To keep things simple this year, we combined homemade and store-bought dishes. We roasted a whole turkey, made some mashed potatoes, and candied yams. Everything else was purchased from Whole Foods Market.

Golden Roasted Turkey. Recipe adapted from Whole Foods Market
Wine: 2008 Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough

Maple-Glazed Yams with Pecan Topping. Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes

Mulder enjoyed his dinner as well – plain versions of everthing including canned pumpkin, mashed potatoes, and boiled peas/carrots. It is not healthy for dogs to have too much salt, fat, or spices just like the humans, except we still do it anyway

smitten kitchen is one of my favorite food blogs not only because of the tasty recipes and creative writing but also the fabulous pictures. I’ve always wondered how I can take pictures as good as Deb’s. I’ve taken classes but it seems too much work for me to lug a DLSR around with all the accessories. One day, as I was reading the latest entry, I stumbled upon the FAQ page where they described their approach to food photos. Then it slowly came back to me – I already  have most of the equipment listed here. A few years ago when I decided I was going to be a “photographer” and started javafoto, I bought all kinds of camera accessories. I quickly lost interest since then. 

Today, I wiped the dust off and took my SB-600 speedlight and Nikkor 50mm lens combination for a test run with our recently purchased Nikon D90. It is another overcast day here but I angled the speedlight towards the ceiling and I was pleasantly surprised! Now all I need is a good tripod

Note: These photos were not edited – which explains why the tomatoes look orange or I just need more practice…

The most beautiful bunch of carrots I have ever seen and it is from our garden!

Lunch today was seafood combination from Jin Wah (Beaverton)

We are still harvesting tomatoes. Some of our campari plants are sheltered by the patio roof so I think they will survive a couple more weeks of cold air.

Home-made avocado gelato - best when it is just starting to melt

Ingredients:

The weather here has been very nice lately that sometimes I forget that it is now fall season. Today, between our CSA share and harvest from our garden, our “fruit” basket clearly said “autumn”. Yes, we are still picking tomatoes and peppers but this time with pumpkins!

This is what our basket looks like today

My first attempt at making pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin

Marcel came back from a trip to NC and claimed to have bought me a custom-made cup

September was another good month. The tomatoes keep coming, as well as the peppers. The herbs are drying up a bit while pumpkins have started maturing. With the weather as it is, I estimate we would have 3-4 weeks more of harvest. It’s been a great long summer!

Although our garden continues to produce tasty treats, this will be the last update for 2009. October will be dedicated to cleaning up the garden for next season. I hope you enjoyed the summer’s bounty!

One of the most popular Oregon festivals, the Mt Angel Oktoberfest was worth the trip south of Portland. Sure, it is nowhere near the Munich Oktoberfest but we were pleasantly surprised to see some authentic traces of Munich. For lunch, we had schnitzel and fries then dessert was apple fritters. The beer selections were from Paulaner, Spaten, Franziskaner, Widmer, and a few locals. Franziskaner is one of my favorite German beers. You could easily spend several hours going from tent to tent and snack carts.

Marcel checking out the old town

Glockenspiel

Schnitzel

Weingarten

Alpinegarten

Brainiac Gonzo and Thor

Mai, Steve, and Vivek

You need these to get beer

Prost!

Historic church built in 1910

This is a guest post from my youngest brother Francis. He is visiting together with my mom from Dallas, TX.