How We Do Halloween at the Creek House
How Halloween went at the Creek House: a graveyard that grows every year, store-bought ghosts losing to the wind, and Callie supervising the whole thing.
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Friday Roundup #45
Happy Halloween! A deer-proof motion sensor, ghosts losing to the wind, saffron still thinking it over, and what I’m reading, watching and eating.
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Ham Stock from a HoneyBaked Ham Bone
Ham stock from a HoneyBaked ham bone: the usual vegetables, a low oven overnight, and a little over 9 quarts for the freezer. Plus my 12-hour oven reset trick.
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Sharon’s Pecan Cheese Ball
Sharon’s pecan cheese ball, the holiday appetizer that converts the “ew, cheese ball” crowd. The secret nobody ever guesses: pineapple in heavy syrup.
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Sweatshirt Day
Sweatshirt Day has no date, but you know it when it comes. This year it was September 27: the sweater bag came out, the AC went quiet, the window opened.
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Where’s the Pumpkin? Pumpkin Spice and the Art of Selling a Feeling
Pumpkin spice was always pumpkin pie spice. How a dropped word, a pumpkin-free latte and a lot of scarcity sold us a feeling, plus my own homemade syrup.
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Friday Roundup #43
A rainy girls weekend near Tallulah Falls, saffron crocus at last, a rabbit hole called Any Human Ever, World Food Day, and what I’m reading and watching.
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Homemade Mushroom Powder (or, What I Found Wandering Super H Mart)
Homemade mushroom powder is the one-ingredient umami trick worth keeping on your shelf. Grind dried shiitakes into a savory powder for soups, eggs, and more.
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The Night the Northern Lights Came to North Georgia
On the night of October 10, 2024, the northern lights reached north Georgia. I put the top down, drove north, and watched the sky turn red from the side of the highway.
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Creek House Wildlife #3: The Ones You Sometimes See
The ground has its own residents, and most of them don’t want to be seen: deer, box turtles, skinks, rat snakes, a mole I know only by his tunnels, and otters I’ve never laid eyes on.
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Friday Roundup #42
Saybrook Sage on the powder room walls, the first report from the meat-minimalized week, still no saffron, and a weekend in the north Georgia mountains.
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Chop & Freeze Your Garlic (The Prep-Ahead Habit That Starts Every Meal in This House)
Almost every meal here starts with onions and garlic, so I mince a whole bag once a month and freeze it flat. Here’s how to freeze garlic, and when I don’t.
