Halloween Sunday

October 31 was a glorious finale to the month, perfect weather and an opportunity to shoot some autumn color. Covering the neighborhood first I found a couple of funny pumpkins. Placed at the end of a long drive, I thought they looked like hitch-hikers trying to flag a ride. Shades of 'It Happened One Night' with Colbert and Gable - only here the pumpkins most likely would like a ride to Franklin Street for the Halloween doing's later that night. Just call them "Claudette and Clark."



Next I headed to the North Carolina Botanical Gardens to look for colorful leaves. The nature trails leaves were mostly dry, crushed and brown but there were some great shots of the creek, the shadows beyond the trees and some leaves.

Below find the entry gates (a sculptural competition commission), and some leaf patterns from the gardens. The chance to get some walking in the woods, breath the cool air and look for textural patterns took longer than expected.

The scattered leaf images will work for the seamless tiling exercises in Photoshop, for which I need a lot more practice. Using the Offset filter allows one to make continuous, or seamless images such a used for 'wallpaper' on your monitor. Or wallpaper as in the wall type - repeating in segments. Perhaps I just need more imagination (?).
Really wanted to find leaves of every color - red-oranges-yellows etc. but the NC western mountains may be the best place for that and I do not expect to get there this year.






Have been munching on my favorite apples stuffed with peanut butter but the apple harvest is in and I am ready to make Apple Crisp. Or have some fresh cider. Or maybe some sweet potatoes with apples and spiced sugar.
Or maybe not.
BB

Delicious Seasonal Snacks

Apples have become the mainstay of my Fall diet and nutrition.
Especially this time of the year when loads of fresh apples arrive at the markets. Among my favorites are Jonagold and Cameo, but I never turn down a luscious eating apple. To accommodate my blood sugar and keep that ‘starving’ sensation from happening I have resurrected an vintage Weight Watcher snack. This combines two of my favorite tastes and healthy foods into one that travels well and is neatly at hand. Apples and peanut butter, the chunky, crunchy kind.

The photos will tell most of the story. Split an apple in half along the center core, scoop out the core of each half and notch the stem, top and bottom. Fill with peanut butter. 1 tablespoon of peanut butter contains 80 calories and 4 grams of protein (plus apple’s 80 calories, 160 total). You cannot overfill as the aim is to rejoin the halves flush for wrapping. OK, I spot a little dab top and bottom but this apple may have to keep me for up to two hours before eating again and I need that peanut butter.

Now for the secret trick. Place the apple on a paper towel and spritz lightly with water. Just so the towel is damp and wrap. Place the wrapped apple on a square of plastic wrap (Press n Seal is perfect), and wrap again. The dampened towel will keep the peanut butter from sticking to the wrap (oil and water), and becomes your finger towel after eating. I make three at a time, chill in the fridge, all ready to pop into my cooler bag for the car. Along with a bottle of water, two hard-boiled eggs and I can go all day. The benefits are many. I get needed protein from egg whites and peanut butter. Fruit sugars and fiber from the apple, peeling and all. How bad is that?

Did I tell you about my monogrammed cooler bag? Perfect size for car retrieval. A dark blue wine cooler bag with "RM" on the front. The initials (not mine), stand for Robert Mondavi the source of this two-bottle wine bag from a Napa Valley trip more than a decade ago. We did not become the wine-enthusiasts as expected, so the I adopted the bag for the car. Now you ask, where do I eat? I can eat practically anywhere but I have found the best time to eat is in the parking lot just before grocery shopping. Never go into a supermarket hungry - that’s the instant end of any diet.

Second item today: Pomegranates.
Why do pomegranates thrill me so much? The answer to this is longer than I can cover but the short version is: as a mid-western undergraduate the only place I ever saw pomegranates was in Renaissance paintings of Madonnas with fruit garlands. I never knew what or where pomegranates came from until a later-life California trip. Wow, what was I missing! Now I can find them in the markets late fall through the holiday season and I love to peel them and sprinkle over salads, especially citrus salads with lush navel oranges.
See more at POMWonderful. Half-cup of seeds equals 70 calories and 1 gram of protein.

Of course peeling them is quiet messy. The one caution is to NEVER wear a white blouse and attempt to peel an pomegranate, unless you really want a spotted-pink blouse. Found the pictured item as one of those freebies in the produce section and thought how great for novices who cannot figure out where to start. May I also suggest vinyl gloves to keep the fingernails from turning burgundy colored(?).
Don’t underestimate the nutritional value - rich in Vitamins C & K.

Tastin' good.
bb