Pumpkins and Soup Night

We made it to the local pumpkin patch this weekend!  Huddie's is a sweet little family-owned patch near the kids' elementary school in Arcata's bottoms.

The corn maze is a favorite for the kids! I actually don't have good spatial skills but, with Iver leading (of course, everything made into a competition), he and I escaped in 28 minutes, beating K and Niall.

We ended up with a good variety of decorative pumpkins for our porch.

I then enjoyed a wonderful dinner night with friends at Shannon's house for a fall soup night.  It featured eight different soups or stews, brought in jars or in crock-pots, including white chicken chili (Shannon), thai curry (Lisa), potato-leek (Estelle), chicken gnocchi (Christina), broccoli-cheddar (Paige), chicken noodle (Amber), pumpkin (Shauna), and tomato-basil (me). 

The host, Shannon.

Shannon made these cute signs, stickers and "voting" cards, and asked us each to rate the soups on "best overall," "most comforting," and "most unique."

The shot glasses were actually great for soup tasting! You could use any receptacle you wanted- including cups and bowls, and there was a lot of bread to compliment the meal. I was sooo full (and warm, delightfully!) after the meal.

Christina's gnocchi soup (an Olive Garden knock off, she stated) was my absolute favorite, and deservedly won best overall. 

There were plenty of to-go containers so that we could each pack some leftovers of our favorites, which was a wonderful idea!   We also shared our recipes to the event's page, for future cooking. 

Fall fun with friends!  I'm sure we'll do this again! 

Throwback Thursday: more than two decades of friendship with Laura

This memory post is featuring my wonderful friend Laura, who I met back in college at the University of Richmond when we both were involved in the music department. Reviewing photos and scanning brought me to a set of her wedding photos (twenty years ago), and even earlier memories.  

I vacationed several times with Laura (Tony), and her parents, including to North Carolina (her home state) and Florida. 

2003

UR graduation, May 2003 - twenty-three years ago! 

We traveled in Europe right after graduation.

"meals" in Italy

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin 

Bergen, Norway

Laura and Tony had dated throughout college and got married in July 2006 when I was in medical school.  I was thrilled to be able to travel from Mayo and support them as a bridesmaid!

Rehearsal dinner 

with Jeremy

Tony is still just as goofy as these photos!

Caught the bouquet!

I saw them (in NC) when visiting the east coast in 2007 after completion of med school. 

Eno River SP

Waterpark fun!

In 2008, after I had moved to Sacramento for residency, they came out to California and we took a spring trip to Yosemite. 

In April 2010, they were back in CA visiting family, and I got to meet baby Abbie, now a senior in HS! 

In 2011, Laura served as a bridesmaid during our wedding despite being heavily pregnant with Jason (there were plenty of doctors in case she popped out a baby early!). 

In September 2014, heavily pregnant myself with Iver, we visited VA and NC and stayed with their family. 

Then, when Iver was ~three and Niall was on the way, we made another NoVA--> NC road trip.

It's been tricky navigating a bicoastal friendship due to the nature of adult jobs and our children's busy lives, but we loved our visit to see Tony, Laura, Abbie and Jason last spring (2025) and hope to connect again soon! 

Popcorn for beginners!

 I am loving this fall season. Niall wanted us to return to Wild Rose pumpkin patch this weekend after he'd gone there on a school field trip but, alas, they weren't open to the public.

He came home from school last week with a "corn husk" doll, which he'd made with friend and classmate, Paul.

We also popped corn from kernel form, which is something I did for the first time... around age 43 last year!  I've never been a big fan of popcorn, so on occasion when kids requested it, we made it in microwaveable bags.  I was surprised how easy it was, but also didn't realize (the first time), the importance of leaving a lid on your large pot once the kernels started "popping" in the hot oil (thankfully, there were no eye injuries).  Niall had come home last week from a field trip with "purple husk" corn, which we popped, and no goggles were required!

It did not result in purple corn as Niall hypothesized, but purple-centered white-colored corn.

Pumpkin Patch trip postponed-- until next weekend. 

Halloween Gummy Worms Experiment

I get periodic Scholastic newsletters (and book recommendations) electronically and last week, I saw a fun Halloween-themed project we could do at home involving gummy worms.

The instructions were as follows:

Ingredients: measuring spoons, gummy worms (cut lengthwise into fourths), scissors, baking soda, water, vinegar, jars 

1. Make super-skinny gummy worms by cutting individual worms into several long strips. Cut each worm lengthwise at least four times. The skinnier you make your worms, the better they’ll work.

I could only find these sour crawlers at our local store, which have a sugar-crystallized coating (I suspect this may have interfered with our project's results).

2. Measure and mix 3 tablespoons of baking soda into a cup of warm water. Stir well.

3. Drop the skinny gummy worms into the cup of baking soda solution, stir, and let them soak for 15 to 20 minutes.

4. While the worms soak, fill a clear glass or jar with vinegar.  

5. After 20 minutes, fish the gummy worms out of the baking soda solution with a fork, and drop them into the glass of vinegar to make them wiggle.

Gummy worms are supposed to float and move as the vinegar (acetic acid) in the cup reacts with the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) they've been soaked in, forming C02 gas bubbles, which float to  surface and making the worms wriggle. 

However, ours moved sideways from the center to the jar walls, but not up and down. You can add more baking soda to the worm-vinegar mix at the end to try to create more bubbles, but Niall decided just to call the experiment and bust and go on to eat the remaining sour worms :).