Monday, October 26, 2020

T Stands for Some of Last Week's Highlights (Again)

 Hi everyone. Can you believe this is the last T day for October? I really don't know where this month has gone as it wasn't it just  the first T day of the month?

It's been a very  dark and wet Monday. But I just saw the forecast for the end of the week and right now they are talking some snow.  NOOOOOO!

We had some grey and wet weather a couple of days last week so I did a bit of baking. Since there were no more Trader Joe's pumpkin cookies in the house (thanks to the dogs who ate them all-ha-ha), I decided to make some homemade cookies.  You can see my drink for T in this first photo, as well as my sugar cookie dough and supplies.


Don't forget to stop by for T at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog where we share our drink related posts.

After I made my dough I added in some yellow and copper colored food coloring and hand mixed it a bit to marble the colors.  Then I added some yellow and orange sugar on them.

I also made some shortbread with stamped some Halloween images as well as some colorful sugar too.


And this week I noticed some spelt flour at the grocery store. I had found a recipe for honey spelt sourdough bread and have been wanting to try it, so I bought the flour. Here's my results.


It was suppose to make 1 large loaf, but instead I made 2 smaller loaves. I must say this recipe is now one of my favorites. It's from King Arthur Baking Company if you're interested.

Sorry for any temptation I might have caused some of you. Time to get out of the kitchen and onto other things.

My daisy like chrysanthemums are blooming. 



They always bloom right around Halloween. 
The first clump of these  particular plants came out of my mother's garden years ago, and her plants came out my grandmother's garden years before that. They are really a heirloom variety,   The draught didn't seem to affect them this year either. It's nice to enjoy some blooms when everything else is dying back.

And hurrah! My husband volunteered to powerwash the garden fence for me. That saved me hours of work.


Now it's ready to be painted. Hopefully I can get to that before the snow falls. I don't think it will be this week though with rain predicted. Pluviophiles (thanks Iris for the new word the other day) will be happy, as will all the plants!

Leaves are falling too.


 I'll wrap up my post with some autumn color.
Last Thursday I had to go to Portsmouth for an appointment. I took the backroads home instead of the highway as I wanted enjoy the scenery a bit.
On this trip I ended up on what's called the New Durham Ridge. I live here in New Durham, and the Ridge is across town and as the name suggests, a long high hilltop. On the top of the ridge where 2 roads intersect, there is an amazing viewpoint. With some colors in the remaining leaves and sky just right, it WAS beautiful. 




The mountains look like a painted backdrop, don't they? 
And that's all she wrote. Hope you have or are having a great T day.
As always, thanks for visiting.




22 comments:

Mae Travels said...

Beautiful fall colors in your last few photos! I love the maple leaf effect you achieved on the cookies, too. I hope your dogs don't get those.

be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Kate Yetter said...

Wow, those mountains are so beautiful! What a gorgeous picture.

Your bread looks and sounds delicious. I happen to have some spelt flour in my pantry. I just looked up the recipe and will certainly be giving it a try. Also, your cookies are so pretty and the perfect bake for such an overcast and dark Monday.

Happy Tea Day,
Kate

Linda Kunsman said...

Your cookies look wonderful and perfect for now! And the bread too of course. I made some cheddar biscuits for a vegetarian chili I made over the weekend - but didn't think about pics;)

We still NEED to buy a power washer and I just added it onto hubby's list (again).
Beautiful New England autumn scenery. Happy T day!

kathyinozarks said...

I always forget to make fall cookies-I love yours-and you reminded me that I have a halloween shortbread pan that I always forget that I have-I will dig that out tomorrow. your bread looks delicious. when I first figured out I had celiac (no gluten) I was baking with spelt flour allot-it is a really nice flour makes awesome pizza crusts but it ended up having too much gluten in it for me--I love your fall colors, we may get our first freeze this week, how awesome your Husband washed the fence for you. Happy T wishes hugs Kathy

ashok said...

Beautiful post erika

Iris Flavia said...

Oh, no, no snow, but :-) But YES for rain!
Though I don´t like sweets the cookies look just right for the season.
Yay for Hubbies who do the "nasty" work! (Bet they even have fun doing that!).
Beautiful scenery and a happy T-day to you!

