"Life is a festival only to the wise." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Little York Fall Fiber Arts Festival or the Wellfleet Oyster Fest????  Oh, the dilemma!!  If only all of life's choices could be so wonderful!  We will soon be headed once again to Cape Cod.  When we went this same week in October of last year, I knew that I really wanted to go at the same time again this year.  And so we are - same week, same house - I can't wait!  Unfortunately, for the very first time, there will be a fiber festival in my own back yard while we are gone.  So I will be slurping down oysters at the Wellfleet Oyster Fest rather than oohing and aahing over beautiful yarns. 

If you happen to be in Central New York, please check out the Little York Fall Fiber Arts Festival (which will be benefitting the Cortland Repertory Theater).  I know a few of the vendors who will be there, and it promises to be a wonderful experience in a beautiful setting, and at least at the moment, the weather forecast is nippy but nice.

Enjoy it for me!

"Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people." ~ Henry Miller

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A few of the blogs that I frequent will occasionally do a post of things that have caught their fancy - I always enjoy these - they take me to sites that I would not normally have stumbled upon on my own, and expose me to things that I might not have learned otherwise.  So, I have decided to compile my own "stumbled-upon" list for you today.

Here it is, in no particular order!

1. I am forever trying to track down the name of a song that I've heard on a T.V. show or movie so that I can put it into my iTunes.  I came across this great site which has made the task so much easier!  http://www.tunefind.com      

     2.  Sandbox Ocean

     3.  Julia Child Remixed

     4.  Wind Map

     5.  Ted Talks

     6.  Devil's Spoke

     7.  The Bygone Bureau 

     8.  The Colors of Confinement

     9.  Gaelic Folk Song

    10. Aquaculture

    11. Elvis Presley's Pound Cake

    12. Dolphins

    13. Last naive speaker of Scots dialect dies

    14. My most recent iTunes acquisition

    15. 26 Alternatives to Tastespotting and Foodgawker

Enjoy!

“What comes to your mind when you think of the word Transylvania, if you ponder it at all? What comes to my mind are mountains of savage beauty, ancient castles . . . " ~ Elizabeth Koslova

 

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Back when we were in Florida this past winter, I came across a full menu for a Transylvanian dinner party. On a goof, I e-mailed my BITE partners and suggested that whichever one of us had October as their month to host, being the month of Halloween, perhaps choosing Transylvania would be fun.  October turns out to be Chris's month to host, and being game, she has indeed chosen Transylvania as our theme!

This go-round, I was in charge of dessert.  The first recipe that came up whenever I searched for Transylvanian desserts was chimney cakes, but since this involved wrapping a yeast dough around a wooden dowel, which is then rotated in a special oven (or over burning coals) I decided that this was a bit too authentic for me to try.  Next there was the apricot cake, which seemed a pretty good bet, aside from the fact that I cannot get fresh apricots locally this time of year.  So - a bit more searching led me to a chocolate/walnut strudel, (however, I decided to use phyllo dough rather than puff pastry - and I used semi-sweet chocolate chips rather than the directions in the recipe) and this is what I decided to go with.

Tierney prepared our Transylvanian appetizers:  Spinach and Cheese Strudel (recipe at bottom of link) and Mititei (Grilled Sausages).

~a wonderful combination of creamy, tangy and crispy~

~sweet and spicy with a real bite~

Next was Ellen's side-dish of Mămăligă Cu Smăntănă (Polenta with Sour Cream) 

~just wonderful with a dollop of sour cream - and I added some of the sauce from the chicken to it - wonderful~

And then on to Chris's entree - Csirkepaprikás (Chicken with Paprika).

~fall off the bone goodness in a luscious vegetable sauce~

Closing out our wonderful meal was my chocolate/walnut strudel (with liberties taken with the recipe provided).

~I admit to not having any of this with dinner, I was just too full - however I just finished the last piece for breakfast, running my finger around the plate to get the last of the crispy outside.  I'm not much of a sweets person, but would make this (and eat it) again - it was yummy~

Chris provided a fall festive tables-cape, complete with take-home scented candles and little pumpkins, which we each decorated while chatting over dinner.

Another lovely evening - it doesn't get much better than this!  Next month, as we head into Thanksgiving, our theme will be Native American foods!!