An Apple A Day & Lil' Sebastian Returns!

This weekend has been action packed with goodness. 

Exhibit A: Planning a little baby shower with tasty treats

 For this cute girl

Exhibit B: Apple picking and DELICIOUS apple donut eating at Erwin Orchards

 

 (it was so windy, the picnic area looked like a parachute gone wild, stakes flying all over the place)

Warren found a new friend:

 ...and scampered up the apple trees like a little squirrel

 And of course we had to visit the baby nubian goats

 And Warren made another buddy

And we watched everyone chase this mini hog:

 Warren attempted to befriend a mini llama because it looked like him (lots of curly hair)

 But the llama ran away repeatedly (you can see the striking resemblance in their profiles here:)

 But finally, his dream came true--llama hug!

 

Most importantly, we got to meet Lil' Sebastian! He lives! It's true, we have an obsession with mini animals. But, come on, remember the cuteness that was Sunbun and Crew?

 Exhibit C: Warren's nephew mailed us Flat Stanley for a school project. Flat Stanley is invited to visit friends and family to see famous landmarks. So this afternoon we took Flat Stanley on a vacation to....

 CANADA! Well, the river walk in Windsor to see the Detroit skyline. But very exotic, yes?

We also took Flat Stanley to this awesome Dearborn site.

All in all, a pretty good weekend. Finally, I am in love with fall. And Michigan's fall does not disappoint, even though it's very short. What fall adventures have you gone on?

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Cake Monster (and other news)

We celebrated Warren's 32nd birthday this weekend with an epic cake inspired by this beaut at Sprinkles Bakes (your life will change after seeing her creations). Since Warren's favorite candy is Reese's Pieces I knew, no matter how monstrous the task was, it had to be done. Yes, it took two days of oven hovering, freezing, and frosting but man, oh man, was it worth it. 

 We had some friends come over to help us eat the monster. Though they liked the cake, we're glad (sad?) to say that the kids just wanted to eat all of our apples and fruit instead...

 Here is the beastly thing all dissected. Yes, those are layers of chocolate cake, Reese's-studded cheesecake, and dulce de leche caramel flecked with peanut halves and smothered in a pound of chocolate ganache.

 Just for funsies, I baked this cake for a little dinner we had with some friends. This is the first cake I've ever made from scratch and layered--with seven minute frosting too! It was excellent practice for the Reese's behemoth. Is it sad that I'm so proud of it? I used this Smitten Kitchen recipe. Pure gold.

As an early birthday present, we saw Beethoven's 9th--one of Warren's favorite pieces--at the Dearborn Symphony. It was a delight. I'll post about some of our other fall adventures in a bit but the final bit of good news for this post is that the newest issue of New Letters has hit the stands! I'm so pleased that my essay found a home in such a lovely, well-curated magazine. The folks at New Letters were a dream to work with, despite my email switcheroo that threw things for a loop. Sycamore Review, an amazing journal out of Purdue, also took a chance and published a weird little lyric essay called "Go So Hae." The editors were amazing and gave wonderful feedback. I can't tell you how happy all this makes me. Hip hip hooray!

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September? How?

School started this week and, like everyone else, we've been weeping over the loss of summer. Here in Dearborn, it is officially sweater weather. It's rained for the past week and temperatures are in the totally manageable 60s, a vast improvement from the muggy 90s we slogged through. We've been up to a whole lot of shenanigans since I last wrote, like a cross country roadtrip to my brother's wedding (which included a random detour to Montana, naturally), but for now, here are some photos of our Motown Summer Highlights. 

1. PhD'd (and Master'd)! Warren's dad framed our diplomas--didn't he do such a great job?

2. The Dollar Theater of Allen Park! We have seen a butt load of terrible movies, and the very awesome Fast Five. Highly recommend it :)

3. Eastern Market's Supino Pizza! If you know me, you know my love for pizza. This stuff is exquisite. 

4. Backyard croqueting! With the $3 set I scored at a garage sale.

5. International day trips! If you come to visit, get your passport ready--Windsor, Canada is just a few minutes away from Detroit. 

6. A Canadian lighthouse! We picknicked near this quaint little number.

7. Awesome Detroit skyline views! Thanks, Windsor River View Walk. You're a pal. 

8. The famous John King's Bookstore! A vast maze of used books, i.e. our heaven.

9. Ram crashing through building! Or, my favorite Dearborn sight.

10. Detroit's lovely Fillmore!

 ...where you can race little "brush-bots" you build

 ...that look like these (toothbrush heads with beeper batteries taped to them)

11. Friends! Amanda is on her way to the great cheese state of Wisconsin and stopped by for a few days. It was the bomb dot com, with an obscene amount of food.

12. Ribs!

13. And Tina Turner Karaoke...all at Eastern Market!

14. Old timey hats at Greenfield Village!

and last but not least... 15. Homemade icecream--well frozen mango yogurt! (Thanks Elizabeth :)

And there you have it, folks, summer in a blog post. What were some of your summer highlights? If you feel inclined, please write a 500 word essay entitled "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," elementary-school style :) Those were the days...

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Writing Prompts & Food

Like most blogs, this one has fallen into a mighty lapse. So for the next month (mostly to help keep me on a regular writing schedule), I'm going to post a few writing prompts that I've assigned my delightful students. I'd love to see what you guys make of it--plus, if you have any suggestions that a flock of fledgling essayists might enjoy, send them my way!

In other news, Warren and I have been attempting to become adults, which includes learning how to cook. One of my goals for the next few months is to actually build up some food storage (yes, kind of boring) but also to cook with it using the 80/10 rule: cook meals with 80% pantry items, 10% produce, meat, etc. We'll see how I do, but hopefully this blog will help me to become a more disciplined writer and a more enterprising cook! Any tips would be much appreciated :)

Prompt 1: List Makers
Watch the following video (via Nic Nacks, a lovely blog by a lovely lady)

Think about the following line: "Maybe the world breaks on purpose so we can have work to do." Then compose a one page list of the broken things in your world (anything from broken faucets to relationships). Compose another list of things that are on the mend or mended. See if any patterns emerge and write a short paragraph with the backstory for one of your listed items. Try to use vivid language to flesh out the scene or character.

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