Bountiful Harvest

Alrighty peeps, I'm getting back in my groove of updating the blog more regularly.  After all, we still have lots of good eats and good times to share.  Most of you know that Mike switched back to working at Chester Creek Cafe in September.  He was asked to come back as their bookkeeper which has turned out to be a great fit for him.  He now has flexible hours to work around his school schedule, normal working hours and best of all... weekends off!  Cue the trumpets.
Did you also catch that he's back in school?  Yep, he's almost done with semester 1 of the accounting program at LSC.  So far, everything is going great. 

So, with mutual days off of work, we've been busy catching up with friends and family and doing activities that were on hold.  In short, we've been having a ton more fun! 

Nellie introduced me to a wonderful berry farm in Bayfield, WI.  On my first trip, she and I each picked a 10 pound box of blueberries.  I had such a wonderful time and knew that Mikey would also love it so the two of us went back the second weekend in September to pick another 10 pound box:

We spent a few hours in the rolling hills outside of Bayfield.  It reminded me so much of California wine country.  So much so that we packed a bottle of zinfandel to share while picking the berries:)
I am now set for blueberry oatmeal all winter long!

We also bought a half vegetable share again this summer from Northern Harvest Farm.  We got all of the usual fare: broccoli, lettuce, onions, potatoes, leeks, tomatoes, squash, beets, turnips, spinach, garlic, basil, cilantro, etc.  Additionally, we signed up for a tomato share.  Thankfully the tomato harvest was bountiful enough to fill all the tomato shares this year.  So, in mid-September, we got 40 pounds of tomatoes:

Our plan is to have "in-season" tomatoes throughout the winter.  So, we cored all of them and then bagged them up for storage in our deep freezer.  We portioned the tomatoes into bags that would allow for appropriate amounts of tomatoes that could be cooked down for pasta or pizza sauce over the winter. 
We also made a couple batches of salsa.  Mikey taught me how to make my very own roasted tomato & pineapple salsa.  I was quite proud of my accomplishment so I took some pics to share.
First I cut up a bunch of tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers & a whole pineapple:

Then they were roasted in the oven:

I chopped up some cilantro & squeezed a couple limes:

Then it all went in the food processor:

Next, I learned the critical step of seasoning it.  We tasted the mixture multiple times until the salt, sugar and acidity levels were balanced.  The final product was delicious:

With a big batch of salsa in the fridge, we were inspired to make some Mexican breakfasts. 
His:

Hers:

Sunday morning brunch tradition continued throughout the fall.  Our most decadent meal was this pesto eggs benedict with homemade hollandaise sauce:

Are you hungry yet? 

September also marked Mikey's birthday.  On his actual birthday he got these beautiful sunflowers and a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups (his favorite):

You've heard me mention in the past that we like to do things (create memories) rather than give gifts for birthdays.  So, we hosted a big birthday bash complete with a keg of Bell's Two Hearted beer and about 25 of his closest friends.  We both had an absolute blast and felt pretty grateful to have such a great circle of friends in Duluth.

His birthday meal (which he made) was this Asian noodle bowl with scallops and shrimp:

Birthday cake (which I made) was this double layered carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and toasted pecans:

We've since put ourselves on a diet:)