It's Fall in NY

We moved to Skaneateles last December, which means we started our life here in the worst of weather, and have now been able to enjoy a beautiful summer... but this past week marked the first day of fall and New York seems obligated to act the part. The trees are starting to show some color, which makes me both excited and nervous (snow is now in sight).

I'm determined to enjoy fall in New York though. We've never lived anywhere that promised such beautiful scenery, and I like the smell of wood fireplaces burning somewhere nearby. Note: we tried a "test fire" last week when it was down to about 50 degrees at night and seriously regretted it as our house heated up to about 80 degrees inside, so all future fires need to wait for consistently colder temperatures. We tried to partake in the maple syrup festivals of the spring, but got detoured viewing waterfalls in Ithaca, and we tried to go strawberry picking in the summer, but the local farm was picked out far too quickly. So I put my foot down about going apple picking in the fall. I scouted out the best apple farm, Beak & Skiff, which happened to have a distillery and cider mill too... so the promise of apple vodka and hard cider tasting + apple picking got Tom on board for the adventure.

The parking lot should have been our first clue, it was overrun with children hyped up on carmel apples. The lines themselves were longer than the "hay ride" behind a tractor to the rows of ripe Gala and Macintosh apples, but in the end it was worth it. Obviously it made sense to join in on the carmel apple eating while we waited for our tractor to arrive.

We couldn't find one of the coveted ladders to climb up to the best apples, so the first 30 minutes of our picking experience consisted of trying to come up with creative ways to get to the good apples, which included "toss an apple at another apple", "shake the tree and see what falls", and the good old basic "jump". None of which were at all successful by the way.

Have you read the recent news story about the moose in Sweden who got drunk off of fermenting apples and got caught up in a tree? We may not have been eating fermenting apples, but somehow after about an hour of apple picking we got a bit goofy and had enough fun laughing at ourselves that people nearby may have that we'd been sampling the hard cider. Tom left one hanging apple with a bite out of it, I tried to hide in the branches that started 4 feet above the ground, and trying to run around rows of apples without stepping on rotting ones results in a crazy dance like movement.

Eventually we did locate a ladder, and took home around 16 pounds of fruit. Ironically, Tom doesn't really like apples, but I've enjoyed at least one a day for breakfast, as well as finding new recipes to bake and cook them in. I'd love to hear about more recipes if anyone has some.... I think I've only got about a week left before I need to start worrying about them rotting!

Time Management

Hm... clearly my ambitions at maintaining a blog while beginning a new job may have been a bit high. But I'm not giving up yet, just vowing to improve my time management skills. I started my job with a 3 day work week (due to my employer's vacation), followed by a 4 day work week (due to the holiday), and this week completed my first 5 day week - phew. I'm still technically orienting so I don't yet share on call duties or newborn nursery duties at the hospital, so eventually there will be some weeks that are 7 day weeks, but for now I feel like I've gotten into a good routine. I won't lie though, after the first week I was a bit exhausted...

Molly was sympathetically tired too...

But I soon learned how to move a little faster in the morning, buying me a precious extra 15 minutes in the morning for sleep. Amazing what that few minutes can do to my morning attitude (I'm seriously not a morning person). Sadly I haven't yet figured out how to make time at the end of the day for projects around the house and my to-do list keeps growing in the meantime. Hopefully by the end of the month I figure out how to enjoy my evenings while still being productive and get back on track.

I did cook a nice homemade meal for Tom on his birthday last week. We celebrated with a few friends at a happy hour, then stayed in the next night for an at home date night. Tom loves veal, so I checked out the new Fennell Market just down the street specializing in gourmet meats, cheeses, fish, and some pre-made sides. I actually got really excited about some asian marinaded ahi on skewers to sear and eat like kabobs, but was able to stay on track and pick out a few veal chops for us. I've never cooked veal, but found an easy enough recipe for searing it on the stove then finishing in the oven, and paired it with a creamy garlic sauce, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and mini-gnocchi with a butternut squash sauce (store bought, but would love to attempt making this from scratch). I probably overcooked the veal by one minute, but it was still delicious and we finished the meal with Tom's annual "birthday cake" of pumpkin pie.

Sorry for the quality of the photos, these were all snapped with my cell phone camera.

Working Woman

I started my new career as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner this week, and man does it feel good to be back at work and earning a paycheck after focusing on grad school for the past 3 years. Now it's going to be a challenge to stay committed to this little blog project I started, but I already knew that was coming. It was a great first 3-day week and my energy right now is focused on getting comfortable in my new role, so no big projects this week.

We did however make a great new enchilada recipe I'll share. I don't tend to be exact with my measurements when it comes to recipes like this, so go ahead and experiment too.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Makes 4 enchiladas (4 servings)

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch(ish) cubes

15 ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained

4 ounce can of diced green chilies

1/3 cup salsa (choose your spice level, we chose habenero hot and loved it)

2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro (I probably used more, just grabbed a big handful)

4 flour tortillas (8 inch works best)

1 can enchilada sauce

1 & 1/3 cups shredded cheese (we combined cheddar and pepper jack)

Large dollop of sour cream

Sides (think spanish rice, guacamole, etc.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute 2 minutes.

Add chicken and saute 5-8 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.

Stir in the black beans, green chilies, and salsa. Simmer about 5 minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro and a large dollop of sour cream.

Arrange the tortillas on a flat surface, topping each with 1/4 of the filling.

Roll into enchiladas and place in a non-stick (or sprayed) baking dish, seam side down.

Top with enchilada sauce (enough to cover the enchiladas lightly), and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Serve with whatever sides you choose.

Ok, I forgot to take pictures of this one (again). They were really good and we ate them two days in a row, although leftovers looked a bit messy. This was a very easy weeknight meal and we've tried multiple enchilada recipes before, but this is the first one we've thought worth saving. Totally hit the spot for that Mexican food I'm always craving but can never find so far from Southern California.