Holy cow, you guys, I literally blinked, and it’s Columbus Day Weekend in a few days, and the leaf-peepers are here! 🍂 🍁

Last year, during the pandemic, we didn’t see one tour bus on the roads. The hotels were on the empty side; anyone crossing over into Vermont stayed at Airbnb homes and cottages. The visitors were supposed to quarantine themselves when they arrived or before they came, which most didn’t. 

Yesterday and today, Marty and I saw multiple tour buses packed with leaf-peeping people. It’s actually a relief to see the buses this year; our tourist-driven economy needs it here in Vermont.

It seems like this year the visitors will get to see what they came for…beautiful foliage. We’ve seen a few photos from up in the northern part of the state, and the color is spectacular! Reds everywhere! The few trees that have started turning here are red also. I swear more leaves changed on Route 7 in just a few short hours.

Back in the early nineties, I used to work in the retail industry in the tourist town of Manchester; things were bat-shit crazy! I mean crazy-ass busy. People rented out rooms in their homes to accommodate visitors. There were no available rooms; reservations needed to be made far in advance. Long lines of traffic, packed stores, long waits at restaurants and bars were the norm. Everywhere was bustling. 

Manchester’s hay day as an outlet store town came and went; no one “needed” to come up for amazing sales at the outlets anymore; outlet stores started popping up right outside big cities and were conveniently located right off the NY Thruway. Online shopping also killed outlet towns as well…in my opinion.

People still travel to VT to ski, hike, sightsee, camp, kayak, and weddings. Vermont is a beautiful wedding destination for city couples and their guests. It can be picture perfect, a storybook wedding, especially if the weather cooperates. 

If the weather cooperates…Ugh, when I worked in retail, I remember how miserable, cranky, and bitchy people came to see the foliage and were sorely disappointed. Either the leaves already did their thing early, and they missed it, or it was a crummy foliage year. The same thing happens when there isn’t any snow or sun.  

Cranky, disappointed people took it out on everyone who worked and lived here. I remember telling one woman she must have really pissed off Mother Nature or God…they were the only ones who could control such a thing. I don’t take shit from people; my Jersey comes out. I have found I can put someone in their place if I smile and say it jokingly. It worked! She smiled and realized what a bitch she was being. She would now be called a “Karen” or an asshole guy with the same attitude is known as a “Ken.” 

Yesterday, I got out my Halloween decorations. The decorations I put up when the boys were young are packed away in the basement crawl space. Someday, if I have any grandkids, I’ll go nuts again decorating. For now, I have more subtle, grown-up decorations. 

I’m sure I’ll talk about Halloween more this month. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Why? It’s the only holiday where I could be whoever I wanted to be, and the only thing people wanted from me was candy. No nagging, no manipulative behavior from family, no guilt trips, I get dressed up and have fun, fun, fun! 

I still have as much fun on Halloween as an adult as I had as a kid; I love it and getting dressed up. I think about it for months. When the kids dressed up, I was more excited than they were. We played actors in a haunted house for years, and it was always the best night ever! I love being scary characters.

I better keep my eyes open for the next couple of weeks; I don’t want to miss any more of October…my favorite month of the year. In October, we even got married, the third Saturday of the month, which is called the sweetest day of the year. 🤗

What the heck is a dirndl?

“A dirndl is a feminine dress which originated in German speaking areas of the Alps. It is traditionally worn by women and girls in Bavaria (south-eastern Germany), Austrial, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Alpine regions of Italy. A dirndl consists of a close-fitting bodice featuring a low neckline, a blouse worn under the bodice, a wide high-waisted skirt and apron.” Wikipedia

This afternoon I got out my three dirndl dresses. I can’t even believe I have one, let alone three. I am mostly Irish, Scottish, and a little Eastern European without a drop of German blood in me. Marty, however, was born in Germany and came to the states when he was young. Still, I never thought just because I married a German; I would ever have a dirndl.

When we started The Vermont Spätzle Company over four years ago, I saw a dirndl in my future. Spätzle is a German egg noodle from the Bavaria section of Germany, just like dirndls. In the first year of our business, we were invited to Oktoberfest Vermont in Burlington, VT. This was our big chance to introduce our spätzle to a lot of people. We served hot spätzle bowls; with butter, gravy, or cheese. Many people got everything on their spätzle, making German poutine. We also had a dessert spätzle with Nutella on top.

