Some food-related (mostly) things we enjoyed this past week:

We spent a long weekend (made even longer by Hurricane Sandy) in the Boston area visiting Dan’s older brother, our sister-in-law and our niece and nephew.  We could not have asked for better weather while we were there, except of course for the wind and rain when the storm blew through on Monday.  The only storm-related effects we encountered were a couple of cancelled flights, school closing for a day and a few hours without electricity — all of which added up to bonus time with family and great appreciation for how fortunate we are to have all that we do.  We know others along Sandy’s path were not nearly so lucky and our hearts (and a donation) go out to them.  We always cherish visits with family, but this one in particular seemed extra special — many thanks to our hosts (including the littlest ones) for a wonderful trip with lots of fond memories made.

One of the many highlights of our trip was a visit to a local farm to pick apples and get pumpkins.  It was a beautiful day (check out our nephew — wearing shorts!) and a really fun experience.  I had never been apple-picking before (around these parts, “apple-picking” means selecting them out of the bins in the grocery store) and am still shocked by how much better an apple plucked right off the tree tastes than the ones purchased in the store.

For Dan, every trip to the East Coast requires at least one meal involving lobster.  Although it was soft shell (meaning it had recently molted) which typically means less meat, it was plenty big and delicious and he thoroughly enjoyed every succulent bite.

We hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween — especially anyone affected by Hurricane Sandy:  hopefully you were able to escape the devastation for at least a little while and enjoy something spooky, sweet or otherwise festive for the holiday.  We made a big pot of beef & barley soup (complete with homemade beef stock — post coming soon!), put a scary movie on TV (The Shining) and delighted in handing out candy to lots of cleverly-costumed kids.