Petra the Puppy!!!

As a lot of you know- we got a wonderful little puppy last week! She is a Schnoddle (Schnauzer and Poddle) mix, and is 10 weeks old. Her name is Petra. Petra likes to follow people around, cuddle, and falling asleep in blankets. Here are some pictures of her in her favorite red blanket.

Pumpkin Ganachness- The Recipe for the below Pictures!

This is Rick. Those who know me know that confections are a small hobby of mine, and that making chocolates is a passion. The scent of a freshly opened package, the mixture of sweet and bitter flavors, the perfectly smooth texture...chocolate, I'm convinced, was brought to earth by divine influence.

Not only do I love chocolate, but I also love pumpkin, especially pumpkin pie. Given that this is the time of year when pumpkin make up an increasingly large potion of our daily food pyramid, I figured that there had to be some way of infusing that amazing pumpkin pie flavor into a seasonal bonbon.

The difficulty with using pumkin puree is that the liquid content of the ganache (the truffle center) increases dramatically, necessitating a decrease in cream volume. The liquid of a ganache is usually maintained in a 1:3 ratio with the chocolate (a little less with white chocolate). This requires that the pumpkin puree must be heated along with the cream, as the liquid is the source of the heat needed to melt the chocolate. Using white chocolate as the ganache base sweetens the pumpkin mixture, and sour cream provides a thick, rich flavor balancer to the sweetness of the chocolate. Even with all of these amazing elements, the ganache was still a little too soft, and required refrigeration in order for the ganache to firm up.

I hope this recipe is as enjoyable for you as it was for me!

Pupkin Pie Truffles

“Pumpkin Pie” Ganache
1 oz. heavy cream

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

⅛ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground ginger

8-9 oz. white chocolate, chips or coarsely chopped (add more if ganache has too much liquid)
3 oz. pumpkin pie filling/puree
2 oz. crème fraîche or sour cream

½ oz. unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Cocoa powder/powdered sugar blend for rolling

1. Heat cream, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger over medium until boiling; do not burn.
2. Stir in sour cream and pumpkin puree, and continue to heat until bubbling
3. Immediately pour hot pumpkin/cream mixture over white chocolate, and let sit for 5 min.
4. Wisk chocolate into cream mixture until fully melted.
5. Add butter and mix slowly until fully melted and incorporated.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until firm enough to roll into balls.
7. Pipe or scoop ganache into balls and enrobe in dark chocolate.
8. Option 1: Immediately roll dipped truffles in cocoa power mixture until evenly coated.
9. Option 2: Immediately set on parchment/silpat; if desired, top each truffle with a cocoa dusted pumkin seed (See below).
10. Allow to cool completely before serving

The Backyardigans

So our little backyard has been our project over the last several months- here is a documentation of the progression. This is how it started (actually it was even worse- this is what was underneath all the debris we cleared away)

Then we further cleared away all the weeds and relayed the stones- we are going to plant vegetable boxes in the squares come spring.

Then today we planted some bulbs (gotta get them in before the first frost!), mowed the grass we planted for the last time before the winter, and raked all the leaves away (oh! so many leaves!)

Marten having free run of the yard- he was soo happy

And taa-daa!! Transformation?

The leaves! Oh wonderful pear tree- first you dump all your fruit, now all your leaves!

Such a big pile of leaves- only one thing to do!

Where The Wild Things Are? OUR HOUSE!

Not to brag on ourselves- but our jack-o-lanterns turned out AWESOME this year! One of both of our favorite books (haven't even seen the movie?)- the Wild Things have come for Halloween.

Fall- ing in love with Michigan

I have always loved fall- but I never knew true love until I have experienced fall here. I wish that my camera could actually capture the beauty of this time.

Firstly- our lovely YW activity- pumpkin carving. Only one YW was able to make it- but that is the fun a such a small branch!

Sorry the picture are so fuzzy

Mine is the middle- haha, I haven't progressed since 2nd grade in my pumpking carving ability.

Cooler weather also means Rick is starting to make chocolates! Yippy! He imporvised these chocolate pumpkin truffles- send me to heaven! We just have pictures of the filling, because once they were made we basically ate them all.

And the highlight of the show- the leaves! Everywhere it looks amazing- even just driving down the freeway. Out of this world.

Who'd have thought I would start fall-ing for Michigan.

Mackinac Island

Weekend get away to Mackinac Island (pronounced Mac-in-aw). It is located in Northern Michigan, right where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. It has a lot of history, due to its important location for fur trading. The Island is only 8 miles around, and has no cars on it. And it is an ideal place to get away from it all.

Since there are no cars allowed- you got to take a ferry over from Mackinaw City

This is a picture of the Mackinaw Bridge (or the Mighty Big Mac- as locals call it). It is 5 miles long and connects the upper and lower pennisulas of Michigan across the great lakes.

Told ya- no cars. Either bikes or horse drawn carriages. We brought our bikes. It was sooo quite because there were no cars! I never realized how loud cars are, but we are just used to it. Really like stepping back in time.

Mackinac is known for its fudge- in fact the tourist are called "fudgies" by local islanders

Fort Mackinac- full with costumed re-enactors!

Costumed for 1890- shooting of the rifles

Beautiful view and shooting a canon! What more can you want?

Highlight for me- The Grand Hotel. Built in the late 1800's, it boasts the largest porch in the world. But why did I really want to see it? Because this is where they filmed "Somewhere in Time"!!! A corny 70's love story with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour- but I absolutely love it!

Here's the picture that Christopher Reeves falls in love with in the movie- they had memorabilia all over- even Christopher Reeves hat.

The Grand Porch

The Grand Dining Room- if you can't tell it is a little fancy here. Formal evening wear is required after 6pm- and to just eat dinner here costs $90! Luckily we can at 4pm

We rounded out the day by biking around the Island- just beautiful and peaceful. I never realized how beautiful and big the great lakes are.