We had a lot to prepare for Oktoberfest, but one thing I needed to get was a traditional German dress or a dirndl. My first one was all cotton and a bitch to keep clean and iron. It was uncomfortable as hell! Those two nights of Oktoberfest were so busy; we had a mile-long line all night; I didn’t have time to think about being uncomfortable. We were the hit of the festival, and it was fun!

We were invited back to Oktoberfest Vermont, plus another Oktoberfest in Glennville, NY. Again, we were the hits of the festivals, but it was exhausting since we had wholesale customer orders to fill. I learned from the previous year I needed to get a real dirndl, the kind that the women who worked in beer halls in Germany wore. These dirndls were made of polyester, which made the dress easy to wash and no ironing! The fabric has some give to it, making it more comfortable and pockets.

I also wore my dirndls to another Oktoberfest in Bennington, VT, The Vermont Cheesemaker Festival, voted as one of the top 10 foodie events in the country and won the best artisan food award. We also participated at the Taste of Vermont and won another award for best presentation. Every award we won was a complete shock to us, and we felt very blessed and grateful; so many people love our product.

So now I own three dirndls…my original hunter green one, a red one, and a black one. Even though I am wearing color, my black, bad-ass dirndl is my favorite and the most comfortable since it’s longer in length. Bending over digging out spätzle packages from coolers requires a longer dirndl from past experiences.

So at 4:30 am tomorrow, I’ll be stuffing myself into my dirndl to celebrate Oktoberfest at the Troy Farmers Market. I will be packing a change of clothes with me for after the market; I’ll be more than ready to rip the dirndl off after having it on for 9 hours. The hour-long drive home would put me right over the edge. Lol!

It’s funny; looking at the photos I posted, I look exhausted in every one of them. Happy Friday…enjoy your weekend, guys!

I wrote the other day that this fall weather we are having here in Vermont is making me want to fall clean and cook & bake lots of food.

God only knows why on earth I would tackle cleaning our fridge in the midst of Oktoberfest season.

It started innocent enough, I was only going to run the door shelves through the dishwasher. Then I felt like it was a waste to run it with hardly anything in it. That’s when I started unloading the whole thing and removing all the shelves and drawers. 😖

The dishwasher ran and finished before I even put a dent in cleaning. I keep a clean kitchen and clean as I go, but sometimes things get out of control like the fridge.

The good news was that I didn’t find any nasty science experiments hidden in the back or in any of the jars. That’s was good! I did find that the entire thing needed a good scrub…Krud Kutter to the rescue! This stuff is amazing and earth friendly. You can find Krud Kutter at your local hardware store. It’s NSF food safe approved and we use it in our production kitchen as well.

After everything was clean it was time to put back the shelves and drawers. Sam was in the kitchen while all the chaos was happening. I told him to watch how I was taking it apart because I may never be able to put it back again. Lol.

The way we had the shelves configured before the big cleaning project wasn’t very efficient. The fridge is big but we kept running out of space for things. Big things had to be put in our walk-in cooler if needed.

I went to images of Kitchen-Aid refrigerators like ours and looked at different configurations. I settled on one that looked way better than what we had before.

I did need Sam’s help a little…but putting it back was easy. Everything was sparkling clean! 🧼 ✨

The crazy OCD trait that runs through my veins went wild when it came time to put everything back in. Condiments went on the shelves on one side. Fermented and pickled things had its own spot. Miscellaneous glass jars had another spot on the doors. On the shelves inside there was an area for tall items, dairy, leftovers, jams & jellies, the top shelf was reserved for items I don’t use often but need like miso, beef and chicken bases, Thai curry ingredients, tubes of tomato & anchovy paste.

I stepped back and took a look…mission accomplished! Yay!! It took much longer than I thought it would; which always happens when I start a project. The time spent was well worth it.

This afternoon I went grocery shopping after production and making deliveries. When I put everything away there was a place for everything! Even the crisper drawers are so organized that I had room for all the fruit and veggies I purchased.

I’m not sure why I felt it necessary to write about the great fridge clean-out. I guess I figured everyone has to clean their own refrigerators at one time or another so why not share mine. Seriously, the struggle is real and we all have to stick together. 😏

Yesterday, Marty and I had some deliveries to make in NY and decided to squeeze in a movie matinee, something we’ve never done before. I joked we were going to a weekday matinee like older people, and yes, we were the youngest ones in the movie theater.