Valerie-Jael said...

Wonderful photos. Your cookies look great, naughty dogs to eat all the other ones. I must have an invisible dog here who oes the same with my cookies! Happy T Day, hugs, Valerie

CJ Kennedy said...

The cookies and bread look delicious and you kitchen must smell awesome. Nice of Hubby to power wash the fence for you. Himself washed all the windows. Still lots of color and leaves in your neck of the woods. I'm trying not to think about the weather prediction for Friday. Take care and Happy T Day

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Your cookies look quite festive and perfect for the Fall season. Yesterday NOAA said snow as far south as MA, today they're saying NH and Maine. Who knows what it will be on Friday. Ugh. It's nice to see flowers blooming in your yard. Some of my hanging baskets (which I moved onto the ground near my shed) are still getting flowers. Happy T-Day!

Karen said...

Beautiful autumn colors in the trees and yummy fall themed cookies ~ I love how you captured all the different leaves falling in your yard. Happy fence painting and Halloween wishes ~ Love, Karen

DVArtist said...

Cookies and bread how can you go wrong with those? LOL It has turned cold here but we rarely get snow. I do not want to ever live in snow again. LOL Lovely photos and hurray for hubby.

Eileen Bergen said...

I love how you marbled the fall colors in the maple leaf cookies, Erika. The spiders are neat too. I've never tasted anything made with spelt flour. Only one kind of flour - plain old white - available in our local stores.

Power washing the fence - brilliant! I can hear your sigh of relief.

The landscape photos are beautiful. They do look like paintings.

Happy T-Day. Stay safe and stay well. Hugs, Eileen

Divers and Sundry said...

Your cookies and bread look delicious. I can almost feel the warmth of your oven :) Your mums do look like daisies! What a wonderful addition to a fall garden. Your husband has definitely earned brownie points. What a thoughtful thing for him to do. That's such a scenic Autumn landscape. I especially love that last one where you framed it with that branch on the left. Nice! Happy T Tuesday!

Let's Art Journal said...

Wow, the autumn trees look such amazing colours this year! I loved seeing your photos, thanks for sharing those falling leaves - perfect 😀. So nice of your hubby to clean the fence for you and I hope that you don't get the snow forecast so you can get painting ...lol! Spelt bread is one of my favourites and I'll happily join you for a cookie or two, the ones without spiders please - eek! Take care and happy T Day wishes! Hugs, Jo x

craftytrog said...

Delicious looking cookies and bread Erika! xx

Lowcarb team member said...

I love this post, it's full of great food and photographs.
The views are amazing and the colours a delight, nature at its best :)

All the best Jan

LA Paylor said...

re writing my comment...
artful cookies, beautiful views and a smiling good man!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I am leaving this generic message for everyone who visited and participated in T Tuesday. I want to thank you for visiting. You may have noticed I was offline off and on for three days. I kept losing electricity. Each time, I was able to visit a few people before the electricity went out again. The third time, I was leaving a comment for Valerie when I heard a huge BOOM. There was a flash of light, the windows and walls shook. It felt like an earthquake to me, but it only lasted a second or two. I believe they have finally fixed the electricity in my neighborhood. I won’t know until I get to explore the internet, but it may have been very local. I know I saw two bucket trucks driving up my street less than an hour after it happened. With no heat, the temperatures both nights dipped into the mid-20s F (low 4s C). Thanks for your participation and thanks for hopefully understanding why I was unable to visit for T this week.

Jeanie said...

Oh, your baking looks so gloriously delicious. May I come to have tea? And those vistas are remarkable. You live in a wonderful part of the world.

Lisca said...

Spelt bread, short bread and cookies! Wow, you have been busy! It all looks very delicious.
Your heirloom chrysanthemums are beautiful and to think they came from your grandmother's garden!
Good ol' hubby, power cleaning the fence. Most men love playing with the power washer. (I know mine does)
The view from New Durham Ridge sure is beautiful.
Sorry I'm late (again)
Happy belated T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca

Sharon Madson said...

All your baked goods look delicious! Lovely backdrop of the the mountains.
Have a lovely week.

Sharon Madson said...

All your baked goods look delicious! Lovely backdrop of the the mountains.
Have a lovely week.