on-hand modern

It's Halloween!

I am convinced you can make just about any (kid's) costume if you have the following 4 items on hand:

1. Leotard and/or bodysuit
2. Felt
3. Tights
4. One of these hats from Hanna Andersson

Accessorize as needed--

Feathers (yeah, I know, not so manly) + rubber boots (manly!) = Martha-inspired Rooster

Tutu (strips of tulle knotted around an elastic headband) + tap shoes + homemade spider pin = "Some Pig!"

--and voila!

See?

Happy trick-or-treating!

P.S. A few festive things to make and do today:

• Print + cut + fold a haunted house
• Deliver Halloween greeting cards (free download)
• Print spooky stickers
• Play Halloween dress-up online

Hey! Is for horses...

but hayrides are for everyone. And they were free on Saturday.

Meet Kate...

and company.

Meet the riders:

and their bounty.

I was there too. Here's the photographic evidence:

Okay, the world's greatest picture it isn't, but all things considered, I thought it rather fitting. Hair flying wildly in front of the camera + totally inappropriate footwear = classic yours truly.

Unfortunately, I neglected to get a good shot of the K-Man, but I took this one in his honor:

The end.

Busy as bees

Well, the Amateur Whole Wheat Bread Challenge continues. The competition is pretty stiff with contestants including me and...me. I'm using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method, which, in my experience, has yielded phenomenal results for white breads. The whole wheat stuff...well, it has required a bit more trial and error, but I am determined to be victorious. (I will make you proud, Mom!)

Meanwhile, in other (less demoralizing) pursuits, we paid further homage to our friend The Bee by making our own (all-natural) lip balm:

I have no idea why I had a giant block of beeswax on hand. I vaguely recall a lonely night in Whole Foods circa 2000, which means this particular item has accompanied me through no less than three moves to be present for this one moment. Coincidence? I think not. No, my friends, it was density--I mean destiny. (Gold star for the first person to correctly identify that 80s movie reference.) Tell me I wasn't meant to be a mother. And homeschool. And have lusciously moisturized honey-flavored lips.

Here's the recipe:

2 tablespoons grated unbleached beeswax
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons honey

Combine beeswax and vegetable oil and heat in a double-boiler until beeswax has melted completely. Turn off heat. Add honey and immediately pour the mixture into lidded containers. (We used the traditional tubes, but any small lidded container will do. To make the process of filling them easier, we used a medicine syringe like this one.)

So in case you didn't notice, I still have, um, some beeswax leftover. Want some? Drop me an email with your address and I'll send you a little piece of bee-made Fate. Who knows when it will come in handy...

This week's lesson:

Bees.

Bees make honey.

Honey makes this (somewhat lacking) attempt at whole-wheat bread slightly more tolerable.

Bees = friends.

(Ahem. Unless they decide to nest in the lining of your swimsuit--ask my friend Tanya.)

Honey bees need our help. (Click that link. The fate of the world's ice cream depends on it.)

So does my bread--any tips?

Matches? Check. Toilets? Check.

I remember going camping as a kid.

Once.

Left at sunset. Arrived in the dark. Forgot matches. Slept in the car.

Home before dawn when Mom had to go to the bathroom.

All in all a marvelous adventure.

To this day I still have no idea what inspired such an impromptu expedition. But I've never forgotten that trip.

Could it be that some of our most memorable experiences are our most spontaneous?

K is good at spontaneous. I came home late from a church meeting last week to find my husband and children waiting for me. The kids should have been in bed. Asleep. Or at least asking for a (second? third?) drink of water. Instead, they were standing in the driveway. In pajamas, yes. But also sneakers. Armed with flashlights and headlamps. (Safety first!) Their mission? A moonlit walk to the drugstore. To buy some bubblegum. Would I like to come along?

I don't know if my children will remember such an adventure. But I will.

Oh, and a few days later, we went camping too. In the backyard. With a tent, a fire, and easy access to facilities that flush.

(What? You think I didn't learn anything from my youth?)

History and hair removal

Traveling to Egypt and touring the pyramids of Giza as a student at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies was one of the great highlights of my life.

Ten years later, I had a chance to relive those memories. Not as a student this time but as a homeschooling mom (mum...mummy? heh, dad, that was for you) of two...

Okay, so the blocks are cubes of sugar not 4,000-pound rocks. And the entire building process took less than 2 hours not 20 years. But really. Is a project that holds a 2-year-old's attention long enough for his mother to shave her legs (be quiet, K) and read a few chapters from a book that has nothing to do with ancient Egypt and/or homeschooling any less awe-inspiring than a bunch of man-made structures that have managed to remain intact for, what, a measly few thousand years?