We’ve been looking forward to seeing the movie Dear Evan Hansen. We love the music from the original Broadway, Tony award-winning show Dear Evan Hansen and are very familiar with the songs. I know most of the words to many of the songs since we listen to broadway music every Friday in the production kitchen. 

We blew it back in 2018 when the broadway play Dear Evan Hansen was playing at Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady, NY. Not having seen the play, some of the songs weren’t that clear to me, but seeing them being acted out clarified a lot for me, just like when I finally could stream Hamilton.

Before seeing the film, I didn’t read any of the critics’ reviews; I wanted to form my own opinion. I watched the movie as a regular person and not with a critic’s eye. 

The critics basically hated the movie for one reason or another. The critics all said that Platt was too old to be playing a high school student; he was 27 when filming and turned 28 the day it was released. Give me a fucking break, Mr. Critic! How many other older actors played high school or college freshmen in older films? Well, I’ll tell you…

Let’s start with the movie Grease. When filming began in June 1977, John Travolta was 23, Olivia Newton-John was 28, Stockard Channing was 33, Jeff Conaway was 26, Barry Pearl was 27, Michael Tucci was 31, Kelly Ward was 20, Didi Conn was 25; Jamie Donnelly was 30, and Annette Charles was 29.

How about Animal House? Kevin Bacon was the youngest college student at the age of 20; however, the rest of the cast ranged from 25-32 years old. John Belushi was a whopping 29 years old.

We can continue with Back to the Future, where Michael J Fox played a high school student at 24. Tom Hanks was 37 when he played all the ages of Forrest Gump, including Forrest’s younger years. Here’s another shocker Barbra Streisand was 41 years old when she acted in Yentl, a young high school Jewish girl. Ok, so you get my drift with the too old bullshit.

While Ben Platt won the Tony for his role as Evan Hansen, the critics couldn’t find anything nice about Ben Platt in the film. Wait! They did like his singing! He was meant to play the role for Pete’s sake.

As soon as the movie started, I could identify with Evan Hansen, a socially awkward high school senior troubled by anxiety and depression. I saw that look on his face. I knew that look, a look I’ve seen 100 times. I also recognized how he was hunched over, wanting the floor to swallow him up because he was uncomfortable in school and his own skin.

He was on meds and went to a therapist, which didn’t seem to be working. Another thing I know first hand.

I worked in middle & high school for 7 years as the school lunch director and lunch lady. Many people who worked at school turned up their noses at me for being “just a lunch lady.” They assumed they were smarter than me and knew the students better than I ever could. They were wrong. These kids trusted me and talked to me. They shared their ups and downs. Many times we were both crying or celebrating even a small victory.

My years as a lunch lady left me drained some days. I saw so many socially awkward kids, kids with no friends, made fun of, neglected, and enabled by the educational system. Kids truly felt comfortable enough to talk to me when they needed someone to listen to them, not judge or preach. They also knew as a mandated reporter that if they told me something terrible, I had to tell someone, which I only had to do twice in 7 years.

I saw that very look that Evan Hansen had in his eyes way too often. I saw the character Connor Murphy, the student who commits suicide, in a few troubled students. Students that would rather have bad attention than no attention at all. These “bad” kids had no friends either, like the socially awkward ones; instead of hiding in their shells, they acted out. They acted like assholes because it was the only way they knew how to act. Sigh…

It’s a sad movie with a sad ending but a story that needs to be told. I wished things turned out better for Evan but didn’t. I cried multiple times while watching the film. I left the theater in tears and had to get some toilet paper to wipe my eyes and nose with.

Even though the critics and other movie experts hated the film, I feel like it had the chance to address larger audiences as a movie instead of so many who couldn’t see the Broadway show in NYC. To raise teen suicide awareness. To show adults how painful high school is for some kids. Dear Evan Hansen was a true story written into a book, then a play, and finally a film.

We happened to like the film. In March, we have tickets to see the Broadway version of Dear Evan Hansen in March 2022 at Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady, NY. We aren’t going to blow it again this time. Proctor’s plays are as professional as Broadway, just without the tickets in the $200-500 ticket range. We did see a broadway show at Proctors back in 2019 that had the original Broadway cast; it was fantastic! I couldn’t see how it could have been any better, and we could afford to go!

