Bagels

Back in March I came home from NYC a changed woman. I had tasted greatness. The bagels. They were just so good. I swore to myself at the time I would recreate the greatness, right down to the veggie cream cheese with chunks of fresh vegetable mixed right in.




We had to knead the dough for almost 15 minutes, next time I'll use either the breadmaker or my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. The kneading took so long we took shifts.


After we let the dough rise we shaped them in to bagels:



Then we boiled them in water enhanced with malted barley syrup:



Then, as I was taking them out of the oven still... Jim ate:



We made plain, poppy seed, Asiago cheese, and everything bagels:



Poor Hunter thought they smelled really good:



I think we succeeded.



In case you want to want to try yourself to make these, here is the recipe I used.

Apple Picking

Jim and I both scheduled a few days vacation to enjoy some time together before he starts the outage and works 6 day weeks and 12 hour days.



We had a couple things on our "list" we wanted to accomplish. One was going to the apple orchard. Of course the day we decided to go it was near 90. It was not natural to be at the orchard in the crazy heat.

Be on the look out for some pictures of apple baked goods soon.

Surfing Lake Michigan

I love fall. The changing weather is awesome. Not until I lived in this part of Michigan, however, di did I realize just how crazy the fall weather can be.... Check the surfer near the lighthouse. How cool is that?

Who Knew, I Can Canoe?

We went canoeing for Cassie's birthday.

It was really fun to do something different and enjoy nature. (And beer.) Jim decided to do something "fresh" and treat his canoe as a gondola.



At some points in the river, we were forced to make Oregon Trail style decisions when we were forced with difficult to pass areas. It was awesome.

Here, I had to go under this log, by laying on the floor of the canoe, Jim was able to go over.

I am already looking forward to our next canoeing adventure!

Cider Donuts

Yesterday, Jim and I were sitting inside on a gloomy fall day craving some cider donuts. So, we decided to pour some Captains and Cider, crank up the record player and make some ourselves....

Per the recommendation of the blog we pulled the recipe from, we deep fried in Crisco rather than oil, apparently it reduces the greasy aftertaste.

Right out of the oil.

Just glazed, Jim couldn't wait and had to have a bite.

Close up of some of the glazed donuts.


My personal favorites, cinnamon sugar covered.


One more shot of the sugary goodness. Not sure what we are going to do with all of these... hopefully Jim will take them to work before they get stale.



Boys chilling in the other room to avoid helping clean up...

The Last Two Months Or So....

We've been busy... Here is a sampling of what we've been up to.

We went to Niagara Falls to celebrate our first anniversary.

We went on vacation with Jim's family in the 1000 Islands.


While there... we bought lots of wine.


When we got home we ate our one year old wedding cake... Jim had seconds, and saved it to eat as snacks the rest of the week. Must have kept well!


We went sailing! Hunter is a natural!

We went to Chicago for a Bat Mitzvah.


Jim ate carnival food at Blueberry Festival. (We also saw Journey and Jimmy Buffett cover bands, and ate lots of blueberries.)



I baked some blueberry treats.


We took Hunter on Jim's Dad's boat.


We joined the masses and watched The Friends Goodwill lead Tall Ships in to port.


Hunter played lots of fetch at the beach.


The weather took a turn and it got cold and windy, check Hunter's ears.

Or, the waves breaking on the pier.


Jim went wakesurfing.


We went sailing a few more times...



We saw a beautiful sunset.


I'll try to be better at keeping Life on Lee Street up to date.... Lots of fall fun to come soon. :)