughter days.  Now Claire and I need to decide on a magical destination.

Dropping a toy isn’t a skill that Jack has learned yet but we’re working on it.  He so very loves to play, though.

I made this for Brian’s birthday this past weekend.  He sometimes asks for a pie of some sort but the apples are so beautiful right now I’m glad he selected this for dessert.

3 large honey crisp apples
1 bag of Kraft caramels
1 bag of  Ghiardelli dark chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla or vanilla bean paste

Wash apples and set them on parchment paper. Microwave the caramels and corn syrup on medium power at 30 second intervals until the caramels melt. Stir in vanilla. Spoon over the apples then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on medium power at 30 second intervals until melted. Spoon over the cooled apples. At this point, you can also add nuts, sprinkles, candies if you like.  Brian likes his plain.  A quarter apple is the perfect serving size.

The sauerkraut I made this summer with cabbage from our garden is really delicious!  It’s going to be an annual process here on the farm.  Those are James Beard nominee Craig Deihl’s handmade bratwursts in the pan.  We’ve managed to snag three of his artisan meat shares this year, despite the fact that his restaurant is 6 hours from here and he doesn’t ship.  If you’re within striking distance of Charleston, SC, it’s an amazing treat!

Chicken feathers can be just beautiful.  I can’t have a peacock *pout* so these have to suffice for pretty birds around here.

Tis the season again.  We just filled two raised beds with garlic.  If you want to give it at try, grab some from your kitchen and plant individual cloves about 2 inches deep with the pointy side up.  Wait six months.  Enjoy!

Tomorrow night at 10PM on Bravo (October 24th) check out Life After Top Chef.  You’ll see two former Top Chef All Stars contestants visit a sheep farm in rural SW Virginia.  The episode is titled Shear Today, Gone To Marrow.  You might see someone you know…. just sayin’

Fog rolls off our pond and up the driveway and beyond.  So pretty… and creepy.

This is how we watch TV.  Bindi’s not happy unless her hiney is in someone’s face.

We try not to let anything go to waste around here.  When a few of our mini pumpkins got a little wilted, we took them to the hens to see if they’d enjoy them.  These were gone in a few minutes with just a tiny bit of fighting and arguments.