I am not a movie critic, but I went to the show as a movie-goer who is a mother and lunch lady who saw this movie for what it was meant to be, not something to piss on as the critics did. I am sure they were technically correct with the problems they found in the film, but that’s what they are paid to do…not watch the movie with an open heart and mind, hoping it sends a strong message to its audiences.

Hey, listen…they say opinions are like assholes; everyone has one. This, my friends, is just my humble opinion.

Amazingly, in only one short, quick, week my mind has gone from summer to fall in a blink of an eye.

When we got back from Vegas, the weather was beautiful here in Vermont, so nice and warm that we actually swam twice in our new pool. I grilled a lot and wanted salads for lunch, yogurt for breakfast.

Suddenly, as the temps started falling along with the leaves, I started baking, braising, and cleaning. Just in the last two days, Sam and I made sweet potato Belgian waffles for Sunday breakfast. Yesterday, I made a batch of soft dinner rolls to go with a pot of beef stew. I grabbed a big bowl of pears from the walk-in fridge and whipped up a pear crisp. Right now, as I type, I am baking pumpkin chocolate chip bread. I also made a figgy cream cheese to spread on it for breakfast tomorrow.

How can a simple drop in temperature during the change in seasons makes me change everything I am doing and what I want to eat? The official holiday food season isn’t quite here yet, so I can’t blame my food shift and cravings on that.

Is it the bombardment of fall comfort foods and recipes that keep appearing on my newsfeeds? No, this has been happening to me long before social media or even cell phones & computers.

Some people experience hormonal changes during the seasons and even more so with sunlight exposure. These changes can impact levels of stress, appetite, and the ability to sleep. People sensitive to these changes could have cravings for sugary, energy-dense, comforting foods. I am highly sensitive to the sun and moon, along with other kinds of energy…so this makes sense now.

For some people, there are also changes in the food that is available seasonally. The price of food fluctuates with the seasons, sometimes dictating what we choose to buy and eat.

According to the University of Georgia:

“Colder weather can create biological changes that make us want to eat more. When the temperature drops, it’s natural that we want to crave foods that provide us warmth. Oftentimes, the food we choose in the winter months is higher in sugar and fats than we would otherwise consume.” Said Dr. Laing.

So cooler temperatures can have more than one effect on our cravings. Colder weather is a large factor in how we decide to fill our plates. Is it mother nature telling us to bulk up and get ready for wintertime hibernation?

The weather isn’t the only thing to blame, as winter also brings seasonal celebrations. We have an abundance of holidays, celebrations, traditions, and other events all centered around food. “These alone can impact our eating habits. These cravings are guided by our physiology and the environment around us.” Dr. Laing reported.

Ok…so the fall and winter months trigger biological changes that stimulate hunger and increase cravings. The biological changes also explain the need to tackle fall cleaning and organizing as a way of getting our caves ready for hibernation and hunkering down with a warm drink, a throw blanket, and a good book.

For me, my drinking is also affected by seasonal changes. My rum and tonics, crisp white wine or Malibu-based cocktails, turn into hot buttered rum, Bailey’s Irish cream, red wine, and bourbon. Drinks to warm the body as opposed to summery, ice-cold cocktails.

So I think that I am almost ready to finally say, “Au Revoir” to my petunias and get out Mr. Scarecrow. I see some mums and pumpkins in the very near future. Fuck, the next thing I’ll be doing is untangling our front porch Christmas lights! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Happy Autumn! 🍂 🍁

I went to the grocery store this afternoon after making deliveries and got to the paper towel and toilet paper aisle. Sigh…

What was worse was the meat counter and how expensive the price of meat is. Everything is slowly going up in prices, but meat prices are out of control. I have readers on the west coast and wonder if it’s like this there too?

Before I got to the supermarket, I was leaving my weekend meals up in the air to make whatever I could find; good thing too! Holy shit! The meatball mix that I get in Aldi for $6 was $10.99 in a normal supermarket. Swedish meatballs got scratched off my maybe list fast.

After looking around at all my choices, I went with a large package of assorted pork-chops for $4.32 and a large chuck roast for $15.00 bucks. That was the least expensive piece of beef that I felt was a fair price. I plan on making a big pot of beef stew on Sunday, so we will have lots of leftovers.

I also visited our local library this afternoon; I haven’t set foot in a library for years! I used to love to read and getting lost in stories, but I didn’t have the concentration for reading when the boys were young. Then I worked two jobs and had no time. Then my mother had her stroke…the reasons are many. I’ve missed reading so much; it’s time to add it back to my journey.

