I don’t know why they aren’t thriving in the house, but they all have been dropping leaves, one by one. These 2 above are what I have left and so far they seem stable, but I’ve killed the jade plants and the hen and chicks. I think they need more light and better drainage.

We’re tired. Mark’s been very busy baking and packing orders the last week and it was one of those days yesterday where we are both running around. I left early in the morning to go to a client meeting for 5 hours and rushed back, leaving the meeting early to pick up Mia from school. Claudine got dragged to Costco and a gift box delivery trip to Manhattan, and Mark left for the kitchen at 4 when I got back with Mia. We’ve all been feeling a bit under the weather - not really sick, but enough to make it annoying, so hopefully we will be in better spirits once we feel better. I’m heading into a difficult month where I will be in the design phases of 2 work projects. I don’t love the process, mostly because it can be a tumultuous period of frustration, stress, self doubt, a mental and emotional rollercoaster of creative blocks and surges, and a vulnerable time where you open yourself up for criticism and rejection. Sometimes I wish my job was more black and white, right answer/wrong answer, facts and not subjective opinion. It’s tiring. I just want to be selfish and design for myself.

Yesterday’s Flea was a soggy washout until the sun came out at the end of the day when it was time to break down (of course), but Mark sold all of our new pumpkin ginger sandwich cookies and we sold a bunch of them on etsy its first day listed (it helped that the cardamom marshmallows were on the front page during the day, making us featured on the etsy front page a total of 7 times, at least that I know of. There are many sellers who say the front page features the same shops over and over and I suppose we could be considered one of those shops, so I am sorry!…and we sort of agree…but…we have no say in this!).

Yesterday was also the first day Mia went to see a movie in a theater. Yeah, I know, she is 4, almost 5, and it’s her first time going to the movies. We are lame, but believe it or not, before this year when I went to see Sex & the City with my girlfriends, and then Batman with Mark last month, we hadn’t been to the movies in 5 years either. I’m surprised that I am admitting this publicly since this is so very lame and I love watching movies (even more lame is that we rarely rent movies either - we find that we have no time to watch them since we are often both working every night when the kids go to bed). So I am super thrilled that she got to experience this milestone with one of her best friends, Sadie, whose Dad took 2 four year olds and one 2 year old to the movies and pizza by himself. Ben, you totally rock!!!

So how do you top your kid’s first movie theater experience without mom or dad? You watch some amazing stuff on YouTube whilst drinking caffeine, as all 4 kids run around the house in princess outfits (yeah, more on that later). Ben and I exchanged our favorite YouTube clips, his being this amazing Matrix Ping Pong clip (you MUST watch this if you haven’t seen this before, and give it some time as it gets better as the clip plays on). I told him about catching the end of this totally weird gameshow that I saw on TV recently where contestants wear silver body suits and have to contort their bodies to fit the shape to the hole in the wall that’s coming towards them - much like human shape sorters. Have you seen it? I only saw the end so I couldn’t recall what it was called, but a little googling revealed that the original is a Japanese gameshow called “Hole in the Wall” (why am I not surprised? Americans would never think of a game show like this) and there are UK and Australian versions out there. We can’t seem to find when it’s airing on Fox, but watch this. Now if Mark was there and not at the Flea, he would have contributed the Super Marios Bros theme song as played on the theremin. He and the girls have been watching this for weeks and searching for every rendition of the theme song including versions played by full orchestras and acapella groups. Yeah, it was funny the first couple of times (especially when your almost-2 year old runs around yelling “theremin!” “theremin!”), but the thing is, you never know when your kid might grab onto something and run with it. We’ve had to endure hearing this song hummed, yelled, and sung over and over and over again. Mark, I curse the day you let Mia watch that Youtube video!

Our fall pumpkin ginger sandwich cookies are at our etsy shop now and I have to say, I am in love with this cookie. It’s just so seasonal for fall, what with the pumpkin and spices. The cookie is slightly crisp on the outside and softer throughout, paired with a pretty great white chocolate filling that is spiked with white pepper to undercut the sweetness that white chocolate can sometimes have. Our friend Christy who was over yesterday was the first person to try it and judging by her reaction, she enjoyed them too. Mark will also have some at the Brooklyn Flea today if you are around the Fort Greene area - looks a bit misty out there, but hopefully it won’t be a complete wash.

I’ve been staring at a counter full of apples ever since we returned from our apple picking trip last weekend. If apples could talk, they would probably be telling me, “Hey buddy, I don’t care how busy you are, would you stop ignoring us and cook us or something?” They are New York apples, after all. Finally I did have a few minutes to whip up an apple pie the other day. I don’t really have a recipe that I use every time, I just seem to wing it and it comes out fine. This time I made a whole wheat crust, substituting one-quarter of the flour in my favorite recipe with whole wheat flour. Mia and Claudine both wanted to help, of course, so I let them play with bits of pie dough trimmings while I did the real work. They both were thrilled when I brought it to the table after dinner, as it is ironically a rare occasion when we eat an actual dessert in our house. Mia scarfed it down, but Claudine seemed more interested in the ice cream on top. She finished that, and then with an untouched piece of pie still on her plate she kept repeating, “More apple pie. More apple pie.” So we gave her more ice cream and she was happy.

