sunday: breakfast, baking and brunch

 last night morgana mixed chia seeds with coconut milk for us to have at breakfast this morning.

 she also made a cranberry fruit compote to go with it. then she and chanda went uptown to see two young friends of ours before they return to england. their family moved to winchester just this summer but still have an apartment here (which i think they are subletting). chanda used to teach the younger girl ballet and creative dance on the weekends. 

 i went out to get the ingredients to make several pumpkin pies.

this is the second time i've used my mom's mixmaster that i brought back from her house. in the past i've enjoyed using hand mixers, but the last hand mixer i purchased has too powerful a speed and everything flies out of the bowl (even on the lowest setting).

 morgana made a salad for lunch with the fresh treviso radicchio and hain cabbage i bought from the green market on saturday.

 the finished pie which was served with whipped cream.

 we had a very nice lunch together . . 

and then played several different games . . this one is called jungle speed and i was too slow at matching the cards and grabbing the stick. i would have to play it more in order to improve . . but i don't know if i like it enough to play again. of course, i would only start to like it more if i was better at it . .

 we also played bananagrams, which greg, morgana, chanda and i have been playing all week.

 catch phrase . . i think this game is the most fun as you play in teams. it's similar to charades but it's the game box that gives you the phrase which you then describe to your partner (without using any words within the phrase itself). korrina and brian won a round, as did morgana and i.

 on to "may i." it was brian's first time playing this game and he caught on fast; so fast that he won two of the hands! we're keeping score in a notebook as there are still three or four more hands to go.

 when chanda came home from rehearsal she finally received her christmas gift from korrina: a pair of warm-up slippers to go over her ballet shoes when she has a show. they're incredibly beautiful. i love the colors and the pattern korrina chose. the yarn is shepherd's wool from stonehedge fiber mill. i think she bought it at the sheep and wool festival.

they have the same pudgy feet, which my cousin cindy has too, so i'm always saying that it must be inherited from the german side of the family.

 getting ready to go . . morgana was going out to buy more cream cheese so we could bake more pies . . !

 greg woke from his nap to have a cup of coffee . . . and to run out to staples to get chanda a new phone charger.

 korrina's latest knitted garments: a brioche pattern hat (her own design) and a "pralines" shawl with knitpicks capretta yarn, and artyarns merino cloud. 

good night! (i have no idea what they were discussing . . i think it was about a computer game).

tuesday, wednesday and thursday

 sunday night was difficult because my sister called to say that she and my brother-in-law had to take my father to the hospital. we had no idea what was wrong and the doctors actually thought we were going to lose him. we were all upset and monday morning chanda, morgana and i drove up to connecticut. we found him sitting up in a chair next to the hospital bed looking better than we've seen him in months. now it has been determined that he was severely dehydrated, and since they've replenished his fluids, he's doing much better. however, he still doesn't have an appetite and they are considering giving him a medication to stimulate it. i'll go up again tomorrow with korrina to give my sister a break from the hospital visits, and to see when they will release him.

chanda carted her pumpkin up to connecticut and then back home again as we came home earlier than planned. morgana was suffering from an allergic reaction on her face to some spicy food she ate saturday night and i wanted her to see our family doctor. she'll be fine but has to let everything run it's course. she took benadryl for a few nights, but is doing much better now.

on tuesday chanda carved out a cat . . 

 i like the ears . . 

 this pumpkin lasted a long time out in our hallway, but it's starting to look a little sad now from the warm weather we've been having.

 hermione likes her chair and doesn't like when she has to share it with other creatures.

 lunch today was a concoction morgana would eat in austria: homemade bread with a slice of ham, pineapple and cheddar cheese. it was very good!

 and dessert was the pumpkin pie i finally made yesterday.

i almost forgot to take a picture. we ate it so fast.

friday field trip and afternoon baking

 we were out early this morning for a school performance at the new victory theatre on 42nd street.

 today the isango ensemble from cape town, south africa, performed mozart's the magic flute with an orchestra of marimbas. it was a heartfelt and honest and incredibly unique production. i can still hear the singers' beautiful voices in my head. it was very different and fun to see. i've really loved these first two shows at the new vic this year. sometimes the productions are a little too loud and slick for me, but the magic flute and the old man and the old moon were warm and earthy with important messages of adventure, heroism, and being true to one's self. you can learn about the isango ensemble and see some of their pieces here.

 it was a grey day when we emerged from the theatre and the light downtown accented the green of the trees and the red brown brick of the buildings.

 jefferson market with a grey, rainy looking sky. chanda went to a private ballet lesson with her dance teacher and korrina and i went home.

 i baked another pie. we had puree leftover from chanda's pumpkin and i had promised her that i would use it. i added a little butternut squash to it.

the texture was a little different as i mixed the cream cheese with the pumpkin first, rather than the sugar. it was more grainy, not as smooth. i minded, but no one else seemed to.

celebrating thanksgiving with pumpkin pie

i perused all my pumpkin pie recipes and found one from last year which i had copied from the internet. i think it was from foodnetwork, though it could have been from cooks.com. it calls for cream cheese, and it has become my favorite pumpkin pie recipe. i made it this year with buttermilk rather than half and half and it was so good that i really need to make another soon!