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Fall - Blog Posts
It's fall and it's raining outside?
Time to stand in front of someone's house staring at a window without blinking or an umbrella and act all mysterious
Soo. After a week an update about the first week of university.
I couldn‘t get a good rhythm for now because last week my family visited me and I spent time with them and showed them around. This week is going to be very full because I have to work one more shift than usual and I have a course which is only every two weeks. But for now I‘m not all caught up with my readings but I‘m working on it.
At the moment I‘m really feeling the fall vibes with the leaves turning. I enjoy a good cup of tea but it makes me sad that it is getting dark so early and with my late lectures I‘m home when it is dark outside. But I try to focus on the colourful leaves and the hot tea and the fairy lights.
TO-DOs
🍄 Doing my readings for class
🍄 Downloading Excel
🍄 Watch videos for class
Have a productive week and drink enough 🍄
Apple Pie Cookies
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 16 cookies 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: Oven
Cuisine: American
Description
Apple Pie Cookies – sticky and chewy, bite-sized caramel apple pies. Sometimes the regular old apple pie recipe is just too much dessert to handle. These gooey bites bring you the best of both worlds: the fruity-caramel flavor of traditional pie, with all of the convenience of a simple cookie recipe! (No fork required!!!)
Ingredients
For Apple Pie Filling :
3 apples (about 1 lbs.)-peeled and sliced into 8 slices each
1–2 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoon white sugar
3 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A dash of nutmeg
3/4 cup water
For Pie Crust :
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter cut into cubes-chilled
2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup ice water
(or you can use 1 package Refrigerated Pie Crust (2 crusts))
Filling and Topping:
1 and 3/4 cups apple pie filling-chopped into small pieces
1 cup caramel sauce
1 egg -lightly beaten
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
Instructions
To make Apple Pie Filling:
Toss sliced apples with lemon juice and set aside.
In a saucepan or a pot combine cornstarch, sugar, browned sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and water. Stir well and bring to a boil over medium-high heat whisking constantly. Let it boil 2 minutes until thick, then stir in apple slices.
Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and let it simmer about 10 minutes. Apples should be soft but not mushy (cooking time depend on sort of apples). Remove apples from heat and leave them covered to soften and cooled.
When it’s cooled take out the apples from the sauce and chop into small pieces, set aside.
To make Pie Crust:
In a large mixing bowl place flour, salt and sugar and mix to combine.
Using a pastry blender incorporate chilled butter cubes into the flour mixture(the mixture should resemble coarse meal)
Drizzle 2 tablespoons ice water over the mixture and blend, repeat with another 2 tablespoons water. When you squeeze the dough it should holds together (you may have to add more water if the dough crumbles, add 1 tablespoon at a time)
Divide the dough into two equal pieces, flatten and form two disc, pack each disc with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
Lightly dust working surface with flour, place chilled dough, dust the dough and the rolling pin, too. Turn the dough as you rolling to prevent it from sticking. Roll it out 1/8-inch thick.
Repeat the process with the other disc.
Assembling the Apple Pie Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 F, line cookie sheet with parchment paper, spray with non-stick spray and set aside.
Spread the caramel sauce onto one pie crust.
Spread chopped apple pie filling over caramel and gently tap the filling with your palms.
Cut second pie crust into 1/2 inch strips and create a lattice top over the filling.
Using round cookie cutter (about 2.5 inch) cut out the cookies and place them onto baking sheet.
Beat the egg with a fork and brush the top of cookies.
Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle the cookies generously.
Bake 20-30 minutes (until golden brown).
I've been away for a bit! Turns out that it's harder to find time to take photos of birds, much less blog about it, when you have a second tiny child to care for. My baby was born in May, essentially right in the middle of peak migration for Wisconsin, so I've spent far less time gently cradling a camera this year and much more time with a wiggly kid slung over my shoulder. However, my partner is kind enough to carve out the odd hour for me to sit by myself and look up.
[ID: A Palm Warbler sits on a branch, wings folded, looking toward the sunlight. The bird is just a couple inches tall, and is sporting the mostly pale plumage that is typical of Warblers in the fall. Head in profile, the bird looks out with a dark brown eye from gray head feathers with a somewhat darker gray cap and eye stripe. The breast is a lightly streaked pale yellow, and only the under-tail coverts show a brighter yellow that would be expected of this species in spring. End ID]
I found this individual taking a small break in one of the trees in my backyard. Normally, Warblers like this one are constantly in motion, darting around in search of food to fuel their long southerly migration. But this one must have had their fill for the time being, content to sit still and take in the sights of our little patch in Madison. It was early afternoon, and the light was sifting beautifully through the leaves of the trees. I can understand why they would choose this place to rest for a moment.
[ID: The same Palm Warbler sits on a smaller branch, this time presenting their right flank to the camera. Their wings are showing the same light shade of gray as their head. From this angle, it's apparent how fluffed the little bird is, insulating themselves against the slight chill in the air. End ID]
I knew right away that this was a Palm Warbler from the way they pumped their tail up and down, up and down. Even when they were otherwise still, that tail was still going at times. What were they thinking about on this brief stop, looking south toward the lake and beyond to their destination? Did they have any children this spring? Would they take them to Cuba? Puerto Rico? Surely someone has to show the young ones the way to their winter home...
I'm thinking I should start to fill out this new blog. My main artistic expression these days is photography, and birds are my favorite subject. So let's take a look back in the archive together.
[ID: A female Black-and-white Warbler clinging to the side of a lichen-encrusted tree trunk. She's checking the underside of a brown mushroom on the tree for something to eat. She has a mostly white body, with a thin back eye line and black streaks on her side and wings. End ID]
This little creature is a Black-and-white Warbler. We found her while hiking the New Glarus Woods State Park this past September. Folks think of Warblers as a springtime bird in the Midwest, as that's when they're looking their brightest and boldest as they migrate north for mating season. I appreciate the Black-and-whites like this little lady for being just as striking on their way back south.
on fall
fall is a season for the lovers
transitory and fleeting,
never quite settling in one place or time
fall is never landing,
a leaf carried by the wind
pushed by forces outside you
to places you didn’t want to be, perhaps
but you find yourself there regardless.
fall is the gentle whisper of the breeze, transformed
to the violence of a hurricane
wind chapped skin, fingernails brittle, you fall.
clawing for something you’ll never have
praying for something you’ll never be
desperate to affix yourself to the branch
but you’re adrift now, and
there’s no going back.
fall is still falling,
after the storm ends
after everyone moves on and forgets,
fall is left behind.
memory trapped in a brittle, orange leaf
sliding to rest on the slope of a dying hill
“home at last,” it whispers, as it flakes away
“home at last”
Picture source: Pinterest
October aesthetic