Apple Pie (makes one 9-inch pie)

2 pounds baking apples, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (I used Gala apples this time)
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then prepare your favorite pie crust, enough for a 9-inch double crust pie. If you don’t have a favorite recipe, I sometimes use this one. Roll half of the rough into a circle and lay into a 9-inch pie pan. Mix all the filling ingredients together and pour into the pan. Roll the remaining dough into a circle and lay it over the apples. Pinch the two crusts together all the way around and trim any excess overhanging dough, leaving about an inch around. Fold the overhanging inch of dough over so it is against the side of the pan, and then crimp the edges decoratively. Bake for about 50 minutes with a sheet pan under the pie pan to catch any overflowing juices. The filling should be bubbling and the crust should be golden. Cool for several hours before cutting.

Roast pork is not something that I ate as a child, but I do have one vivid childhood memory regarding it. I was nine years old and we were on a family vacation in Norway aboard an antique wooden ship whose name escapes me. Our shipmates were several families of tourists from various countries, plus the friendly Norwegian crew. We spent over a week sailing through the fjords and visiting many small coastal towns. One afternoon I awoke from a nap (in my bed, which was a literal hole in a wall with a mattress) and smelled something absolutely delicious. I set out to find what it was and it turned out to be one of the crew cooking a pork roast of some kind. It was delicious, but I don’t remember exactly what it tasted like - or looked like, for that matter. All I remember is the smell - sweet, savory, meaty, all in one.

So with fall officially upon us I decided to roast a pork of my own. I generously crusted the top of a pork loin with chopped herbs from our balcony garden (which will probably not last much longer) with plenty of garlic. The juices get released into the roasting pan and start to caramelize, which I believe is the smell I remember from childhood. And the best thing about this dinner? The piece of meat I bought was far too big so I have plenty of leftovers. Hmmm….cuban Sandwiches, anyone? Stay tuned.

Roast Pork with Herbs and Garlic (serves 6-8)

1 boneless Pork Loin, about 2-3 pounds
1 cup chopped mixed herbs (I used rosemary, sage and lemon thyme)
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the pork in a large roasting pan. Mix the herbs, garlic, salt and pepper together, and press onto the top of the pork. Put it into the oven and cook until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees, about 90 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

We woke up this morning to a clear chill in the morning air. It’s Fall. Time to put away the sandals for good as I know we’ve been pushing it by wearing them this long. I welcome the sweaters and scarves, actually - it’s the excessive winter bundling of the kids that I am not looking forward to as it will add a good 15 minutes to get out of the house. So for now, enjoy the season. You know it’s fleeting.

We’ve been waiting for cooler weather to bring our chocolate butterscotch bars to etsy, and since Fall is officially here, they’ve made their debut in the shop tonight.

Thanks to all who gave their opinion on the chocolate roasted cumin cookies. Mark made another batch today and cut down the cumin and added more chocolate chips. It’s working better for me (I wasn’t an immediate fan) and now the cumin isn’t so upfront - it just adds an interest to the flavor and a little warmth to the cookie. The cocoa nibs, however, are just so good, so the cookie is getting there. The pumpkin ginger sandwich cookies will probably make an appearance in the shop within the week.

In other biz news, we are making a lot of progress on our new website. I’ve handed the design off to get coded and I’m pretty excited about it. It’ll be good to have our own e-commerce on our site finally. And lastly, we are in print…we have a little write up in the current issue of Herb Companion magazine (unfortunately, we are disappointed in the photo they took).

Ok, I am totally trying to write this and watch Project Runway at the same time, but I gotta go because it’s starting to get real interesting (Kenley and floral hip hop with high waisted jeans! Korto as country singer! Suede and his affinity for referring to himself in the 3rd person! What’s up with that? And Tim just said snarky!).

In years past, we have gone apple and pumpkin picking a little too late in the season and the farms we’ve visited have looked a bit sad and picked over. The worst was when we tried to go pumpkin picking on a weekday 2 years ago right before Claudine was born. We drove up to the Hudson Valley on a blustery cold day and to our surprise and disappointment, the farm that we had in mind was closed during the week. Determined to get pumpkins, we headed down to another farm we spied down the road, but we didn’t see a soul around, nor any pumpkin patches, and only a lone goat and horse stood in a gated pen near the side of the farm stand. The only pumpkins we could find were from 2 display bunches near the farm entrance, so we grabbed a couple of rather sad pumpkins, dropped money into the bucket (yes, this farm operated on an honor system, at least during the week on a cold day) and headed back to Brooklyn feeling totally lame that we failed to give Mia, who was then 2, a memorable pumpkin picking experience.

We’ve marked our fruit-picking days on the calendar this year and made a visit to one of our favorite farms, Seven Pond Orchards, out near Southampton. They have a dozen or so varieties of apples, but what makes it fun for kids is that these are all dwarf trees. None are taller than 7-8 feet and each compact tree is densely clustered with apples. The farm isn’t sprawling so it is quite manageable with small kids, plus there are also raspberry and blackberry bushes to pick from, (and remember how much the girls love berry picking?). The weather has been truly glorious - perfect for spending the day outdoors, in fields surrounded by fruit and flowers.