Ms. Cleaver Chronicles

Happy Hallowe’en!

This is my costume for today – not so much a costume as my actual clothes, but hey. Whatever works right?

It was really nice earlier this afternoon, so I’ll take you on a pumpkin tour of our neighborhood.

Two posts in a week? This hasn’t happened in quite some time! But I had some new FOs that I couldn’t wait to share. The outfit shown above is Leah-made from head to toe, (well – I didn’t cobble the shoes).

The sweater is a Forecast that I finished last fall when I first moved back to Maine. I never took finished photos of it because it was too small and I wanted to reblock, which I did about 2 weeks ago. The sweater didn’t get any better fitting (it’s a bit short and a bit tight – becuase honestly, I made it a size too small on accident), but I wear it all the time anyway and it worked with the outfit.

The skirt is a 1/2 circle skirt made in vintage (and admittedly ever so slightly moth-eaten) wool I purchased at the same time I got the fabric for this skirt (which I guess I never blogged about).  The pattern is Simplicity 2758 and was a simple and quick pattern. You can’t see it on the photo, but there’s also some nice button/tab detailing at the waist. Though I have to say that I keep making these skirts with waistband detailing, but I almost never wear skirts in a way where the waistband is visible. Ah well.

The final part of the outfit and the one I’m most excited about is my first pair of hand-knit knees highs. It’s another Knitty pattern, Clessidra, and it has a lot of great details and a good fit (though you have to size down your needles on the heels).

One of my knitting buddies comments on how she likes my use of props/styling in my knit photos and wanted to know what was the plan for these socks. I was trying to go for autumnal Library/Den feel. And in case anyone is wondering the books are Alice In Wonderland, Jane Eyre (which I’m currently reading)/Wuthering Heights, something called Wild Wild World I picked up at a vintage book sale because I thought it was pretty and the Letters of Lewis Carroll vols. I and II.

And if I don’t catch you tomorrow  – Happy Halloween!

When Mr. Cleaver and  I went apple picking a few weeks back, we came home with 21 pounds of apples. For two people.

What did we do with them all?

2 Quarts Apple Sauce and 1.5 Pints Apple Butter;

3 Fat Apple Pies;

3 apples for my mother-in-law and 3 apples for my lunch.

All in all not a bad haul! It took one day to do all the canning and another day for the pies. It was a lot of work, but I’ll happily be eating apples until next September!

Though this is my fourth year making apple pies, this is the first year I worked out a recipe that I was totally happy with. In the past, my pies had ended up too watery, but with a few tweaks to some recipes from family and friends, I think we’ve ended up with something delicious!

Streusel Apple Pie

Crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 6 full Tbl cold water

Filling:

• 6 apples of choice ( I love jonagolds and rome beauties best – but any firm and tart apple will do).
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbl lemon juice
• 1/3 cup flour

Streusel

• 3 Tbl butter (softened)
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F

Make crust by mixing together flour and salt. Cut shortening into flour mixture with a pastry cutter or some forks.  Add cold water until dough holds together. Form dough into two flattened balls, wrap in plastic wrap and store in fridge until filling is prepared.

Peel, core, and slice apples. In a large bowl, mix apples, lemon juice, sugar and spices. Add flour until a thin sauce is formed from the juices. Set filling aside.

Removed chilled dough from fridge and roll out into a top and bottom crust.

Place bottom crust in  9 inch round pie pan (metal or glass) and fill with apples, heaping up in center. Cover apples with top crust. Top can be latticed or vented with several cuts through the top.

For streusel, cut together softened butter, flour and brown sugar with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle streusel over top of pie.

Bake pie at for 40-50 or until filling bubbles and top is brown.

Cool, slice and enjoy!

2008

2009

As part of our anniversary celebrations, Mr. Cleaver and I once again went to Mt. Bradbury, the site of our first date. We’re creatures of habit, what can I say?

Other than my having more hair, I’d say we look about the same.

And early October is a great time to go the mountain, because the color is peaking and the view are lovely. As you’ll see below, we weren’t the only ones with the idea.

And speaking of anniversaries – it’s my 2-year blogaversary! I want to say a big thank you to all of my readers – thanks for hanging in there with me!

With four apple picking adventures under our belt, I present the Cleaver’s Guide to a Successful Apple Harvest Trip:

1. Pick a beautiful fall day

2. Get apple cider doughnuts first. It’s no good picking on an empty stomach.

3. Eye your prey

4. Don’t be afraid to use tools to get the best fruits.

5. Pick the Most Photogenic Wagon to Haul your Harvest

6. Don’t be so focused on the apples that you miss out on other marvels.

7. Waste Not, Want Not. Rotten apples explode fabulously when flung from a slingshot.

8. You’re never too old for a petting zoo.

9. And never too big to stop being silly.

10. Pick up more apple cider doughnuts on the way out. It’s only once a year!

Happy Anniversary Mr. Cleaver!

As if the Common Ground Fair on Sunday wasn’t enough, this Thursday I skipped work an hour early and Mr.Cleaver and I headed to the Cumberland County Fair.

There were cute kids on rides (check out the tongue action on this “Biker Chick”):

Fair Food for Dinner:

Prize Winners:

Cute Animals:

4-H Pig Races (worth the price of admission alone):

an International Ox Pull

and sneaking it all in before it started to rain.

With a rainy Saturday, the Mr. and I took a trip over to Westbrook for Candlepin Bowling and $2.25 worth of Pinball: