Gehring Road

window in :: 6

 My tongue is red.  They were delicious. 

window in :: 1

Dessert made for New Year's Eve dinner... later became New Year's Day's lunch... am anticipating this lovely for New Year's Day's dinner dessert and the possibility of not being able to button my pants in the not so distant future.  

christmas wrap up 4... we're published!

 

 

 I'm wrapping up our Christmas well... wrap up, with my very favorite gift given to our loved ones this year.  Filled with recipes, stories and pictures from our life here on Gehring Road, our Tastebook was so much fun to put together and the perfect meaningful gift to give to our families and friends. 

 

 

We loved this gift, and can't wait to add to it.  If you would like to friend us at Tastebook feel free to email me... you will have instant access to our recipes and loved treats. 

I'll be a bit quiet here over the next few weeks, preparations for a return to work and school will be filling my days, to be followed by our exam weeks.  This little blog will be turning into a photo journal for the time being... so, with much appreciation for the visitors who come to this little space, check in on us and support my little venture,  I wish you all the very happiest of New Years... celebrate, enjoy, visit and rest during this happy season.  
      

christmas wrap up 2... eat your way through

 Rob's Triple Chocolate Cookies, recipe from Cook's Illustrated

 This Christmas/Solstice season was extremely cold and stormy here in the North East, and I think someone took cues from the weather when planning our menu.  Rob made some amazing and comforting treats this holiday season, triple chocolate cookies (with espresso) that were sinful I tell you.  If I had more time to contemplate eating, I'm quite sure I would have eaten them... all of them.  The cookies go out each year to people we really love, thanks to our Food Saver... you're welcome ones we love. 

Besides the cookies, Rob made Sticky Buns for Christmas Eve morning... they were heaven.  

Rob also made green bean casserole, steaks, a Prime Rib, crispy potatoes, pork roast and mushroom risotto over the course of the past few days of entertaining.  I can't tell you how amazing the food was and how much our guests appreciated the calm that is Rob in the kitchen.  

Tomorrow I'll share some of the recipes from our holiday merry making. They're collected together in one place and I've been so wanting to share our favorite Christmas present with you.  Until then, enjoy the week! 

minestrone soup for the sinus headached soul

It really is that time of year... the fire place is in constant use, sweaters have made their way into wardrobe rotation, the last of the peppers were rescued from the garden, we've had frost and are expecting flurries this weekend... also my seemingly annual fall cold has taken hold (not entirely unexpected for a teacher) and I was officially under the weather last week.  The silver lining to feeling unwell - it was more than enough excuse to open up some of the canned minestrone soup that Rob made back in July.  How I love pressure canning.  The soup was incredibly fresh and was so perfect for those nothing tastes right when I'm sick moments. The recipe was a classic minestrone from Cooks Illustrated. Fresh veggies from our garden were simmered with a parmesan cheese rind - heaven. Sorry, no that isn't a picture of our delicious minestrone canned goodness above... those are a very small portion of the green beans canned this summer... all photographic evidence of said minestrone soup have disappeared, just as the soup itself has been lately. But our pressure cooker that scared me silly the first time we used it (I said, "Is it supposed to make that noise? What happens if that things blows?" to which my guy replied, "Yeah" and "We die." Nice...) has been providing us with little reminders of our harvests in the summer. It's lovely to spread peach jam on toast or reach for our pickles when packing a leaf-peeping picnic. So right now, I'm loving the fruits of our efforts and time well spent preparing for... right now.  I hope you are enjoying the right now as much as we are.  Have a lovely end of the week!

 ::mixed berry jam::

 ::blueberry and peach crumble::

                                                     ::bread and butter pickles made while I was in Las Vegas::

::peach jam being made::

weekending

::the kitchen table at the moment::

The weekend brought us outside today, thankfully, things that are so not funny have been making us laugh hysterically around here lately... sure sign of heat induced cabin fever.  So we took advantage of some clouds today and hopped on over to Wright's Orchard and dried flower barn to pick the peach haul for this summer.  We sought refuge from a passing shower in the barn and snapped these beautiful images of the dried flowers... 

 

::dried flower barn::

... visions of fall wreaths danced through my head while Rob tried to look interested in dried hydrangeas... Anyway, you're wondering where the pictures of the peach haul are, right? Well, my camera took the opportunity and ran out of memory space - I think electronics are conspiring against me. These pictures of the AMAZING peach haul courtesy of Rob...

...So we picked about 60 pounds of peaches... is that a lot?  When spread out on the kitchen table to ripen, it looked like a lot... While Rob hauled the said 60 pounds of peaches up hill in the rain, I felt bad for him like it was a lot.  We have so many plans for these fabulous fruits of summer... pie filling, jelly, salsa and chutney.  We're hoping that a little work now will bring back this moment of summer in the long, dark days of winter which makes it totally worth it, don't you think?  I do too.  Anyway, look for some Nuclear Containment Vessel pictures of these beauties being canned in the next few days.  I hope wherever this summer weekend takes you is as joyful as a perfectly ripened peach enjoyed in the middle of an orchard with your favorite someone who carries things when they're too heavy.