Since I am adding reading back into my life I’ve decided to start small with fiction novels having different culinary themes. I’ll go from there; I want light, easy reading. Perhaps I will be inspired by new dishes to try making as well.

Social media became my reading so to speak. It was something that I enjoyed in the beginning catching up with old classmates and friends. It was easy to “read” anywhere on my phone.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been using social media more and more only for our business, cooking, recipes and my blog. Basically, I just scroll through my newsfeed quickly and sometimes share stupid memes that make me laugh.

Lately, my phone lets me know that my usage is way down, which also means my anxiety is down as well. Thank goodness! Getting anxiety & panic attacks and having psoriasis rear it’s ugly head after being dormant for over 40 years is my indication that I need to stop looking at my fucking phone so much. I can’t control the news or negativity on FB, but I can control whether I am on it or not.

Tonight, I made homemade shake-&-bake style pork-chops with maple glazed sweet potatoes and stuffing. “Stuffing? I’m staying!” Remember that commercial? I can never say the words pork-chops without thinking about the Brady Bunch episode where Peter Brady said, “ Pork-chops and applesauce; sounds swell.” 🤣

Besides dinner, I also made Klaus a batch of his doggie meatballs and mini pear tartlets with pears from our pear trees. I was in a total cooking mood when I got home; everyone benefits when this happens.

We are back at the Troy Farmers Market tomorrow and we’re invited to have dinner at our friend Martin’s house; I’m looking forward to both…just not getting up at 4:30 am again. Happy Friday!

I am still adding color to my once black-only wardrobe. I have always had a hard time finding pieces of clothing that I like at stores in the mall; hence my love of thrift shops.

Whether it’s finding one of a kind pieces or picking up shirts for the production kitchen, thrift stores have it all and then some! 

Yesterday, I hit it big, I was shopping for t-shirts for work. I was expecting to find junky, pilled shirts to wear in the kitchen, but instead I found practically new ones in a rainbow of colors. I can still wear them in the kitchen even if they are nice; I wear an apron over my clothing.

For less than $20 bucks I picked up 5 “new” t-shirts, 2 pj tops and a hand hammered copper pitcher. Not too shabby if I do say do myself! 

I thought I had no problem adjusting to the 3 hour time change that took place each way over 4 nights. 

I was wrong! I’ve been dragging my ass around going from production to doing projects; basically just trying to get caught up with everything. Winter is coming!

Little things have helped to keep my ass in gear like today when we were out in NY making deliveries after production; Marty suggested we stop for an ice cream cone. Sure, what the hell! 

I am not a huge ice cream person so I got a small ice cream on a gluten free cone while Marty got a medium. His cone had 7 swirls of ice cream on a gf cone; it only costed $3.25! After Vegas prices, or any prices these these days, that’s was a refreshing change! Mine cost $2.50 for 5 swirls…I only ate half, next time I’ll get the baby $2 cone. 

Another thing that gave me a lift was a bouquet of flowers Sam got for me as a welcome back surprise. This morning, I was looking at my tiny Eiffel Tower vase that I got a thrift store this summer and realized it’s never had flowers in it. I knew the 3 little orange roses in the bouquet would be perfect. I love how it case a shadow on our bedroom wall. It reminds me of the roses in Beauty & the Beast. 

Tomorrow evening I go back to dancing with Kathleen; then teaching belly dance classes. I haven’t danced in two weeks so I am looking forward to it. I better rest up after production or I’ll have my ass handed to me after 3 hours of dancing. 

Right now, I am sitting on our front porch, having a double dirty vodka martini on the rocks. The weather today was stellar ! A perfect day actually; blue skies and sunny. 73 degrees with no humidity! 

Sadly, I finally got rid of my petunias in the flower pots, but the hanging petunias are still hanging in there; since May! I don’t have the heart to get rid of them; just yet. My favorite time of the year is over, but fall comes in as my second favorite; as if right on cue as the leaves are changing and falling to the ground. I love it when you are quiet, you can hear them hit the ground.

Have a great night guys, it’s going to be great sleeping weather again with the windows open; now that we took out the air conditioner…that was just one of yesterday’s projects.

It’s Sunday morning and as soon as we finished up our coffees we were back in production. While we were away the phone rang non-stop with spätzle orders. 

Coming home to an order filled white board with new orders is a God-sent. Coming home to a hamper piled high with dirty laundry not so much. Lol!