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Halloween in AZ

( L to R) Poseidon, Jeff Gordan, Fifties Girl, Hershey Kiss and Indiana Jones

We flew out to Arizona on Halloween morning and the kids were treated to lots of Halloween goodies, both in airport and on the airplane. Several Southwest employees were in costume, and the kids got to vote on their favorite pumpkin display at the ticket counter. They were given spider and bat rings, squeezable pumpkins, and candy.

The kids trick-or-treated with their cousins until they so exhausted that couldn't walk any further. Once back at Auntie Kristin's house everyone changed into their Halloween pajamas and surveyed their loot of candy.

Baklava

Yesterday, I made my first batch of Baklava for Mac's class's Greek Festival. I was pleased at how it turned out and so was Ethan. He loved the sweet, nutty flavor and asked me to make more. Mac on the other hand, wouldn't even try it.

Baklava is made with phyllo dough and nuts. This little treat is especially high in calories and fat. Each sheet of phyllo dough (there are 20 sheets of phyllo in this batch) is coated with melted butter. In between the layers, I used a combination of almonds and walnuts mixed with a cinnamon sugar. After the baklava is finished baking, a simple syrup is poured over the top. I made my syrup by boiling water, sugar, honey, a cinnamon stick, lemon peel and juice. Ethan and I enjoyed our baklava with a cup of peppermint-ginger tea. The pretty gold and green plate belonged to my grandma and was a gift from my Aunt Mary. It compliments my gold teapot perfectly!

Chocolate Raspberry Wedding Cake

I recently made this chocolate raspberry cake for a wedding reception. The cake itself is chocolate layered with raspberry preserves and chocolate butter cream filling. It is iced in a dark chocolate ganache and decorated with fresh raspberries. I created the heart and initials from bittersweet chocolate.

New Poseidon Website

Mac's class has been studying ancient Greece and as part of his school project, he created a website on Poseidon. He wanted me to invite all of you to visit his new site, The Power of The Trident.

UPDATE: Mac received his website grade from his teacher and it was an A+!

The Case of The Missing Tomatoes

Lately I've wondered why we weren't getting any more cherry tomatoes from our garden. I check the plants often but only to find unripe, green tomatoes. A few days ago, the mystery was solved. I caught the culprit red-handed (literally). A little chipmunk sitting at the edge of the garden chomping on a cherry tomato. The cherry tomatoes fit perfectly in his greedy little hands.
*This is not my best photography as I had to take the picture through our screen window in order to catch the thief in action. I knew that as soon I opened the door, he would scurry away.

Flying a Kite in Ike

The kids tried to take advantage of flying a kite in almost 60 mph winds after traces of Hurricane Ike moved through Bloomington two Sundays ago. It was almost too windy to get the kite up but they eventually succeeded.

The storm also caused a number of trees to blow over, many of them onto power lines and 30,000 people were left without electricity. We were lucky to only experience the outage for about an hour but our neighbors across the street were without power and phone service for three days.