Divali

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Do you ever feel anxious about meeting new friends? Every time I move to a new school/degree program/city, I get a little anxious about meeting people because I just can't remember how to "make friends." I mean, how did you really become friends with the people you know? I can never remember. So, the anxiety ensues...and then, miraculously, I find a couple of amazing new friends who love and support me. It happens every time.

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I don't know how I would have made it over the past year without my two friends Pangaja and Yamini. I have been so blessed by their friendship. They are both epidemiology PhD students in my cohort and we were 3 out of the 4 members of our study group last semester for the qualifying exam...which basically means that I spent nearly every day with them!

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Last night Yamini hosted a dinner party for Divali, a Hindu holiday called the Festival of Lights. I was honored to attend. I came over early and she let me borrow some traditional Indian clothes, which I am wearing in the picture below. There were about 20 people at the dinner and we just talked and ate a lot of traditional Indian food that she had prepared- it was SO good- although she did have to gather all the white people in attendance around the table to describe each dish. :)

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I was never a fan of Indian food until Yamini invited me to have dinner with her at the home of her parents in Michigan several months ago- and Yamini shares her mother's gift of hospitality and cooking. The picture of food below only shows about 1/2 the appetizers!

Apple Orchard and Cider Mill

I love autumn! One of our favorite "Michigan" autumn activities is apple picking. We went to the orchard two weekends in a row with my mom and Aunt Rox and with Adam's parents Beth and Jon.




































































The orchard also grows other fruits, which they make into fruit wine at the winery.



















Free samples at the winery.



















After a chilly afternoon of apple-picking and wine-tasting, we enjoyed hot fresh pumpkin cinnamon cake donuts and fresh apple cider. Yum!



















We picked an entire bushel of apples. They wanted to take some "Michigan" apples home and we baked with the others.
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To preface the baking story, I have to tell you about an amazing recipe I saw on The Pioneer Woman's blog site. (If you've never been to her site, it's a really great blog, particularly for recipes.) It was an apple cake made in a cast iron skillet that looked AMAZING even though I don't really like cooked fruit.
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Now, I have never owned a cast iron skillet. When Adam and I were visiting our friends Alyn and Joley earlier this year, Alyn cooked every meal with cast iron and couldn't believe I didn't own this type of skillet. I think his exact words to me were, How do you cook without one?
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During this same visit I was shocked to discover you don't wash cast iron...to which Alyn very simply replied, It's seasoned.
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Seasoned?! Gross...
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Now fast forward many months, and after seeing this fabulous apple-cake-in-a-cast-iron-skillet recipe, I decided I needed a cast iron skillet. And what do you know...they advertise the "seasoned" aspect of the skillet. So funny. I immediately thought of Alyn and Joley.
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I'm hoping "seasoned" means favorably well-worn and not already flavored.

Yum! It was so good.

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We visited the same orchard with Adam's parents the following weekend.

The crates were scattered around the orchard. I am holding one peck of apples in the bag, 4 pecks in a bushel. A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck...

Such fun times. Any other takers? Perhaps we can entice more visitors with the orchards. :) Happy autumn!

"Have bedazzled Buxton, will travel"

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My mom and Aunt Rox (owner of the infamous bedazzled Buxton) came in town for a visit last weekend. We had a FABULOUS time. I love it when my mom comes to visit, and I felt so special that I am important enough to my aunt for her to come up here too! They tried to come up in June, but their flight was cancelled due to weather issues at DFW, so we met up in Chicago instead...but they tried it again and made it to Michigan. I think their trip this time worked out better than it would have in June because we were able to enjoy autumn in Michigan (yes, it's already autumn up here).

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One of the highlights of their trip for me was watching them (two of the world's best Christmas decorators) inside the world's largest Christmas store. The showroom itself is over 1 1/2 football fields! After 5 hours and...ahem, several hundred dollars later, we were set! They had to borrow my largest suitcase to get all their purchases home. :)

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We also went to the apple orchard/cider mill...more pics to come soon!