Saturday, November 15, 2008

Birding and baking

Today was a pretty dreary day - very windy all day, drizzling off and on. What better way to spend part of the day than by doing some bird watching and some baking?

We bought some new feeders this week, and luckily the birds seem to have adapted to them pretty quickly.


The birding view from the dining room


The view with my camera pressed against the patio door


The birding view from the kitchen window - the goldfinch spot

'Tis the season for baking with pumpkin. I had a crazy idea the other day that I want to make pumpkin meringues, which is going to be a challenge. While I scanned the interwebs for inspiration with the meringues, I ran into so many other yummy-sounding pumpkin recipes. One of them was a recipe for pumpkin biscotti on Simply Recipe which sounded too good to pass up. I added a scant cup of Craisins and a scant cup of some of the hickory nuts that we coaxed out of their shells.
















While the biscotti bake for the first round, time to take a bird break


alternate view from the kitchen window










Emmet says "Hey, what smells good in there?"

After the loafs cooled enough for me to handle, it was time to cut them.















Ah, the finished product! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy one of these with a nice cup of sweet coconut Thai Chai.

6 comments:

RuthieJ said...

Wow Heather--you've got a great birdwatching spot there! Do you get lots of woodpeckers too? (on account of being right in the woods)

Heather said...

Hi Ruthie. We get some woodpeckers (downy, hairy, redbelly, the VERY occasional flicker), but not as many as you might think. We see the most woodpecker activity during breeding season when the adults hit the suet hard in order to feed their little ones.

nina at Nature Remains. said...

You've got a great bird-watching spot!
I'd have a hard time getting anything done--hard to tear myself away from those views!

Heather said...

Nina - yes, it is a fine birding spot. I love it. Sometimes on a weekend, when I pretend I have nothing else to do and the birds are super-active, I just sit in front of the patio door for hours and observe. It's awesome.

Anonymous said...

Oh, my, what could be better than birding and baking! What a wonderful view you have. I may consider trying that luscious recipe for Thanksgiving!

Heather said...

DOWP (AKA Brenda) - yes the pumpkin biscotti would be a great alternative to (or addition to!) the standard pumpkin pie! Have a good Thanksgiving!