Fall Favorites

Who doesn’t love fall? It’s that time of year when the temperatures are starting to get cooler and the nights come a bit earlier. There are so many great things about this season I thought I would share my favorites!

1. Changing Leaves : I absolutely love being able to go on drives or walks outside and witness the leaves changing colors! I have a slight serious obsession with red leaves.

2. Cold Mornings & Cool Nights: I love being able to sleep comfortably at night because it’s cold outside! Also what is better than snuggling on the couch under a mound of blankets, sipping on your pumpkin spice latte?

3. Fall Flavors: pumpkin, cinnamon, spice & everything nice! These flavors, I’m convinced, make everything better.

4. FOOTBALL: Football Sundays are one of my very favorite things. I love having an excuse not to leave my couch all day! And of course, root on my favorite teams… GO BEARS!

5. New TV Shows: What’s better than setting up your DVR to catch all the new shows you want to watch. I know for a fact, right now, on my DVR there are about 5 unwatched shows and at least 15 episodes. Not even exaggerating. But again, it gives me an excuse not to leave the couch all weekend.

6. BOOTS: I’m seriously in love with wearing boots ALL fall & winter…. And spring. Until it is 75 degrees out, I will have my boots on. I love that I can wear them with anything & that they are so comfy! And I sometimes, okay all the time, break the “brown-black” rule of fashion. But I can’t help it. I LOVE MY BOOTS!

7. Fashion: Sweaters, jeans, leggings, cardigans, fleece & big comfy sweats… I mean, c’mon, how can anyone love summer clothes more? These clothes are the epitome of fashion and style. You can mix & match… And don’t even get me started on fall accessories.

8. Soups: I have recently learned to really enjoy a good bowl of hearty soup! Manhattan Clam Chowder,
Classic Chicken Noodle, Loaded Potato, Tomato Basil, Chicken & Rice…. This could go on forever.

9. Pumpkins: one of my favorite fall traditions is going to the pumpkin patch, picking out an overly sized and perhaps misshaped pumpkin, and then taking him home and carving the perfect face! I also love painting pumpkins. They make for the perfect
Fall decor in your house!

So I think it’s safe to say I seriously love fall.

Peace. Love. Fall.

That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

In the midst of everything else that is going on with life, I’ve been thinking about getting serious about a huge hobby of mine.

For the last year, my boyfriend has told me I should seriously do this.

I LOVE baking. And in the past year, thanks to Marc, I’ve experimented with lots of Gluten Free baking. Besides this being a new “way of life” for some dieters, a lot of people suffer from Celiac.

So my new endeavor I would love to take up? Opening an “online” bakery! I figured so I don’t have a whole lot of customers yet, and don’t want to actually invest in a building (something I would love to do after I retire in 80 years… Kidding)- I thought opening up a “virtual” bakery would be just as good.

I would have a variety of baked goods that could be sold such as muffins, cupcakes, cookies, and scones. And they would be baked to order when the order is placed! They I would doctor them up all cutesy in a shipping package and they would be delivered right to your door!

But now, the serious question… Who is going to order gluten free baked goods online? And how am I gonna get the word out?

Ahh yes, my blogging universe! I’m expecting anyone who reads this to help spread the word about my website (which will be posted, hopefully soon, in another blog). But for now, I just wanted to spark the idea to see what people thought!

So for now…

Peace. Love. Crumbles.

Caution: The Spicy Mustard is Spicy

Last night, me and a few friends from work went downtown to Devour Downtown. This event lasts 2 weeks, and a bunch of the more classy and expensive restaurants have deals on 3 & 4 course meals. So we choose to try out The Rathskeller. The Rathskeller has got a ton of rave and is one of the top German restaurants around. Of course, I was excited, knowing my German roots to try out this amazing menu.

I first ordered a nice dark lager… which actually to my surprise, wasn’t terrible. After this, our waitress brought out a bread basket, with two small loaves of whole grain bread and a huge pretzel.  They were served with a mustard sauce and butter.

When the waitress came out with it, she said, “caution, the spicy mustard is spicy”. Well no shit sherlock, I thought, of course it’s gonna be spicy it’s called spicy mustard. So I thought it would just have a slight bite.

This was where I was way wrong. Being super bold, I dipped my pretzel in and took a BIG bite. At first I as like, “eewww mustard”… but that quickly turned into, “omg, I think I’m dying”. The “spicy” slowly crept up on its prey and stung first on the tongue, worked its way to the back of the throat, and up through the nose, were it slowly made your eyes water and took away your breath. This was NOT mustard sauce.. it was straight up horseradish. Now if any of you have ever had anything with horseradish, it does indeed have a bite to it… but this was like multiplied by 1000. And I just so happened to forget that Germans love their “spice”.

Thankfully, that god awful mustard, was followed up by delishh onion dill bread, parmesan schnitzel, german potato salad, a potato pancake, and bread pudding! Those were all fabulous.

But the funniest part of the evening, happened after I was done eating. As the couples that sat down around us got their beverages and their basket of breads, you could hear and see the reaction to the mustard. One guy directly next to me, started coughing loudly, and then practically crying (I thought his wife was going to have to give him the Heimlich). Then after, she so bravely tried a dip to, she exclaimed, “It’s stinging my nose.. I can’t breathe.” Then this older couple across the way, said “Wow now that is pure horseradish.” My thoughts exactly.

So if you are ever in the mood for some German food, hit up The Rathskeller… but trust me, when the waitress says “The spicy mustard is spicy”…she isn’t kidding!

Peace. Love. Germans.