Tara's 25....again!

It's Tara's birthday today and Luke and I thought we would share 10 random things we love about her!

1. She's funny as hell!

2. She has lot's of converse shoes & hoodies ( I think one of each in every color)

3. Luke would rather be held by her than his own mother.

4. Even when she's not feeling well, she makes sure I am!

5. I get every inside scoop from her & I sometimes even try to pass it off as my own.

6. She has really pretty green eyes.

7. We can laugh together for hours.

8. She is a great listener. People tell her everything, even when she doesn't ask.

9.  She takes care of Luke better than I do.

10. Her food routines are even more regimented than mine. She has been eating the same things for years.

11. she is my bestest friend!

Stoop-or-treat

This was our first year trick-or-treating in quite some time. I unfortunately remember being one of those annoying teenagers who trick-or-treated well past the age they should have, painting my face as a poor excuse for a costume, just for candy. There were certainly plenty of those kids out last night, but it only enhanced the energy of the neighborhood. The typical crowds of adults were replaced by costumed kids running up and down stoops yelling trick-or-treat. The beautiful brownstones with their grandiose stoops served as amazing backdrops for the jack-o-lanterns, costumes, and kids. I wish Luke could spend more of his Halloween's here, I loathe the idea that next year he might be going store to store in the local mall.

I also can't help but fear that Luke will someday want a store bought costume instead of a homemade one.

Pies and music

Every year we attend the chili/pie cook-off, and every year I am determined my pies will win. I thought this would definitely be my year, it was probably the last I would enter, and I was entering two pies, the stars would absolutely align on this one. This year, over twenty pies were entered. Chocolate pies, berry pies, and way too many to compete with, apple pies, including mine. Sadly, my pies did not win, although they should have. I mean, who are these pie judges anyway? They picked a peanut butter fluff pie, surely the judges from Top Chef with their finely tuned pallets would have picked my fudge pecan and caramel apple pies as the standouts in the competition.  I was so sure I would win, I even had Tom snap this photo of me before we left, ready for the cook-off logo to be photoshopped in just so I could have a picture of me with my winning pie before it was gone.

One of them should at least have won for presentation, although that wasn't a category.
(mine are the first two).

How did the carmel apple pie win the 2003 pie bake off for the food network and not win the park slope ward pie bake off?  Tart apples, yummy crust, with a layer of english toffee? Click here for the recipe. I suppose it was cheating kinda, but its not like any of us are chefs, the recipes had to come from somewhere. But the fudge pecan pie recipe comes from my mom, although she probably got it from somewhere or someone too.

Fudgy Pecan Pie

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)
1 package of (4 oz) German sweet chocolate
1/4 cup butter
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup water
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling
1 cup cold milk
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup whipped topping

Whipped topping
1 cup whipping cream
1 T. confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy duty foil. Bake at 450 for 5 minutes. Remove foil and set shell aside. Reduce heat to 375. In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat;stir in milk and water. Add a small amount of hot chocolate mixture to eggs;return all to pan. Stir in vanilla and salt. Pour into shell;sprinkle with nuts. Cover edges with foil. Bake for 35 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Ina mixing bowl, beat milk and pudding mix until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over nut layer; cover and refrigerate. In a mixing bowl beat cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and vanilla, beating until stiff peaks form. Spread over pudding layer. Refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.

In addition to not winning the pie contest, I also forgot to add the honey to my corn bread, and broke a string on my violin. I wait all year to make and eat this cornbread, its much to dangerous to make more often than once, and I just plain forgot.  I was so sad as I sat down to eat it with my chili.  As for the music and my string, a group of us get together once a month and "jam". We usually play our own variations on pieces from the Arcade Fire, Beirut, Wilco, etc. but for the event we decided to keep it real with Give Said the Little Stream, My Darlin' Clementine, and B.I.N.G.O., you know, for the kids. I had to cut my solos down with the absence of my string, but overall it was fun, and the crowd went crazy. This clip is a tiny snippet of what we played.

Meet my replacements

About every four years I replace my boots. This can get tricky because boot trends seem to change each year. Pointy toe, round toe, pirate boot, wedge boot, skinny heel, stacked heel......this could get very dangerous for me. So every fall I make the decision to either stick with my current boots or invest in a new pair for the next 3-4 years, knowing that I need to pick a pair, or two, that will carry me through the trends.

So here they are, my replacements.

These are almost like the pair I wore to death last winter. They are more of my every day boot, jeans tucked in, sweatshirt, comfortable,  don't have to think about  it, you know, a winter staple.

And these are my drool worthy boots. I am hoping to get a lot of wear out of them over my lifetime. But I can imagine just staring at them all day instead. This is my favorite color for any shoe, I like to call it cognac. I always recommend having a sandal, heel, flat boot, and even heeled boot in cognac. It goes with everything and its just so pretty.

I have fallen in love all over again......

After several months of it being "misplaced".
Funny how a ring can mean so much in so many ways.