the cookies

with nuts on the left; just chips on the right.

it's difficult to only eat a few . . 

sunday morning poem - and baking, cleaning and a walk

 

a poet's cat, sedate and grave

as poet well could wish to have

was much addicted to inquire

for nooks to which she might retire,

and where, secure as mouse in chink,

she might repose, or sit and think.

from "the retired cat"

by william cowper (1731-1800)

cat poems, page 84, new directions, 2018

----

we had a big breakfast this morning before going our separate ways for the day. chanda went to see a movie with her friends (a documentary titled the history of concrete) and greg and i worked out the area we want to paint in the bathroom so i know how much paint to get. he then vacuumed and dusted and straightened up the large bedroom while i baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies (some with walnuts) which i've been wanting to do for two weeks now, ever since our neighbor was nice enough to watch the cats while we were away at the house.  

the cats had to be put away as they became uncontrollable when i unwrapped the butter for the cookie dough.

it gets dark earlier and earlier each evening . . 

we still have many green trees . . 

and the berries are out (but not sure what plant this is) . . 

goldenrod still in bloom . . 

goldenrod gone to seed . . 

the oaks and maples are beginning to turn . .

spiders and skeletons seem to be the main theme for halloween decorations this year . . 

and many, many gourds . . 

brunch and cooking with the rascals

 

breakfast at oscar's . . i was too cold this morning to walk a half hour to square diner for the buckwheat pancakes i really wanted. i had a delicious waffle instead with butter, maple syrup, bacon and fresh orange juice. greg had eggs benedict with salmon.

(pinocchio has lost his head.)

greg is looking up information about john locke. he's been reading an essay concerning human understanding. 

zuzu kept me company while i made ratatouille. i had to confine her and cricket in the bedroom while i made chocolate chip cookies, however. they cannot keep themselves from attacking the butter.

cricket joined us for a little while.

zuzu is staring at the radio. she sometimes pretends that i can't see her with her head turned away.

walking milly, neighborhood puppets and plum cake

 

my milly pics of the day:

ready for the walk!

passing another fluffy pup . . 

looking for the treats i have in my pocket . . 

and ready for one last treat after a successful outing.

every other tuesday i pick up fresh veggies from a local program similar to the one i used to do with korrina, and i always pass the puppets created by ralph lee that are on display (my friend ron used to work with his puppets years ago with the mettawee river theatre company). 

(ellen uses several ralph lee masks for her dance titled "rainforest.")

do you think i put too many pats of butter on my plum cake?

well, it tasted delicious!

september 11

 i alternated between watching the buglisi table of silence dance this morning (streaming from lincoln center), and the reading of the names (streaming from the memorial; read these stories from the gothamist to hear from people remembering their experiences from that time - i found them very moving and wise) before going out to meet deychen at chanda's work (where she's a barista). it was good to see deychen and hear about her august performances this summer in two shakespeare plays in vermont. she's excited because in december a play she worked on in the spring is being produced again at the public theatre. i'll have to go and see it now (greg and chanda were able to go in the spring when it was performing uptown). she'll also be doing some get out the vote work in october. she is also now part of the food coop! (and owes a shift, as does chanda! greg and i were encouraging chanda to call her and sign up for a shift together.)

i walked over to jefferson market with her and then headed east to veniero's to get rainbow and chocolate dipped jam filled cookies to take to adam this weekend. i put some aside for chanda also. she doesn't like the double chocolate mint cookies i made because i put walnuts in them. she and adam are not fans of nuts in cookies, cakes and muffins. morgan made a plum cake sans cinnamon as a facial allergy was acting up. i haven't seen the prune plums yet at my green market. i think i need to be a little more observant this coming week as it's prime time for them and they should be prevalent.

photos morgan sent . . 

looks delicious . . 

and my cookies (we've been playing may i this week and so far i've been in the lead!).

holiday preparations

 
sunrise this morning . . 

stollen and tea today for breakfast . . 

and before running off to work (and doing her laundry) chanda helped with making biscotti.

cricket was able to stay in the kitchen and help also as there wasn't any butter or cream in the cookies, just eggs . . and he wasn't interested in eggs.

it's late. i'm very tired. i just got off the phone with korrina. she was home . . and i called to see if she had any biscotti baking tips for me as i overcooked my biscotti because i thought the inner part wasn't well done enough. they are too hard right now, though still very tasty! this has happened often. i remember my mom biting into a biscotti one year and saying, i'm going to break my teeth on these! every time she said that, i would say, dunk it! (in her tea or coffee). korrina remembers this also. i think i put in too many chopped almonds and hazelnuts. it made the dough too dense. they were perfect last year! i hope we eat all of these so i can try making another batch.

i did many many other things, but there's still much to do.

good night!

an early start to saturday, santa lucia day

 
sunrise this morning . . 

i let my lussekatt dough rise overnight (in the back bedroom with the door closed so the cats wouldn't get to it) and i baked it around 6:30 am as i was up for the second time during the night cleaning up after pluto (he's had terrible loose stools after taking some medication that was supposed to help his irritable bowel syndrome).

saffron buns are always the best fresh out of the oven.

cricket and zuzu kept an eye on me while we waited for the buns to be done . . pluto was on the floor looking up at me . . hoping for any food that i might be kind enough to give him.

i made myself coffee too, and listened to the quiet of the apartment building in the early morning.

baking moon honey cookies

cricket's morning shenanigans!

morgan was determined to bake our horn of the moon honey cookies (as i'd been asking for them all week, and it would be good to take a batch home to london).

since there was so much butter involved, we had to put the other two away (so all cats received a puzzle).

fini! delizioso!

saying good-bye at the airport . .  

i always get so sad at this point . .

stopping at dna diner for soup and a baked potato (a turkey wrap for greg).

greg, ron, andy and i called this diner the dna diner as they had a chandelier that looked like dna (back in the day when we lived together on 78th street by 14th avenue).

next stop: manhattan.