I think not.

I'm out of glue now.

But my legs are (were) smooth.

By the way, did you know that visitors to ancient Egyptian temples had to shave off their hair and eyebrows before entering? Yeah, I guess I'll stop complaining.

In honor of my living jack-o-lantern

Another tooth has departed my child's ever-evolving mouth. She looks rather "festive", you might say. (Heh.) Thus, in the spirit of all things pumpkin, I give you two quick and easy (quintessential fall) recipes...

My Friend Shira's Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

Streusel Topping:

1/2 cup sugar (I use 1/4 cup brown + 1/4 cup granulated)
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened

Mix all ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.

Muffins:

2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups peeled, chopped apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 18 muffin cups or line with paper liners. Mix flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat pumpkin, oil, and eggs in a bowl with mixer until blended. Add flour mixture and mix until just moistened. Fold in apples and spoon batter into prepared pans and sprinkle with topping. Bake for 34 to 40 minutes (note: watch carefully, mine are always done after closer to 30 minutes) or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

These muffins freeze beautifully so you can enjoy the fruits of your labors on many a fall morning to come. Of course, then there's the question of what to do with the leftover pumpkin. Enter...

Pumpkin Pancakes with Pears in Vanilla Syrup and Toasted Nuts

Prepare pancakes according to recipe here. Top with pears, fresh whipped cream, and pecans that have been toasted and chopped.

Pears in Vanilla Syrup (serves 4):

3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 pears, sliced thin

Bring water, sugar, and vanilla to a boil. Add pears. Lower heat and simmer until pears are tender and syrup reduces to desired thickness.

Edited: Have a pumpkin/fall recipe to share? Email me or post a comment!

Edited again: I couldn't resist...

Feasting--spiritual and otherwise

Last weekend, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gathered in churches and homes around the world to partake of the spiritual feast that was the 178th Semiannual General Conference.

My favorite take-aways from the event's proceedings:

"There is no tomorrow to remember if we don't do something today."

"What is most important almost always involves the people around us...never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

(Inspiring words from church president, Thomas S. Monson.)

Of course, according to family code, no spiritual feast could ever be complete without feasting of a more temporal (read: pass the Pepto) nature. Behold, the highlights of the Olson Family's Biannual Spudnut-athon...

I know some of you are probably asking...what in the world is a spudnut? For the uninitiated, I would describe it as a cousin to the more widely-known donut, its defining ingredient being--you guessed it--potatoes (spuds). I originally thought this delicious culinary confection was the result of some enterprising Idahoan's creative genius. A little googlizing, however, tells me its origins go farther than that--to Germany, actually (sorry, Idahoans).

Wherever they come from, K has fond memories of spudnuts as a part of his family's twice-yearly conference weekend ritual. Making them together is a tradition we have chosen to continue with our own family, and now I share the recipe with you (equal opportunity for greasy pastry aficionados the world over, I say):

Spudnuts

Ingredients:

1 cup mashed potatoes (1 to 2 potatoes)
1/2 cup of potato water (water from the boiled potatoes)
2 packages of yeast (or 2 tablespoons)
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup powdered milk
2 lbs. powdered sugar
3/4 cup melted butter

Make mashed potatoes and set aside 1/2 cup of water from the potatoes.

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.

Mix 1 cup warm water with eggs, oil, potato water, mashed potatoes, sugar, cinnamon, salt, 3 cups sifted flour, and powdered milk. Beat it all up.

Add yeast and beat well.

Add remaining sifted flour.

Cover and let rise until it doubles (about 1 hour).

Put down a lot of flour and roll dough 3/4 inch thick and cut with doughnut cutters. Put more flour on top of dough because it is really sticky.

Let rise another 20 to 30 minutes.

Fry in hot oil (375 F).

Cooking up (more) birthday fun

Nothing says "party" like pizza at 9:00 in the morning.

Right?

Cookbook-inspired invitations:

 

Appropriate party/cooking attire:

Seven (recycled) dishtowels + 14 yards double-fold bias tape = aprons for each guest.

Making pizzas:

Touring the kitchen:

The giant refrigerator was, of course, a (giant) hit, as was the soda dispenser (4 root beers, 1 lemonade, 3 waters). I was slightly disconcerted by the puddles of water all over the floor, but no one else seemed to mind. And the pizza was...

Tasty:

 

Dessert + party favors to-go:

Done! (Until next year...)